serenity \\ Ithica

[Harley Mannin]

For the first time in four years, the world was quiet.

She'd woken up late on such a fine Tuesday morning, and most of the University residents had either gone to private tutoring or off to socialize. Which left Harley with an empty hall to lounge in. She wasn't scheduled for any classes today or tomorrow (or the next day for that matter) so she was free to do whatever she wanted.

Unfortunately, she didn't have any friends to hang out with, and that wasn't an exaggeration. Since her acceptance into the University three days ago, she'd been hiding out mainly in her room, working vigorously to control her telepathy. There had been plenty of subjects to work on, of course, men and women alike coming and going, passing by her room with their small talk and dirty thoughts, her next door neighbors dreaming at three in the afternoon, the few girls she noticed in the bathroom with the occasional menstruation, makeup, or male troubles.

She didn't want to know anything. She wanted her head to be empty save for her own mind.

And now it was.

She showered and dressed quickly, not bothering with her hair beyond knotting it up in a high bun or makeup beyond a ring of black eyeliner and mascara. She snuck a look at herself in the mirror. No, she wasn't nearly as sleep-deprived as when she got here, not remotely. In fact, Harley looked healtheir than even yesterday when she noticed herself. Strange. Even her clothes seemed to fit better - a sleeveless black blouse and some dark skinny jeans, in which she wore high heels.

She headed downstairs into the cafeteria, purchased a coffee only, and then left, her head spinning with the possibilities. Why not take a day trip? It wasn't like she had anything better to do with her time. She had plenty of money to spend for the day. A girl passed her on the way off the grounds, and Harley successfully blocked any and all thoughts. Her elation at this achievement was overwhelming. She didn't even notice the envious glance the girl sent her way, probably filled with a ting of hate. Yes, Harley was skinny, no, not in a healthy way, and beauty was in the eye of the beholder.

She suddenly realized where she wanted to go, and within an hour she was at the Bronx Zoo. It had been... Well, countless years since she'd been in a zoo. Today was beautiful, filled with swarms of people and children. The sun was high and the sky was overcast, with a nice cool breeze splitting the dry air. The whole "zoo" smell whirled around her - the different scents of people who passed, the various musks of animals and animal dung, the odor of streetside stand foods and restaurants. In one word: glorious.

She paid the entrance fee, high to what she was used to but still entirely affordable, and picked up a map. Scanning it, the telepath searched for what sounded best to visit first, her mind still guarded from the people around her.

Butterflies.

And so there she was, in the beautiful indoor exhibits. She'd bypassed the attractions and impatient children and found herself in the heart of the garden, surrounded by looming flora and fluttering insects. She sat on a bench, pulling her pocket notebook out of her purse, observing the beauty of the indoor garden. Harley jotted down a few lines in the book, observations that she might make into a sort of poem if possible, and then buckled down with her coffee in hand to practice mind-reading.

It was shocking how no one even noticed her presence in their most sacred places. Could they not feel her mental probe, the way she skirted over the outermost regions of their aura of consciousness? She herself felt the effects - an almost physical pressure just inside her skull, a pressure that had given her countless migraines. But now it didn't even hurt. The thoughts no longer flooded her: she went to them. She was in control, and after only one meeting with her tutor! Harley couldn't help but feel an intense wave of relief.

And then... She found something she hadn't expected. There was a familiar mind pattern, right there in the garden... Someone in the University, perhaps? She stared in that direction, the bench underneath her unyeilding, the coffee in her hand lukewarm, her gaze wary and alert.

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[Ithica Pettineo]

Ithica never had any intentions of stepping into any kind of zoo. He had listened to too many animal protestors screaming about the wrong doings. His father, a strict vegan and animal lover, said most of the things were made up or depended on the zoo itself. However Ithica still felt uncomfortable staring at the trapped animals. They didn't seem upset (Ithi was kind of glad he couldn't talk to animals - inanimate objects were quite enough for this demon) though. And as he was walking by he heard the distinct sound of.. an elephant.

Like he'd ever give up a chance to see an elephant. He leaned his head against the bars wishing that he could go up and hug one of their massive legs without getting either trampled or pulled back from the security. He looked down at the information plaque. What kind of elephant name was Happy? And he thought Ithica was a terrible name for a child. He gazed at the three elephants a moment longer before turning to walk in the other direction.

