Priest-De Ulloa Household, Notting Hill, London. Late Tuesday Night/Early Weds Morning.

[icecoldfrost]

It was another dream that had startled Emma awake with a jerk, her iron control the only thing that kept her from screaming as she did so. It took a moment to regain her bearings, and then she slipped out of bed, quietly making her way to the kitchen for a glass of water to take back upstairs with her.

She was as quiet as possible as she put the drink on the nightstand and climbed back into bed, one of her trashy mystery novels in-hand. Emma didn't want to wake Jack, but it was unlikely she was going to be falling back asleep anytime soon.

[OOC: For that one, please!]

Comments

[icecoldfrost]

"Everyone dreams," she dissembled, petting his hair lightly to try and soothe him back to sleepiness. "But if you want to learn about shielding, I'd be happy to teach you."

[bitten_notshy]

"When I'm more awake," Jack promised, closing his eyes lightly as he relaxed under her touch. "Do you ever get confused about what's your dream and what's someone else's?"

[icecoldfrost]

"All the time," she admitted, continuing the petting. "I can sometimes sort out what's me and what's not once I'm awake, but I don't usually know who the dreams came from, not unless it's someone I know quite well."

[bitten_notshy]

"I'd get embarrassed," Jack mused sleepily. "Flustered, at least. There are things about Karla and Warren I don't need to know."

A beat. "She decided to tell me they're still doing the pants rule, did you know that?"

[icecoldfrost]

"If they weren't doing the pants rule, I'd have more of a telepathic tracker on them than I already do," Emma joked. "I have to say, I'm quite proud of how much restraint and understanding Warren has shown. It would be easy for him to get frustrated with the situation."

[bitten_notshy]

"Dirty mind," Jack said. His eyes were still half-shut, but his mind was awake. "He must love her. Or else they just have more patience than either of us."

[icecoldfrost]

"You like my dirty mind," Emma reminded him. "But he adores her, and they're adorable to watch together. Cute, even."

No one had ever used 'cute' to describe Emma, let alone any of her relationships.

[bitten_notshy]

Jack snorted. "Adore it," he admitted. "And cute's the word for it. Somehow I don't think they think we're cute."

Which was fine by Jack, really.

[icecoldfrost]

"We're not cute, we're extraordinary," she quipped. "Cute is for underclassmen and kittens, and while you purr when I pet you, a cat you are not."

[bitten_notshy]

"No, I'm a terrier," Jack laughed, fully awake now. "I'll curl up on your lap until it's time to chase down some prey. You, however, are a Siamese."

[icecoldfrost]

Dammit, he was awake. She could put him to sleep, but the fallout from that would be more trouble than it was worth.

"Am I?" she asked instead. "I've never owned a cat of any type to know the difference. The only one I've ever lived with was Pounce, and I think he'd be disgruntled at the notion anyone owned him."

[bitten_notshy]

Yes, the fallout from poking at Jack's brain without asking would be nuclear.

"Sebastien's fond of them," he explained, blissfully unaware she wasn't enjoying the company. "Mostly strays, but we lived with a Siamese for a while when I was twelve or so. You would have liked her. She was convinced we were half a step smarter than prey, and kept nudging us along to keep us safe."

[icecoldfrost]

"I'm surprised another one hasn't adopted him, then," she replied. "You've lived here long enough for another to move in and declare you its people. Or is there one wandering about that I haven't seen yet?"

Who knew a vampire collected stray cats just like he did a stray Jack?

[fleeing to see TRON, back inna bit]

[bitten_notshy]

"Not yet," Jack said. "Should I give him one as a New Year's gift? Usually they just find him, but there are fewer strays these days."

Sebastien's fondness for strays was well-established, and a large part of why other vampires thought him odd at best.

[icecoldfrost]

"You could take him to the Humane Society, do they have those here?" she asked, genuinely curious. "Places that pick up stray animals and care for them until someone comes along to adopt it. They don't let them just wander the streets anymore."

"If you get him a cat, perhaps I'll send a box of cat-toys as a thank you for hosting us."

[bitten_notshy]

"I don't know," Jack admitted with a yawn. "We can go in the morning and see if they have, and if they do, if they have a cat who looks likely."

He rolled onto his side, propping his head on a hand. "Whose dream woke you? Anything worth repeating?"

[icecoldfrost]

He had to ask specific questions, didn't he?

"My own," she finally admitted, unwilling to lie to Jack outright. "Nothing worth repeating. Just bits and bobs from here and there seeping into my subconscious."

[bitten_notshy]

"Tell me about it?" Jack wheedled. "I'm up anyhow. You can hear about my fascinating dream in exchange. I think I was planting potatoes."

[icecoldfrost]

"You don't want to hear it," Emma sighed, setting the book aside - it wasn't going to get read - and curling up with him. "It's just my own fucked-up subconscious throwing a tantrum."

[bitten_notshy]

"You say that as if I haven't spent the last year and a half devoting a great deal of time and care to your fucked-up subconscious, and vice versa," Jack pointed out as he traced a hand along her side. "Is there anything I could do?"

[icecoldfrost]

Emma thought it over for a moment, simply laying there and letting him pet her. Part of her tempted to take the out, and tell him there was nothing he could do, since that was the truth. There was nothing active Jack could do, and she knew this wasn't something her fearsome terrier could charge in and fix for her.

But.

"What have you been told about the latest 'incident' at school?" she finally asked instead. She'd promised she'd tell him about it weeks ago, and a tiny little part of her wanted desperately to just get it out before it festered even more.

[bitten_notshy]

"People were taken by a man in tight pants," Jack answered. "There were goblins. Communication off the island was cut off. It sounds as if it was a scare when it went on, but nothing -- I didn't realize it had stayed with you."

[icecoldfrost]

"I was one of the people taken," Emma replied quietly. "He did something that took away my ability to use my telepathy. I still had it, I could hear people, but I couldn't block it out or look into people's minds."

It hurt trying to put it into words, but Emma swallowed and kept talking. "Ender saw the worst of it, I think. Crazy little Emma wasn't so so little, but was acting plenty crazy because I couldn't keep the other students out, and so many of them were panicking. I could hear the people in town and on other parts of the island, and it wouldn't shut up."

"Right up until the point that I lost the fight against his control, and then the voices didn't bother me anymore. I couldn't remember why I wanted to leave in the first place. I was safe, and happy, and I was going to be a princess. Jono had to drag me out kicking and screaming."

[bitten_notshy]

The color drained from Jack's face as he clutched Emma more closely, as if he were afraid she'd fly away to be a princess now/. It was far worse than he'd understood.

"You went mad," he said. "It would make anyone mad. I don't know which would be worse if that had happened to me -- remembering the voices, or remembering I'd given in at the end. I didn't understand how bad it was, forgive me."

[icecoldfrost]

"I didn't give in." There was a fierce, quiet pride behind that. "I lost -" which held a note of disgust and self-loathing. "-against whatever magic he was using, but I didn't give in."