Burg: Day 8

Xandria smiled.

"So, I'm like...well, best way to describe it is like a mermaid. I used to be a competitive swimmer. I hit water, and I start changing. I'm starting to learn to control it, and if I'm hydrated enough I can, well...."

She paused.

"I can, like, see things. And smell them. And feel them. I don't need much light at all--I could probably see fine if you shut me up in a dark room. I can find people by their smell. Each person has their own smell. It's kind of cool, actually. And I get a lot stronger. I don't know how to describe the rest. I could probably show you sometime--but not now. I've been up all night, just playing with it."

Day 8
Burg

"Oh, right, of course." Truth be told, Irene had a whole bunch of questions she'd like to ask Xandria about her powers. Being a real-life mermaid? Despite the situation around it, Irene had to admit that that'd be pretty cool. But, if Xandria hadn't gotten any sleep.... "I guess there'll be plenty of time for that later. I'd say 'good night', but... I guess it's more like 'good morning' now, huh?"

Day 8: Burg

Xandria smiled. Irene didn't seem to want to talk anymore, but she was fine with that.

"Yeah, I guess so," she said, turning and winding her way down the stairs and into the children's section. She burrowed into the beanbags and pulled her blanket up over her head, blocking out the morning light. It had been a long night.

She slept for longer than usual, possibly due to being awake for nearly 24 hours, but still woke up in the mid-afternoon. She grabbed a granola bar and started munching, wandering around debating if she should attempt talking to Irene again or leave the girl be. She didn't want to be a bother, that was for sure. Finally, she wandered back up the stairs to Irene's reading nook and stuck her head in.

"Mornin'," she said cheerily. "How's it going?"

Day 8
Burg

"I'm pretty sure it's afternoon by now." Irene pointed out--but with a smile. She glanced at her wrist, realized she wasn't wearing a watch, and glanced out a window instead. "Not that I'd've noticed, to be honest. I think I need to get up...." Irene had been reading pretty much since Xandria went to bed. She'd barely noticed the time passing.

Irene hesitated for a few moments, trying to figure out the best way to say what was on her mind. Finally, she gave up and just said it: "So... you said you're kind of a mermaid. But, you don't need to live in a tank or anything...."

Burg: Day 8

Xandria grinned.

"Change on contact with water. Hurts like crazy the first few times, but it's gotten better. I'm still trying to figure it out a bit, myself. Like, actually thinking of what and why, rather than just reacting. I figure I'll have more control that way."

She paused for a moment, then sat down across from Irene, tucking her legs up underneath her.

"I've...started going to the aquarium here. It's...interesting. Lets me play, but no one is going to find me. I mean, who is going to go to an aquarium now?"

Day 8
Burg

"Yeah, not high on people's priorities." Irene agreed. She tried to avoid thinking about that, before the Supernova, this whole area was probably a bustling part of the city--instead of pretty much abandoned. She gave a short laugh and said, "Heh, maybe I should see if I can find a Hall of Mirrors. I get the idea that I need to practice using my powers, too."

She paused for a moment, reflecting on a question she'd been thinking about since this morning, but then was hardly the time to say anything about it. But, as long as they were talking about powers.... "So, you said that you can identify people by smell, right? What's... that like?" Somehow, she felt the question "what do I smell like?" would and could not come out right.

Day 8: Burg

Xandria closed her eyes and breathed in deeply, thinking back to when she had met Jason. There had been so many smells then. What did he smell like? He smelled like...gun powder. And motorcycle oil. And the wind. And abandonment--wait. Since when did abandonment have a smell? Xandria blew the air out through her lips, her eyes slowly popping open. There was a sweet smell in there, too, one she couldn't quite place.

"It's like...telling a story about a person," she finally said. "Their smell has little bits of them wrapped up in it. It isn't like you just use a body soap and get a different scent, it's something you can't really mask. It's kind of weird. I didn't realize I could do that until yesterday when...well...."

Xandria trailed off, suddenly realizing that it might not be best to say "when I realized you didn't have a smell."

"...I think that my sense of smell might have gotten a little skewed from swimming so much, so it might be just coming back. I'm still getting used to the switching back and forth thing. I kind of have to sit and wait to finish changing."

She shook her head.

"But what about you? Can you smell things or--create smelly illusions?" she laughed. "Oh goodness, that sounded awful. But you know what I mean."

Day 8
Burg

Irene chuckled and shook her head. "I don't think there's a better way to phrase that." She admitted. She thought about it for a moment. "Well, I imagine I can. I mean, I can make sound illusions, too," She demonstrated by snapping her fingers, but instead of the snapping sound, it sounded like a cat meowing, "and I can make things that actually feel real. But I still have to figure out how. Especially since it's a lot easier to remember what something looks like when it's not there, instead of what something smells like."

"So... you said your powers are activated, so to speak, when you're in water... when you change. Does that mean you don't have any powers when you haven't been in or around water in a while?"

Burg: Day 8

Xandria stared at Irene for a moment, her mouth open, slowly turning into a smile.

"Now, that is cool!" she said. She grew serious again as Irene kept talking.

"Yeah, all the senses stuff still works outside of water," Xandria said. "Here, watch my eyes."

She leaned toward Irene, her hand curled around the edge of the chair, and studied Irene's eyes. She blinked a few times, feeling the second eyelid slide around as her eyes began to change and grow black.

Day 8
Burg

"Woah...." Irene didn't know what else to say; she couldn't even decide if she was intrigued or freaked out. Or both, really. "And you can do that at will?" Irene shook her head. "I really need to play with my powers, find out what all I can do...."

Burg: Day 8

"Pretty much," Xandria nodded. "I don't know if it would be harder to do when I'm dehydrated or something, but it generally works. Of course, I've spent maybe three days of the last ten out of water, so...."

She trailed off unsure of what to say next.

"I'm supposed to meet up with a guy tomorrow night," she said abruptly.

Day 8
Burg

"Oh." Irene tried not to look too confused with their abrupt change in topic. "Um, do... do you mean someone else, like... like us?" They needed to find a good term for that. She didn't like "victims of radiation poisoning", and she certainly didn't want to describe other people with it....

Burg: Day 8

"I don't know..." Xandria admitted. "He's nice, and he wouldn't leave me alone when I went shopping the other day. So I really don't know much about him. And, I know pretty much no one around here, so getting a network of some type wouldn't hurt, at least, I don't think."

Day 8
Burg

"Oh... yeah, I suppose that makes sense." Irene didn't dare ask if this was a date; from the sounds of it, Xandria wasn't even sure what it was. "Well, I hope you have fun, or it works out, or... whatever...." What was the proper protocol for that?

She didn't want to sound too paranoid, but at the same time, she wanted to be sure: "He doesn't know about this place, does he?"

Day 8: Burg

"I don't think so--I hope not," Xandria rubbed her forehead. "He kind of disappeared into the marketplace when I left, and I didn't see anyone following me when I came back."

She smiled ruefully.

"I was a bit concerned about that, too, but I kind of forgot when I came in and ended up running into you."