2021-11-29 - Hello Grandma, Hello Granddaughter

Gail's new house is that quintessential 60's throwback. Yard, bushes, white picket fence. Even in the short time since she moved in the older woman has put her stamp on things.

The older woman had a feeling about today and keeps moving to her window to look out at the street - like she is waiting for something.

And what is not to look forward to? A VW convertible pulls up before her house. Sure, it's got some mileage on it, but it still functions (for now). From there hops out a tiny wisp of a woman, a familiar one. Gabriella peers at her phone and then up at the house and then back to the house. A shrug of her shoulders before she's just opening the door and walking in,

"Grandma?"

The word moves through the house as Gabriella aka Gabs aka Gabby aka Ella aka the most perfect granddaughter that has ever granddaughtered -- enters in. Her green eyes taking in the house as she feels that pull again around her. The shift that no one else ever seems to feel.

It is a few steps for the older woman from the living area to the doorway. She doesn't say a single word as she opens her arms for Gabby, a silent invitation to come here right now.

"I have always wondered when this place would draw you in." None of this pussyfooting with questions, Gail already knows some of the basics, it is just what Gray Harbor does.

Gabriella brightens instantly and just moves forwards on her legs to wrap herself up in her grandma's arms. "I missed you so much. It just wasn't the same without you around." Without the understanding. There is a toss of her blonde hair over her shoulder as she looks around the place finally.

"I didn't really ask, but I figured you wouldn't mind if I sort of stayed for a bit." Her lips curve up as Gabriella squeezes her grandma again. The tiny blonde offers a soft squeal as she does. "Are you happy to be home?"

"Of course not. You just leave your things here for now. These conversations are best in the kitchen." Gail returns the squeeze before turning and walking deeper into the house. Each room is divided into its purpose, living room to dining room to kitchen. Each gives a sense of warmth homeliness. Despite much of it having been in storage for five years it is all aired out and set up as close to how it was in the house Gabby would remember from childhood as to be familiar.

The kitchen is pristine with a few cups drying on the rack. The table here is smaller and more intimate. Covered in a pale cream tablecloth there is a small vase of fake flowers in the middle.

"Tell me - how long have you felt like you should come visit?"

Gabriella runs her fingers over familiar things as if they could speak to her as she does. To tell her all the secrets and mysteries that are there for her to unravel. Then she looks up at her grandmother and smiles. "I never should have left. I feel like something has been calling to me ever since then. I thought it was cooking, but I learned to do that and it wasn't that."

Her brows furrow just a bit as she looks around the room and then back to her grandmother. "Do you ever feel..." There is a words or words. She searches for them as she tries to compose her words to her feelings. That sense that it's RIGHT THERE but one cannot get hold of it. ".. compelled? Like you are compelled to be somewhere or around someone?"

"Your mother never fit in here." Gail says with utmost empathy. "They took after your grandfather," Roland, though Gail usually says 'Ronny'. "You however, shine like me."

Gail pats the seat and goes to fetch some milk and cookies. Yes, she DID just finish baking some cookies. Almost as if she ither a) always has some on hand or b) knew something was coming and made them special.

"To your question - yes. I'm going to go on a limb and assume you've always been dogged by this feeling of needing to be somewhere. Sometimes you see things that other people can't. At times strange things happen, but you aren't sure how to control them."

"Yes! That exact feeling." Gabriella offers as she smiles to the milk and cookies. It's a familiar thing that she's always missed since they left. "My mother rarely fit in anywhere there wasn't a party. I mean, she's been settled with Brian for six years now. It's almost gross. You'd love it. She bakes cookies, takes care of the younger ones." Her mother got her 'perfect' life now.

It was just not really including her oldest child. However, now she's back with her grandma and things are as they should be. Her lips curve up a bit. "There is something of a shine. So..." How does one just jump into this sort of thing? ".. do you tend to find things that you need or just know how people feel?"

Gail can't help it - she smiles about her daughter and her life. "She led such a traumatic young life. Even if the Veil erased her memories well. The trauma remained."

All the questions Gail will take neatly in stride as she settles herself with a bit of a sigh onto her own chair. "My abilities tend towards the mind and heart yes. I knew... someone was coming and needed me, though not exactly who till you arrived. You mind has changed a bit since I last saw you dear. Emotional residues also, and sometimes I can play with illusions or electricity." But just gonna skip right by explaining THAT even more. "What have you experienced?"

There is a long breath. A sort of you too? in her eyes before she reaches out to take a cookie. The young woman nibbles on it while she thinks. "My mother made her choices in life." There is where it stays. The bitterness sort of tastes on the emotions around her, but she's not letting it get her down. A smile.

