Meggan’s time in Dunwich had been… interesting. Since she’d arrived, there had been an influx of monsters, a lot of fog so thick she couldn’t see without using her abilities to clear it, and a myriad of different types of beings with all new and complicated emotional states. Not to mention, a weird creature collecting people. She’d just helped that very odd plan come to fruition, and though she was exhausted she was pretty exhilarated at having helped.
It was better than, of course, the awful run in she’d had with the werewolves during the full moon. Or, werewolf. Just the one. Meggan had reached out to Jim after it happened, but what with the collector and everything going on, the two hadn’t been able to actually hang out yet. Now that the fog was lifted, the two had agreed to meet at a coffee place. Which, upon entering, Meggan immediately loved.
Covered in plants, happy plants, thriving plants and a general atmosphere of calm and peace, Meggan stood near some of the plants on the wall, gently touching the leaves and appreciating the beauty of such healthy plants as she waited for Jim to join her.
Last month had been the most intense since he'd arrived, Jim couldn't say he liked the change, but from how he heard it things like this happened more frequently than one might guess. So he supposed even in the twenty-first century had some surprises for him. It did mean though that he and Meggan had pushed off having the kind of real meeting that he'd wanted to have earlier, just to make sure everyone was safe.
Coffee shops were new for him, just like most things in this century, but he was eager to try it all and build up as many new experiences as he could for whatever length of time he was here. Which was getting longer and longer - though the more time he was here the more familiar faces he saw.
He ordered something sweet and warm and something sweet and cold so they had options though he was willing to order something else if it turned out their drinks weren't what either he or Meggan was interested in. But they had somewhere to start at least.
"I got us a couple options," Jim said as he made his way over to Meggan, "I figure we can see what we like so we know better for the future." He reasoned, only one way to know what they liked after all.
“I had a coffee at the diner the other night, when I met Kay. Odd sort of person. The coffee was gross though, until putting a lot of sugar and milk in it, but then it was only sort of warm. They make them cold on purpose?” She asked, unfamiliar with the world of coffees and lattes and coffee shops - as much if not more so than Kirk was himself.
She had very few life experiences after all. She followed Jim to a table, sitting down across from him and taking hold of the cold one first, she tentatively took a sip - not wanting to have another bitter experience with coffee. She had rather enjoyed the energy it had given her. Maybe that was all the sugar. Meggan was pleasantly surprised, though, by the sweet taste of the cold drink.
“Oh that’s very good, what flavor is it?” She curled her legs up on the chair, pushing her blonde hair back behind her slightly pointed, elfish ears. “Thank you for meeting with me, by the way. I didn’t think I’d actually need to call in that friend favor so soon…”
"Are they?" Jim asked when Meggan mentioned Kay, Jim didn't think he knew who that was, but he was interested in her assessment of other people as he was still getting to know folks more himself.
"They do," Jim agreed though about the coffee as they found a table to sit at together, "I think just plain coffee is more often served hot, but in places like this they make all sorts of alterations." It was quite frankly just a little overwhelming just how many options there were, and Jim was fairly certain you could even make your own adjustments in addition to all the different options you had on the standard menu.
"I think it's something caramel." He said as Meggan tried out one of their drinks. She was still a source of endless fascination as far as Jim was concerned, here she was looking for all anyone else around them might have guessed almost no different than any one of them, but there were vast depths to her that were swirling just beneath the surface. "Oh come on," he waved off her thanks, "That's not how friendship stuff works, we just help each other out because we're friends not because we're expecting thanks or anything for it." He told her.
"How have you been settling in?" He asked, knowing that the last few weeks had been kind of crazy so he wouldn't be surprised to hear it was not all that great.
She nodded her head, thinking back on that interaction. “He feels different.” She explained simply, as if that was all that needed to be said. Kay did not have normal emotions - she felt a bubbling of rage underneath the carefully controlled emotions he had. A flat surface, but so much underneath. It was a little terrifying, and very fascinating.
“You know a lot about coffee.” She was impressed, and took everything in everything he said. Plain coffee was normally hot, but there’s a lot of options. “How do you know what all your options are? Are they all listed up there, or are there even more that aren’t listed?” Meggan wouldn’t know either way, because she couldn’t tell what most of the words were on the menu. She could sound a few of them out, but she really hadn’t gotten much into her reading lessons back home either.
