2019-09-12 - Weird Things and Avoided Answers

How it happened is anyone's guess. Justin had been noticing more and more often when other people were using their Glimmer, and he had started to notice that he could pick up things that he hadn't before. When others were around him, their emotions, the electrical currents running through all of his various equipment. But not just that, he could sense damage in others, and in things. It was as though he had been waking up, and was suddenly more aware than he had been before. Then.. he had figured out how to move things.

Justin sits in the living room with Caleb, the puppy, hopping around him excitedly and panting. With a flick of his fingers, a red rubber ball goes flying into the kitchen, and Caleb chases after it, bringing it back to Justin. The second time, however, he makes a different motion with his fingers and the ball lifts up into the air, and just.. hovers there. Caleb barks, confused, when it doesn't come back down for him to catch.

Dahlia has been...questionable lately. At best. She's been keeping busy with working both of her jobs or finalizing her craft room and starting up some projects. It's almost like she's been trying to avoid her best friend and also the new roommate. If Justin's managed to get more than a fleeting glimpse of the raven-haired woman, it looks like she's lost some weight and hasn't been sleeping all that well.

Tonight, Dahlia comes in the door from the bar - a pair of fitted shorts and a bright green, strapless top her attire - just in time to watch Justin levitating a ball. She blinked a bit, rubbing at her eyes with two fingers. Shit. Was she starting to hallucinate now?" Quickly closing the door when she seems to remember there's a dog that could escape. Not saying anything - just...staring.

Caleb attempts to jump up and get the ball, barking a couple more times before Justin gestures and it goes flying off into the kitchen again with the little rotterman pup chasing after it, nails clicking across the floor and skidding with a thump before catching it. It's the movement out of the corner of his eye that catches Justin's attention. He's wearing a pair of faded jeans and a plain blue T-shirt with the Lucidwave logo on it in shades of blue green and white.

"Hey, Dahl," he says when he sees her standing by the door. "You alright?" he asks when he sees the expression on her face as she stands there in the entryway, both brows going up just a little bit. He isn't sure just how much she saw of what he was doing, and waits to see what she says.

Stefano's leaning against the door frame, watching Justin play with the puppy. When the ball just hangs in the air, he smiles. "Very good. You've been practicing." He's wearing just a pair of loose gym shorts and takes the final step down to walk over. Looking over at Dahlia, he gives her a smile though it shifts into a faintly concerned look as he studies her. "The question should be, what's wrong?" Alright is definitely not in the cards.

Dahlia clears her throat and blinks a little. Yeah, she's just gotta be hallucinating. Well, and then Stefano confirms what she just saw and she must not be going a crazy as she thought. She clears her throat and pushes a hand through her hair, offering the men a smile. "I'm fine. Everything's fine. It's just been a long night." A dismissive wave of her hand. "That, uh...was different though." Motioning to where Caleb is getting the ball. "Part of the...weird stuff?"

"I have, a bit," Justin confirms when he hears Stefano's voice, glancing up and back over his shoulder toward the stairs in time to see him take that last step down. He pulls himself up off the floor though, and wanders over toward Dahlia. Caleb stretches out on the kitchen floor, gnawing on the ball and then chasing it as it rolls away from him. "You're not fine," Justin says, echoing Stefano's sentiments. "Want a drink?" This seems to be aimed at both of them before he looks back to Dahlia, "Yeah.. it's.. I've figured out that I can do some things, that I wasn't able to do before." He glances over at Stefano and then back. "Like the levitation."

"Take more than a night without sleep to look like that and lose weight." Stefano points out. Kneeling down, he calls Caleb and holds out a hand. "Sure, some bourbon would be good. Just a few drops of water." He keeps an eye on Dahlia but doesn't say anything else about it.

"I'll take a drink, surprise me. I'm going to get changed." Dahlia nods, ignoring the comments about her not being fine and her bit of weight loss and terrible sleeping. For now. This was precisely why she'd been trying to avoid them. To avoid that whole conversation. Walking over to the stairs, she musters another smile towards Justin. "It looks pretty cool. You'll have to tell me more about it." Then she's going upstairs.

She returns not too long later, having changed into a tank top and a pair of flannel pants, hair pulled up in a ponytail. "So. How have you been settling in Stefano? Are you liking Gray Harbor and everything?" Even though he's totally been here for long enough to be settled and all. She's pretty sure at least. Maybe? Probably.

Caleb abandons the ball and comes trotting out of the kitchen over to Stefano, sniffing and licking at his hand in greeting, tail a-wagging, and all excitement. He then trots back into the kitchen, retrieves his ball, and drops it at Stefano's feet, waiting expectantly.

