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Waffles were a go…but first, this whole little situation had to be taken care of. Whatever it was. Kealey wondered if she should be nervous, but it was hard to feel that way when Shin had been so sure that what they would do was going to be fun. He was confident too, confident in himself, confident in her, it didn’t really matter. All that confidence was good for the soul. Kealey’s tummy grumbled though, and she hoped that whatever this try-out was, it wasn’t going to take too long.

The doors opened, and her partner for the exercise entered the room. Kealey tilted her head, unable to immediately place a name with the face she saw. It wasn’t the lack of recognition that really held her attention though…nope. He was nervous. Kealey was an empath…so now she was nervous.

Damn. Kealey cursed, surprising herself. It had been quite some time since something had put her off to the point of swearing. This was not going to happen. Confidence in such situations was key. If Shin could hold himself together while being shot at, Kealey was not going to fall apart simply because a nervous teen walked into the room.

Eyes narrowing slightly, Kealey focused on the more confident set of emotions in the room, trying to climb inside the little bubble that contained them as Shin’s. It helped, enough that the sudden butterflies stopped their fluttering.

Shin told the kid, Cafas, that he wouldn’t be needing all the gear he’d brought along and Kealey nodded her head. There would be no fighting, Shin had promised. Not that there wouldn’t ever be fighting if she helped the team out…but that’s not what she was there for. She was there for support. Introductions were made, and Kealey nodded once to Cafas at the appropriate point. They could be friendly later, maybe he could even join them in waffle eating. Who knew. For now, though, Kealey needed to concentrate.

Shin explained what would be happening, that they would be demonstrating their skills at working under pressure. Kealey nodded her head, pressure was something she was used to. With the emotions of an entire mansion full of teens in your head, working was always working under pressure.

Up Shin went, into the god room, and they waited. They were supposed to get to know each other. Shin’s emotions were still there, and she was relieved, because the boy was still nervous.

”I’m an empath.” she said a little tightly, ”So when things get intense, I’ll get intense, please don’t take it personally I‘ll introduce myself more properly and politely when we‘re through here. Also, I can bring your emotions up and down, so if there’s anything you want to feel more of or not feel…please let me know. What should I know about you?”

Shin’s voice echoed a few moments later, and Kealey almost laughed at the way it echoed around the empty room. That is until the room wasn’t nearly so empty anymore. Suddenly they weren’t in the Danger Room, they were in the middle of an empty New York street. That sight in and of itself was enough to make Kealey shudder a little, the quiet was absolutely surreal. Shin was excited about this and that made all the difference in the world to the blond…he’d never have been excited about something that would hurt her. Everything was going to be fine. She turned to Cafas and smiled, ”Good luck.” she said.

As per Shin’s instructions, Kealey and Cafas made their way into the shop…it was a tailoring shop. Puzzle pieces started to fall into place, just the straight edges and corners, but Kealey would have put money down on what at least part of the try-out would involve.

Shin explained where the materials were, and what Kealey was to do with them. Around she looked, noting where everything was kept. Surely he didn’t expect her to make the whole costume. That sort of thing took hours. It didn’t matter though, if that’s’ what Shin asked, that’s what Kealey would do.

Suddenly, a car alarm sounded, and Kealey had to fight down the shudder that crept up her spine and the goosebumps that rose on her arms. ”I don’t like….THIS!” she finished, hopping back a step and squealing the last word slightly as a figure bumped up against the window of the shop. Alarm…alarm was bad, so was fear…and Kealey went back to focusing on Shin’s familiar, comfortable emotions. Zombies…she was going to make a costume during a zombie attack. Leave it to Shin.


For a moment, Kealey thought she was going to luck out and not have to feel the zombie emotions. Then, one by one, they started to kick in, almost as new faces appeared at the window. Angry…they were angry. And they could start.

Over Kealey looked at her partner for the tryout, and onto her hips her fists plopped. ”They’re real angry.” she said, glad to have something to focus on besides her own fear and Cafas’ nerves. ”So you’d better get over here and stand still so I can get your mesurements.”

More and more of them were arriving now, and Kealey avoided the immediate and obvious solution. There was no way she could hold down all the zombies that would surely appear, Shin wouldn’t make it that easy. She’d wear out too quickly.

”I’m going to get angrier as more and more show up…so please try to do exactly what I say.” she moved as she spoke, gathering her tape measure and a small notepad and pencil from the table in the shop. Fabric and sewing could wait. ”Once we’re done here, you do whatever you can to calm them down. The faster I can work, the faster we’ll be done.” If it had been any other time, Kealey would have been shocked at her crisp tone and curt orders…but she couldn’t help it.

