Having Elisabeth for dinner in the room with you was awkward. You were simply not used to hearing someone talk this much. Dinner had only ever been nourishment for you and Cam, so you simply ate whenever. Making a social ordeal out of it seems so... ineffective.

Cam was entirely silent while the both of you were socially and verbally held hostage by the policewoman. You nod and say your yesses at the correct times. Due to the imbalance of talking and eating she was the only one left with food on her plate. You had hurried eating your own portion in a desperate attempt at bringing the dinner to an end and have her leave soon. It hadn’t been of use, of course, and she kept talking until she herself seems to notice the atmosphere.

“You guys don’t usually talk like this, do you?”

“Not over dinner, no.” You shake your head and look at her somewhat intently. It had been a rhetorical question so she has to have a follow up.

“Why then, I hope you to get into a good foster family, and too will learn how to have your dinner talk.”

What?

What does one have to do with the other? You guess it may constitute as normal, but it certainly doesn’t seem like a desirable state of things...

Or is it?

Will you actually give this whole foster family thing a shot? Depending on the people, of course. Or will you sit off your time and move out as soon as you’re 18 and are able to get legal guardianship over Cam.

>Give it a shot.
>Use the system

>>3425386

>Give it a shot.

Depending on how Cam an us adapt of course, more time can mean better opportunities, but if things are even moderatly bad we go out

>>3425386
We have to give it a shot for a couple years anyway. Until we're 18.

>>3425386
What does "Use the system" entail?

>>3425416
you can from the beginning to decide not even trying to get attached to anyone to not emotionally get invested in anyone
alternatively could could go for yourself and not gain a legal guardian, you are 16 and could reason to not need a legal guardian anymore, but you would disqualify to become Cam's legal guardian until you can prove you can care for her. Similarly, you'd have to pay for everything yourself...

>>3425431
...as, if you are in foster care, your legal guardians have to provide you with food lodging, healthcare, dental and other things

>>3425449
Give it a shot. We can always run away. We just need to find a billionaire with cancer and we'll be rich.

>>3425458
>Give it a shot. We can always run away.
maybe I was not totally clear.
It's already agreed that you will go to a foster family with Cam.
Here is only in question if we choose to get attached and give the concept of "family" a shot.
If they're horribly, we can always transfer anyway

if a family does not work out for a kid, you can move to another too. Problem-kids can get bounced around from family to family, only using the system

>>3425470
We'll still give it a shot.

>>3425470
I think Cris would keep his distance at first, for his and Cam's sake considering his last father figure, maybe they can warm up with time but at first I dpn't think so

As soon as the door shuts behind Elisabeth you sigh out. That’s a load of your mind.

“Cam,” you immediately address her, “I need to ask you something.”

She looks at you intently and nods as if allowing you to ask, but rather that she recognizes the seriousness in your tone and, in turn, will be ready to give a serious reply.

“I know it sounds odd, but... when she offered us those meals. The nurse, I mean. When she said that CPS has paid for our meals, did you hear a voice in your head?”

Cam breaks eye contact with you and looks down to the floor. A few moments pass before she nods and confirms, “dad.”

Fuck.

Hearing it confirmed... Ahh! You don’t know. You don’t think any answer would have put you at ease.

“Dad, he- he was controlling us, Cammy. He was controlling everyone for a fact.” how do you explain this- wait, either of you have powers, so- “It was his power. Just like I can heal people and you can go invisible, he- he had mind-control powers. And he implanted things in our mind. ‘We don’t take hand-outs.’, ‘We don’t take hand-outs.’, ‘We don’t take hand-outs.’, resonating in your head when you are offered something for free, right?”

Cam looks around the floor, unable to really face you, or maybe she’s just searching her mind for evidence of your words. “Scary...”

“Yeah, it kinda is”, you admit, but immediately reassure her too, “I beat his control before. I- I’m not sure how I did it. Maybe, like, I healed my mind in the process. I have no idea.”

“What- can we...?”, the rest of the question was lost in inaudible mumbling. While her lips kept moving a little, no sound got out.

“What we’re going to do is...”

>“With my powers I sync with your body and try to look through your mind. If you allow me into your mind.” ask to bio-sync with her.
>>bio-sync with her even if she refuses. She wouldn’t be able to tell, would she?
>“I’ll try something, but you got to trust me, okay?” bio-sync with her, but don’t tell her.
>“We’ll look out to whenever his voice resonates within our head and we fight it.” don’t bio-sync with her.

While you weigh your options you can’t help but think that bio-sync may not be the best of names. You sync ‘with’ someone, but now you can’t help but feel it be invasive if it’s done to someone against their will.

>>3426545
>“With my powers I sync with your body and try to look through your mind. If you allow me into your mind.” ask to bio-sync with her.
We need to test the limits of our powers ASAP in a safe-ish environment.

>>3426545

>“With my powers I sync with your body and try to look through your mind. If you allow me into your mind.” ask to bio-sync with her.

>>3426545

>“With my powers I sync with your body and try to look through your mind. If you allow me into your mind.” ask to bio-sync with her.

