2019-10-08 - Do Powers Work Outside of Gray Harbor?

Kailey is sitting at one of the booths. Already before her is a banana split and plate of, what else, mozzy sticks. With ranch to dip them in. There's a soda near at hand and she has headphones in. Bopping her head to some music from her phone as she chows down. Occasionally dipping a fry into the whipped cream or melting ice cream.

The only Rolls Royce Wraith in town pulls up into a parking spot just outside of Sweet Retreats. The storm had passed leaving the skies mostly clear, making the short trek from vehicle to shop interior an easy and dry transition. Dressed in a slate colored three piece suit, his perfectly done tie in a dark navy, Byron walks into the shop giving it a look around with his phone in hand. There aren't many people here, even if he has a mind to send a text message alerting the person he was supposed to meet that he had arrived. Nevertheless, he takes a chance and approaches the woman at the booth; the one eating the banana split and mozzarella sticks...

Standing beside her table, he asks, "Are you Kailey?"

Kailey's head comes up, green eyes wide, a pleasant smile on her face. The buds are pulled out and she says, "Yes? Oh, yes! That's me. You must be Byron, hiee!" And she waves a hand before offering it to shake. "Nice to meet you. That's an awful nice suit you got there. You just come from work?" She takes a big bite which momentarily stills the questions as she gestures to the seat opposite.

"That is correct. I'm Byron Thorne. It's nice to meet you." He's impressed when she offers up a hand to shake as that is his usual method of greeting, before he asks, "Did I just come from work? I'm always working, so I would say yes. I have clients and tenants to speak to at all hours of the day. Especially now, after I'd just gotten over the flu." His skin is a little pale but for the most part, he looks fine. Once the opposite bench is gestured to, he undoes the buttons on his suit jacket just as he settles himself in.

"How long have you been in Gray Harbor, out of curiosity?" He's not openly staring at her, though he seems to be studying her with a quiet intensity. Perhaps looking for something.

"Oh! Last names. Kailey Holt. A pleasure," And Kailey seems to mean it. She picks up a mozzy and dunks it into the ranch. Listening and eating as Byron talks about his 'work'. Brows go up in surprise and she gives him another up and down. "Flu? Ugh. I hate the flu. Thankfully only gotten it once or twice in my life," She says cheerfully, talking with her moutful. But she does put her other hand in front of her mouth as she does. A swallow and, "Mmmmm...just about a week now? Yeah, that sounds about right. A week and a bit," Kailey thinks another second and nods firmly. "So you rent out places and stuff? Erin said I should try and find a room to rent for the winter instead of living out of my van. But you know, funds are limited cause I'm a street artist. Right? So my income kinda varies." She tends towards babbling and sharing it seems.

"It's a pleasure to meet with you Miss Holt as well." Byron says with a friendly smile. "And yes, I've just gotten over the flu-- which means that I'm slightly behind on everything that I needed to finish and everything else that I should have started if I weren't under the weather." From where he's seated, he looks at the sign in the case that he actually has an appetite for ice cream, all while keeping up with the conversation at hand. "Only a week? And you'd noticed that people here, what did you call it? Glitter? Sparkle?" One of those things. "And you'd not seen anything like it anywhere else?" Turning to face her once more, he states, "Don't mind my prying. I'm just trying to work out which locations have a higher percentage of people... like us, I suppose it's safe to say." Perhaps, he'd seen what he needed to with her.

Then she mentions her own living situation along with her inquiry about his appointment. There's this touch of sheepishness in his smile, "The Bayside Apartments are luxury apartments for the town's elite, for the most part. But if you needed help finding a place, I could always ask my realtor. See if there's something more in your price range. Or perhaps, you might look into finding a roommate."

Kailey considers the question a bit as she continues to eat and talk. Finishing off the mozzy before answering him though. "Sooo...like, I've seen a few people who are shiney here and there. But, like...mmm...I'd have to think about it cause I never really have. The only interaction I ever had was some guy thinking he was cool by calling my bluff on a street magic thing I was trying out. Spoil sport," She wrinkles her nose. "But he barely was shiney. I was at this party at a bar. The strippers from the cabaret, Andm like, everyone there was! It was weird and cool and it kind freaked me out a bit..."

