Logs:A Meeting of their Minds

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Cast

Mei Lee, Jane Martingale

Setting

Mei's Studio Apartment

Log

Just minutes after the sun went down, Jane got a text from Mei asking if she'd mind coming over to help with something for her case, involving her powers, without much more specificity than that. At least not more than to say it should be relatively safe. An address was provided, one that matched up to an apartment building. Mei's apartment ends up being a first floor studio, and when she answers the door she's not dressed like the tough investigator she often dresses herself to be, but a super casual version of herself. Her hair is pulled back into a ponytail, and she's wearing plain black leggings, an oversized shirt that hangs off of one shoulder, and no makeup. There are a pair of fluffy corgi slippers on her feet.

"Thanks for coming, and for being willing to help me with this," she says. Although she's dressed down about as far as she can go, she looks better rested than she did the last time Jane saw her. Better rested, but super tense.

Jane's in a pair of black leggings and a hoodie, and in addition to her usual small black laptop she has a plastic bag from a nearby convenience store. As she walks into the apartment, there's a cursory glance around--corpses? Scorch marks? Signs of a struggle? But then her attention focuses on Mei again. "Two questions: what's going on? And why me, out of the whole group?"

The apartment is meticulously neat, but part of that comes from the fact that Mei doesn't have much stuff. It's a studio apartment, but a reasonably sized one, and it looks like pretty much all of the furniture came from IKEA. What there is of it, anyway. There's a futon bed with a nightstand next to it, which has a clock and a couple of books. There's a small media center with a small TV and a soundbar. All the art on the walls seems to be photos of either her family, or dogs. Not the same dog, just various dogs.

Aside from that the notable things are that she has a little reading nook with significant bookshelves for such a small place, a comfortable chair, and a lamp. The little alcove that was probably meant to be a 'bedroom' for the studio is set up with a large tatami mat instead, with a kneeling-height shelf nearby, a yoga mat in the corner, and other things that make it look like it's a meditation area. There's also a jian in a scabbard sitting on top of the shelf.

Spread in an arc from the center point of the tatami mat, flowing off its edges and going up the walls, are photographs, hand written notes on post-its, and various other things, like they're set out so that as she's sitting there meditating, all of them are in view. It looks a little bit like something that might show up in the home of an obsessed detective in a movie.

There's no signs of danger or anything, no blood or corpses or scorch marks. Everything seems orderly.

"I'm going to do something to do something to help me.... wait, let me back up." She glances down, like the next bit is something she's ashamed of. "I didn't tell you that Rashel Santiago was found dead a couple of days ago, did I?" She looks back up. "Can I get you anything to drink? Then I'm happy to answer your questions."

"Water's fine. You mentioned the situation has something to do with your psy, so I have Advil and Motrin, in case you hit a backlash headache or anything, by the way. And some chocolate, because Easter candy's on sale and Momma taught me never to show up to someone's house empty handed."

She looks for a proper spot to set the bag down, and unties her shoes to pull them off, because this seems like a shoes-off sort of tidy home. Her socks are neon green and clash with the rest of her outfit.

"I didn't hear about her being found dead, but I'm sorry to hear it. Do you know what the cause of death was?"

Mei goes to the kitchenette and gets out a glass, fills it with water, and brings it back to offer Jane. "You can sit down and put your things anywhere. Thank you for bringing something by. I'm pretty sure I'm going to want some chocolate after all of this." She seems to be using the formalities of offering a drink and everything as a way to keep herself calm, but anyone with a skill for reading people can likely tell she's anxious as hell, and trying not to let it get the best of her. "My mother would kill me if I showed up at someone's house without something too, especially the first time, so I get it."

Once the water is handed over, and things are sorted off to where they need to be put down and everything, she takes a seat on one end of the folded futon and says with a wince, "someone... cut her throat and them dumped her body in the woods."

"Right. Murder." Jane takes a seat on the floor near the futon, holding the cup of water with both hands. She doesn't crowd up on Mei, but is clearly trying to be close-nearby-friendly. "So, what are you about to do, and how can I help with it?"

The calm on her face is her best tool for being reassuring. She's not the most warm, sympathetic person around, but if Mei called her, then she needs a rock, not a therapy dog. And so a rock she can be.

Mei nods her head. "I'm not technically on the case any more, but I don't feel like I can let it go." She shrugs and pulls her ponytail over her shoulder to where she can fidget with it. "There's something about the whole thing that doesn't sit well with me. I'm worried that this isn't going to be the last body, and I just can't shake that feeling."

