[ the man whose mind she is digging through stops struggling against her grip, as still as if she has petrified him. her eyes flash, copper shimmering through the blue until it overtakes it entirely, so bright it is nearly pink. the man's eyes meanwhile glaze over with the patina of aged copper, rust and green covering his eyes like milky cataracts. ]
Fuck.
[ her eyes blink back to blue as she fishes her phone from her pocket, swiping to her favorites to ring alyssa. ]
Hello, petal. What did you want to know from this guy? I got in his head and completely forgot.
( the loud obnoxious electronic music suddenly muffles considerably at the sound of a door thunking shut. alyssa, quiet but firm, suggests whoever is in her space leave and do so quickly. )
Oh, I'm not so picky about this one.
( as if she's ordering food, while she waits for prying ears to skedaddle. )
I need something useful, like a foundational event that sprouted some deep fear, or shameful desire.
Oh, perfect. This guy is definitely into some weird kinky shit.
[ the man's glazed eyes turn to her and her voice drops. ] Don't be shy now, dear.
[ her teachers always told her not to play with her food, but she likes to be nice and comforting to the people whose minds she traipses about in. a soothing presence so she doesn't become a deep fear, instead the fleeting sense of déjà vu when they pass a ginger woman on the street or hear the jangle of bangle bracelets or smell her perfume on the breeze.
( if chloe takes pleasure in her work, all the better! alyssa chuckles, a little derisive. )
No, no, of course not. I'm at a housewarming party showing a client a nice time, if you can say such a thing about a tacky palazzo that used to belong to a corrupt marquis' spoiled son being purchased by a different spoiled child of a different country's nobility?
Well you've narrowed it down to all my parents godchildren.
[ chloe isn't rich because she dipped from her family when she was eighteen and hasn't spoken to her parents since then but she was raised wealthy and her childhood friends often had titles. useless, defunct titles to monarchies and dynasties that haven't been relevant since the first world war. her own family name clung to the clout of a clan that hasn't held real power since the 1700s.
[ get away from all that nonsense. tragically, boarding school is pretty much a calling card of that set so she was still living up to her parents expectations.
but she went to a school sans the majority of her parents upper class family friends so she escaped to a point. ]
[ she doesn't seem bothered though, a little hum of a shrug. she sits the man down in front of her, rolling her neck. he's going to be an easy nut to crack, but it's going to be weird in there. ]
You want me to meet you back at the office or do you want to reconvene tomorrow?
[ spoilers, she will be sleeping on the office couch no matter what. ]
[ she texts alyssa, rolling her eyes, that she'll take whatever keeps best because she can't stomach much afterwards. which she could have said, before alyssa hung up!
she carefully strolls through the man's memories, turning the page from one to the next with a brush of his fingers. the human mind is a wild place and things that should make sense absolutely do not make sense. dreaming of teeth falling out is considered normal, common, but it's fucking weird and chloe won't hear otherwise. but some things do make sense, the nostalgia most people feel for their childhoods — being safe, being cared for, having freedom to express themselves, before their lives are fraught with obligations. even if chloe doesn't personally relate to it, she understands the impulse to feel drawn to it.
this guy is into being an adult baby and it makes sense to chloe inside his mind: he's big and broad and built like a brick shithouse, people expect him to be dominant, to take control, but he wants to be looked after, to be nurtured, to give him a break from societal expectation to be A Man. the shame paints across his mind because he thinks he shouldn't want that. chloe can't convince him otherwise, but she can wash away some of the shame that colors the memories, turning them softer, warmer, more welcoming so he'll look back at being cradled in someone's arms with a little peace instead of the deep, deep shame. it's not the job, but what alyssa doesn't know won't hurt her.
she flicks past further to find the thread, if there even is one, and carefully retracts her mind from his before she adjusts his memories of their encounter. she smudges a bit of her lipstick on his jaw, fills him with a memory of laughing and flirting at a bar before she has to run off and he goes off to another bar, ready and willing to meet someone new. she shoos him off with the suggestion so he can wake up with a hang over tomorrow.
her teleport is slightly off, far enough that she has to take the train to the office and let herself in, collapsing on the couch before she texts alyssa. her eyes are blurry so it's... well some words are solid. ]
I
m here.and I lpdy.,u shoe
[ her shoes are on the floor in front of the couch. ]
Edited (god why does it do that) 2024-08-03 18:06 (UTC)
( she had meant to meet up at about the same time but it seems chloe defines done differently than alyssa does. so there's a bit of a delay before alyssa finds herself at the office, surveying the situation as her handbag hangs off of her forearm, and a glass container of a veggie meal balances delicately in hand.