He bought some cotton candy and continued his journey down the zoo. He had paid the entry fee so why just look at elephants? He kept his eyes averted from carnivorous beasties and nearly bumped into a sign. He winced and looked around. Of course, he hadn't accidentally brought the thing to life - for once luck was on his side. The sign said something about insects. Insects weren't carnivorous. Well, most of them weren't.

With that cheery thought, the optimistic half-demon walked down the exhibits chewing on pieces from his cotton candy. He saw the orange tips of butterflies and grinned. He put his hands in his pockets and watched them flutter about idly wondering what it felt like to fly so high. The combination of their wings flying about in a dizzying fashion was starting to give him a headache and he lowered his eyes.

That's when he felt it. The weird feeling on the back of his neck, the tensing of his shoulders, and the prickly feeling on his back. He turned around and met the stare of the girl on the bench. He tilted his head and smiled innocently. He walked over to her and set on the bench, offering her some cotton candy. "They're very pretty, aren't they?"

Oh, fantastic. He was becoming as feminine as his girlfriend.


--
[ooc| ...>: this post is lame-o.]

[Harley Mannin]

Is not. =P

The telepath could practically smell the person before she saw him or her - she didn't have super senses by any stretch of the imagination, but she could practically taste that heavy, sugary scent. Was that cotton candy? Who would dare defile such a wonderful, natural, clean aroma of thousands of natural plants with colored cottony fluff?? It wasn't as if she had anything against it, but cotton candy in a garden of all places? It was just... Unnatural! Downright unnatural... Even the color --

There he was.

Oh, yes. She recognized him all right. Of the few times she'd ventured from her room, she'd seen him once in passing. Approximately five and a half feet tall, brown hair that seemed almost always untidy, though at the moment it was all right. Brown eyes, just like her. His face was decent, not faerie beautiful but not dog ugly either. He smiled at her, the aura of his mind almost apologetic, and he flashed pearly white teeth.

It was as if he'd felt her watching him. Yes, definitely some sort of supernatural fellow, if not a Gifted. Unfortunately, it seemed as if he was taking her stare as a personal invitation, because he was soon walking towards her, and then sat on the bench next to her. Thankfully not too close - a girl needs her personal space, after all.

He gestured at her with his cotton candy pointedly, as if giving her an invitation of his own. She didn't even look at it. "They're very pretty, aren't they?" he said in a gentle way, as if trying to reassure her that he wasn't going to harm her. He was notably self-conscious, that was for sure. Harley hesitated for a moment, still staring, wondering whether it would be wrong to read his mind or not.

The telepath decided against, but she didn't quite answer his question either. "You go to the University. Penumbra," she said. It wasn't a question, but neither did it come out an accusation. "I've seen you once before." Did she sound like a freak? Probably. But right now that wasn't really her biggest concern. What she really wanted to do was identify this mystery man (who probably wasn't much older than she was) and get all of the anticipation out of the way.

Maybe he felt similarly...

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[Ithica Pettineo]

She snubbed his candy. He put another piece in his mouth and set the bag down on the ground. Hopefully butterflies or random hissing cockroaches didn't get at it. He'd be very upset indeed. He turned his attention back to the girl, a little uneasy by the way she just kept looking at him. He was used to people looking at him when he did something peculiar (which he seemed to do a lot) but he hadn't done anything strange except offer her some cotton candy.

Maybe she just didn't like it. He had been wary of it the first time his father had bought it for him, because he thought of cotton as the comfy thing they placed in beds. But after his first bite the sugar-craving half-demon had been hooked. Or maybe she was health conscious. He wasn't, but he had a bit of control over what his body looked like due to his demon mother. And he technically didn't need to eat, but how could he stop himself when humans had such delicious food?

Ithica looked up at the butterflies as she talked of him going to the university. She couldn't be stalking him since she didn't seem to like him all that much, or that's what her glares had made him think. She could just have eidetic memory and was awkward at making conversation. He knew how that was considering he had eidetic memory and was awkward at making conversation. He nodded as confirmation although he doubted she needed it.

He searched through his memory bank full of the faces he passed by. "So do you. I think you live on the floor below me." He tapped his temple with a smile. He would have made some joke, but the girl seemed introverted so he tried to turn down his extroverted nature. "I'm guessing you have eidetic memory since I'm not a spectacular face to behold," It wasn't that he thought he was easy to forget (although he wasn't sure since he rarely ran into the same person more than once), but the two had never spoken.

