tramitem_net

[ Address and a time in the evening - after work. ]

We'll meet on the roof of my apartment. It's an old warehouse and everything I need is already here.

If you're comfortable coming to my neighborhood.

[ He doesn't live in what you'd call a 'nice neighborhood'. ]

I've been in worse. I'll be there whenever you're ready.
[even if he had to juggle some schedules]

Let me know when you're on your way and I'll meet you at the front entrance. I'll have everything set up.

[ Action? ]

[he arrives about an hour and a half later, after letting the kid know. He's dressed warmly, or perhaps too much. The wind is cool but not yet cutting. Maybe it will be and it's his only coat besides. He has reservations. Hell, he has enough reservations to book a convention. But it's something he can do and denying is getting him nowhere. So it's time to embrace.

He nods at Anakin, hands deep in his jacket pockets]

Can... you teach me other things too? The things that you were talking about before? [the ...ugh...psuedo magical things, he means. If others can do it...]

[ Anakin is standing with his back against the brick exterior of the warehouse turned apartments when Alec arrives. In just a hoody, he hardly seems dressed appropriately for a New York fall evening. But when one hand is completely metal to begin with, and the Force to fight back the cold, lack of dexterity from numb fingers is not on his list of problems.

Anakin wishes he could keep his air pods in for this whole lesson, but he knows the polite thing to do is to take them out. So he did and pockets them along with his iPhone. ]

What do you mean? I talk about a lot of stuff.

[ Which is completely true. He posts a lot of nonsense on the network. It hits him a moment after he asks. ]

Do you mean the empathic abilities and telekinesis?

[ He kicks the brick out of the very low tech entrance door to lead them inside a poorly lit corridor that will eventually end in an elevator that looks like a death trap. ]

[the lift looks like a death trap. It would be just like fate to kill him in this rather than the massive heart attack he was due for, but in for a penny, in for a pound. He honestly doesn't even register the ear buds, but nods at the question while inwardly wincing]

Aye, that... Comes in useful does it?

Telekinesis? Ya, that's handy.

[ Now both inside the elevator, with a flick of Anakin's finger he shows just how handy it was. The gate closes without what appears to be assistance and the button going up depresses without Anakin being anywhere near it. ]

But empathic powers- I'm going to go out on a limb and guess you're an introvert?

[Christ, that's terrifying. He feels a bone deep chill. Now he knows what it means when you stare into the abyss and the abyss stares back. That's something no one should be able to do, no one should be able to be-- and yet--

And yet how could he deny it now]

Aye... Does it show? [it is meant to be... somewhat of a joke, but the flatness of a delivery came off as more a question. His heart jerks as the lift starts up and he tries to take deep silent breaths. Not now. Not here]

[ There are six floors and then the roof to rise to. The ride could be shorter, but it could be longer, too. Anakin can't help but notice the way Alec reacted to the demonstration, so resolves to just use general physics from here on out. ]

Well, you introverts like your time away from people, right? With empathic abilities, there isn't anywhere in this city you can go where you are away from people. Not in your home because you can feel everyone in the building around you, on the street walking by, passing in cars. In the middle of Central Park there's some peace, but even then, at least one other person is always close enough that you know they are there.

And besides, people deserve privacy in their own heads. I don't want to know what people feel or think if they aren't voluntarily expressing it.

Is that what it's like? Is that what you go through? Christ I can't even imagine. It's bad enough living in the same space with nosy relatives... but being in others heads day after day... [he shakes his head]

How do you keep from going mad?

[ Anakin shrugs. ]

Not much. There are a few things I can do to drown it all out. I usually don't get coherent thoughts, mostly just feelings. Some people are really disciplined with their feelings and they are easier to be around. Mostly I just put in air pods and keep the music really loud.

[ The elevator reaches the top of the building and Anakin steps forward to open the gate. There's just a short hallway leading to the door that opens onto the roof. ]

[that being heard he tries to lock down his emotions as best he can as he follows the kid out onto the roof. It's even colder up here and he tries not to shiver as if the wind doesn't effect him or make his fingers icicles]

Hell of a life... [half muttered. But then he shakes his head]

Right. Where do we start?

[ There are lights up on the roof. But Anakin has brought up a few more along with all the things they needed. He's set up some of the armor plating he'd taken off the more robust droids to use as target practice. And he has a few blasters up there, leaning next to the door. ]

Have you have fired any kind of gun?

[ Starting at the very basics. ]

No. [a pause] Maybe... back in... [a vague gesture] But not that I remember.

[he eyes the blasters critically. They look like movie props. Even now he can't completely believe they'd do real harm]

Wow. Okay.

[ Anakin doesn't make a move towards the blaster yet. ]

First, I need you to... calm your- [ Anakin gestures to all of Alec. ].

Do you have a preferred calming or mental grounding technique? [ He asks with a skeptical tone because Alec doesn't give off the vibe of practicing calming exercises on the regular. ]

[he has no idea what the kid is even talking about. Sure he bristles with a low-level tension but that is part of him living his life]

I'm as calm as I'm ever going to get.

Ya... so these weapons convert gas into bolts of plasma contained in a magnetized shell. Which is technology currently outside the realm of Earth possibilities.

And you get jumpy when I- [ Anakin holds out his hand and summons one of the blasters to his palm using the Force. It slaps his hand with an unnatural metal clash because he's using his robotic hand. He holds it like it's a natural extension of his body. ]

Do things like this.

So you can try and lie convincingly to me that you won't freak out and shoot your face off in a panic. Or you can humor me, take a few deep breaths, and try a mental calming exercise.

If you can try not to be a twat for five seconds that really would be a miracle. Bloody hell. [he did jump at that sudden movement of the...whatever it was. It was too much sci fi. Too much... everything. But he'd have to get used to it]

I'm fine. I won't aim at you. The most that'll happen is my heart will go and I'll die and you can just wash your hands of me which will make a brilliant day for us both.

[ Anakin levels a deadpan look at Alec when the other man calls him a twat. But he lets that part go, for now. ]

Weird lie [ In that it's not a lie ] to tell me to prove you're emotionally and mentally grounded enough to handle something that is clearly emotionally and mentally distressing you.

What's it going to hurt you if you just take a moment to mentally center yourself? Your pride? Some mistaken idea that doing it will relinquish your control over the situation?

Oh aye I forgot, you're an empath, clearly you know the ins and outs of my psychology. I have seen the light. Do you think it's easy just relaxing? Do you think anyone can do it and all they have to do is tra la la and some breathing exercises?

I do what I can do and if that's not acceptable I'll learn how to shoot a bloody handgun like everyone else and pray that I don't get raygunned or whatever it is happens.

[ Anakin just continues his flat look. ]

I can tell what you're feeling, not why you're feeling it.

I'm not going to guide you through an EMDR session. I'm not your therapist and I wouldn't want to be even if I was a psychologist.

If you don't practice centered-mindedness it's not easy. But I'm not going to put a piece of alien technology that can burn a hole through this roof we are standing on or the wall of a neighboring building in one blast in your hand unless you show a fraction of effort to listen to basic instructions- and they start with you trying to calm yourself.

I know a dozen different calming exercises if you don't know any yourself.

[well he'd known the kid was a pompous jackass before he got up here. Alec pulled in a breath and let it out]

Fine. Show me one. [it wasn't a war and after this he wouldn't have to talk to him, but right here, right now, is what mattered most]

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