She seems to realize she's fidgeting and, like someone who used to get scolded for doing what she was just doing, she makes herself stop, and instead puts her hands together and wedges them between her knees. "I... have a talent for getting into people's heads. Not mind reading, I mean, I can pick up some of people's thoughts if I try, but I mean that when I'm investigating someone, I can shift my thought patterns to be more like theirs. It helps me predict them, or get ahead of them, or guess what they might do next, that kind of thing. It's not... pleasant, though."

A slow nod. "So you're about to...echo the mind of the person who killed her. Okay, that makes sense. And I can see why you'd want someone on deck to watch you. What do I need to know about how this may effect you, when to intervene and what to do?"

Mei pulls one hand out from between her knees and brushes some stray hair away from her face, and her hand is shaking a little bit "Part of it is that I just don't want to be alone again, when I do this," she admits, with a reluctance that suggests she doesn't like admitting to the weakness, but is making herself to honest with someone she's asking a favor of. "I also want someone to know that I did it. I don't really know many people who believe me about the psychic thing who... honestly, who would let me do this and not try to stop me, which is the answer to why you, really." She slips her hand back between her knees, with the other hand. "If it comes down to it, I want you to help make sure I remember who I actually am."

Jane reaches out to touch one of Mei's knees lightly. "Then I need to know a little of who you actually are, at the core. Something that is central to who you are and what you truly believe in. And that's really hard to communicate effectively, and once again I wish I was a proper telepath, but. I'm here and I need to know how I can anchor you, if it comes down to that."

Mei smiles a wan, crooked smile at the touch to her knee, and the comments that follow. "I am. I can link people's minds for communication, if I really try, in a way that works better than words usually do. I can do that, if that's what you'd like. Or we can talk for a while, and I can tell you more about myself." The smile turns a little warmer, and she wiggles her feet. "Like the fact that I love dogs, but I'm allergic to them so I can't own one. I avoid talking to my parents as much as possible, because they make me feel terrible about not being who they wanted me to be. The world is broken, and I feel like I have to do what I can to fix it. What I have a talent for is..." she gestures toward her meditation area. "Helping people who don't have other options. I can do it, so I feel like I have to."

"I'm comfortable with telepathy; my twin and I were linked as kids. Not anymore, though. But words are okay, too. Whose dogs are in the pictures around here?" Her hand lifts off the knee again, very careful not to make contact with hands; she's got that much down, at least.

Mei nods, then closes her eyes, and a moment later her presence starts swelling into a corner of Jane's mind. It comes like a memory of the sound of someone tapping the microphone to see if a PA system is on. No actual sound, but something more like the remembering a vivid memory, or having a dream.

<<Is this thing on?>>

Jane is...it's really easy to connect with her. It's almost like there's a socket waiting for its plug, and it's not hard for Mei to fit her mind into it. <<Welcome, come on in. Can I offer you a drink?>> Due to her experience, there's some degree of focus to her thoughts, sharing what she's trying to with ease, and the humor-warmth behind the words feels almost pink.

As the connection settles into place, Mei's eyes open while the presence in Jane's mind puts up barriers -- not protective ones, not like Mei is shielding her thoughts from Jane, but more like blinders that Mei's putting up to keep herself from looking at things that she shouldn't.

It's something that probably says a lot about Mei before she even starts trying to explain anything else.

<<Maybe I'll just drink your thoughts>> comes with a way overly-dramatic faux menace, followed by a ridiculous cackle.

And then a previous question gets some answers, as images from Mei's perspective start coming through the link, a camera coming up so that she can look through the viewfinder. Laughter as she takes shots photographs of a golden retriever bouncing around trying to catch a football, and then trying unsuccessfully to fit it in his mouth, at the dog park.

The sound of the camera shutter.

Outside of their heads, she's smiling at the memory.

Jane shares a dog in return, a beagle with floppy ears and big brown eyes, sitting in Jane's lap. And this memory comes with a sense of stinging eyes as if Jane had been crying. The dog is snuffling, getting all up in her personal space.

<<It's hard to hold a pity party with a puppy in your face.>>

A return memory comes, with Mei on the ground rolling about, giggling, as a slobbery basset hound is snuffling at her face and licking it. Her eyes are already burning, and her throat is scratching, and she knows that she's going to be paying the price for the rest of the day, and she can't bring herself to care. There's so much joy from her.

<<There are so many days when I wish I had someone who loved me so unconditionally to come home to>>

And then there's another memory, of her coming in through the door to this same apartment. It closes behind her and she leans against it, and then slides down it to the floor, feeling utterly alone. Her eyes close and she covers her face with her hands and starts cry, and then her phone chimes. She takes it out and reads the message 'can you meet me in half an hour?'

