Leigh & Diana
Who: Leigh, Diana, Aleksei, Jacob
Date: September 3rd, 2010
Summary: A game of pool, a movie, and investigation into Diana's memory.
Leigh's battered old car made it home in one piece, despite containing three teenagers — one apparently terrified of another and the other in question snacking on nearly raw meat all the way. Dinner itself was slightly tense, if only because Leigh has insisted that Diana be allowed to spend the night and her parents… well, it's not Diana that makes them nervous, but Leigh's not saying what did. She did, however, promise that there would be a nightlight on in case of trouble. And finally she managed to excuse the three of them from the table (her little brother staring at Diana the whole time) and seal off the game room in the basement from sibling intrusion. Her marents were very adamant about Aleksei not being allowed into her bedroom, and so the game room it is.
It should not be hard to guess from the looks of the house that Leigh's family is well off. The game room drives the point home, with a large pool table, several comfortable chairs (two of them recliners), and a fantastic entertainment system with a gigantic flat-screen TV, Blu-Ray player, X-Box 360, Wii — the works. Plus a large collection of DVDs. "One of you find a movie and put it on," she says, adept in the art of masking her activities from her parents. "I'll rack the balls. And then we can talk."
Diana hmms and looks around at the tremendous oppulence that surrounds her. She hasn't seen a place like this very often that she can recall. Part of the major frustrations is that there's so many holes in her brain, so many missing pieces. She walks over to the movies and says, "How about this one?" She holds up a copy of Disney's Sleeping Beauty. "I know this story. It's about a girl who falls asleep and has to wait to be woken up. It's very familiar."
"Works for me," says Leigh, tugging balls out of the little cubby beneath the table and setting them on the felt. She uses a plastic triangle to set them in their proper places, then pulls it away and puts the cue ball in place at the far end of the table before selecting a stick from the rack close at hand. It's pink. Bright, bright pink. "By the way, Diana… I think my brother has a crush on you." Either that or he's stunned by the way she ate. One or the other.
"Really? I hope I don't hurt him." Diana seems to not understand entirely before she blinks and says, "Oh! Oh right. He's a little small." She gives the DVD to Aleksei, since she doesn't know what to do with it, and wanders closer to the pool table. "I guess you must play a lot to have a stick like that."
Aleksei keeps quiet and to himself until the brother and adults are out of the way, the wiry youth adjusting his glasses and trying to stay out of trouble. He takes the DVD, and crouches to slid it into the player, taking up the remote to queue it past the previews. He looks up at Diana appraises the stick, a puzzled look on his face, and he waits for the main menu to come up.
"He's fourteen," says Leigh with a shrug. "Crushes on inaccessible girls come with the territory. Take notes, Alek. You don't often get to listen to us in our natural habitat." Waving her stick she says, "Dad's idea. He loves the game and when I was ten this seemed the best way to get me to play." She pauses, draws back the stick, and then takes a shot. The cue ball careens into the racked balls, sending them off in a dozen directions. Two fall into the corner pockets. "I tend to beat him a lot these days."
Diana smiles, and nods, "I kinda remember the game. At least I've seen it on TV…" she frowns and sighs. "I think. I'm not sure. I'm never sure of anything." Her smile fades and she looks rather serious. "Do you know what's wrong with me?"
Aleksei wanders back to the pool table to watch, then gives Diana a concerned look. "Maybe you should .." He pauses. "What's the first thing you remember?" he says, trying to think.
"Not a clue," says Leigh calmly. "But tell us, like Alek says, and we'll figure out what we can… and then we'll see what we can do to help you." She lines up another shot, sinks another ball, and proceeds to continue around the table, doing the same. It's for the noise — this, and the DVD, will prevent parents and little brothers from eavesdropping.
Diana stares and says, "The first thing I remember is that I was in a room, in a house…and I knew a man was always hovering over me. I don't remember where that house is, or even who that man was…I remember I was scared, and I had to leave. I wanted to see someone…my parents, but I can't remember who they are. That man…he did what he did to me, I am certain…but it's…" She frowns and says, "I'll show you what he did to me." She walks over to the table, but before she gets there, she falls down and lays there…eyes open, unbreathing, still. As darkness falls, a corpse lies on the ground.
