Miriam D'Onofrio (lady_miriam) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2023-01-09 20:55:00 |
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Entry tags: | #july 2018, miriam, miriam x ty, ty |
Who: Miriam and Ty
When: midday, Sunday, July 8th
Where: Miriam’s house
Status: Complete
Approaching Brianna McCarthy had been a little nerve-wracking, but that was nothing compared to pulling up in front of the D’Onofrio house with the intent to get an audience with Miriam. Of the two Overlook women, Brianna was more approachable, but that wasn’t saying much. Ty knew he was a reminder of the worst time in their lives, a filthy and uncomfortable time that robbed all of them of quite a bit of their dignity, so he didn’t expect to be welcomed with open arms. He just hoped she was willing to hear him out and join the rest of them in trying to figure out what the hell was going on.
Ty straightened his shirt a bit as he walked up to the wide steps and the front porch. This kind of shit had always felt easier in a uniform. He knew Miriam was home, obviously, but he felt full of the same nervous hope that she would be the one to answer the door as he had at the McCarthy house. Ty rang the bell and stepped back, his gaze ticking up to the space above and around the door, checking for security cameras out of pure habit.
Miriam had never liked answering the door when she wasn’t expecting visitors and that feeling had only intensified since Anthony’s illegitimate daughter had shown up in town. She’d rather just let whomever was there leave and come back later. If it was someone who actually knew her, they would have done her the courtesy of texting first. Thanks to technology, she could at least check who was there. Miriam sighed when she saw it was Ty. He wasn’t in uniform, so it must not be anything official, but she still wasn’t going to leave him out there. Chances were that he was there to see her and she’d rather he didn’t come back later and have Anthony to deal with. Setting her book aside, she rose to answer the door. “Officer Solomon,” Miriam said, barely even attempting a smile. “How can I help you today?”
It was almost a physical chill when Miriam opened the door, which didn’t really shock Ty, but he felt that ‘professional’ guard go up in his mind. He wasn’t a cop anymore, but he could still act like one when he needed to. “Afternoon Mrs. D’Onofrio,” he greeted her back with a nod and a polite smile of his own. “I’m uh, not an officer anymore, just so you know. I wanted to check in and talk about a few things -- do you have a few minutes to chat?” He nodded slightly toward the inside of her house, prompting the invitation he knew she didn’t really want to give. He was used to that from people, especially when he was in uniform. He wasn’t here in any official capacity, but his guess was that Miriam wanted to talk about their ordeal even less than anything he could have brought to her as a police officer.
While Miriam had no desire to chat with Ty, she wasn’t going to shut the door in his face. He’d been capable in the other world, one of the ones responsible for keeping them safe, even though it wasn’t his job to do so, and she respected that. She’d been useless without her powers, trapped in hell and consumed with the thought that she might’ve killed the people closest to her. She didn’t remember that happening, but she couldn’t be too sure either, not until she got back. Miriam didn’t appreciate a reminder of the lowest time of her life, but she figured Ty was there for a reason, so she stepped back, allowing him entrance into her home. “Of course, come in,” she said, waiting to shut the door, then leading him into the living room. “I’m sorry to hear you’re no longer on the force, but I understand the need for change. What are you doing now?”
Ty gave her a gracious smile of thanks as he stepped into the house. He realized it was actually his first time in the D’Onofrio house -- arresting their children for anything had always been verboten as an unspoken rule, and he’d been glad that neither of them had seemed interested in causing that sort of trouble. If there was more happening under the table like it sometimes seemed with this family, Ty didn’t want to know about it. Especially not anymore. He walked with Miriam to the living room and sat down where she indicated, rubbing his palms against his thighs once or twice before he let them rest. “I’m working part time at the new vet’s office,” Ty answered with a small smile. He was sure that sounded utterly plebian to Miriam, but whatever. “Jared and I got married, so I’m also getting ready for us to buy a house and all that. I’m, ah ... not sure that police work is for me anymore.” He paused, realizing that she probably didn’t give a shit about any of that, and went on. “How are you doing?”