Her eyes close as she murmurs to herself, "you are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to desist from it." And then her eyes open again as she types out 'see you there.'

Jane nods in meatspace, and just offers warmth and soft-glow feelings through the telepathic connection. She speaks aloud this time. "You don't have to show me everything, Mei. Not if you're not 100% comfortable. I think I have enough to anchor."

Mei's presence retreats from Jane's mind, not in a rush, but casually. "I don't tend to be a secretive person, but it can also be uncomfortable telling people everything about you," she admits. She lets out a shuddering sigh and pulls her hands out from between her knees. "Are your powers ever such a burden on you?"

"I don't...most of my powers don't really allow me to connect with people. They're more about manipulating the energy of...life-force? Like, I can touch people and make their bodies forget to work for a few seconds. Or I heal quickly when I'm hurt. There's...I feel like I'm not enough, compared to the others sometimes." She pauses, and there's a conflicted look on her face.

"With Myra and Ally about, I haven't even told anyone I can heal, too, because I don't want them, especially the guys, to stick me into that box, the 'chick what does the healing shit' box. Does that make sense? Like...okay, I've started to realize there might be other reasons for not wanting to be in that box, but also, I'm the one who's here to keep everyone safe. That's my job, not to be smart or anything. I'm the group's protector."

"I would love to have the power to heal people, instead of to pry around in their heads, or gets smacked in the brain by horrible images of things that have happened in the past when I touch the wrong things," Mei replies with a longing sigh. "but we don't get to choose our gifts, only what we do with them, right? If I didn't have the abilities I have I might have been able to do something else with my life, and sometimes I try to tell myself that maybe I'd get along better with my parents if I could get a 'real job'," and she makes air quotes. "But the truth is that there's so much else about me that they disapprove of, I don't think it would matter."

She stands up. "Anyway, if I let myself I'll find ways to avoid doing this all night."

"Right. Let's get down to it. I'll be right here, within arm's reach." Jane turns to face the meditation area. "Take it slow...but take it."

Mei nods and heads toward her spot in the meditation area, and then turns toward the bathroom. "One sec," she says, and she disappears into it before coming out sliding a necklace over her head, a leather thong with a hamsa on it. As she settles it over her chest she sits down with the array of pictures and notes from the case spread around her and closes her eyes, with her legs crossed and her hands on her lap in a meditative posture. "This may take me a little bit," she says. "Probably less than an hour, though. You can pull out a book or something if you get bored."

Jane pulls out her phone instead, moving to sit on the futon's edge instead of the floor. "Don't worry, I'm keeping an eye on you, still."

Though she nods, Mei doesn't reply out loud. She goes still then, and slows her breathing and meditates. It takes her about half an hour before she opens her eyes and starts looking over the pictures and notes, then picks up one of the photos and starts glancing between it and some of the others. Her movements are still languid and controlled, like this is still part of her meditation, she's just expanding it from the inward to the outward parts of the process.

Jane tucks the phone away once Mei moves, her eyes focusing intensely on her fellow psychic. From the right angle, she might look like a gargoyle on the edge of a church, watching vigilantly.

Mei frowns a little a she sets the photo down, and she puts her hands in her lap before she resumes breathing, for another couple of minutes. Slowly, her posture changes. Her shoulders move forward just a little, her expression seems to get cooler, and the angle she holds her head at changes minutely. "You look like you're waiting for me to make a mistake before you pounce," she says. It's her voice, but something about it is different in an uncanny valley kind of way.

"I wouldn't hesitate, if I thought you were in danger." Her mouth forms a smile that doesn't reach her eyes, but she remains seated for the moment.

Mei takes a breath before she says, "I think the biggest danger I'm in is nightmares. They almost always come when I do this. I'm more likely to need someone to call while I'm sobbing in the middle of the night than someone to punch some sense into me. I hope. It's never quite the same." She shifts forward to pick up one of the notes, and then looks around like she knows what she's searching for, but can't remember what it is. Then she pauses and looks up. "Myra?" she asks. "You mentioned a Myra earlier. What's her last name?" She glances around, then plucks up one of the sticky notes. "Sage?"

"Holistic healer, massage therapist, empathic healer. She's a tough mamabear, and I'll be honest, I go to her before Ally sometimes because the tough love is better for me." She crosses her arms over her chest. "Will you want me to stay overnight?"

