An Idol Approaches

[xp-dazzler.livejournal.com]

In which someone goes way out of her way to be difficult and ends up in a situation just a little over her head. Meltdown incoming in three... two...



The clocks had just finished striking one when Alison stepped out of the taxi. The night air was crisp and cold. The taxi driver, a chain-smoking older man with a thick Boston accent, twisted around in his seat. "That'll be twenty-four sixteen, girl." Alison passed him a small stack of fives. "I know," she muttered. "Keep the change."

She doubted he'd heard her, as he'd immediately turned back to count the money. Whatever. It wasn't like she'd ever see him again, after this. He clearly hadn't known who she was, after all.

Thank god for small miracles.

She pulled her shoulder bag out of the cab with her. She'd had everything else mailed ahead; it was probably waiting for her up in her bedroom. That was fine by her. The less conspicuous she was, the better. After all, she was supposed to be on a beach somewhere in Florida. 'The paparazzi will be disappointed when they aren't able to find me.' That thought was almost enough to bring a smile to her face.

"Oi, girl, ya gonna shut the door or are we gonna keep turning my car into an ice cream truck?" The taxi driver snapped her out of her thoughts.

"Oh... right..." Alison shut the door, and dropped her head to stare down at her shoes. The taxi drove away.

Across the cobblestone street was a modest house. Her aunt Annie and her had bought it a few years ago, after they'd officially decided to take a run at the music business. It wasn't anything compared to where they'd lived previously, but it was home, and that was enough for her. She was glad to see it again.

The car out front was another story. Shiny and black, it was perfectly centered in the light coming off the porch. She recognized it as her manager's car instantly. Ugh! What is he doing here?

Okay, so maybe he'd been one of her biggest supporters in her short career, and maybe she'd up and quit on him with barely a heads up and a by-your-leave, but she didn't want to see him right now. All he was going to do was try and convince her to come back, and she was tired of dealing with it! She wasn't going to deal with it again. Why couldn't he see that?

She stopped. She wasn't going to deal with it right now. Why should she? She knew this town well enough to be able to wait him out. It was a great plan. Fueled by righteous indignation and a single-minded determination that can only be found in a teenager avoiding someone, Alison turned away from her house and walked down the street.

Her annoyance fueled her for all of ten minutes. The night was beautiful, but the cold quickly took a toll on her. Soon that bubbling sea of energy that had fueled her initial decision was gone, leaving a frigid cold in its place. She pulled her coat around her shoulders tighter and hunched in on herself.

She pulled her personal music player out of her bag and slipped the ear buds in. (The player was custom made to her own specifications, with the highest quality sound system and speakers she could find small enough to still be portable. Of course, she'd recently scrubbed it clean of all her own music.) There was a park just up the road, by the old bookstore she used to enjoy spending time in. It'd be as good as anywhere else to try and wait out her manager.

She kept walking, the slightest of springs returning to her step.

Of course empty streets didn't always mean alone. "Hey, sweetheart!" A clearly drunken voice called as a man stepped around a corner and into her path, catching sight of the pretty young girl making her way down the street. She passed under a streetlight and his eyes widened. "Hang on, you're that singer - Dazzler!" He sounded positively elated by his discovery as he hurried forward. "Ain't you supposed to be in Florida?" Why a man of clearly forty or older would know something like that about a teenage pop idol was up for interpretation.

Oh great. Of all the things Alison didn't want to deal with right now, this was right below talking with her Manager. And only just.

And there was that name again. Dazzler. Pop idol sensation to the masses. She’d honestly hoped to never hear it again.

She gave the man the best smile she could. It wasn’t much.

“No, I’m sorry. I get that a lot, but you’re mistaking.”

"No, you are!" The man crowed, slurring as he stepped closer, crowding into her space. "What're you doing out here? You're supposed to be in Florida!" He definitely knew more about her than what he should have.

This was clearly not Alison’s night. She was cold, tired, and now being accosted by, best case scenario, an overzealous fan. Who was drunk.

She took a step back. “I’m telling you, you’ve got the wrong person. I’m not Dazzler!”

Don't be stupid, 'course you are!" He darted forward, grabbing her arm and holding on tight, refusing to get close. The smell of alcohol rolled off of him. "I don't believe it, I'm actually meeting the real Dazzler!"

Dazzler.

His hands were hot and sweaty. She jarred, and her music player fell to the ground. The screen cracked.

Dazzler. Dazzler.

Her mind blanked. Dazzler. She almost couldn’t breathe. The ground felt like it was falling away. It kept coming back to that name. Every time.

Dazzler.

“Don’t…. don’t touch… let me go…” someone protested. Her own voice sounded a million miles away.

