zaidshair

[zaidshair]

The intense, wild thrill that Zaid felt like a sharp burn, a heated shock - to see Tej's expression silently, stalwartly twitch and tremor with jealousy. It was just Steve. Nothing even happened. But it was a sticking point, regardless and one Zaid could himself understand.

No one but me. Words that Zaid would growl possessively to Tej, late at night, early in the morning, compelling Tej to breathlessly agree. Zaid's growing paranoia when Tej started drifting away from him, disappearing for hours (never mind that Zaid was in the restaurant for 80% of those hours) only to return to their nest all damp, flushed, secretive, enigmatic. Smug.

It would drive Zaid wild, and now he couldn't help loving - loving!!! - that Tej could feel the same still, about him. Mutual need, despite it all. Mutual destruction in the name of need.

'You certainly need one'. It stung, admittedly. But it felt good, that sting. A little bite with Tej's sharp metaphorical teeth. Zaid visibly shivered, a delicate shoulder-shimmy as if enticed by the insult, and said nothing more on it.

"It's not you! Fucking hell, do you want me to blame you? I know it's someone else, obviously it's someone else. You hate me but you'd never try to kill me." Zaid sounded condescending in the bleak darkness that surrounded them. "Right?"

Tej's dislike of Zaid's glow brought Zaid some relief. He ignored the distaste, glad at least that Tej had eyes on him, a tether. To de-glow meant they'd lose each other (again? Again) and so Zaid dryly responded, "Just consider me an art installation, dearest. 'You don't have to like all art. That's the point of art.' - isn't that what you once told me?"

Feel them? What was Tej on about. Zaid extended his hand, but just swept through black mist. It wasn't even smoke, it was simply...blackness. Like a night with no stars, or a windowless room. Zaid kept waiting for his eyes to adjust, but they couldn't. "I don't feel anything. I just see shadows, I just see - oy! Who are you! Identify yourself right now!"

Nothing, just silence. Except for Zaid's heavy breathing, Tej's sharp intakes, and...what. Zaid's breath cut off. He panicked, drawing in a deep instinctive breath to hold, feeling something like hands clawing up to his throat. He wanted to scream for Tej, but that would release precious air. And the 'hands' - or whatever it was - didn't squeeze hard. A gentle cling, almost intimate. A sensual threat. A stroke up his vocal cords, repetitive. Zaid sighed into the grip, relishing Tej's threats to the smoke-powered person. He sounded so forceful, so protective...then it was gone. Zaid could breathe again, but he almost wished he wasn't.

And so Zaid was left feeling a somewhat embarrassed, a bit of a stiffy in his trou, and terribly confused. He touched the echo of fingers around his neck, saying nothing. Relief again when Tej manifested finally, took Zaid's hand to inspect.

"I practiced," Zaid croaked when he'd finally found his voice. A smoke-generating mysterious gender-neutral pronoun person, who'd first tried to murder him, then tried to erotically asphyxiate him...? Zaid was at a loss now. But at least he had Tej near him, touching him in inquisitive, gentle ways. No sniping or hurt between them. It almost felt like they used to be. A little smile, and Zaid took a step closer to Tej. "Tej...I just..."

But Tej's inquisitive expression crumpled into alarm before Zaid could make another shoddy attempt at amends. Maybe he was going to get choked again; and Zaid did the exact wrong thing before Tej even began to warn him - and took a deep breath to hold it.

A deep breath of ink. No - of charcoal. No - of heavy incense smoke. No - of oil. Whatever this power was, it tasted like dust and ash, of acetone and pain. Or was it just Zaid tasting his own pain? He clawed at his throat - this wasn't like before, the tender threat of strangulation. Zaid wanted this out of him, this invasion. The smoke filling him, did it feel him, too? Feel his warm blood, his soft insides? His pathetic insecurities and damning grief? His glow dampened immediately, the darkness extinguishing it.

Just like in the bungalow? Zaid wasn't sure why he thought about that, but maybe it was the way Tej grasped his face, delivering a kiss to his mouth that felt more like resuscitation. The taste dissipated with Tej's lips, and Zaid regretted the choking, coagulating loss. In the bungalow, Zaid had watched light frolic and dapple around Tej, just like the first time in the forest. Light and shadow deliberately dancing around and over Tej. All strobes and effects, possibly entertaining if Zaid's own powers hadn't reacted in such a virulent way to proximity.

Zaid had warned Tej to stay away from him, then. Because Tej's powers seemed to amplify Zaid's own.

But now, he didn't feel amplified. He felt blanketed, muffled. Layered in black mixed media, like he'd become one single piece of Tej's precious trash, affixed to a bigger sculpture. A single piece, in Tej's vast imagination.

'Let all of this go.' Tej's plaintive, urgent order. A hint of guilt threaded through his voice, so subtle anyone who wasn't Zaid might've missed it. Beautiful guilt, that Zaid never thought he'd ever hear from Tej. So, Zaid complied.

Fully de-powered, Zaid's knees buckled. Zaid's eyes rolled up in his head. He would have collapsed to the catwalk grating, if he wasn't already somehow clinging to Tej. Instead, he simply flopped against Tej's chest, as if the art wanted to include the artist.

A soft whisper against Tej's ear. "End it," Zaid implored, head tilted to the railing. Where he'd only dangled minutes before. The drop stretched beyond them, as Zaid held onto Tej for his only support. "End us."

The rational mind understood. FaceTime did not equate to fucking. Zaid said he hadn't really fucked anyone. Tried but failed, which boosted Tej's ego tremendously.

The toxic sludge of jealousy seeped through the brain. That, and dirty masochism corroded (without it, how would Zaid ever stay in the wrong?) Such a good friend.

A tendon in an unbearably clenched jaw twitched. The silk and smooth tides of his gaze on Zaid (his Zaid, no one else's) solidified in a way that could tear down the strongest sea wall.

Dick.

Like a pesky stain scrubbed from the handle of an otherwise perfect Louis Vuitton bag, Tej whisked the thought away. A breath, an inhale to stand taller and regain his canvas of composure. "Oh. Well. So glad you have a friend here. You certainly need one." Our Steve-- oh, oh get fucked.

Someone tried to throw Zaid off the tower! Attributed to 'smoke powers', which in Tej's mind was a personal (if completely inaccurate) condemnation. "It's not me!" Tej shouted into the abyss around them. He fumbled to find Zaid, grasp a hand, a wrist, anything before Zaid's built-in night light triggered. "Don't want to ever be blamed-- neither do I! Why would I do this??"

I can glow now. Now. Funny, because to Tej, Zaid once lit the whole god damn world. Dynamically talented and blindingly beautiful. A glow about him.

But not like this. Not within him, To literally see Zaid's insides scared the shit out of Tej. "Practicing, how? I don't think you should it. I can see right through you. This is. This is fucked, Zaid. It's going to kill you."

They?! They. His voice dropped low. "You can't feel them...?" Tej's hands raised, in the shape that mimicked what he saw in front of him. Those shadows of hands around Zaid's brightly lit neck. He swallowed, and his fingers tensed. Shadows shifted in the low light, and perhaps Tej finally understood the smoke comparison.

As Zaid (unbeknownst to Tej) battled pronouns, Tej kept his hands at his side. Fingers tensed and he repeated himself, insistant: "Can you feel them! Tell me!" Did Tej feel something? A presence between his hands, and when he raised them they shaped themselves around something tender and sweet. He squeezed the sensation of someone's neck, with a thumb sliding along in search of a rapid pulse.

Feet away, the shadow, or the smoke, or whatever the fuck it was-- hung around Zaid's throat. The internal glow was blotted out almost completely. Was Tej the shadow? Were the shadowy hands controlled by his own?

I'll hurt them. His lips parted, stalled in a silent balk for a few seconds before he flustered, "What the hell you think it's trying to do to us! Make friends?" Followed by Zaid's attempt at negotiating. "Yes. We do," Tej countered. If they were going out, why not do it with a fight. And a demand for Zaid's safety more than anything, one urgently punched right out of Tej's chest. "Leave him alone! Get your hands off of him!" At which point, Tej's own hands let go of whatever they had a hold of.

The shadow hands temporarily retreated and Zaid stood there, a candle luminous in a bleak night. Inquisitive, he took Zaid's hand to examine, turn over. Soft flesh encased Zaid's fingers like a glass glove, with the clearest LED-like light burning the multitude of bones in his fingers, hand, wrist, arm...

"This is..." Tej lacked the words but memorized it all to paint somewhere later. "And it doesn't hurt you?" A question Zaid answered once before, however it still baffled Tej. "How're you controlling it now, I don't understand." He lifted his eyes to see Zaid's face. With every breath, the shadow crept in through Zaid's nostrils, through his lips. "No, no, no! Don't breathe, Zaid! Hold your breath!"

A little late for such an instruction. Still able to see through Zaid, Tej watched in horror as black slipped like oil around Zaid's teeth, drowned his tongue, spilled down Zaid's throat. Inflated his lungs to a painfully full press against his ribs.

As many denials as Tej spewed, time to admit: this shadow must've been some part of him. He exhaled rough and heavy, and grabbed Zaid's face. He forced an open mouth over Zaid's and inhaled a dry, air, a heated exhaust that tendriled out the sides of his lips. Then, he pulled back enough to gauge how well this batshit idea worked. "Let all of this go." Which might mean the core meltdown that made Zaid the brightest star at the top of the tower. One with the power to obliterate Tej. "Get it all out."

[zaidshair]

Distracted by the cameras around the room (why did they look like black opaque greedy eyes, sometimes?), Zaid almost missed the tone of Tej's questions. He provided an almost innocent reply, devoid of hurt or manipulation, "Oh, we chatted a bit, facetime and that. When I needed a friend. Or really a sounding board. Steve in his brief life-coach mode."