It occurred to him that she was asking for his name in her own roundabout way. "My name is Ithica. Like the Greek island, except with an 'i' instead of an 'a'." There was always the New York city called Ithaca, but Ithi preferred comparing his name to Greek geography considering his mother's heritage was the reason he received a Greek name. "What's yours?"

[Harley Mannin]

He didn't seem offended by her rejection of his candy, which was good, at the very least. Harley wasn't sure she could handle association with someone who got upset at every little imperfection right now. He set it on the ground and her eyes followed it for only a moment. Wasn't something she'd want to do. Considering all of the bugs and children around, she wasn't sure she'd trust anything left out in the open.

Speaking of which, she was acutely aware of the notebook in her hand. She didn't have to look at it to make sure it was shut. And it would stay that way, oh yes. No prying eyes were going to capture the words on her page... Harley realized that she was being silly and thinking as if everyone was like her. (Was that selfish...?) It wasn't like people were going to just look over and memorize what they saw to analyze later... Right? Then again, the boy in front of her was a University student so...

Too many questions. It was time for answers. The boy was responding to her. Though she looked into his eyes the whole couple of moments that had passed, it felt as if she'd been staring for an eternity. "So do you. I think you live on the floor below me." It wasn't a question, and Harley felt no reason to respond with an answer... Not much of one anyways. She nodded slowly, acknowledging this.

"I'm guessing you have eidetic memory since I'm not a spectacular face to behold." She was silent, and then looked down at her coffee. Was he fishing for compliments or what? She wasn't quite sure how to respond. "Neither am I." She looked back up, and then realized the stoniness in her eyes. She softened her gaze, but there was still an intense, burning curiosity. He sounded perceptive, intellectual. He knew the word "eidetic", which Harley hadn't even heard before her first day. "Which means you must have it as well."

The male student continued. "My name is Ithica. Like the Greek island, except with an 'i' instead of an 'a'." She blinked, mentally absorbing the information. She thought little of the background. After all, even the most unlikely names were commonplace at the Academy and University. "What's yours?"

She didn't smile. She hadn't asked his name, and yet he'd given his, and now he expected hers, the name of a complete stranger who he might or might not encounter mroe than a few times? She didn't want to trust him. But then again... His thoughts and judgements weren't streaming in as they had before. She had control. And he probably didn't even know of her telepathy. Or precognition. She was once again grateful for the lack of blackout in such a public place. She didn't necessarily faint during her visions, but to a non-Gifted it would look like she was having some sort of fit, maybe even a seizure. They'd have to call an ambulance, and Harley didn't want that attention.

She might as well attempt to be friendly, though she hadn't even spoken to people her age in a long time. "Harlequin. I go by Harley for most people." Was there an implication there somewhere? Though she knew fully well her notebook was still there, she glanced down at it again. She held the coffee in her hand and longed to drink the dark, bitter brew, but was it socially unacceptable to drink something with company when they had nothing of their own to consume?

"I apologize for not answering you earlier. Yes, and I like it in here." If he had eidetic memory, he'd recall what she was talking about. "It's also very calm. It's nice, compared to how crowded the rest of the zoo is."

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[Ithica Pettineo]

Curiosity. He could recognize it anywhere. Ithica Pettineo liked curious people for a variety of reasons. He was an inquisitive person, and he found the more curious a person is the better company they keep. According to Plautus the only curious people were malevolent, which Ithica thought was a bunch of nonsense. There was a difference between a desire to understand all that could be presented and the desire to use the knowledge to tear people down.

With great curiosity comes great responsibility.

He didn't bother to answering her since it was obvious he had the Gift. Ithica wondered whether it was an opportune moment to ask about other gifts she may have, or to speak about his own Trait. He decided against it, settling into the silence and watching the orange and black butterfly swarm. He glanced over at her as she finally gave him her name. Harlequin.

"I used to have Harlequin shrimp." It was his father who technically owned the shrimp as Ithica never had much luck with keeping aquatic animals. "They're vicious." He turned back to the butterflies and a lazy smile crossed his face as he remembered the horror and fascination he had with the small creatures. "They feed on their prey, a starfish, while it's still alive. They start with the arms so that they don't kill it. They'll keep it alive by sharing their food with it."

Sadistic shrimp. He wondered if he should shut up about the shrimp. She may not take too kindly to being compared with a bloodthirsty beast. "The shrimp are visually aesthetic though. Named for the shapes on them." Ithica decided that now was the perfect time to shut up about shrimp. As morbid as it was he now wanted more than anything to sink his teeth into some seafood. Unfortunately the restaurant inside the zoo did not serve seafood. Pity.