>>3426545
>>“With my powers I sync with your body and try to look through your mind. If you allow me into your mind.” ask to bio-sync with her.
>>>bio-sync with her even if she refuses. She wouldn’t be able to tell, would she?

>>3426558
>>3426812
>>3426847
>>3427024
writing

It wasn’t hard to make your decision. “With my powers I sync with your body,” you explain to her, “and try to look through your mind a little. If you allow me into your mind, that is.”

You have no idea if syncing into her would even yield anything, nor if you’d even find stuff, but you do know that you have to collect some experience on what your bio-sync is actually capable of.

Cam nods. Just shortly at first but then eagerly. “Do it.”

“Alright.” You give her a smile and look around to find a good spot to do it. “Why don’t you hop back onto your bed and relax?

She looks over to the bed and thinks for a moment before shaking her head. “No following orders.” Walking backwards to the table again, she plops down on the seat again and gives you a nod to signal you being allowed to continue.

You smile. “Alright there.” Sitting yourself at the table opposite of her where Elisabeth had been sitting you make eye contact again. Either of you look determined, but neither of you really knows what it is you could do. For a moment you thought about reaching out to her, but decide against it. “I’ll try making a connection without touching you, like- I broke his powers without contact before.” Keeping your hands by you, you concentrate again and activate your own power.

It’s like opening your eyes, you simply activated another sense that you have not had in use before. The feeling in front of you, you even recognize. Cam you’ve synced with before.

Wait...

Doesn’t that mean you have two, three or even four powers? Or just one that can act in different ways?

First, you can feel out for people, presumably even in total darkness, maybe even through walls. Would it work for animals too? You simply don’t know.

Secondly, you can sync with – again, just presumably – whatever person you spot with that sense and feel around inside of them.

Thirdly, you can take things from their bodies and... you don’t know. Are you replacing the damage with your own? Is it a swap, or transfer? Then, are you transferring the wound, or rather, are you transferring your own healthy tissue onto them?

What about...? You look slightly down. While Cam was not wearing a bra yet she’d develop breasts,and lady parts further down? How would you be able to transfer something from a body part that you don’t have? But let’s put that thought on the back burner for now.

Your fourth power was self-healing. So far, however, you have only ever healed from wounds that were not originally inflicted on you. You guess that for this one, you really could only test it out by intentionally harming yourself. Another thing to put on the back burner for the moment.

You have a girls mind to crawl around in...

>>3430574
To sync with Cam... you visualize it like a spirit-hand reaching out to her. You go for her hand first, gaining only an awareness of the still remaining damage within it. What’s most apparent is the discomfort the bandage seems to give her, but there was barely any pain.

Hmm...

“Cam, can you pinch your arm for me?”

Your question was met with a tilt of her head, but she obeys. And you feel it. Just as bad as had she pinched you. Analyzing that ‘wound’ you only find little damage, but transfer it onto you even though it doesn’t cause any more pain.

When you look onto your arm closely you even see her nail marks, but as you went to show them to her, before she could spot them, you had already healed it back.

Huh, you could use that as a self harm attempt.

Pinching yourself real hard for a moment you and Cam could clearly see the nail marks before they are gone again.

“Cool.” Cam draws out the word, a real sense of awe in her voice.

“Guess that’s one question off the table at least.” You smile. “I’ll heal from any wound, not just those I have taken from someone else.”

She nods attentively and urges you to continue.

“But I got sidetracked. Mind-stuff. Lets... go again.”

Again you activate your sense, find her in front of you and reach out, but this time to her head.

Aaaaaaand... you have absolutely no idea what to do here. Nothing here causes pain or feels damaged to you. Only one thing seems out of place, but you simply know too little about how your powers work to know how to safely proceed.

Maybe the mind-control doesn’t leave a trace that you can find, or maybe these traces are a bunch of small ones for all the commands still inside, and not a single big one. Not that you would have any reference of size, because this odd thing doesn’t really have a location inside her brain.

>write-in

speculate about it, folks. Voice your thoughts so I can implement them in the story. Barely any wrong answers here.
But there is always:
>Leave it be
>Try to transfer it onto you

>>3430657
I have an idea, take something that is ours and give to Cam for free, a handout, see if anything happens in her brain when we give it to her

>>3430685
This is a goof one

We can try other commands father had that we remember too, if that thing reacts we take it to us

>>3430657
Try to make the reverse path, pinch our arm and try to send it to Cam.

See if we can transfer other senses that are not pain, her vision maybe see through her eyes. See if there is anything left of the food and see if we can taste it in her mourh

See if we can read her thoughts, tell her to think of a number and try to guess it.

Just some ideas for tesrs

>>3430685
>>3430719
The last command dad gave her before we shot him would be good to test too. Something about reaching out with her hand or something?
Other than doing that, talking to her, having her think about stuff, and poke around trying to sense stuff and get familiar with her brain, it is probably a bad idea to transfer things from one brain to another. For all we know, the out of place thing is her invisibility. In that case, we should have her activate the invisibility and see if it lights up.
>>3430775
These are good tests too.

