Journaling Who: Brianna & Radek What: Catching up When: Current Where: Brianna’s office, Brasserie Le Breeze Ratings G
It had been more than a week since Brianna had visited Lux with Flynn, and she had had some time to sort through the things that had happened that evening. As she had started doing again since her new abilities started to develop, she was keeping a small handwritten diary where she made notes. Glancing through she smiled to herself as they were usually in a shorthand of her own creation, which meant she didn’t have to worry about it falling into the wrong hands. If there was anything her mentor had taught her it was that information was a very powerful weapon, and if anyone discovered Brianna and her increasing abilities, that would be dangerously powerful information in the wrong hands.
As she flicked through the earlier entries she made a few additional marks in spaces she’d left for just that. From when they had started to explore her abilities she had been told there could, or would be more, that as she developed the skills to control these they would grow. And that was exactly what was happening. During her early years at college she had learned more about her lack of control, and how dangerous that could be, and still cringed at the memories of things she had experienced. And done.She knew now that she had stepped onto a path that could have led to dangerous places if she hadn’t met her mentor.
Her fingers flicked back a few pages more, and the pen created another symbol. She leaned forward as she looked at it, and not for the first time wondered how she had come up with that one. A small sticky note was placed on that page, as a bookmark, and she turned the pages to find the next blank space and started writing.
A short while later a knock sounded on her door, and she looked up as the door opened, a tray carrying her morning coffee appearing in the space, followed by Radek, a surprise which made her smile and stand, crossing to take the tray from his hands and carry it across to the small table next to the juliet balcony. The french doors were already open and the sun was lighting the elegant glass-topped table and white chairs.
“What a lovely surprise!” she said, pressing a light kiss to each of his cheeks in greeting as she took the tray. “What brings you here this fine morning?”
The immortal smiled and returned the greeting, following the young psychic telepath across to the balcony doors and taking a seat as she started to serve the coffee. “Well, as you know, Cassandra has arrived, and the others who are coming will soon be here too. And as we are both hosting this gathering I wanted to check that arrangements were well in hand, as I’m sure they are,” he continued as he watched her deftly prepare his coffee just the way he liked it, “though to be honest that is just the excuse I’m using to call in and see you my dear, I have been buried in my work at the ‘farm’ and for that I want to apologise, though I've also realised I have missed our regular morning coffees. Probably far more than I had known I would!”
She set his coffee in front of him once she’d finished stirring it, then sat down, her own cup in her hands. “I’ve missed your face around here,” she told him, smiling, “and it did take a while to convince Chef you weren’t offended, and weren’t being unfaithful, he was convinced he’d done something wrong and you were punishing him by not coming each Wednesday!”
Radek raised his eyebrows and looked at her over his glasses.
“It’s true!” she exclaimed, “and even Gabe had to talk to him, reassured him that what you were working on was in no way anything to do with the Le Brasserie kitchen.”
With that Radek screwed up his nose a little and shook his head. “I doubt Chef would ever let me eat at his table again if he knew how far his kitchen is from what I’ve been working on for the last six months!” He picked up his coffee and took a sip, letting out a small sigh of satisfaction and then inhaling the aromas. “This is definitely helping clear the sinuses,” he added, not going into details and rather glad that Brianna’s abilities did not extend to a sense of smell if she was ‘looking’.
“Oh! My, that… is a lot of.. What is it exactly?” she asked, having done just that. During the many many hours the two had spent with her training, more than almost all the other immortals involved, Radek had told her that to her he was an open book, that she was always welcome to ‘look’. She had seen some of the worst moments of his life, and deaths, and he had promised that she would always have his support. It had meant a lot to her back then, her trust in people having been shattered on more than one occasion.
Her nose screwed up a little too, as Radek basically showed her what he’d achieved. “Has it… will it… do you think you’ll ever … animate it?” she asked, not completely sure she wanted to know he could.
“Well, there were a few times when I had thought it worked, there have been movements, some nerves have responded, along with muscles, so I am still working on what it will take, whether it’s chemical intervention, or electrical impulses, or a magic spell!” he laughed. When Gabe had finally made it out to visit after his sojourn on the 95 he’d agreed to do some research into the art of necromancy, but had told Radek that he himself wouldn’t be able to help, it was outside his scope. “My work is founded on living energies, my spells divine it, and that’s what I know,” he had explained, “there are others who work with other types of energy. I’ll see what I can find out for you.”
“Speaking of abilities, which we weren’t but we will, how have you been?” the immortal asked her. “I see you were doing some writing,” he added, glancing across at her journal on her desk, closed, with the pen inside the page where she’d been writing.
Her eyes followed his across to her desk and she nodded, returning her gaze to Radek. “Yes I had another visit to Lux, after the Thanksgiving down at Brian’s, and something very different happened.” She went on to explain to him about Flynn and his mother’s appearance, and noticed Radek go very still, his cup seemingly caught in suspended animation between the saucer and his lips.
“So I take it this is as much a surprise to me as it is to you?” she asked, a little nervous both from the retelling of the event and Radek’s reaction.
The cup finished its journey to his lips and the immortal sipped at the contents before returning it to the saucer. “This is indeed a rather big leap,” he admitted, “one that we had not really even expected would come about, so yes, it is a surprise.” He focused on her, studying her face, then let out a small sigh of what she took to be relief.
“What is it, Radek?” she asked, even as she knew the answer. “You were checking for something, in me, on my face, what was it?” Her tone was edging on concern, but she could also sense the immortal’s relaxed mindset return, so softened the next question.
“What else should I expect?”
He shook his head, shrugging lightly, and reaching to pick up one of the macarons that rested on the plate on the tray. He examined it, the delicate decorations Ronnie had applied always intriguing him. How much work went into making such a delicate and delicious sweet that lasted for only a couple of bites.
“That’s the big question, is it not?” he answered, again eying the delicious morsel before taking a bite. Once he’d finished chewing he added, “you know we want you to develop these powers organically. That if we put anything in your mind, something that may distract you, that it could interfere with your development and may hinder you reaching your full potential.”
She sighed and let herself lean back in her chair, her back coming in contact with the cushioned backrest as her eyes left his face and focused outside. A distant conversation between two of the kitchen staff taking a break outside the loading dock doors was part of the white noise of the daily activities of both Le Breeze and the streets surrounding it. She sipped her coffee, letting her mind drift across the spaces that existed between walls, windows and vehicles. Snippets of conversation, a couple of thoughts and a song drifted into her consciousness, the song becoming more discernible as it appeared the whistler was walking toward the premises.
“How will I know when I’ve reached my full potential,” she asked, eyes still outside, the tune keeping her a little distracted.
“I don’t know,” Radek answered honestly, “it’s the question I’ve asked and am still to find an answer to that might make this easier.”
The whistling stopped and she blinked, and looked back at Radek. “Thank you, my friend, I know I wouldn’t be here, and here, without your support,” she said, her glance indicating their physical location, and her finger tapping lightly against her temple twice meaning in her head. “It’s an honour to have you as my friend, and a blessing as my confidante,” she told him.
“For both of us,” he replied, taking a last look at the remains of the macaron and popping it in his mouth and enjoying the melting sweetness of the crisp outside on his tongue.
A short while later the immortal took his leave of Brianna and made his way down to his car. Once inside he flicked a small switch beneath the panel of the vehicle before starting his journey home, his mind already going over what she had told him, and what he would be telling the others.