“Congratulations,” Miriam said, her smile small but sincere. There was no returning to normal after what they’d been through, but it was nice to know that he was able to find a slice of happiness amongst all the madness. She envied him that. Her marriage had never been perfect, but lately it was little more than a facade. “Working for the vet sounds significantly less stressful than dealing with the local chaos. I imagine that job gets more difficult the more you know.” She had wondered once or twice how the police had handled all the missing person reports and then their sudden return, but it was the kind of thing that happened around here and people barely took notice. After all, she’d been missing as a child and after she turned up again, people just forgot. “I’m fine,” she said. “As fine as I can be after what we went through. Nothing concerning.”
He nodded his agreement to the part about his former career -- not only did Ty have a bad visceral reaction every time he thought about being in the field again, he wasn’t sure he could sanely handle everything he would have to deal with, knowing what he knew now. He was at least positive that he wouldn’t be able to lie on reports anymore and make up some mundane bullshit to explain all of the crazy shit that happened in this town. He would much rather clean litter boxes and help comfort scared animals. Ty took note of Miriam’s answer of how she was doing, deciding to just dive right into why he was there. “Anything ... different? Maybe not concerning, but have you noticed you can do anything that you couldn’t do before?” he asked. “I’ve been talking to the others and almost all of us have, uh ... gained an ability, I guess you could say.”
Miriam appreciated Ty getting straight to the point, rather than attempting to make small talk that neither of them wanted. For a moment she thought about keeping her secrets to herself, as it had always been better that way, but if Ty was asking around, then he’d eventually talk to Vex. If she was going to trust Vex, she might as well trust Ty. “There’s something like that,” she said, hedging a bit. She’d been playing around with her new ability in her spare time, when she could. Unfortunately, it required her to be near someone else with abilities and if she didn’t know what those were, it was hard to practice. “What have you gained?” she asked, hoping she could work with his own abilities to demonstrate.
That was a very positive answer compared to what he’d gotten out of Brianna, and Ty looked mildly surprised before he smiled. He hadn’t completely discounted the possibility that Brianna had been lying to him and just wanted to keep her thing private, so he was glad that Miriam was immediately cooperative. “More like a loss, actually,” Ty said with a chuckle. He was more interested in what she could do, feeling like he’d told his story to so many people already, but sometimes you had to give some to get some. “I no longer feel pain. Scrapes, cuts, burns ... I feel the heat and pressure, depending on what it is, but nothing hurts anymore. And any injuries I do get, they heal faster than normal. What about you?”
“Interesting,” Miriam said, her lips ticking up just a touch before she stood. “One moment,” she said, then quickly walked into the kitchen to retrieve a paring knife and a small hand towel. “I need this to show you,” she told him as she returned, her steps slower now that she was welding a knife and not wanting to alarm him. Miriam returned to her seat and laid the towel across her lap, holding the knife in one hand. She knew she didn’t have to demonstrate, but she was eager to try something new. “Mine’s a little more complicated. And depends on who I’m around. On my own, I’ve gained nothing,” she said, then gently drew the tip of the knife across the palm of her hand. She barely applied any pressure, so the cut was shallow, but the fact that she couldn’t feel it at all amazed her. “Fascinating,” she said with a little smile. “About how long does it take to heal?” Living with a witch, she had access to all the healing salves she might need for a small injury, so she wasn’t quite as worried about the healing rate as she might be without them.
Ty arched a brow when she came back with a knife, and while his cop brain twitched a bit, it didn’t worry him too much. It was a tiny knife and Miriam wasn’t exactly physically intimidating to him. It was quickly obvious that it wasn’t for him though, and he watched as she sat down, sitting forward with a bit of alarm when she moved to cut herself. Ty’s breath caught, but Miriam gave no indication that it hurt. Almost immediately he recalled that Vex had already told him that Miriam could mirror what everybody else could do. It had completely slipped his mind in the middle of all the other information he’d gathered -- he really wasn’t cut out to be a cop anymore, was he? “Shit, wait, Vex mentioned this,” he said as the pieces were falling into place. “It’s not hurting you because it wouldn’t hurt me, right?” He struggled to think about her other question, shaking his head a bit. “Um ... something like that, ten minutes or so?”
