InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Meh, Father."

тнє ¢αρтαιη (piracy) wrote in thecityof,
@ 2018-02-01 19:39:00

Entry tags:

killian jones, sue snell

WHO: Sue & Killian
WHAT: A late night ice cream run, with a side of telekinetic mishaps
WHEN: Recently
WHERE: Ice cream parlor
WARNINGS: Not really, but the voices in Killian's head aren't very nice
STATUS: Complete

It was winter still, technically, but it didn’t feel like that in Los Angeles. The weather was warm enough to where you’d just need a cozy sweater on the beach at night - likely most people who were born and raised here had cold-intolerant bones. Killian himself had been exposed to all sorts of climates, though he vastly preferred the tropical beach, Caribbean sea variety. Los Angeles in general was stifling, not just because of its odd weather patterns.

And ice cream didn’t fix it, but since winter was a joke anyway, why not indulge? He knew Emma liked rocky road so he’d get a couple of pints for her - Ingrid the Snow Queen (who taints ice cream with magic so that it freezes you from the inside, besides someone clearly psychotic?) hadn’t killed that fondness, despite recent debacles. Which felt like eons ago.

To the parlor with the black-and-white tiled floor, candy stripes and spirals and fresh waffle cones was where he went, and since his sleeping schedule was out of whack it was quite late when he arrived. Good, because he didn’t want to be surrounded by crowds - parents and children, putting their sticky starfish fingers on the glass, no thank you. The quiet at least gave him time to think about what he wanted, besides rocky road for Emma.

Her gaze was fixed solely on her phone screen as she stepped into the ice cream parlour. That pin on Pinterest was so adorable! A sort of fairy tale theme for the nursery would be adorable. Sue wasn’t sold on it quite yet, but she had time to decide what she wanted to do with the nursery part of her room. The colors scheme she was shooting for was mint and lilac and already half the room sported the colors. Now she just needed to figure out the furniture and such.

Having a baby was a lot of work!

She clicked her phone off and walked up to the counter. When a craving hit? Well it hit extra hard. Images of ice cream had flitted through her mind and she was pretty positive it was her baby telling her that they both needed ice cream and she had listened. Her gaze took in the menu, ignoring nearly everyone else as she tried to figure out what she wanted. A faint prickling raced through her mind before it was followed by whispers. Distorted, distant, and strange. Sue looked around in confusion, but no one was talking. Then a harder wave of noise hit her causing her to stumble slightly, hand thrown out to support her weight. Her power surged without warning and she winced as the horrible sound of cracking glass filled the ice cream parlour. A nasty crack ran from her hand all the way down the counter windows.

Oh, no. Not again. She thought she finally had control!

“I’m sorry, I had a pain and-” The girl behind the counter was staring at her with wide eyes, but all she could hear was distortion in her mind.

Well, alright then.

People wondered why Killian got involved in things, and this was why - because he wouldn’t pick up a pint of bloody rocky road without something exploding. Ye gods, this city. It was going to be the death of him, and at this point, he might welcome that.

Red-rimmed electric blue eyes, physical evidence of the Dark One’s curse sinking its talons in further, flitted toward the poor pregnant girl. She couldn’t be more than seventeen or eighteen, and obviously she was having...difficulties. Nosy little brat, he heard Nimue scoff. Shouldn’t listen where you’re unwanted.

“It’s not her fault,” he muttered under his breath, but Nimue didn’t believe him. She hissed behind the iron bars that held her; all she was comprised of happened to be vengeance and hurt, jagged emotions and sharp blades. If an intruder wanted to feel it too, then -

Stop, Killian gave Nimue a mental push, quieting her, and went up to the blonde girl. Since the ice cream parlor employee would just do the deer in headlights thing, he’d step in. “Come on, you ought to sit down,” he guided the girl to a table, and got her a glass of water to sip on too.

All she had wanted was a stupid sundae! Why did these things keep happening to her? Once upon a time Sue had been a normal popular high school student. Now she was something and she wasn’t entirely sure what. She had powers, ones she clearly didn’t have a full grasp on, and strange things just happened. This time, thankfully, she hadn’t opened some fissure in the ground and swallowed anything whole. That trick was reserved for monsters and demons.