And then the pause, stop, replay. Zaid focused on Tej's face. His beautiful face, neutrality personified, but. Zaid knew his Tej, his darling. He could practically see that flat-stare expression wreathed in flame, pretty as a gas hob. Zaid poorly held back a smirk, then drawled implications: "Such a good friend, our dear Steve."

So caught up in the game, Zaid entirely forgot why he'd brought up Steve in the first place. The questions, the mystery, the confusion of this strange land - it fell to the wayside, because he'd legitimately annoyed Tej Virani, and it felt so fucking good. To strike a nerve in the most blasé, irreverent, chaotic artist? Brilliant.

He didn't even mind the retort from Tej, biting as it was. No need to argue truth when they both so eagerly swallowed their own versions of the same story.

The added thrill of Tej using the petname, short and sweet (how Tej once described Zaid once, a loving tease) should've made Zaid capitulate to Tej, maybe say something authentic. But survival took Zaid's focus away from amends, and straight into fear, despair, reality.

"Villain?! Someone threw me over the edge of the tower, Tej!" And Tej insisted it had nothing to do with him. Zaid believed Tej, because....because. Because he had to believe it? Because anything else would not be good.

"Right, well someone with - I don't know - smoke powers or something. They're out here, having a laugh at our risk! Oi! Get back here, coward!!" Zaid spun around in the swirl of darkness, searching, howling useless threats to the wind. As if he was in any state to fight. As if Zaid had ever thrown an offensive punch in his life.

Silence from around them, almost a vacuum of sound in this bleak unnatural fog. Until Tej's quiet voice floated out, and Zaid nodded, looking down at himself first, then at the dim silhouette of Tej beyond. "I can glow now, I've been practicing, love. I can see - oh fuck!"

The silhouette that Zaid thought was Tej, wasn't. A moment of terrified shame, that Zaid would mistake some strangers silhouette for a shape he'd worshipped and memorized a million times over with the delicate precision of a butcher.

He heard rattling further around the catwalk - the window! Tej was at the window...or the shadowy-attacker was. A moment of fearful indecision, and then Zaid lurched forward, desperate to find Tej again. " Tej! I'm coming - Tej -" Just find Tej, hold him, cling to him. That comforting scent and warmth made Zaid - masterchef, boss, leader - want to curl up in a safe beloved cocoon. The urgency was irrational at this moment, but god; it was so bloody strong.

He finally spotted Tej in the dark, beautiful face illuminated as if my Renaissance candlelight. But there was nothing soft or esoteric in Tej's expression, nor his words.

They're behind you.

Terror shot through Zaid, and he momentarily dimmed as if his internal light was controlled by confidence. "They?!" he repeated in a fearful whisper. There were more of the shadowy would-be murderers? Or was Tej using neutral pronouns until the person identified what they went by? 'Greetings, I am your would-be killer. I go by she/zer. Fucking hell, Tej.

Tej urged Zaid to turn and blast them with the plasma; Zaid knew he had enough for a shot or two. His near-obsessive practice recently gave him a gauge of storage, overfill. Like taking inventory, keeping the pantry stocked but not wasteful.

But Tej wanted Zaid to hurt the person behind him? "I - I can't. I'll hurt them, Tej. I might kill them." Zaid slowly turned though, illuminating the shadow behind him. It had a shape, a person underneath all that smoke. The face was indistinguishable, but eerily familiar. Fuck, did Florida-man have family on the island, out for revenge? Had Adarsh spilled what Zaid did to Florida Man on Obsidian Beach?

"Please, I beg you," Zaid tried to reason. "We don't want to hurt you. Whatever I've done, I'm sorry. Please don't hurt me. Please don't hurt us. Just let us leave. We don't want to fight."

The moody expressions lobbed at Tej once had a completely different effect. Like a dark chocolate kulfi with a pinch of sea salt, the eye roll only enhanced how delicious Zaid's theatrical annoyance could be. Now, it seemed self-centered, badly behaved. Bitchy. And especially out of pocket in the moment.

No more remarks for the cameras, however another thing stuck. "He was a great help?" Tej repeated. The words curdled as soon as they left his mouth, with an scrunched brow and nose, like he'd just caught the scent of something vile. "The hell is that supposed to mean. A great help, how?" Couples break up, and they split everything. Including friends, in Tej's opinion. All that time, he thought Steve got the memo.

"Terrible things, yeah. I suppose it's the only truth I've ever got from you." Because he'd convinced himself it was all a lie. One-sided. Or worse, all in Tej's imagination.

Still Zaid took up too much space in Tej's mind. He used to be okay with it. Now, he couldn't bear it. Time to swallow the yearning in his gut. Stop falling in love with Zaid all over again, with his skin and lips and words. Stop the salvage of what Zaid already threw away.

"Yes, Z. I do feel better," low and unbothered, and lined with a dash of smart ass. "Thanks ever so much for showing me the light, my love."

And then Zaid launched a new offensive. The game of 'rescue' they frivolously played. Tej was king of placing himself in potentially hairy and sometimes semi-questionable situations, all to set off Zaid's protective I-can-fix-anything alarm bells.

But Zaid, dangling precariously, struck the perfect manipulative position to corner Tej for help. Impressive, deception, sort of hot and aggravating. Emotions that pulled and burned at all the physical and mental muscles necessary to "save" Zaid.

Even blindfolded by the dark, he found Zaid. Grabbed, held on, and then pushed aside much in the way he wished to do with any lingering (and misplaced!) feelings.

Zaid cried, high-pitched and wet with an unanchored frenzy heard before, on a beach at dusk. An audible sound left Tej's surprised mouth. "Wh-- I help you, but I'm still the villain somehow?! You're out of your mind, Zaid." An angry huff as he scooted further away. "Unbelievable!"

"I'm not doing anything!" The response did not align with what Zaid asked. A trickle of paranoia ran down the back of Tej's neck. Undeniably, someone was out there, the handprint probably still on the window.

Where did they go? Why did a certain dread cling to him, tied as tight as the darkness?

Tej plied the shadows in the past, pulled them like taffy to fool the robo-hornet. But this wasn't his doing, it couldn't be...

"Zaid. You're... you're glowing." Not a compliment either. The most destructive power charged inside Zaid. Now, he could see where Zaid stood, and yet wished he couldn't.

Zaid was an eerie beacon in the black sea they were submerged in. Zaid almost translucent, skeleton in a disturbing x-ray type of detail, the beating of Zaid's heart like a dark raincloud in an otherwise cloudless sky. Teeth and whites of the eyes washed too-bright and fluorescent, as if under a UV light.

It was horrifying. With Tej on his feet, he scrambled back to the window. Just as he arrived, the pane slammed shut, locked from within. "No!" Tej fruitlessly fought with the handle. "I can't get it open! It's stuck or, or locked now, I dunno!"

And behind Zaid, a figure emerged again like the sun and moon in the same sky. Tej took a few steps back and implored with his hands up. "You're going to kill us both up here!" (Was it what Zaid wanted? Or Tej, to go out like this. Together?) Tej's voice rose louder, worried. "Please, you've got to stop this! Turn it off, or something!" His steps kept a slow creep backwards. Looking for another window, searching for something to smash the glass, or anything else to help.

The shadow-figure still behind the glow wrapped large hands around Zaid's illuminated neck. Shit, Tej was doing it. Like another part of him, a hand in a glove. The quick and shallow breaths in his chest. He began to see his own control in the shape behind Zaid. Was this a way to stop Zaid from destroying them both? Maybe. And maybe it would only make things worse.

"They're behind you," he whispered. In doing so, Tej wondered if Zaid could feel its breath on his neck. Tej's breath. "Can you feel them?" They were in a wild and untested area with the mechanism of Zaid's power. "If you can't stop the plasma, turn it against it. Turn it against this thing."

[zaidshair]

If Zaid were less emotionally excitable he would've pressed the subject more, demanded a definitive answer. Or, maybe he didn't want a definitive answer, too afraid of some awful truth. So Tej's grumbly, restless side-bar was sufficient. Zaid graciously chose not to interpret anything from it but simply...ignore it altogether. Keep going. Keep going as long as Tej would.

Zaid hated how much he missed Tej, in all these long, dreary months apart. Why did he feel it strongly, seeing the man again. Why couldn't it just be easy.

"Ugh," Zaid rolled his eyes and looked childish. "No, there's nothing wrong with Steve. He was a great help after we split, actually." He sighed and stared up dolefully at the camera trained on them. "You mean they're unbreakable? Shatterproof? Even for you??"

So you leave. Zaid had the audacity to look both shocked and hurt by Tej's words, as if they weren't true. As if, in a honeyed past, Tej wasn't sweet and attentive, had never coddled Zaid's temperaments and tenderly indulged workaholic nature. And Zaid never grown irritated by the affection, pushed the boundaries of Tej's patience. Dragged at Tej's yielding elasticity simply to make it snap. Rejected Tej, only to fly into raging fits when Tej drifted away from Zaid, to become secretive, to find attention and fun elsewhere.

But here and now, Zaid was stunned by the force of Tej's rejection of him. Zaid's ego bruised, a familiar yet still such a fresh strike. "We've said a lot of terrible things to each other when we're angry. Haven't we," Zaid murmured, his tone calm (slightly patronizing). "We still keep saying it. Does it make you feel better, sweetheart?"

Unaware of how Zaid's baked piety made Tej's blood boil, the mysterious figure made for a good distraction - until Zaid found himself bodily hauled out, and catapulted over the edge of the railing. He knew he was going to die. He couldn't die like this. He kept ending up in ways to die on this bloody island. Twice now, with Tej around. The other times...messy and horrid. Tej was the one who'd bravely faced-off with a mega-hornet robot in a bloody volcano and lived to tell the tale. Tej got impaled with a stinger in a vicious attack, came out with battle scars.

Zaid...Zaid just hung on. Clinging uselessly, saving no one but himself. Harming others in the process. Everything got dark around him, like one of those freaky summer electric storms where everything smelled like ozone and rain.

