Starring:
Summary:
Peter and Cass during work about Elena's accidental power usage, her headaches and the possibility of a new training regimen.
July 7th, 2007:
Long Day's Night
Enlightenment Books
Mondays normally start out slow and get steadier as the day moves on. In a considerably dark mood, Cass is flipping through some catalogues for new books. She folds down pages with possible books to order and circles them in different colored markers as to reordering, new books, things that were backordered last time she tried to order them. Really, she's just trying to keep her mind off of everything that's been happening the past two days.
The last two days have been a little awkward, haven't they? Peter missed a lot of it, but that doesn't make him immune. The door makes a noise as he opens it, showing up for his timed shift a few minutes early— but looking rather tired, skin flushed in a few places, especially around the eyes. Checking his watch to make sure he's early, he steps further inside, moving towards the counter where he can remove the carrier bag from his shoulder and set it down, catching sight of Cass. "Tough day so far?"
As always, Cass is aware of the door opening and closing. So, when Peter approaches her, she's not startled. Instead, she just sighs and nods, letting her markers drop into the crease of her catalogue, she leans back in her chair and nods. "And night before," she adds with a bit of a frown. "How about you? You're here kind of early, aren't you?" She looks up at the clock on the wall and then over at Peter. The carrier bag isn't something totally out of the ordinary, so she doesn't give it more than a cursory glance.
Night before… It probably shouldn't surprise him that she may have been involved in that mess last night. "Heard a little about what happened with Elena— were you stuck in that too?" Peter asks, putting the bag down nearby, before he checks his watch again. "I'm just a little early, but not much." Normally he doesn't work on Mondays, but this would be one he signed up for ahead of time. He's been working different hours since he began staying at his brother's again, for Heidi's protection. Rubbing lightly at his eyes, he waits for her answer, visibly fighting back a yawn.
The frown certainly deepens when that night is brought up. "Unfortunately, yes." Cass sighs. "It's had a lot of repercussions, that's for sure." For now, she's not going to bring up Lachlan being in jail for punching Nathan, but it'll be a topic of conversation at some point, she's sure. "Up late last night?" It's hard not to notice the fought back yawn or the tired look he has. Standing up, she gestures that they can move back to the employee room so that he can put his bag away. They'll walk and talk at the same time.
"Sorry to hear that— I hope it works out," Peter responds, looking visibly worried about what could have happened. There's a lot of people he should talk to about this, but he hasn't yet. Instead, the hand covers up a yawn he can't stop fully, before he shakes his head. "Went to bed early, same time as the boys." He'd been left with them that night, missed out on the adventure in the night club. "But I got woke up and… Couldn't get back to sleep. I'll be okay, just might need to run down some coffee." There's a pause, before he gives a hint of a subject change, hand going into his hair as he looks just to the side of her, "Think our last lesson helped a lot."
"Me too," Cass replies with a sigh. "I, uh, it was kind of crazy. Jack made out with another guy. Nathan and Heidi were all but making out on the bar…" And now Cass is blushing pretty heavily. "And, uh, Nathan kissed me. So, Lachlan got arrested punching him this morning." Now that they're in the back room, she feels okay letting something like that out. Flipping on the coffee machine, she fills it with water and starts to let it boil. "So…could you apologize to him for me? For Lachlan. I don't hold anything against him. We were all drugged. I just…I want to kind of move past it." Taking the last of what was left in the coffee pot before she started brewing more, she pours it all into a mug and holds it out to Peter. "Coffee? It's not that old." And oh, please, change the topic. That would be lovely. "Really? I'm glad. Have you been practicing healing people?"
