Patiently Waiting

by **Will Stanton** » Tue Jun 23, 2015 2:23 am

Will had knocked at Sam's door.

Oh, he knew Sam and Haley weren't in, but that's what Sam had said to do, so that's what he did. And he stood there, and he waited.

After about an hour--and odd looks from the people passing by going to their rooms--he had disrobed--drawing more odd looks--and shifted into a chair.

Some people take a seat, some people become a seat. It is the way of things.

by **Miriam Bell** » Tue Jun 23, 2015 2:25 am

Miriam returns from her classes and, spotting a lone chair in the hallway, quirks an eyebrow.

"Will?" she asks, walking up to it.

by **Will Stanton** » Tue Jun 23, 2015 2:26 am

Hi Miriam! she would hear in her head, if she bothered to listen.

by **Miriam Bell** » Tue Jun 23, 2015 2:28 am

"Why are you a chair in the hallway?"

by **Will Stanton** » Tue Jun 23, 2015 2:33 am

Because pants can't open doors.

by **Miriam Bell** » Tue Jun 23, 2015 2:40 am

"Okay, let's try to get that to make more sense, because I don't see how a chair would fare much better."

by **Will Stanton** » Tue Jun 23, 2015 2:42 am

Sam said not to go into her room unless someone says it's OK, and none of the things in the room right now are capable of doing that, Will explained.

by **Miriam Bell** » Tue Jun 23, 2015 2:44 am

"That's true." she concedes. "Why do you want to go into her room in the first place?"

by **Will Stanton** » Tue Jun 23, 2015 2:49 am

Just to be helpful. I thought I'd help tidy up some while she was out. Introduce myself to more stuff.

by **Miriam Bell** » Tue Jun 23, 2015 2:55 am

"And she didn't like that?" she asks, giving a student who is looking at her funny a stare that screams 'Keep walking' as she's talking to a chair.

by **Will Stanton** » Tue Jun 23, 2015 2:57 am

I don't know! She didn't like me entering her storage space without permission, I guess.

by **Miriam Bell** » Tue Jun 23, 2015 3:05 am

"It's like she's never even heard of room service." she shakes her head. "Do you enjoy tidying up?"

by **Will Stanton** » Tue Jun 23, 2015 3:06 am

I like helping.

by **Miriam Bell** » Tue Jun 23, 2015 3:08 am

"You know, if you want to tidy up you're always welcome in my room."

by **Will Stanton** » Tue Jun 23, 2015 3:10 am

Oh! I mean, if you need it... he thought, after a moment.

by **Miriam Bell** » Tue Jun 23, 2015 3:12 am

"My roommate certainly is messy enough. Only if you want to, of course."

by **Will Stanton** » Tue Jun 23, 2015 3:14 am

I'd be glad to help when I have some free time he said, with the mental equivalent of a nod.

by **Miriam Bell** » Tue Jun 23, 2015 3:21 am

"That's great." she smiles. "I was going to go get some dinner. You wouldn't happen to feel like being a necklace for a while? Bring some class to the cafeteria?"

by **Will Stanton** » Tue Jun 23, 2015 3:23 am

If that helps you eat, I'm more than glad to, he thought, shifting back for just long enough to form...an old fashioned string of pearls.

by **Miriam Bell** » Tue Jun 23, 2015 3:35 am

Miriam kneels down to pick them up and gently places them around her neck. "Beautiful." she says and it's not entirely clear if she means the pearls or just herself.

"I've been wondering..." she says as she walks down the hallway. "You have a very unique perspective. Would you mind if I made contact with your mind? Beyond just your surface thoughts?"

by **Will Stanton** » Tue Jun 23, 2015 3:37 am

That's not what we're doing now?

by **Miriam Bell** » Tue Jun 23, 2015 3:42 am

"I'm just listening to what you're trying to communicate to me."

by **Will Stanton** » Tue Jun 23, 2015 3:45 am

How can you listen if I'm not making any sound?

by **Miriam Bell** » Tue Jun 23, 2015 3:48 am

"It's a metaphor that most people understand fairly well. I don't strictly hear your thoughts. I sense an abstract mental construct that conveys a message best represented in words but unrelated to language. I sense the meaning of what you try to convey to me."

by **Will Stanton** » Tue Jun 23, 2015 3:48 am

That sounds really useful! I can't do that.

by **Miriam Bell** » Tue Jun 23, 2015 3:52 am

"Oh it's very useful. But it's just a side-effect of what I can do. What goes through someone's head at any given time is just a small part of what constitutes their mind. My mind can tune into those processes."

by **Will Stanton** » Tue Jun 23, 2015 3:57 am

Well, at least on minds you can understand, Will mused, thinking back to the chair conversation from the other day.

by **Miriam Bell** » Tue Jun 23, 2015 3:59 am

"Which makes me curious. You have such an unique view of things and maybe through your mind I'd be able to understand the secret world of objects better."

by **Will Stanton** » Tue Jun 23, 2015 4:05 am

Oh, well, if it will help, sure! I'm here to serve.

by **Miriam Bell** » Tue Jun 23, 2015 4:08 am

"You're very considerate." she smiles as she turns around and heads over to her dorm. She might be able to stay standing while using her power, but she'd rather not come across like a drooling moron, standing in the hallway and staring at nothing. Or worse, keep walking and run into a wall while she's distracted. Instead she makes herself comfortable on her bed as her mind makes contact with Will's...

by **Will Stanton** » Tue Jun 23, 2015 4:16 am

The first thing that Miriam would notice was different was the near absence of a wall.