Just drop. It felt like a whisper. It even sounded like Tej's voice. Or maybe Inika's voice, soft and babylike. He could've hauled himself back up, but maybe he didn't want to. Maybe...

... hands wrapped around his aching arms, and Zaid's body kicked back into survival-mode, assisting Tej as they hauled him back to safety. Painfully dramatic. Zaid gasped a slightly hysterical laugh at that, as he tumbled back on the right side of the railing. Tej was strong, so strong and capable when he wanted to be. In this, he wanted to be.

A wretched part of Zaid's mind countered that glimmer of hope: of course Tej would save him. It would be inconvenient for Tej to have to deal with Zaid's splattered, broken body, after all. Better if Zaid had just rid himself alone, and far, far away from Tej, right?

Another part of Zaid's terrible mind (how many terrible sides did he have? Fucking hell) countered: but getting killed would fit Tej's lifelong aesthetic of death. Tej's beautiful, tragic, real grief as yet another person leaves Tej alone to keep on living.

So you leave.

And yet, Zaid tried to reach for Tej again, hold on a little longer even as Tej kept berating from. But Tej was already shoving him back, rejecting him even after saving him. "Why didn't you just let me drop, then!" Zaid managed to scream, though his voice was wild and unsteady. The adrenalin and panic from his near-death fall still whipping through his body, a borderline hysteria now that he was technically safe.

"Someone - something - someone dragged me out and threw me over the fucking edge, and maybe they were right to do it!" Zaid didn't mean that last bit to be said out loud; he kept talking to distract from it.

"And why is it so fucking dark, what is going on?!" Zaid himself began to glow, his entire body illuminating crackly and white from the inside, like a filament bulb. Trying to stave the darkness around them. "Tej, is someone else here with us? Is - is something else here? With us?! Be careful. Get back inside. It might attack you, too!"

Zaid posed a question that Tej didn't want to answer. Or did not want to be forced into answering on demand, on someone else's time frame. We'll never be... Tej's emotions spoke in a burst of grumbles, barks of irritated noise. A hand lifted to drop with a slap against his thigh, along with a tightly embroidered scowl. Nothing more specific given.

A new connection forged on the outside and relocated to this strange place: Steve and Lindi. He recalled the latter headed up a meeting, which he'd slipped out to avoid the request of listing his power, along with others. His head tilted, with a squint, "What you mean... by all people? There's nothing wrong with Steve." Well, not in this sense. Steve could be gossipy, catty, shallow, dismissive. Most of the time, Tej found it incredibly fun and a lovely diversion.

He glanced up at a camera. "I've tried for months with those things. I'm not the only one, I'm sure. Nobody's been able to break a camera yet, so I doubt these are any different. Also, we've been standing here for ages as it is, so it's a bit late now."

The little holier-than-thou sniff aggravated. "Then-- leave! Oh but, you won't, will you! You push and push and push to force me to go, every fucking time." Like the way Zaid completely disregarded Tej's belongings (aka 'junk') in the bungalow and moved himself in. "This isn't staying out of my way, Zaid. So you leave. I'm not going anywhere."

By the time Zaid cracked wise about a parade, Tej was absolutely fuming. Heat radiated through his blood and he wanted to get his hands on Zaid. Pin him to a wall, shut down the pompous attitude. Shake and tear Zaid between the two extremes of the need for verbal viciousness and the desire for the physical kind. Where kisses and bites were the best way to resolve the aggression.

Instead, Tej took it all out on the control room. Until the interruption.

Zaid made the quick calculation someone had been there before them and snuck out to the catwalk. Listened to their ridiculous squabbling. [ Which brought fond memories of lounging in the park on lazy Sundays. Tej, sprawled on a blanket at his most vulnerable with sunglasses, sleepy, hungover. And Zaid spied on others, provided the play by play in the most hilarious ways. 'Oi, Tej. Lookit, that couple out there by the rocks. Having a row, poor fella's got his tail tucked, his missus is bloody vicious, man! Come on love, watch it with me...' ]

The emotional boil from their own arguing erupted further as a usually cautious Zaid decided it wise to dive through the window. Halfway out, Zaid thought better of the move, and Tej darted over to yank him back inside by the legs.

But somehow Zaid hauled himself out! (Or was he pulled out of Tej's hands?). Before Tej could follow, the window slammed shut. "Zaid!" he yelled as he heard a scream that sent his heart into a panicked march.

Was it some sick joke, a desperate act to gain sympathy? "Zaid, stop this! Open the window!" Tej wrestled with a latch snapped suspiciously and tightly closed. His ferocity at wanting to chew out Zaid for scaring the shit out of him finally allowed Tej to shove the window open again.

Once Tej climbed out to the catwalk, he didn't immediately see Zaid. "The fuck are you, this isn't funny!" And then he heard the voice, saw the hands that clung to the metal railing.

He grabbed Zaid's forearms and began to hoist Zaid up. "You don't 'got this', dip shit. But I got you, use your feet. Why would you even think this was a good idea?? This is painfully dramatic, even for you."

Tunnel vision. Tej thought it was a byproduct of Zaid's stupid, inconsiderate (and out of character) stunt. A breathtakingly cruel form of revenge, for Zaid to be so careless as to hang from the side of the tower, a beautiful leaf that threatened to drop to an ultimate death. But the shadows closed further around them both, an opaque and artificial nightfall. The edges began to curl around Zaid, like dark ink poured into water, the pitch consumed them...

It was Tej's turn to shout out as he tugged Zaid up and over the rail. They collapsed back onto the grating of the catwalk, as Tej panted in the absolute dark. "For real. Don't ever do that again." Before his arms could cinch secure around his ex's middle, Zaid jumped away. Or to Zaid, it felt like Tej shoved him away.

Tej instantly sat up. "For fuck's sake, calm the hell down!"

[zaidshair]

For a moment, Zaid had a horrid thought that he'd mistakenly entered Akhila's bungalow. As if Akhila would ever leave the Medicentre to bunk elsewhere. As if Akhila would ever think to add sweet little feminine decorative touches to her residence. Some mythical softer, more personable side of Akhila that Zaid had yet to see.

Fortunately(? but also not fortunately?), Akhila confirmed this was Lindi's bungalow. Her voice typically clipped, but with a little husky morning gravel in it; Akhila had truly been asleep, it seemed.

The attempt at a joke was indeed met with imperious confusion from Zaid, who made no response. Just clung to the breakfast tray like it was a shield between them, two wary warriors vying for the prize. A Lindi-shaped prize.

Zaid looked down at the breakfast platter: a mini-breakfast charcuterie of sorts, with tinned meats and cheeses and pickles curated into something presentable. "I..." he trailed off, unsure of what to say to Akhila's insinuation of 'service'. Or, maybe Zaid was just a pervert who thought in perverse ways. He flushed red, annoyed that he shouldn't be the one who was embarrassed in this situation.

"Do you? Didn't think you two got along enough for you to end up, erm, on her couch." He wanted to snipe at Akhila, without implying anything bad about Lindi. Zaid tilted his head towards Lindi's bedroom, and whispered. "She in there?"

Akhila helped herself to a cracker, and Zaid was both aghast and inordinately pleased. He couldn't help it; for all his obnoxiousness, he truly got a high when people wanted to eat his food. Even simple things like fresh-herbed pate on a cracker. "This is for Lindi, not you."

Zaid placed the tray on the kitchen counter and raised the carafe towards Akhila. "But you can have some tea if you like." Stalling as Zaid collected his thoughts, he fetched a couple mugs from Lindi's cupboard. "I didn't see her at breakfast, and imagined she must've pulled an all-nighter. Were you two on some fascinating chain of discovery, like?"

It could’ve been a rather quaint morning, tea and a relaxed breakfast concocted from what fresh food Lindi had. It was all rather enjoyable. Except Lindiwe’s outburst, and rightfully so, kicked into motion a line of thinking Akhila hadn’t cared to take. Except she hadn’t really known what to do with that. Precisely what good would come over speculating the origins of pitiful notes? She’d helped herself to a second cup of tea then made herself at home back on the sofa, and not Lindi’s bed this time.

Allegedly, Charlie had everything under control today. Which was grand, very lovely, but Akhila only needed a few more minutes of rest and then…

“…Mmmph….” Akhila had hauled herself up to be faced with Zaid, and not Lindi, which was some small disappointment. Words escaped Akhila but her second disappointment was a sip of torrid cold tea. Inevitably, she faced him with a proud jut and one hand keenly smoothing out her wrinkled shirt. “She’s out.” 

“Cat-sitting.” Which for a jest landed with a flat thud. Unfortunately, that never stopped Akhila from looking momentarily pleased with herself. “And attempting to sleep, did we miss breakfast?” Zaid had brought with him what looked to be a rather tidy continental breakfast. “I didn’t realise that was a service you provided.” Akhila nosied in his tray and took a cracker laden with…pate? Everything had been precisely, and beautifully laid out, all it was missing was a vase and a pretty little flower. 

“Do you regularly call on Lindiwe?” Akhila cast her well-used mug into the sink and took a generous bite of the cracker. Evidently perks could be found if she didn’t dwell the entirety of her time within the medicentre. Food with seasoning beyond just salt, or sugar. “Hmm…” Akhila held her arm by the elbow. “Did you come by this morning?” 

[zaidshair]

It was true: Zaid was deeply attached to his martyrdom. He'd had a few minor breakthroughs about this during online sessions with Una Thorne, but. When faced with the man himself, this stalwart, gorgeous, ethereal creature in real time? The real glorious, terrifyingly unpredictable Tej and not the imaginary Tej who would coddle Zaid's guilt?

Una had pointed out to him: you can't manipulate someone to take pity on you. Logically that made perfect sense. But one look at Tej's deep brown eyes and lean arms yearning to be held, and Zaid's mind screamed: love me, mercy! Mercy by any means possible.