Nathan… kissed his boss. And Heidi was there too? And Jack was kissng on a guy? What the heck is all of this? "The things I miss when I stay home babysitting," Peter says, shaking his head a little before he takes the coffee mug, downing a good sized drink of it. At least he sounds like he's glad he missed it. Who can blame him, really? "Know what happened— with Elena and… the whole…" He waves a hand. How do you explain a 'near orgy' that happened because of her ability? But he does know what she's talking about with being drugged. "And it's not the first time Nathan's been punched in the face. Hope that he understands and doesn't give Lachlan too difficult a time." The subject change, yes… "Yes, I— did a little healing of older wounds. I healed Monty's arm, for one— told the boys about me. Not about Nathan, or most everyone else— just me. Broken arm was a month old. And… I healed a— a burn scar— that was from— February, I think."
Unfortunately, it all is true. "Oh, believe me, I would rather have babysat rather than endanger my relationship because of some weird happening in a club." Cass certainly doesn't sound like she /liked/ being there. "Yeah. I…hope he's okay, too. I'm supposed to post his bail soon. I wouldn't blame Nathan for not understanding. Lachlan's solution seems to be physical rather than talking it out." Back to healing. "Wow. So you can heal old wounds?" That's something she hadn't actually known that his ability can do. "That's pretty amazing. Have you found wounds that you can't heal? I mean, on a timeline. I'm sure there has to be a cut off point. Or maybe it just has to deal with how much energy you have or can spare. I doubt that the body would allow you to over-extend. That's why you might pass out if you reach too much."
"I don't know exactly. The burn might still have worked because it would have healed away eventually?" Peter's not completely sure, but he'll respect changing the subject considering— a ruined relationship could be an issue. Though… that might still come up anyway. The only thing he'll say on that same topic… "If you need to leave, I can take over here." Especially now that he has coffee. "I'll have to test it out. So far I've only healed trauma, powered or normal trauma. But never anything like… diseases. Not sure what that old man had." But from the bandage, it looked like blunt object trauma to the head, maybe a bad fall? "It— wasn't the healing lesson I meant, though. I was— the persuasion. After the— guess it might not have really been a lesson, but— I broke up with Elle." It's said in a voice that sounds rather unsure of how she'll feel about this. As if he's worried what she might think of him.
"No, it'll be okay." Cass sighs and sits down in one of her office chairs. "He deserves to be in jail for a little while for punching Nathan." Of course, she's conflicted about that since she feels like /she/ should be punished for /kissing/ him, but she's very serious about people not resorting to violence when you can talk things out. "I'll take you up on that later, though. I'll let him cool off there for a little while and then go bail him out." Just so he can think things over. Then, however, she listens to Peter and what he has to say. "Are…are you saying that you Persuaded Elle to stop seeing you?" She's more trying to figure this out than judge him at the moment.
"Nathan deserves it sometimes, though," Peter can't help but say, as if he has experience with this 'punching Nathan' thing. Oh yeah, did he mention he got hit by his brother's car not too many days ago? Two to be exact? Yeah, there's that too… "Not in this case, though. Can… imagine it'd be hard to fight. The— urge to kiss, I mean." At least they'd avoided doing anything else, right? But… "It's more like… I persuaded her to be okay with it. So no one would… get hurt over it. Including Elle." Though the chances she'd hurt other people over it? Yeah… those were pretty high. "It's something I should have done a long time ago. But…" The potential for damage had been too great. "I know that isn't what I should have used it for…" he says, looking down into the coffee, before he takes a decent sized drink of it.
"Yeah, I can see that." Cass gives a wry grin. "Of course, that doesn't mean I like the fact that it was Lachlan doing the punching. Even if he kind of had a reason to do it." But, it also stems from the bigger problem of Lachlan not talking to her about it. "It was…yeah, it was a weird night." However, they're talking about Peter and his problem. She frowns but she looks up at Peter with a look that doesn't look angry or disappointed. "I can't say I'm thrilled about the idea, Peter. I'll be honest. But…you did it to make sure that she didn't hurt anyone. Which is something that she's done before. I don't know. I just think you should be careful with it. But, since you're already feeling guilty about doing it, I think that's good. You shouldn't ever feel /good/ about compelling someone do something."