"I like the elephants better." He said simply. He'd go into his passion for pachyderms if he had not already rambled about one species of animal. "But I agree with you. It's quieter than the rest of the zoo." The most noise butterflies made were when they fell and hit the ground with a plink. Elephants weren't the stealthiest creatures to grace the planet.

"They named an elephant Happy." It was bothering him. "Can you imagine having to go around with a name like that?" That poor elephant probably got teased. It was worse than some of the seventies names he had heard of, and those were pretty bad. "I bet his middle name is Rainbow," Ithica said bitterly.

[Harley Mannin]

She wondered if he even cared that she gave her name. It wouldn't be the first time that she attempted to socialize with a stranger and was blatantly ignored or dismissed. But he looked at her, and she could practically hear the cogs in his mind turning. He seemed fascinated by the butterflies themselves - something told her more fascinated with the flashing wings than the quiet girl who stared and read minds. Though... Didn't she deserve it? She couldn't possibly compare to the beauty of butterflies, with their orange and red and blue and purple wings. She was just a scrawny girl with too much makeup.

"I used to have harlequin shrimp," he began, and somehow Harley knew she was in for a biological lecture. Though she was fully aware that she shared her name with (most notably) a mottled spotted pattern found in several animal species, she'd never quite heard of such an odd one. Sure there was the duck - at least it was pretty. And despite Ithica's comment about the shrimp's appearance, she was certain that it was probably bloated and disgusting-looking.

Was he trying to imply something...?

See, this was the trouble with people. Even the most obscure of metaphors could directly correlate to the listener in some way. What if this stranger was judging her based on her aloof stature and terse sentences, assuming she was vicious and cold-hearted? He didn't say the shrimp were pretty, he said "visually aesthetic". Was he implying that, though she was model-thin with high cheekbones, ultimately she was uglier than other girls? Maybe he was trying to say she was short or --

Wait.

She listened well but subtly delved into his mind. What she found was self-consciousness, not anger or hostility. In fact, he seemed to wonder himself if she would get offended. She mentally sighed and withdrew, ashamed at herself for freaking out.

Thankfully, the boy was on his way to changing the subject. "I like the elephants better," he said brightly. "But I agree with you. It's quieter than the rest of the zoo." She nodded, knowing he must be making that comparison in his mind. "Except for all of the kids around..." she added, but not in a disagreeing way. Never mind the elephants, who occasionally snorted, kicked dust and grass around, or splashed a bit. What about the monkeys?? Those were the real party animals in the zoo. Haha. Get it? Party... Nevermind.

"They named an elephant Happy... Could you imagine having to go around with a name like that?" He seemed disgruntled, and the emotion he held was so genuine Harley couldn't help but smile. "I bet his middle name is Rainbow..." he mumbled.

Harley couldn't stop herself from bursting out laughing. "I don't think elephants have middle names. Though you never can be too sure." She smiled at him, took a drink of her cooling coffee despite herself. "Then again, I've heard worse. I mean..." she trailed off pointedly, gesturing with a finger at her face. But she hesitated and her smile fell as she sobered.

"Then again... People from the Academy have names that seem to fit them. Maybe Happy the elephant really is content with his life..." She sighed, looking away towards the flowers. "Maybe that means I'm mottled..." she said quietly, to herself but still aloud.

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[Ithica Pettineo]

Elephants don't have middle names. It was a simple solution to his troubles. He returned the smile and returned his gaze to the butterflies. She was more interesting than a random group of insects flying about with little purpose, but he didn't want to fixate his eyes on her. He knew that he got uncomfortable when people refused to look away from him and he assumed that other people felt the same way. Maybe insects were wary of the looks people gave them. Perhaps the monarchs were afraid of being pinned down and put into a museum.

Ithica frowned as he thought of the insect exhibitions he saw frequently in museums. He knew that killing the insects was not going to kill the entire species, but it still hurt to see all of the beautiful insects on display for viewing pleasure. There were quick ways to kill them, such as humection with ethyl acetate or even injecting them with the solution via needle. Some of the ways were just cruel. Placing the insects in a 'killing' jar with fumes from the ethyl acetate to asphyxiate it, and some people even freeze them to death.

