asongwithin | Duplicity Inbox

oh no
it's more of a personal question
but not like personal personal!
i just meant
well
are you looking for one?
because i am
and you're the first person i thought of when i remembered i'm going to need one
so i thought if you need one and i need one then maybe we could contract and not get into trouble by the city in two months
because that's another thing they punish people for here

...Is it weird to say that's very flattering?

And also makes a lot of sense.

But...there are some things you should probably know about before we decide on anything.

nope 😊

that's me
sensible buffy

yeah
of course

i'd say the same but
yanno
the finder got all that out of the way for me

Really is their way of "helping", I guess.

[ She's just. Not going to ask if Buffy saw hers. ]

So, the main thing that might be an issue for people - besides the stuff you already know, at least - is that I'm a telepath.

( she didn't. after finding Matthias's ad she made it a point to scroll as fast as she could to avoid catching anyone else's. )

you can move stuff with your mind?

wait
no
that's telekinesis

oh
you can read minds

right?
is it something you can control?

I can actually do that to. Puberty was interesting.

I usually have control. But it can be interfered with back home, and this place...

Well. It obviously likes messing with people.

that's kinda cool
or no?
i mean it sounds cool
idk how cool it actually is being able to do it
because it also sounds exhausting
is it?

this place takes pleasure in toying with us
tormenting us
and the people we're close with

tbh there's nothing in my head i'm trying to hide now that the cat's out of the bag
even if there was
you don't strike me the type to use it against me if you can help it

It's very cool. And also exhausting. Being a mutant is like that. (That's what we're called, at least in polite company. Another rung on the evolutionary ladder that can go all sorts of places. My husband can project force beams from his eyes. Don't call them lasers, he hates that.)

It starts with dividing us like this, and just gets worse from there. I'd love to do what I can to...to mitigate some of that. ...Or cause trouble together, if you wanted.

[ Neither of them are really the "sit down and take it" types. ]

But telepathy is more than reading thoughts. I can change them, if I want. I can make people do things they never would. Remember things they wanted to forget, or forget things that are important to them. It's...

If we do this, there need to be fail safes. I can teach you how to resist telepathy yourself, but - you'd need help, if I really went off the rails.

[ The knowledge that Duplicity could twist her the same way Mastermind did Phoenix has lingered in the back of her mind like a sour taste. ]

there are a lot of mutants where you're from, right?
and all of you have a different ability?
gotcha
if he ends up here, which you probably hope doesn't happen, i'll be sure to not call them lasers
...can i ask what the beams do? are they fire or ice, or are they just like really, really intense lights?

( ohmygod. they are not like vehicle headlights, Buffy! )

maybe it wont?
not if we have a choice anyway
because it looks they selected a good number of empathetic people to experiment on

( the girl is an optimist, Jean. )

trouble is sort of my specialty back home
so i wouldn't mind getting into some here
esp with "permission"

can they ever get them back?
without you giving them back or teaching them how to

okay
so
fail safe me up
teach me how to resist it and tell me who or what i would need if you weren't able to control your powers anymore
because you're going to need a contract
which means you'd have to do this with anyone you contracted to anyway, wouldn't you?
i have no issue with it being me
and like i said
you were the first person who sprang to mind, so i'm going to listen to my gut on this one

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