Justin goes to pour the drinks. Three bourbons, because it's easy, handing one to Stefano while he watches Dahlia head upstairs and setting hers aside until she returns. While she's gone, he looks at Stefano and it's clear there's concern in his expression. "Feels like she's been avoiding me.. and it's weird. I'm not used to her .. hiding.. even when things are bothering her."

When Dahlia returns, however, he offers out her glass to her, raising a brow as she changes the subject to focus back on Stefano.

Stefano ruffles Caleb and tosses the ball to into the next room for him to chase after. Taking the drink with a smile of thanks, he goes over to flop down on the couch. "It's a nice place. It's taking some getting used to but I like it. And the thinness of the Veil makes things... interesting."

Dahlia accepts the drink from Justin and gives him a little smile. Like she's trying to reassure him she really is fine. "Thanks." Taking a sip of the drink. "I'm glad to hear it," To Stefano. "Ever since those two instances...I've not had any more issues with it. I'm going to think that's a good thing." She shrugs. Green eyes back on Justin. "What else can you do? Besides the levitating."

"I can sense people's presences nearby. Like.. I can tell when you and Stefano are in the house, or when it's empty when I come home, even if I can't see you. And I can sense what you're feeling.. if you're feeling it strongly enough," Justin says as he regards Dahlia, "Which is how I can tell that you've been avoiding me." And that things are not fine, but he doesn't add that part, at least not right away. He does seem relieved though that she hasn't had any more issues with it. "Have you noticed.. being able to do anything? Like.. we talked about that one time in the pool.. you said you thought you could maybe sense something, too." He looks over toward Stefano and says, "I can do.. a little bit of the healing thing, fixing things.. too. It's all, small things, but a lot of different small things. It started out with just.. being able to sense things that were out of the ordinary. Then, I started figuring out that I could affect them."

Caleb goes tearing after the ball that Stefano tosses into the other room, chasing it down and grabbing it in his mouth before running back into the livingroom, looking around for a moment to find Stefano, and then jumping up onto the couch to deposit the ball in his lap.

"Your abilities are like mine then." Stefano tells Justin. "I can do all that but my healing is strongest." Which means he's picke dup the same things from Dahlia that Justin has. "Some people specialize in just one or two but my grandfather felt it wisest to be well rounded. Also, the stronger your ability, the more attention you attract. One very powerful ability is a brighter beacon that two or three medium ones."

Dahlia's skin flushes just touch when Justin says he can sense people and feelings. Greattttt. She just focuses on the rest. They'll talk about it. Eventually. When she figures out the best way to bring it up. "...Not that I've noticed. But, uh. I haven't really tried either." She admitted, taking another sip of her drink. But they'd both vibe that she had some potential for Spirit. "I wouldn't even know where to begin trying."

"I can show you how I figured it out.. if you want to try?" Justin offers to Dahlia when she says that she hasn't really tried. For the moment, he lets her off the hook with pressing more on the topic of emotions. Instead, focusing on something that she seems willing to talk about for the time being. He lifts his glass and takes a small sip. He nods to Stefano then and says, "I don't think any of mine are stronger than the others. They all feel like.. they're very new, like there's only so much that I can do with them all, but I can do a little bit of a lot of different things. So maybe that's a good thing? I don't know."

Stefano ruffles Caleb again and leans over to kiss the top of his head before picking up the ball and throwing it for him. "I can help you too if you want. It's really not hard once you know you can do it. I'd teach you to meditate then it's just a question of reaching out. That's the easiest way to start but it's not necessary."

Dahlia is thankful for Justin dropping it, for now. She eyes Caleb for a moment with a bit of a smile. He really was a cute puppy. Then inhaled slowly. "Sure. Why not? Could be interesting." Leaning against the counter and looking between the pair. "We can try it both ways. Not sure how good I am at meditating but, uh, first time for everything I guess yeah?"

Caleb goes tearing off after the ball again, and there's some thumping and bouncing as he ends up nearly tripping over it, both ball and dog going sliding around the floor. Justin can't help but laugh a little bit, shaking his head. "Klutz," he says to the pup, affectionately. "The meditating does help," Justin says. He'd done it from time to time before meeting Stefano, but once he'd started feeling that awareness opening up, he'd done it a bit more purposefully. "It's probably a good place to start." He wanders over to the couch and steals a spot next to Stefano while Caleb isn't occupying it.

"It's not hard." Stefano assures Dahlia. "It's less true meditation and more getting you top stop thinking about everything except the one thing you want to do. That's a lot easier than not thinking at all. Then you to will be able to do Jedi mind tricks."