He would have went on ranting internally had he not realized she was speaking. Ithica tilted his head to the side as he pondered over her statement. Names did seem to fit, but did it fit objectively or were people just trying to fill in the shoes of what their name meant? Was a Donald an important ruler because of his name or because of who the Donald was? Was an Ithica cheerful because of his name or because of himself? Was he beloved because his middle name was Erastus?

"I wouldn't be content with my life if my name was Happy." Ithica grinned, deciding that he was over analyzing her statement too much. He pulled out another bite of cotton candy and looked up at the clouds. "Just seems a bit strict. Like being a clown. Everyone always expects you to be happy all the time when you just want to pull your hair out and scream that you hate children and the way people are afraid of you for no reason." He laughed softly and followed her look to the flowers.

"I don't think your mottled." He said earnestly. "Unless you're speaking about being metaphorically mottled, in which case I don't know since we've only really known each other for about ten minutes." Ithica shrugged and returned to the swarms of orange and red and black.

[Harley Mannin]

She was so pleased that he hadn't been offended by her middle name comment that she almost grinned. Obviously, she didn't, because then she would have looked like a fool not only in front of someone who had eidetic memory and would probably never let it down, but also in front of a crowd full of strangers who undoubtedly wanted to judge her. She took a quick stock of the human minds around her and noticed that the women who stared at her were envious of her fragile slimness, men who had needed a double-take thought dirty or unfaithful thoughts. She was grateful to the few her hadn't paid her mind.

Ithica seemed a little spacey at the moment, staring off at the butterflies with a slight frown making his whole face crumple. His eyes traced the colorful insects, and now Harley realized that maybe it was merely his attention span and not the object(s) of his attention. Maybe he was trying to give her a hint. Though she wanted desperately to know what he was thinking, she knew it would probably be an abuse of her Gift. Besides, she'd encountered a few dragons in the Academy who were immune to her telepathy, and she knew it would probably happen more often.

She couldn't rely on her mind-reading. She had to break that idea now.

But by now he was responding, which was a relief. "I wouldn't be content with my life if my name was Happy." She was about to ask why not when he answered. "Just seems a bit strict. Like being a clown." He went on to explain exactly why the life of a clown was strict, and as he laughed so did she. "But why would you choose to be a clown if you had those problems? Why not just be a janitor or play in a movie as the dwarf?"

Imagine that. A janitor named Happy Rainbow. She giggled, which was weird. Harley never giggled, especially not when thinking to herself.

Ithicia's next statement was genuine and enthusiastic. "I don't think you're mottled," he said gently. "Unless you're speaking about being metaphorically mottled, in which case I don't know since we've only really known each other for about ten minutes." He shrugged and moved his gaze away again.

Harley nodded. "Seven," she said without calculation. She just knew. "But I guess you're right. I don't really know why I--"

Without warning her vision swam. No. It didn't. Colors were warping, shapes blurring and stretching, the finite becoming fluid. Greens were mixtures of blue and purples and flashes of light flicked across her eyes, diving and whirling around gray and white and gold and brown starbursts. Her vision became razor sharp, though the colors were still distorted. A flaming orange butterfly on the ground. The flames shot up, consuming Harley's hair, her clothes, her notebook

--and then she was back, her eyes trained on the dirt ground, staring but unseeing. She blinked rapidly several times as her mind switched gears again and she caught up to herself. Damn. That one came without warning. She looked back at Ithica, not realizing how bewildered her expression appeared. Harley wasn't sure how much time had passed in her vision... It could have been only a moment, it could have been nearly a minute. "Sorry. I don't know why I said that. I guess I was just spacing out or something. Didn't mean to put any pressure on you..."

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[Ithica Pettineo]

"Good point." He acknowledged, unable to find a reason why any logical person would become a clown if they were clinically depressed, hated children, and didn't want people to run from them. Of course, people who hated vampires become lawyers, and impatient over-bearing people become teachers. Maybe humans liked to make themselves miserable whether intentionally or not. He heard about people doing it all the time - like women who found 'love' in males who were akin to their abusive fathers or... something among those lines. It wasn't okay to put every human in the same category because certainly all didn't go out to make themselves miserable.

He also thought it strange how he kept thinking 'humans'. It was as if he were trying to distance himself from the term. Ithica was more human than demon - well, he fit under the human's stereotype better than he did 'nasty life-draining creature of the night'. Biologically he fit more into the 'demon' category. His mother's side of the family wasn't particularly thrilled that he wasn't a full demon. He wasn't particularly thrilled about being a halfer. He did enjoy his gift but in all honesty he believed he'd be happy with just his Trait. And anyway, his memory seemed.. faulty. His eidetic memory had started when he was young, but there were still gaps when he tried to think of his childhood.

