Logs:Parts Of Us

Parts Of Us
Dramatis Personae Joshua, Tok
In Absentia Leo, Spencer	2025-01-28 "Do they feel like yours to you? The ones you borrow."
Location <XAV> Classroom 1 - Xs First Floor
Desks arranged into neat rows make up this, a fairly typical classroom. Chalkboard in front, teacher's desk in front of that. Windows along one wall look out on the grounds, providing plenty of opportunity for distraction for daydreaming students. The classroom is empty for the day, remaining sunlight from the windows is streaking in and creating some warm spots on the nearby desks. However, there is a backpack hooked onto one of the chairs, an abandoned notebook sprawled out on a desk, and a pencil that has long since rolled off and onto the floor. Tok got here early, surprisingly given their usual tardiness record. Their attempts at working on homework have clearly failed, as they’re stood on top of one of the radiators by the windows, inspecting and messing with the latches on the tip toes of their sneakers. Their sweatjacket is tied about their waist over on top of a soft grey t-shirt and cargo pants. Their patchy tail lifts the fabric of their sweatjacket up as it twitches to keep them balanced in their far curious leans side to side, to try and peer past the walls. Perhaps most notably is the flickering flittering white glow along the lightning-like blood vessels that creep up their neck and down their forehead underneath their hair. The glow never reaches their eyes, and instead it’s more like they keep compulsively poking at their power, to ensure it’s still there, to feel the reassuring burn of it under their skin and the fleeting pressure against their head. Right On Time, there's a shadow appearing just outside the door, then a firm rap-rap-rap before Joshua enters. He's dressed bland and comfortable, jeans and sneakers, FDNY hoodie, a kippah printed like a watermelon slice pinned to his shaggy hair. He is sauntering unhurried into the room. His eyes sweep the backpack, the abandoned notebook, and he takes a hand out of his sweatshirt pocket to gesture to Tok's belongings. "Wanna get out of here?" The fluttering of Tok’s power is slowly easing away, although there’s still an occasional very subtle pulse here and there. They stare at Joshua from their spot on the radiator, eyes darting between their stuff and him. They don’t respond right away, then quickly abandon whatever they’d been doing to the window latch to hop down to the floor, “Can we?” They’re asking eagerly, hopefully. They gather up their notebook and shove it in their backpack, then zip it up, “S’that an offer? Or like, was it a question?” Either way they’re darting down to grab their pencil from the floor and shoving it into one of their pockets. Joshua tucks his hand back into his pocket as Tok gathers their things. His eyes are wandering -- up to the blackboard, some chalky remnants of sentence diagramming still visible through the half-hearted erasing job -- then out to the window and the sunny day outside. He blinks as he turns back toward Tok, brow pinching at the trio of questions. Eventually he settles by way of answer on just an affirmative nod -- he's holding one hand up and out in offering to the teenager. A grin twitches onto Tok’s face at the confirmation as they pull their jacket on, then sling the backpack on over their shoulder. Their tail twitches back and forth behind them excitedly, “Where we goin’? Can you just go anywhere? Or do you gotta know where you’re going first?” As they ramble off questions, they pause briefly before taking Joshua’s hand, careful to not scratch him with their clawed fingertips. The classroom vanishes, the world seamlessly splicing itself into a new one. It's sunny, here, warm and mild, the morning sun glinting bright over the ocean. Behind them a lush forest sweeps up high into the distance; in front the pale beach unfurls quiet and still. He drops Tok's hand, shoving his hands back into the pockets of a sweatshirt now probably slightly too warm for the day. "S'complicated," he answers, after some thought. "Where would you want to go?" Tok’s eyes flutter, and they suck in a short breath at the ocean before them, the sudden change in scenery. Their ears perk up, and once their hand is dropped they whip around to try to take it all in. They step back a little at the high sweeping forest, “So cool.” They say in awe, quieter, like they don’t want to disturb the quiet beach. Their step stutters again in their excitement, like they might be about to impulsively bolt, but instead they immediately crouch down to cup some sand, then stand back up to let some of it trail out between their fingers. Their mouth briefly opens, closes, screws to the side conflicted, then they look up, “You ever been to the very edge of the panhandle in Oklahoma at night? Like alllll the way to the left. You can see every star in the whole freakin’ universe there.” They tilt their hand back and forth to shift the sand around, then brush their hand off on their pants, “This place is really cool though.” They say, looking around again like they can’t quite comprehend it all, “What about you? This your pick?” "Nope." Joshua is paying only a casual sidelong kind of attention to Tok's explorations, evidently not too fussed about whether or not the youth is going to rabbit. "World's too big. Too cool. Why pick?" He's vanished again -- only for a very short moment. When he returns it's with a pair of sodas (crisp, cold; the