Forgive me for not trusting your judgement as of now.
(Or in other words, she's not sure he knows when the basement is needed.
Everything Clive is telling her in regards to Nate, though? Copied and pasted right into another Omega-level telepath's brain. A pink one. She said she was going to tattle.)
Oh. Fun, pretty sure he was in your brain, and definitely not in his right mind during it. Sorry about that.
I've just tattled, so we'll be dealing with that on our side. In the meantime, let's focus on you. Where are you right now?
Fair enough. Although I'm not sure a regular basement could hold me if I didn't want to be there.
[He wasn't saying it as if he were bragging, just a statement of fact.]
Remind me to ask you about figuring out how to protect myself from that later.
I couldn't tell you, exactly. I'm in downtown San Francisco. That's all I can give you in terms of specifics. I haven't really been paying attention to street signs.
My services also include standing in front of you in diamond form, holding a water spray.
(It's not really real, because she can't do it without cutting the connection, but this only exists in their brains, so she can show him quickly what it looks like before he asks, again lacking in patience, before she is normal again.)
I'm giving you a crash course later, but if you turn it against me, I'm smothering you in your sleep. Do you mind if I hop on your optic nerve real quick?
[Clive's eyebrows quirk the smallest bit when Sophie shows him what her diamond form is. It certainly is impressive. His fingers twitch to touch, but before he can move, she is back to her normal self.]
That might be a bit more effective.
[Clive nods.]
That seems fair. I'm trusting you not to take advantage of that. Go ahead. Look to your hearts' content.
[Luckily enough for Clive, he had already left the alley where he had left a particularly crispy corpse.]
(The space in which they talk dissipate. She's once more a presence in his head, absorbing all the information his brain receives from his senses.
She smells burned hair. God, she does not like the smell of death. Familiar, almost too much so. She's been dead too long, half so for a chunk of the times she was brought back. Chemicals, inhalers, massacres.
/What I think depends greatly on the day. There are things worse than death, Clive. Remember that next time you want to fuck someone over.
Again, we're putting a pin on what you think because what you think right now is all bullshit. I'm throwing up a psi-shield, which might not super hold, again, Nate's an Omega-level telepath but it's better than nothing to protect you.
I'll ask the other ones to do the same. We'll deal with it./
/And sometimes it is a mercy to those who may continue to be impacted by men such as that, but it sounds like this isn't a conversation that you want to have./
[Clive turns a corner, moving farther away from the scent. Unfortunately for Sophie, Clive's sense of smell is currently even more keen than usual.]
/And do you intend to do this for every person who may have been impacted by Nate? How thin can you stretch yourself before you snap, Sophie?/
[Clive sighs and turns down another alley, jumping up to use a fire escape to get to the roof and hop a couple of buildings away. The freer air and the quick distance turn the foul stench into a distant whiff. He slows when he is finally far enough away to not smell the corpse anymore.]
/Sophie, you are snapping as we speak./
[Clive doesn't need to see her to sense how stressed out she is. She had little patience the last time they spoke, but this? This was entirely different.]
/You're not exactly a delicate person normally, but today? Well. You've been a bit prickly./
/Some of us were built with anti-snapping mutations, Clive. I currently feel very little, you don't like it, you're gonna have to wait until everything's not shit and I'm not putting off fires so I can turn it off./
(Then he'll have regular Sophie back.
That's the thing, though, isn't it? It's not that Sophie doesn't feel usually, because she does. God, she does. She's explosive, impulsive, a martyr, and a shitstirrer, but that's the surface.
She's never been so good at expressing things on her end. There has never been any need — she shares her brainspace with those who need to know, and what does one independent feeling matter when the group prevails? Not to mention how pathetic, disgustingly vulnerable these things feel, risky, frightening.
/Never said I didn't like it. I just don't want you to end up hurting yourself. That's all./
[Remember that guy you warned him off of, Sophie? Yeah. Doesn't really have a whole lot in the feelings department in general.
Clive is well-versed in people who have difficulty communicating their feelings. Hell, he has that problem sometimes, too. Words could be difficult even at the best of times and being vulnerable? Well, it was frightening and sometimes dangerous. He gets it.
He chuckles.]
/Yeah, you are. And right now, you are a prickly doll. Nothing wrong with that./
[Sophie could feel the affection in those words. His 'voice' even has a bit of a smile in it.]
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2025-08-12 01:39 am (UTC)(Or in other words, she's not sure he knows when the basement is needed.