>>3431267
Support

You don’t know what that thing is. All you know is that it was not in... a location inside her brain. You don’t know how to describe it. You know it’s there and that it’s inside, but as opposed to other regions, like... whatever. There’s an area in your brain responsible for speech, and one for math. If you’d know where they were you’d be able to pinpoint them inside Cam’s head. But this thing wasn’t. Your sense doesn’t really work that way in a spatial dimension, at least not with this thing.

Of things that you could think of are out of place inside her head were only the lingering effects of mind control and her powers.

If it’s the mind control it would activate once she is faced with one of the commands, wouldn’t it? The only ones that come to mind is not taking hand-outs and to remember her punishment whenever reaching out to grab something.

The former you are not sure if it would work if you gift something to her. A test-gift by her brother is not the same as a hand-out from a government agency. And the later doesn’t work with things like cutlery or the meal... unless she had been quiet about it. There’s simply too much you don’t know.

You have to test the reactions in her brain...
>Gift her one of your CDs she likes.
>Ask her to pocket something from the hospital room.
>Ask her to go invisible.

You may have limited time for further testing, give the following tests priorities and decide how long you want to spend on them. It’s currently 7:30 pm and you are already tired from the day (and still have to brush your teeth)
[ ] do one of the options that wasn't taken before (ask to go invisible/check how she reacts to commands)
[ ] reverse wound/pain transfer
[ ] try to transfer other senses
[ ] attempt mind-reading
[ ] continue talking normally while observing her brain the entire time
[ ] write-in

>>3433156
>>Ask her to pocket something from the hospital room.
maybe tell the government is giving those towels away

ask to go invisible

and atemp to transfer other senses

then we prepare for bad

>>3433164
+1

>>3433164
>the government is giving away the hospitals towels
how would you naturally change the conversation there? The strategy is for her to not know you're testing something, isn't it? But you're right in testing mode.

If only you'd have some excuse to go into the bathroom together...

>>3433380
Lets brush our teeth, or we can wash her hair or something

" oh yeah, you can totally take those with you, they give them away because its cheaper than getting it sterilized"

>>3433533
writing

>>3433156
>reverse transfer to her

We can't carelessly take the foreign thing. It could be dads orders or her invisibility.

You wonder for a moment how to trigger one of dad’s commands, but figure it wouldn’t really come natural when you simply ask her to take something. You need to devise a scheme for it.

From how much your head was hurting you have a perfect excuse to break for the moment. “Gosh, it feels like my head is splitting apart... And everything else is... kinda...” You did lose some blood when healing her from her arterial wound and haven’t had the luxury of a transfusion, or even an IV with whatever saline solution.

You rub your temples. “Let’s just call it a night.” The yawn you let out was not faigned as you stand up and move over to your bag to retrieve your toiletries. “You comin’?”, you ask her, opening up the bag.

Inside where three toothbrushes.

Obviously they didn’t know which belonged to whom, so they brought all that were in your bathroom.

You feel like throwing up again.

“Wanted to test my powers...”, Cam mumbles, but follows you.

Without opening your mouth another time you move to the bathroom. Fill a glass with water and drink. And repeat. Then you just stand over the sink, panting. Spitting out the saliva accumulating in your mouth.

“Chris, you okay?”, she asks. Had you not actually felt like shit you would have thought her worry for you to be cute.

You shake your head and spit out once more. “No... ‘bout to throw up,” Toilet, where’s the toilet?

The second you lift the lid of the toilet and were at the correct aim you can say goodbye to your dinner.

“Fuck...”
Cam pats your back and walks around you. “Chris?”

“I’m fine,” you tell her, somewhat without reassuring her properly, because she’s going for the ‘call nurse’-button.

>“Please don’t.”
>Let her

>>3434112
>“Please don’t.”

>>3434112
>Let her
There's a difference between being tough and being foolish.

>>3434112
>Let her

>>3434154
We're just throwing up. Nothing too serious.
>"Please don't."
If we start puking blood we can call the nurse.

>>3434112
>Please don't

>>3434112
>Let her

>>3436286
>>3436295
you did that intentionally, didn't you?
oh well, writing

You really don’t want anyone to see you in this state. Weak and pathetic. And because of what? Because you lost a little blood, have a headache and saw a toothbrush?

“Don’t...”, you voice weakly to Cam, but she keeps her hand on the button, arguing with you using only her eyes.

She pities your state, you really don’t want anyone else to- She presses the button.

You let yourself fall on your behind and lean against the wall. Cam made the decision for you. While you felt defeated you also felt a little bit glad. “We look out for the other, right?” You chuckle slightly, “even if that means going against their wishes sometimes.”

She seats herself in front of you, but the IV was weirdly wrapped around it’s stand so she had to unknot herself first before making contact with the floor. “You’re not okay.”

You shake your head which proves to be a mistake. Your brain wobbles around inside, hitting your skull and sending out more waves of pain.

In some regard it was rather amusing to know that your body still acts out against you even though you could probably walk off a train collision. Good to know you’re still human.

“No... I’m not”, you give her a smile to put her at ease, but she does not return it.

It only takes a few moments for a nurse to come rushing in.

After explaining the situation your blood pressure was taken and she even tests your pupil reaction for some reason. Before you know it a doctor was here as well and you’re on bed rest. Awesome.