”Now, hold your arms out and hold still until I‘m done.”

Kealey leaned slightly into the one-armed hug that Shin gave her, slipping an arm around his back but worried about sending him off balance again with too much pressure. He clarified their relationship status and the blond grinned and nodded, wondering just how often she walked around with that same stupid grin on her face. Luke was mentally “aww’ing” at them, but Kealey let it go, not everyone got to feel the emotions that went along with statements like that. Luke could “aww” all he wanted.

The blond chuckled at Luke’s statement about action, drama, and adventure and shrugged her shoulders, ”Well, in that case, we’re leaps and bounds ahead of the pack.” It was true, in terms of those three things, Kealey and Shin had been through enough before they’d even started dating that their karma had to be off the charts. Thankfully though, it seemed that things had slowed down.

Shin started talking about out of body experiences and Kealey did a mental double-take. He’d…been…Abyss? Confusion reigned now, even in spite of the obvious truth behind Shin’s words. Surely he didn’t mean literally…how could you just be someone else for a while? Kealey filed the information away for later, boy they had some things to talk about. ”Like…were as in…were Abyss? I’m confused.”

Through her confusion, Kealey could feel Luke working through the problem of her identity. The equivalent of a mental light bulb went off, and Kealey’s eyes jerked back to Luke’s as he finally remembered who she was.

Cheeks pinking slightly at the list of positive statements that next followed, Kealey shook her head, "I don't know about all that..." she said, confused and embarrassed until Luke pointed out exactly where it was they’d met.

”No way.” she gasped, eyes going slightly wide. ”That was you? I’m so glad everything worked out!”

Implications were raining like cats and dogs, and Kealey shook her head and took a deep breath, trying to clear her thoughts. This was a lot to take in. Something else Luke said caught Kealey’s attention and she choked slightly on a chuckle, ”That was Juka’s body? Oh my, that must have been a shock.”

Shin was still next to her, and Kealey turned her attention back to him, ”I was working on my portfolio in the aquarium…and suddenly I couldn’t concentrate because someone was so morose…you know me, I can’t keep my hand out of an emotional cookie jar, so I took the liberty of introducing myself and seeing if I could help. Don’t know what good I did…but obviously you figured things out.”

The blond held out her hand with a smile, ”It’s nice to meet you officially.”

Shin said he was alright, but Kealey held his gaze for a moment, only nodding her head when she actually felt his confusion starting to abate. She’d have insisted he stay sitting longer, but had been distracted by the feelings and barely made it to her feet in time to catch Shin as he stumbled. Worry again replaced the look on Kealey’s face and she stayed close, just in case he needed steadying again.

Luke commented on her catch and Kealey shook her head and chuckled, ”Lord knows he’s caught me when I’ve fallen often enough.” she said, ”It’s the least I can do.”

It appeared that Luke and Shin knew each other, and Shin’s confusion did clear somewhat as they stood and spoke. Kealey took moment and glanced at the damage to the wall again, wondering exactly how Shin had caused the gash and worrying slightly more before Luke’s confusion drew her attention.

Luke and his sunglasses were leaning against the wall, and Kealey tilted her head again, trying to remember a time when she would have met someone like this and then forgotten. Luke pointed out that Kealey thought she remembered him and she nodded towards Shin, ”I’m certain I’ve heard his name before…but I simply can’t place his face. Isn’t that odd? How could you know someone well enough to remember their name, but not know their face.”

Luke said he’d been gone for a year and Kealey tried to think back to what she’d been doing at this time 12 months before. She’d been ready to start school…applying…wandering the city looking for inspiration. There were so many places they could have met. She shook her head, attempting to shake out Luke’s curiosity as it tried to pull her out of the conversation.

Luke asked how Kealey and Shin knew each other and Kealey smiled, dropping her head a little as her cheeks grew pink and she stepped even a little closer to him.

”Well,” she said, glancing to Shin, ”We met quite some time ago…this led to that, lots of action, adventure, and drama and I guess we’ve been together a little over a month now.” she shrugged, most people in the mansion had simply put two and two together. It wasn’t a question Kealey was used to answering.

”If I can ask…what were you doing just before you left a year ago? I spent a lot of time in the city then. I was working on my portfolio for entrance into design school.”

Sang? Kealey actually burst out laughing at the accusation and shook her head. ” Goodness no, I’d never subject a large number of people to such torture.” she said, still struggling to place the name the man had given.

”Do you ever go to the Library downtown? I used to work there? Or anywhere around the Fashion Institute of Technology? I’m studying fashion…there….”

