5540/Flowers in the Attic

Flowers in the Attic
Date of Scene:	11 March 2021
Location:	Ororo's Attic
Synopsis:	Kassandra shows what she can do. Ororo is impressed and wants to know more.
Cast of Characters:	Ororo Munroe, Kassandra Pagonis

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Ororo Munroe has posed:
Ororo Munroe is in her attic, presently she is making hot water on the small stove on the north wall. There is a soft melody playing, something jazzy but not bluesy. As the sun has set, she is wearing a cardigan that is a size to large, and too long, almost to her knees, but her feet are still bare.

Kassandra Pagonis has posed:
The meeting by the lake earlier in the day got Kassandra thinking, and after dinner (and posting a few flyers announcing Brisket Friday!, and yes, the ! is important), she made her way to the second floor and did a little searching. In an out-of-the-way corner she found the stairs leading to the tower and, one at a time with quiet steps, she went upstairs to see if Ororo was home. A gentle knock on the wooden door with a small glass pane heralds her arrival and, peering through the window to see if there's any movement, she steps back to wait to see if she will be allowed in. Held in her hands is a small tupperware container of cookies, freshly baked. She hopes Ororo likes chocolate.

Ororo Munroe has posed:
Ororo Munroe turns toward the door at the knock, leaving the stove to cross the room and open the door, "Come in Kassandra, no need to knock. If the lights are on, come right in and make yourself at home."

She gestures toward the couches, "I will finish up this tea, I hope you like orange spice."

Kassandra Pagonis has posed:
     "I've...um...never had it before." Kassandra says, slipping into the room and closing the door behind her, pausing in the entryway to slip off her shoes, remaining in her socks as she pads across to settle down on one of the couches. The tupperware contaner is placed on the coffee table, along with, of all things, a small, battered wrench that's maybe six inches long. "Thank you for inviting me up. I thought that, after the lake today, it might be a good idea to show you what I can do since...well...I'm hoping you can help me.

Ororo Munroe has posed:
The tea leaves are packed loosely into a metal basket, that is then floated in the kettle. She has already set up a tray with one cup, so collecting another wasn't difficult. With it all together, she turns the stove off and carries the tray over to the couch, setting it on the coffe table.

"When did you demonstrate your power for Hank, I mean Dr McCoy? I do not wish for you to over tax yourself."

Kassandra Pagonis has posed:
     "It was almost a week ago, in his lab, and I've slept several times since then, so I should be okay. Well..okay as long as I don't push it too terribly much." Kassandra says, sitting primly on the couch, watching Ororo prepare the tea.

Ororo Munroe has posed:
Sitting herself on the couch near Kassandra, but obviously not on top of her, Ororo scoots a cup over for the young woman. "If it has been that long, then I beleive it is safe for you to show me. If you do feel weak or tired however, you must stop immediately, agreed?" She offers a smile. "Would you like cream and sugar, or of course any mixture of or without, in your tea?"

Kassandra Pagonis has posed:
     Taking the cup in both hands, Kassandra lifts it to her nose to sniff, shaking her head. "Just...just like this, please. This will be plenty, I think." This is followed by a sip, the cup set down on the coffee table, out of the way, near the cookies. "So, as Henry probably explained to you, I get images off of locations and items so I found this." She reaches down and holds up the little wrench. "Simple, common, everyday thing, right?" Setting it down, she takes a red bandanna wrapped around her hand and ties it tightly around her eyes, making sure it's tucked so her eyes are completely covered. "So, when I start....it's going to get dark. You'll see me and I'll see you, but everything else around you will pretty much vanish. And then...well....we'll go from there?" She tilts her head. "Just remain seated. You may not sense the table, the furniture, or the tea, but it's still there."

Ororo Munroe has posed:
Ororo Munroe says softly, "I am prepared for a transition of perception, Kassandra. Hank explained enough in that regard. Do not worry about me, I will be fine. Take your time, and do not over extend yourself." She sets her tea cup back on the coffee table for now, just to make sure her own hands are empty and she is fully ready. One might have something explained, and for most it would likely be a jolting, jarring experience, but for Ororo this is not the first time she has experienced a new Mutants 'odd' powers.

Kassandra Pagonis has posed:
     It's only the second time Kassandra has really shown off, and the first time only lasted about thirty seconds. Sure, she was tired, coming down from all sorts of substances, and pretty much starved, so this might go just a little bit better this time than that time. After all, she's feeling well enough to make briskets weekly, she's probably okay to give this a go. Reaching down, Kassandra plucks the wrench from where she left it on the table, leaning back and crossing her legs beneath her and, for a time, it doesn't seem like anything is happening. It's quiet. Outside there's a breeze, rattling one of the windows, and the sound of the clock on the wall steadily ticks the seconds pass but, after a moment, those sounds start to fade. The window visibly rattles, but there's no sound. The clock moves, but there's no sound. The smell of tea and cookies goes next and then, perhaps a little disturbingly, light starts to fade. Shadows deepen and lengthen, colors wicking away until reality vanishes around Ororo and Kassandra, the pair in the void, hovering there, alone.

     "So..." Kassandra looks right at Ororo, despite the blindfold. "This is the stage, more or less, that I show the past on. And what I show is based on the echoes on this." She lifts the wrench and gives it almost a twist, an ethereal version of the wrench drawn out from the physical, and on that ethereal version are threads....thousands of them, at least. Some brighter, some darker, but all there. "These are the memories on this item and I can project them." She pauses, lifting her right hand, thumb and forefinger grasping one of the brighter lines. "Before we start, do you have any questions?"

