viii | voice; backdated to early morning

[invoking]

[ A voice post today. Having barely gotten any sleep from his inability to tune out the voices when he wanted to and Raven's power being hone, Gil doesn't want anyone to see the bags under his eyes and pale complexion.

His voice is forcibly calm the whole time. ]

I need to know who else was on that bus yesterday. The one where everyone's powers were supposedly switched. Was it really with someone else on the bus? No natives or maybe an imPort who wasn't on it?

[ A pause. ]

Did everyone at least make it out alright?


[ THIS PRIVATE FILTER IS SO WEAK IT MAY AS WELL JUST BE PUBLIC... ]

About yesterday... I didn't get to finish filing away all the papers, so it's a mess... and the copy machine was still running.

I'm sorry but I don't think I'll be able to come in for the next few days. If it's possible to request some time off and then work extra hours if needed later on-- [ He's not entirely sure how this works. ] I'll put in the extra hours.

Comments

[kickpushbaby]

I'm not being a bully!

[ Totally convincing when she gives the door a solid shove, right? ]

[invoking]

[ He stumbles back and out of the way without meaning to, giving her enough room to get past him now. ]

Jesse! Hey!

[kickpushbaby]

[ Totally going to take advantage of that to slip around him and inside. ]

Seriously though, are you hurt?

[invoking]

No, I wasn't anywhere near the bus that exploded. [ He examines her from head to toe with some difficulty. Sometimes his thoughts moved too fast. It was like a razor scraping from the inside of his skull. ]

[kickpushbaby]

[ she's absolutely filthy and also frowning at him. ]

You don't look too good, though.

[invoking]

Tired, that's all. [ Mostly true. He flares his nostrils at her now. ] Have you... bathed at all? The state of your clothes...

[kickpushbaby]

[ She ducks her head, tugging at her shirt. ]

Didn't really have a chance. I've been busy.

[invoking]

I don't have anything that will fit you. [ Maybe she should wear one of his T-shirts as a dress? ]

Did you really go out there and try to save people?

[kickpushbaby]

It's cool, don't worry about it. [ She's used to being dirty, even if it is embarrassing when someone points it out. She closes the front door and starts nudging him to the living room. ]

Yeah, of course. I'm a superhero, dude.

[invoking]

[ He follows a little reluctantly. He rubs at his temple. ]

You're just a kid.

[ He doesn't understand this "superhero" business at all. ]

And it's dangerous, isn't it? You should leave that sort of thing for the adults.

[kickpushbaby]

[ She snorts. ]

Being a grown up doesn't mean you know how to make things better.

[ She steers him to the couch. ]

You oughta go to bed, ya know.

[invoking]

I don't understand the kids here. [ He never found out Jess Drew was Spider-Woman, but he didn't like the idea of a kid superhero. ]

I... [ He hesitates. He doesn't want to burden her with his problems. ]

[kickpushbaby]

What?

[ She's really not going anywhere until he says something, staring at him intently. ]

[invoking]

I don't sleep much, anyway. It's nothing to me.

[kickpushbaby]

Yeah, but you're supposed to sleep more when you don't feel good.

[invoking]

[ A beat. ]

I can't. [ Another. ] I tried already.

[kickpushbaby]

What happened?

[invoking]

I really don't know. [ He sits on the couch, burying his head in his hands. All it takes is some focusing and the headaches stop, right? So he needs to remain calm.

That's too difficult right now. ]

I was at work-- then suddenly the bus. There was a flash of light and something hot. Then... [ He pauses and tenses. He'll sound crazy. ] Then all these voices.

[kickpushbaby]

[ Jesse frowns. ]

A lot of people who got stuck on the buses ended up hearing voices in their head. Maybe that's what you got?

[invoking]

Telepathy.

That's what Kenzi called it.

[ WHO WOULD WANT THIS HORRIBLE POWER? His head feels like it might combust. ]

[kickpushbaby]

Means you can read people's thoughts right?

[ She pauses and starts thinking really, really hard about tomato soup. ]

[invoking]

[ What is she doing? He starts wondering and looks at her. He regrets it immediately when his temples throb painfully and something about soup (what on earth?) crosses his mind. ]

Ah--!

[ He clutches his head again. ]

[kickpushbaby]

[ She feels bad pretty much instantly. ]

Fuck, sorry! Sorry, that was a shitty thing to do.

[ She nudges him to lay down on the couch, hoping that might help a little. ]

[invoking]

[ Most of the pain resides. He now pulls back from her, concerned. ]

You shouldn't be here. What if I hear more of your thoughts? [ That's some sort of invasion of privacy right there.

And worst of all, what if he accidentally shares his thoughts with her? Then she'd know too much and the lowly, cowardly person he really is in this world. ]

[kickpushbaby]

[ Jesse shrugs and plops down on the floor. She's way too tired to be standing around forever. ]

Not like I got anything to hide.