Tandy, Topaz and Hope

[x-trance.livejournal.com]

Tandy has a bad dream and both Topaz and Hope learns something new about their powers.

Hope looked up from the quiet knock at the door. She quickly tucked her book away and quietly walked over to the door to open it. "Good afternoon Topaz. Please come in."  When the girl was standing in the room, she gestured to Tandy sleeping on the couch before pointing to her room. "I have the notes ready in my room."  

 It had taken a good amount of pride-swallowing for Topaz to admit that she'd stopped paying attention in Algebra and missed about two pages worth of notes and even more to ask Hope if she could borrow the notes she'd zoned out for. "Thanks for this," she said quietly as she followed Hope to her room, mindful of Tandy. 

"It is no problem, Topaz. I have copied them for you, so we should be done fairly fast." Hope guided Topaz past Maddie's part of the room to her own domain. "Please, have a seat." She gestured in the direction where both the stool of her dressing table and her desk chair were standing and pulled over her tote bag. 

"You didn't have to do that, but thank you, really." Topaz settled down, trying not to look too uncomfortable. Get done, get out. Brilliant plan.

Tandy had been sleeping peacefully, until her dreams turned for the worst. Her skin started to glow brightly as she was lost in her nightmares - D'Spayre. Tandy moved in her sleep and accidentally knocked over her laptop from the couches corner made a loud bang as it hit the floor.  

Quickly handing her notes "If you have a moment, I also had something else for you. I saw you looking a little confused during out latest discussion with the psi-class, so I printed out my notes I have taken throughout the year for..." Hope froze when she heard a crash coming from the living room of the suite. "What was that?"

Topaz - already in the process of denying any confusion - heard the crash at the same time she felt a spike of fear and distress - even through the closed door and her shields, it was strong and slightly off-putting. "Tandy," she murmured more to herself as she stood, moving toward the door.

"Tandy?" Hope looked worriedly from the door to Topaz. "What is wrong?" She asked, following Topaz to the door.  

<i>Mine!</i> Tandy woke up with a start as her daggers escaped from within, "No..." She reached out for them, though once they were released there was no stopping them.  

"Topaz! Get down!" Hope could just grab Topaz before she felt herself getting light in the head and she slumped down, her ghost form hovering where she stood. She was able to regain her bearings fairly quickly now though. ~Don't let the daggers hit you. They can put you in a coma!~ She quickly projected at Topaz.

<i>Whoa!</i> It was pure instinct that had Topaz reaching out for the nearest, strongest source of emotional energy - Tandy. She didn't really pay attention to how much she took as she put up a shield in front of herself and Hope's now-inert physical body and astral form. The daggers fizzled harmlessly against the forming wall.

It was gone as quickly as it came. Tandy laid back down on the couch and looked up, she felt nothing. "What happened?" She asked unsure what exactly just happened. One minute she was feeling fear the next nothing.

~Oh shoot!~ Hope watched a few more daggers hit Topaz her shield. She quickly looked over at Tandy, her 'eyes' widening as she regarded her friends. ~What?!?~ The fuzzy colored aura she could often see around people was blaring in a large dark yellow corona around Tandy, much more intense then usual. And then it suddenly diminished, turning into a grey foggy sight closely surrounding her friend.  

"What?" Topaz looked between Hope's astral form and Tandy, dropping the shield and blinking. What was the problem? The daggers were gone, nobody was hurt...wait a second. Topaz's head snapped back to Tandy, her eyes narrowing. Why was there one less set of emotions in the room?

Hope was still trying to figure out what she had been seeing. Noticing the situation had calmed down a little though, she instead shuttered those thoughts away and let herself sink back into her body. She opened up her eyes and sat up. "Tandy? Are you okay?" Hope threw a quick glance at Topaz, but her focus was on the girl sitting on the couch, who still looked somewhat shaken.

"Yea?" Tandy lifted her head to look at Hope and then to Topaz. "I'm...not sure how I feel though. What happened?"

"You had a nightmare," Topaz said, rather uselessly. Now that the adrenaline was starting to wear off, she could feel the effects of drawing off Tandy's emotions, and was busily shoving the anxiety and fear into the back of her mind. "Your daggers went off, I...borrowed your emotions for a shield spell." That was the easiest way to explain it without having to go into magic and energy sources and conversion. "What do you mean you're not sure how you feel?"