Ororo Munroe has posed:
Ororo Munroe watches the process as it goes, each change noted and in the order, sight, sound, then smell, a specific order of events that unfold as she begins. It is a new sensation to some degree, but if it effects her any more than a slight surprise at the changes, it doesn't show. When at last the peek is reached and Kassandra speak, she offers a smile. She believes she knows how the girl can see with the blindfold, and if she is correct, the two of them have stepped into a pocket of the atherial dimension.
    "On this wrench, there are numerous memories, numerous strands that even I can see. Can you select any one of them, or only the brightest?" She asks softly.

Kassandra Pagonis has posed:
     "Any one of them, really, but the brighter ones are more significant events." Kassandra says softly. "I've spent a little time with this already, so I know the paler lines are more mundane things. Working on a Ford's water pump or something. The brighter ones are when the person was more animated, I guess? Excited?" Where they go when she does this, she has no idea. Viewers outside her little bubble will see Ororo and Kassandra just sitting on the couch, but beyond a certain point, they're in the circle and they fall in rather quickly.

     She grasps one of the brighter threads between thumb and forefinger and then, with a shiver of reality around them, things start to come into view, emerging from the dark. Furniture. Walls. Then sounds of the city outside start to fade in. Old-timey car horns - the 'awoooga!' ones - and the murmuring of passerby. Horses. And a model T just over there, almost real enough to touch with a man, with a wrench, working beneath the hood. And right now, it's frozen, immobile, with hints of what once was. "So this is....the easy part." Kassandra grits her teeth. "When it starts moving, it really takes a lot out of me but I think I can get a couple of seconds...."

     USing her other hand, the one holding the wrench, Kassandra lifts her hand and then starts pulling the thread through her clasped fingers and slowly, things start to move. The man hits his head with a yelp as someone comes in, waving a newspaper. "It's over, Mr. Darrow! It's over" The woman calls, dressed in rather plain, old-fashioned clothing. "The great war is over! The hun have surrendered!"

Ororo Munroe has posed:
Ororo Munroe pulls in a slow breath, looking around her as the old world fades in, colors drifting in to fill in the spaces and paint the picture, frozen at that moment in time. Each detail she can see she memorizes, the sound of the horns, of the city adding audible clues to link to the memory, and finally the smells of the horses and the burning gasoline finish off the set that burns a memory into the mind and makes it real.

Turning slightly as the image comes to full life around her, she slowly looks back to Kassanda, at the process she is using with the wrench. She is like the needle of a record moving along the grooves, instead her fingers moving on the thread of light to play back the image, the memory locks in the wrench at the moment the great world war ended.

"Postcognition, atherial memory manipulation," she muses allowed. "No, not manipulation, replay, perhaps manipulation. Kassandra, stop now, that is more than enough for this time."

Kassandra Pagonis has posed:
"No....Manipulation...." Kassandra lets go of the thread and, like images projected on smoke, the scene fades away into darkness, the girl sitting back with a sigh, rubbing her temples. It was only a few seconds...a snippet of words...but it took so much out of her. At least this time she didn't pass out.

"I can't change the past, I can only show what happened." She explains as the world outside the bubble starts to slowly fade back in, lights from outside flicking on, like candles drawing closer, sounds and smells coming last until the pair are on the couch.

Kassandra reaches up and unties her blindfold, wiping her eyes with the corners, the red cloth stained black, before she reaches for the tea, drinking a large mouthful of it before speaking again. "Given enough time, there's no limit to what I can find, as far as I can tell."

Ororo Munroe has posed:
Standing, Oroso moves to a set of shelves to collect another bandana like cloth, which she carries it back and offers it to Kassandra. The material feels like silk, and is a deep, deep blue color. "Why do you have to blindfold yourself? What happens with your eyes that the clothe is stained black? There are many questions regarding /how/ the power manifests that need to be examined before we can even get to what the powers do and what the possibilities for the future are. Would you be willing to sit down and type up, or write up, how you came to understand this power existing and how you discovered each step you now take to use it? These things can go a long way to understanding what the power truly is."

Kassandra Pagonis has posed:
"I'm being pragmatic." Kassandra says, taking the offered blindfold, rubbing it between thumb and forefinger. "s'pretty, this. Thank you. The reason I blindfold myself is because when I end up doing this, I start weeping black tears that stain just about anything they touch but skin. I didn't want to ruin your couch or my clothes. I ruined a good shirt the first few times I tried this on my own." Kassandra grumbles faintly. "I think Henry did some analysis of them so he might be able to tell you more about what the tears actually are."

Kassandra sits quietly, holding her cup of tea in one hand, the gifted blindfold in the other. "Sure, I have no problem with that. Getting the words on paper would probably help at least give a direction to start."

Ororo Munroe has posed:
A soft smile spreads across Ororo's face, "That is the other reason I asked you to do so. Sometimes, when we speak a thing we do not take the time to truly think about it. Often, when we write a thing, we search for the right words and thus think about it. If you can remember the steps from the beginning, and write them out, it will help me to understand, but more importantly it will help /you/ to understand. Foundation is the most important aspect of any power or ability, and we need to build yours."

Kassandra Pagonis has posed:
"Is that how you learned to do your thing with flying and lightning?" Kassandra asks, taking another sip of her tea, thinking, finally nodding. "Do you want me to just...hand write it? Send an email? Anything like that?"

Ororo Munroe has posed:
Ororo Munroe says, "You can hand write it, type it on a computer, however best works for you. I admit I am not computer savy, but if it is in an Email, I can get to those. As for me, I could not write them, but I repeated the steps to myself before going to sleep every night until I remembered them in order."