“Exactly. I wanted to test it because it’s different from what I’ve tried so far. I seem to be able to mimic other people’s abilities,” Miriam explained, wiping the knife clean and setting it aside. She’d check in ten minutes and see if it healed. It was weird to look down and see blood welling in her hand and feel nothing, but it was also expected based on what Ty could do. “I happen to know a witch and I first noticed it around them. But then I visited Vex and I could mimic him as well. Unfortunately, it has a range to it. And if I don’t know what someone can do, I don’t even know to try. But it’s interesting.” If her husband was anyone other than Anthony D’Onofrio, she might ask him to teach her witchcraft. As things were, she wouldn’t even consider it. He had his secrets and she had her own.
Considering all of the rumors Ty had heard about the D’Onofrio family, Miriam saying she happened to know a witch almost made him laugh, but he managed not to. It was so weird to think back to the days when Ty hadn’t even thought magic was possible. He’d been on a fast track to believing a lot of things about the world now, and any of Miriam’s family being witches seemed almost mundane, a given. “That’s definitely interesting,” Ty agreed, also looking at her hand. He wondered if it would start to hurt if he got up and walked far enough away from her, or left the house. “Do you know the range on it yet? Done any testing like that?” He was all in favor of helping any of the rest of them figure out the nuances of what they could do -- who actually knew if they would need these abilities in the future, better to be prepared.
Miriam never knew who in town knew that her husband was a witch. She just knew that people found him intimidating regardless of if they knew or not. He radiated power. It was a trait that she’d enjoyed, occasionally encouraged, and often found herself welding as well, just in a much more subtle way. No one saw her as a threat like they did him and that often worked to her advantage. It was why she kept her own powers to herself, both old and new. It was easier to tell Ty, who was dealing with something similar, than someone else who might regard her as an experiment. “I haven’t told a lot of people, which has been limiting, but… I would like to test it out more,” she said. “In terms of range, I think being in the same room? It’s difficult to say.” It would be easier to test if she knew how to use magic and could ask the witch to move farther and farther away. So far she knew no spells, so she’d done nothing of the sort.
Ty had heard a lot of things about Anthony D’Onofrio and his son during his tenure as a cop -- including that Anthony owned the police department too, which had never seemed true to him, but he knew he wasn’t privy to everything. He’d just kept his head down and done his job the best he could and left all of that politicking to the sheriff. It was definitely interesting to get a peek into Miriam’s private life like this though, and Ty was grateful that she hadn’t just closed the door in his face. He offered her a little smile and nodded to her bleeding hand. “Now might be a good time?” he suggested. “You’ll definitely feel that if you get out of range.” It was probably the simplest test since it would be such an obvious change-over. Having Sage there for Miriam to mirror would’ve been even easier, no blood involved, but Ty honestly couldn’t picture him in the D’Onofrio living room.
Miriam nodded and stood, slowly moving away from Ty and waiting for the pain to take hold. She wasn’t looking forward to it, but it wouldn’t be the worst she’d endured either. “Would you be willing to share what some of the others can do?” she asked as she moved farther and farther across the room. With an open floor plan, there was plenty of space to test it out, but she expected the pain to kick in any second. If she knew what some of the others could do, maybe she could get a sense when she was near them as well. Then again, she didn’t spend time with many of the others—except Brianna. Knowing she was a witch, there was room to learn there as well. Their friendship had been rather superficial prior to their stay on the other side, but since then it felt like there was room for things to change, should either of them want it to. “Here,” she said, stopping when she finally felt a sharp pain in her hand. She turned to face Ty, looking at the space between them, about thirty feet, maybe a bit more. “That’s decent, I think? I guess it depends on what I’m trying to do.”