labels are in Japanese but one has images of watermelon, one of mango) -- he's lifting one and then the other, eyebrows raised in offering. "Upside of teleporting is you don't have to." Tok’s eyes go wider, but they don’t say anything right away. Their power pulses, weak enough that they can smother it down again before the glow can become too externally obvious. They glance between Joshua and the soda a few times, curious, before taking one of the offered bottles (the mango one) with a quick nod and a, “Thank you!” Their tail flicks behind them in a twitchy-antsy, back and forth, and they quickly pop open the cap. “Yeah, I guess you can just- go poof!” Their claws tap on the bottle, “Wherever you want. Whenever. Like- I don’t even know where we are right now—AND with people too.” Their tapping continues in the quiet, and their tail continues to twitch, stiffly. They’re staring very intently at their soda, and their claw traces the Japanese labeling, as if that might keep their gaze on it. “Hey- you know they turned my powers back on, right?” They ask warily, confused. "Wherever, whenever. Could get to fucking China no sweat. Get somewhere it's night right now. Quiet. See every star in the universe." Joshua agrees. He uncaps the watermelon soda and takes a long sip. "I know. Asked him to, for this." He's mostly looking at the ocean, taking only a small sideways glance at Tok. "Could pretend I'm worried, if you like." Tok glances up at the same time as Joshua, and instantly looks back down, as if they’ve been caught doing something. They shake their head to his offer. Their claw has begun to tear through the labeling where they trace the writing. “Why aren’t you worried?” They ask, but it’s non-accusatory, more curious, “How d’you know I’m not just gonna snag it and strand you here while I go see a billion stars, go to China, go to that one diner that made the best pancakes I ever had.” They grin a little. Joshua doesn't answer this quickly. His thumb is flicking at the corner of the label on his bottle, which doesn't tear it but does start to make one corner edge roll up. "Don't know you won't," he finally replies. "Be a dick move, though." He takes another gulp of his soda, and grinds a toe against the sand. "Spent a whole lot of life in prison. Starts to give you a gauge. Who's stepping on your toes because they didn't stop to look, who's doing it to test your boundaries, who's doing it 'cuz they want to watch you flinch." Tok’s grin fades just as quick as it appeared and their eyebrows jump up. Then they duck their head and nod, quietly. They finally take a sip of their soda. Their tail curls then flicks, and repeats the motion on their second sip. They then begin fully tearing off the label, eyes very focused on it, “Sorry.” They say in an almost mumble, “I don’t wanna watch you flinch.” They finish tearing off the label, and when a few scraps of it flutter down into the sand they bend down to grab them before they can get to buried, and shove them into the pockets of their cargo pants. “Is this a test?” They ask, confusion leaching back into their tone. "If I thought you were that kind, wouldn't have asked him to defuck your head." Joshua's brows lift. His mouth twists to one side. At length he shakes his head. "Not my style." He's toying with his thumbnail at the peeling corner of label, head bobbing absently in time with the flick-flick-flick. "First time I saw this power," he says, finally, "I wanted it more than I'd ever wanted anything. Makes it -- easy to feel like. Maybe I understand where you're coming from. Don't know that I do, though. What's it like? For you?" Tok eyes suddenly snap up to Joshua, then narrow. Their tail stills mid-curl, “Feels like I could fix everything, if I could do something like that.” They say, distracted, and haven’t stopped staring at Joshua. Their blood vessels pulse once with a soft white glow. They haven’t taken a full breath. “What do you mean…first time you saw this power. Is it-” They don’t finish, there’s something hopeful, though, that they desperately seem to be trying to hide. "Not mine," Joshua clarifies. His finger has stopped toying with the label, now just pressing down very hard as if it could reattach it to the cold-damp bottle. "Been borrowing it for years." Tok blows out a sharp breath all at once, like it’s been drawn out. “No way.” The bottle crinkles a little in their hands as they squeeze it and they shake their head, “You- You’re like me?” They ask, and a bright smile bursts across their face, “Wait! The-the healing too- that’s borrowed? Can you- can you show me? What-” an excited trill escapes them before they can stop it, unable to possibly get every question out that they want to, “What’s it feel like- to you?” They watch Joshua with wide wide eyes, heels rising and falling in bursts of bounces, to get some of the energy out. "Healing, too." Joshua is looking down at his hands, with this, giving them a small and contemplative frown. His shoulder lifts as he lifts his drink for another swig. "Kinda like you. Kinda different. It --" He breaks off with a slow breath. His eyes have returned to the ocean, and his fingers now are pressing harder at his bottle. Turning the thing between his hands. "Feels powerful. Terrifying." He huffs out a quick-sharp breath. "... sometimes, like I could fix everything. Just find the right powers." Tok visibly hangs on to every word and lets out a breathy laugh, disbelieving while believing