When Kirk shrugged her off about how friendship works, Meggan shrugged in return and sighed. “I guess I wouldn’t really know.” She replied, though it sounded sad it also sounded matter-of-fact. “I spent a lot of time alone. I saw a lot of friendships on TV but you get a lot of weird ideas from that, too, because in some shows you see friends who aren’t really friends and as soon as one leaves, the other will talk badly about them.” Which she thought was wrong, but was really common in tv shows. “Then other ones, you see people who love each other no matter what, tell each other everything.”
For Meggan, it was a confusing set of dynamics. How did you know which was which? Pushing her hair behind her ear, the slight point to it revealed, she took another sip of the cold coffee before passing it towards Kirk for him to try, if he wanted. “Loki, the god? They fixed my room so I can’t feel anyone else’s emotions when I’m in it. It’s really nice, it was nice of them. I think I’m settling good in that way, but…” As for the rest of it? “I made a mess of things. I got in a fight.”
"He sounds interesting," Jim said, if Meggan said he felt different then it was obvious that there was something interesting about him. He'd have to try and meet him at some point and see for himself.
But today was for Meggan and helping her out. He laughed, "Oh I don't think I know a lot about coffee, but the menu helps." He pointed back where he'd ordered. "They have all the basic options listed there," He explained, "And then from there you can customize them to better suit your tastes. But there are so many options it'll take me months to actually try them all and see what I like best." He admitted, though he was up to the task.
Listening while Meggan explained her experience with friendships up to that point, it sounded few and far between. "I think real friendships are probably somewhere in between," He said after a beat, "We're all people, we all have good days and bad days, no one is a perfect friend all the time, but when we have a friendship that is important to us, we'll do our best to make it work, to make sure the person we're friends with knows they're someone important, and that they can count on us when they need it." He would never claim to be a perfect friend, he was far from it often - he knew his work took him away frequently, he had been running full tilt towards his recent promotion, and now here he was. Starting over.
"Oh that's nice of them," He grinned when she explained what Loki had done for her, And he would have asked her more about it but then she said that she'd gotten in a fight and Jim's eyes went wide. "A fight?" He asked, concerned for her though he supposed that was probably a silly thing to feel - he'd seen how large she could get if she wanted to. "Are you okay?"
“You should meet him. Riley, too. He’s fun, even if he thinks he’s not. He introduced me to the show called Friends!” Riley was another weird, somewhat perplexing character but Meggan liked him. She didn’t like what he’d been doing to his poor cabin house, but she made it better. Maybe that’s why he eventually decided not to eat her. That or because she suppressed his hunger. Either way.
Glancing up at the menu, she frowned a little, her hair visibly getting more dull, freckles blooming on her cheeks. She’d never be able to order all the different coffee drinks without someone helping her. She could only read a handful of the words, and not well. Mostly because she was guessing, or she recognized the shape of some words.
“Well we can both try them all, and then maybe it’ll take half the time.” That’s not how it worked but it made sense to her. Or, because they were always sharing, it WOULD work exactly that way. Either way, Meggan liked trying new things and so far, the coffee was really good here. Plus, the plants. It was a cozy, happy environment.
Meggan nodded in agreement as his assessment of friendships, and tried her best to commit that to memory. She wanted to be a good friend, too. A best friend someday, to someone. Kirk might think of her as a best friend, but she wasn’t sure. Maybe it wasn’t like that for them. They’d never said so, anyway. But she was still trying.
Embarrassed by what happened in the woods, Meggan took to staring into her drink and taking a slow slip before she finally spoke up about it. “I’m fine. I got overexcited on the full moon. I - well I grew up as a werewolf, or thinking I was one, anyway. Plus, I feel the moon… so I still get the pull, the urge to run on the full moon. Not the same way they do, but - anyway, I was running and ran into a wolf-wolf, and I think I upset him by trying to join in and meet his pack.”
“It sounds like you’ve been meeting a lot of people since you arrived,” Maybe even more than Jim if he was being honest. Oh he saw people walking past the desk at Pickman, and he had a few familiar faces in town himself now, but Meggan was meeting people beyond what he had done so far and she’d been here not even half as long as him. He was going to have to work on that.
But then maybe that was what came of having spent so many years in Starfleet you met the people you were stationed with, you interacted with those in ports and on colony planets, but he didn’t spent a great deal of time getting to know people outside of work related situations - if nothing else his blooming friendship with Meggan was a stepping stone to additional friendships in the future. It was easy with her, the same would be true for many others he was sure.
