"Can you do that?" She slipped her shoe back onto her foot. "I thought you were all about doom, gloom, pain and all that." She pulled at her arm, trying to see her elbow to no avail. The dirty scrape was at just the right place so that she couldn't see it, as evidenced by how she twisted and turned her arm.

It stung but as she moved her arm, it really didn't hurt too much. It felt like a little raspberry that had damp earth ground into it. "It's not such a big deal. Hardly a thing at all, but if you'd like me to be a guinea pig, I'm game." She shrugged. Maybe she didn't know exactly what she was offering, but she seemed to implicitly trust her nervous system to Garrett. Her other hand brushed at her skirt. She couldn't shake the feeling that she was covered in dried bits of grass no matter how many times she brushed herself off.

She offered her elbow to him. They weren't so far from the mansion. If something went wrong, they were close enough to get help at least.

"It's not such a big deal. Hardly a thing at all, but if you'd like me to be a guinea pig, I'm game." She shrugged.

He smiled wide and nodded. It didn't seem so difficult. Just do the opposite of flaring someone with pain. Turn the receptors off, not on. "[yellow]Thanks for trusting me. Excuse the pun, but this won't hurt a bit.[/yellow]" He placed his hands on her elbow and closed his eyes, visualizing the nerve bundles in her elbow. Seeing the throbbing in the area in question, he visualized the pulses of pain slowing and receding. Slowing and receding. Stopping.

He opened his eyes and looked at her."[yellow]Better? Be honest.[/yellow]" He did see the science of the experiment and he was both excited for the results but at the same time was concerned in case he may have hurt her. He noticed his hands were still on her elbow and he pulled them away, her fine, soft skin trailing away from his fingers, as if the effect had heightened his own sensitivity in his digits.

She was still trying to figure out where the pun was when he deemed her better. She hadn't been paying attention so she had to test it out to see if it still hurt. She wobbled her arm this way and that... then curiously poked her upper arm. "Do you have to turn them back on?" She wasn't sure what 'them' was, but she knew something had been turned off. Actually as she flexed her arm she realized it felt... distant. Like it had fallen asleep. It felt awkward and club like, the numbest area being her elbow.

She wiped off the dirt from the wound without a wince. She didn't feel it at all, but she wasn't sure if that was a good thing. "Honestly?" She wobbled her arm awkwardly again. "You definitely turned off the pain, but it's weird. It's like my arm is asleep."

"You definitely turned off the pain, but it's weird. It's like my arm is asleep."

Garrett nodded, a look of concern on his face. What had he done wrong? He had no prior experience to base this result on. He thought about the process. It must have been the stopping part. He should have only made the pain recede, not stop. Of course, this was a minor scrape, not a real wound. He concentrated, this time without touching her, revisiting her elbow in his mind. The area that he turned off he imagined as a dead part of a forest. He slowly imagined the green returning to the trees there, matching the rest of the forest. All parts equal.

"[yellow] I'm sorry. I hope I repaired whatever I just did. I really need some training with my abilities. I just don't want to resign to the idea of only causing pain in people.[/yellow]" He genuinely felt bad about numbing her out. Her body would have probably worked it out over a short while, but he didn't like the idea of harming her, even if it wasn't so bad. They had arrived at the gates.

Surely this was only due to the fact that he had never tried it before. He felt like he had the potential to do better, but no more experimentations would occur with Maya. At least not of that sort.

Again it was hard to tell what he had done, not because she wasn't paying attention. No, this time she had watched every movement from the furrowing of his brow to the way he held his hands just above her skin, but never touched. Nope, this time she couldn't tell because you don't really feel your elbows very much unless there is something wrong. She repeated her process of testing out the arm: a poke here, a pinch there, flexing and un-flexing. It wasn't numb. It responded as it should. The little wound didn't smart, but she could feel where it was again.

"Hey! You're getting pretty good at this." She grinned and clapped him on the back before stopping to punch in the code that allowed them through the gate. "I wonder what else you could do...? If you're on people's nervous systems - that means you get the brain too, right?" She ducked through the gate and held it open for Garrett next.