When one of the waitresses approaches to take his order, Byron had enough time to consider, "A chocolate shake. Thank you." It's simple and easy to take on the go if time permits. He's a businessman, he always has somewhere to be. "Someone called your bluff on a magic trick... here? In this town?" He asks and though he looks mostly relaxed, his posture remains tall and straight. He'll assume that he was from this town because she mentioned his shine. "That was rather rude of him, especially if it's part of your livelihood...?" He know she's an artist, but he's not sure if she's a street magician on top of that.

"There is a concentration of that here. Or perhaps it's more noticeable. For many, once you leave town, you start to forget everything that goes on here. Your abilities, the strangeness of Dark Harbor and rationalize it as something else." Byron goes on to explain.

Kailey blinks in surprise and tilts her head. "Really? I've never been here before and...I've always kinda had these abilities. And no, the guy was down in SoCal. Some surfer douche," She shrugs as if that was nothing big. "It made growing up in foster care easier anyway. And life on the road. I've gotten out of soooooo many speeding tickets," She winks at him, suddenly mischevious, before taking a big bite of her split.

What the young woman has to say seems to have piqued Thorne's interest. "Really? When I went to USC for college, I'd forgotten most of everything that happened here and while I had very little use of my powers before then, being warned that by doing so, I would make myself a target to the darkness... When I was in L.A. I had no knowledge of my powers at all." His rags to riches success was all his own, apparently! There's another moment where he's looking at her, gauging the strength of the light that he sees. "Some others experienced different things, but I do know that many had lost their abilities to some extent once they left."

A pause, "When I returned and remembered everything that I'd forgotten, my own abilities hit me like a ton of bricks, but I've been able to hone my skills well enough in those three years." He then remembers something, just as the waitress brings him his shake; something that he'll only ask once she's departed, "Erin told me that you might be in need of guidance with your powers. From what you're telling me, that is not the case."

Kailey listens to Byron's own short tail with avid interest. Shovelling in ice cream at a rate that is sure to give her a brain freeze. "Mmmm...mama was always running from Them, but she said we had to stay sharp. She kept all kinds of journals and audio tapes she made. But those are long gone..." She shrugs her shoulders again in that dismissive way.

Then comes the hiss and cring as she leans back, pinching the bridge of her nose. "OOoooooo! Ow! Ow!" She moans as the brain freeze does indeed hit. A second or two and then it seems to calm down. "Maybe this town is special then? I mean...I've always felt these things, known these things. I could tell what people were feeling as far back as I can remember..." She flushes. "You're saying that isn't normal though? I gotta admit, I only know about me and my stuff. Maybe that's the guidance she was talking about? And yeah. I been lucky, Them seem to be ignoring me or something. Only time was...well...they killed my mom." Here the smile falters.

"So you were in Southern California..?" Byron starts to ask before he shakes his head, scratching that thought from the memo of his mind, "You moved around, but that's because your mother felt like she was being chased by the Dark Men?" They go by many names, but that's one of the most recent things he'd heard them called. "A while back some minions or something," His brow creases, "Of these Dark Men, the Dolorphage, tried to recruit a friend of mine to side with them. Feed off of the misery of those around him. He turned them down, of course, but that's something to watch out for."

Keeping a steady gaze on her, not touching his shake for the moment, the edges of his lips quirks into a grin when she's hit by what he can only suspect is brain freeze. "Careful there. Your brain cells are a terrible thing to freeze off and leave for dead." Only then does his attention turn to his drink, taking a slow sip from the straw. "I don't know. There are new folk who have arrived, just like you, who are only learning about all of this. And some of them shine like a beacon. They just never knew it until now." Setting the glass down, he takes a swallow, before murmur, "My condolences about your mother. My best friend lost his mother to.. well, we're not sure what, but she was the one who warned us against using our abilities, not wanting to attract Their attention, I suppose. She disappeared in our senior year of high school. We never found signs of her since, but we're still looking."

Kailey giggles a bit as his comment on her brain freeze. "That's good advice," She squeaks. It does pass quickly and she opts for the last mozzy stick. "Dark Men...I've not heard that. But like I said, not met anyone else really. No one who knew anything. Certainly nothing like a town full of shiney," A pause as she chews and considers. "I've...always used my abilities. But then, I've mostly always moves around. Even in foster care I got bumped around a lot." Her shoulders shrug. She becomes a little more serious. A little worry as he talks about his mom and friend. "Whoa...that's intense. Are They more...ummmm, what's the word? Prevalent. Prevalent here?"