her impractical heels come off at the door as she shuts it gently enough to hopefully not disturb chloe. before padding through the office to deposit the food and her bag, alyssa takes a moment to stretch her feet and calves out.
she perches on the edge of the coffee table and takes a breath as a blanket of rejuvenating energy slowly ebbs out from within her. she spots the shoes, and can't help but chuckle quietly. )
[ awareness doesn't catch her until alyssa's magic settles into her and she exhales a sigh. dreamwalkers are supposed to be dangerous, and she is, but the weakness afterwards is what kaulder fears will be exploited in chloe when he's not around. a weakness she only has because she spent so long denying her abilities after what happened with her brother.
her eyelashes flutter but stay closed a few moments longer. ]
( alyssa initially shakes her head, before realizing chloe is still resting her eyes. her voice stays quiet. )
Some cousin of some cadet branch of Saudi royalty, I think. I didn't bother getting close enough get the measure of him. A man who pays mermaid performers to simply decorate the foyer need not be a prince of the blood. His money still spends.
( she hums, realizing chloe does deserve some praise: )
And very much a prat. Should I be letting you sleep?
Mustafa, [ she repeats, nods even though she isn't sure if that is one of her parents' friend's kids. ] Yeah.
[ she realizes that could be heard as an answer to alyssa's question and shakes her head. ]
No. Nope. [ her eyes open, pushing herself up to sitting with a hum and a soft groan. her eyes are still shimmering with the coppery-gold of her dreamwalking, shaking it off too slowly. ] I don't need to sleep. Whatever you did, did the trick. Hello, beautiful.
yeah fine the woman knows what she's about. alyssa nods, looking satisfied with the compliment. it's pretty embarrassing, she might as well fucking blush like her idiot brother's girl. )
Hello yourself.
( she sits up, because maybe that will help her not behave like a fool in the face of...the force of chloe. )
[ chloe can see alyssa through the haze of dreamwalking, warm and aglow in the coppery-golden light, but it is more her perception of alyssa than how she truly looks. she blinks, trying to will herself out of the dreamworld.
it takes a rough shake of her head before her eyes return to cool blue, blinking now against the office lights. ]
Good. He's desperate to be looked after. He's into being an adult baby. Well, I say he's into it but he's actually deeply fucking ashamed and terrified his friends and family and coworkers will find out, but it's the only time he feels like he matters.
[ she cracks her neck, rolls her shoulders. ]
Y'basic toxic masculinity upbringing. It wasn't hard to find.
Good job you're paid for the finding and not the effort.
( how are her blue eyes as pretty as the gold ones what who said that alyssa's all business actually!!!! )
This is very good.
( she's not distracted at all. she frowns a little at chloe's stretching, and allows another ripple of that restorative energy to emanate gently out again, waves lapping at a sandy shore. )
We should find you a red nose before you make such jokes.
( ugh, that burn sounds so much better in chinese. sigh.
alyssa then steps up onto the sofa next to chloe before scooching her dress up her thighs so she can swing a leg over and perch on the back of the couch, knees on either side of chloe.
her hands rest on chloe's shoulders for just a moment, and then she tugs at her jacket. )
[ not her emotional support leather jacket... she draws her arms out reluctantly, trying her fucking damnedest not to feel up alyssa's legs or stare at the miles of long legs in her periphery. alyssa wong you son of a bitch. ]
I supposed you did buy me dinner first.
[ just because chloe hasn't eaten yet doesn't mean alyssa didn't gather the pre-reqs.
she's got a tacky band tee under her jacket and simply too many necklaces and amulets and talismans. the style suits her for sure, but god there is a lot going on. ]
I'm not investigating shit now, am I? Just a regular girl.
[ a regular girl that makes an obscene groan of relief, only half bitten off, when alyssa gets a knot to release under her hands. without thinking, one chloe's hands curls up to grip the outside of alyssa's thigh.
( a quiet exhale escapes her, and for just a moment her hands falter as chloe's grip slides over her skin. she tries to cover it by gently sweeping chloe's hair out of the way, letting it drop over her chest. )
Just a regular girl getting a professional grade massage because my sofa has caused your back such offense.