And Tej tore right through, like he was shredding crepe paper for some masterpiece. "It's not like that!" It was exactly like that. "I'm trying to talk to you now! Is it too late, is that what you're saying? You'll never - we'll never be..." Be what? Zaid still wasn't sure what he was asking from Tej, if it wasn't forgiveness (it was, but...martyrdom felt so good).

Zaid looked doubtful about Tej's defense of Steve. Too quick, too sure. Steve was...Steve was always holding something back, for all his frippery. Zaid shook his head. "I can't believe he's even here. Steve, of all people. I don't understand how any of this works. Did you know your Steve and, erm, Lindi were best mates back in Oxford? So - yeah, I'm a little paranoid, love! These connections! And look the fuck where we are! Look -" Zaid pointed up, to the cameras trained at them, embedded on the ceiling. "Surprised you haven't tried knocking one of them down, if I'm honest."

A scoff. "It's almost as if you'd like me to stalk you. I'm staying out of your way, just as you demanded." A pious sniff afterwards.

Between the discovery of this strange control room(?) and Tej's heated, distracting mouth spewing accusations, it was hard for Zaid to focus. "Right, yeah, the big giant humungous hornet. You know, I keep telling the others we've got to get a parade organized to celebrate your heroism; but for some reason, other things keep prioritizing." He glanced over his shoulder at Tej (it was hard to look at him. How could the man be even more beautiful after all the ugliness between them? A flower in the cracks of dead cement). "Soz."

Tej had his own methods for investigating the control room: light vandalism. No stopping him (Zaid hardly tried, truthfully). And the shock of seeing Mango, seemingly still operational....what? "Did you recognize him? I didn't recognize him. What is going ..."

The flickering shadow outside was ample distraction. Tej at his side, wrestling with the window latch. His breathing furious, sweet, warm against Zaid's ear. They were so close, it felt so right. Like poison, deceptively warm and safe.

"I reckon they've been out there this entire time," Zaid grunted, putting some force into the unlatched window. Together they pushed the creaky hinges, letting cool beachy air slide in as they poked out to look at the catwalk circling the tower. "Likely crawled out before you arrived, and then I showed up and - and oi! Listening this whole time, ey? Eavesdropping bugger!" Zaid shouted accusations to no one. Maybe the shadow-figure had shrinking powers like Selin, and slipped out easily. "Oi - where'd he go? Hey! Where--"

Zaid startled at the tapping from the other side, hit his head on the rim of the window. "Ow..." Tej was much more graceful, but equally surprised. Saying what Zaid was thinking. (They used to do that a lot. Two halves of a whole, if that wasn't so fucking corny to admit).

"Tej, be careful!" Zaid said as Tej left him, crossing towards the shadow. But something else was happening around them. Light illuminating where it shouldn't, shadows deepening. "Tej! Tej..." It seemed that was all Zaid could say. He watched, terrified and fascinated, as light and dark coalesced, obscured, fogged. The shadow outside pressing a distorted palm against the window, and Tej...all glowing light, did the same.

An absurd spike of jealousy shot through Zaid like a bullet down his spine. He shifted to squeeze himself out of the jimmied-open window. "Keep - keep him there, Tej! I'm getting out. I'll get him."

Halfway through squirming out the slim opening of the window, Zaid only paused at the ear-splitting yowl that seemed to break the light. It sounded like a fire popping, a dark tunnel howling. Suddenly, going out onto the catwalk seemed like a terrible idea.

"Tej - Tej pull me back in. Tej, I can't, help me!" Zaid's legs kicking fruitlessly inside the control room, the other half of him spilling out onto the catwalk, hands scrabbling on the steel frame. "Tej!"

He thought he could feel Tej's secure hands on his legs, ready to pull him back inside - but something dragged Zaid out, far easier. A blur of flickering shadow and light, and Zaid was catapulted over the side of the catwalk railing. He screamed, but managed to hang on to the railing so he didn't plummet to this death. He dangled on the outside of the catwalk, like someone had pushed him over.

Don't look down, Zaid told himself, putting all that yoga and intensive HIIT workouts and pilates to the test. With a high, wheezy grunt, Zaid crunched his arms, pulling himself up so his feet could finally get purchase.

(He could've called for Tej to help. But some new instinct warned him not to. Tej was inside the control room, Tej had grabbed his legs. Right?

Then why did it also feel like Tej was on the catwalk, and had pulled Zaid out and over the railing? What kind of tug-of-war was it between Tej...and Tej?)

"I can do this...I got this!" On his own. He didn't need to cry for Tej's help. He would save himself.

Different things, hm. Impulsiveness never stole, never kept the most valuable things from Zaid. That gorgeous face he used to cradle in adoration spilled twisty rhetoric. Squirming, constricting denials around Tej's neck one second, and then loosening the hold with a mention of regret. Would the thrill of Zaid actually apologizing be given to Tej to gloat over?

No. Of course not. Instead, Zaid sank into the muddy waters of I won't ask for your forgiveness. With the intoxicating rasp in the voice and eyes as innocently injured as the man could ever muster.

His tongue clicked with a few tsks. "Just want to keep beating yourself up about it, gotcha. No, see. Should've said something a long time ago." No syrupy mess of I loved you fell from Tej's mouth. Nothing to share his own shame. Not when Zaid did such a good job at guilting Tej into feeling obligated to offer forgiveness.

For the record, so was Tej. A mutual weapon of choice.

"I'm not fabricating anythi--" An audible balk interrupted. "Steve? For fuck's sake, Zaid. Paranoid much? Steve's not said a damn word, come on." If Steve passed judgment on anyone, it'd been on Tej for even bringing up the ex. (But clearly, Steve liked Tej best)

Also, it never crossed his mind Steve might try to play both sides in the breakup. Not until then, but as Steve was brought up in the conversation, he began to wonder how much those two interacted.

"I'm supposed to believe this is all a coincidence?? You're a terrible liar, really. Just admit it, alright? And stop it. Let's just..."

Stop! Fucking hell, Zaid was infuriating! Tej's collar hot, movements agitated. Which was a point that attempted to be explained to Steve. He didn't want to be around Zaid! Why was it up to Tej to ensure Zaid never crossed his path?

Oh shut up. Tej paused, thrown into a stoic silent brooding as he stiff-shouldered Zaid's purposefully clumsy pass. As though Tej wasn't even there (which pissed Tej off even more). Civility between them had a short half-life. And so Tej was happy to stop talking. Well, except to point out one important fact. "Wasn't a giant," came his low correction. "I'm the one that killed a fucking giant."

He sprang into action. A 'no' from Zaid rarely meant to pump the brakes. His halt in progressively tearing the room apart bare-handed wasn't because of Zaid. Tej didn't know which startled more, oddly recognizable images on the screens or the shape of a person outside.

His mind raced, but he didn't flinch as they shared space. Arms touching, close enough to count every freckle and eyelash on Zaid's face. "It's the alley behind Mango." No question of what they both saw on the screens.

The surrounding windows were hazy, soapy-looking covered in decades of dirt and grime. When Zaid launched into protection mode, he seemed 10 feet tall (and unbearably attractive). The long shadow on the other side of panes halted to Zaid's barked command.

At the window, Tej helped wrestle with the latch. When it budged a few promising inches, he drew his small pocketknife to scrape away layers of paint. "They don't have anywhere to go out there." But, how did they get out there in the first place?

"Think there's another way outside?" The hinge groaned as it opened wider with the help of muscle from Tej. Now able to pop their heads outside, all Tej saw were the tall trees nearby the tower. "Did they go around the corner or something, you see them?" Taptaptap... gentle clicks came from across the room. Somehow the person (?) outside made it to the other side. What they tapped on the glass couldn't be seen, but was loud enough to get their attention. "No way," he murmured to Zaid. "They didn't, how did they have time to run to the other side."

Velvet heat pooled in his chest. Breaths came faster, more shallow. The fever spread through through his blood, through his bones. Skin instantly sticky-damp, the sensation one had to knot themselves into a pretzel to relieve the aches his body suddenly felt, and yet it felt so good to Tej.

Sun began to filter brighter through the windows. The light washed out the shadow at the window, fogged the edges of the outline, stretched and distorted the dark. They worked to open the large window (or small glass door?). Instead of climbing outside, Tej furiously crossed the room in what began to feel like a childish game of hide and seek.

He shielded his eyes from the light, and despite it all he still saw the vague shape of a person standing out there. "Why are you doing this?" he yelled at the window, and couldn't help but slamming both his hands angrily against the pane. "We're coming out there. There's no where for you to run now, you fucker!"

The figure responded by slapping a palm against the window too, rattling the glass.

And held it there. The light burned too bright to reveal any more than a large palm, in what looked to be covered with something. Mud? Soot? Paint? As dark as the sands of Obsidian Beach.

Tej stared at the lines on the hand, tried to memorize the specific features of skin. Tentatively, he lifted his own to place on the window. Two palms together, only separated by the old, filthy glass.

Tej stepped in even closer and squinted, an attempt to look beyond the blinding light for a face. For any details of what was outside.

The unknown hand snapped back, away from the window. A terrible wailing yowl of distress rang out, like an animal caught in a trap. The light Tej controlled began to dim as he looked back at Zaid. "Close the window, close it!"

[zaidshair]

Zaid: what were you doing before waking up on the beach? Zaid: which beach, Obsidian or Cruise Ship? Zaid: Not sure I mean what? Zaid: I'm handling it. Build-up used to be every 2-3 days. then it became every day. now it's sort of evening out. there are other things that others have observed yeah. I look like I'm about to sick up. flu-like symptoms Zaid: Maybe it's the food? But the food doesn't affect anyone else. during the day it's sometimes worse.