He stood up from the couch to watch Miriam test her boundaries, though he stayed in place so as not to ruin the effect. The house was so huge it was pretty easy for her to get some distance from him, and it didn’t seem like a bad area of effect, really. Decently big for stealth power-stealing if Miriam ever got into that situation and needed her abilities. “It’s pretty damn good, I’d say,” Ty answered with a little grin. “Let’s see, you already talked to Vex ... so you probably know about Carson the werewolf? He can control his changes now, and he’s got more of his human mind in there when he’s changed. Sage can turn invisible, Greer keeps getting flashes of people’s deaths when she touches them -- she saved a guy’s life, in fact. M’not sure about the kids yet, Greer’s supposed to be tracking them down. Max ... well, it’s hard to explain, I’m not even sure I get it fully. But he ... kind of sees holes in our reality? He said it’s like set dressing, when he sees it. He was able to just walk through a wall?” Ty wrinkled his nose a bit sheepishly, feeling like he wasn’t explaining that one well. “As for Archer ... I don’t know. None of us have talked to him that I know of. Oh and I checked with Brianna the other day, she hasn’t found anything new she can do yet. I feel like that’s only a matter of time though, considering.”
Once she was absolutely positive that she’d walked out of range, Miriam began to walk back, preferring to take advantage of Ty’s quick healing abilities. Plus, it was just awkward to speak to someone from across the room. She returned to her seat as Ty began detailing what everyone could do, some of it making less sense than others. For some reason she thought they might all have something in common, but it seemed completely random. The only thing they had in common was that they could all do something. “It might be that Brianna doesn’t know what to look for,” Miriam suggested. “If everyone else has something going on, it’s highly unlikely that she’s come away with nothing. I don’t understand where it’s coming from, but we were all exposed to that other world for so long that maybe I shouldn’t be surprised that we’re different now.” None of them had walked away unscathed, but this was an actual physical change of a sort. “It would be nice to know what Archer can do, just for reference, but… personally, I’d rather keep my distance.”
Ty nodded as he sat down -- he suspected that something had already changed about Brianna, she just wasn’t aware of it yet. How quickly would he have noticed his lack of pain if he hadn’t taken that spill out on the trail? It might’ve taken weeks, and that was even a concrete physical change. “Oh yeah? Why’s that?” he asked, one brow quirking up at Miriam’s comment about Archer. Ty wasn’t fond of the guy either. They hadn’t exchanged words or anything over there, Archer had mostly kept to himself, but the man had a constant aura of disdain around him that Ty didn’t have a lot of patience for. The cop in him was interested in Miriam’s opinion though. People were far more observant than they were aware of, and maybe she’d picked up on something that Ty hadn’t. “Greer didn’t mention him, so I don’t think she’s approached him.” He couldn’t imagine someone not liking Greer, so maybe she was the better option when they got to that point.
“I just don’t like him,” Miriam said with a little shrug. “I’m familiar with men like him, and the attitude they have, but something about him seemed… off. Or it did, when we were there. I know we were all under a lot of pressure over there. It felt like we lost a part of ourselves we might never get back. But he… seemed disturbed at times.” She didn’t have anything to back her opinion though, so she probably should have kept it to herself. She just hated to see anyone waste their time with Archer. “It’s probably nothing, and I shouldn’t have said it. Might have just been the effect that place had on him. I know I wasn’t exactly pleasant either. I haven’t seen him since we returned.” And she’d been just fine with that. Seeing anyone from over there wasn’t an unpleasant reminder of what she’d survived, but Miriam was trying to look at it differently these days. She was a survivor. Twice now she’d gone through something horrible and come out the other side. She would not let it ruin her, no matter how awful the memories were.