“We can do our best, it might take a lot of dedicated time and work,” He teased at her suggestion that they try all the potential coffee drinks together. “And that’s not even considering the amount of tea there is on offer as well.” He added, there was an abundance in this time that Jim didn’t quite know what to do with. He never went without these days, and in most places that was true as well, but Jim knew better than most just how easily that could be taken away, here it felt like that might never be an issue.
His relief to hear that Meggan hadn’t been hurt was calmed quickly, and Jim listened as she explained what had happened. “So was this…. A real wolf? Or another werewolf?” He asked, he’d seen them talking on the network, along with vampires and other creatures that had been part of earth myths long ago but it seemed they were all too real here.
“I wander.” She'd met Riley at his cabin, deep in the woods. Kay at the diner. The alpha in the woods, too. “I like to explore at night when there's less people. Kay sat next to me at the diner counter and I fixed Riley's roof when I found his cabin in the woods. It was sad, the wood was sick. I made it better.” Meggan shrugged, feeling a little proud that she had actually been meeting and talking to people here.
As easy as it would have been to stick with Kurt and Kate, she’d always wanted to have a lot of friends. People weren't afraid of her here, it gave her a chance to actually be more social, to try and learn things she'd been unable to before. Like be friends with Jim and try every beverage in the cafe.
“I think I can be dedicated and work hard.” She replied, trying her best to put on a serious face to show she meant business, but it didn't last. She cracked a smile and sat up a little, leaning forward excitedly. “Oh I love tea!”
If she hadn't quite noticed the worry he's felt before, she did feel the relief he had when she said she was fine. “Um, a real werewolf but one that looks like a real wolf. He was a really pretty wolf. Red eyes, which was kind of scary. Hey, were you worried I got hurt?”
He listened as Meggan told him how she’d met Kay and Riley, and the simple sort of way that she explained that she’d helped Riley’s roof, making the wood better like it was a simple thing. And maybe for her it was, but he couldn’t help but marvel at that. “It sounds like they’re both lucky to have met you then.” Jim certainly felt a bit of that himself, Meggan was someone worth knowing.
“I knew you could be,” Jim grinned in return, her excitement over the potential of trying new things with him wasn’t something he wanted to diminish in the slightest. “We’ll have to meet up regularly then, and we can work on finding our favorites, whether that be tea or coffee.” It was good to have a built in reason to spend time with someone. So neither one of them were left feeling like they had to have something big going on to make it happen. They simply had a standing meeting for coffee exploration.
“Oh, do werewolves not always look like wolves?” He wondered, as his own experience with werewolves was more theoretical at this point he had no real point of reference about these kinds of things.” He huffed softly, chuckling when she caught his worry and shrugged just a little, like he’d been caught. “You said you’d gotten into a fight, that can often be the outcome of things like that.”
Meggan had to do a double take at that, looking up from her drink to Kirk, back at the drink, back at Kirk, and then her eyes fell to the table as she blushed. “You really think so?” The last time Meggan had ventured out to make friends one of them had ended up dead. It wasn’t intentional, but it had been Meggan’s fault and she would never forgive herself for it. She had met friends since then, but it always worried her. That maybe she was bad luck.
Yet here he was, wanting to meet up regularly to try coffee. Maybe it was the curiosity in him, but that didn’t feel right - it wasn’t actually a drive of wanting to know, he had a more casual and amused feeling about him than that. Maybe he did just want to meet up regularly. “Yes of course, we’ll have to put it in our calendars and everything. We can’t properly test everything without consistency.” She laughed, having heard something like that on television. It was nice to be able to use it in real life, in the same joking tone she’d heard it.
“I think in different worlds, wolves look different. I look different then that, at least I did, and then I became closer to what he was because that’s… what he was. I liked it. I felt connected to it so I changed into it. I could hear him that way, too. It was interesting, but I made him really mad trying to join in the pack. I just… wanted to belong somewhere, I guess.” She shrugged and took another sip of her coffee. “You were worried because you would be upset if I was hurt?”
"Of course I do," Jim said honestly, "It's not every day people meet someone so willing to help out someone they just met." Meggan seemed like more than a worthwhile friend as far as Jim was concerned. "Anyone would be lucky to know you." He felt sure of that much, himself included.
Grinning as she played along with his seriousness about their trying out new drinks together he nodded, "You're absolutely right, that's the key to any meaningful results, otherwise you can't trust whatever findings you might come up with." It was silly, but fun and Jim certainly didn't mind the pretense. They'd enjoy themselves drinking coffee or not and they might as well enjoy some of what this century had to offer together.