Charles: I woke up on the beach. Charles: She has been through something before she disappeared, so she seems a bit different to me. I am not sure you mean that. Charles: Only time will tell, I will deal with it when it happens. Charles: That doesn't sound too good. How long are the build-ups for? Do you have ample time to get somewhere safe? And just before it happens, are there any other things you notice? Charles: Environmental triggers perhaps? Is there a similarity in time of day?

[zaidshair]

"What d'you mean, from Adarsh? The secret was Adarsh's, or he told you a secret about someone's something on this island?" Not that Zaid was good at mysteries. He could troubleshoot, solve problems. The secrets seemed embedded firmly in a 'mystery' category. Lucky for Zaid that the secret he got - Baskar's - was a relatively easy mystery.

Lucky indeed.

Zaid shrugged, unfurling the little ticker-tape in his fingers. The ink so fragile, it was already smudging in the humidity. "Maybe. But I've heard enough to know you are special like that, innit."

A light, understanding scoff. Zaid motioned towards Baskar's swole-up face. "You keep working on that, love. Perfect it in the mirror if you need to. I'm sure it'll get you everywhere with some people, don't it." Zaid should talk; when Tej put on a bratty sulk, it almost always worked on Zaid.

It was personal information; and it wasn't Baskar's personal information. This was about others, and all lightly dusted with a sweet sprinkling of oh-so-innocent blamelessness, as Baskar wanted - perhaps needed - to convey. No bad intentions, therefore the action wasn't bad, right? Because Baskar had a pretty pout.

"You must show them, you little creep," Zaid pressed his point, stern and unyielding as he handed the notebook back. "What's stopping you? Wait--" Zaid affected surprise, lightly touching his own chest and leaning back (very queeny). "You worry if I think you're a creep, others will? Fairly sure you'll find more in agreement with how harmless this is, than aligned with my opinion on it, sweetheart."

Zaid matched Baskar's sneer with a slight snarl. "You just a coward then. Is that what you're saying?"

Baskar nodded. That was the only thing that seemed to make sense to them. If the ‘powers that be’ wanted to sow chaos, then choosing this secret seemed to the best one. Or if it was really about shame… well, this was the best secret that could bring him shame. The things from before… most of them Baskar wouldn’t have been able to change anyway. 

They shook their head. “Uhm. Just one, but that one I guess makes sense, because it’s from Adarsh.” Yes, Baskar had heard most of the secrets by now, and they’d been able to hear them get linked as well. Even now, even while talking with Zaid, reactions of surprise still made their way into their brain, easy to filter through the conversation they were having. 

“But still, just because you haven’t heard any, doesn’t mean there aren’t any. No way between the both of us we’ve heard them all, already.”

They frowned, eyebrows pushed down, making the pout even more extreme. They knew why Zaid asked, because it was very clear what he thought about them. They knew they acted far younger than they actually were. They didn’t care, age was just a number, and they still felt lost, felt like they’d never been allowed to act as a kid. “Twenty-seven.”

With every page Zaid flipped through, Baskar felt dread. So much personal information, so much information, and now it had his dirty fingerprints all over it. It felt like their diary was being ripped through, though none of it was about him. 

Yet, when Zaid proclaimed they had nothing to worry about, that it was just creepy, not incriminating or anything, Baskar didn’t feel relief. It would mean they cared about Zaid’s opinion of them. “Me?” They felt like they were being tricked, and worse: that it was working. They sneered. “Sure, it’s nothing. I’m still not going to show it to anyone, though. And you have no reason to tell anyone either.”

[zaidshair]

Zaid: only a week. so you're new. how did you arrive? Zaid: if you don't glean 'like this' then I can't explain it. I assumed others have asked the same of Akhila out in the world, but perhaps I'm in the minority Zaid: You likely do mate. perhaps its subtle innit. some people are so lucky Zaid: No not exactly outburst but like a release. like ridding one's body of things what make the body feel badly. excrement, sick, snot, that sort of thing. my body wants to be rid of it to feel better Zaid: I considered emotional triggers but it's not that either

Charles: Of course! Charles: A while after Akhila, indeed, a few days ago in fact, perhaps a week by now. Charles: Can you specify what you mean by "like this"? Charles: I do not possess any abilities yet. Charles: What makes you think they have anything to do with being clean? Perhaps it's more about an outburst of some kind. Have you ever experienced emotional outbursts of some kind, or found there is a lot you are keeping 'in', in a sense?

[zaidshair]

"But d'you reckon it's getting easier for you? To quickly, erm, to consciously shift." Zaid glanced over towards the treeline. "Like what if some robot-hornet came pelting out of the forest again. You'd just be able to shift into your big gorgeous wolf-form, easy as instinct?" Zaid sucked his teeth; whatever Una's measured reply, he looked wondrous. "Marvelous, just marvelous. As if you couldn't get any more cooler, darling."

A compliment that Zaid meant, although he said it in a teasing way so it wouldn't put Una on the spot.

Technically, raw protein didn't have to mean terrible. Granted, Zaid was thinking of a fully cleaned and dressed animal. Halal even, if one wanted to go there. A wolfy-Una likely had no time to field-dress her...meals, before she'd crunched into them. Skin, bones, guts and all. Zaid made a matter-of-fact 😬face as he inhaled, then stated, "Takes the raw foods and nose-to-tail movements to a whole new level, innit."

He was glad Una didn't mind his curiousity. "So what about human food? Still appetizing?"

Zaid shrugged, not really finding shame in not getting along with others. He hardly did; he told himself it never bothered him. As long as they could work together; and since he and Baskar didn't work a kitchen, there was little need to play nice about their mutual disdain.

But he did pay attention to the nature of these messages, from Una's more holistic view. "I'd...never thought of that. Mean-spirited messages. And - oh! And how - who - how did anyone know these secrets, yeah? Baskar's secret wasn't from their past, but mine was, before the island. Yours too? A secret on the island, or before?"

Productivity: a keyword in his old online sessions with Una Thorne. Like any word, 'productivity' had positive and negative aspects. In this case, Zaid felt everything they'd done and chatted about was productive, extraordinarily satisfying. And Una's delight in response to the welding efforts skyrocketed Zaid's confidence.

He started to see the potential for artistry, in what he'd done. Welding-wise, he'd basically made his first grilled cheese. Messy, quick, uncomplicated. But all crafts could be fine-tuned, with practice, practice, failure, practice, and more failure.

Was there really much difference? Sure, his powers were dangerous. But a hob could also burn skin off flesh. A knife could slice through hands and arms.

Through Una's enthusiasm, Zaid started to see...potential.

"Lightening glass...how do you know so much about so much," he chuckled, the question rhetorical. Riding that wave of success-euphoria, Zaid wasn't prepared for Una's next question.

Meant to be casual, curious. But all Zaid could think about was -

-- Ash, her arm completely melted away, half her face and side gone as she lay seemingly dead in Zaid's arms --

-- the Florida-man, smelling of charred pork, a blubbering mass of black and pink and red and - and Adarsh, healing him --

-- the fear in Tej's face, when Zaid blew apart everything in the forest around him - and very nearly destroyed Tej himself.

"I destroyed a table," Zaid blurted, feeling like he'd just bitten raw rabbit. "At the Hub. No one - no one was hurt."

Zaid dropped the metal, and started looking for more. "Right - well experiment done, yeah? Now we should try actually making the thing we wanted to make. I can do it, Una. I promise you, I'll - I'll..."

Responsible Una, protecting others by building her own jailcell. A horrid thought occurred to him. "You're not building this to...live in it, are you? It's just for when your - the monster, erm. Happens, right?"

"When I'm in one form or another, certain things feel instinctual... But the shift between the two needs more of a focus to - uh - trigger it? And this 'partial' thing certainly takes a whole lot more effort to sort of... Transform bits. Way harder to hold without either going all the way or snapping back. A lot of practicing. And quite a few failures."

She admits with a shrug. She had been careful about it though, making sure that during her experimentations, none of the 'other' form had crept in. Dancing a line between human and wolf was skirting a little close to the monster form and Una absolutely doesn't want to tempt any of that to the surface.

But then Zaid seems to catch up with her somewhat hinted at dietary requirements that have been rather modified of late. The wolf wasn't so inclined to a nice sweetcorn soup. Or a carb rich platter.

"Mmmhm."

She agrees softly as the revelation hits.

"Definitely a lot more... Uhm... Raw protein on the menu. I suppose, on the plus side... I seem to be able to digest it easily."

After the 'rabbit' thing... Una had been somewhat concerned about how her very 'human' stomach might deal with what the wolf had previously consumed, but rather than making her ill, she'd felt perfectly fine. No feeling sick. No adverse reactions. No bouts of gastroenteritis. Which makes her wonder how much her different forms were actually impacting each other.

She is a little taken aback as Zaids rather immediate reaction to the mention of Baskar. And at the notion of the two of them butting heads. But again, it's not her place to judge. Not everyone was going to enjoy the company of everyone else. And on the island, were people were forced into somewhat more immediate proximity, the things people found abrasive in others were likely to be amplified.

"Oh, well that's a shame."

She responds quietly to the notion of them not seeing eye to eye. But there's no judgement cast. Una, for her part - really does enjoy the company of both.

"I'm not sure anyone likes having their private and personal things laid bare for others. No matter what they are. Or perhaps just having them revealed before they have the chance to work up enough trust with another to speak of them openly themselves."

"I'm sure many of them would have made their way into the light naturally at some point. But the forced nature of this feels... Somewhat mean. Horribly spiteful."

A twist of lips and a sigh. The old Una would have reveled in the chaos and conflict... Likely finding some way to manipulate things in her favour... This Una though just feels awful for those who were finding the whole thing difficult.

"I can only hope that whatever cruelty people feel might have been done to them with these revelations, they can rise above it. Be honest and open and put all of this 'secret' business behind them."