A light flashed down the street and the man jerked away quickly, but it was just a motorcycle roaring by, its driver blissfully unaware of what was happening on the sidewalk. As soon as it was out of sight the man was turning back on her.

"Dazzler-"

“DON’T CALL ME THAT!” In that moment, in that alley, the night became day.. “I’M NOT HER. I WILL NEVER BE HER AGAIN.”

Alison sunk to her knees, clutching at her head. Wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong. She wasn’t Dazzler! She wasn’t! She was Alison Blaire! Not Dazzler never Dazzler. Dazzler was dead; never existed to begin with. Nobody could see. Nobody nobody nobody.

Above her, light filled the alleyway. Blues and purples and reds and yellows and every color you’ve ever heard of, pulsing and flashing. Somewhere deep in Alison, something had snapped in half, and in this moment she completely lost herself.

And all she could do was crouch and cower, rocking back and forth and whimpering.

Two streets over, a lone car making its way down the road screeched to a halt. "What the hell?" Topaz gasped as she took in the light show. She took a moment to assess if she could reasonably deny having seen it before hitting the gas and speeding forward. The nagging voice of responsibility in the back of her head that sounded a lot like Amanda wouldn't let her ignore it.

The crashing wave of emotions washed over her as soon as she was within range. Feardesperationangernononoanxietydespairnono--! Oh that was just wonderful. She stopped the car at the end of the street and got out, running down.

The first, more obvious thing that stood out was the man on the ground, screaming out being blinded. Topaz was more concerned about the second person present, however - the young teen curled up whimpering on the ground. The one all the emotions were pouring off of.

"Oi," she called uncertainly, taking a step closer to the girl and crouching down so they were on the same level. "Can you hear me?"

Alison jerked slightly, small balls of light flickering in. Slowly, painfully slowly, the world began to fall back into place. Her breaths came easier. Sounds stopped sounding like they were echoing down a tunnel. Her hands were shaking. At some point she’d apparently pulled out a few strands of hair.

Her whole body felt weak. Like she’d just run a marathon.

Was someone speaking? Who—? She looked up. Everything was blurry. She didn’t… what was going on?

Topaz winced as the girl flashed and glowed. Oh this was going to make things fun, wasn't it? "Hey, it's alright," she said as gently as she could manage. "I'm-"

"I can't see I'm blind help!"

Okay that wasn't going to work. "Shut up," Topaz muttered as she reached out, nudging her way easily into the man's mind. She didn't have enough patience to deal with the girl and the man - she didn't even bother trying to tweak his emotions. She just drained them. Once he was no longer panicking quiet she turned back to the girl, going into her head next.

"Just calm down, alright?" As she spoke she worked on pushing as much calm as possible onto the girl. "It's okay. You're alright."

‘You’re alright’. Somehow, it resonated. Right, okay… okay… she was okay. She closed her eyes. Why was everything so loud?!

And then like water rushing out past a breech in a dam, the rhythmic thump… thump… thump… of her own heartbeat rushed away. The night was silent.

Alison panted. ‘Alright. Alright… I’m alright...’ She was shaking all over. Why wouldn't her hands stop shaking?

Who was even here? Who was talking?

She (for Alison wasn’t so far gone to be unable to even figure that much out) was hovering nearby. Oh man. That was probably bad. Why was that bad?

And why wouldn’t her hands stop shaking?

“Y-y-yeah…” Her voice was shaking worse than her hands. “Yeah… I-I’m fine.”

Topaz stayed kept her ground, still in the girl's head as she tried to calm her down. Absolutely zero mental shields made that job a lot easier, for which she was grateful.

"There you go. See? You're okay. You're alright."

Damn it she was really bad at this. "C'mon, can you stand?" She wanted to get out of here. It was late and she was sure there wasn't anyone else in the vicinity besides the bloke on the ground, but she didn't particularly want to stay in the open. If the girl had a home, she wanted to get her there.

Alison pulled herself to her feet. “Yeah…” she glanced at her hand, which was glowing faintly in the darkness.

Oh, dammit. She clamped down on her abilities, and the glow immediately faded. She met the other girl’s eyes. Uh oh… my manager is going to kill me…

“I… I can explain?”

"Never mind it, come on." Topaz pushed herself up, tweaking something a bit in the girl's head to get her to trust her. Not all-together good and she'd probably have to answer for this at some point but right then she wanted to get out of the middle of the street - it wasn't exactly the best place to have a conversation.

"I've got a car, I'll take you home."

Alison nodded. That made sense. She was still shaking like a leaf. She’d never be able to walk home like this.

Wasn’t she avoiding home for some reason? It—

It didn’t matter. She just needed to get home. It was safe there. She’d be safe.

