AU OOM :Test drive 18 year old Annabelle.

[aeons_crackshot]

The Annabelle Newfield that stumbles into Milliways is not the Annabelle the patrons are used to. This Annabelle is 18 years old and has just, barely, survived having her brain highjacked by a no good bastard of a psychic in Cuba.

Calling her psyche a mess at this point is an understatement. Metaphysically speaking, she's crisscrossed with open, bleeding wounds. (That tends to happen when you battle mind to mind with a psychic employing brute force to puppeteer your body that doesn't particularly care if you're even alive after they're finished with you.)

But this is not the main problem. The REAL problem is that Milliways does not allow two versions of the same person to exist in the Bar at the same time. Reality shuffles itself like a deck of cards and the 'new' Annabelle gets slammed with a whole different set of 28 years worth of memories as the 'old' Annabelle ceases to exist.

Memories that don't settle properly thanks to the mess her psyche is at the moment. Oh, they're probably in there to be found.....somewhere, eventually.......maybe. Damn it.

Annabelle looks around the Bar, too shocked and disoriented to even swear for the moment.

Comments

[aeons_crackshot]

Annabelle smiles at his blush. "and you'd rather talk to me than sleep?" Annabelle guesses.

"I guess I must have made a better impression than I usually do," she adds with a small chuckle and a faint blush of her own.

[leadinghome]

Not the exact words he'd use, but... yeah, close to it. "Yeah. You do, I guess?" Sure, she is armed, but she does not feel like he should be afraid.

[aeons_crackshot]

Flirt with or seduce, perhaps?

"One fellow I rescued suggested that I'm "intimidating", especially when it comes to young men."

Annabelle shrugs helplessly. "I guess killing monsters and beating up bad guys can make me seem scary."

The fact that they might be intimidated by her looks honestly hasn't crossed her mind at all.

[leadinghome]

"You don't feel scary. Fierce, strong, yeah, but..." He knows he's very unlikely to ever end on the receiving end of her wrath.

Ever.

[aeons_crackshot]

Annabelle's brilliant, joyful smile at his statement should probably be illegal. (There's a reason Whitely Styles once mistook her for an angel when waking up in the hospital.)

She blushes rather pink. "Thank you. That may be the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me."

[leadinghome]

Blink.

Blink blink.

"...you're welcome?" Yes, he's surprised: why people would not be nice to her? "But its just the truth."

And an Empathic would know.

[aeons_crackshot]

It's not that people are mean to her, it's just that she tends to induce shock and awe in bystanders who see her at work. (Which are about the only people she ever meets, considering she's essentially on the clock all the time.)

"Not a truth I get exposed to very often," she says with a wry grin. "I generally meet people only after they're up to their eyeballs in weird and dangerous shit or after I've wrecked whatever evil plan they had going."

[leadinghome]

"And they are not happy to be saved by a beautiful girl?" He would.

Well, he would prefer to not be up to his eyeballs in weird and dangerous shit, but being saved by an Annabelle... would be great.

[aeons_crackshot]

Annabelle flushes a little in pleasure at the 'beautiful' part of that comment. "They're generally happy to be alive, no matter who or what's doing the rescuing."

"It's just.....nobody wants to see you after the mess is over, you know? You're a reminder that the world is more terrifying and weird and dangerous than they thought, and they don't WANT to be reminded of that."

[leadinghome]

He might be blushing some, himself.

"...unless they get in trouble again, and then they want you to be there?" Connor shakes head. "People are weird."

[aeons_crackshot]

"They're pretty weird," Annabelle agrees with a chuckle. "Although I'm sure a lot of folks would count ME as the weird one."

[leadinghome]

"You're not weird." He can't call someone as beautiful, 'weird'.

Ah, if he had a chance in hell...

[aeons_crackshot]

He has a lot better chance than he thinks.

Annabelle smiles. "Not to you, maybe. Back home....well, I'm definitely a minority, if only for what I do."

[leadinghome]

She is poked.

And no, he didn't use his hands.

"You're not weird."

[aeons_crackshot]

Annabelle jumps a bit at the poke, more than most people would. Blame the hazards of the heroing life for that.

"That's cheating," Annabelle teases, then she briefly sticks her tongue out at him. Sometimes, she fails at maturity. "You're a man of many talents."

[leadinghome]

"Hey, it's useful: we don't even need to carry keys around." Telekinesis is fun.

He might be a bit taken by how cute Annabelle looks.

[aeons_crackshot]

She is cute. Dangerously cute, possibly.

"Oooh, nice," Annabelle says appreciatively. "Do you need line of sight?" The advantage of talking with someone who is used to psychic powers is that you get a different kind of question from the usual 'You can do what?!'

[leadinghome]

"Sort of? I need at least some idea where things are. It's much easier if I can see it." It is a welcome change, specially since people usually freak out.

[aeons_crackshot]

"Makes sense," Annabelle replies with a smile. "I can pull my tricks without being able to see, but vision makes trick shots a thousand times easier."

[leadinghome]

He nods. "Right, would you mind going outside again? It's getting too... noisy, here." Too many people for his 'senses'.

[aeons_crackshot]

"Not at all," Annabelle replies with a smile. Huh, she still hasn't let go of his hand. "There should be somewhere out there we can sit and talk."

[leadinghome]

Connor does notice that, and blushes, but does not protest.

The outside is less noisy in many ways, peaceful; it should not be hard to find a spot where to settle and enjoy the quiet.

She has nice hands. Comforting hands.

Yes, he reached to take Annabelle's other hand when they sat down.

[aeons_crackshot]

Callused hands, not that Connor is likely to feel the gun and knife calluses for what they are.

Thankfully, Annabelle manages to pick a willow tree that ISN'T the Whomping Willow to sit under.

She doesn't mind him holding both her hands, it's kind of nice.

"Doesn't sound like we're in an alien place," she muses, listening to the night sounds.

[leadinghome]

"It... feels a bit odd, but also familiar. A bit like when I was a kid."

Not so long ago.

[aeons_crackshot]

"Did you grow up out in the country?"