"Matalb!" Alek yells as he sees Diana topple over, and he scrambles to the girl's side trying to find a pulse or breath. "God, Leigh!" he says, not in panic, but close to it. He's seen people get hurt and even die before, but.. not right in front of him, not like this.
Leigh's quick to move to Diana's side, checking for a pulse yes, but also shushing Aleksei. "We don't want my parents coming down here!" Unless, of course, Diana doesn't get up again, in which case they'll be calling the hospital fast. Which she knows Diana doesn't want, but… well, there are limits to how much one can respect a friend's wishes when they involve death. It's just a fact. "Diana? Wake up, Di. Please."
The body just lies there, there's no pulse. There's no breathing. Her skin is cold to the touch. She stares with no sight in her eyes. A moment passes before she grabs Aleksei, her grip like steel, since he was first, and her head slowly turns to face him. Then she winks and smiles. "Scary, right?"
Aleksei's exclamation is a strangled 'Gaahhgghh!' as he tries to be quiet, but his face.. if there was a camera, there would be blackmail material for years. Able to fly through the core of a star, but this? "He..h..how..?" he gasps, heart restarting as she winks at him.
Leigh reaches out and gently swats Diana's shoulder. "Scaring him isn't gonna help, Di," she says, though there's a tinge of amusement in her voice. "So, basically, you can fake being completely dead." Or, rather, she -is- completely dead. And needs huge amounts of meat protein to survive. Yeah, Leigh's doing some basic addition in her head. Two plus two equals zombie.
Surprisingly, this still isn't bothering her much.
Diana shakes her head. "I'm not faking." She takes Leigh's hand and puts it on her chest. No heartbeat. "I'm not alive. I learned that the hard way." She stands up and says, "I don't know, Aleksei. I don't know many things. It's so hard to think sometimes, my head hurts when I try to think how to understand. I know it's not right but…" She looks at the pool table. "There's more." With her left hand, she reaches for her right. With a twist and a yank, there's a soft thud. On the pool table is a torn off hand. As Diana walks around, it crawls on fingers to the nearest pool ball and grips it. "I don't know what's wrong with me. But there's a great many things."
Leigh nods slowly in understanding. And grimaces just a little at the sight of the hand walking on its own. That's… marginally squicky. Awesome, but squicky. "Man, we shoulda put on Evil Dead 2 instead." Pause. "Not that I'm calling you evil, Di. Not at all. Promise. Just that, you know. His hand came off too and wandered around on its own." She waves a hand — that entire point is moot, and there are plenty of other things to consider. "So, you're dead — undead — and you can take yourself apart. And put yourself back together, clearly." She ponders this for a few moments, then stands and takes a step back. "Okay, if either of you tell anybody about this I'm gonna be seriously annoyed." She waits for their acknowledgement (or possibly confused or irritated looks — they'll suffice).
Aleksei sits down hard on one of the chairs and takes a deep breath, getting his composure. The hand trick makes him swallow hard, but.. he takes it better as Diana continues to talk. "Um, so, you're some kind of a, um, vampire.. spirit, um, vyodnoi..something." He rubs his pale face, replaces his glasses. "Many more things now make sense, yes?" he says to Leigh. "Should we call Jacob, see if he can help her with her memories?"
Diana hmms and says to Aleksei, "I'm not a vampire. I dress like this 'cause I kinda look so pale. It kinda fit me. It's why I spend all night in clubs. I don't sleep, and I can stay in the dark there, and no one thinks I don't belong." Her hand crawls back over to her and she picks it up. "I'm not alive. I guess I am undead. I don't feel much of anything." She looks at Leigh and says, "I won't tell if you won't."
Leigh will accept all of those responses. "You're not alone, Diana," she says. "I mean, I'm not dead, but I'm not normal." And with this, the brunette starts to glow. Dimly at first, but slowly growing in intensity 'til she's bright as a sixty watt bulb wherever her skin is exposed. She could be brighter, but she doesn't bother — it proves her point. "And god, don't tell my parents I showed you — they'd freak out." To Aleksei she says, "Yes, we need to call Jacob." To Diana she explains, "He's a telepath."
Aleksei's eyes widen as Leigh begins to glow, and he whistles low as she brightens, then dims. "That was pretty awesome," he says softly, hand going to the bit of amber at his throat, wondering.. no, not /right/ now. Maybe.. then he's asked, and he fishes for his cell phone. "Jacob? This is Alek. I .. " His face falls a little. "Is voice mail," he says to the room. "Jacob, Leigh and I hope you can help us with something. Something, um, your gift could help us with. Please, call me when you pick up, OK?" He clicks off the phone. "Hopefully will be soon," he says.
