[In Person]

[bestamontillado]

[There is, currently, a ten year old, dressed a little "odd" (late 1800's), hiding wedged in behind books on a lower bookshelf in the study. He'd be doing a very good job of hiding, or at least it looking like there's nothing there, except for one problem.]

[That problem would be that the walls are bleeding. And occasionally sprouting eyes and blinking.]

[The problem extends out to the door and the hall immediately around the doorframe, and there's a constant, quiet sound of voices that can't quite be made out that seem to be coming from the bookshelves of the study.]

[Anybody psychic/with extra senses, the bleeding and all is kind of oozing that it's coming from someone, and there's a lot of panic coming from it.]

[Welcome to Spade's childhood! :D]

Comments

[movingforces]

[...Well, this is absurdly familiar, even if Tris is doing her level best to keep her peripheral vision shielded. It's not working so well, and Chime is helping Tris find her way to an empty spot on the floor.

One hand sparkling with faint- intentional lightning, Tris stays there.]

Will you come out?

I can teach you to make all of this- [Tris gestures with that hand, lightning forming a web between her fingers.]- to stop.

A couple very wise men told me that it's not the sign of demonic taint, or an inhuman lineage. The only 'person' in this room who isn't human is Chime, and she's certainly no demon.

[Chime makes an affronted glass-scraping noise at the suggestion.]

[bestamontillado]

[There's half-recognition - but also a bit of a panic-flinch with a slightly audible shift behind the books.]

'snot me! I'm not - how -

[movingforces]

I can see power, dear. [Tris taps her eyelids with a finger.] As I can control the weather- in one of the broadest interpretations of it known to humankind- so too can you alter reality. Unfortunately, until it comes into conscious control, it reacts to your emotions.

The more you panic, the worse all of this- [Tris gestures again.]- gets. It protects you, does it not? When you're scared, when someone is trying to hurt you, when you're angry...

That's what my power did when I was young. When my father tried to hit me for something I may or may not have done? Up to his waist in the ground, because even solid earth will turn into seeming liquid if shaken enough.

I can teach you to control your power, as I have learned. I've taught others- Chime's creator among them. [Chime is trying to slink close- she knows Spade, but she's trying to figure out why he's so tiny.]

[bestamontillado]

[It was a slow process, and one Elena had been slowly working on - he wasn't quite there yet, but ...]

[He looked from the little dragon, to her, peering around a book cautiously.]

Wh-who are you, where is this?

[movingforces]

[Tris kept her eyes closed, hands in her lap.] Frankly, I wouldn't believe myself- or even one of my foster-siblings- if they told me where I was. Suffice to say that everyone here has been essentially kidnapped by someone significantly more powerful than you- or me.

As for who I am?

My name is Trisana Chandler. [Chime is peering back, tilting her head this way and that.]

[bestamontillado]

[...He's still suspicious, but ...]

[it's not like he has much choice.]

[There is, however, one question that's sticking out, and it might be dangerous to ask, but -]


...Is Elena here?

[movingforces]

I consider it highly unlikely. It's possible she could have shown up at the beginning of the week, but the odds of someone new showing up here without everyone else knowing it are... low.

[Tris is just sitting there, completely calm, legs crossed under her skirt.] Do you know how to meditate, by any chance?

[bestamontillado]

[There is a dejected slump at that, and he's scrunching up a little more behind the books...]

[And then answering that question with a blank glance of pure non-comprehension.]

[movingforces]

I'm going to take that silence as a no. [Tris gestures at her eyes offhandedly.] Your power is so thoroughly covering this space that I can't leave my eyes open comfortably.

It's... really not that hard. I learned when I was younger than you.

[bestamontillado]

[...This is going to start making sense soon right?]

What is it?

[Wasn't that something priests did or something?]

[movingforces]

It's a way of calming yourself, focusing your mind, and... in my case, and the case of many people like me from my home, a way of controlling power.

If you come out, I can show you how- and likely help contain all of this- a bit. [Once again, she's using a hand to indicate what she means.]

[bestamontillado]

[On the one hand, it's another step towards breaking down and accepting that yes, it has been him all along.]

[On the other hand... the walls not bleeding would be nice, and he's not any better off staying in the bookshelf.]

[So he's going to be very cautiously pushing a few of the books out to slink out of his hiding place into the open, sitting scrunched up on the ground in front of it.]

[movingforces]

[Tris smiles faintly, pitching her voice to what she learned was the 'teacher voice', something that seemed to cross languages, something even Keth had responded to on an immediate basis.] Close your eyes, and focus on your breath.

Breathe in deep, to the count of seven.

[bestamontillado]

[There is a part of Spade's personality that would be a much more visible problem later that is making a nuisance of itself now.]

[That problem is that he's actually fairly good at focusing on something consciously and having at least his surface processes be perfectly rational, while shoving away and ignoring a lot of what's going on behind it that's actually causing problems. It means he's usually fairly good at responding to high-pressure situations when he's older, sure, but it also means that there's a tendency to bottle and be damn good at faking calm and fine under a layer of apparent focus.]

[Which is probably why, while he's managing to focus on that breath - although holding it at the end probably isn't a good idea - and yes, the blood running down the walls is slowing down and there's less of it - there's also now a small, living carpet of black spiders in a small circle around him.]