Everything Clive is telling her in regards to Nate, though? Copied and pasted right into another Omega-level telepath's brain. A pink one. She said she was going to tattle.)
Oh. Fun, pretty sure he was in your brain, and definitely not in his right mind during it. Sorry about that.
I've just tattled, so we'll be dealing with that on our side. In the meantime, let's focus on you. Where are you right now?
no subject
Date: 2025-08-13 01:25 am (UTC)Fair enough. Although I'm not sure a regular basement could hold me if I didn't want to be there.
[He wasn't saying it as if he were bragging, just a statement of fact.]
Remind me to ask you about figuring out how to protect myself from that later.
I couldn't tell you, exactly. I'm in downtown San Francisco. That's all I can give you in terms of specifics. I haven't really been paying attention to street signs.
no subject
Date: 2025-08-13 01:31 am (UTC)(It's not really real, because she can't do it without cutting the connection, but this only exists in their brains, so she can show him quickly what it looks like before he asks, again lacking in patience, before she is normal again.)
I'm giving you a crash course later, but if you turn it against me, I'm smothering you in your sleep. Do you mind if I hop on your optic nerve real quick?
no subject
Date: 2025-08-14 02:09 am (UTC)That might be a bit more effective.
[Clive nods.]
That seems fair. I'm trusting you not to take advantage of that. Go ahead. Look to your hearts' content.
[Luckily enough for Clive, he had already left the alley where he had left a particularly crispy corpse.]
cw goresome death
Date: 2025-08-14 02:39 am (UTC)She smells burned hair. God, she does not like the smell of death. Familiar, almost too much so. She's been dead too long, half so for a chunk of the times she was brought back. Chemicals, inhalers, massacres.
He doesn't have to look back. She knows.)
/I can smell... Death. Was that you?/
no subject
Date: 2025-08-14 02:40 pm (UTC)/Yes. He was trying to assault someone. I did what I needed to do. Do you think someone like him deserved mercy? I don’t./
no subject
Date: 2025-08-14 02:46 pm (UTC)Again, we're putting a pin on what you think because what you think right now is all bullshit. I'm throwing up a psi-shield, which might not super hold, again, Nate's an Omega-level telepath but it's better than nothing to protect you.
I'll ask the other ones to do the same. We'll deal with it./
He's worried about his babygirl
Date: 2025-08-14 10:35 pm (UTC)[Clive turns a corner, moving farther away from the scent. Unfortunately for Sophie, Clive's sense of smell is currently even more keen than usual.]
/And do you intend to do this for every person who may have been impacted by Nate? How thin can you stretch yourself before you snap, Sophie?/
super delicate baby girl
Date: 2025-08-14 10:56 pm (UTC)(She hates this fucking smell. She's sensed it before, very personally instead of behind someone's brain. Ugh.
He might feel a little rush from her to get them out of there, because fucking gross, Clive.)
/I haven't decided it yet, we're dealing with it, and I'll let you know. And also, shut up. Do I seem like a woman who snaps to you?/
it's okay Soph. We'll get through this together.
Date: 2025-08-14 11:59 pm (UTC)/Sophie, you are snapping as we speak./
[Clive doesn't need to see her to sense how stressed out she is. She had little patience the last time they spoke, but this? This was entirely different.]
/You're not exactly a delicate person normally, but today? Well. You've been a bit prickly./
[He might even sound a little amused by it.]
no subject
Date: 2025-08-15 01:17 am (UTC)(Then he'll have regular Sophie back.
That's the thing, though, isn't it? It's not that Sophie doesn't feel usually, because she does. God, she does. She's explosive, impulsive, a martyr, and a shitstirrer, but that's the surface.
She's never been so good at expressing things on her end. There has never been any need — she shares her brainspace with those who need to know, and what does one independent feeling matter when the group prevails? Not to mention how pathetic, disgustingly vulnerable these things feel, risky, frightening.
She remains cold, quiet. Upperhand and all.)
/Also, hurtful. I'm a doll./
no subject
Date: 2025-08-15 02:23 am (UTC)[Remember that guy you warned him off of, Sophie? Yeah. Doesn't really have a whole lot in the feelings department in general.
Clive is well-versed in people who have difficulty communicating their feelings. Hell, he has that problem sometimes, too. Words could be difficult even at the best of times and being vulnerable? Well, it was frightening and sometimes dangerous. He gets it.
He chuckles.]
/Yeah, you are. And right now, you are a prickly doll. Nothing wrong with that./
[Sophie could feel the affection in those words. His 'voice' even has a bit of a smile in it.]