He supposed it made sense, you couldn't count on things being the same across the multiverse, no matter how true to the laws of mature things might seem in one world. Even those constants could change, he was sure.
"I don't really know anything about werewolves apart from the myths," Jim confessed so he didn't know how reassuring he could be, "Maybe he was just looking out for the other wolves. There was a lot of unknown over the last few weeks." It made sense that people wouldn't be trusting something new, wolf or not. He huffed softly, amused mostly at himself, when she asked about his worries. "I don't like the idea of my friends being hurt."
“Except here, I guess. You were willing to help me when we just met, and I wasn’t even me then. I was a big monster and you didn’t run away or try to kill me. That was very nice of you. I think I’m really lucky to know you.” She replied, and there was no hint of careful flattery or anything in her voice. She was just stating facts. It was not to return a compliment, but applying the logic he’d just used back on him.
It was really good to know him, and she was sure she was the lucky one in the group but then, they could both be lucky she supposed. There was no way of knowing how that all worked, anyway. “Exactly, we must have accurate results. I suggest that every… hmm, how about Monday? Every monday we meet, have two new drinks and a little lunch.” She frowned a little, though. “Unless you have a job? We could do Sundays, instead.”
Meggan had never had a job. She didn’t plan on having a real one, either, but she was sure that wouldn’t work out here. She didn’t want to borrow money without ever being able to put any back in the jar. That would be stealing, not borrowing. Meggan wasn’t qualified to do anything. She couldn’t even fill out a job application because she couldn’t really read and she firmly pushed those thoughts of her mind. No need to panic about the future at the moment.
Still, the panic leaked out a little like it always did when she felt very strongly. Several people in the store gasped or started for the door like they needed to go somewhere. A few of the plants seemed to stretch out, reaching for Meggan. A strong breeze blew the door open. After a moment or two, it all settled once more.
“I think there’s a lot more to wolves than I know, too. Maybe we can learn more about them when we are taste testing coffees. Just so you know…” She said, glancing down at the food in front of her and picking a little off to nibble at. “I can’t be hurt that easily. You don’t have to worry.”
Jim huffed softly, shaking his head, "Maybe we're lucky to know each other," He offered, rather than try and put her off. If nothing else he was glad to know she didn't regret their first meeting just yet and he hoped she went on to have more good interactions with people the longer she was here.
"Every monday seems like a good way to do it, we can check in with each other and see how we're doing too." He added, just so she knew he wouldn't mind more of these kinds of conversations too - it wasn't just about finding a good drink or anything like that, it was about enjoying one another's company for a little while regularly.
"I work in the evenings," He assured her, "Over the weekend, so Monday afternoon is perfect for me. Give me something to look forward to after a few nights on the clock." He chuckled softly, Meggan was someone he was quickly finding he enjoyed talking with, everything about her was interesting and he felt like he found out something new each and every time they talked. And he was sure that would remain true the more they got to know each other.
He didn't miss the sudden sweep of something through the shop, the gasps and people leaving even when they'd been content to sit just moment's before. And just as quickly as it started it was over, things calming as a breeze came through the open door and Jim wondered if it was just this place or maybe Meggan? But he didn't want to pressure her into explaining every little thing that happened around them.
"I feel that way about most of the different kinds of people here." He admitted, there were witches and other magical creatures, vampires, and talking animals, there was a lot still to learn. "I don't think worry works like that," He said with a soft huff, "Just because you might be harder to hurt than others doesn't mean that people won't worry about your wellbeing. At least those who count you as a friend"
“Yes, yes I think we are.” It was difficult to take a compliment. To agree that yes, perhaps he was lucky to know her in the same way she was lucky to know him. It’d be easier to argue if she couldn’t feel how much he meant it. How his feelings mirrored hers and it wasn’t because she was taking his emotions or pushing hers on him. They just matched. She nodded, sliding her drink over to him and taking his in front of her now, warming her icy hands on the cup.
Mondays were good for Kirk, and she was a little surprised that it was also to check in, see how the other was doing. Like real friends. She was starting to believe that she could have those, here, with these strange new people and their strange new world they all lived in. That she could be understood by people who weren’t like her, mutants who’d been outcast. Perhaps, she didn’t even need to change for them to like her. Not like -
Well, not like with Brian.