Dahlia can't help but chuckle, moving to claim a seat in one of the lounge chairs, curling up in it. "Alright, alright. I'll give it a try. I'm guessing the first step is to close my eyes and try to clear my mind?" Then does just that. Inhaling slowly and closing her eyes. Exhaling and trying to quiet everything.

"I'm really, really not good at not thinking about anything at all," Justin admits with a little bit of a laugh. Something is always going through his head, whether work related or otherwise. "Yes, Padawan, your mind, you shall clear. Your zen, you shall find." He tries to affect a yoda-like voice but can't quite manage it, chuckling as Caleb comes running back in and jumps up on the couch to deposit the ball in Justin's lap. He takes it and stuffs it between the cushions in the couch for the moment, pulling the pup into his lap and scritching his ears.

"Those of us who have the ability can always sense others who have it." Stefano says softly. "It's like a light you briefly see out of the corner of your eyes. You know where we are and that we both have it. Just look for the glimmer without opening your eyes. It's right in front of you."

Dahlia giggled a bit at Justin's yoda impression and then calmed again. Trying to focus on Justin and Stefano mentally. Where they're sitting on the couch. She also tries to focus on what they called the glimmer. Trying to sense spot that lingering light. And it takes some effort, but she does! She can see that there's a brigher glow near Stefano and a softer one near Justin.

Dahlia opens her eyes, startled, looking at the men. Then grinned. "I saw it! You're," Looking at Stefano, "Brighter with it than Justin is. "

"Wait, are you telling me I'm not very bright?" Justin asks Dahlia, clearly kidding, by the broad grin that is on his features when he does so. "But, yeah.. Stefano glimmers brighter than either you or I do.. I think that's because he's got more.. uh.. ability, I guess, than we do." He glances over toward Stefano for confirmation on that.

Stefano nods, confirming what they both say. "Correct. The more powerful someone's ability is, the more they glimmer. And just as a side note, if you ever spot someone who not only has no glimmer but is a black hole, get away from them very quickly. They're agents of the Dark Men. Or, if we're ont he other side, Dark Men themselves."

Dahlia listened closely to this, nodding. "And Dark Men are the bad guys. I'd guess? With a name like that. What do they do?" It was a curious question. An interesting topic really. And better than talking about her own issues.

Justin nods when Dahlia asks if they're the bad guys, "So far as I understand it, yeah. They eat nightmares, or something like that." He then says to Dahlia, "You should also be able to not only see that glimmer, but you should be able to feel when we do something that uses it. Not all the time, but if you feel it, then you know someone around you is doing something with their abilities.. maybe even what sort of thing."

"If you're religious, think of them as demons." Stefano says after a moment's thought. "They're not but it's as good an analogy as any. They exist only on the other side and can't physically affect anything here. They have agents to do that. They're the monster under the bed. The shadow in the closet. The spectre of death on the battle field. They feed on fear and rage and despair. Everything negative. And those of us with the Glimmer, we're their favorite targets. The stronger the better."

"That makes sense." Dahlia nodded, thinking it over. "I'll have to start paying more attention. See if I can't work on spotting people and things that have this glimmer. And...maybe figure out if I can do anything with it." She mused. "How did you first try doing something?" She asked, looking to Justin. Though really the question was for both of them.

"So, when I first realized that I could sense other people coming and going around me, I started practicing it, first here, feeling when you guys would come and go. Then, I went out somewhere that there weren't a lot of people.. just walking Caleb out around Gray Pond, and I could sense when people were near me. It was a wide open space, so I could kind of get a sense of how far away I could sense them. Then I tried more crowded places. After that, I started kind of zeroing in on people that I could sense.. and tried to figure out what sort of 'flavor' that sense had, since different people kind of 'felt' different.. after a bit I realized it was emotions that I was picking up. The stronger the emotion, the easier it was to pick up. Then I tried to do it purposefully, with an individual at a time." Justin explains how he'd been kind of methodically trying to expand, step by step, what he was experiencing, experimenting with how much he could do, and changing the variables to see what would happen, much in the way that he would program something new, learn a new technique or piece of code.

"My grandfather guided me once I was old enough to understand." Stefano tells Dahlia. Justin's already heard it. "My family is from a town in Sicily that is very much like this one: the Veil is thin. We lived there for centuries and those with the gift started training others who had it. It's rare so it would often be the the next generation if there was one. Or the generation after that. Neither of my parents or their siblings have it."

"And now you're helping Justin." Dahlia grinned a touch. "Maybe I'll start doing that then. Turning inward to see if I can sense anything within myself?...and then start trying to sense things outwardly." Dahlia nodded, stifling a yawn. "Ick. Okay. I think I need to take a shower and maybe sleep...but...maybe we can try practicing soon?" She offered.