"I'd love to know where you've been to map a course. Just to keep track of which locations give you a higher chance of, well, keeping your memories and abilities." Byron starts, "Though I've been to Southern Cal, obviously, and mine never resurfaced. Not until I got back home." She's given another thoughtful look, before he asks, "What is it that you can do? I can only gauge those around me who have similar abilities to mine. The same kind of powerset. It seems that you and I share that in common."

As for the Dark Men in Gray Harbor, Byron pauses to think on that, "Could you and your mother see the darkness following you? You see that darkness everywhere in Gray Harbor, I think. Some darker than others. Some relating only to certain individuals, I expect, unless someone where looking for it. I mean, personal darkness, those places may be perceived as shadows to you, though others may not notice it as much. If that's true or not, I can't be sure, but I have a feeling that it works like that some times." He then licks at remnants of milkshake at his lips, before he murmurs, "I'd say it's more prevalent here. There's passageways to The Other Side here too. While these may exist elsewhere and they probably do, some of us are only learning about them now."

Kailey considers that thoughtfully as she swirls some ice cream together. "I could do a map. I mean, it's pretty chaotic and I can't remember all the places before I was ten," She says and then takes a small bite. "Mmmm, but yeah. can do. Mostly last four years I've travelled up and down the west coast. A few times down to Mexico..." She goes quiet when het alks about Dark Men. Those green eyes going pale. "Mmmmnnnn...I...ummm...I don't remember a lot. The shrinks said it's trauma amnesia and stuff. But...I've seen a shadow here and there here. Yeah..."

"I...well, I can feel people's emotions. Can feel them. Talk to them even if I want, though obviously I don't do that. It's...uhh...well it freaks people out..." She looks around and then back. Then she brings her hand to rest on the table. Between thumb and forefinger she lets a bit of electricity fly.

With one head extended to rest on the table, his fingertips idly brushing over the chilled smooth milkshake glass, Byron gives a slow shake of his head, "It's not overly necessary. Simple curiosity, really." He says about her making a map. "So we're looking at the west coast. That's a start. And you've had your abilities with each move? Interesting. I wonder if it's different with those who learn about their abilities outside of Gray Harbor than those within." He then quickly adds, "I mean, there are some who have kept their abilities outside of this place and who have been pulled into Dreams, so it could be anything and nothing at all. It just makes this. All of this." He makes a vague gesture with his hands, "All the more mysterious."

He then quiets down to listen as she rattles off everything she can do, including drawing all of that static in the air to her to which he gives a slow nod. There's this amused smile on his lips all the while. "Those are the basics. Yes." He'll then state, "Of course talking to people telepathically freaks people out. It means that you're in their mind and everyone, no matter who they are, have things in their minds that they'd like to hide." As he ends with that, he continues to observe her. "Can you project images in a person's mind? Or cast illusions, I suppose."

Kailey nods her head quickly. "Yep. I can make people see stuff. I don't like to use it really. Except when I need too. It's rude mostly and all that," She says with lopsided smile. Her eyes roll off to the door leading into the back. "I've used it to help a person now and again. But..yeah...I can also move things. But that's weak compared to the mental stuff." Her phone starts buzzing and she looks at it. Making a face she says, "I gotta take this. Therapist," And she picks up her phone, plugging an earbud back in one ear as she stands. Wandering towards the front of the store.

With one hand outstretched to rest on the table, idly brushing fingertips over his chilled milkshake glass, Byron keeps a somewhat curious eye on the woman. "There are ways to project images without getting too personal into a person's mind. I could show you my process of doing that. I'm not one to enjoy being linked mentally with anyone, so I've had to work out other ways for show and tell." It's then that his gaze lowers and he takes up his drink once more for a slow sip.

When she mentions being able to move things, there's a twitch at his brow, but he doesn't roll his eyes at it. Of course she knows how to move things. Everyone is able to move thing. It's something that tends to get a rise out of him, but at this moment, it's not a subject to murder someone on. Well, it very well could be, but the buzz of her phone has them both distracted now, so if he's bristling over anything, his tall, lean frame slowly relaxes. He even smiles when she rises to stand, not looking as if he's going to leave any time soon. The skies were getting darker and there was a perfectly good milkshake for him to finish now. "I'm all for taking care of one's mental health." He'll say. He is dating a psychiatrist, after all. "Take care of yourself and be.. vigilant is all that advice that I can give for now." He'll then train his eyes to trail behind her as she heads for the door, taking note of just how much light is within her. "Stay vigilant." He says echoes his own words.