It was then that the rest of the sentence dawned on him. Play in a movie as the dwarf? He stared at her with raised eyebrows. "Are you calling me short, Harley?" Ithica did his best to look annoyed, but as usual he failed due to his lack of acting skills. "I'll have you know I'm taller than my father." He grinned. It was true - he came from a rather short family. He had vague memories of his mother towering over them. A dwarf named Happy Rainbow. He had never met any dwarfs, but he had always heard that they were rather prickly fellows. A dwarf that was a janitor named Happy Rainbow seemed odd; but then you have the possibility that the dwarf, named Happy, was an actor acting as a janitor named Rainbow. Or any variation of the sort.

It boggled his mind.

Seven. How come others seemed to be able to be all memorize-y better than him? He pouted. All right, he had only met one other person besides her with eidetic memory, but Jacob had been far more intelligent than him as well. How could he be such an idiot when his gift should suggest otherwise? And why was she looking like that? He couldn't pinpoint what was exactly strange about the way she was looking at that moment. Maybe it was the way she had just stopped speaking, or maybe it was the way she was just... staring.

Now she just looked confused. He rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, no pressure at all. Don't worry." Ithica looked from her to the butterflies, and then back to her. "Was that a medical spacing out or do you have another gift?" He didn't know why he hadn't thought of the possibility of another gift. Maybe she had... okay, so he didn't know about all of the gifts. He had always been busy trying to figure out about the demon part of him that he had never bothered with much except for eidetic memory and the two gifts his dad had - empathy and telepathy. He could never hide anything from that man.

[Harley Mannin]

Her mind found what it was looking for - what she'd missed with the time she'd spent in her trance. It was Ithica speaking, responding, joking around. It was too late to reply to it now. "Good point," he's said, regarding her comment about the clown. And then later, "Are you calling me short, Harley?" More joking. Harley smiled just a little, realizing he'd directly addressed her by her nickname. It was strange - she hadn't heard her name spoken much in a while. Ithica's voice echoed in her mind. "I'll have you know I'm taller than my father."

He'd had a mock-angry expression on, or had attempted to anyways. It almost looked like he'd been about to burst out laughing. Had he been flirting with her? (God forbid anyone flirt with malnourished, tiny little Harlequin. Harlequin who frequently had visions like some people had panic attacks, Harlequin who could know your true feelings in an instant if she was trained well enough. Harlequin the ugly.)

Whether he had or not, it was passed and the time was over, and now she wasn't even sure if he wanted to talk to her anymore. She didn't even think of using her telepathy to see.

For now he was radiating discomfort and his hand was awkwardly rubbing his neck. "Yeah, no pressure at all. Don't worry." Harley wasn't sure he understood her correctly, but oh well. She worried anyways. It just wasn't like her to take the advice of a stranger, especially one who'd just witnessed her having a vision. Or did he even notice? she wondered, giving herself a whole slew of new anxieties to fret over.

"Was that medical spacing out or do you have another Gift?"

There it was, right out in the open. Harley wondered if he thought she was some sort of freak. She looked away, trying to control her clenching throat. Should she tell him? Should she reveal one of her secrets? He could use it against her. What if Ithica asked her to try and see another vision? She wouldn't be able to and then she'd not just look like a freak, but a foolish freak. And what if she lied? What if she lied and he found out and then he would always remember her as a liar because he had eidetic memory? And then her first opportunity for a friend would be shot to hell, especially if he was a gossiper - not that Harley assumed he was or anything.

But why not? It wasn't like there was much else to lose at this point. She swallowed her pride and swallowed physically and then answered him honestly. "It's another Gift." She was about to stop there, but again. Why not? "I get visions. It's called precognition. But I can't control it. The visions come whenever they want to."

She swallowed again, still refusing to look at him. Her coffee cup was slowly leaning forward, tipping away from her gently shaking hands, and she set it down warily on the portion of the bench beside her. And then she replaced it with her notebook, clutching it tightly as if she was afraid to lose it. The telepath wanted to write her vision down, but not in front of him. Not in front of this stranger who she just entrusted personal information to. Not in front of him.