"Do feel bad about it," Peter says with a nod, actually sounding a little relieved for some reason. There's been many reactions to what he did, and this one… "Did just want to make sure no one got hurt over it. If it wasn't her hurting… people… to try and get even with me. Know it's wrong to assume she would— but it's kind of… a chance I can't take." There's only so much he can heal, and he couldn't stand it if someone was hurt because of him like that. "I'm not thrilled about it either, so… won't ask you for practice on that one again. Last resort only." And it'd kinda been in this case, too. "Think… this is how Elena feels, though. About what happened. Even if she didn't mean to do it— it's not her fault. She still… made people feel things, do things, they might not have done otherwise… She feels bad about it."
With a nod, Cass leans back in her chair and puts her feet up on her desk so that she can properly lounge. "I understand, Peter. She /has/ done it before and I don't want to think that she would do it again, it's a precaution that you took. It's not one I would recommend you try again, but what's done is done. We'll work on everything else first before we go back to that one. You should train on everything, just so you don't accidentally use it when you don't mean to." Which is also a problem. "I know it wasn't Elena's fault. That it was because she was tired and not feeling well. You have burdens I can't even imagine. Being able to do things that most other people can't do. But, I'll swing by Elena's and see how she's doing. She said she had something to show me, anyway."
"You realize we'll never train everything else before we get back, unless I stop meeting people," Peter says with a hint of a smile, at least getting a hint of a better mood back. "It was— whatever her father did to her. She'd told me it gave her headaches almost as soon as he did it. I don't think that happened to anyone else— she thinks he was tired when he got around to fixing her and… I /told her/ to talk to him about it, get him to fix it, but she hadn't yet. She still had the headaches when I…" His voice trails off. "Hopefully she talked to him this morning. Last night should have been an incentive." He'll hope it was. "When you stop by— ask her about the headaches. If she hasn't talked to her dad, by then… maybe she'll listen if we both bug her."
"Well, hopeful thinking," Cass replies with a laugh. Maybe he'll meet everyone he can absorb abilities from at some point and then they can review. Or at least get a breather from all the new abilities that he needs to keep in control. "Hm." Frowning, she thinks that one over. "I'll definitely talk to her about that when I see her. If she's been having headaches, there's something wrong there. I'll see if I can talk some sense into her. You now how stubborn she is, I'm sure." The corner of her lips turn up in a sort of smile. "I'm sure between the two of us we can get her to talk to her father. And if /she/ doesn't, I will."
"Still need to figure out talking to animals, or making things gold. Most I'm stuck with on the animals is— I've talked to pigeons and I can sometimes figure out what mood Snowy's in," Peter explains, sounding unsure. He's not even sure who he got that ability /from/… but he's pretty sure it was the Zoo worker and not his boss' boyfriend. Or maybe he got the ability from both of them? It's really hard to tell… "I'm not sure what happens with… overlapping abilities…" There's Lachlan and Daphne from the Zoo, Alyssa and Sylar… Portia and Claude… "And there's a lot I know I have just… haven't really used. Except for this one time with tasers I haven't been able to stop time, much less teleport. There's a lot left we can do." And a lot he hasn't even discovered he might be able to do at all. "…and she said it was because he was busy— but she should have woken him up after last night and she didn't."
"Well, that's something I'm helping Lachlan with, too. Maybe I could cut corners and train you two together?" Cass lets her feet fall back to the ground so that she can rest her arms on her desk and think that over. "As long as the two of you don't mind." It's about time she started her actually opening up Bat Country to people other than just Peter. "We /do/ still have a lot to do. We'll work through them all, we will. I think we should mostly worry about what the abilities are rather than who you got them from. For all we know it could just be random people you bumped into on the street." Because it doesn't seem like his ability distinguishes between people he actually knows and those he doesn't. "And she /should/, but it's her father. And doing this takes a lot out of him. I can understand her hesitance."
