InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "never go full Shane!"

Saint Reilly (shutterbugged) wrote in rooms,
@ 2014-11-08 11:59:00

Entry tags:

*journal, evangeline sablier, lin alesi, louis donovan, preston rawlings, saint reilly, wren henry

Public, Wren H, Evie S, Preston R, Louis D, Lin A
[Public]

No one died this time. Did they?

[Wren H]

You came through okay. Right?

[Evie S]

No crying this time. But no tea. Was yours better this time around?

[Preston R]

All right?

[Louis D]

I'm running out of ways to ask people if they're okay. Are you?

[Lin A]

Survived it? Skipped it?

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Re: Preston R./Saint R.

shutterbugged
2014-11-10 06:01 am UTC (link)

[The calm is like the surface of water: the closer Preston presses, the clearer the undercurrents but there's a stillness attributable either to the sleepiness that demands the coffee, or to an party without terrors. Understanding bleeds in through the connection. Rueful.]

They happen. I'm sorry it didn't work out. [A sense that it should: a brief series of images of Preston from an external perspective, swiftly quashed. Saint's learning the limits of his own capacity for imagery. And beyond that, laughter, surprised and brief, the mental equivalent of extending arms, turning on the spot.] I'm whole. Unhurt. No gunshot wounds.

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Re: Preston R./Saint R.

ex_clerk820
2014-11-10 06:15 am UTC (link)

[Preston doesn't go too far. There's something about the way the two of them communicate, perhaps because Saint is so visual, or Preston so contained. He stops where it's still calm, unwilling to take on more than he can handle.]

[Preston is sorry it didn't work out, too. In fact, he's rather sorry for himself, when all is said and done. He's aware of it. He knows Saint will understand.]

That's good. I don't think anyone would take it well if I had to call 911 for you with someone else's brain. [Not an idle threat.]

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Re: Preston R./Saint R.

shutterbugged
2014-11-10 06:19 am UTC (link)

[The limit is not a finite line: it couldn't be unless Preston's control were pin-point focused. But Saint is comfortable with the connection - it's evident in the easy way things pass through his conscious thought and the brief snatches of his unconscious thought as well. Now there's a brief moment of flittering through his own unresolvable crushes, a warm patience, a focus on the cream in the coffee and then Preston himself. Alarm briefly spikes through.]

Can we put a moratorium on 911 calls from other people's brains. Please. I'm not in imminent danger. I'm not going to be in imminent danger. No brains. My neighbors have been dodging me.

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	Re: Preston R./Saint R. ex_clerk820 2014-11-10 07:04 am UTC (link)
	I wouldn't do it unless you were dying. [Soberly. Brief flickers of panic dulled by old memory, Saint's apartment, the way his blood seeped into his cotton shirt.] (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

Re: Preston R./Saint R.

shutterbugged
2014-11-10 07:07 am UTC (link)

I'm not dying. Not now. Not in the future. [Brief, snapshot pictures. The spread of black and white on the coffee table. Faces, alleyways and under bridges. Night in a park in Manhattan. The occasional superhero action shot interwoven, but the perspective draws you to the faces of the people upturned toward the display: wonder, surprise, amazement, worry.] Nothing deadly.

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Re: Preston R./Saint R.

ex_clerk820
2014-11-10 07:24 am UTC (link)

Yes, well, there is such a thing as collateral damage. [Dry. He makes a very coherent, sharp effort to keep any images or feelings from bleeding out when he mentions that concept, and as a result it's as if someone has held up a sign with two words ("collateral damage") in the middle of a sentence rather than speaking them aloud. After a moment.] I'm done mothering you now.