It takes a good hour before you were alone again with Cam and you can finally go to brush your teeth. You throw away the offending tool of personal hygiene and head into the bathroom.

“Guess we’re IV-buddies now”, you joke to Cam, but she doesn’t humor you with a smile. Maybe let’s try again. “ever brushed your teeth while eating lunch through your veins?”

“Your powers make your head hurt”, she states out of nowhere, which shuts you right up.

You don’t know if it’s true or not, but she seems to believe it, and for good reason too.

When Cam begins to brush her teeth she looks flickers out of existence.

“You sure your head won’t start hurting from using your powers?”

She just shrugs and you sigh again, starting to brush your own teeth while Cam continues to test out her own powers.

While you got a pill against our headache, you maybe could still do something.#

>See what happens in her head while she experiments with her powers.
>Tell her you’ll take the towels with you later.
>Why not both?
>You probably shouldn’t use your powers for a while if it hurts you.

>>3437584
>Why not both?
We don't know for sure the headache was because of our powers. Trial and error, see if we get it again.

>>3438130
Yeah this
>test our powers to see if it hurts our head and try and see what happens in her head while she experiments with her powers

You don't know if you powers are the thing that causes your headaches, but you'll never know if you don't try.

Feeling out for Cam... you don't sense her. Not when she's invisible at least. Once she turns back to visibility you are able to sync with her though, and stay synced when she's gone again.

Even if you're synced with her during the invisibility, you remain not able to see her, nor go invisible yourself for that matter. And that thing inside her herd certainly was her invisibility. And while it's active, it feels like there is some sort of effect all over her... so. etching you feel you can take away and have on your own body. And you know you can take it for a single area too.

>Snatch invisiblity for a hand away without telling her in advance.
>Ask about it.
>Rather not, what if she won't be able to make her hand invisible in the future then because you healed away her powers? Then again, you think that it's only a symptom you'd take, not the cause.

>>3438708
>Ask about it.

>>3438708
>Rather not, what if she won't be able to make her hand invisible in the future then because you healed away her powers? Then again, you think that it's only a symptom you'd take, not the cause.
We just wanted to know what the thing was.
Have you watched the anime Charlotte, OP?

>>3438827
>spoiler
only the first few episodes, it didn't hold my attention
I wouldn't have remembered it had you not mentioned it

>>3438708
>Ask about it.

"I'm still using my powers," you confess to her, "anti-headache meds work tho."

"mhm," she sounds out having heard you, probably due to the fact that she is still invisible.

"I think I know now how your powers work... we'll partially at least."

"Hmm?", Cam turns to you and goes visible once again.

"There's a thingy inside your head, it causes the effect on your body. And I think I can take that effect alone away from you. Like, just take the symptom, not the origin of it."

She narrows her eyes.

"But what if you won't be able to make... say, your hand invisible in the future then because I healed away your powers for that part of your body?"

No response. Quite contrary, she turns to the mirror and continues to brush her teeth. However, she looks to be in deep thought. Only after you begin to brush as well does she speak up again. "I don't mind.. "

"You don't mind... what do you mean?"

She shrugs, "I'm not used to it. Its okay if I'm not attached."

>write-in

>>3439507
>Try taking something as small as her left pinky finger

>>3439507
Try just her pinky finger

>>3439813
>>3439507
Let’s go then, support

>>3439507
Maybe just one oft her toes, then she can still touch things without anybody knowing. Just in case it doesn't work.

>>3439813
>>3439823
>>3439836
writing

You can barely believe what you’re hearing. She’s willing to just lose her powers like that? Well, it’s not like she didn’t think actually think about it. At first she was almost hell bent on becoming a hero, now she doesn’t mind losing her power?

If she had just said that you should try because she trusts your judgment, it you would have felt better. You still don’t believe you’re wrong and that she will not lose her powers, only that... well, that your hand will be the thing that go invisible in her stead.

But the whole hand is too much...

“Alright. But I’ll only do it for like... the tip of your pinkie, okay?” She nods. “Okay, then- go invisible again.”

Giving you an evil glare since you commanded her, she obeys anyway and disappears. You barely remember to sync with her before being unable to do so.

Once more you’re faced with the weird feeling of her invisibility on her body. Touching down on her hand you move up to the tip of her pinkie and... just take it.

Observing your hand you can see that the tip of your finger seems to be cleanly picked off. The bone was sticking out because you hadn’t really been focusing on it, but your fingernail and the flesh was gone, revealing everything cleanly underneath.

It takes about five seconds before you heal back from it... but it doesn’t.

In a bit of panic you turn to Cam to see if her pinkie’s tip was floating around, but it doesn’t... and you can still hear her brushing her teeth.

“Uhm.... Cam?”, you ask. “How do I turn it off?”

“Hmm?”

Her popping back into existence also dispels the effect on your finger.

“Freaky...”, you comment and look to her to explain. “I didn’t heal myself back from it- It didn’t turn visible until you did.” You didn’t even watch what had happened to her. “Uhm... Was your finger visible, while mine wasn’t?”

