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Will was thinking and Quin sat quietly while he did so. In all honesty she felt a little bad for asking so many questions. Today had already been a lot and there had been a few times that Will had looked absolutely shell-shocked. He was fidgeting with the bottle almost constantly, and his expressions kept oscillating between the easy smirk he seemed to favor and something far more thoughtful or serious and Quin wondered if she was doing the same.

It all made Quin think again about their conversation earlier and how she had never been anything but comfortable with her powers and their existence. In fact, Quin had been celebrated by her parents for having another thing that made her unique and they’d loved it when she’d figured out she could pull plastic to her when they’d gone and cleaned up parks or highways or campgrounds. The people they’d camp with or stay with in the summers had been the same way.

School had always been pretty great too, and if there’d been a few times when people had said things or done things that were unkind simply because she was a mutant, she’d definitely had an easier time of things than it seemed like Will had. After all this time keeping things under wraps, having someone pushing and prodding was probably a lot. On top of the day with all of its potentially life-threatening drama…

When Will spoke though, he didn’t really shy away from the topic, he even ceded her point that he could always turn things off if they got too intense for whoever he was practicing with.

The smirk was back now and Will was warning Quin to be careful what she suggested. She had kind of offered to help him out earlier. She would too and was going to say so, but Will’s smile faded and he admitted that it would be nice to be able to turn off his powers. Quin nodded sympathetically, what else could she do?

Still, Will pointed out that it wasn’t all bad because if he hadn’t been running himself half to death on the hottest day of the year they wouldn’t have run into each other.

“And then who would be pestering you with deep questions after the craziest day of your life?” Quin said with a grin, hoping to lighten things up again. “And we haven’t even gotten to politics and religion yet…”

All joking aside though, they’d already kind of hashed out how bad things might have gone if they hadn’t both been at the coffee shop today. Quin still thought she’d have been the one in far more trouble, but they’d well established they’d just bicker on that point.

“No pressure, but the offer stands.” she said.

Will continued to explain and Quin continued to listen.

Running was a coping mechanism, but it sounded like it was a little hard for Will to predict when things were going to get bad. It seemed like it built up on him, that things interfered with him getting out and running, or he underestimated how quickly the build up was happening. That led to those bad days or rough times he had mentioned.

Quin had thoughts on that, but stopped short of asking Will if he’d tried to practice or tried other things besides running. That was the part that was sticking in Quin’s head, how did the running help with the overstimulation? Was he literally just running himself ragged until the point where he was too tired to feel much of anything? Surely there was a better option.

Apparently she hadn’t overstepped with her questions and Quin watched as Will fidgeted with the bottle an she nodded, “Well, don’t think I’ll get offended if you tell me to mind my own business either…” she said, her own small smile echoing Will’s grin, “And it’s not whining when something is legitimately difficult Will. I’m glad you told me.”

Will had questions of his own though, and Quin nodded when he asked about her being able to feel things she could manipulate. The rest of his question was a bit more difficult to answer though.

“It’s probably super weird to you that I don’t know whether I can feel or hear something…it’s like…” she paused for a second, closing her eyes and trying to focus on the plastic close by, “It’s like touching a tuning fork? Different frequencies have a different sound and feel at the same time?” she opened her eyes and shook her head, still not completely happy with the description, ”It’s not intense though…it’s just there.” It wasn’t distracting, not like Will was saying.

As for whether she could feel things through the material, Quin shook her head, eyes narrowing slightly in concentration as she stared at the little lid that Will was holding up and pulled with her powers, gently at first, “No, but I can feel the resistance from you holding it.” she said, then pulled much harder so that the cap flew out of his grasp and into the hand she had raised. ”That is what wears me out.” she said, holding it up before tossing it back across the distance between them, ”As far as I can tell, I can’t pick up more than I could carry…give or take.”

“What about you? I gather you haven’t played with limits all that much?”

Quin just nodded when Will repeated her question back at her, and was that a hint of an accent that had slipped out there? Cute.

Will’s place sounded pretty typical of New York City, if potentially a bit roomier than a some of the closets that people tried to market as apartments. He said it was nothing like this, but what really was? “There’s a reason I’ve never asked how long I can stay…” Quin interjected softly.

Apparently Will fancied himself a neat freak and pointed out that he had to be or he couldn’t relax on the ‘hard days’. When he was having trouble with his power? Will had mentioned being overstimulated, but had been kind of vague about it.

Location-wise, Will threw out directions and Quin nodded like that meant something to her. She only knew that her apartment faced west because the sun was obnoxious for a while every night. Taking a moment to see if she could reconcile that with what Will had said, Quin eventually gave up.

“So…sparse…and neat…and not a broom closet. Sounds lovely.” Quin teased just a little bit.