it. “Yeah, I get it. A whole world opens up.” They watch Joshua, then quickly uncap their own soda for a sip, then recap it. They’ve stopped bouncing, but have begun to twist their legs back and forth to bury their feet deeper into the sand, “I’ve never met someone else—or I guess I did when I met you.” They tilt their head away to get a look up at him, “Do they feel like yours to you? The ones you borrow.” "They are mine." Joshua's reply comes with a small and puzzled furrow of brows. "Become me. Once I have them. Doesn't mean it always feels right. Good ones, bad ones, complicated ones. As much me as every good decision and fuckup I've ever made." He has, just slightly, seemed to pick up the bouncing where Tok left off -- not quite as jittery, not quite as energetic, but still there in the slow rock of weight up-down on his sneakered toes. "How's it feel to you?" Tok’s eyes flick up briefly at Joshua’s slow rock. They keep drilling themself into the sand—they’re a little past their ankles. Tok hums in an agreeing tone. “It’s kinda weird, when your power is other people. Gets…hard to separate.” They go quiet in thought, continuing to twist themself deeper, “I don’t get to keep’em for- what did you say, years?” Their voice dips in shock at the word and their digging stops. Their brow pinches when they look up towards him again. There’s questions there, but they look back down. Their ears tilt downwards, “But- yeah it gets to be mine. For at least a little bit. Maybe not the same way as you- it’s like-” They bring their hands up then together to make an enclosed cupping shape with their hands, like they’ve caught something small. “And then mine gets to be theirs.” Joshua nods, slowly. "Do they want yours." He thumps back down into the sand, tipping back now on his heels. "Had a whole lot of powers forced on me. Pretty different than choosing it." Tok shrinks slightly, and not because they’ve dug themself shorter. Their shoulders turn inwards, and their ears pin all the way down. “No.” They say quiet. They begin to wiggle their feet out of their sand cocoons, and their face screws to the side conflicted, “What about the ones you have now? Did you choose those?” They ask, non-accusatory, “And-Are those people…okay with you borrowing theirs?” "I chose one of them. One of them chose me. Wasn't forced." Joshua's mouth pulls to the side. "They're cool with it. But people's powers are -- deeply personal. Lot of reasons I ask first and partly it's safety. Think you've learned you don't know what's going to happen with a new power. How it might get out of control. Partly it's just --" He hesitates, sinking back down into the small groove he's been wearing in the sand. "... you got any parts of you that are yours? Your past, your feelings, shit you don't want everyone to just see." Tok finishes removing their feet from the sand, and their face pinches slightly at their sand filled sneakers. Their tail wraps around to their front, and they run their claws through the patchy fur. At first they begin to shake their head, but then they grimace, and nod sheepishly, “…Yeah. I do now.” They look up to the water, “…I really was just…trying to help, when I took Leonid Concepcion’s.” "I know." The pause after this is longer. Joshua's tone doesn't really change, flat and steady as ever. "You can't ever really know. All the things you don't see. What people are carrying, how much work they had to put in to get where they are. And even if it was a hundred percent safe, that's -- a part of them, you know? To me, it's like. When I take that part of them, that says something about me. When someone trusts me with it, that says something about us." Tok’s tail pulls away from their hands to sway slowly behind them. They tap against the soda bottle, and take another sip. “Kinda thought I could figure all that out, if I could have part of people for a bit.” They hesitate, keep their eyes locked on their soda, “Still feels like I can.” They admit, with a gesture up towards their head, like there’s something obviously visible that can explain this. “I won’t force it anymore though...” They kick their shoe against the sand, to try and remove some of the sand from it. It doesn’t work very well. Their face screws to the side, their tail twitches antsy, and they scan Joshua. They’re quiet for longer, before speaking up again, “Would you let me give your teleporting a shot?” "Maybe you can, sometimes. Lot of friends I've learned more about this way. Just a whole different game when we're doing it together." Joshua gulps the rest of his soda down. The bottle vanishes from his hand. He rolls his head in a slow stretch, and then blips -- -- just to the other side of Tok. His brows lift high. "Think you can hit China?" Tok’s eyes widen as they snap their head to Joshua. It takes them a moment to process his words, replay them in their mind, but once they do, the bright white glow they’d been smothering throughout the conversation suddenly floods to life, energy burning under their skin and up to their eyes. A line is formed, between them, and his teleportation is carefully picked up and whisked away, and at the same time their own power is set in its place, all its intricacies and complications. The thrumming line of energy remains, still connecting the two of them, even as the glow from their eyes fade. Tok is bouncing excitedly even before the swap has finished. They grin, bright, and offer out a hand towards Joshua, “Guess we’ll find out!”