( yeah that's why. alyssa's notoriously cheap taste is the cause for this. )
No past lives here, only natural talent and a pliant subject. Are you always this tense after a...what do you call what you do, anyway?
[ she fights against squirming, swallowing another groan. ]
I am this tense— ah, oh. Always.
[ what follows comes out in a very highlands brogue, she could be a wee ginger cow, but the voice comes directly into alyssa's mind. perhaps the indignity of her accent is better than making anymore fucking noises. ]
Getting in people's heads comes naturally to me. It's not a learnt skill the way it is with other wizards.
( after jumping a little at the surprise, alyssa tests the sound of it out, and is glad chloe can't see the way her nose wrinkles when she says wizard. alyssa is a wizard for most of the world that cares for such things. (not that many of them do anymore, or just a little looking would reveal the truth of alyssa's magical """education""")
her hands find a particularly stubborn hunk of fascia tissue, so she eases up a little to work at the edges and find its little satellites to bust up first. her tone is wry but not unamused: )
It's certainly no less alarming than when a wizard does it.
[ chloe hates it herself, but her mind is particularly hard to get into so it doesn't often happen to her without her express permission. ]
Luckily when you're around me it makes it harder for other people to get into your head. Dreamwalkers used to be bodyguards and assassins before that became... gauche. It's a natural... gift [ oh the derision. ] but there's no one to train it anymore.
( alyssa hums in interest, little daydreams of hiring chloe as a bodyguard spinning out into other daydreams she's going to set aside for later. silly thoughts best wrangled and kept at bay considering... )
If there's no one to train, you gotta stumble your own way through.
( it sounds like she's speaking from experience—less a statement of fact and more a bid for chloe to confirm or dispel alyssa's assumptions. )
( an uncharacteristically high giggle finds it way out of alyssa's mouth. her hands pause for a moment, as she's taken with the idea of chloe sitting still in a classroom for any amount of time. )
I'm left handed too so it was shit, all cramped. Sat next to the tallest boy on earth with the wing span of Gheorghe Muresan. Absolute menace with those elbows.
[ he would have made an excellent masseuse though, those dreaded elbows would serve him well. ]
( large and a prat? not unheard of. mostly alyssa has no idea who muresan is, but why should she need to when chloe's descriptions are so contextual and colorful?
her hands go back to work, up to where she can get at the slope of neck into shoulder. )
( an exhale of a laugh escapes alyssa at that one, and if anyone were around to witness they might accuse her of a genuine smile. but they aren't so they can't and if they could and did she would put a hit out on them. )
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
[ the man whose mind she is digging through stops struggling against her grip, as still as if she has petrified him. her eyes flash, copper shimmering through the blue until it overtakes it entirely, so bright it is nearly pink. the man's eyes meanwhile glaze over with the patina of aged copper, rust and green covering his eyes like milky cataracts. ]
Fuck.
[ her eyes blink back to blue as she fishes her phone from her pocket, swiping to her favorites to ring alyssa. ]
Hello, petal. What did you want to know from this guy? I got in his head and completely forgot.
no subject
Oh, I'm not so picky about this one.
( as if she's ordering food, while she waits for prying ears to skedaddle. )
I need something useful, like a foundational event that sprouted some deep fear, or shameful desire.
no subject
[ the man's glazed eyes turn to her and her voice drops. ] Don't be shy now, dear.
[ her teachers always told her not to play with her food, but she likes to be nice and comforting to the people whose minds she traipses about in. a soothing presence so she doesn't become a deep fear, instead the fleeting sense of déjà vu when they pass a ginger woman on the street or hear the jangle of bangle bracelets or smell her perfume on the breeze.
after her brother, chloe is careful. ]
Are you at a club?
no subject
( if chloe takes pleasure in her work, all the better! alyssa chuckles, a little derisive. )
No, no, of course not. I'm at a housewarming party showing a client a nice time, if you can say such a thing about a tacky palazzo that used to belong to a corrupt marquis' spoiled son being purchased by a different spoiled child of a different country's nobility?
no subject
[ chloe isn't rich because she dipped from her family when she was eighteen and hasn't spoken to her parents since then but she was raised wealthy and her childhood friends often had titles. useless, defunct titles to monarchies and dynasties that haven't been relevant since the first world war. her own family name clung to the clout of a clan that hasn't held real power since the 1700s.