“Yeah”, for a moment she nods, but then shakes her head. “I made it invisible again immediately after.”

You have absolutely no idea what to do with this information, so you finish brushing your teeth and wash your hands. While you do so you had almost forgotten your other plan. However, now that you already know what the thing inside her head is, you don’t know if it’s worth it trying to force out one of dad’s commands.

>Pocket the towels as planned
>From what you’ve felt so far, you can’t pinpoint any of her thoughts, so you probably won’t find anything, leave it be.

if you leave it be, do you want to do another test today or go to sleep?
>Feel out through the walls, maybe heal someone else?
>No, you’re too exhausted. You should go to sleep.
>Try a reverse wound/pain transfer by sending her a pinch.
>write-in

>>3440227
>Try a reverse wound/pain transfer by sending her a pinch.

>>3440227

>Try a reverse wound/pain transfer by sending her a pinch.

Let her know what we are doing, maybe even ask her to do it

>>3440227
>Leave it be
>Sleep

Exhausted you let yourself drop on the bed. While it was horribly soft, your fatigue barely makes you care about it.

"Hey, Cam", you try and get her attention one last time. "Don't think I can sleep without one last test."

"Hmm?"

"I want to pinch myself and see if I can transfer it to you. Maybe it's not a one way street, you know?"

"I thought you don't want to intentionally hurt me."

"A pinch is not hurting, Cammy."

"Ok..."

"Tell me when pinch marks appear on the outside of your right wrist."

Going into the sense-mode of your bio-sync, you feel out to her across the room. Pinching yourself hard you touch by her wrist but there was no wound on her to take, of course.

Can you bio-sync with yourself? You can. And the pinch was there, but soon disappears. Pinching yourself again, you latch onto it and then... don't know what to do with it. You already have it, you can't send it to you again.

Maybe you're missing something?

>write-in

>>3441510
Lets leave it for now, tell Cam goodnight and lets see whata new day brings us

>>3441510
Try to see if we have the same brain thing Cam had regarding her power

Rest after some more testing with it

>>3441544
quick answer: you do

>>3441510
>write-in
Can we bio-sync with both her and us at the same time? Is it possible to sync with multiple people at once?

>>3441510
Can we bio-sync with both her and us at the same time? Is it possible to sync with multiple people at once?
Bed time now

>>3441510
Now that we know we won't permanently steal her power this isn't so important. Drop it for now and rest.

Digging around a little inside your body yields you no real results. You do have the same head thingy as Cam does which seems constantly active, but if it’s your power – and why wouldn’t it be your power? - then you guess you will never be able to feel it inactive. Kinda like you can never see yourself with closed eyes in the mirror.

You notice another thing while you test yourself out, something that puts it’s final nail into the name bio-sync. Actually it’s two things. Synchronizing means putting two things to the same state, which it clearly doesn’t, it only opens a port which allows trade, only one way too, it seems. And the other thing is that you seem to be able to bio-sync with yourself.

If you had to visualize it, you’d say your head thingy can grow tube-y tentacle which its able to feel out for bodies, and then suck out specific things. If the target body is your own nothing happens if you do decide to suck something out. You had already tried to see what will happen if you transfer a pinch to and from yourself, but it healed away within the few seconds it usually does.

Another thing you now realize is, as soon as you connect with someone, your awareness of other life signs around disappears, so you really can only connect with a single person at a time.

You guess you have to file away reverse-sending wounds for now. All you feel on Cam’s arm when yours is pinched, is her very intact and wound-less tissue.

You call it a night here.

“Good night, Cam.”

“Night, Chris.”

>>3442615
>it only opens a port which allows trade, only one way too, it seems. And the other thing is that you seem to be able to bio-sync with yourself.
>If you had to visualize it, you’d say your head thingy can grow tube-y tentacle which its able to feel out for bodies, and then suck out specific things.
So it isn't really bio-sync, but more like bio-thief?

You need to get out of here.

Careful not to wake Cam up you leave the bed and see that the IV-stand does not squeak as you leave the room.

What you need is light. Everytime you close your eyes you see... what a shotgun does to a face. You need visual stimulus, something to get the image out of your head again.

You killed someone. Even after all rationalizing is over, you took a life. That’s not something that you will never not know. Now that the worry about your future, about Cam, and about your powers has partially subsided this thought was sneaking its way back into your head.

“Christopher Connors?”, you hear a male voice from down the hall. He was speaking rather quietly, but in the almost dead silent hospital, it was quite audible.

You see no reason why you would hide your identity and answer, “yes?”

When you look down the hall you see someone on a chair, halfway in the hallway, across the common room that had a TV. A TV, which is turned on, if you judge the flashing lights coming out of the room correctly. Undoubtedly it was the officers only sort of entertainment to get through the night while he was supposed to keep watch over you in case you bail.

“Can’t sleep?”, he asks and stands up, partially moving towards you, but you already going for the common room yourself.

“If I could, I would”, you answer him. It’s too dark to judge his expression, but he does not respond. You probably shouldn’t have said it so sarcastically. Character witnesses and all that. “I mean, yeah... While I’m exhausted, I’m- I just can’t close my eyes.”