Only a small huff of breath, dropping the subject as Zaid does. Stepping back as she's instructed and looking on with no small degree of fascination as Zaids gloop plasma spews forth. Having not been witness to Zaids ability before, she's quite - stunned... Having to turn her head at one point to shield against the bright white flashes of searing metal, feeling the heat even from here. And even in the aftermath - as Zaid goes to examine his 'work', Una has to take a minute to even comprehend...

...Even though she can change her shape, bones and muscle reforming - she's still amazed that in Zaid appears whole and well and is not in any way singed or apparently worse for wear.

"Wow... That's.... That's quite something."

A quiet huff of words as she approaches slowly. Not examining the metal, rather looking at Zaid's hand. No burns. No damage.

"Are you okay? Do you feel alright?"

It worked. He did it. Una suddenly rounding to the success of Zaids achievement.

"Oh, Zaid - this is wonderful!!! There's no way the... (beast)... That it... That... I... Could break through that. Look at what you can do! You're amazing!"

It's a note of hope that had been lacking in Una's voice for a while now. But this is it!!! They can keep people safe! From Una, at least.

Then Zaid draws her attention to the substance formerly known as 'sand'.

"It's like lightening glass. Enough heat and, it melts... I... Have no idea how hot sand needs to be to turn into glass other than... Very. My goodness. This is remarkable."

She resists the temptation to touch. Even though the rising steam clouds are dissipating, the metal is still cooling from white to red - scalding to the skin... With small 'tink-clink-pings' clearly audible as the sheets of steel cool and contract.

"What else have you managed to do?"

[zaidshair]

Zaid chuckled, as Darcy was there, fawning all over him. He amended to himself: she wasn't like a concerned family member, that was the wrong way to think about her attention. She was perhaps more like a scientist, who'd grown a little attached to her specimen. Not wanting bad results in her experiments, but...if they happened...? Well, that was just how science worked.

At least she had learned something from it.

Oddly, Zaid thought he'd be pissed off about being treated like an experiment, but it wasn't as bad as he thought. Less frustrating than being treated with disgust, or mockery, or fear. The fear he'd seen in Tej's eyes the first time...that had cut deep.

"Yes, yes feel me," he encouraged this time, as Darcy patted his face and arms. "Cool to the touch, yeah? Like I didn't just explode a cartload of white goop into the water. And that's what's so fucked up about it, darling - it's gone. Ey? It's not like lava, what cools into rock. It's not even like snot, blown out of you. It just...what. Evaporates?"

Zaid was feeling much better now, his body tired but wired; like he'd just finished a 16-hour day, then snorted a shitload of cocaine right after. He stretched, luxuriating in Darcy's discerning attention.

"Can we circle back now, to yours?" Zaid said, as he stepped out of the water, pointing towards the trees once more. "You said the shadows...call to you if there's somewhere else to, erm, teleport to? How does that sound? How can you just trust that, erm, call?"

"Yeah, basically. Not fully sure how it works from the outside, but I imagine it's like stepping through a door, just one part of it is here and the other is wherever I go." It didn't feel like stepping through a door, but how it felt and how it must have looked from the outside was completely different.

Darcy's stomach dropped for a moment, thinking of limbs severed and the pain that shot through her and Calamity the one time she attempted to take somebody with herself, but she pushed the memory away. It didn't happen, thanks to Calamity. "Yeah, definitely don't want to leave limbs behind. Nor any small part of myself.

"And yeah, I kind of have to know where I am going, but if there is no shadow to step to, I just-- I can't do it. When I wanna do it, I feel the shadow and I feel it calling me. So I know there is a destination. The hard part is discerning if it's the same destination I want to go to or someplace else. And the stronger and darker the shadow, the easier it is to tell the differences."

It was interesting, how mere moments ago they were yelling at each other, ready to bite off each other's head and now Zaid was the one suggesting they come back here at night to see Darcy's powers. It was the kind of attitude Darcy appreciated and filed away - no matter what happens, when they are talking about getting things done on the island, Zaid would be willing to do it and work with Darcy. Which meant more than being besties at all times.

Zaid came into focus then, his power building and building in the sun and Darcy wished she had a notebook with her to take down every little detail, everything Zaid said, all the changes she witnessed - then again, she doubted there would be anything she'd forget anytime soon. "Adarsh isn't too bad - and maybe the healing will give him a chance to bond more with others. But having him around when we do practices with you is a good idea. His power is one of those that you don't really want him to have the chance to be able to practice, the less we all get injured the better, but yeah, it would be a good precaution."

As much as she promised she'd get away in time, when Zaid told her to get away, Darcy was reluctant - maybe she could see something that could turn it all back that could help Zaid not blow up if he didn't want to. Or maybe there was a sign that would be extremely important to unlock some other part of his powers!

But if she got blown to pieces, she wouldn't be able to figure anything out, so after a split second hesitation, she quickly stepped back while Zaid stumbled over to the water. But she remained as close as she felt comfortable to be able to watch it all happen. The first time she experienced it all, she was caught unaware and she couldn't really take any of it in, there was no way she would make the same mistake twice!

And maybe it was weird, but Darcy thought it just looked beautiful, as the light overcame Zaid and the explosion happened in the water, only a push of force with some specks of water reaching Darcy this time. Maybe not something she should share with Zaid. She waited one, two, three seconds to give Zaid a chance to catch his breath and then she rushed in, already by his side when he asked if she was okay. "No, no, you didn't hurt me, don't worry, that was-- how are you feeling?" Once again she was touching his forehead, feeling his skin, his heat, noting the water being extremely hot around her calves as the waves lapped.

"How are you feeling? Relief, I am assuming. But what else? Did it hurt? Are you hurt? Are you feeling energized? Do you feel like you could build up to it again if you had to? Even the smallest of things could matter."

[zaidshair]

Acting without thinking. "We both do," Zaid tightly retorted, clipped like a stapler. But then his tone faded again, soft and contemplative. "...for different things."

Different but the same. Roles assumed, roles reversed. Was it easier for other couples, were there shorthands and boundaries made to whom did and enacted what, until the end of time? Zaid wasn't sure if he wanted their relationship to be like everyone else's, or distinctly, proudly, frustratingly unique.

Not that they had a relationship now, of course.

"Yeh - you're actually capable of being cruel to me. So difficult to believe, I know! I know I'm the cruel one. Or - my wickedness trumps anything you've every done. I regret so much about how it all went downhill, and I'll never forgive myself for what happened at Montauk...but that won't bring her back." Somewhere in Zaid's tirade he went from initial sarcasm to, once again, soft and pained. "I won't ask for your forgiveness, Tej. I - I should never."

Followed Tej in here? Zaid once again swung back to incredulous, heated when Tej straight-up called him a liar. "How dare you. Honestly, Tej. The amount of things you fabricate could be made into an entire soft sculpture! These ideas about me - where do you even get them? Is it Steve? Fucking Steve here, chatting shite about me? Steve was -" my friend too! But was Steve? Or was he just a convenient 'say it ,sister' wall for Zaid to beat his head against?

Tej dramatically hurled accusations as the TV monitors blipped, but their hazy actions startled Zaid back for to their current situation. "Oh shut up, will you! It was a fucking giant hornet, I thought it would attack us. You'd already been stung and - forget it. Never mind." Zaid shoved past Tej (he didn't need to touch Tej, there was ample room to go around the other man, but....but. Bloody Selin and her 'leave poor sweet innocent Tej alone' advice.)

"The fuck is going on here, did you switch them on?" Behind him, Zaid heard Tej making some demonstration; when he looked back, Tej had a handful of cables. "Tej, no!"

(Tej, no! A short phrase used so many times. Sometimes between scandalized laughs; other times in genuine fear, when Tej spontaneously performed some daredevil stunt. Sometimes a coy fib, meant to entice Tej to touch him more, whisper more dirty things, distract Zaid more. One tool with so many uses.)

But Tej was frozen, staring at a monitor in shock, not at Zaid with smugness. Zaid looked back; and gasped. He stumbled backwards as if the scene on the TV would reach out of the screen towards them. Zaid settled against Tej's taut arm, that distinctive warmth fitting down the dip in Zaid's back.

Mango. It was Mango, of the back alley behind it! A line cook lighting a cigarette, a boy Zaid didn't recognize, and -

Zaid blinked, and the beach CCTV camera was back again.

He blinked one more time, and a shadow flickered outside them, on the catwalk. On Tej's soft command, Zaid shot forward like a guard dog.

"Oi! Oi, stop right there!" he yelled, charging forward. His panicked mind connecting teasing shot of Mango, with some prankster outside. Zaid clambered up to one of the windows with a latch, jiggling it. The shadow was on the opposite side; it paused, as if heeding Zaid's order.

But Zaid struggled with the door-window's latch. It was rusted, unused, flaking with paint like someone had tried to paint it over decades ago. "Tej! Help me get this open. And you - you stay right where you are, mate! You and me are gonna have a chat about what the fuck is happening here!"

Zaid wasn't stupid. Yet spoke as though a terrible misunderstanding kept them apart for months. Or simply and quite by accident someone left the front door open, and the cat got out.

Tej did not believe this, that the myriad of reasons for the silence were incomprehensible to Zaid. The fact Zaid said it... for months... made Tej seriously consider pursuing a civil case, as a friend suggested. Once they were back...

Another subject of disbelief: Zaid had no curiosity to pause the swing of a hammer, not even for a few stunned seconds? A little wry huff from Tej. "And I was always accused of acting without thinking..."

Stop being cruel to me. A loud, short burst of a laugh bounced around the room. "Cruel? You joking?" Childishly taking over Tej's bungalow was cruel, in his book. (So was kissing Tej, a very specific cruelty)

"Oh, you want to talk now? You said you didn't trust me, Zaid. That you took her because you didn't trust me. What else is there to talk about, huh?" A beat. "That, what you said. That's actually cruel, by the way."

Zaid also did a shit job of trying to avoid Tej, which by now was crystal clear as they stood facing each other. Again.