genuine horseshit. ]
no subject
No love lost there, hmm?
no subject
[ get away from all that nonsense. tragically, boarding school is pretty much a calling card of that set so she was still living up to her parents expectations.
but she went to a school sans the majority of her parents upper class family friends so she escaped to a point. ]
no subject
( except the testing was rigorous and found alyssa sorely lacking. still, her parents aren't inundated with rich brat godchildren. )
You seem to have made the most of it.
no subject
[ she doesn't seem bothered though, a little hum of a shrug. she sits the man down in front of her, rolling her neck. he's going to be an easy nut to crack, but it's going to be weird in there. ]
You want me to meet you back at the office or do you want to reconvene tomorrow?
[ spoilers, she will be sleeping on the office couch no matter what. ]
no subject
( she moves to hang up, but then: )
And text me if you like duck, pork, or veggie.
( okay THEN she hangs up without waiting for a response. )
no subject
she carefully strolls through the man's memories, turning the page from one to the next with a brush of his fingers. the human mind is a wild place and things that should make sense absolutely do not make sense. dreaming of teeth falling out is considered normal, common, but it's fucking weird and chloe won't hear otherwise. but some things do make sense, the nostalgia most people feel for their childhoods — being safe, being cared for, having freedom to express themselves, before their lives are fraught with obligations. even if chloe doesn't personally relate to it, she understands the impulse to feel drawn to it.
this guy is into being an adult baby and it makes sense to chloe inside his mind: he's big and broad and built like a brick shithouse, people expect him to be dominant, to take control, but he wants to be looked after, to be nurtured, to give him a break from societal expectation to be A Man. the shame paints across his mind because he thinks he shouldn't want that. chloe can't convince him otherwise, but she can wash away some of the shame that colors the memories, turning them softer, warmer, more welcoming so he'll look back at being cradled in someone's arms with a little peace instead of the deep, deep shame. it's not the job, but what alyssa doesn't know won't hurt her.
she flicks past further to find the thread, if there even is one, and carefully retracts her mind from his before she adjusts his memories of their encounter. she smudges a bit of her lipstick on his jaw, fills him with a memory of laughing and flirting at a bar before she has to run off and he goes off to another bar, ready and willing to meet someone new. she shoos him off with the suggestion so he can wake up with a hang over tomorrow.
her teleport is slightly off, far enough that she has to take the train to the office and let herself in, collapsing on the couch before she texts alyssa. her eyes are blurry so it's... well some words are solid. ]
I
m here.and I lpdy.,u shoe
[ her shoes are on the floor in front of the couch. ]
no subject
her impractical heels come off at the door as she shuts it gently enough to hopefully not disturb chloe. before padding through the office to deposit the food and her bag, alyssa takes a moment to stretch her feet and calves out.
she perches on the edge of the coffee table and takes a breath as a blanket of rejuvenating energy slowly ebbs out from within her. she spots the shoes, and can't help but chuckle quietly. )
Well, that's one mystery solved.
no subject
her eyelashes flutter but stay closed a few moments longer. ]
Was the housewarming for a prat call Konstantin?
no subject
( alyssa initially shakes her head, before realizing chloe is still resting her eyes. her voice stays quiet. )
Some cousin of some cadet branch of Saudi royalty, I think. I didn't bother getting close enough get the measure of him. A man who pays mermaid performers to simply decorate the foyer need not be a prince of the blood. His money still spends.
( she hums, realizing chloe does deserve some praise: )
And very much a prat. Should I be letting you sleep?
no subject
[ she realizes that could be heard as an answer to alyssa's question and shakes her head. ]
No. Nope. [ her eyes open, pushing herself up to sitting with a hum and a soft groan. her eyes are still shimmering with the coppery-gold of her dreamwalking, shaking it off too slowly. ] I don't need to sleep. Whatever you did, did the trick. Hello, beautiful.
no subject
yeah fine the woman knows what she's about. alyssa nods, looking satisfied with the compliment. it's pretty embarrassing, she might as well fucking blush like her idiot brother's girl. )
Hello yourself.
( she sits up, because maybe that will help her not behave like a fool in the face of...the force of chloe. )
How'd it go?
no subject
it takes a rough shake of her head before her eyes return to cool blue, blinking now against the office lights. ]
Good. He's desperate to be looked after. He's into being an adult baby. Well, I say he's into it but he's actually deeply fucking ashamed and terrified his friends and family and coworkers will find out, but it's the only time he feels like he matters.