[Ithica Pettineo]

She was being rather quiet. Ithica pulled his feet up on the bench to hug them to his chest. The butterflies were quickly losing his interest and he looked around for something else to occupy his attention. Insects crawling on his cotton candy, children flitting around, but nothing interesting. His mind immediately went back to the elephants stomping around. The feeling he had when he saw them returned to him and he grinned, wishing that he could just touch one.

When she finally spoke he grinned with relief. He had never done too well with silences. Especially with silences when he had nothing to occupy his attention with. If he had been able to zone out of the world until the other person decided to speak again he would have been okay, but he had been painfully aware of this silence.

"Precognition." He repeated, and put his legs back down. He was getting anxious from sitting in one place for so long; perhaps just another reason he should have taken his ADHD medicine that day. He took a deep breath and relaxed against the back of the bench, focusing his mind on the girl. That vision that she had didn't seem to be pleasant, but he wasn't sure. Maybe she always looked panicked after a vision.

Ithi didn't want to question her further, but she did seem shaken. "I bet you've had some pretty terrible visions." He leaned his head against the back of the bench, staring up at the clouds. Harley looked as though she regretted telling him, but try as he might he just couldn't keep his curiosity at bay. It was one of his many negative qualities. Maybe she just wasn't the type of person to go around expressing her Gifts.

"I have another.." Gift? It wasn't a Gift. It was a Trait, but that would clue her in to him being a halfer if she knew anything about demons. And you didn't exactly go around telling people you were a demon - people tended to frown on them because of stigmas. "Supernatural dealio." He finished lamely. Smooth.

[ooc| sorry it sucks. >_<]

[Harley Mannin]

It's all right. Mine's not much better, haha =P

Ithica seemed a bit... Unsettled. Restless. She wasn't boring him, was she?? Well it would work out like that, wouldn't it? Telling a complete stranger about two of her three Gifts (the second of which she hadn't revealed to anyone except for her counselor and a couple of her old non-Gifted friends who'd undoubtedly forgotten it by then) and already he seemed to want to go.

No. She was just being crazy. He might be restless, but what did that have to do with her? She forced herself to chill. See? There he was, grinning, looking like a child who'd finally worked through a tough problem on his own. She saw him relax and was shocked when he seemed to calm down. Wow. Her perceptions were really screwing with her today. No. For a few days.

No. Ever since she'd learned to control her telepathy.

That had to be it. She wasn't constantly hearing true thoughts and ideas and emotions and therefore she wasn't getting a perfectly accurate reading on people. That had to be it. And now she had to turn her attention on Ithica, who, it seemed, she could barely get a reading on at all. "Precognition," he said, his voice gentle as he reiterated the term. "I bet you've had some pretty terrible visions."

Harley nodded, watching him as he turned his eyes to the sky. She wondered how he might have guessed. Maybe he was a telepath like her - maybe he was just perceptive. Unlike her. Because really, what were the odds of two people, of no relation to each other, having two of the exact same gift? "Yeah. Some of them." She definitely didn't want to say much more. But... She was compelled to, at the very least, explain a bit. "Some can be bad. But others are good... Though the majority of my visions don't mean anything. Some don't even come true."

Maybe that's because I can't control them, she wondered, glancing at her notebook again. Compulsive habit. She wasn't worried about it. But she felt a headache stirring behind her eyes, brought on by the trippy vision.

"I have another..." he began, trailing off for a long moment. She watched him, fingers knitting into each other. Waiting. "Supernatural... Dealio." She blinked, then burst out laughing. What an awkward phrase! She let herself settle down before responding. Didn't wanna look like a fool, stopping and going because she couldn't control her giggles. But she was still smiliing. "Oh... I see. Does this have to do anything with faeries or werewolves?"

She looked at him with gentle eyes, knowing her tone was teasing. Maybe he wouldn't take it seriously. Was she flirting with him? She hoped it wouldn't be taken that way, but one never really knew nowadays. Everyone took even the most impersonal gestures as overly friendly. Hm. How strange.

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[Ithica Pettineo]

"It wouldn't make sense for all of them to come true." The demon shrugged, relaxing as she told him about her precognition. He didn't know why he got so nervous around people who were withholding information (it wasn't as though he could sense their subterfuge), but he did know why he liked to know things about people. It wasn't so that he could hold it against them later when it suited his needs, because he certainly didn't do that. It was so that he could understand them better and know what topics not to linger on.

