[After Ten's death, Jamie spent the night on Rose's couch, staring at the ceiling and too afraid to sleep. Rose was, incidentally, in her office overnight too, though not always right by her and being comforting. She was doing quite a bit of paperwork, too, though she frequently checked on Jamie's status. Guardian and ward both got almost no sleep.] [The following morning, Roseli took Jamie to the dreaded or heralded vat. There was no conversation between Rose and the geneticists for Jamie to overhear so she'll know what's going to happen to her, but she's been in the vat before, so she knows what it's capable of. Once in, everything goes blank, and at least now she can get some sleep.] * Jamie sleeps the bleassed sleep of the dreamless. [Time passes. As usual, Jamie can't tell how much. Eventually, though, she wakes up in a new set of clothes, though it looks similar to the other clothes she's been wearing since Roseli gave her sight. Just like last time, Rose is sitting nearby.] Welcome back. How are you feeling? * Jamie waits a moment and then realizes that nobody else is going to answer for her anymore. "I I don't know." * Roseli smiles a little. "Try. I know you know what the words mean." * Jamie crosses her arms and heasitantly responds. "Alone?" * Roseli nods. Are you feeling any better than you were before? * Jamie rocks a bit. "I don't know." I see. I was hoping the rest you got in the vat would help. * Jamie has another too long pause before she looks down at her crossed arms and then up at Rose. "I I didn't have any nightmares?" * Rose pulls a new packet of gum from her pocket, unwrapping it slowly for once. "No." * Jamie blinks in confusion. "What what did you want me to say?" Whatever you wanted to. * Roseli pops her gum into her mouth and tucks the wrapper into a pants pocket. She chews thoughtfully for a moment before saying, "I removed your dependency on Ten for your powers." * Jamie shakes her head slowly back and forth. "I don't understand." You don't need Ten to use your powers. For example, you can turn the lights in this room on and off with a thought. Without her. * Jamie shakes her head harder. "I... no... Ten can do that. I can't. I'm not a goddess." (Connection's hopefully better over here.) (I can hope) You're not a goddess. But you can do it. * Jamie shakes her head. "I... no. I can't" (What takes precidence anyway? Standing orders to not mess with base equipment, or new orders to do something?) (It wasn't an order to do it, so she doesn't have to. Rose didn't say, "Turn off the lights." She just said that Jamie can.) (Also, the ONLY person Jamie is absolutely forced to obey is Rose.) (Given that, Rose's orders would take precedence.) (From the first session ["Eventually, your conditioning will shift to your guardians, making them solely responsible for you. But for now, you are to obey the top command here at Blitzkrieg, which includes me."] ) (Brett told me last session that they are only forced to obey the guardian. So it must have shifted.) (Also, it's probably helpful to make them THINK they have to obey everybody else. :P) (Ahh, I didn't know that. Damn, Ten didn't have to stop shooting.) (Hahahaha.) (Probably want to make sure it's absolutely clear at the start of next session, so bring it up before we play. ^^_ (*nods*) * Roseli reaches down, picking up an alarm clock. She presses a button and the alarm goes off - it's at its lowest setting, so it's just a soft beeping. "Stay where you are and turn this clock off, Jamie." * Jamie 's eyebrows srunch together as she tries to deal with two compleatly conflicting realities. 2d8-3 (A dilemma!) (Aww, Dicy's feeling generous.) (Woot!) * Jamie looks at Rose in utter disbelief as the alarm clock goes dead in Rose's hands. "I...I can't do that! I can't... I can't hear this I can't... I see... Make it stop! I can't do this! Make them all go away! Please! This is Ten! Ten has to do this!" She's started crying again. * Jamie covers her ears and then her eyes. "Make them stop counting!" * Roseli is on her feet and then to Jamie's side, the incriminating clock left on her chair. "Who is them?" The clocks! The locks The cameras! This! The vat!That Everything! They're all counting! Make them stop! Second miliseconds vibrations! MY HEART MAKE THEM ALL STOP COUNTING! (The good news is that Jamie's spent her entire existance dealing with sensory overload so she'll get a handle on this eventualy...) (Actually, really soon, since Jamie already knew how to handle it in a way.) (True) * Roseli sits next to Jamie and gives her a half hug. "Shhh. You'll be okay. How did Ten deal with it?" (But right now she's got two senses screaming at her, and I'm halfway tempted to try turnng the building off. But that'd get me booted from the game instantly) (Yeah, it'd be bad. Rose is speaking very quietly, for the record.) (Ahh, I know how to not do it now. Okay. Right.) * Jamie doesn't turn he head but moves her hands up to her ears again and starts to wail, her voice breaking early and dropping it to a whisper. "I DOon't know! I'm! Not! Ten! They listen to her! She didn't listen to them!" * Roseli drops to a whisper as well: "She could listen to them, but she didn't always listen to them. You can do the same." * Jamie shakes her head. "I don't know hooow! Ten does! Let her stop this!" She can't. Only you can, because they're your powers. You just don't need Ten to use them anymore. * Roseli points at the clock. "You turned that off, Jamie," she says, and then she smooths the girl's hair. "And you can not listen to them." Hoow? How do I stop the counting? How do I stop hearing it? I don't knooow! How do you keep screaming from incapacitating you? * Jamie sniffles. "Ten tells me to keep going. Ten listens so I don't have to. Ten thinks so I don't have to. I hurt so Ten doesn't have to." Yes, but Ten isn't here. Your powers are your own. It's okay for you to think. So think. You can't shut down the building. That would kill you. What else can you do? I don't know Idon'tknowIdon'tknow. I just listen to Ten! You can't listen to Ten. She's not here. You have to be your own person now, Jamie, and that means dealing with this. Think. I don't know how! Ten thought! Ten only had to listen to Ten, I have to listen to everything! * Roseli is silent for a moment, then says, "Jamie. Stop listening to them." * Jamie blinks and lets the counting fade into the endless white noise in her mind and her face relaxes. "I. I'm sorry." * Roseli smiles. "There's nothing to be sorry about." She pulls out a packet of tissues and hands them to Jamie. She came prepared! * Jamie blows her nose lightly and winces, she waits a moment and then blows even softer. * Roseli continues speaking softly: "I give you permission, from now until told otherwise, to listen to devices as you feel you should." There's a pause, and then she adds ruefully, "Though you're probably not eager to do that right now." * Jamie nods. * Roseli gets up to retrieve her clock, giving Jamie time to settle down and wipe herself off. She turns the device over in her hands. Try to turn this on again. * Jamie reluctantly looks at the clock and makes it start counting again. * Roseli looks at the clock herself, then says, "Good." She sets the clock down. "Very good." Are you hungry? [The clock, for the record, started again from where she told it to stop] * Roseli turns off the alarm. * Jamie looks down and softly replies. "No." (Actualy I'm going to change that.) (Gotcha.) * Jamie doesn't take her eyes off the clock as she replies. "No." * Roseli stands. "You need a little food just the same. Come along." * Roseli opens the door, heading out. * Jamie tentitivly stands up and pads after Rose. (End?) (sure) [End Minisession.]