Ty was curious and tempted to ask for details, but he supposed those didn’t really matter. As Miriam said, none of them had been at their best, or anywhere close to it. He hadn’t liked Archer much either, but he hadn’t had any run ins with him to solidify that into anything solid. He didn’t feel like he could fairly judge any of them for how they’d behaved Over There. Still, it was something interesting to tuck away. “I haven’t either,” Ty replied. If they were going to talk to everyone and invite them all to a gathering to try and figure any of this out, they should to include Archer too, but he decided not to dwell on it with Miriam, lest she change her mind about coming. “I always err on the side of trusting my instincts about people,” he said with a wan smile. “Even if you’re wrong, better safe than sorry, right?”
“True,” Miriam said, preferring to trust her instincts as well. She’d been wrong before though and it was difficult to come back from it, especially if her ego was involved. Vex was an odd man, and she still didn’t want to be seen publicly with him, but he hadn’t been the threat she’d initially thought he was. She could be equally wrong about Archer, but had no reason to find out. “So, what do you hope to do with this knowledge?” she asked. “I don’t necessarily see it as a sign that something else might happen, but I wouldn’t put it past this place. Or those that trapped us there the first time.” She knew each one of them by name and where to find them if necessary, but Jules Cooper felt like the biggest threat with her portal summoning hands.
It took Ty a second to remember who ‘those’ people actually were, and part of him wanted to jump to their defense. Carson had become one of the trapped, Nic Castell had very close ties to Vex already, Neil Wainscott was just a jumpy mouse of a man and Ty expected no further trouble from him. From any of them, really. He hadn’t spoken directly to Jules, but Ty didn’t think any of those four had truly wanted to do what they’d had to do. But he also knew he wasn’t going to talk any of the other fog survivors out of their feelings about it. He just wanted to put a damper on any threats of violence he started to hear, but those likely wouldn’t come from Miriam D’Onofrio. “I’m not really sure yet,” Ty admitted, giving a faint chuckle. “I was kind of hoping there would be some sort of pattern, or all the pieces would click into place, but ... no clicking yet. I just want to stay aware of anything unusual with any of us. Maybe if things start to go sideways again ... I don’t know, I just know most of us can’t afford to just let it happen if we can help it. I almost killed Jared.”
“True. Anthony would probably be dead if Caius hadn’t intervened,” Miriam said with a small downturn of her lips. Though she was still holding a grudge against her husband, she didn’t want him dead and it was sobering to remember that she could have killed him without even trying. The craziest part was that there had been nothing he could do to stop her. By the time he realized anything was awry, he’d been too weak to act on it. “I feel like we know what to look for this time, as do the people around us. I’ll be sure to let you know if I see any signs of a resurgence, but I’m hoping we can put this behind us. There’s no reason to think that these abilities are a sign of things to come. They might end up helping us.”
“I’m all for using them to our advantage, I just ...” Ty trailed off and tried to get his words together. “I’m afraid they’re more than side effects. Like one day we’re going to need them in a bad way ... things to come.” It wasn’t easy to admit he was scared of anything, but he had a feeling Miriam would understand how the thought of going through more of that hell called up a bone-deep animal sort of terror. Ty would do absolutely anything not to go back there, or put Jared at that kind of risk again. It was too heavy to dwell there when they didn’t really know anything though, so Ty tried to pull away from it, peering over at Miriam’s hand. “How’s it feeling over there?” he asked, his tone lighter. It hadn’t quite been ten minutes, but she ought to be able to see a big difference already.
It was a sentiment that struck a chord with Miriam, who’d initially rejected anything to do with the AIR survivors, then later regretted it. She had little in common with those people as well, except for a traumatic event that she couldn’t even remember. At least with Ty and the others she knew what they had in common. She knew they probably wished they could forget it all, but a black hole in her memory was worse. She’d rather be prepared if something happened again. “If that’s the case, I would need more practice. Other people’s skills don’t come naturally to me.” But she could work at it. She had enough time on her hands to experiment. Miriam looked down at her hand, lightly running the towel over it to wipe away the blood. “Not completely healed, but close. How’d you discover it?”