Kealey cut off at the crash from the hallway, followed by a ripping sound, eyes tracking along with the feelings as they careened into the wall. Someone was hurt…probably not badly, but Kealey’s brows drew together and a hand half reached towards her head at the resulting confusion.

Luke spoke a single word, a name, and the blonde’s eyes widened. Up she shot from the couch, stumbling slightly with the confusion in the hallway.

Around the doorway she turned, and there Shin was, on the floor and looking dazed. Down Kealey dropped to eye level, reaching out a hand towards the side of his face, ”Shin? Are you alright? You’re not hurt bad are you?”

Kealey looked around at the damage to the wall, he’d had to have hit it pretty hard to actually dent the drywall. Up she looked to Luke, ”He’s confused…” Back to Shin, ”Want me to take it away, or is everything alright?” she asked.

When Kealey couldn’t find anything else to do and Shin wasn’t around, she usually made her way down to the Living Room. It was kind of the gathering place for people with similar problems, and she’d met so many interesting people that way. Juka was one, though she hadn’t really seen him since. The blond berated herself for that mentally, wondering if she was ever going to get the promised bubble ride.

It was the middle of the day, so most of the students were going about their business in one way or another. They were still all a twitter from the dance, and honestly Kealey couldn’t blame them. Seeing everyone dressed up like that already had Kealey making plans to get Shin in a formal situation a second time.

Images of dressy clothes and twirling couples danced through her head as she entered the large room with its multiple couches and large TV. Shockingly, the place was pretty quiet, and Kealey happily made her way further into the room to turn on the aforementioned television and see what was going on in the world.

It wasn’t until she’d switched the thing on and gotten the volume set to a proper level when she realized that there was someone there reading a book.

”Oh!” she exclaimed, turning to the reclining individual. It was someone she didn’t know and she hoped she wasn’t ruining them calm, comfortable bubble of relaxed emotions he seemed to be encased in. First impressions were important! ”I hope I’m not bothering you with the TV. I can go somewhere else.”

”Hmmm, well, if anyone can pull them off, it’s you.” Kealey said with a smile when Shin admitted to owning a pair of silver parachute pants. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust his fashion sense, it was simply that the idea of anyone in parachute pants these days was a bit outlandish. Outlandish could be a good thing, she allowed, especially for Shin. He managed to pull of outfits that would simply look ridiculous on other people.

The blond grinned when Shin slipped up and shook her heat at his sheepish laugh and correction. ”Well, if they’re that bedazzling I’ll simply have to see them. In fact, I’m a little shocked you never mentioned them before.”

Shin led her to the dance floor, and Kealey followed, still awash in all the emotions of the room. There really were a lot of people there. At least for now, though, they were all fairly happy.

Dancing. Kealey had been surprised at how well she’d managed the fast stuff…slow, on the other hand was something new. Shin complimented her again and Kealey laughed and dropped her head to hide her once-again-pink cheeks. ”Only if you mean they’ll wonder who that outrageously clumsy looking blond in the strange long dress is.” she said.

So there they were, on the dance floor…ready to dance slow. How did that work again? Shin already had her hand, so Kealey stepped closer and draped her arm over his other shoulder. More blushing, this time it was her own embarrassment.

”So, how exactly did this work again?” she asked helplessly, hoping she’d done something right.

”But why should we contribute to making a world where those things struggle to exist?” she asked softly when Meld pointed out places where beauty could be found even in a world that was full of strife and darkness.

”Wouldn’t it be far better if we had to look at the darkness and strife as the isolated incidents? Isn’t that what it’s all about?”

Meld explained further why peaceful resolution wasn’t possible, and Kealey shook her head, ”I think we’re on basically the same page here Meld…but I think we see the solutions very differently. No matter what, the more you kill, the more people are hurt in the process, both physically and psychologically. It’s only a matter of time until the cycle starts again.”

There was regret in the other woman, but Kealey had a feeling it wasn’t over the role she had to play. There was something else there, something the blond could feel if she looked hard. That same need, the desperation she’d seen in people on the streets. Kealey frowned. Then Meld called her a role model. Kealey laughed out loud.

”I can hardly walk down the street without getting myself into some problem or another that others are always having to help me out of.” she said, her usual sense of self-deprecating humor seeping into her voice.

”I understand that violence is necessary sometimes. It’s just that…it shouldn’t be something used so often that it becomes common place. There’s almost always another way. Why do that to someone and the people who care about them when there is another way?” Kealey said, brows drawing together again as she thought.

”Why not spare others that pain? I’ve felt it, and I know you have. Why would you want to put anyone through that?”