trans_9 | Peace of Mind [Open]

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Peace of Mind [Open]

One of the few downsides of having brain powers was that you really couldn't let your mind wander. This held true, even for Julian. Despite his normally flippant and flirty attitude, he always kept his powers on a very tight leash.

Perhaps that was part of the reason for the attitude to begin with. He had to restrain his powers, so maybe he let personality run wild to compensate.

It's possible, but that was neither here nor there.

Still, even he needed to relax that part of his mind every now and again. He had a lot on his mind anyway, some decompressing would do him some good.

He could have chosen a sensorium, but elected for a rather quiet spot in the city instead and let his powers uncork. There was no explosion, no sudden lifting of buildings, or anything nearly as destructive as that. Just a strange green glow as energy started to pour out of him, slowly swirling around him in a free flowing current. He allowed himself to be enveloped by it, to float in it, and to relax that way for just a little while.

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She had been in the city herself: since the reforming of the Outsiders, Katara had found herself in the city more often, going from there to the W.I.T.C.H. bus. Since her schedule was freed up, Katara fond herself there more often than not. The last few days had been fairly hard and even with the good times she'd been having with The Outsiders couldn't erase the fact that there were no more Bene Gesserit on the ship. She had continued the instruction halfheartedly, and had stopped it altogether. She had her reasons for that, but for now she kept that to herself.

Coming back from the pool, Katara FELT something different in the air: she could almost sense another aura being channeled around her, and she followed. A minute later, she saw Julian in a clearing, floating within a stream of energy. It was not the first time she'd seen something like this: in fact, she had felt it herself once at the Fremen Sietch in the city. Rather than disturb him, she sat cross legged herself, waiting to talk with him and zoning out a little on her own.

Kate was still sad about recent events. Paco's chat with her helped a little. But it still hurt to miss Cassie, and while Tony had been grabbed before, she found herself worrying more.

The odd green glow drew her attention, and she stepped around the corner for a better look. It took her a moment to recognize the figure floating in the midst of the energy. He seemed peaceful for once. Rather like Billy sometimes with his abilities. Shame she never saw him around the ship anymore either.

Still she couldn't help staring in surprise. How could somebody who speaks such ugly words at times, still be capable of something so beautiful?

He eventually had noticed her sitting there, and raised an eyebrow. What he was doing wasn't dangerous, but carelessness with that much energy could be dangerous. He was a bit too saturated with energy to shut it off completely, but he managed to retract his output of energy to something more easily manageable.

He was still floating, and drifted over to her. He was still glowing with energy, though not as brightly as he was before.

"Katara, hey. What are you doing here?" He wasn't bothered by the company, but he thought it was an odd place to sit cross legged.

Katara could tell, even with her eyes closed, when Julian was going to approach her: with that much energy in the air, you could definitely feel when it lessened. Her hair wasn't as prickly and she could sense his approach, although she knew that he was still floating.

She looked up. "Hey. I dunno, I was just waiting for you to come out of what you were doing. I have a small idea about it: Billy and I have done something like it before thanks to Renne. Um, I didn't know you could do that."

She paused. "I kinda wouldn't just mind talking with someone right now. A lot's happened."

He wasn't so completely out of it that he wasn't aware of his surroundings. After some time he noticed her there, at which point his whole demeanor changed.

His energy flared out angrily, kicking up some dust and nearly cracking the side of a building before he managed to rein it in. He faced her, two brightly glowing green eyes glaring at her.

He didn't say anything out loud, but his body language spoke volumes for him. And all of it was saying 'Wat do you think you're staring at? ~~Flatscan.~~'

"Oh..." He didn't know what to expect as an answer, but that still caught him a little off guard.

"I was just..." he looked back at the spot where he had been floating back, not entirely sure how to explain what he was doing. "..clearing my head a bit, I guess. A lot has happened," he agreed.

Looking back down at her, he used his powers to raise the ground she was sitting on, so that she was closer to eye level with him.

"How've you been?"

"I figured," Katara said, smiling a little at Julian being less than his usual buoyant self. "You wouldn't be floating in mid air giving off light unless there was a reason, right? Normally, I try meditating, but even that hasn't been as easy as it used to."

Not when there were so many thoughts shooting through her head, that was for sure. Too many.

Being brought of the ground was a little startling, but that was because she hadn't expected it, and instead concentrated on the question.

"Better. I just saw an alien burst out of a person on the ship, which is bad enough, but I'd been treating his father earlier so it was definitely a pretty intense situation. That and...well, I lost a teacher of mine. She's just gone from my memory. I don't even remember her name. The worst of it is, what she taught me no one else on the ship can."

Being a jackass took effort, which was more work than what he was willing to put in right now.

"I heard about the whole exploding chest alien things..." Though that news nearly go lost in the shuffle thanks to Shiva's mutiny. "At least the people made it.

"It seems like everyone has lost someone by now, though." For him, it just seemed like the more things changed, the more they stayed the same. "What was it that she was teaching you?"