A stranger stepped up to her, someone she vaguely recalled seeing on the network and she felt a faint sense of unease. The fluttering sounds grew louder around him, but at the same time she didn’t have an urge to blast him with her power. So, with a confused look on her face, she let him lead her to a table. Sue accepted the glass of water with thanks as she gave him a sheepish smile.

Just as she was about to bring the water to her lips she felt a strange sensation in her stomach. A startled look appeared on her face and then she let out a startled laugh.

“Oh my god,” she breathed out as she pressed a hand to her stomach. “I felt- she’s kicking.” The static in her brain faded for a moment and then Sue was setting the glass of water down hard. A hand went to her forehead as she winced. The happiness forgotten as her mind ached.

“She? Congratulations,” Killian returned the smile, his a bit fatigued. The Darkness kept him physically energized but mentally was a different story. However, he attempted to keep the voices at bay - if his focus slipped, he’d see them. And the last thing he wanted was to take in the vision of Rumplefucker, spinning on a stool at the counter licking an ice cream cone.

He focused on other things instead. Hard planks underfoot, muscles pulling tight in the arms and shoulders as pirates adjusted the rigging and raised the sails for a getaway. There were fingers rubbed raw from scrubbing the deck, salty sea spray in sun-scorched faces. He thought of how wonderful it felt to sail. It was flying, a dance over waves crested with white and cleaving paths through wind-whipped water. It was freedom.

That helped. It quieted the noise in his head some.

“I’m Killian,” he introduced himself. “I’m presuming the wee lass woke you with a craving for ice cream?”

The noise resided and Sue relaxed some. She managed to pick up the glass of water and take a sip. That calmed her nerves some, the way only water seemed to be able to do so. “Thank you,” she said as a sort of well rounded thanks. Thanks for helping her, thanks for the congratulations, thanks for even talking to her. She gently rubbed her hand over her growing belly in an affectionate way as she gave a nod.

“I’m Sue,” she glanced down at her would be daughter. “And this one did demand ice cream sundaes. Guess...we got a bit sidetracked.” She didn’t even know how to explain what had happened or if she even could. Lots of people in the apartment complex seemed to be of the supernatural sort, but Sue had pretty much kept her powers under wraps. Only a handful of people knew she could do things and most of that time was because she lost control in front of them. How was she supposed to train her powers when she didn’t understand them? That and the baby had a habit of boosting them randomly.

Sue had Carrie and Alicia to help her, but she still felt like she was doing this somewhat alone. If she had been back home she would have been even more alone. Carrie was dead back home, just like Tommy. Her fingers curled slightly against her belly as she let out a faint sigh. “I guess I should just see if someone delivers ice cream next time she gets a craving.”

He nodded in response to her thanks. “You’re welcome, love. And I’m sure these days there’s ice cream delivery - honestly, modern times and the conveniences. Practically anything’s available with the touch of a button.” It made Killian feel old, but he supposed technically he was - he’d only recently learned what Netflix was, after all. Catching up on modern times was a daunting task.

“Seems a shame, though. Fresh air’s good for you and the lass. Do you have...trouble often?” the Captain hedged then. Nimue had guessed the girl was a mindreader, but telepathy wasn’t really a common power back in Killian’s world. Memory erasing, memory restoration, and telekinesis among others - but he didn’t know of many mindreaders, come to think of it.

He honestly wouldn’t want to be saddled with that. Given the thought process of the average person? Gods, no.
There probably was a service that did deliver, but Killian was right. Fresh air was something she enjoyed. “I would miss the fresh air,” she admitted. She had often gone running before all of this, waking up with the dawn to just enjoy the crispness of morning. Sue wasn’t doing any running now. Oh, some people while pregnant still did morning jogs, but she was tired and cranky in the morning. That and her bed always just felt so comfy that she never wanted to get up earlier then she had to now.

Her gaze flickered to the cracked glass and she frowned. This was honestly the first time she had ever heard strange noises, whispers even, and she wasn’t sure how to answer his question. Up until she had just moved things with her mind. Carrie had some sort of mind reading ability so it wasn’t far fetched that Sue did as well since it was Carrie’s clumsy intrusion into her mind that had left a mark.

Sue tapped her fingers against the glass of water as debated how to respond to his question. “Bad luck must follow me,” she said cautiously. “Not the first time glass has cracked near me. Thankfully I have yet to break a mirror.”

