Log [Alison, Anika] - Another perspective on emotions...

[x-dazzler.livejournal.com]

Tuesday afternoon. Set a few hours after the training session with Manuel in the morning.  Alison meets Anika, Nathan's friend, who has come to mansion to help with Kyle and Mick.

And who did what to you? You've got that 'I just got hit by a truck, please kill me now' scent.

Xavier had told her to make herself at home while she was here, Anika reasoned, so he wouldn't mind her wandering around a little hunting down a particular scent. She was just curious, that was all, after talking to Mick and Nathan. Wanted to get a better look at this Alison person who'd gotten herself all mixed up in Mistra business.

Following the scent down the hall, she lingered in the open doorway of what appeared to be a music classroom, raising one delicately arched eyebrow at the sight of the blonde woman sorting through sheet music.

"I know you," she said aloud, intrigued. "You're Alison Blaire."

"I'm Alison Blaire, yes." The response was calm, Alison taking the time to finish looking for the particular number she wanted before looking up. "You don't exactly know me, though." She wondered why she was being picky about that now, of all times. "You'd be Anika, right?" She set the papers aside, rising to her feet to greet the woman properly.

"Ani, if you like," Anika said, trying not to sniff too noticeably as Alison drew nearer, hand outstretched. Yeah, that was the scent. She shook the other woman's hand, then shoved both her hands into her pockets, her dark eyes very wide and intent. If she had actually possessed a tail to go along with the feline mutation, it would have been lashing. "Am I interrupting?" she asked abruptly. "If I'm interrupting I can go away."

Alison just blinked at her for a moment, the only reaction she could manage. Huh. That was interesting. "I've had something of a crappy week." That was a bit more blunt that she'd meant to be, but she was still feeling drained from the training session with Manuel. The happiness that had taken everything away for a moment wasn't anywhere present, now. Alison nearly told Anika why she might seem off kilter, then bit down on the comment at the last second. Former Mistra agent. Empath. Bad mix. "I don't mind at all. Nathan spoke highly of you."

"Oh, he does?" Anika laughed, rolling her eyes. "Big marshmallow. Him, not you. I think he looks at me and sees the sixteen year-old brat he managed to convince not to get herself killed just before the bastards sent him off to China and everything proceeded to go to hell." Alison was giving her a rather odd look, and Anika gave her a very bright smile. "I was a problem child," she said cheerfully. "Made it through the conditioning, but somehow managed to stay a little too independent-minded. The feline mutation, was the general consensus. I was the subject of a termination order six times during the first year I was in active service. Nate saved my ass repeatedly."

"He'd do that, conditioning or no conditioning, yeah." Alison nodded, taking a few steps back to lean against the desk because standing up was just a bit of a chore right now. She gestured idly at one of the many chairs in the room, should Anika feel like sitting down. Actually, maybe sitting down as well would be good, even if the floor was the nearest safe spot to choose. Somehow, she suspected someone with a feline mutation wouldn't mind that over much, and she patted the ground next to her. "Have a seat."

Anika immediately sat down beside her, dropping to the ground with a boneless sort of grace that was very much feline. Her eyes flickered around the room, taking in every possible detail. "This is really quite the place. All of these kids. They're very loud, though. I don't know how you all stand it, but I supposed most of you probably don't hear like I do. And the scents! Sex and frustration and half a dozen different types of anger." She peered at Alison, her nose twitching. "And who did what to you? You've got that 'I just got hit by a truck, please kill me now' scent."

The chatter was oddly comforting actually, even though it left Alison feeling a bit dizzy - not the usual state of affairs, that. "Actually, that'd probably be my week in general." Yesterday was too much to even think about. "Though I had a training session with a student not long ago and he's got a power that does tend to tire you out that way." She leaned on the desk, sighing a bit in relief. That felt good, the not moving or pretending to need more music sheets. "You can smell emotions? What do they compare to in general?"

Anika tilted her head back and forth, an odd, yet almost fluid gesture. "Sometimes almost a musk. Sometimes like fruit, or flowers. Sex smells like peaches and violets." Her dark eyes were suddenly absolutely vacant, as if she had turned all of her focus somewhere else, although she kept speaking. "Exhaustion smells bitter. Metallic. You smell like that, but there's cinnamon there, too. You haven't quite lost your grip yet. Cinnamon is usually stubbornness."