In an exasperated, soothing gesture, Tej ground palms to his eyes, then wiped down his face. "You're trying to leave me alone, yet you followed me in here. Don't lie, you're such a terrible liar, it's insulting." Very obvious to Tej, of fucking course Zaid tailed him into the tower. So why did he feel a fever under the skin to hear Zaid admit it?

As Tej accused, the wide ring of monitors around them blinked to life. White static-y snow appeared on all screens. Tej thought he saw blips of a pattern in the visual noise: a wide, monstrous mouth opening for a silent scream.

Another blip, and every screen held a simultaneous shot of the beach. "Oh fantastic! The spy cams are working. What are you waiting for?" Tej drawled lazily. "Gonna smash these too? Go on." He wheeled around with the energy of someone desperately looking for a lifeboat on a sinking ship. Tej grabbed a small but hefty lantern and slammed it down dramatically next to one of the monitors. "There you go, have it it."

In another fit of annoyance (his own, to bother Zaid, perhaps both) Tej followed a bundle of wires to the point they threaded through the floor, presumably to a power source.

"Look, I'll help!" Tej crouched down and began to pull on a thick vine of power cords in an attempt to disconnect everything around them. As he did, the camera images displayed on the screens flickered again.

This time, a camera sat positioned on a roof of a building, with its eye trained on a narrow alley. Someone in white exited a back door, walked several paces from a fully loaded dumpster, turned to lean against a wall and lit a cigarette. But the shot was blink-and-you-miss-it brief, and the beach appeared again.

Tej froze in place. Not because of what was on the monitors, but because a shadow passed outside the graffiti covered windows surrounding them. His voice lowered to a whisper. "Someone's out there, Zaid. Check and see who it is."

[zaidshair]

"Teleport between different shadows..." Zaid repeated, trying to wrap his mind around this idea. "So...as you step into a shadow, you're already stepping out of another one, somewhere else? But that'd mean you need to know where you're teleporting too. You can't do it blindly - what if there's no second shadow to teleport out of, would you get...stuck?"

The idea was slightly unnerving, but at least it was just Darcy who'd be affected. "Don't fancy the idea of finding bits and bobs of you here and there, just wriggling about waiting to be reassembled, love."

Zaid peered up into the sky, checking the sun. "I suppose we could come back here after sunset. See how much fun you can have then, yeah?"

Then it was his turn. Despite their earlier row, he actually felt okay putting on this performance for Darcy's curiousity. And she was so curious; she wouldn't listen to his warnings, or rather she had little fear about it. She'd been one of the first to see what he could do, so Zaid knew Darcy wouldn't underestimate.

"Maybe we should have Adarsh on-hand during practice bouts, in case I injure you. His powers are healing, if you can imagine. Man like that, being able to heal others?" Zaid snorted. "Couldn't have gone to someone with a kind, sweet temperament, could it?"

But Zaid was just bitching to take up time, as he remained in the sun, feeling increasingly nauseated. Darcy feeling him for fever, of all things, like a concerned family member. "My...my eyes don't hurt. Everything just goes...colourless, but I can still see. I can see you - Darcy - you're too close! Get away!"

Zaid batted at her (foolishly; he shouldn't touch her!) and stumbled towards the water when it felt like he couldn't hold it in any longer. Why was he even trying to hold it in? Just release - only the last time he did that, he nearly killed a man. Something he couldn't tell Darcy.

And maybe roping Adarsh into this project wasn't a good idea either, considering Adarsh had to save that man's life.

Zaid exploded in the water, steam hissing and the hot-white expunging causing a brief circle of dryness around Zaid, as if the sea parted around him. It only lasted a second or two, before water filled around him. He didn't seem to be bothered by the boiling water, just increasingly more and more relieved as he purged himself.

Eventually, hesitantly, Zaid turned to face Darcy. "Are...you okay, love? I didn't hurt you, did I?"

Darcy stepped back to the same place she started from and headed back to Zaid, frowning for a second at his question. Did he think that she went-- right into the shadow? "Oh, no, no, it's not-- I just went further into the trees and you couldn't see me cause of that, I wasn't actually in the shadow. Even though that would be pretty cool.

"Basically I just teleport between different kinds of shadows. The stronger and darker the shadow, the easier I can step between them. During night is the easiest and I have the most control, but I am getting better and better during the day, too. Still, there's a difference. And it's what I want to practice, too. Get as good as possible with as little shadow as possible. And taking people with me, that's the other one."

Part of her wasn't going to stop thinking about stepping into the shadow itself somehow, too. Could she do it? If she got her control up, could she try without splitting herself in half?

Darcy tabled the thought. For now.

He blew up a little earlier, Zaid said, but still, they were certainly pushing the kind of buttons that would have resulted in Zaid blowing up a couple of months ago. She got him to blow up for much less, so he was making progress, even if he wasn't noticing it himself. "Yeah, if you're okay with that, let's see how long it takes for you to charge up," she eagerly agreed, but despite him telling her not to get closer to him, she did exactly just that, crouching down in front of him to look him up and down.

"I'm going to get away, just tell me a few seconds before it's happening, okay? A little test to see just how you can understand it all inside of you," she teased him, her eyes not leaving him. "But I want to see what it does to you from close. Get some signs that maybe if we pass around, others can notice and you can feel safer in the sun and such." And she was just curious, okay? She really just wanted to know how his powers worked, what kind of effects it had on him.

"How are you feeling? Is it a little bit different every time? Or does it more or less feel the same?" she asked while his expression started to get a bit redder, his skin just seeming paler, asher, sicker, really.

"May I?" she asked, indicating towards him. He said he was charging up, so she placed the back of her hand against his forehead - he was definitely heating up, but that could have been the sun in general. After she held his wrist a bit, finding his pulse and finding it speeding up. "Feeling sick already?"

It was partly just luck that she noticed - she looked up at his face just when he blinked and Darcy stopped in her tracks for a second. His eyes were almost completely white at this point, but she's already noticed that the last time he blew up, but it wasn't just that. "Close your eyes for me, please," she said, voice urgent, and then she couldn't help the excited grin on her face (completely forgetting that he was getting closer and closer to a release). "Shining eyes take a whole new meaning with you, Zaid. Even through your eyelids, the shine is visible, that's fascinating. Can you feel anything different with your eyes? Does it hurt? Can you see better? Or worse, actually?"

[zaidshair]

what is your super power? atmokinesis

[zaidshair]

TASK O3: YOU COOK WIV WHAT?!

If Zaid did build his fame through Youtube, he would've gained a following by rating and talking about kitchen gadgets. Sounds boring at first, but it was all his innuendo and that Northern accent and wit, mixed with Asian quirks that pulled in the subscribers. He racked up huge followings in the UK; and interestingly, a lot of Brazilian viewers.

Every now and again he'd convince his roommate? Cousin? Friend? Boyfriend? on an episode to do reviews of the more naughty gadgets, mostly for Tej's reaction and reviews, which could get scathing (mostly at Zaid's expense, but he loved it. Because ratings! The algorithm loved guest Tej).

Eventually he had to shut his channel down after his book tour went south, literally. Zaid got in a physical altercation - ALLEGEDLY - with a supposed 'fan' in Perth, Australia at a book signing. ALLEGEDLY involving his companion Tej. The case is still on-going; and until then, You Cook Wiv What?! has remained silent for a few months.

[zaidshair]

The dismissal, while still curdling Zaid's stomach, was not surprising. During their agonizing downfall, there was plenty of petty sarcasm and passive-aggressiveness (and full aggressiveness) salting between them. Clear memories surfaced, and Zaid realized: Tej was technically right. In New York, Zaid hustled non-stop. It was fun and sexy at first, until it led to neglect. Forgetting important things at home, about Tej. Prioritizing everything else above him.

Mango was hard work too, so much grind, effort, time. But...why was it just so much easier than Chutney? A mystery, a formula that Zaid could never solve, not even in therapy sessions with Una Thorn.

But that was the past. What Zaid did not expect was Tej laying into him after all these days. Zaid had fled Tej's bungalow, leaving him to his beloved private personal exclusive space for good. Had Tej actually been replaying that moment, all this time?

But did Tej actually come to seek Zaid out to lambast him? No; Zaid had to approach Tej first, and get an earful for the chance encounter.

Was Selin even right, about Tej wanting to be left completely and severely alone? Zaid had tried; but facing this beautiful storm now, tall and dark and so enticing, Zaid was utterly confused.

But first, Inika. Tej, standing here, close but so far away. And speaking about Inika. "You wouldn't talk about her to me for months..." Zaid murmured softly. "For months after - after Montauk." And now?

"I - I only saw her as I was bringing the bloody hammer down, love. Honest, I thought the bloody thing was coming to attack us, then I saw...her. Weren't even sure you saw her too, but by then I were already swinging. Fuck..."

Zaid pressed a hand to his brow. Was it possible to wish they never had to talk about this ever again, and yet simultaneously be relieved they were talking about this forbidden subject? "Stop being cruel to me. Just stop it! You'll never forgive me and you want to be left alone. I'm trying!"

Hullo.

Not a speck of dust on the monitors. Or the control panels that connected to the monitors. Tej looked over from one. Really, he glanced over as soon as he heard a lovely, familiar scrabble up the stairs. If separated for one hundred years, he'd still be able to imitate the hurried rush of steps up the stairs. Played out in their own melody, and he wished to be more musically inclined to pick out the notes of each footfall on a piano.

You alright?

The hesitation in Zaid's steps telegraphed he saw Tej, and thought of fleeing. Of fucking course.

See anything interesting?

Tej finally spoke after several long seconds. "Oh, you're staying? Sounded like you were about to turn around and go." Like Zaid used to. Early service, short a sous chef, whatever the (perceived) excuse he'd heard so often. Tej's hand flipped out to suggest it could still be an option, to leave.

