xp_logs | Voices Carry--Haller, Terry, Miram (Reply)

Terry and Haller journey to the Cross family apartment to meet with a girl last seen in six months ago. This trip is rather more successful than the last one.

The Cross house was quiet for their appointment, and Jim found himself wondering if it was always like this here. Was the family respecting their privacy, or was this a consideration that had developed as a result of living with the girl's mutation? Or was it simply because, as he'd so often seen working with the defective and the damaged, no one could think of what to say?

Well, one thing at a time.

"All right, Miriam," Jim said, keeping his voice pitched low, "are you ready? Just like we discussed."

Terry settled onto the faded leather of the couch and waited while Haller linked her mind to Miriam's. He'd already set up a link so that she could hear through his ears, a fact that was all that kept her from outright panic even though it had been more than 24 hours since she'd first discovered her hearing loss. Haller's touch on her mind was different than the Professor's but less so than she'd expected. There was none of the hesitation that she associated with the young counselor and she wondered how much of his training he'd done with the Professor directly. Focusing back on her task at hand she carefully formed her thoughts down the mindlink. ~Hello, I'm Terry. This is a little odd, isn't it?~ Even though language wasn't particularly necessary with mind speech, her "voice" was still flavored with the sound of her home country.

Miriam sat straight in her chair, her expression uncertain and readable as so - from the nose down. Above, where her eyes should have been, was blank skin, just as there had been months ago . ~It is,~ the girl replied. ~But I think... I think I prefer it. I can hear you without it being painful.~ There was more than a touch of relief in her mental 'voice'. Surprise, too, as if she'd never expected to be able to say that about a conversation again.

~You can speak normally if you like. I'll be able to hear you thanks to Mr. Haller. I...would prefer that, actually.~ Terry tried to send warm vibes across, something like a mental smile. ~I know how it is, having it be painful to hear. Before my hearing went away I was hearing heartbeats from across the room.~

"All right." Miriam's voice was hushed, a little hoarse. As if she didn't use it very often. "Daniel told me about you," she said, her head drooping a little. Her hands twisted in her lap. "He liked you. Thank you for helping him that day."

~How is he? He was very worried about you. I'm an only child myself so I never had a chance to have a little brother like that.~ Terry smiled unconsciously.

The telepath sat in the chair he'd pulled up to sit with the two girls, silent for the moment as he worked on unobtrustive alterations to the mindlink. It was a complicated dual-filter; the sound of Miriam's voice through his ears to Terry, then Terry's thoughts to Miriam. Complicated, but not unlike the sort of system he'd used for Sooraya when the girl had been struggling with English. In that case he was glad Sooraya was noticeably less in need of assistance, but he ever since he'd resigned from the team he hadn't had much opportunity to use his telepathy, and he was grateful for the chance to practice. And anyway, despite the fact that arriving to the news that one of the residents had been stricken deaf and mute was near the bottom-rung on the list of things Jim wanted to hear after a twelve-hour flight from Kosovo a night of hurried coordination and an impromptu visit to a strange household was a lot more useful to Terry than his concerned support. As if he could have refused the request anyway.

"He's okay. I think he worries about me going away." Miriam's hands twisted in her lap again. "I try to tell him that it's not very far. I wish-" What she wished was apparently not something she was prepared to share, and she closed her mouth abruptly.

~He's a good brother. He'll be able to come visit, you know. We've got a gaggle of kids about his age who love having new people come by.~ Terry deliberately kept things light, not wanting to push Miriam too hard. Because she had years of mental defense classes, her shields were as good as any non-psion's could be and plenty good enough to keep the nerves she was feeling from leaking across to Miriam. How on earth did they expect her to convince this girl she should come to the school? ~I'm a little biased myself about the school. I've lived there since I was 11.~

Miriam frowned a bit. "And you've liked it?" she asked uncertainly. "It's not... they wouldn't..." Stumbling over her words, she fell silent again, one hand creeping up to run over the blank upper half of her face. "They wouldn't look at me and think I'm horrible?" It was almost inaudible, even to the other person in the room who could hear.