He drew his feet up and poked at his toes through his shoes. "The future is always changing, you know?" It did confuse him - time, that was. It always seemed simpler when one was a child. Or maybe it was just Ithica who found time to be confusing. The way hours seemed to melt into seconds, the way seconds could take hours. Or the way the future always seemed to lead up to one moment but there were such an infinite amount of ways it could have gone. But here was, just over-analyzing what was being said again.

As she laughed he looked over at her with a small smile. He really hadn't the thought the phrase all that funny, but he was glad that she took entertainment in it nonetheless. "Faeries or werewolves?" He shook his head and grinned. He didn't think that he had any faeries or werewolves in his bloodline. He was dating a half-fae if they counted as 'faeries'. But Ithica hadn't met a werewolf, which he supposed was a bit odd due to him meeting faeries, dragons, and demons. Oh my. He knew that she was joking, but he couldn't help but wonder if he did have faerie in his background - he was pretty sure that the faerie gene would be easier to override than the werewolf's.

"Actually it has something to do with me being half-demon." There were numerous ways he had gone about telling her in his mind. They had all seemed highly over-dramatic, and Ithi didn't feel like barking around the tree. Or was it beating around the tree? Euphemisms tended to just merge inside of his head until the meaning is obscure. He would have delved further into his explanation, but something told him that the woman wasn't interested in his entire life story.

"I bring things to life," He said, tapping his fingers against his shoe. "Inanimate things." Ithica clarified, because he had tried to bring dead things to life, but all that had arose out of the situation was nine-year-old Ithica being scolded for holding a dead bird with gloves. "It's a nice thing to be able to do when I'm lonely." He grinned.

[Harley Mannin]

Ithica seemed to be relieved when she explained her Gift to him, relaxing little by little. Hm. That was strange. Maybe he thought her Gifts stopped at two and was happy that she didn't have anything totally dangerous in store. The question was whether he was correct or not. Does telepathy even have the potential to be dangerous...? Harley wondered. "It wouldn't make sense for all of them to come true," Ithica agreed, shrugging, and Harley nodded in response.

Then she realized she didn't actually know what he meant.

Why didn't all visions come true? Was it because she was less experienced at controlling them? She had little time to ponder, though. "The future is always changing, you know?" Unfortunately, Harley didn't really know. Sure new information was spouted about frequently, instantly, but Harley had always thought that what happened happened because it was supposed to happen. Fate dictated journeys and relationships and events. If something bad happened to someone, it was because it was supposed to, engraved into the fabric of time, not because they thought something or made some random decision.

But... Maybe Harley was wrong. It was just that she'd always thought that way - this Ithica guy sure had a strange way of thinking. The doubt was clear on her face, she knew. She had to elaborate at least a little. "Maybe, maybe not," she admitted. "I've just thought it was because my imagination changes things around, or I interpreted the visions incorrectly." She wasn't about to admit her own weakness, of course. Any information withheld from a stranger is good information, she thought, but then began to wonder if she'd done a bad thing.

At her comment on his, "supernatural dealio", he shook his head and smiled widely. "Actually, it has something to do with being a half-demon." He said it matter-of-factly and Harley simply blinked. Is he being serious? She raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Oh... I see." Harley had never met a demon before, much less half of one. He didn't look half-demon. In fact, he mostly just looked human, or Gifted as she should say.

Ithica continued, "I bring things to life... Inanimate things." He was tapping his shoes, his chin practically resting on his knees. "It's a nice thing to be able to do when I'm lonely." And there he was again, grinning away. She couldn't help but smile in sympathy. Ithica... Was he a cheerful person or what? Harley didn't mind it - actually, she sort of enjoyed being around such a happy-go-lucky person. Or rather, half-demon.

"Yeah, that makes sense." She hesistated, not knowing whether it would be worse to be tortured by her curiosity or to ask a potentially offensive question. She decided the former and continued. "Sorry, but I've never met a demon before... Do all demons, uh, 'animate' things, I guess? Or is it a Gifted thing?" She assumed it had to do with his demon side, but again, she really had no clue. There was nothing in her memory about demons except for biblical depictions of red-skinned imps, and perhaps a few artistic renditions of succubi and incubi.

"Um, you aren't going to try to eat me or take my soul are you?" Her expression was etched in concern that was only half-joking. Sure he looked fairly harmless, acted fairly normal... But who knew? Maybe he was trying to seduce her in an admittedly abnormal way...

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