Office Hours, Thursday

[on_her_korhal]

Yesterday's meeting with River was still fresh in Kerrigan's mind. As a result, she was... thoughtful, and maybe a little distracted, adding what had been spoken about in class yesterday to her memories of the images she had been picking up over the past year or so.

Resignation and that malicious spark of hope that Zeratul had left behind fought each other in her mind. She couldn't get a grip on either, and that irritated her.

River would bring back succesful reports soon enough, she was sure of that. There would be new species of zerg. They would swallow up a great deal of her time, and then she could go hunting for xel'naga artifacts. Work this all out. Stop being party to human weakness...

Ngh. She embedded a pencil in the wall with her telekinesis and glared at it.

[[ open! though warning for SP later; today is going to be a looong day. ]]

Comments

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"Telepathy, or just squirrel-be-gone?" Kerrigan asked, without missing a beat.

[pyromanyac.livejournal.com]

"Let them stare at us staring at each other in silence."

"This counts as practice, anyway?", proyected quietly, wondering if Kerrigan had heard her.

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

Kerrigan's mental voice sounded a little deeper than her physical one, brimming with barely restrained power. You might want to speak up, she said, But yes, I suppose it does. Speak.

[pyromanyac.livejournal.com]

Ooooookay, came Charlie's much relaxed voice, sounding exactly like her physical one.

Long story short, but without cutting details. The Shop, that government agency I told you about, gives some drugs to a bunch of people, my parents among them. From what I've been able to get from the minds of some of their high ranks-- Which were now all dead --they were trying to create a drug that made psychic super soldiers, or something. It went wrong, and most of them either died or went crazy. My parents got mild psychic powers, and went on with their lives.

A pause, as she collected her ideas. I guess...that I inherited their freak genes and integrated them in a way that makes me a mutant of sorts. This doesn't happen in my world. I am, in a way, a product of the Shop's meddling. That's enough to make them believe I'm theirs, apparently. Lovely, isn't it? Anyway, my fire, my body...rewards me when I use it. It's like sex, for lack of a better term. Like reproduction. Yeah, Charlie suddenly hoped she had thought of 'reproduction' before 'sex', but whatever.

And it's also like a drug; the more I use, the more I want, and the more I want, the more I need to calm myself. Abstinence...ends badly. Usually worse than yesterday. Usually with buildings in fire, and deaths.

And now she would go radio silent, because she had blurted a lot and Kerrigan might need a moment to glare at her.

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

No glaring. If anything, Kerrigan looked thoughtful. Considering.

Is it psychological, or genetic? she asked. What is it that drives you to flame?

[pyromanyac.livejournal.com]

"A bit of both? It's on my genes, but it seems to be also in my mind?" She wasn't sure she was answering the question correctly.

"What drives me? When it turns into a need, I guess it's just to stop feeling like crap. Satisfaction, I guess. In any other case it's completely conscious, so I don't set someone on fire just because I don't like them."

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

Kerrigan shook her head dismissively. We need to find your trigger, she replied. If it's biological, we'll have to manage this. If it's psychological, conditioning might help. Either way, I want you to tell me from now on if the urge starts to escalate again. There are alternatives to setting the school alight.

[pyromanyac.livejournal.com]

Charlie nodded. Wednesday next week I might start feeling the urge to burn something, but if I burn things regularly then I shouldn't...unless I just keep doing it more often. Fucking addictive powers. That last part wasn't meant to go loud but she couldn't help it.

Rubbing her face, she sighed. Unless you give me something to make explode or some shit like that, I don't know what else I can do besides exploding air.

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

There were a lot of living things she could use help exploding back in Koprulu, but Kerrigan... would choose not to bring that up until Charlie was more reliant on her. I can find you a few things, she said, And take you to a safe environment to do it in. The island is too crowded.

[pyromanyac.livejournal.com]

That got her interest up. Where? Outside the island? She hadn't exited it yet, because honestly, she was scared of what she would find out there. We could give it a try, I guess.

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

I can get us a transport that should be able to drop us off on some abandoned island, she returned, If that interests you. Among other locales. Of course, that doesn't mean you get out of training to control those damn powers of yours.

[pyromanyac.livejournal.com]

It does, send as she nodded. Quite a bit, actually. And whatever you say, I guess. Training will be then.

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

Kerrigan twirled another pencil between her fingers. "The Danger Shop," she mused, "Might be an excellent place to go to keep you from destroying half the building while we work on it. But we'll have to drag you somewhere desolate over the weekend to cope with this little explosive issue of yours."