That was good to hear. She smiled a bit, giving Anika a wry look. "Well, I've never lacked for stubbornness, that's a fact." It was odd to be talking about emotions again, so soon after the session with Manuel. And she figured Anika would simply tell her if any of the questions annoyed her. "Tell me when to stop. It's easy to just ask questions like this." Still in training mode, definitely. "What's your favorite scent?" Now, that had not been quite what she'd been planning to ask. Hrm.

"Banana bread," Anika said almost eagerly, then blinked, her eyes going impossibly wide. "Oh! You mean emotional scent. Uhh... well, safety is kind of like banana bread." She looked suddenly, overwhelmingly wistful. "Nate used to smell like banana bread. He still does, sort of, but there's something else there, since the last time I saw him. Snow. Something like snow. And banana bread and snow is a really funny mixture. I told him that and he just gave me that 'Ani, what are you on about now?' look."

Snow. Huh. That reminded her of little boy Nathan in the snow as a child, though that was probably too literal - oh. "The Askani. Snow means old, maybe?" It made sense, of a sort, even though she knew Askani herself tended to manifest with the firebird a lot.

"That'd be my guess. These things in his head. Which is rather creepy, all things considered - you're sure he hasn't just cracked? We do that a lot, you know. Schizophrenia, all the dissociative disorders." Anika beamed suddenly at Alison. "I get catatonic sometimes - get it? Cat-atonic?"

That drew a faint laugh from Alison, and she grinned amiably at the pun. "I like puns," she murmured, knowing she wasn't reacting as much as she normally would. But Anika was soothing and that was good. "And if he's cracked it's not the Askani," she tacked on, rolling her eyes a bit. "It's all the brain spraining, is what it is."

"Brain-spraining!" Anika looked annoyed and worried and bemused at the same time, which took quite some doing. "He told me. So did Dom and GW. It's them, you know," she went on, her voice almost savage suddenly, her voice lowering to a hiss. "Didn't teach us properly, pushed us too hard, expected us to drop dead in the harness..."

"I know." Alison stared blankly ahead for a moment, withdrawing within as she tried to concentrate. "Anika?" She turned to look at the woman, shifting her body also in the process. "What does Mick smell like, right now?" She knew Anika had seen him since her arrival.

"Like ashes. That metallic smell, and ashes..." Anika's momentary flash of anger had apparently faded. "But a little bit like cinnamon, too."

It was the first real emotion to ring through her in the past few hours. "Oh good." Alison's voice strangled over the words and she hugged herself tight, tears forming in her eyes from the sheer relief breaking through the numbness. She had done something right, of late. "Thank you."

Anika tilted her head at her, then smiled almost warmly. "Now you're starting to smell like strawberries. That's better. You ought to go find the one whose smell is on you and get him to help cheer you up. And that's a funny smell, by the way--diesel oil and sandalwood?"

A tendril of mingled happiness and fondness joined the relief - not fully taking form yet but there nonetheless, slowly settling in among the distant tiredness that had been the only thing present but moments before. "I might do that," Alison said, offering Anika a small smile in return, far more genuine than any of the earlier ones.

"Think about it," Anika said firmly, then bounced back up to her feet in one smooth motion. "I'm going to go sleep on Mick for a bit," she announced loftily. "I tried it this morning and he went to sleep and didn't dream. I would have asked Nathan, too, but I figured that might be a little awkward to explain to Moira. I mean, it's not like I'm in heat at the moment or anything, and when I'm not, I'm generally not interested in guys anyway, but... you know. Non-ferals don't really get it."

"I think Moira will be happy to sleep on Nathan herself," Alison winked, chuckling lowly. Amusement, that was definitely amusement, the still analyzing everything corner of her mind informed her. "And no dreaming for Mick is a very good idea. You should do that."

"I'd offer Kyle the same thing, but the poor kid's having difficulty not lusting after me and he's not explored his mutation enough yet to know the difference between littermates and lovers," Anika said quite candidly. "So I'm being careful to keep it very platonic."

"He's what, fourteen?" Alison pushed herself up slowly, shaking her head. "Boys that age lust after everything. Or almost." Hugging herself she took one look at the papers on her desk and shook her head. Later. Much later. "Walk you part of the way. Not sure where my sandalwood and diesel oil pick-me-up is just now, so I'll have to look around for him."