Terry nodded, though Miriam wouldn't see it. ~Xavier's is my home. My best friends were made there, I met my husband there.~ Oh the glee at saying that to someone. ~In my time at the school, I've taken science from a big furry blue man, learned dance from an acrobat with a tail, helped the seven foot tall groundskeeper with chores...we're no strangers to physical mutations, subtle or otherwise. I could tell you about a dozen students and staff with visible but that's not really a good representation of who they are. My dance teacher...he's a kind man, faithful and funny. Earnest and clever. Passionate about the things he believes in. My science teacher, he was a multiple Ph.D., is an award-winning scientist and delightful practical joker. Just people really.~

"There are also several residents with physical abnormalities that have nothing to do with their mutations," Jim said. "One of our recent graduates lost his hand and leg in an accident. Professor Xavier lost the use of his legs backpacking in Europe." The counselor gave the sightless girl a lopsided smile. "You don't need to be a mutant to be looked at differently. Most of the students know that already, and those that don't, we try to help learn."

"I just thought... I guess it doesn't really matter what I thought. I wasn't really thinking..." Miriam trailed off again, lowering her hand back to her lap. "Would it be easy to g-get around?" The tremor in her voice was noticeable, suddenly. "I know the apartment now, but I'm afraid of new places..."

~Sure it'll be harder than it is here. It's bigger for one and there are more people.~ Terry shrugged uncomfortably and looked at Haller, pleadingly, lost as to how to deal with this any other way than the truth, ~There are ways that we could make it easier, probably, at least until you're comfortable. As I said, I can't hear right now. Mr. Haller is letting me use his ears. I imagine that someone could do the same for you to see. It is...a little disorienting at first.~

"There are a couple options. Guides for starting off, and maybe we can get you a service dog -- which we can actually get for you whether or not to come to the school. They take a while to train, but the professor's got some contacts. Unsurprisingly." Jim gave Miriam another unseen smile out of long habit as well as natural inclination. The small efforts counted, regardless of whether or not the other party could see them. "That's all the conventional stuff. Like Terry said, there are some things we can do that other places can't. Not permanently, at least not exactly like this, but to make your life a little easier. Just until you feel like you can get by on your own again." He turned his mismatched eyes to Terry, reaching out with his mind as he did, and extended access to one more sense to the second girl in the room.

"Like letting you see the person you're talking to."

Miriam took a sharp, shaky breath, straining in her chair, her face turning back to Terry. "Oh... oh, I'd forgotten what it was like..."

Terry smiled, first at Miriam herself then at Haller so she could see her properly. ~Adapting to your mutation is a good sign, actually. I wager that you do more with your hearing than you think you do.~ Terry knew well enough that losing her hearing had resulted in all sorts of unpleasantness. Borrowing from other people only corrected part of the problem. Her balance was totally thrown and she'd walked into a number of things in the past two days and tripped a dozen times for no good reason at all. ~But aye, this is something of a short term fix. Long terms, I should think you'd want to develop other options.~

"I think... I think I want to find out. Even if I can't have t-this..." There was regret in the girl's voice, but something like half-smothered hope beneath it all. She actually smiled. "And I like d-dogs."

~We'd like to have you. We've a lot in common, you and I. Hearing-wise.~ Terry stood, slowly but had to grab the back of the couch anyway as her vision spun for a moment. She sighed then extended her hand to Miriam. ~I think you'll like the school too."

Miriam reached out, a bit uncertainly at first, as if she couldn't quite judge the distance. She took Terry's hand successfully, though. "All right," she said, although she still sounded uncertain.

Terry gripped her hand firmly, without any hesitation at all. ~I know it seems like too much right now. Don't worry. We'll help you through it. Right, Mr. Haller?~

Jim kept his eyes carefully trained on Terry, replacing as much of Miriam's missing perception as he could. It wasn't a substitute for what she'd lost, and it never would be -- just like words filtered through his ears were for Terry. Just a cruel imitation. For a brief moment he became acutely aware of the weight in his jacket pocket, a gift given just that morning. A simple, elegant cigarette case given in commemoration of a date that he himself had half-forgotten, and Charles' continued fulfillment of a request David had made of him long ago.

Imitation. But, sometimes, more than just a cheap lie.

"We will help you," Jim said, the certainty in his voice unshakeable, and as he said it he stretched his mind out to brush Terry's alone; a brief, uncharacteristic display of personal involvement over a mindlink he rarely engaged in with non-psis, like a reassuring hand across the back: good job. "That's why we're here, after all."

He added, the smile now obvious even through tone alone, "With dogs, even."