Slow steps away from the control panels and more to the center of the room. Hands rested light and low on the waistband of his pants as he spat out as if something truly disgusting took place in the bungalow. "You know what we saw."

His voice lowered into a bitter pit of bile. "What if she was trying to-- what if this place was trying to tell us something! About. What happened!" Not like Tej to dance around an issue, the preference for bluntness his usual. Inika's name was tough, had been tough all those months. As difficult as standing before this man he once treasured.

"But you smashed it all to hell. Killed it quick. To spite me, for being in my own home." Perhaps Tej drifted personally off course with that, but whatever. "Because no one knows shit around here but Zaid Shair. He's right. He's special. He can do no wrong." (Zaid Shair, a name as soft and cozy as a favored blanket. Now feelings between them had grown worn and threadbare, Tej convinced himself, and-- Steve was right. Time to throw it all out.)

[zaidshair]

Zaid wasn't sure he was relieved or disappointed when Una seemed to exhale, and let her features smoothen back out to normal. Zaid always had a fascination with the slightly grotesque. It was what made Tej's 'trash' art so intriguing to him, especially his early work. And food was often grotesque, the perception of some cultural food in particular, in the North. A lupine-woman - who Zaid trusted, knew to be a good person - was a sight to behold.

"You've been practicing, or does it all come...instinctively? The measures of shifting, I mean," Zaid asked, curiously.

He mistook Una's first flush as righteous anger, given she only ate fish. Zaid immediately made excuses. "I mean! To each their own, yeah? And I'm privileged enough I can make sure my meat's always well-treated and all. But you..." Zaid realized then: wolves ate meat. Not just fish, but meat. Right? He flushed too, feeling stupid. "Dear me. The wolf in you."

Una's second blush only made Zaid grin. "You know what a furry is? He wasn't really my mate; Tej had an eclectic friend's circle." Plenty of friends circles, his Tej. (Not his Tej. Anyway.)

He crowed when Una mentioned Baskar. "They got your secret, oh right. How'd little Baskar take it, if you don't mind me asking? It's just funny - because I got Baskar's secret, yeah. Poor little cunt didn't take it too well. Sorry - sorry, I mean 'cunt' in the nicest way, I promise. But Baskar and me don't exactly see eye-to-eye, is all."

Zaid shrugged, "I won't spill, but. Between you and me, love, Baskar's secret weren't even all that bad. Nowt to be ashamed about."

A shift of focus to the work at hand, as Una showed Zaid the pieces of metal. Zaid stared, uncomprehending until Una actually spelled it out.

Arc-welder. Whatever the fuck that was. Zaid knew the basics of course: heat fused metal together. Tej (fucking Tej! Why did he have to keep coming up?!) probably knew how to weld things, for his art pieces. The biggest blowtorch that Zaid ever held, was kitchen-grade for crisping pan-fried greens.

"Erm. Plasma?" he queried, considering the term. So far he'd been using bodily functions: snot, gob, jizz. 'Plasma' was far more dignified. "Plasma hot enough to fuse metal..." He did melt metal off that hornet, with Chance.

Zaid reached into himself, feeling the swirl of rearranged molecules, the nausea that came with it. He closed his eyes to concentrate; when he opened them, they were hot white, glowing like coals. "Right. Let's give this a try yeah? Step back, Una. Like...far, far back."

Looking towards the bits of metal, Zaid extended a hand, trying to drive the 'plasma' towards it, He grit his teeth and -

It burst from his hand like a ketchup bottle unstoppering. A spurty explosion that enveloped the metal in a burst of white plasma and smoke. When it dissipated, Zaid rushed forward to inspect his work.

"Oh fuck me. Una!" Using a cloth, Zaid picked up one side of the metal. The other bit was stuck to it as they'd wanted but...so was weird scaley chips of foggy glass. "I fused sand to it too!"

The tension in Zaid was noticable, but she doesn't mention it. Rather just releases him from the embrace quickly so as not to extend his discomfort. Though that discomfort could easily have been from her appearance more than anything else. Some macabre mish-mash of human-wolf thing. She can only guess that it's quite a disturbing sight. But - given that it took an extreme amount of concentration and effort to hold, it was only fleeting moments before her features were once again 'normal'.

Zaid explains that he's a 'meat-man' and it's all Una can do to keep the quick flush of embarrassment from her face. Zaid's red-meat diet was probably the finest cuts of steak, prepared with the utmost skill and care - not an unfortunate bunny that happened across the path of something with more instinct than she'd really like to think about. Not to mention, his was probably.... cooked.

The embarrassment is overshadowed with amusement though - a wry smile curling onto Unas face - "I know what a furry is, Zaid."

She doesn't expand any further as to how she came by that knowledge - lets just leave some things to speculative imagination.

She does nod solemly though when Zaid mentions that he'd found the person with his secret. She doesn't ask what it is.

"Mmhm. Mine referred to my incarceration. Dear Baski was most surprised to learn that the 'jail-bird' was me. I fear it may have upset them a little."

"What about the secret you received... Did you ever find out who it belonged to?"

But - to business...

Una beckons Zaid over to the construction site. It's going well and it's sturdy, but there are weak points, and if she knows this, then the beast will likely know too. That's something she can't afford to risk.

"Good that you've been practicing. I'm sorry that it makes you feel so sick, but - there may be a way that you can... uh... expunge that build up practically."

Shuffling off to one side, Una returns with two smaller pieces of metal (she doesn't want to risk Zaid melting the cage on his first try, and this was experimental at best). Laying the pieces out on the ground a little way from the cage, she overlaps the edges slightly.

"It's like a lava... plasma... Yes? Now, you just tell me if you don't feel comfortable trying this and we'll just forget about it. But -- I thought, perhaps the heat and substance you can produce could just be a boon for our little project here."

"I have the sneaking suspicion you may be a fantastic arc-welder, Zaid. No solder needed."

She gestures to the sheets of metal.

"If you could try a line where they touch - we might be able to solve this 'beast' problem."

[zaidshair]

Wow. Zaid had to admit, he was impressed. He expected Darcy to devolve into a pout or a tantrum when he tried to shut it all down. Her feelings weren't acknowledged, or maybe she needed to be right for once in her dreary little life. Even just tell him to piss off, and walk away from it all, decide he was a miserable little wanker who wasn't worth her time.

Darcy did none of that, none! She too, took a step back, took a deep breath or two, her gaze strong, intent and...calm. For a brief moment, Zaid found Darcy incredibly irresistible and attractive (she was a handsome woman already, but now he felt attracted to her too), and he almost smiled, despite the situation. Zaid held it in, though, just watched her carefully, and admired her silently.

She kept her cool, she dialed it down, and she carried on just as he'd suggested they do. Did Darcy realize how rare this quality was? Zaid knew. In a heated arena like a fine dining restaurant kitchen, he knew that pressure could make people crumble or explode. Darcy did neither.

Instead, she marched towards the shady area to show her powers. Zaid followed, instantly curious. That Alka Selzer relief of not having to argue or defend himself about family, made him triple-enthused for seeing what Darcy could do. He watched her standing there, then eventually...drift into nothing. Like her body stepped forward, but didn't just become shadowed. It...disappeared.

Darcy called out a tease, and Zaid barked a loud laugh of astonishment. "You can talk from...where ever you are? What's it like? What do you see when you're, erm, inside the shadows??"

She slid back into visibility, smooth as honey and Zaid couldn't help but offer applause. "You've got brilliant control, love. What else would you need to practice?"

As for himself, he perched on a rock, to do a self-check. He was feeling...nauseated, a bit swirly on the inside. "I'd, erm...exploded a little before we'd met up to do this. And honestly, sometimes it feels like I'm a battery what needs to recharge, after it's all expended. But I'm not sure what charges me up. Just...living and walking about. More when I'm outdoors, though." He squinted at Darcy under the sunlight.

"Last time it built up quick, I was sitting outside on a rock, in the sun. Sort of like this. Shall we try it again? Fair warning though - if I tell you to run, you must obey, alright? Don't come near me."

Just like that. So easy for the both of them to get over themselves, and move forward. Zaid was going to remember this, about Darcy.

Before she got to the beach, it was Darcy who always kept her cool - nothing else was simply allowed. If she got mad, if she let herself loose her head, it would just draw more attention, she'd slip out some kind of information that she wasn't supposed to. So she kept quiet and kept her head down.

But now, she wondered - was it because her self-control was so good or was it because nobody knew a single thing about her and thus didn't have a clue what buttons to push. (Except for one person, of course, who knew just the right buttons to push and now he was gone and thinking of him still after all this time hurt even though none of it fucking should.)

(It was also absolutely the second, though in the moment she wasn't really willing to admit it.)

She would have loved to say that if Zaid didn't deescalate, she would have, but she wasn't completely sure if she would have had it in her. She wanted to believe it, though, so she just pushed past the question and took a couple of steps back, took a couple of deep breaths as she stared at Zaid. No questions or mentions of family and it goes both way. "That sounds like a fair agreement, i'm okay with that."

Her doing a demonstration of her own powers was probably a good way to get back to not yelling at each other, she she nodded and looked around, and stepped a bit further back, closer to the treelines at the edge of the obsidian beach where there was shade.

She closed her eyes, took a couple of deep breaths and let herself be guided by the call of the darkness from the darkness among the actual trees. One, two, three seconds passed while she waited, let the pull get stronger, became sure she was heading to the right direction, and then she let herself get pulled and when she opened her eyes, she was a couple of trees deep into the forest.

"Pretty cool, yeah?" she called out and just for fun, instead of just walking back, she stepped through the shadows again to the place where she started off of. "I have a pretty good control at this point when it comes to easier distances and directions, but one can't practice enough."

Speaking of practice-- she looked down at her shoes for a second before glancing back up and carefully saying, "You didn't blow up, not sure if it registered for you yet." And she was sure pushing some buttons.