:.: Abigail's Nine :.: {Accepting/Open}

[Lucky_Tiger]

The tiger that shouldn't be....is....

"A psychiatrist would be a blessing." Miranda said with a chuckle. "But since neither of us is qualified, we do without. Unless we want to get ourselves admitted to an asylum." She sighed and looked thoughtful for a moment, gazing out into space. "These Dark Ones seem to be in the center of a storm. A storm of fear, confusion, and anger. Or at least, that's what it seemed like. Could that be it? Are they....feeding....." She had to pause, looking for the right word. "Feeding off these emotions?"

Her eyebrows snapped together as she frowned, a sudden thought occurring to her. "Are we sure they're controlling the people? What if they are feeding and possibly enhancing certain emotions? Are they really controlling then? Or just subtly guiding, in an effort to provide more of their chosen emotions?" She rubbed at her forehead. "There's so many unanswered questions. We're going up against these things with practically nothing at all." She tried hard to hide the despair in her voice. It seemed such a hopeless task.

The tiger that should be....isn't....

 

[SilentShadowDreamer]

Cybil smiled suddenly. It wasn't entirely a nice smile. "Well, if we need to know more about the dark things, I know someone we could ask." She'd gleaned this a long time ago, but had held off asking. She just hadn't really wanted to know. But now that she was apparently stuck with Miranda, she might as well find out if she was to be saddled with anyone else. "Did you see anyone else in those visions of yours, by the way?"

She opened the door as she spoke, and the last sentence carried clearly into the room without. Cybil didn't seem to care that that meant that Mark might hear.

After a few minutes, it became clear why.

Mark looked up tentatively from where he lay sprawled on Cybil's bed. Some of the wild, drug-induced fire seemed to have died out of his eyes as he asked, too carefully, "Visions?"  

[Lucky_Tiger]

The tiger that shouldn't be....is....

Miranda felt a shiver crawl up her spine at the smile. She didn't entirely like the look of it or the words that accompanied it. She winced as Cybil opened the door, letting the words carry out into the main room. "Great." She muttered to herself. "Like I don't have enough people thinking I'm crazy." She raked one hand through her raven colored hair and sighed.

She blinked in surprise though, hearing Mark's careful question. "Yes, visions. I'm a scrier, alright. I can scry and see things." She crossed her arms, practically daring him to call her crazy. She had enough of that from the kids at school. As she stared at him, her stare became less defiant and more puzzled. She moved closer suddenly, examining the boy closer. She frowned, staring at him. "It is you....." She said slowly, then cursed. "Do you have any idea how hard you make it when you never look up? Otherwise I would have known you on the spot!" She asked him suddenly. Miranda had told Cybil there was another boy in her visions, but he was so hard to see. Always cringing and looking down, seemingly terrified.

The tiger that should be....isn't....

 

[SilentShadowDreamer]

Cybil flashed Miranda another of those wicked little grins and sat down beside Mark, seeming unsurprised when he shrank towards her and away from Miranda's words. "No," he muttered repeatedly, shaking his head. "No, no, no."

"Yes," Cybil replied clearly. Her voice was cool and firm. "I told you, Mark, it isn't the drugs and it isn't you being crazy. It's just how it is. You know I wouldn't have lied to you." When he reached out blindly to her, she took his hand and patted it gently before letting go. For Mark, Cybil could be nurturing - the kid needed her.

She looked at Miranda steadily. "I know you're not real fond of him, Miranda, but the fact remains. He came to me just like you did. He saw you. If we're something, he's one of us."

Mark seemed sober enough now - perhaps his earlier actions had been the last gasp of a high. His eyes were wide and nervous as they moved from Cybil to Miranda, and he'd flinched at every word she'd said until now.

So they had a high-school student, a teenage runaway, and a teenage addict. Not real promising.

((OOC: Off to bed. Goodnight!))  

[Lucky_Tiger]

The tiger that shouldn't be....is....

Miranda rubbed her forehead. This was just getting worse and worse. How could Abigail have chosen so badly when she passed her powers on? She looked to Cybil and sighed, flopping back down in the chair she'd been sitting in before. Slowly at first, she began laughing. "We're hopeless!" She said through her fit of giggles. "A druggie, a runaway, and an average student. And we're supposed to save the world? Unless the world is threatened by dust bunnies, we're all screwed."

It took a moment for her to get a hold of herself. "Sorry. The absurdity of the situation just hit me." She took a deep breath, glancing between Cybil and Mark. "Alright. Let's try this again. Mark, I'm Miranda. I'm a scrier and can see things. Mostly places, events that are happening right now. Other than that, my ability is a bit shaky. And I assure you, I am not crazy. And if Cybil is right, neither are you."

The tiger that should be....isn't....

 

[SilentShadowDreamer]

Two pairs of eyes - one blue-grey, one dark - watched Miranda have her mild fit of hysterics patiently. It seemed to be the sort of thing that they were used to. It was Mark, though, who finally spoke, although he looked to Cybil after every sentence. "They're not much more substantial than dust bunnies," he said quietly. "But they're much scarier."

