The Cold Shoulder

Dinner is an awkwardly frosty affair as Jennifer is absolutely furious with you. Allyson tried her best to facilitate some form of reconciliation, but Jen isn't having it. In recompense for her willing to put herself in front of the proverbial firing squad for you, you offer to do the dishes as Jennifer retreats to her room.

She continues to sit at the table watching you with mild anticipation as you start running the water and loading the sink with dishes.

"Ah, I was hoping for something out of Fantasia," she teases.

You smile at her. "Maybe some other time."

"Don't want to upset the big sis too much, huh?" Allyson guesses.

You shrug. "Partly, but not really. My mind isn't fully recovered from earlier."

Allyson now looks concerned. "How bad was it?"

You think about downplaying it, but since she has prior experience with metas, you think she might not freak out like Jennifer did. "You ever see 'The Watchmen'?"

"Yeah..."

"You remember the part were Osterman was ripped apart at the atomic level and then struggled to put himself together, becoming Dr. Manhattan... It was something like that," you admit. "My telepathy is very high risk, high reward. Potentially, I can make anyone do anything I want to them to, and they will never know they'd been manipulated. Even if they did, they wouldn't care, because I could rewrite who they are- change their very being. On the other hand, a strong or strange enough mind can shatter my mind beyond my ability to peice myself back together."

Allyson looked contemplative for a moment. "How powerful are you?"

"Hard to say. It's not like there are categories or classifications for this sort of thing," you say. "But if I were to hazard a guess... Even with how recent my empowerment was and how inexperienced I am with using them- I doubt there are too many people in the area capable of taking me down. And I will get more stronger, more skilled. My power is growing and evolving."

You lift your hand and an orb attempts to spring into existence.

"You can make forcefields now?" Allyson asks incredulously.

"I've been able to for a while now. Though not reliably," you inform her. "And it's a pychic barrier, not a forcefield."

"What's the difference?" Allyson asks, genuinely interested.

"At the moment, not much," you tell her. "When I can actually hold one bigger than a softball for more than point zero-zero-two seconds, I'll be glad to explain what I understand of it."

"How much info did you get, James?" Allyson asked.

"I have no idea," you admit. "But it mostly seems to revolve around my abilities and how to use and understand them. My barriers are getting better, slightly, and the more I practice, the more I know about them. But all in all, I'm in the dark."

"Any thoughts on how to safely learn about your powers?" Allyson inquired.

You shake your head. "There aren't a lot of psychic metahumans that I know of. And the ones that are known, don't seem to have the depth of my power or potential skill. I don't know how or why I know, but I suspect I'm something of a sport."

"Sport?" Allyson asks, not ever having heard the term before.

"Genius, savant, prodigy, etc." you tell her with the utmost seriousness to convey that you weren't bragging, merely stating a fact. "In a short time, my telekinetic and telepathic powers have grown alot and I've noticed that I'm capale of using more abilities than being a telekinetic/telepath would suggest. Empathy is a cross ability between being a telepath and a diviner. It's not as invasive as telepathy, but it doesn't grant you any more about a person than their emotional state, although strong enough empaths can alter someone's emotions like I did with Jennifer last night."

"You get scarier and scarier the more you talk," Allyson comments.

"Sorry," you sheepishly apologize.

"Just... Be careful. You can do a lot of damage without meaning to," Allyson tells you.

"The meta you dated," you say.

Allyson nodded. "She..."

She looked unsure how to continue. The wounds were obviously still fresh in her mind.

"Hey," you say, sitting down across from her and holding her hand. "If you've been here for me. I can be here for you- as long as you're comfortable with it."

Allyson gives you a thankful, watery smile. "Thanks, James. I will talk about it with you some time, but not tonight. Jen wasn't the only one freaking out, I just held it in better. Today opened up a lot of old wounds I thought long healed."

Meeting her eyes, you open yourself up to Allyson's pain and misery while sending comforting feelings towards her- not supplanting her feelings like you'd done with Jennifer, but adding to the emotions she was feeling.

Allyson gasped.

"W-what...!?" she stutters, unsure what to say, think or feel.

"Just doing some good to counter the bad," you tell her soothingly. Internally, you're in turmoil with the depth of the emotions Allyson had experienced and couldn't help but feel ashamed that you might have caused similar turmoil in Jennifer and Kathy today. Taking a steadying breath, you release Allie's hand and withdraw yourself from her. Allyson's mind is clearly in overdrive, trying to sort out what to think or feel. You place your hand on her shoulder and kiss her forehead. "I'm gonna go out for a bit- clear my own head."

She clearly wants to say something, anything, but she's conflicted as to what that may be as seemingly thousands of thoughts and feelings make their way to the forefront of her mind.