He would even look forward to their meetings, and Meggan sat up a little straighter, taking an obviously satisfied sip of the now hot drink in her hands. It had started to cool, just a little, so Meggan coaxed it into warming back up so that it would stay hot the whole time. It worked, and she almost burnt her tongue on it when she took another sip. “What do you do here, for work, exactly?”
He was right, too, There were so many different kinds of people here, who could do so many different things. Who’d seen so many different things. There was a lot to learn. Meggan nodded her head in agreement, though she stopped and blushed when he corrected her on what worry was like, and how he’d worry about her anyway. “I’ll try not to make you worry too much, then.” She said instead, smiling though her gaze was fixed on the table.
“If I tell you something, would you promise not to laugh at me?”
It was a kind of silly fun, to trade drinks like this as they talked like this, Jim was glad they'd made plans today, it was a welcome addition to his day and making plans to hang out again made it all the better.
"I work at Pickman," He told her as he took a sip of the cold drink, the sweetness of it sending a shiver down his spine, "At the front desk, so there's someone there if anyone shows up during the night or needs anything." It was just one more example of the ways they looked out for each other here, sure it was a job, but someone had to take into consideration that people might need something in the middle of the night too.
"So I get to see people coming and going and stuff like that," He added with a grin. That was a large part of why he'd taken the job in the first place, both because he'd needed one, and because it put him into the position of being able to help and observing people without feeling like he was stalking anyone. He was just curious more than anything else.
He stretched a foot out tapping hers beneath the table as she told him she'd try not to make him worry much. "Thank you," He said gently.
"Of course I won't laugh," He didn't know what she wanted to tell him but it was clear she was having some big thoughts and Jim didn't want to do anything to betray the trust she had in him.
As someone who often left at night and was out for most of it, or who stayed in her room for hours on end, it made sense that she hadn’t noticed him at Pickman just yet. She didn’t always leave through the front doors, either. Sometimes she crawled out of the window as a bird or a squirrel or something else fun, just to make a quicker escape. Get away from the emotional onslaught of leaving her room a bit quicker.
“Well now I feel silly, I should have seen you. Are you allowed company sometimes, then? If you work overnight. I’m up at night a lot.” He might have seen her, coming and going. Which only made her feel a bit more guilty, considering. What if he thought she was ignoring him? Meggan frowned, picking up the drink to take another nice, warm drink. “Must be interesting, then, to see everyone. People watching is fun.”
She could see the draw, anyway. You got to learn a lot from people by watching them. Whether from afar, or through the television like Meggan had most of her life. Which was another sad thing to think about, and Meggan would have lost herself to that a little if she hadn’t felt Kirk’s foot tap hers gently under the table. She brightened a little, eyes wide. “You’re welcome.” She blushed, and smiled at him.
Now, for the hardest part. She didn’t know why she wanted to tell him - but it was hard to keep it a secret all the time, and if they were going to be friends, he was bound to find out anyway. Maybe this would make him change his mind, and Meggan began to shut out all the other emotions around them - dulling the feelings of each person in the store, just a little, so that she could focus more on Kirk. “I have something to confess. I - well, I can’t read. You would find out eventually, that I - I can’t read the menu, for the drinks. So you’ll likely have to order for us, all the time.”
"I think so," Jim nodded, "As long as things aren't busy." And they so rarely were in the night - which Jim liked as well. Being able to keep an eye on things without constantly being caught up in paperwork and new arrivals and things like that which might come more frequently if he was working during the daylight hours.
He smiled, his head bobbing as he nodded, "I like people watching too - it's always been one of my favorite things." There were so many different kinds of people, and all the places he'd been had shown him that time and time again, and there were always people worth knowing no matter where he went or what he'd gone through.
Meggan's emotions were a little like a tide, rising and falling as they talked and Jim wondered how much of them were hers and how much of them was a reaction to the people around here. It must be a difficult thing to feel the constant press of others around you at all times like that, he could just imagine the kind of burden that would be to carry.
Still he remained quiet as she seemed to work up the nerve to make her confession. He was surprised to hear that she couldn't read, but it wasn't the sort of thing he'd have ever laughed at. "I don't mind ordering for us," He promised her, "Is it common for people not to learn to read in your world?" He asked, he didn't want to assume it was something only she had never learned, perhaps it was just the way of things. There were so many reasons why she might never have learned.