Cybil looked at him, and some kind of understanding seemed to pass between them. Looking back at Miranda, Cybil said softly, "They've been after him for a while, if they're what we're thinking of. Apparently he's a prime candidate."

Mark sat up, and there was a new sense of purpose in his eyes now. "I can't see," he said hesitantly. "I mean, not like you can. I can see things. People. Places. But no events, nothing happening. I don't know why I see them, but I saw Cybil. And I saw you."

The blonde girl, watching him, looked dissatisfied. Cybil was privately of the opinion that there was something more to it. She didn't know what it was, but that ability didn't seem too helpful, considering that Miranda's was similar to it. There had to be something else. But she didn't want to press Mark too hard about it.  

[Lucky_Tiger]

The tiger that shouldn't be....is....

Her hysterics over, Miranda settled down and was serious again. "They've been after him....." She repeated, thinking. "What makes you such a good target, as opposed to Cybil? Why one over the other?" She was quiet, reviewing everything they knew. With a sigh, she left it along and turned her attention to Mark's ability. It seemed a lot like hers but there were several key differences.

"You can see things, but not what's going on. Just like a still picture or a snap shot then. But why? So you saw Cybil, then found her. You saw me, and found me." The raven haired teen was infinitely curious about everything. "What else have you seen?" She asked, trying to tease apart his ability. Like Cybil, she had the feeling that there was more to it than what it appeared.

The tiger that should be....isn't....

 

[SilentShadowDreamer]

Cybil gave Miranda a pointed stare, like she couldn't believe the other girl was being so dense. "I don't do drugs," she replied calmly. "I don't even drink. I sleep a decent amount of hours at night. And thus I am in full possession of my mental faculties. Added to that, I'm - well, according to Mark, anyway..."

Mark interrupted earnestly, seeming rather eager to please now that he was back to his senses. "She's more grounded. I'm kinda flighty - least that's what my mother used to say." He looked a little faraway for a moment, but then resumed what he'd been saying. "She knows her own head, and what should be in it and what shouldn't. I don't."

Rather a sad admission, really, but neither Cybil nor the boy himself seemed to think of it that way. Instead, Mark went straight to the next question. "Mostly it's just been you and Cybil," he admitted, looking a little uneasy - like he thought he'd messed up somehow. "But there've been a few other things. A brown-haired chick. A couple of random things - like old toys and notebooks and shi-- stuff. Really old. I don't know." He shrugged. "I don't see so much sober."  

[Lucky_Tiger]

The tiger that shouldn't be....is....

Miranda raised an eyebrow at his admission that he didn't know his own head but said nothing. Like it or not, she would probably be working with him. And meant not calling him crazy. At least, not out loud. "Yeah......Never mind. It was a stupid question." She said, referring to why they were after Mark and not Cybil.

She cocked her head to the side, listening to his description of the things he'd seen. "Old?" She asked, the word triggering something in her mind. "An old notebook?" She seized on that one idea in particular. "How old would you say? 20 years? 40? Or even old than that?" She wondered if the notebook he saw was as old as Abigail. If it was Abigail's. Maybe he was onto something there.

The tiger that should be....isn't....

 

[SilentShadowDreamer]

"Now, that doesn't mean they're not after us," Cybil added. "It would be stupid to pretend that we're not in any danger at all. It's just that they're likely to go after Mark first, and..." I'm worried about him. "Well, they're just more likely to." Even if she and the boy both knew what she had been about to say, there was no need to embarrass Mark by saying it for Miranda. The kid wanted to pretend he was tough, well, no skin off hers.

Mark blinked at Miranda's enthusiasm, and his response was slow in coming - and decidedly tentative. "Um, well, it was all yellowy on the edges, like an old book. The cover...I think it was like, leather or something, and it was crumbling a bit. Maybe it was rotting. You know." He shrugged, his descriptive powers failing him as his fingers shook a little bit. "Old."

Cybil noticed the beginnings of the boy's trembling, and stiffened a bit. Mark had told her he was trying to ease off the drugs, but his body was now telling her otherwise. How much time had he spent high since the last time he'd left her, if he couldn't even go, what, twenty minutes without beginning to feel withdrawal?

And if she and Miranda needed him, she was going to have to do more than start to try to talk him gently into easing off a bit. She was going to have to make him stop entirely. Fast, and ruthlessly.

Maybe she could recruit Miranda for that.

Drawing her mind to other things, she frowned. "Why, Miranda? What do you think an old book matters for?" Distracted by her worries about Mark, she wasn't connecting the dots as quickly, but then they fell into place. "Ohhh. You think it might be hers?"  

[Lucky_Tiger]

The tiger that shouldn't be....is....