"Sure, we can do that," Justin says to Dahlia as she gets up to go shower and sleep. Though the look he gives her as she heads out says that he hasn't forgotten the other topics that she's avoiding talking about, and that he will likely ask about them later. But then, that's always been the case for the years they've known one another. After she heads out, he glances back toward Stefano and says, "I'll try and talk to her again tomorrow."

"She's definitely not alright." Stefano agrees with the unspoken reasoning. "There's probably a very good, very mundane reason for it but just be aware that when the Veil is thin, the Dark Men find it easier to feed. She might not be very strong yet but that doesn't mean she's safe."

"Especially if they feed on negative emotions in general. They could feed on her regardless of her Glimmer couldn't they? She just wouldn't be as filling, I guess, as the misery of someone who is more Glimmery, right?" Justin's brow furrows with concern as he studies the direction in which she went for several long moments. Finally he draws in a breath and lets it out in a sigh before taking a sip from his drink. Then he turns and studies Stefano. "What about you? How are you doing?"

Stefano nods. "Exactly right. They can feed on someone with no glimmer at all but it's like empty calories. Someone with glimmer but not strong is like... an appetizer. Not filling on its own but a tasty start to a meal." Him? He smiles. "I'm fine. I've got clients, a great place to live, a hot boyfriend, and an adorable step-puppy. And I'm in a town with a thin Veil that I can study. Couldn't be better."

Caleb whuffs, apparently knowing he's being talked about, despite being sacked out on Justin's lap. Justin chuckles and scritches the pup's ears, "Yeah, you are pretty damned adorable." Then he grins a little crookedly, "Well, when you put it that way, it doesn't sound half bad." He shifts just a bit, leaning against Stefano's side, "So, what'd you think of Bennie and Easton?" He grins a little curiously.

"Something's going on with her." Stefano answers. "Don't know what but the interaction between them just wasn't right. Maybe you should ask Easton if he knows what the situation is. Though he seemed puzzled by it. Which reminds me; does he Glimmer? I didn't check but you said he got pulled into a Dream with you. It's possible for someone who has no gift but it's more rare."

"She seemed a little confused about the fact that I wasn't in the military with Easton, which I found a little confusing, because I'm pretty sure he never would have claimed that. Only thing I can think of there is that she maybe just confused my name with someone else's. And yeah, I noticed something a little weird at the beginning," Justin says. Then he sighs, "I went to talk to Easton the other night at Two if By Sea but he was sitting out drinking in the rain, and he was already drunk. Then Sutton showed up, so I didn't really get a chance to talk to him. They were going to go out shooting in the woods, drunk, so I was going to go with them to make sure they didn't shoot each other. But fortunately Ruiz showed up and between the two of us we just got both of their drunk selves home. Didn't get to ask him about anything, let alone why he was sitting in the rain drinking alone." He pauses and then nods, "Yeah, he's got the Glimmer. Bennie does, too."

Stefano says, "Thin Veils tend to attract a lot of us." Stefano explains. "Either it develops because we're born and raised with it or, like me, they come here to check it out. Some want to lern more about the other side, some want to try to find ways to defend against the Dark Men. Some.. just don't know why and do anyway. The ones who come here, chances are they know what they are. The ones born here... Some could think they're crazy. They need convincing otherwise.""

"Well, Bennie's from here. She grew up in town," Justin says. "Easton was like me. He came in from out of town most summers with his folks. That's how we met. His folks and mine were part of the whole high society hob-nobbing set. He and I were the same age. Hung out with the other teenagers that were here over the summer, sometimes with some of the locals. And now.. here we are. There was always something about this place that kept drawing me back, but I figured it was just you know, the quiet, the fact that there are no papparazi here, no press, nothing. But, maybe it was the weird. I remember more of it now that I've been here longer. But when I was back in L.A., I never really thought about anything weird going on here. It was just, that sleepy little town I'd go to with my folks to visit my summer friends."

"It's easy to discount the unusual once you're away from it. And when you're in the middle of it, it's easy not to notice it at all. Or so I've been taught." Stefano admits. "A lot of this is hypothetical to me since I never lived in a place like this before and just have my grandfather's experience to go by."

Justin nods his head and says, "Well, I guess it'll be interesting seeing how that works out over time." He finishes the remainder of his drink and then gives a pat to Stefano's knee before he gets up, depositing the pup in his spot ont he couch. "I'm going to make something to eat? You want anything?" He then wanders off toward the kitchen.