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Post by Joshua on May 24, 2004 14:35:49 GMT -5
At first I tried to explain it to Mai alone, via telepathy, but she would have none of it. So, I took a breath and told them.
"I was still learning how to control my powers. The title Time Wizard was more honorary back then rather than what it means today. And I still have trouble with some of my powers, as you already know." I turned around and everything around us, except for our friends, and Rachelle froze. I didn't want one more soul to know than needed to hear this.
"Kelly was my first girlfriend. Middle school crush. I did the Groundhog's day and did everything I could to make her notice and like me, one day at a time, trying to make it perfect before moving on." I sighed, here's where the trouble came in. "Back then, I didn't know about what I call now 'The Butterfly Effect'. But I learned about it the hard way. What Rachelle remembers is the year where Kelly and I got kicked out of school, lived on the streets for a summer, trying to pull off a Hollywood road trip and her subsequently getting addicted to heroine. Then, I finally learned how to change the past beyond reversing time up to one day, and two months after we started dating, I broke up with her. Last I heard from her, she was studying abroad in Europe as part of her College course."
I just stood there. They all knew I wasn't spotless, and I *certainly* wasn't the only one with bad past relationships. But I *had* learned my lessons in dealing with Kelly. Which is why what I had with Mai was so special. There was no manipulating as there had been with Kelly. It was all real. Any power-use I used with her was strictly to help our friends. Or to help me pass my major given how much time I miss sleeping in regular hours.
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Post by Maya on May 24, 2004 15:32:39 GMT -5
"Thats not all of it, Josh!" I snapped, "I can take it straight from your mind if i have to!"
"Maya... i swear...Its the truth."
"But not the whole truth." I said calmly. "Before you reversed it all..."
"Mai..." He tried to interupt as he felt me searching.
"She tried to end it. She tried to finish it between you, dumped you, and you reversed it to give yourself another chance."
He wouldn't meet my eyes. "Damn it, Josh." I said, "I know my record isn't perfect, but i never used my powers to hold on to someone who wanted out."
"But i changed it! I made it right..."
"You still did it." I said.
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Post by rachelle on May 24, 2004 16:01:00 GMT -5
I smirked as I watched Maya getting angry with Joshua. Only a small part of me felt bad for mucking up their relationship, but I truly belived Joshua was bad news. It was Maya's desicion if she wanted to stay with him or not, but she needed the facts. And that was what she got.
"You don't play with people's minds Joshie." I said mockingly, and he glared at me. My smile faded, and i stared him straight in the eye. "What you did was wrong, you know that, i know that and Maya knows that. You don't use powers for you and you only. They are not for selfish means, and that is exactly what you did. Used your powers selfishly. And you came off worse than you originally were."
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Post by Joshua on May 25, 2004 0:06:46 GMT -5
She never liked me, I remembered. At least Kelly's parents had given me a chance... before that summer which never happened.
"I was 16 years old," I defended myself, starting to get a little ticked at all the blaming being put on me, and not on Rachelle, who had her own sins from that time. "And force is definitely too strong of a word. I changed events so Kelly was no longer mad at me and wanting to break up with me. And that was a mistake! Which I learned from. I'm not even going to bother explaining the Butterfly Effect, which my troubles with Kelly helped me to discover, but the point and the problems are not with what were and what never was. The point is with what is, and that is that Kelly is happy and enjoying her life. We had fun dating in early High School and then had an amiable break-up. That's what History says Rachelle!"
She glowered at me and opened her mouth to no doubt further insult me and bring up more of my past transgressions.
I beat her to it.
"And while we're bringing up dirty laundry and digging the bones out of the closet, why don't we talk about ALL THE PEOPLE I'VE KILLED! HUH? WHY NOT?" I shouted.
The bartender stayed where he was, but if it were possible, all the people that had run screaming at Jessy's slip started to run out of there even faster at my shout.
"AND NOT JUST DEMONS OR HALF DEMONS LIKE YOU RACH!" I raged, "BUT *ORDINARY* NORMAL *HUMAN BEINGS!!* And while we're at it, let me ask you something Rachelle. And I want an honest answer, and given that there are numerous telepathic psychics in this room I'm guaranteed one. Do you think that despite all of my crimes, against you, your family, the world in general, do you think so little of me that I feel nothing? That I don't feel the guilt for every one of those crimes, those mistakes!? Do you believe that I'm as evil as your father?"
Of course I got slapped, but I still wanted my answer.