“I’ll visit sometimes, then. It’s a bit easier to be outside my room in Pickman at night. Sleep emotions are different.” Sometimes, when people had nightmares, they were just as intense. But usually there wasn’t enough there, enough to be experienced to cause many emotions. When most of Pickman was sleeping, it was a nice place to be near. The house itself radiated safety.
With all their differences in where they came from, Meggan was always surprised at how much she still had in common with people. She loved people watching, too, and knowing Jim did as well made the prospect of their monday coffee trying all the more exciting. They could pair it with people watching. “You learn so much from watching.” Meggan said, glancing around to look at the people nearby for a brief moment, though Kirk had her attention almost exclusively.
She waited for it - the wave of disappointment that might come when she admitted she couldn’t read. Or the anger. Or the disgust. Or the sudden disinterest. The confusion. None of it came, though. Kirk remained stoic as ever, his emotions calm and even and Meggan was able to lift her eyes from the hole they were burning in the table as she confessed her biggest secret.
“No, it’s not common.” She said, biting her lip. “I never went to school, and my parents… they didn’t teach me. I was just inside the caravan all the time.” There was a lot she didn’t know. Basic math. History. How to read. How to write. She had no education whatsoever, and only knew how to speak english fairly well and with only a slight accent due to the sheer amount of television she watched - usually American shows.
“That - you’re not… embarrassed to be my friend now? Or, I don’t know.”
"I'd like that," Jim said honestly, "Maybe you can tell me a little bit about how sleep emotions are different." He suggested, though he doubted they'd struggle to find something to talk about, Meggan was endlessly interesting, they were still getting to know each other and he knew there was so much more for them both to discover about one another.
He nodded when she echoed his own feelings about people watching, "You do, especially when you can sit back a little out of the way and just see people going about their lives as normal." You could see where people's priorities lay, little hints of their personalities, the places they'd come from, there was a vast wealth of knowledge available just in how people lived their lives and Jim always liked seeing it.
And this now with Meggan, it was clear she felt a certain amount of shame about not being able to ready, the way she didn't meet his eyes until after she'd made the confession, and the way she bit her lip still holding back her own fears as she explained a little bit more about her experience growing up inside a caravan and not going to school or being taught by her parents.
"Why would I be embarrassed to be your friend? That hasn't changed anything about you." It was just one part of her, and who she was was someone that Jim was interested in knowing.
"Is reading something you want to learn? Or are you satisfied without it?" He asked, without judgment or even a push toward either answer, people had all kinds of experiences and all kinds of reasons for reading and not reading, and with the phones everyone had these days it made navigating the world that much easier for those without those kinds of skills.
"I can do that, of course, if you'd really like to know!" She was surprised, as ever, that Kirk had this level of interest. His curiosity was burning, it was his most defined and constant emotion. He was so intrigued. It made her feel important. She wasn't very used to feeling important, and if she were being honest she was finding she quite liked the way it made her feel.
Which is probably why whenever she was around Kirk her ears may have been a little bit more pointy. Her hair a little longer. Her face a little softer, more round. It was a subtle thing, the shift in her looks around people sometimes, and it often catered to how they felt about her. Kirk found her interesting. Meggan, for who she was. So her features ultimately relaxed into something more natural, more comfortable to her. Not lead by an emotional need to satisfy anyone.
"Well then Mondays are for coffee trying and people watching. It's decided." She said matter of factly and took another sip of the coffee which was still steaming hot but almost gone, now. She slid it over back to Kirk, taking the iced one back. She wasn't sure which one she liked more, they were currently both her favorite.
Still, his curiosity didn't change. The way he felt was same as it always was when they were together. It was honestly surprising for Meggan. She remembered when people back home felt out... there was usually a lot of pity. Annoyance. Sometimes disgust and oftentimes a disconnect, like whatever feelings they might have been building towards her friendship wise or other died on the spot. Kirk was just... Kirk
"I think I might like to learn, yes. I... don't know how I would work, if I can't, and I can't keep borrowing money all the time. I don't know that I'd say I'm satisfied without it, but I don't know what it'd be like to be able to read. I don't know what I'm missing, apart from... confidence, maybe."
"I would," Jim agreed eagerly, "Very much." There was plenty that interested Jim, and he would never deny himself the chance to learn something new, especially when that information came from a friend.
He smiled warmly when she agreed that they could have a regular coffee and people watching time, "I think that sounds perfect." He agreed. "And we can fill each other in on all the things we get up to in between those times." Because Meggan, it seemed, was good at getting out and meeting new and interesting people. And he needed to get better at that, since it seemed he wasn't going anywhere any time soon the way he thought he might when he'd first arrived.