He nods, “would you care to join me?” gesturing you inside the common room first he picks up his chair and carries it inside.

While watching Jurassic Park 2 on VCR he begins to tell you a bit about himself. Maybe to lull you to sleep again, maybe to just keep your brain busy from thinking. Both things work until you snap back again and your thoughts come to a full circle.

Then another thought crosses your mind. He has been with the police since before you were born...

>Ask if he has ever killed someone.
>Ask [write-in]

>>3444799

>Ask if he has ever killed someone.

It is gnawing at us and I'm tired of trying to do everything after thinking what it would look in a trial, its time to let the chest knot go

>>3444799
>>Ask if he has ever killed someone.

>>3444826
>things you're not supposed to ask cops
Although it is understandable why Chris would ask that. Not because hes interested in killing or whatever, but to find someone to talk to about his experience.
>Ask him if he has ever killed someone.

>>3444799
>Ask if he has ever killed someone.

>>3444799
>Ask if he has ever killed someone

>>3444799
>Ask if he has ever killed someone

“Have you ever-”, you know you really shouldn’t ask him that, “you know... killed someone?”

The question should have created an odd silence, but it was still filled with screams of dinosaurs. You look at his profile, barely lit only by the TV, it’s much easier to make out the silhouette of his face against the wall, that was similarly lit by the TV, but to a much different effect. While he remains facing to the screen he looks down on the floor before, after a few seconds, finally turning to you.

“You know, I thought to myself I’d never answer that question if it were posed to me by a teen.” His facial muscles twitch to a smile shortly before he goes stoic again. “Even if you’ll be cleared of all charges and maybe you’re even told by everyone that did the right thing. You are still trapped up in here, right?”, he taps his head and goes for the remote. Pausing the movie ha nods. “Yes, I, similar to you, have been in a situation where I had to take a shot to save someone else. And while I knew what I did was the right call, I still felt like I did a wrong thing...”

He goes on about guilt, how he dealt with it, and moving on past it, but that wasn’t at all what bothered you. He felt guilt for the family members whose relative he took. At least he had the most reasonable motivation to take a life, while you only did it after Cam was technically already safe. What’s going through your head was the guilt of not having seen a better path. And... maybe one that created a less gruesome mangled corpses image in your head whenever you close your eyes.

This wasn’t helpful. It only makes you feel worse. While everyone tells you that you’ll most likely get spoken innocent and won’t have to face jail time, you also know it’s also because of technicalities, because you’re a minor yourself, and they are more lenient on the judgment. It had been smooth sailing... too smooth. Like you were gifted a get out of jail free card which you don’t think you actually deserve.

“I just... don’t feel like... I don’t know...”

>“I don’t feel like a good person.”
>“I don’t feel like I deserve everyone being so nice to me.”

“How do you think you could earn that?”

“Just being there for Cam? Is that gonna cut it?”

>“I don’t know.”
>Maybe you’d feel better if you heal some people in the hospital at random. “I don’t know.” (lie)

>>3447677

>“I don’t feel like I deserve everyone being so nice to me.”

>Maybe you’d feel better if you heal some people in the hospital at random. “I don’t know.” (lie)

>>3447677
>>“I don’t feel like I deserve everyone being so nice to me.”
>“I don’t know.”

>>3447677
>>“I don’t feel like I deserve everyone being so nice to me.”
>>Maybe you’d feel better if you heal some people in the hospital at random. “I don’t know.” (lie)

“Everyone’s so nice to me”, you tell him, “like, I probably should be in a cell awaiting trial, or at the very least be cuffed to my bed. Instead you guys go out of your way and have someone posted outside my room,” you gesture to him. “Why? I don’t feel like I deserve any of that. Why would I?”

He does a mix between a smile and frown. “I think I’m not the best person to give advice on that. But, assuming you don’t deserve people being nice to you, what would make you think you’re deserving of basic kindness?”

That’s not basic kindness. They are going out of their way to be nice to you. And you don’t feel like you deserve it because, after murder, you feel your karma – or however you want to measure deservingness of kindness – was seriously in the red.

“All I can really do is be there for Cam, but is that gonna cut it?” But you have the ability to help people. Help them in a way that only you can. “I don’t know”, you tell him, but that was a lie. You do know what you ought to do now. “I’m going back to sleep”, you lie further and stand up.

“Uhm, alright.” He too stands up and sees you off.

While you walk through the hallway you activate your powers again and feel out into the rooms.

You’re in the kids ward, so every person you feel for was a kid as well. Is collecting karma for collecting karma’s sake really what makes a good person deserving of kindness?

The rooms on the way back to your own were inhabited by...
>a nasty cut having damaged the artery in the thigh.
>a removed appendix, something taken out of the body intentionally
>brain damage? Maybe a concussion? You don’t know.
>and a few people with broken bones

>>3449295
>>a nasty cut having damaged the artery in the thigh.

seems life threatening

>>3449389
my apologies, do clarify: this is just people who have to stay the night after their injuries, we're not in the emergency room, so the life-threteningness was already taken care off

also, you you can pick all that you want to heal

>>3449295

>a nasty cut having damaged the artery in the thigh.