Diana blinks and says, "Wow, bright!" as Leigh shines. She squints, reattaching her hand, "I knew you must've known, why you tried to help me…you ARE a special people!" She grins and says, "We need to go out and have an adventure!" She claps her hands, as though nothing happened. "Aww, it's ok, Aleksei. So…do you do anything special?"
"Hopefully," Leigh says, nodding to Aleksei as she returns to the pool table. "I didn't know exactly what was up with you," she says to Diana as she lines up another shot. "I mean, it was pretty clear something was unusual, but I really didn't know what. But… you know." She shrugs. "My parents don't let me go out after dark 'cause it'd be obvious to everybody that I'm shiny. Which totally sucks. I have to use a nightlight tonight because otherwise they'd be afraid Diana'd figure out my big secret. They're totally redundant the rest of the time." Her nose wrinkles. She takes her shot.
Voice Mail from Alek —- "Jacob? This is Alek. I .. Is voice mail, Jacob, Leigh and I hope you can help us with something. Something, um, your gift could help us with. Please, call me when you pick up, OK?"
Alek hears in his head, «Sorry, I was in the shower. Just a minute.» Then, a couple seconds later, Alek's phone starts to ring.
Aleksei quirks a smile at Leigh, and Diana's question kind of takes him by surprise. They've both revealed so much to him, so… He nods and stands up. "Yeah, yeah I do," he says, a little nervous. He's never told anyone else. The wiry boy grasps the faintly-flickering amber stone around his neck… and pauses. "Wait.. wow, that was Jacob inside my head." His phone rings a second later, and he answers, giving Jacob Leigh's address, offering to let her talk to him if she wants.
Diana smiles as Aleksei is about to show off, but then the phone rings. She ahhs and says, "Ok, wow, I didn't know you could have a phone connect to your head. That's a strange trick." She looks back at Leigh, "Are there many in this town? I knew I was coming to the right place here." She hmms and says, "You can't go out at night? That's sad. That's when all the fun things come out. One took my foot once."
Leigh accepts the phone when Aleksei offers it, and briefly explains the situation to Jacob in vague terms — a friend needs help. And she thinks his help would be appropriate. Her tones are, in addition, vaguely flirtatious — Leigh is quite used to bending boys to her will, and does it subconsciously more often than not. When she hands the phone back to Aleksei she notes to Diana, "I said my parents didn't let me go out at night — not that I listen to them."
Jacob answers both, "I'll be there in just a few minutes. Just have to grab a taxi." He hangs up then.
Aleksei looks relieved, and clicks the phone off. "I hope he'll be able to help you remember, Diana. It.. it sounds like someone did this to you, somehow. I can't imagine why that would happen, though." He checks his watch. "Should we just watch the movie until he gets here, maybe?"
Leigh nods, sinking the last ball on the table, and moves to settle on the couch, but only after she yells up that another friend is coming over — he'll be here soon and please send him on down when he gets there. Then she closes the door again before Corey can start wheedling to come join them doing whatever they're doing. Little brothers. SO annoying.
Shows up just a little while later, having apparently caught a fast taxi. When he's showed down to the room with the others, he gives a slightly shy wave to the others, stepping forward, "Hi. So what can I do to help?"
Diana is busy watching the movie like a child would. Wide eyed and curious. This movie is captivating. When the stranger shows up, she asks Aleksei, "Is that Jacob then?" She stands up and stares at him, with a blank eyed smile. The creepy gothic doll.
Aleksei nods as he gives Jacob a smile and stands up when he comes in. "Hey, thank you for coming. I'll let Leigh explain.. " he says.
Leigh has to resist the urge to pat Diana on the head with that look. "Jacob, this is Diana. Diana, this is Jacob, who I barely know but since he wears his telepathy on his sleeve I sorta trust him, right?" Introductions have been made. "I'm gonna give you the really short version, Jacob, 'cause my parents have been incredibly tolerant tonight but sooner or later they're going to make me send you and Aleksei home, probably more sooner than later, so, anyway, short version: Diana's dead, but not really, and she doesn't remember anything before she woke up in somebody's house like this. Also, I control light and Aleksei does something but he hasn't told us what yet. And if my parents find out I've told you guys what I do, I'm grounded 'til the year 3000."