It became clear to Jim, that Meggan had some complicated feelings about her ability to read, a little bit of fear and doubt, but if she wanted to learn he thought it was probably something she could handle.
"I'm sure there are some jobs out there you could do without it," He admitted, "You might need someone to help you fill out an application, but I'm more than willing to help you out with that if you want." He offered, because he wanted her to know she had options, whether or not she decided to learn. "But if you want to learn I'm sure we can help you figure out the best way to make that happen too."
“Well then I am happy to tell you all about it.” Meggan really couldn’t believe her luck here. Everyone she had met so far, apart from Mark, had been generally very understanding and welcoming. She couldn’t even blame Mark for not being, as it had been her fault for encroaching on the Pack’s territory and being generally overexcited, so really it was everyone. Even Riley, despite how annoyed he always seemed.
It was going quite well in this world. She was so very surprised by it all. “Of course, we’ll check in and you’ll tell me all about your new friends and I’ll tell you about mine.” Briefly, Meggan felt quite jealous at the prospect of hearing all about his new friends, but the feeling dissipated almost as quickly as it came on. She was, maybe, a little possessive of her friends.
“That might be the way to go, because I don’t know how long it will take to learn to read and I can’t just you know.” Keep mooching off the freebies at MIST and through the funding at Pickman. “I want to do something, too.” Meggan just wasn’t quite sure what there was she could do here. Back home, she’d just been a superhero. She lived with Brian and Betsy and they took care of her and she helped them and other mutants. It didn’t require a lot of thinking.
If Jim was willing to help her, though, maybe she could bypass learning to read as quickly as possible so she could start helping first. Then read. It sounded like a good plan, anyway, and she nodded her head again, agreeing the more she thought about it. “Yes, yes I think - if you really wouldn’t mind helping me. I won’t get in trouble for not being truthful, will I?”
“I can’t wait.” Jim grinned easily, it’d be a welcome addition to the quiet of most evenings at Pickman. Meggan was a more than welcome addition to his life here and he was glad it had been him that had found her on that first day, so that he could continue getting to know her now that she was more settled here.
They were doing well with all of this, making plans for the future and the next time they’d meet up, giving them both something to look forward to over the next week.
“There are several businesses around town that are run by people like us, who ended up here - that might be a good place to start looking for work.” He understood the need to do something, it was part of the reason he’d jumped on the chance to work at Pickman when it had been offered. He needed to keep busy, and he liked being able to help out even in a small way. “But if you don’t want to tell anyone else about this I think we can figure something else out for you.” He promised, knowing it could be touchy so he wouldn’t push Meggan into sharing her secret with anyone she didn’t want to.
“Did you work back in your world?” He asked, looking for a place to start if it turned out his ideas weren’t exactly what she was looking for.
He meant it, too. He really couldn’t wait. Or well, he could - she knew that was an expression, but she could feel the slight anticipation. She could feel the truth there. His temperament was as it always was, and it was easy to trust him because of it. She blushed, unable to express in words how grateful and excited she was.
Instead, she reached out to touch his hand, briefly. Through the skin contact, he’d feel it - the gratitude, the excitement, the friendship. She patted the top of his gently after a moment and pulled her hand back. Physical contact was intense, for Meggan. She could share her emotions more easily but she could also feel them much more intensely.
“I didn’t work, not really.” How to explain that one? Meggan thought about it for a few moments, and decided well - she trusted Kirk. “I was with my family in that caravan until I was almost an adult, I think. I’m not really sure. Then, a reality manipulating mutant locked my father and I up. When I escaped, I ended up alone. Never reunited with my family, and I wandered until I…” She didn't want to admit the next part. It was the very worst thing she’d ever done.
So she didn’t. “Met Brian, and his sister Betsy. They allowed me to stay in their home, and with them and other mutants like them, I helped them fight. We formed a group, even, of other mutants. Fight other mutants trying to kill humans, fight humans trying to kill mutants.” It was an exhausting time, honestly. “Aside from that, I’ve got no idea what I’d even be good at. I saw lots of jobs on TV and I just don’t think I could do any of them. Not even deliver mail, like Cliff in Cheers.”
She knew a lot of tv. “Because I can't, you know. I wouldn’t know what the addresses will say.”