"D'Spayre." Tandy whispered and ran both hands through her hair. "Did I hurt anyone?" Sitting up straight but was eerily calm. "And I can't explain it. I feel like....no fear."

No fear? That was...not right. "I'm all right," Topaz said, looking back at Hope and keeping her mind on Tandy, searching for the none-existent emotions. "Hope, you okay?"

"I am fine, Topaz." Hope quickly made her way to the couch, taking a seat next to her friend and resting one hand on her shoulder. "How do you mean you feel like no fear, Tandy?" She had to think back to the weird sight she had seen. The bright ??? corona and it then suddenly fading away. 

"I never told you guys..." Tandy looked down and let out a sigh before she spoke. "When my da...when Nathan took me...he gave me to a demon. I never felt so much fear...so much hopeless in my life. Seriously it was bad news. She was draining me, and in place was putting fear into my mind. I feel like that whenever I .... see her in my dreams but I don't feel it now. I feel nothing."

But that didn't make any sense. Topaz walked over to the couch, resting her elbows on the back of it. Emotions didn't just <i>disappear</i>, it was impossible. But as she searched Tandy she found...nothing. Just as Tandy had said - she didn't feel anything.

"Topaz, what is it?" Hope glanced over her shoulder, confusion shining in her eyes.

"I dunno." She was loathe to admit it, but there it was. "Emotions don't disappear. Especially not when they're as strong as what Tandy was feeling. It's not natural." Topaz quickly ran over the last five minutes in her head. The only thing she'd done was cast a spell...

Hope frowned. "Is this the first time something like this happened?" She was not liking where this was going. "You were talking about borrowing her emotions?"

"I..." Topaz's voice drifted off. "I dunno." She really hated those words. "I mean, yes. It's how my magic works - I siphon emotions from someone and convert it into magical energy. I've never exactly stopped to talk to the people I borrow from, though." She'd never thought about the effect this might have on other people.

Tandy leaned her head back and smiled, "Well, I can be the first to tell you. Not having that emotion is good. And I am sorry about the dagger thing. I swear that has never happened before."

"Things happen." Topaz pressed her lips together, thinking hard. Well this was something to keep in mind for the future, at least. "Don't worry."

"It has not been an easy time for you, Tandy. It's alright. In the end nothing bad happened." Hope was still not quite sure about the whole Tandy's emotions disappearing, but there was not much she could do about it. She would remember it though in case something like that ever happened again. 

"Agree. Nothing bad happened. Again sorry about the daggers, I would really feel bad if they actually hit one of you."

"No blood, no foul." Maybe she should talk to Amanda. No, there was no reason to drag the blonde into it, as long as it wasn't a real problem. "But...let me know if this no emotion thing goes on for too long." As long as Tandy's emotions came back, it wouldn't be a problem, yeah?

"More like life force than blood. And yes, I'll tell you." Though Tandy was in no hurry for that emotion to come back.

Hope nodded hesitantly. "Though I do think if they have not come back something like tomorrow morning you should talk to someone, Tandy. I cannot be good if they stay away that long!"  "Sure. Though really, I am glad I am not feeling it anymore." She closed her eyes and laid back down. "Might be able to sleep now without seeing her."

Topaz barely heard Tandy. She was trying to think of a way to keep experimenting with this - she had a feeling indiscriminately drawing off her classmates would be frowned upon. Maybe she could find a volunteer...? No, probably not. Hmn. "I am sure some sleep will do you good." Hope stood up, looking at her friend for a moment. Then she shifted her gaze to Topaz, how seemed quite a few miles away. "I will find you both sets of notes, Topaz." Within a few moments she was back. "Here you go."  

"What? Oh." Topaz took the offered not, leafing through them for a moment without seeing any of what was written. "Right. Ah...thanks Hope." She looked back at Tandy, pressing her lips together. "Right," she said again. "Well. Best get some sleep before it wears off."

Tandy forced herself up from the couch and picked up her laptop that had fell. "Yea. I will. Thanks." Tandy said before she disappeared into her own room to sleep.

"I hope to see you later." Hope quickly said goodbye to both Tandy and Topaz before she sank down on the couch. What had just happened? And what in the world had she just seen? And how?