“Does it build up on you?” she asked curiously, “All the sensory stuff?”

Quin paused for a minute, “I can hear or feel when I’m around stuff I can mess with. They all have different sounds or feels. That’s how I knew what I had to work with back at the cafe.”

Will seemed to be right there with Quin as far as being at a loss for what to do next was concerned. The current options were pretty scant and waiting for tomorrow to see what was up was really the only realistic option at this point.

Had Quin known that magic existed before today? Looking over at Will in the slightly dimmer light, she shrugged lightly, ”I heard about what happened at Xavier’s school last year.” she said, ”Some people were saying it was magic but a lot of people assumed it was some kind of X-Men thing…they’re always in one mess or another so it made just as much sense.” Quin’s opinion of the vigilantes was evident in her tone.

Apparently it had been real magic though. It was just another thing about today to add to the mountain of crazy.

Will voiced the thought that he’d have liked to have known about the existence of magic before being blindsided by a 5,000 year old sorceress and Quin nodded empathetically, “It does seem like the sort of thing that you’d want to make people aware of…” she said, then paused thouthfully, “Like, is it like us where it’s just a part of you…or do people learn? I grew up around a lot of people who thought they were witches…but I never saw an inkling of anything really real.”

Quin shook her head, “So I guess after all that the answer is no, I didn’t…not really.”

”I already know you make good coffee and I swear that’s all I did for the first six months.” Quin said with a shake of her head, ”And pick up dry cleaning, and run errands…they taught me how to do everything else as we went.” Things were better now, but there were still days when Quin felt like more of a personal assistant than a political intern. It was what it was though and all things indicated that Quin was incredibly lucky with her boss because Zselyke was a legitimately decent person. That was not the case for everyone in the Senate. ”So you’re more than qualified.”

Over at the window Quin had pulled the first curtain shut. They were heavy damask and blocked a ton of light and heat, the downside was that they were heavy and took a bit of pulling to get the metal rings they were hung from to slide across the mounted curtain rod.

Will spoke and Quin turned to him and nodded, then turned back to look down at the park. Things did seem more quiet than they had been earlier, but that could have just been the illusion of the park and the space immediately around Haven.

”It is kind of weird…” Quin said, “But what hasn’t been weird today?” Hell, the fact that they were here and having this conversation was weird if Quin really thought about it. In context maybe not, but out of context…probably.

“And it is pretty average all things considered, a few more clouds, a little cooler outside…then it would be impressive.”

Still, the light was brightly shining inside the window and Quin grabbed the other side of the curtains and pulled it shut. In the absence of the natural light it was now significantly darker in the apartment but that was a bit of a relief at the moment.

“Want anything?” Quin asked as she moved to the kitchen to grab a bottle of water from the fridge.

”I call them comfort shows…and I think the’re pretty universal.” Quin said when Will explained his tendency to watch and re-watch old favorites instead of new things. It really was such an easy thing to do, especially when you weren’t sure you could give your full attention to the screen and there was almost always something else Quin felt like she should be doing if she was watching TV.

After the next episode they’d talk about pulling the shades on the windows, Will wanted to get into the show before his mind caught up with his body.

Quin nodded, it was a good plan even if it was kind of unbelievable that the sun was even setting. On one hand, Quin felt like she’d been standing across the street from the coffee shop just a little while ago…like everything that had occurred between then and now was a huge blur of activity that existed outside of time and space. On the other, it felt like it had been days rather than the hours it had actually been.

Quin’s mind related more to the first thought and her body more to the second. The longer she sat, the more the exhaustion crept into her arms and legs, like settling in had finally given herself permission to stop being on alert and ready to go.

Adrenaline, it turned out, was a hell of a drug.

Still, The second episode was starting and Quin turned her attention to the screen. As with lots of shows, the second was focused on getting to know the characters. It was quickly established who the villains were and who the heroes were going to be, but the same cozy undercurrent of heart and humor wove its way through the plot. It was, Quin decided, a very easy show to watch.

The credits were just starting to roll when Quin’s phone rang again. Thinking it was probably her parents, she picked it up, then cursed softly, ”Work…” she said, casting a quick glance at Will before answering.

The conversation wasn’t terribly long. It was Senator Lanyi’s assistant on the phone and they were checking in with all of the interns to make sure that they were safe. Quin assured them that she was and then listened to the instructions that followed and nodded while everything was relayed. Quin mentioned that she had potentially lost her laptop, but assured the assistant that noting of a sensitive nature had been stored outside the secure online file hosting area they all used. Once everything settled, she hung up the phone and sighed.

“Don’t have to go in tomorrow, but they want everyone on a call at 4. Say another prayer for my laptop or I’m going to have to make do with my phone and a legal pad like in the old days.”