[ she cracks her neck, rolls her shoulders. ]
Y'basic toxic masculinity upbringing. It wasn't hard to find.
no subject
( how are her blue eyes as pretty as the gold ones what who said that alyssa's all business actually!!!! )
This is very good.
( she's not distracted at all. she frowns a little at chloe's stretching, and allows another ripple of that restorative energy to emanate gently out again, waves lapping at a sandy shore. )
Just what I'd hoped for.
no subject
[ her accent jumps out there before she clears her throat like being scottish is a frog in there she can just shove back down. ]
Just that your couch isn't all that comfortable.
[ bullshit. this couch is heavenly. ]
no subject
We should find you a red nose before you make such jokes.
( ugh, that burn sounds so much better in chinese. sigh.
alyssa then steps up onto the sofa next to chloe before scooching her dress up her thighs so she can swing a leg over and perch on the back of the couch, knees on either side of chloe.
her hands rest on chloe's shoulders for just a moment, and then she tugs at her jacket. )
Off.
no subject
I supposed you did buy me dinner first.
[ just because chloe hasn't eaten yet doesn't mean alyssa didn't gather the pre-reqs.
she's got a tacky band tee under her jacket and simply too many necklaces and amulets and talismans. the style suits her for sure, but god there is a lot going on. ]
no subject
The jester has yet more to say.
( her hands go to work quickly, warm and firm in search of the knots in chloe's shoulders, mindful not to yank on homegirl's bling unless asked :) )
If you still think that garlic eggplant was purchased after you taste it, I will lose all my faith in my best investigator.
no subject
[ a regular girl that makes an obscene groan of relief, only half bitten off, when alyssa gets a knot to release under her hands. without thinking, one chloe's hands curls up to grip the outside of alyssa's thigh.
so much for not touching.
her other hand is gripping the couch. ]
Were you a Swedish masseuse in a past life?
no subject
Just a regular girl getting a professional grade massage because my sofa has caused your back such offense.
( yeah that's why. alyssa's notoriously cheap taste is the cause for this. )
No past lives here, only natural talent and a pliant subject. Are you always this tense after a...what do you call what you do, anyway?
no subject
[ she fights against squirming, swallowing another groan. ]
I am this tense— ah, oh. Always.
[ what follows comes out in a very highlands brogue, she could be a wee ginger cow, but the voice comes directly into alyssa's mind. perhaps the indignity of her accent is better than making anymore fucking noises. ]
Getting in people's heads comes naturally to me. It's not a learnt skill the way it is with other wizards.
no subject
( after jumping a little at the surprise, alyssa tests the sound of it out, and is glad chloe can't see the way her nose wrinkles when she says wizard. alyssa is a wizard for most of the world that cares for such things. (not that many of them do anymore, or just a little looking would reveal the truth of alyssa's magical """education""")
her hands find a particularly stubborn hunk of fascia tissue, so she eases up a little to work at the edges and find its little satellites to bust up first. her tone is wry but not unamused: )
It's certainly no less alarming than when a wizard does it.
no subject
[ chloe hates it herself, but her mind is particularly hard to get into so it doesn't often happen to her without her express permission. ]
Luckily when you're around me it makes it harder for other people to get into your head. Dreamwalkers used to be bodyguards and assassins before that became... gauche. It's a natural... gift [ oh the derision. ] but there's no one to train it anymore.
no subject
If there's no one to train, you gotta stumble your own way through.
( it sounds like she's speaking from experience—less a statement of fact and more a bid for chloe to confirm or dispel alyssa's assumptions. )
no subject
[ chloe keeps it just as tight lipped usually, but alyssa knows already.
even kaulder found her by accident. ]
At school it was just the blind leading the blind.
no subject
Picturing you at a little desk...
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[ he would have made an excellent masseuse though, those dreaded elbows would serve him well. ]
no subject
( large and a prat? not unheard of. mostly alyssa has no idea who muresan is, but why should she need to when chloe's descriptions are so contextual and colorful?
her hands go back to work, up to where she can get at the slope of neck into shoulder. )
no subject
[ you punch a kid one time because he said something about your best friend and suddenly you're a terrifying nightmare girl. ]
But he's got money so he doesn't need silly things like a courage or a decent personality.
no subject
A silly boy indeed.