Move to the bathroom before doing it, we don't know if we are gonna bleed all over the place.

And make sure there's no one operating or something around the person

>>3449409

>brain damage? Maybe a concussion? You don’t know.

Treat this too

>>3449295
>a nasty cut having damaged the artery in the thigh.

>>3449421
Can we heal from brain damage?
If we take someone's concussion will we black out?

>>3449295
>a nasty cut having damaged the artery in the thigh.
>and a few people with broken bones
I don’t want to touch non-flesh wounds yet

>>3449295
>>3449414
support

>>3450104
This

Of all the things you feel the cut seems to be the most life threatening one, and simultaneously the one you could probably most easily fix.

As you go back to your room you move into the bathroom. While you prepare yourself physically by laying out toilet paper and taking off your pants you also ready yourself mentally.

It seems like you can stay connected to somebody even if you move away from them. You lack the experience, but you think it would be harder to find them if you’d only try to find them from this position since they are too far away now.

On an unrelated note, you checked each person for their own head-thingy, but nobody had one, further solidifying your believe that it was connected to your powers.

“Okay,” you say out loud to encourage yourself.

You heal from the inside out, first the artery that was slightly ripped. You don’t feel the patch job they did, but recognize that there was something that did not belong. Even that you heal from the inside first. An artery is just a tube, so you take your time and take the inner wall of that tube first, wait for a few seconds, then do it completely, hopefully just expunging the foreign particles out. Then you just reconnect tissue, bit by bit you heal it up, until you were done.

It took you a few minutes, but there was barely any pain, and the toilet paper you spread out to take care of all the blood was completely useless, since there had barely been any.

You just performed a borderline miracle, didn’t you? It didn’t make you feel any better though. That person was now no longer having any pain or complications. All it gave you was a little more clarification to your powers. If you have the time, you can easily heal someone, but you do notice your headache returning in full force.

Back in your bed you collapse face down, but sleep was still not an option. You only arrange the pillow in a way so you don’t suffocate yourself before you reach out again to find the nearby people. You still weren’t comfortable with healing something as complicated as a concussion, but you can heal all the bones you’re able to reach.

Your body was a throbbing mess. You don’t even know if you are still in pain or if you just think you are since your nerves took too much abuse. You feel like shit... but you also feel better.

Looking over to Cam’s bed you realize you still haven’t completely healed her. Previously only because you didn’t want to raise attention, but that train has departed. Well... nobody would be able to tell who it was, would they? Especially not when she will still have her wounds tomorrow.

Enough miracles for the day?
>Heal Cam completely.
>Wait for the check up tomorrow to heal her.
>Only accelerate it and mend everything that would grow back together incorrectly to avoid any scar tissue.

>>3451929
>>Only accelerate it and mend everything that would grow back together incorrectly to avoid any scar tissue.

there'll probably be a lot of questions to those people that got healed and they will probably get studied or something, let's try to avoid Cam being one of them

>>3451947
+1

>>3451947
Supporting

>>3451947
>>3452078
>>3452306
writing

>>3451947
>>>Only accelerate it and mend everything that would grow back together incorrectly to avoid any scar tissue.
smart

Keep a low profile. Just heal her barely enough to not stand out any more. You’ll avoid letting her remain with any scar tissue, of course, but most importantly, you won’t cause any further issues for either of you.

You don’t exactly fall asleep as much as you fall unconscious as your body gives up to its exhaustion.

***

Your mind didn’t really properly start working again until it was almost noon. Something something trauma something, they said. You only need to eat and actually be able to stomach it, and get some proper rest and you’ll feel better again.

You’re offered some medication to sleep, but we do͢n’t ͠ta̕ke͡ h̨a̛nd̕-óu̡ts͠.
>Accept them.
>Refuse them.

>>3453521
>>Refuse them.

as much as I hate to agree with father's liongering mind control I don't want to pass out with the medication

>>3453521
>Refuse them

>>3453521
>Refuse them.

Proper rest. You have headaches and a ton of other things, not to mention some mind-control still inside. You’re not going to invite drugs to the party. And that’s your decision, not some voice in your head refusing hand-outs... or so you’d like to tell yourself.

Most of the day you spend in your bed then, only going out for a walk or playing board games (which you all lost) with Cam and whatever security detail you had that time. You got a court date next week, more people who want to talk to you about barely general things.

At about 5 in the afternoon, you were sitting outside in a bench in the park near the hospital a man in a suit approaches you. “Christopher Connors?”, he asks, giving you a smile.

For some reason your senses were dialed to eleven immediately, but the man was as generic as they get. Mid-thirties, brown hair, black suit, slight stubble. You wouldn’t recognize him in a crowd of two people.

Did the men in black track you down already? You shouldn’t have healed those people yesterday. No, don’t panic. He’s probably just a lawyer.

“Yes?”

“Do you have a moment to talk?” There was something in his voice that still sets you on edge, and before you had the opportunity to say anything he continues. “Privately, if possible. It’s quite a sensitive topic.”

He looks over to the next bench where your police shadow sits, reading a newspaper, only having glanced up to you and the stranger.