Meggan's hand on top of his was just a quick thing, There for just a moment and then gone again, but he could feel something like what he imagined she might feel from others all the time. And it was extraordinary, "Oh wow." He said softly, looking down at his hand and where hers had been just a moment ago. "Is it like that for you all the time?" He asked.
There was so much about Meggan that he wanted to know, not just about what she could do, but about her life up to now and what her experiences had been like. It was clear there was a certain amount of uncertainty about her path, and he didn't know if that was because of what those in her own world had made her feel about it or if it was because of someone here.
But he listened as she explained how she had begun her life in a caravan and had remained there until she was nearly grown before she had been taken by a mutant. And then eventually she'd been on her own before she'd met other mutants who had taken her in. And she'd joined them in fighting for others.
"Wow." He said eyes wide at her history, "You've been through a lot." He shook his head, and here she was and despite all of the hardships and the pain she'd been through she was the way that she was, it just made Jim all that much more aware that she was someone special and someone he was lucky to know.
"I'm sure we can come up with a few things, there's a nursery in town - working with plants, I don't think there'd be a lot of reading there or maybe helping out at one of the coffee shops or restaurants in town." He suggested, he didn't know for certain how much reading would be involved in any of those jobs, but he thought it was a low enough amount that she could make due while she learned. "We'll figure out the right thing and I'll make sure your application is perfect when you're ready."
“Yes, but more.” Jim was only able to feel what Meggan had wanted him to feel from her. Meggan felt everything from everyone and everything all the time. Even the tables had feelings. On the plus side, it was easier to tune out most of those things, as their emotions rarely changed. The more complex the thing the harder it was to tune out. People and animals being the most difficult.
Meggan rarely thought of it that way - that she’d been through a lot. It was just her life. Maybe here in Dunwich, with a moment to slow down, to breathe, to acclimate - maybe she’d start to feel it, understand that what he had grown up in and gone through was not normal. That maybe it was even awful. That the relationships she had back home were still not great, all the time. “I guess.” She shrugged it off, and finished off the iced drink in front of her.
“I’m good with plants. I could do that.” Maybe it was better to do something less focused on interacting with people, and she was certain she could take care of a plant. Maybe she’d find something else she found more fun than taking care of plants, too. She abruptly realized that she actually had options here. She could do whatever she wanted to do.
That was new. “Oh. If I’m… stuck here, as long as everyone else, I have time to do that. I can learn to read and get a job I like and maybe learn my abilities a bit better, not feel everything so much of the time. Oh.” It was really starting to settle in, and Meggan looked up at Jim like a deer in headlights. “I didn’t really expect to stay, I think.”
But more. There was a lot to just those two words - Jim couldn't imagine what that was like, to feel that all the time. And more than that, it wasn't just giving that feeling to someone else, it was taking in the feelings from everyone else. He had so many questions for her - but he didn't want Meggan to feel like a specimen, so he held them back. He hoped in time they'd talk about it, maybe she could explain some more, but he'd let her decide if and when she wanted to share that, for now it was just one more thing that made her pretty incredible.
Her life it seemed wasn't something she wanted to focus on, and Jim could understand that. His own past was full of pains that he didn't like to touch on too often, so he didn't press, just let her shrug it off as they instead focused on her future.
"You don't have to decide today," Jim added just to make sure that Meggan wasn't feeling like she had to take his first suggestion, "There are a lot of options and if it's something you're going to do it should be something you actually want to do."
He saw her sudden sort of understanding that being stuck here provided her with a certain amount of opportunity that she hadn't really considered before this point. He couldn't help but chuckle softly. "I know that feeling," He admitted, "It took me a little while to really get my head around that too." He'd tried not to get too close to anyone in his first few weeks here for that very reason, he would be leaving, he didn't want to break the prime directive. But the longer he was there and the more he learned proved to him that he didn't have to worry about those things - he'd be here until he wasn't. "You've got time."
“I suppose I do.” She agreed, still in slight wonderment. She had time - to wrap her head around this place, to learn to read, to get a job. To make friends and maybe learn a little about herself in the process, maybe use her abilities for something good or helpful in a more pointed way than she had before. She was still young in her journey, still learning in her power but she wanted so much to do great things.
She reached out to pat his hand again, the same feelings of joy and calm and comfort and friendship transferring to him as she did. It wasn’t in a pushy way - not in a making him feel that way sort of thing, but a shared thing. They were soft, lingering for a moment before she pulled back and sighed. “Mondays it is, then, and I’ll give what we’ve talked about a good thing until then. Thank you, as always, Jim.”