xp_logs | Gen X - Roadside Assistance (backdated)

Maya doesn't handle being at an accident scene well, and Darcy tries to distract her from what's going on outside the bus.

People were rushing, she could tell that much but it all seemed really far away, like a slow motion shot that sped forward every few moments only to slow again. She could feel herself tensing, and her head pulsed in time with her breathing, as if something was happening but she couldn't think as to what it was.

All in all, she stayed motionless, upright and frozen as she looked out the window at the wreck beyond. People were in that wreck, people who needed help but for all the good the thoughts did her they might as well have been on the moon.

It wasn't until someone jostled her shoulder that she realized the noise in her ears had been her own screaming.

Darcy didn't quite realize the screams were coming from Maya at first, but once she did she swiftly moved to a seat across from the younger girl and reached out, gently shaking her shoulder. "Maya? You're safe, you're in the bus." Darcy repeated it a few times, slowly signing "S-A-F-E" and "B-U-S" with the hand that wasn't on Maya's shoulder, regretting that she didn't know much more than the basic alphabet and some swears in ASL.

Unfortunately for both of them, Maya's fear and panic meant that touching her merely set off her mutant ability. It felt almost like the slow motion replays that Maya sometimes watched on TV as she took hold of Darcy's hand and pushed her back, reaching for her throat with the other.

In reality the speed of her attack on the older woman was instant, her eyes stricken even as she couldn't control her instincts.

'Right, this is why it's a terrible idea to touch someone having what looks like a panic attack, self,' Darcy thought to herself as the younger girl's hand wrapped around her neck. 'In for a penny,' her mental train continued as she rested the hand that had been signing on Maya's arm.

She was rewarded with a tightening of the hand that held her throat before Maya pulled back with a gasp, releasing her at once.

"Don't," Maya said, pushing herself as far away from Darcy as she could get. "Don't help,"

"Don't want anyone to think we're murdering you in here," Darcy replied with a feeble grin as she sat back, absently rubbing at her neck.

"Sorry," Maya muttered, closing her eyes reflectively so she wouldn't have to look outside the bus. "I don't like accidents."

"Nothing to apologize for, accidents are pretty terrifying. Especially the multi-vehicle ones. Is there anything I can do to help you out? Distractions, bad jokes, music?" Darcy's ipod was in her pocket and would be easy to share, but she had a few other things that might work too.

"I'm deaf," Maya explained - while the cochlear implants let her hear to differing degrees, music was still something mostly for other people. "Maybe just, I don't know...Tell me about you? Why'd you end up here?"

She winced as something banged the side of the bus and she pulled her legs up against her chest, curling her arms tightly around them.

"Just - talk, I don't care what about."

Darcy hummed in thought as she sifted through stories she could tell. "Right, well. I grew up on a farm with my Aunt, Uncle, and two cousins. We've got some semi-wild cats in the barn... they catch any mice and sometimes snakes, so we make sure they've got food and water and a place to escape the elements enough to survive the winters. Have you heard the expression herding cats? Well, one of our barn cats had a litter of kittens when I was oh, nine or so, and a few months later when I was in the barn to feed them I ended up with this tiny line of kittens following me like ducklings. My aunt happened to follow me out there, and she got a few pictures of it--tiny me with six tiny kittens following me all over the barn, and she must have shared that story everywhere we went for the next few weeks."

Why did they stop? Didn't they understand that she couldn't be here for this? She was so close to just leaving...

"Were you happy on the farm? Why'd you leave?" Maya demanded through teeth just this side of clenched and knuckles white against her knees.

She could feel her muscles relaxing though, unraveling as she talked and stopped imagining the people outside as herself or her Dad.

"Please."

"Yeah, we were in a rural area, but not terribly far from a large city, so we got the best of both worlds, really. It's pretty peaceful out there. I left for college--I don't mind tending to my chores on the farm, but it wasn't what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. Then after college I had work, and then I got outed as a mutant. I could probably go back eventually, but I'd rather not put my family at that sort of risk." Darcy kept an eye on Maya as she talked, hoping to see some visible relaxation.

Unfortunately for them both the noises from outside the bus did not lend themselves to calm contemplation or, in the case of one traumatized teenager, an escape.Still, Maya tried her best - unclenching her hands and placing them flat on her knees - not taking her eyes from Darcy.

"What did you study in college?"

Darcy quirked a smile as she saw Maya's hands unclench. "I didn't declare immediately, actually. I spent my first year taking interesting classes and fulfilling scholarship reqs, and eventually settled on a political science and communications double major. That's actually how I met Clint--I got my science credits interning for someone he ended up working with. Granted, scientists are like giant toddlers sometimes," she finished with a grin.

"Clint's an asshole," Maya opinioned with a low growl, hands clenching again slightly before she visible took another breath. "Sorry, I get that he's got friends - he's still an asshole."

"Everyone's an asshole at some point. Not all personalities mesh well." Darcy shrugged as she said it. She looked past Maya's shoulder out the window. "Looks like it's calming down some, maybe we can get out of here shortly."