"Seem to have better control when… it's like a flash. Not quite a memory, but a feeling. How they made me feel when I was around them," Peter tries to explain, not sure he's making much sense, even if… she's got some good ideas. "I probably could do it a lot better with Lachlan around— just like I know half the reason I could use her power so well when you were hurt was because Elena was standing right there with me. Haven't tried to… project it since then, though. Maybe I got better at it." Or that could have been something he could only do in her presence. "I think it does matter who, though. You could be right, I just— think there's more to it than— the abilities. Feels… deeper than that." At the same time, he sounds vaguely unsure. "Maybe I should have tried to fix it… This is really hurting her, and she's losing control of her abilities. Next time she could end up hurting people— more than kissing and unwanted feelings… and punches from boyfriends later."
"I'm not saying the people that you get it from don't /matter/," Cass tries to correct herself. "I'm just saying we could spend months trying to track down who it was that gave you a particular ability and get nowhere. But, we'll test that. Next time I try to train Lachlan to talk to more animals, I'll ask you along too, okay? It'll be like group therapy." So that she can spread her uses in a two birds with one stone manner. That way she can help more people in a day. "I think it's like how you were telling me when we first met. How you're kind of like an empathic sponge. The way you access abilities is through your feelings and the feelings of others. So the closer you are with someone, the easier it will be to use their ability. Maybe next time we'll test that theory a little." Do a little blind testing or the like. "I'd prefer Ramon doing it, since he seems to know exactly what he's doing. But, yeah, if this keeps going for a day or so more, you probably should do it. I don't want her hurting herself. Or anyone else."
"Sure. Testing the theory might help me understand how it works more," Peter says with a nod, finishing off his coffee. He'd been right. All he needed was some coffee to keep his blood moving and wake up more— even if he's still got red around his eyes from the inability to get back to sleep. As for blind testing… he's not sure how she'd do it, but he trusts her. "I'm only a last resort, yeah— If it hadn't been a week since she told me about the headaches, I wouldn't be so worried. She should have gotten that looked into the same day she realized when it started." And at this point… the front door opens and he looks towards it, moving a little to get a better view. The person he sees makes him smile knowingly, and he moves back towards Cass and puts up the emptied mug. Oh yeah, from the smile he knows this shopper. "I'll take care of this one— he… he's looking for the more… artistic books." He hopes she gets what he means by that. Why is everything about this conversation seeming to lead back to inappropriate feelings? In this man's case, towards fairy drawings and demon women?
"Yeah. Because helping individual abilities works to a certain extent, but if we can get the underlying causes and factors, that's really what will help you across the board." It's scientific, mathematic, and, well, common sense. Why just work on one thing when you can raise the entire bar? "Alright. I'll talk to her, then. And try to get her to talk to Ramon." Because she knows that as soon as Ramon hears that it's hurting her, he'll fix it. When the door opens, she looks up, too, and allows Peter to handle this customer. "Oh really?" Inappropriate feelings is right in that case. But, she's not about to judge a customer on his preference of reading material. If he likes demon and fairy drawings, well, he can just go to town. "I'll let you know when I need to run down to the station," she tells Peter. "But, for now, I'll be back here for just a bit if you need me." Because it's easier for her to do lot of administrative Owner stuff from the back room.
"Yeah, it will," Peter has to admit with a nod, agreeing that knowing how his ability works would help him control it a lot more than he does right now. Maybe one day he could absorb only when he wants to. Or even get rid of abilities he doesn't want to use— like blowing up New York abilities. "Yeah." The man will probably buy about five hard back full color books, so it's a good chunk of change— "I'll be out here. Let me know," he adds, before moving over to talk to the older man, who seems to recognize him— even if he looks intimidated by the owner of the store. At first, he's pretending to be interested in the palm reading books. Only they both know he's not. That will change once Cass disappears into the back…