Ty wasn’t sure he considered what he could do now a ‘skill,’ since he put zero effort into it. It was just something his body did now, and he was coming to accept it, even if it stressed his husband out. He was still going to get all the brain scans and let doctors poke at him like he was a medical mystery, but he knew deep down where it had come from, just like everybody else. Miriam would have access to all kinds of skills though, apparently including magic ... it tripped Ty out a little to think about. “We were out hiking on our honeymoon and I lost my footing and slid a ways down a rocky hill,” he answered with a chuckle. “Got all scraped up, didn’t feel a thing. And it was all healed by morning. Jared’s halfway convinced it’s a brain tumor, but I know better. Wish I could help you practice, but as you can see ... mine’s pretty passive.” He gestured at her hand. “Just give me a call if you hurt yourself and want me to come hang around though.”
Miriam had the brief thought that it would be useful if Ty could take away other’s pain, but didn’t even know how to suggest trying out something like that. Just because he couldn’t feel pain didn’t mean he could transfer that ability to others. She was one of the few people who could make use of it, but even she couldn’t imagine why she’d need to. “I’m glad you’re okay and it wasn’t something much worse,” Miriam said. It was good that he hadn’t broken any bones. That kind of thing was hard to explain away at a hospital and the last thing he needed was someone running experiments on him. “I’m hoping I have no reason to call you, but I appreciate the offer.”
He chuckled. “I hope the same, Miriam,” he said. “And thanks, me too.” Sliding down a hill should have been painful, but he could have discovered this from a bad car accident instead, or something even worse. Though he could see how not feeling pain could help him in the direct aftermath of those types of situations, and maybe allow him to help other victims ... but that kind of thinking was part of why Ty wasn’t comfortable being a cop anymore. He couldn’t guarantee that instinct to help wouldn’t drive him into spur of the moment heroics that could get him killed. Plus, Jared seemed to need him to stay safe these days, and Ty was honestly on board with that. He just hoped all of these oddities weren’t leading them all back into trouble. “Well anyway, I’ll be in touch about when and where we’re all going to meet up,” he said as he stood from the couch.
Miriam realized this was the second time in the last few months she’d considered meeting up with a hodgepodge group of people with whom she shared a bizarre set of skills and it made her wonder what might possibly lay ahead. Considering where she lived and who she was married to, her life had been relatively boring until meeting Vex and getting sent to the other side, if she didn’t count the years she couldn’t remember. Part of Miriam was thrilled by the prospect, except for the part where it put her and her loved ones in danger. That she could do without. “You know where to find me when you’re ready,” she told him as she rose to lead him to the door. Looking down at her hand, she found it had finally healed, all traces of the cut she’d made fading completely. She held up her palm, offering him a small smile. “All better.”
Ty grinned a bit. “Works like a charm,” he agreed, pleased to see it happen for someone besides him. He’d lost track of the number of small cuts and burns he’d given himself when Jared wasn’t home, just to test his boundaries. The fact that Miriam could mimic it if they were in close enough proximity was pretty cool. If she did come to the meeting, could she mimic all of them at once? Ty was curious to find out. He walked with Miriam back to the front door and gave her one final grateful smile. “I appreciate your time, Miriam,” he told her sincerely. “I know it’s not fun stuff to dwell on. Hope to see you soon, take care of yourself, okay?”
“It’s not fun,” Miriam agreed. “But it’s not wholly unusual either. Last time caught me off guard. If there’s a next time, I would rather be prepared.” She had a wealth of knowledge just outside her reach in multiple directions. It would take some effort on her part, but maybe one of those connections could actually make her power useful. She knew her husband was out of the question, but there were other avenues she wanted to explore. It was time to be more than a housewife—she could be useful when she wanted to be. “You take care, Ty,” she said, seeing him out the door. “We’ll talk soon.”