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Post by Maya on May 25, 2004 4:58:52 GMT -5
((You did a time freeze thing so that no one outside the group would hear, so people wouldn't be running and screaming))
Telepathy can be great. But when someone is overloaded with emotion, it can hurt like hell. When that person also happens to have a particular psychic rapport with you, well, you can only imagine. As Joshua raged, i felt all his anger, sorrow, fear and loathing literally pouring out of him. Rachelle slapped him, Hard, a blow I would have been proud of, but i was in no position to comment. One hand gripping the edge of the bar, it was all i could do to not fall right off the stool. I could feel with perfect clarity the rage that had made Joshua do awful things, the sorrow that had made him change things to fit his will, but also the pain, the guilt, and most of all, how sorrow he was. Somewhere in the centre of the torrential flow of emotion bombarding my brain, was a meek little voice crying out fro forgiveness- he never meant to find out like this. But with Rachelle right there, yelling back at him, the emotions just kept coming, and my other hand came to my forhead as i let out a little whimper,
"Joshua..." I managed, as I felt myself begin to slide...
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Post by rachelle on May 25, 2004 5:14:32 GMT -5
"I don't think you feel nothing!" I shouted at Joshua. "I never said that, did I? I never accused you of feeling nothing when you killed all those people, when you did all the mistakes you did. I'm not accusing you of anything there! I don't want to bring up all the past that involves all of your mistakes, the fact is, I only care about what you did to my sister. You used your powers for your benifit, f*cked everything up, and left her and yourself for worse. She's happy now, you know that right? But she wasn't happy then, when you went back and tried to give yourself another chance. You messed around with her feelings Joshua! That is something that someone like you, especially you with your power, shouldn't do! I'm loyal to Kelly, and I hate you for what you did to her. But I don't want to know what other mistakes you did and who else you killed." I paused for breath. "And don't you dare talk about my father!"
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Post by Jessy Jackson on May 25, 2004 6:41:15 GMT -5
I don't like shouting. All shouting brought back painful childhood memories. Very painful childhood memories.
"Can you guys stop shouting?"
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Post by rachelle on May 25, 2004 12:18:12 GMT -5
I glanced at Jessy, and saw that she looked very uncomfortable. Infact, they all looked very uncomfortable. "Sorry Jessy." I apologized, glaring at Joshua. It was his fault i was shouting.
I looked at Maya, and saw that she, unlike the others, did not seem to be listening to me and Joshua. In fact, she looked as if she was about to fall off the chair...she was about to faint.
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Post by Jessy Jackson on May 25, 2004 12:24:42 GMT -5
"Maya!" I shouted, leaping up. Panicking, I shifted into a panther before shifting back. Thank Goddess for Joshua's time freeze.
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Post by rachelle on May 25, 2004 12:42:54 GMT -5
Joshua leapt forward to catch Maya before she hit the ground, and i sighed in relief. He placed her on a chair, she was limp, weak, but she was still conscious. Just barely though.
"What's wrong with her?" I asked worriedly.
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Post by Jessy Jackson on May 25, 2004 12:47:52 GMT -5
I untied the jade pendant from my neck and tied it around Maya's neck. I had no idea why I'd done that but I had.
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Post by Nicola Next on May 25, 2004 12:53:51 GMT -5
I entered the practically empty bar and shifted my way through the time freeze shield
'You know it's not nice to bring out someone's deepest emotions when the person they're connected to is right next to them' I walked over to Maya and stood next to her worried 'She's had a little too much info from the looks of it' I looked up at the startled new girl 'Sorry I'm Nicki, I was outside and I felt some commotion'
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Post by rachelle on May 25, 2004 13:00:05 GMT -5
"You felt?" I repeated. "This telepathic stuff is so cool. I'm Rachelle by the way. How do we get Maya back to...y'know...non-fainty." I asked the new person, Nicki.
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Post by Nicola Next on May 25, 2004 13:03:26 GMT -5
I smiled at Rachelle and held out my hand, placing it on maya's cheek and closing my eyes. I had tried this a few times and usually it was Mai who saved me but I slowly and carefully began to suck the emotion, taking care not to take it into myself.
After a few minutes I opened my eyes and found Maya staring back at me
'Role reversal or what?'
I grinned
'Good to have you back'
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Post by Maya on May 25, 2004 16:27:13 GMT -5
I smiled gratefully at Nicki.
"Its good to be back." I replied, "Emotions can be a real pain in the... well, head, actually."
Joshua was looking panicky,
"Maya? Mai? You ok?"
"Yeah, i'm ok." I told him, looking up into his scared eyes. I knew now that however much he had screwed things over in the past, he was truely sorry, and he cared about me. I smiled at him, a silent forgiveness. Out of the corner of my eye, i saw Rachelle looking a little disbelieving. Without turning to her, and on a completely private line no one else could hear, i said,
Rachelle looked about to argue, but i kept on,
Rachelle smirked, and i saw that the others were looking at us oddly- even if they couldn't hear me, i knew they were probably familiar enough with telepathic conversations to know when one was going on.
"So... what were we talking about?" I asked.
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