Mei shuffles a few things around, like she's making better sense of her previous notes and thinks they fit together into her mosaic puzzle better in the new pattern, and then she gets up from where she was sitting and over to the end table next to the futon, where she picks up her phone. Previous times she's had to boot it up to use it, but it was apparently powered on this time. "I think..." she flips through some things and then turns the screen toward Jane. It shows a self with both Rashel and Myra in it, together. "Is that the Myra you know?"

There's a nod. "That's her. So they knew one another--is Myra in danger next?"

"I don't kn--" Mei starts to say, and then she pauses and wanders back over to the spread of pictures and notes, which she scans over. "I don't think so. But are you willing to introduce me to her?" She hesitates and then says, "me and my rabbi? He does a lot of interfaith work, and was going to try to reach out to Rashel's coven for me. Maybe Myra could help him."

"I can put you in touch with her, yes. Not this late at night, though. Also, you didn't answer my previous question." She leans forward. "Do you want me to stay overnight? I can even stay up and wake you up if you're having a nightmare."

"No, not tonight," Mei replies, turning around a offering a smile that's her smile, but there's a calculating coldness to it that was never there before. "It's too late to be bothering people, I agree." She glances back at her notes and things, then at Jane. "You know, it would be comforting to know someone is here. You don't need to stay up or anything. I am going to have nightmares, probably until I solve this case." She reaches up to rub her face. "Not that I haven't been having them for a few days already."

"I'll sleep on the floor, if you have a spare blanket. Also, your eyes are doing a thing. Like ice--whatever's in your head, it's not blind rage, is it? That tells us something, yeah?"

"Oh," Mei says, and she snaps and does finger-guns at Jane. That seems more like a Mei thing than whoever's head she got into, though. She glances at her mat, with the notes and pictures on it, and then leans down to start picking them up. "I can get out some spare blankets, and the mat is a lot more comfortable than the bare floor. I've taken a lot of naps on it by accident because I was laying in corpse pose and dozed off." She pauses to look back up at Jane. "No rage, no. I feel more of a..." she lets out a huff of a laugh. "I guess I should say I feel less. You're sure you don't mind staying? I don't want to impose."

"I don't mind at all. You're one of my people now, and I'm going to do anything for you, to keep you safe as I can." Jane manages a bit of a smile.

Mei looks genuinely taken aback by that. "Really?" she asks, as if the idea is completely unexpected. "Why?"

"You've been in my head, and were gentle about it. That brings people together." But that's not entirely all the answer, and that shows.

"I suppose it does," Mei admits, reluctantly, like she's used to people having the opposite reaction to her telepathy. She seems like she can tell there's more to it, and briefly she wants to ask, but then she decides that if Jane wants to share, she will. Which, from a telepathy who could go searching for the answer, is also probably a good sign. "Well..." she moves toward the futon and sits down next to Jane. "Thank you. When I have to do this alone it's terrifying. Do you do hugs?"

"I can, but I know you're generally touch-avoidant, so I wasn't expecting them." Jane lifts the arm nearer to Mei, creating a cozy little pocket that she could just curl up into, if she so desired. "C'mere. I gotcha, Mei. I've gotcha, and you're not going to be alone tonight with whatever's going on in your head, promise."

Mei leans in to put her arms around Jane, nestling herself into the space her friend created. "It's not necessarily people I don't like touching," she admits. "It's knowing that if I touch anything they're carrying, or wearing, and it happens to have a strong enough psychic impression, I can pick up unexpected things. Sometimes really awful ones. Like the wedding ring that used to belong to their grandmother, who secreted hated it because her husband was abusive and it reminded her of him." That sounds specific enough that it may very well be a real experience.

"Well, nothing on me should be that strong. Most intense thing to happen to me in these clothes is...maybe getting into a fight in this sports bra. And I don't mean, like an argument, I mean a, uh. Fighting match of some sort." Her hand runs up and down Mei's arm gently, warm and reassuring. "Beyond that, nothing. I should be alright for you right now."

Mei closes her eyes and pulls her knees up, then finds her corgi slippers are kind of in the way and kicks them off. With them gone she curls up against Jane's side. "Thank you," she whispers.

"You're welcome." Jane's voice is soft, and she leans in to gently kiss the top of Mei's head.

Mei starts softly crying at this point, but she does it without making any sound, just an occasional shaking of her body that Jane, as close as they are, isn't going to be able to help but notice.

Jane falls silent, doing all of her communication by touch now. Holding, patting, rubbing her arm. But not trying to stop the crying. After a moment, she grabs the water Mei had given her earlier, and offers it back.