She glanced back at her hand, then the other girl. She blushed heavily. “Thanks” Her voice was low and hoarse.

Just get home. Just go with her. Easy enough.

"Right, come on."

Topaz led her down the street to where her car was waiting, keeping her senses out for any curious people coming to look. But somehow they'd gotten lucky- apparently everyone just slept around there. Or was just really good at minding their own business.

Either way, good for them.

"Here we are." Not that it particularly need announcing, it was the only car in the vicinity. She climbed into the driver's seat, watching the girl carefully.

Alison pulled herself into a seat in the back. She laid heavily against the seat, suddenly feeling exhausted. “Just… drive. I’ll direct you as we go…” Her voice was faint, her eyes half-lidded.

"Alright." Topaz pulled back from the street, pulling a U-turn and starting down. She drove in silence for a moment before venturing, "What's your name?"

Alison's head did a reasonable impression of surprise for someone half-dead with exhaustion. "You mean you don't—"

Someone who really didn't know? That explained the lack of threats about running to the media unless she was paid, Alison supposed.

"...Alison. My name is Alison." It felt nice to say it that way.

"Alison," Topaz repeated, eyes focused on the road. "Right. Nice to meet you, I suppose. I'm...Vimala." She'd save about five steps in the process by just using her real name. They pulled up to the end of the street. "Left or right?"

"Right, and then take the third left at the light." Alison tugged at her hair lightly, crossing her arms. Something about this wasn't right.

She had wanted to not go home... right? Wasn't there something...

She shook her head, too tired to deal with it right now. Whatever it was, it could probably wait.

Topaz nodded, turning right. She waited until she hit the life to finally say, "So...don't take this the wrong way, but you know you're a mutant, right?"

"You can't tell anyone!" Alison was up and leaning forward in a flash, wide-eyed and harried. "I can't... you can't do that to them. Please..." she dropped her head, and hair fell like a curtain to cover her eyes.

"Please," she whispered.

"I didn't plan on telling anyone," Topaz said calmly. "Relax. It's okay." Although that 'you can't do that to them' was a little weird. "Which way do I go now?"

"...right..." She shook her head, slumping back into the seat. "You... really won't tell anyone?"

Topaz turned again. "I'm not really in the business of screwin' people. Doesn't seem like you have much control over it, though."

Alison blushed heavily. "My control is just fine!" she snapped. "Just turn on the radio, I'll show you control."

"Pass, thanks," Topaz said easily, not put off by her attitude. "I wasn't havin' a go at you, take it easy. Don't particularly fancy a light show while I'm drivin'."

And just as fast as it came, her indignation was gone. Alison slumped back against the seat. "Right, sorry. I just..." the blush was back and very red. "I don't ever really lose control like that. I just... nevermind."

She glanced out the window. They were almost home.

"It happens." Topaz's voice was conversational - they might as well have been talking about the weather. "You don't have proper training, things go to hell without you even realizin' it until you're balled up cryin' and everythin' is out of control. We almost there?"

Alison was glad for the change of topic. "Yeah... just let me out right up here." She gestured towards the street corner. Her house was just around the corner; she could see it over the single-story buildings.

Topaz pulled up to the corner. "Hang on, before you go..." Her bag was sitting on the passenger's seat. She grabbed it and dug out a pen and a spare piece of paper, scribbling down the mansion address quickly. "No offense, but I think you need help. Help with your powers, I mean." She turned to hand the piece of paper to Alison. "That's a place that can help you. If you decide you want it."

Alison took it and stuck it in a pocket. She didn't need to use her abilities anymore. She was done with music, and done with performing. There was no way she'd...

...actually, why not? It wasn't like she had music going for her anymore, but it didn't mean she had to stop using her light shows. They were something she was born with, right? So they were indelibly 'her', more than anything else could have been. They were as real as any part of the 'real her' could be. If she was going to find her real self...

...maybe this was a good place to start after all. She smiled. "Thanks... I appreciate it."

Topaz gave a small nod, turning her eyes back to the road. So much for a nice quiet drive. Now she just wanted to go home and have a bloody drink.

"Good luck with everythin'. See you around, maybe."

"Yeah," Alison nodded slightly. "Maybe." She stepped out of the car and back into the night. Somehow it didn't seem quite so cold.

Topaz watched her go for a moment before pulling out her makeshift parking spot, heading off and making a note to send a few emails before she collapsed.

Alison watched her go silently, then pulled the note out of her pocket. Huh. That was actually nearby.

She'd have to remember to keep her things packed.

She hadn't been gone long enough for her manager to leave, she noted. She shoved the paper back in her pocket, more carefully this time, and set off for the front door.

After the night she'd had, her bed was sounding really nice right about now. She could deal with her manager in the morning. And after that, who knew?