"I find things that are lost. I don't exactly know how I do it, I just manage to do it. Then when it comes to people I can hear them think. I can feel what they are feeling. It's why I went into Psychology. I wanted some way to fix people." And make a profit. She's not entirely good or sweet, but damn if she doesn't look it. She seems to understand the other part too.

No one is particularly good all the way though - if Gabby says that at one point Gail will say that.. So that was a confusing sentence.

ANYWAY.

"Hum.... Yes," Standing again Gail makes her way over to a cubbord and opens it up. She pulls down a crystal bowl that looks as old as - if not longer - than herself. Cupping in her hands she brings it about and sets it before her grandchild. "What do you feel from that love?"

Gabriella considers the bowl for a moment as she touches it. There is a closing of her eyes to focus and then she offers. "There is a great feeling of love. I mean the kind that breaks hearts and makes movies. There is a man (she describes him) giving you the bowl." Her green eyes open to that and she cants her head to the side. "Is that Grandpa? Is there a reason that the bowl means so much?"

Gail's mouth doesn't open, but her words ring clearly into Gabriella's mind anyway, just as if she'd said them.

"When Ronny had his first success he decided to tell me by getting me that bowl. He'd seen me look at it every time we passed the corner store, though I'd never told him that I wanted it. He bought it and brought it home so I would have a reminder that we would always be financially secure.

Gabriella's eyes widen by the voice in her head. Yet, the woman remains composed. It's a skill that she has learned to manifest when needed. Although, her granny doesn't get all her plays and her what she should be's. She just gets the genuine real article. Her lower lip wobbles for a moment. Maybe it's the story. Or maybe something else.

"You do understand."

Those three words that change the dynamics of why she is here. Why she has felt compelled to be by her grandmother. "I don't think mom has ever felt it and Brian most definitely does not. I don't feel it around them. It's like around you I feel a calling. We are cut from the same bolt of clothing." There's another pause. "Do you miss him?"

"I do." Gail confirms, pushing the cookies a little closer to Gabriella. "On both questions. I call it the shine, and I'm afraid I've done you no favors. There is a cost to use it, and now that you are in Gray Harbor," Gail says that with the firm assumption that Gabby probably isn't going to leave any time soon, "You'll experience it even more. Repeated use will draw the attention of creatures that feed upon us, and upon our fear. The more you use your ability, the more danger you will be in."

"You say the most uplifting things to me."

Gabriella offers as she chews on another cookie. "Is it only here in the town or is it no matter where you are? There have been plenty of times that I have been afraid." She kicks back a bit to smile at her granny and then to get up and attempt to hug her. "I'm sorry that you miss him. I'm sorry that you have this shine that exists."

"I'll never lie to you." Gail promises, reaching out to pat Gabby's hand reassuringly as she accepts the hug her grand daughter gives. "Well, where are your things? Let's get you settled into a room. I will assume you had no plan? It is quite common for those who end up here. There's a nice young man across the street who come half way around the wold before he settled here."

"Are you telling me there's a nice young man over there because he (a) has a job I can do? (b) can help move me in? or (c) is someone I might want to do?"

Gabby is very sweet when one gets under her protective outer layer but she's still her. Which means as her mother's daughter, she likes to push the line to see how far she can push it. Her eyes study her granny's with obvious warmth. "I think I'll spend a few days looking around town and getting a feel for it. I finished my masters in Clinical psychology, so maybe there is something I can do with that as well." Her head tips in a moment of concern. "What about you? What do you do for money?"

That LOOK is for C, wich Gail WILL NOT ADDRESS TYVM. She was a one man gal and while she doesn't EXPECT Gabby to be so... well.

"You be nice to him, but yes, I do believe if you ask nicely he might help you move in." There is a finger shaken in the middle of that. BE NICE GABBY. "Oh, don't worry about me. Your grandfather left me a nice nest egg and a solid retirement. The benefit of downsizing is that you spend less. I'm afraid I do not know about current practices, but I am sure you can ask about or we can get you some office space easily enough." Aka, she still has money left over from the sale of her previous home.

Gail leads the way deeper into the house, pointing out the bathroom (It's teal all over, throwback time!), and then opening the door to a modest sized bedroom. It smells just a bit stuffy and unlike much of the rest of the house shows signs of still-moving-in. There are a few boxes stacked to one side, and the simple twin bed doesn't have linens on it yet. "In the top box if you will, we'll get you made up in a jiffy. "