"I bet you could make people smell the color purple... no wait. That's useless. Oh! You could make your enemies fall in love with you!" She glanced back at Garrett as they walked, seeming to think herself a genius for this idea.

"Well, chemical love anyway." She added with a shrug. "They'd have a hard time attacking you if they were conflicted with feelings." She seemed to be fixed in spirit and in body. She danced ahead a few paces again, just too excited to keep a normal pace. Her skirt and the back of her shirt opposite of her hurt elbow had slightly damp marks where she'd hit the earth.

She let Garrett catch up as they neared the end of the long drive and approached the front door. "If you ever need a guinea pig again, I volunteer, okay?"

He was pleased that he had rectified whatever injury he had caused. She seemed so pleased over it. He listened to her ideas as they stepped through the gate and made their way towards the doors. She was gaily skipping along, mentioning the possibility of Garrett making his enemies fall in love with him. Chemical love. Just enemies? , he thought. Surely he had a better target in mind.

She waited for him near the mansion doors. As he approached, she volunteered to be his guinea pig anytime. [yellow]"Guinea pig, huh? How about the chemical love experiment then? Or do you think that one is working on its own?[/yellow]", he answered, a warm smile on his face. They had stopped outside the doors. It was similar to dropping a girl off at home from a date. What would happen next?

"Guinea pig, huh? How about the chemical love experiment then? Or do you think that one is working on its own?"

Ghost had one hand on the door handle and she thanked whatever gods existed that she wasn't facing him at the time of his comment. She froze and a full second or two ticked by before the full gravity of what he said clicked in her mind. Wow. She'd practically asked for that one. She held onto the door handle in front of her like it was the only sane thing left in the world. She had to clear her throat several times before speaking was even an option and her face was so red that she bet he could see it burning hot in her ears even if he couldn't see her face.

"I-I think these things have a way of working themselves out, don't you?" She squeaked out in a slightly higher voice than normal. Her pulse thrummed in her throat. What was with these boys?

That comment had definitely thrown her for a loop. That's what happened when you went fishing though, sometimes you got a bite and sometimes you lost the hook entirely. He could see the redness in her face from here. He was glad she wasn't facing him as the smile on his face was so wide, his head could have swung back like a PEZ dispenser. She just stood, holding the door while replying to him. He had to help her out.

He stood in next to her and reached down to the opposite handle and opened it with a 'click'. Now facing her from the side with the door open, he said,"[yellow]Everything in the world works out eventually, my friend. After you.[/yellow]" He would try to read her feelings when they stepped into the foyer. If she was too bamboozled by the comment, he might let their tour wait.

As much as she wanted to run away and crawl into a hole and die, Ghost decided instead to chance a look at Garrett. He looked so... happy. He was enjoying this. He'd meant to make her squirm. It must've been a big joke to him.

"You!" She gave him a good whap and marched into the grand entry way. "You are so in trouble." She huffed a bit and shook her head as she marched on, not really caring where she was going.

"You really had me... She saw movement from the staircase as someone made their way up to the floor where the bedrooms were. Oh right. It was bed time. People could be sleeping. She lowered her voice considerably and continued. "... believing you for a second there, but I won't fall for that again." She shook her head.

She felt the need to stick her tongue out one last time. She knew she was gullible, but man, he'd scared her for a bit there.

Everything had worked smoothly. She was now at ease again, short of a small outburst. It was okay, though. He had to let her know that he was just as fluid, though not made of air. Once they were inside, Garrett closed the door behind him. "[yellow] So, would you like to go snooping around as we had planned? With everyone asleep, it should make it pretty easy. How about we split up and go to our rooms and then meet back at...say, the library?[/yellow]"

Having said that, Garrett shot her a smile and headed up to his room. He just needed to drop the jacket off and freshen up a bit. Then the tour would begin.

(OOC: The thread is moving to A New Page now.)