She didn’t know if he could be trusted or if he was one of those weird witch hunters. So it was best to act like she didn’t know what he was asking.

Certainly not a weird witch hunter (though maybe weird was up for debate), though Killian didn’t blame the girl for being cautious. In this city, you sort of had to be. Those who went around laying out what they could do in plain sight, like a laundry list to make themselves feel powerful, were people he didn’t understand.

“Bad luck tends to follow yours truly as well,” he chuckled bitterly. “I must have broken a dozen mirrors in a past life.” Who knew anymore, really? Loss was such an old and familiar friend, it defined the grizzled pirate by now. “But at any rate, I just came to get some ice cream for my ladyfriend. You want anything?”

He reached into his pocket, money on the table. But the coins - they flipped on their sides, spinning there like a top or two, before they shot into his hand again. Just a little demonstration, so she’d know that she wasn’t the only one saddled with...extras.

The coin trick had her eyes widening in surprise. Honestly, she knew she shouldn’t be that surprised anymore, but Sue was. She looked at his hand and then back towards the cracked glass of the ice cream counter. Magic. Killian had magic. Well, that or he at least could move things with his mind like her. A serious look settled over her face as she glanced back at him.

Could she trust him?

“I…” She stopped for a second and took a sip of her water to calm her nerves. She set the water glass down and squared her shoulders slightly as she looked Killian straight in the eyes. “I have a lot of problems because I don’t exactly know what I am or how to control my ever changing...abilities. Normally I just move with things my mind, but this latest loss of control was because I heard something. It just...wasn’t with my ears, if that makes sense.”

“That was probably my fault, I apologize. Well - it’s not just me in my head, I should say. I’m a bit cursed - there are side effects.” the pirate amended. And Nimue scoffed at the term ‘side effects,’ a bristling that rippled from her down toward all the other Dark Ones crowded in his head. “You’re still young though, and figuring things out. I’m not a mindreader, exactly, but - perhaps it would help if there was a way to sort of...neutralize the power for the lass in her waterbed? At least until she’s older? That ought to help you some too.”

Because what did a newborn know about controlling telekinesis? Essentially nothing. Babies were just too young to comprehend the nuances of such a thing - and to have a power like that all willy nilly would be dangerous for everyone, including the child. Plus, the poor mum didn’t even understand her abilities - it was probably adding extra stress to think of her child burdened with the same thing.

“And like I said, not a mindreader. Though I do know someone who helped my ladyfriend when her magic was on the fritz. I could put you in touch if you’d like.”

Cursed? That sounded like something out of a crazy fairy tale, but she refrained from saying that. This place was crazy enough without suggesting fairy tale magic was real. Except, Sue was aware that it was real here. She was from a world where magic was unheard of and Carrie had been a strange case. Now? They were in a version of LA where magic, vampires, witches, and more existed.

“I had a friend try to sense her mind...and she managed to repel them, with a lot of force. I am not sure my baby would go along with anything neutralizing her powers, but that’s just it. I just don’t know.”

Sue sighed faintly as she glanced down at her belly. “Most of the time she is quiet, but I guess you were something new? I don’t hear anything now and the feeling of...unease is gone.” She was unsure of doing anything magical or the like with her baby. The last thing she wanted to do was accidentally harm her little girl.

If the baby, in her waterbed, was already leveling buildings or repelling minds or doing whatever else - well. To Killian, that would make for an interesting intro to this shithole world. “That’s tough, love. Raw power is just noise if it’s not controlled,” he said. “It’s not even that useful, if it’s just noise. Your little lass won’t understand control right off the bat.”

Or perhaps she would - he really didn’t know either; this was a type of magic, or power, or otherworldly ability that was unfamiliar to him. “But either way, what I do know is that faith is very powerful - so you’ve got to believe it will work out too.” You could accomplish most anything with enough belief and effort - and he had managed throughout his long and wretched life, with a sort of dogged persistence that had nothing to do with the crackling of magic in his veins.

And you could accomplish anything with the help of sweets too. Especially those. “I’ve got to get back to my lady, with her ice cream, but if you’d like to talk sometime give me a shout?” he offered. It had to be terrifying, to be young, pregnant, and stuck in this city. Support wasn’t a bad thing to offer, and he could manage that much.