"Maybe." Miranda hugged her knees to her chest, rocking slightly as she thought. She didn't even notice Mark's trembling. "Abigail is old. We don't know how old, but really old. As in, past war kind of old. If Mark's seeing a notebook, there's gotta be a reason for it, I'm sure of it. Nothing is ever random. I saw you for a reason. So did Mark. He saw me. He sees things. Objects. People. I think that they're important. I just don't know how." She was talking quickly, as if trying to say the thoughts before she lost them. "So maybe the notebook is important. People write things in notebooks. Who wrote that notebook and what did they write? Mark!" She switched her attention to the boy abruptly.

"Tell me everything about that notebook you see? Is it just the book? Is there a background? A room or a desk or something? Is there any markings on the book? A title or design or something. Maybe a price tag if by chance the book is in a store." She demanded of him. She could get a bit demanding when she was onto something like this.

The tiger that should be....isn't....

 

[SilentShadowDreamer]

Cybil watched Miranda thinking, and took the time to consider this herself. "So maybe we even do have a handy walkthrough guide," she mused. "Who knew?" She was joking, but at the same time, she wondered if maybe...if just maybe it was possible that...

No. It wasn't. They were screwed, end of story, sorry Optimism, no room for you here.

She nodded slowly to Miranda's next words, looking lost in thought. "Maybe he sees things still so that he can get all the details. Nothing gets lost in translation. I don't know."

Cyb still had doubts about the extent of Mark's abilities. She still thought there was more he could do. But if there was, he clearly didn't know it, or else he'd have said something by now.

Mark flinched away from Miranda's sudden peppering of questions. "I don't know," he stammered. "I don't know. It's...Leaves," he remembered abruptly. "There's some kind of gold leaf design on the cover. It's flaking off. It's old, it's covered in dust or something, I guess. It's dark, like there's no light on it. There's no room, no desk. I don't know. It smells musty when I see it, like no one's breathed around it for a long time, I don't know. Like an alley all full of old boxes. I don't..." He trailed off, shrugged helplessly.

"Don't know, yeah, we got that," said Cybil tartly. She turned her gaze to Miranda. "So what, now we go on a notebook treasure hunt? Do you know how many hundreds - no, thousands of notebooks like that there must be? My grandmother had one, for crying out loud. This isn't even a needle in a haystack. This is like...like looking for the back of an earring in an entire field of hay! It could be anywhere!"  

[Lucky_Tiger]

The tiger that shouldn't be....is....

Miranda nodded, listening to Mark and filing away the information for later. She glared at Cybil as the girl began talking. "I don't see you coming up with anything!" She snapped back. "An earring in a field of hay is better than a blank book. You can't look for nothing. I've at least got us something to look for." She was getting really frustrated with Cybil always shooting down her ideas. For crying out loud, Miranda was at least trying! To her, it seemed like the blonde was content to let the world go to hell as long as her own little corner was fine - Something Miranda seriously doubted would happen if the Dark Ones came.

The tiger that should be....isn't....

 

[SilentShadowDreamer]

Mark started, stiffened, and pulled back from Miranda, wrapping his arms around himself and shaking his head. "Please don't," he whispered. "Please don't fight. They like it."

Cybil, her ice-cold retort on the tip of her tongue, looked at Mark instead, startled. After a second, compassion took the fore of her gaze and, ignoring Miranda, she brushed a hand over the boy's dark hair. "It's okay," she assured him. "We're not going to fight."

She looked coolly at Miranda. "I'm going to point out to Miranda that sending us on wild goose chases is no more help than sitting here doing nothing, and very sensibly add that it would probably be better to try to find out more about Abigail and who she was and if she had any descendants and thus where her things might have gotten to - in other words, research - before trying to chase after this magical notebook, and calmly mention that this is what I was about to say before she blew up at me, but we aren't going to fight."

She was baiting the other girl and knew it, but she was ticked as well, and ready for an argument. On the other hand, she didn't want to upset Mark. For a moment, she seemed unsure.

Then she let it go. It was hard, because at the moment she really wanted an argument, but she knew the boy was right. The dark things, whatever they were, would probably like nothing better than to see this fragile alliance rip itself to pieces before they even had to lift a...tentacle? Appendage? Tendril? What exactly did amorphous blobs of shadow (or whatever they supposedly were; she was basing her thoughts off Mark's descriptions) have instead of fingers?

She picked up her notebook. "And I want to test you, Mark. I don't think you know yet, everything you can do. Call me crazy. It's just a feeling. But I think there's more to you than I know yet."  

[Lucky_Tiger]

The tiger that shouldn't be....is....

Miranda glanced at Mark, startled out of her anger. Then she returned to glaring at Cybil. Her dark eyes were snapping, just itching to give tit for tat to the other girl. But she held her tongue as she realized Mark was right. Dark creatures would probably thrive on dark emotions such as hate and anger. She closed her eyes, counting slowly to ten. When she was sure she could speak without snapping again, she did. "Very well then, Mrs. Know-It-All. You can be the leader and rush us into every stupid move." She said, her voice perfectly level. A stay thought crossed her mind, wondering how many more of these 'not-fights' she and Cybil would have. She crossed her arms and leaned back in the chair, watching the blonde. Just how was she going to test Mark?

The tiger that should be....isn't....