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	Re: Preston R./Saint R. shutterbugged 2014-11-10 07:25 am UTC (link)
	[Intrigued. It drags itself to the surface, the kind of smile that is present but somehow not visible.] How did you do that? [A beat: an image. A kitchen, a woman's back, a conversation with four different people at once.] Oh good. Because I lack any experience with the convention. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Re: Preston R./Saint R. ex_clerk820 2014-11-12 12:53 am UTC (link)
	I don't know. I think the letters and the words. It's hard. See, now I'm thinking it. [Hints of panic and nauseating blood. Black letters on a white screen, green lines and blurs of a satellite feed.] Fuck. Now it's in. [Deeeeep breath. Sudden coldness and loneliness in white snow.] (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Re: Preston R./Saint R. shutterbugged 2014-11-12 05:54 am UTC (link)
	[Brief shockwave runs through the waves. The cold and loneliness envelops, it's too close to memories for Saint to be immune. Warmth and connection sail almost immediately back.] It's smart. The words and letters. [Calm. Factual observation rather than an evident attempt to smooth over.] (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Re: Preston R./Saint R. ex_clerk820 2014-11-13 07:18 am UTC (link)
	[The warmth and connection--it is not exactly denied but he resists it. There's something cold there, not frigid, not bleak or icy. It resists, smooth. It is a belief.] It's something I wanted to try. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Re: Preston R./Saint R. shutterbugged 2014-11-13 07:22 am UTC (link)
	[Something flickers, like a wave breaking on the surface but it's dampened down too quickly to be noted for what precisely it is.] The other way says more. About what you're thinking. That's why? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Re: Preston R./Saint R. ex_clerk820 2014-11-13 07:25 am UTC (link)
	That's why. [Full agreement. Gratitude for understanding. Saint is quick. Silent (bright), but quick.] (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Re: Preston R./Saint R. shutterbugged 2014-11-13 07:27 am UTC (link)
	It's clever. Gives you something else to think that isn't that. [A brief series of pictures, street magicians and substitutions, a shell-game played on the side of the street in Vegas.] You're learning control. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Re: Preston R./Saint R. ex_clerk820 2014-11-13 07:30 am UTC (link)
	[Some regret, though he appreciates the distraction offered by Saint's colorful (bright) images.] Not very much. I am trying things. I want to [...murmur of voices, a whirring fan.] talk to [...contact, skin on skin, nothing but that.] people again. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Re: Preston R./Saint R. shutterbugged 2014-11-13 07:33 am UTC (link)
	[Quiet acknowledgment. The images cease, there's an absence of color, of movement as Saint thinks.] You don't want to get lost again. [Slight correction.] (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Re: Preston R./Saint R. ex_clerk820 2014-11-13 07:35 am UTC (link)
	No. I want to [...murmur of voices, a whirring fan.] talk to [...contact, skin on skin, nothing but that.] people without me in it. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Re: Preston R./Saint R. shutterbugged 2014-11-13 07:38 am UTC (link)
	Ah. So that you're talking to them. No possible influence. [Absence of influence is a stretch of empty sand to Saint: walking on a beach, footprints disappearing from a track ahead.] So it's real. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Re: Preston R./Saint R. ex_clerk820 2014-11-13 07:41 am UTC (link)
	It hurts people. [Depressed.] (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Re: Preston R./Saint R. shutterbugged 2014-11-13 07:44 am UTC (link)
	People in particular? [Contemplative. A movement down the connection: he's given in to the cigarettes. Smoke curls, relief: a faint internal-only small pleasure.] Or in general? Someone said something? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Re: Preston R./Saint R. ex_clerk820 2014-11-13 07:48 am UTC (link)
	In general. [But more specific. Like one face being a focus in a crowd; but it's just a feeling.] No one said anything. But I influence. You are smoking. [Rueful smile.] (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Re: Preston R./Saint R. shutterbugged 2014-11-13 07:52 am UTC (link)
	[Calm. Another series of pictures: crumpled bedsheets, an empty (dirty) coffee mug, the cigarette packet on the nightstand.] Because I wouldn't otherwise? It sped the decision up. It didn't change the decision or that I was going to make it. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Re: Preston R./Saint R. ex_clerk820 2014-11-13 07:56 am UTC (link)
	[He disapproves the coffee mug with his usual urge to Assist.] ...A bad influence. [Dark sensations, cold flame.] (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Re: Preston R./Saint R. shutterbugged 2014-11-13 08:02 am UTC (link)
	[Faint amusement echoes. Saint likes coffee.] You think you're a bad influence? Or you think other people will think you a bad influence? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Re: Preston R./Saint R. ex_clerk820 2014-11-13 08:10 am UTC (link)
	[Frustration. It's not like Preston; he is usually so external in his focus. Inside, he roils like a pot just beginning to boil.] An influence. Any influence. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Re: Preston R./Saint R. shutterbugged 2014-11-13 08:17 am UTC (link)
	[The reaction is purely observation: more of the same, still calm.] But you won't be. You figured out the words. It's not instant. But it's better than it was. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)