Office Hours, Tuesday

[on_her_korhal]

Kerrigan was in her office mostly for show purposes. She was trying to put a direct line in with River. While she was fairly sure that Zeratul's detour to Fandom and his exit across the Causeway had bought them some time, and hopefully thrown the Protoss off course, his interest in what was going on on Ulaan was... troubling.

She needed a foothold. In fact, she might need to go and take another look herself...

From the outside, through the open door, she looked like she was zoning out with the radio on, blaring some old 70s rock tunes. Reality was a more complex matter.

[[ open! ]]

Comments

[icecoldfrost]

Emma's knock was both physical and mental. "Busy?" she asked, aware that Kerrigan was busy on a mental level. "I can come back later."

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

Within seconds, Kerrigan's mind snapped back to Earth, and within her human shell. Her eyes flicked up from the ceiling to Emma, a flicker of inhumanity in the movement's speed, or lack thereof.

"I'm utterly unoccupied," she said. "Come in."

[icecoldfrost]

Emma stepped in and closed the door, leaning back against it.

"Have you ever come across someone you couldn't read?" she asked, getting right to what was bothering her. "Not like the people here, where I sometimes get static or strong shields I can't breach, but you're looking right at them and when you reach out, there's nothing?"

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"I used to, back when I had more machinery rattling around my brain keeping my telepathy at bay," she said, tilting her head at Emma. Thinking about it. "Otherwise... I know of a man who really played me by hiding his own nothingness under a blanket of human thoughts, but nothing quite like that."

[icecoldfrost]

Emma made a face. "I ran across someone this weekend that was a total blank-spot to me," she explained, deliberately vaguely. "She was rather annoying, so I went to give her a mental shove...and there was just blank space. Not a void, I would have noticed a void sooner, just -- an odd sort of nothing."

And Emma didn't like things she couldn't explain.

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"There's tech in my world that shuts down psionic abilities within a small area," Kerrigan said. Now her curiosity was piqued, damn it all. "Something like that?"

[icecoldfrost]

"Maybe, but she seemed to be under the impression this was a regular school, at least at first," Emma said. "Mutations like mine aren't something that the public really knows about yet."

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"When in doubt, assume it's all in the genes," Kerrigan said, clacking her tongue.

A creature like that would be very useful next time they dealt with the Protoss.

"I don't suppose you went and collected some more information from her."

NFB from here, plz!

[icecoldfrost]

"It makes me very nervous when you say that," Emma pointed out dryly. "I really rather hope it's not in the genes."

"She's my bitch of a sister, who's convinced I'm crazy and wants me locked away so I can stop being an embarrassment to the rest of the family."

Re: NFB from here, plz!

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"Genes are just there to serve as a roadmap for possibilities," Kerrigan said, without missing a beat. "Don't take it as a personal threat."

Pity she couldn't lock into Emma's mind and poke around those memories herself - sure, she could ask, but being denied would just be... awkward. "Are you the only teep in your family?" she asked, instead.

Re: NFB from here, plz!

[icecoldfrost]

"There may have been one or two mad ancestors who got locked in the attic, but that's common with all old Bostonian families," Emma replied, trying for light-hearted. "Or maybe a fifth-cousin somewhere twice removed, but yes. When they found out I had headaches and was hearing voices, I went from 'rebellious Emma' to 'crazy Emma' and got written right out of the family history."

Considering how the only person to believe her was Christian, who had most definitely not been a telepath, Emma was rather sure no one else in her family had her gift.

Re: NFB from here, plz!

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"I'm just asking because it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility for your sister to have some recessive genes in that direction," Kerrigan noted. "Psionic talent doesn't tend to get born in a vacuum."

At least not where she was from. Even more interesting. Maybe she should get a cell sample out of Emma.

Re: NFB from here, plz!

[icecoldfrost]

"I can at least sense the other telepaths from my world," Emma grumbled. Stupid Jean. "If she gets telepathy too, that's not fair. Can't I have something she doesn't get her nasty fingers all over?"

Resentment, thy name is Frost.

Re: NFB from here, plz!

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"Telepathy, or some derivative," she said. "No one's saying she's a teep. Was she aware of it?"

Re: NFB from here, plz!

[icecoldfrost]

"Does she know I'm one? No," Emma said, shaking her head. "I was trying to use my telepathy to prove I wasn't crazy, and that's when I realized she wasn't there."

"She does know that I am a mutant now, however." Emma had the grace to look somewhat embarrassed by her faux-pas. "I lost my temper, and I sort of shifted in front of her and promisedtobreakherneckifsheevercameback."

Re: NFB from here, plz!

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"Well," said Kerrigan, with a delicate lift of her eyebrow. "At least she's aware now of the violence she can expect if she meddles again."

It was really just that simple. Honestly, lacking finesse, but nothing to be embarrassed about.

Re: NFB from here, plz!

[icecoldfrost]

"It lacked subtlety, now she knows I'm a mutant, and I should have broken her nose instead of just slapping her." Wouldn't that have been fun for Adrienne to explain to Winston? "But I meant it. I'm not going to let her screw with my life anymore."

Re: NFB from here, plz!

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"You can still use that to your advantage," Kerrigan said, idly. Ah, scruples, a little gene-update took care of those. "If at any point you want to infiltrate what she's doing, you can always come limping back and pretending to be 'broken'."

Not that Kerrigan had ever done that. But she shook her head, then.

"If you're a mutant, then in all likelihood, so is she, or at least in possession of some recessive genes. Add to that the close connection, and she might be teep-proof. Or just resilient against psionics in her own family."

Re: NFB from here, plz!

[icecoldfrost]

It wasn't really scruples, Emma just disliked the lack of artistry!

"I couldn't control it at first, I only heard bits and snatches, so it didn't strike me as odd that I never heard Adrienne," she said, mulling it over. "I left before I had any sort of ability with my powers, so I just chalked it up to the learning curve."

"So Adrienne and Cordelia are most likely immune to anything I can do. Fantastic." There went the option for a psionic personality overhaul.

Re: NFB from here, plz!

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"It's just speculation at the moment," Kerrigan reminded her. "It'd have to be tested... but it's not unlikely."

Not that Kerrigan would oppose testing. At all.

"Still, no reason to give away that they've got an advantage." That was a little sharklike.