What do you say?
>[write-in]

>>3454203
alright, let's listen to him

but don't go too far from the cop shadow

>>3454203
>”Yes, but let’s not stray too far”

> Yes, but let’s not stray too far

>>3454433
+1

>>3454203
>"As long as we stay close to mr policeman"

>>3454221
>>3454229
>>3454433
>>3454475
>>3454495
writing

You too look over to the policeman and give him a short wave. “Yeah, I have a moment.” Standing up and fixing your pants for a moment you add, “but let’s not go too far.”

“Of course,” the man in black nods and takes a step backwards for you to easily walk besides him then. He continues to talk once you start moving with him. “It was a lucky coincidence I found you,” he begins, “there are not a lot of us around these parts, so we have to take special care for our flock, especially when we find them in such troublesome circumstances.”

Your heart almost skips a beat.

“Your father, may the lord rest his troubled soul, still deserves a – you probably have not yet even thought of this – a proper funeral service. Our community has a little bit of an insurance pool for situations such as these, when the surviving members of the family may not be capable to pay for one themselves.”

“There’s a community of... us?” The question comes out almost emotionless, you barely know what to say other than to have him confirm basic information he already said.

“Why, yes.” He confirms. “While we are only seven families in the county, we still try to stick together, meeting every second Sunday.”

“Seven families”, you repeat. “That many? I didn’t imagine...” You drift off. Your world view was just shattered.

He looks a bit confused, but then smiles. “You are always welcome to join us. We had extended a hand of friendship to your father, but he had rejected us. It was your mother that wished for you to be baptized.”

Your mother...

“Wait, baptized?”, you ask.

“Yes, the first sacrament of the catholic faith. One which you have received in accordance to your mothers wishes. It was not received by your sister, Cambridge. A topic for another time for the moment. The topic at hand is if you wish for your fathers anointment and what kind of funeral service you had in mind for him. I do hope that the bad blood between you while you were living...”

You close your eyes as you try to control your anger. “Because we’re catholic, not protestant.”

“Yes, I- Maybe I have not made myself clear- Why I forgot to introduce myself, I am-”

He goes on to explain who he is and their catholic community he is here to represent right now.

>“Yeah. Everyone deserves a proper funeral.”
>“You can bury him, but neither I nor Cam will attend.”
>“I don’t care what happens to him.”
>“Let the state bury him.”
>“Let’s just dump his body by the side of the road and let wild animals take care of him.”
>“Let’s chop him up into tiny pieces, put each into an envelope, and send a piece of him to everyone in those families if you want to have him that badly!”

>>3454527
>"Yeah. Everyone deserves a proper funeral. "

Perhaps this will help us move on.

>>3454527
>“Yeah. Everyone deserves a proper funeral.”

>>3454527
>“Let the state bury him.”

His funeral will be a handout, fitting.

>>3454527
>“Yeah. Everyone deserves a proper funeral.”

>>3454553
It's a handout this way too, except the church is doing the handing.

>>3454527
>“Let the state bury him.”

His funeral will be a handout, fitting.
>>3454717
But this way it will not be a burden on what seems to be good folk

>>3455141
It still will, just more spread out. They want to do this, and have funds set aside. Plus I'm not convinced they don't have powers with that lead in. We should at least sync with this guy.

You were angry at your own jump to a conclusion. It had been wishful thinking that there were others out there with powers so ready to come to guide you. Just to be sure though you tapped into his body and looked around for his head thingy, but couldn’t find anything.

Dad... hadn’t been very religious, but in the end, everyone deserves a proper burial, whether that was from a faith you’re devoted to or not. All kinds of petty thoughts had ran through your head, but that guy wasn’t at fault for anything.

“Yeah, I’ll take you up on that offer. Everyone deserves a proper burial.”

He gives you a smile and he continues to talk for a while until he stumbles upon another topic. “I don’t know how you have already painted out your future, but if you’d like, I could help you find your godparents.”

“Godparents?”

“Yes,” he tilt his head slightly. “Godparenthood is legally binding, but – your mother, I believe – with your baptism, she had chosen someone to be a guide to you. Not just in a religious way, but in a civil and moral way as well.”

You look down on the floor. Godparents where the people one moves in with if ones parents die, that much you know.

“We’d have to go through a few churches, of course. But someone ought to have kept the records.”

>Nod, “yeah, I’d like to find them.”
>“I don’t know...”
>Shake your head, “I rather... make my own way in life.”

>>3456398
>“I don’t know...”
because I really don't

>>3456398
I don’t know...
But I’m curious.

Isn’t there an oath involved? It seems strange they would fall entirely out of touch, even if Father was blocking them out...

>>3456398
>Nod, “yeah, I’d like to find them.”

>>3456447
or they weren't really religious and just did it for mom

>>3456398
"Yes please"

>>3456398

>Nod, “yeah, I’d like to find them.”

>>3456398
>Nod, “yeah, I’d like to find them.”

Person's of Interest will continue on Saturday
I'll have a few days off and hopefully be able to pop out more, albeit shorter, updates for you guys
So keep your eyes open

>>3458276
thanks for the heads up, see you then