And Katara was grateful: normally, she could keep up a rapport when Julian was this way, but this was not one of those times. She was lad they were both subdued at the samer time.

Then again, who wouldn't be?

"Yeah," Katara said, sighing. "I patched him up as best as I could, using magic I'm not really familiar with yet. My regular healing abilities just weren't going to cut it. Now its all about waiting and seeing what happens next."

"This is definitely not my first time," Katara said, "and I figure it won't be my last. Thing is, if someone dies, at least you get to remember them right? I can't do that when someone leaves my memory. She was teaching me a specific martial art though: Prana Bindu. I was actually getting fairly good, but then she vanished. You ever get the feeling that when bad things happen, it happens all in a row?"

That last part was said with an air of humor, although Katara could hardly says he felt like laughing.

There was a laugh from Julian. It was short, bitter, and devoid of humor.

"Yeah, I've had that feeling." Story of his life, really. "It's all just one thing after another... then one day you look around, and everything you thought you had was gone."

"I had hoped it would have lasted longer. The last time we spoke, she was upset with me because I went after one of the Ohm instead of helping toput out a fire with some of the ship members. I still think I was right, but at the time, I didn't want her to be angry with me, I respected her a lot. It sounds stupid now, but I really was hoping I had a chance to explain why I did what I did back then."

She sighed. "At least I got to learn though. But you...what's going on with you lately Julian?"

"Well, that's Ensign Julian, for starters," and just a hint of his usual smugness returned for a moment. Truthfully, he'd rather be Lieutenant Keller, but this was a start.

"Been trying to embrace the new stuff," he elaborated, vaguely, "and let go of some of the old stuff. Which isn't nearly as easy as I thought it would be."

"You're an Ensign?!" Katara exclaimed. "But that's wonderful news! I never thought you'd have a position on the ship. Good for you! What did you have to do to get it?"

Hopefully he understood that this wasn't a deragatory statement. Julian always seemed to be the type that defued authority.

She nodded here. "Yeah, I find that it helps to have a healthy balance of them both. It's what's needed to adjust to things on the ship. Like, I can't train to a Bene Gesserit anymore, but now I'm co-leader of the Outsiders without even plannimg it."

Julian was the type to buck authority when it suited him. He was also the type to force his way towards the top of a hierarchy, then abuse the hell out of it.

"I knew a guy who knew a guy who got a third guy to put in a good word for me," he joked. At least his mood seemed to be lifting some. "Nah, I threw my name in for consideration. I didn't think I was going to be picked, but, hey," here he was.

He shrugged.

"But look at you, Co-leader of the Outsiders! How are you liking it so far?"

If he had actually said that, it would have likely brightened the mood. Though Julian was typically the kind of guy that Katara tended to dislike, there was also something carefree and sweet about him. She hated to admit it, but she could see why girls got mad at him: there was something both inaccessible and wild about him.

She chuckled. "Well, at least you got voted in. I would have voted for you if I didn't already. Honestly there's so much going on in this ship that I can lose track. But I can see why you would be picked. Remember, I was on your team once. It's just too bad we never really got to do any team activities together."

And here was something she didn't mind talking about.

"We're actually getting along pretty well! Beastboy is the co-leader, and so far he's been showing them fun things, getting them to bond. I figure that he'll be a good foil that way: Beastboy's really good at making people feel invited, and has experience on a superhero team. In a few days, I'm going to be arranging training sessions for the members that want or need it. With all I've learned, it;d be a shame to let all that go away."

Julian had someone joining him, flying up and hovering in the air next to him, just floating there quietly.

"Hey."

Other than that greeting, he didn't talk. Which generally was a bad sign with someone who would never shut up. Mostly, it seemed like he just wanted to be in his friend's company.

"Hey."

Beyond that, Julian didn't say anything either. Which, considering how much he liked to run his mouth, wasn't a good sign either.

But he was fine with the companionable silence. Something he indicated by nudging Kon playfully with his forearm.

Kon poked him back in the arm.

Julian shoved him back, harder this time.

Hey hey, don't make this a contest, Julian. He can shove harder.

And he did.

Edited 2010-09-20 03:02 (UTC)

She brought her hands up in front of her, "Hey, hey, calm down. I'm not here to... I just saw the light, and stopped over here."

Kate added, her tone quiet and calm, "Was about to say how impressive and beautiful your powers are. Usually don't get to see them like that."

So he'll turn it into a wrasslin' match, by going for a headlock!

"Yeah," he mused about her training sessions. "Of course, now that I'm an Ensign, and you're co-leader of the Outsiders, I'm contractually obligated to come around and give you guys shit every now and again."

Julian was not Julian unless he had someone to make fun of, even in a friendly way.

Okay, that was completely unexpected. And he still hadn't said anything, though his expression had changed from Glare to Uh...wat?

Katara stuck out her tongue. "Hey, I'm trying to train them so if they get grouped by you guys, they'll have an idea of what to do. That's the reason we're together anyway: you need a team of kids on the ship helping each other out."

Not that she would mind much if it was Julian. She knew he'd been on a team before: managing things were never easy.

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