In most people's minds, there's a clear barrier between 'outside' and 'inside'. Even non-telepaths have some natural protection, although it's usually nothing particularly fancy. Here, though, there was just the faintest whisper of a barrier before Miriam is in Will's mindscape, as if whatever walls had been there had been eroded away. It almost certainly would be an odd feeling, and the closest she'd be able to compare it to would be some of the patients in pure catatonic states at Muir--and even they usually had a little more residual barrier. Any telepath worth their stuff could get fairly easy access as things stood.

The second thing that Miriam would notice is the utter wasteland that was Will's mindscape.

It looked like a nuclear bomb had gone off. Sticking towards the sky was the shattered remains of buildings, standing up against a dark, almost blank void. Some structures remained intact enough to possibly enter, but most of them at least looked unsafe, if they even had walls and a ceiling standing. They also were covered in moss, and worn down from elements over time. Something used to be here, but it would take more than a first glance to figure out what.

The third thing that Miriam would notice was the absence of a solid ground.

All the buildings seemed to stick up from the ground halfway through, like they were somewhat buried in it. The 'ground' was perfectly flat and level, but went halfway up doorways, as if everything had been three feet higher at one point.

The fourth thing that Miriam would notice was that she was sinking into the some warm clay as she stood there.

by **Miriam Bell** » Tue Jun 23, 2015 4:27 am

"Oh my god... It's a wasteland." Miriam mumbles to herself as both her masks slowly swivel around, trying to take all of this in. It takes her a moment to notice that she's sinking into the 'ground' and when she does she quickly rids herself of the notions that she needs to have weight. Or ground to stand on. Willing her cloaked avatar to float up she slowly pulls herself free from the clay and begins to float towards the closest building. In a way she fits in well, a hunched over figure, mostly hidden by a ragged cloak, wandering through the ruins. She may be motivated by selfishness to a large extent but even she can't look past this devastation and at least feel little bit of compassion. It doesn't help that the view brings with it a certain melancholy over a different broken landscape disappearing before her mind's eye.

She shakes the thoughts off, her stance seemingly shifting underneath her cloak as she reminds herself that Will is very much alive and that while destroyed, his mind is not actively fading. Still, she can't help but call out to fill the landscape with some sign of life and maybe even get a response as she continues to make her way towards the nearest structure. "Will!"

by **Will Stanton** » Tue Jun 23, 2015 4:36 am

"Will..ill...il...il....il..." the voice echoed through the isolated wasteland. At the moment, at least, it seemed she was the only one here.

But that couldn't be right, could it? How could a mind function without the functions of a mind?

by **Miriam Bell** » Tue Jun 23, 2015 4:39 am

Keeping her eyes out for any movement she floats into the building through one of it's broken walls. Maybe there's enough of the interior left to give her an idea of what it's purpose once was.

by **Will Stanton** » Tue Jun 23, 2015 4:47 am

Well, the sign probably helps! Let's look at it.

Code: Select all: 09142205142009140718151513

....OK, or maybe not.

Well, let's see what it looks like. There seemed to be some flat surfaces--tables? Benches? Too high to be benches, but too thin to be dinner tables. Maybe some sort of workspace? Some rusted tubing and piping and metal vats, full of holes now thanks to age. A lot of metal in this room, actually, but mostly twisted and mangled beyond identification.

On the one interior wall left standing, there seemed to be a series of round holes, maybe 25 centimeters in diameter or so. Some of the holes had signs above them!

Code: Select all: 231518110612151518

Code: Select all: 2001192009140718151513

Code: Select all: 18050315180419

Code: Select all: 20152314191721011805

Code: Select all: 1801230914071805040905142019

Code: Select all: 04180501131920010705

And so forth.

These signs are written in gobbledygook. Miriam doesn't speak gobbledygook.

by **Miriam Bell** » Tue Jun 23, 2015 6:56 am

"How extraordinarily unhelpful..." she muses before turning her attention to the floor. Focusing her attention she tries to sense how far down the building extends into the goo.

by **Will Stanton** » Tue Jun 23, 2015 7:06 am

It extends down quite a way, but it seems like only one floor is actually below the line--half a floor, actually, because she had to go through a window to get to this one.

There may be a large subterranean component, but that's hard to tell.

by **Miriam Bell** » Tue Jun 23, 2015 2:57 pm

She frowns and returns to the room with the strange labels. Leaning down she scoops up some of the grey goo and stares at it almost contemplatively. What if the goo isn't rising but rather the result of things falling apart. A sort of mental residue or debris... She takes the handful of goo over to one of the walls and places it into one of the gaps in the wall, willing it to mend part of the wall.

by **Will Stanton** » Tue Jun 23, 2015 4:49 pm

The goo is warm and malleable to the touch, in a not unpleasant fashion.

And, yes, as she places it up against the wall and concentrates, it spreads out and shifts, creating more wall!

by **Miriam Bell** » Tue Jun 23, 2015 4:53 pm

"Amazing... I wonder if it knows to do that on it's own." she muses and grabs another handful of goo to place on the wall, this time only giving it the faintest mental nudge to turn into something.

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