Jacob blinks, looking to Diana a moment with slightly widened eyes, "Dead?" Leigh's revelation about her power has him looking back to her, though, and he says, "Oh, don't worry. Secret's safe with me. I'm getting better at keeping my mom away from things I don't want her to find out." He looks back to Diana and asks, "So you want me to try to get access to your memories from before?"
Diana nods and says to Leigh, "Wow, you know how to sum things up fast!" She looks at Jacob, and says, "Umm…I guess?" She looks at the others, "That's what I want right?" Then back to Jacob. She seems a bit confused, "I really don't remember a lot of what happened before I left this person's house. Sooo…maybe it might help?"
Aleksei nods in time with Diana which in and of itself is just creepy-weird. "Seriously, you are so elected press officer for life," he says, toying with the chalk square from the pool table in order to have something to do with his hands.
"It's a talent," says Leigh, dusting her knuckles on her shirt and then inspecting her nails critically. There's a chip in one. Note to self: wheedle credit card from Daddy again tomorrow and go visit Lucy at LA Nails. Lucy's the best. "I just figured, you've got powers too and you're a lot more public about them than I am, so maybe you have a clue how to help Diana. The memories thing is a bonus."
Jacob nods a little to Diana and says, "Well, if the memories are still there at all, I should be able to find them." He grins to Leigh and says, "Besides suggesting she not go to a school where they use power suppression fields, since it sounds like her power's keeping her alive, I don't have any advice. I just try to get by every day." He looks back to Diana and says, "But the memory, that I can do. Are you ready? It might feel a bit weird."
Diana hmms and says, "Public, cool." She nods, "Sure. I'm ready…it's not going to hurt is it? I don't do well if I get hurt…of course it's kinda hard to hurt me. They've seen, I fall apart." She nods and says, "Of course if it helps all the better."
Aleksei stands back to give Jacob 'room' to work, the wiry kid looking both nervous and hopeful. "Would that even work? I mean, this almost has to be magic, right? Real magic, not that stage stuff?" He quiets, then, and waits to see what's going to happen here.
Jacob shrugs to Alek and says, "No idea. Maybe." He looks back to Diana again and shakes his head, "Nope, won't hurt a bit. Just.. feels weird. Try not to resist." He then gets a focused look, concentrating. While his normal basic scans aren't noticible, this is, feeling like someone rooting around in Diana's head. He pushes in, gently but working his way back into her memories, trying to find the block and what may exist beyond it.
Diana laughs and says, "It does feel weird…like…tickling my brain!" She grins and giggles. Everything in Diana's head is a mess, memories are torn into fragments, knowledge slowly being rebuilt. Parts of her memories are like divits, gaps, holes from a brain that is scarred emotionally and physically. Someone tore up this girl's head. But the girl doesn't remember that she died in a car accident, one she has a faint memory of, with a family with missing faces.
Aleksei sits quietly on the edge of a chair, watching the silent psychic episode with wide interested eyes; looking from Jacob to Diana and back, he wonders what's going on inside there. For now, though, he stays quiet, rolling the small chalk square around and around in his fingers.
Jacob, after a few minutes, sits back, closing his eyes a moment. "Wow. Um… It's like someone put your memories through a paper shredder. Bits and pieces all over the place, but I haven't got any idea how to put them together again. I did see you..um.. 'died' in a car crash. And you have a family, but couldn't see what they looked like."
Diana hmms and frowns and says, "A family? I kinda remember I did have one. But…it's been so long." She tilts her head, "What can I do? I mean…I'm getting used to the way things are. Except for the hunger for flesh and the disconnecting limbs…other things…" She looks at Aleksei then at Jacob and Leigh, "The man I know that was with me…he's come for me before. He wants me back…but I don't think I should go. I've been running from him for a while."
Aleksei's fingers stop playing with the cube and one hand clenches into a fist. "Heck no, you shouldn't go. If he did this to you, he might have done something to your family as well." The boy pushes his glasses up.
Jacob nods quickly in agreement with Alek, "Stay away from him." Then he pauses at the mention of the man doing something with Diana's family. "Next time he comes, call me. I'll scan him, figure out what he did and if anybody else is in danger."
