A Glimmer of Light (Chris)

[cage]

This life was exhausting. Begging was exhausting. The beating sun and the roaring streets were exhausting, and Leslie's battling thoughts were ruthless, absolutely relentless. Almost as much as the shadows were terrifying, her other personalities judgmental thoughts were cruel to her. It was that time again today, time to leave all sense of dignity the child had there in the alley she had been sleeping in, and beg for food. She had been much less successful than usual in the last few days and it was beginning to weigh down on her spirits, though there were many things playing into that. Her mental disorders were not easy ones for a girl her age to fight alone and she was fading fast, falling prey to those personalities.

Her knees shook as she stood from the large broken tire she had been sleeping in. She attempted to wet her chapped lips but to no avail, and she ran her fingers through her blonde hair as if it would help her presence at all. She set off from her home toward the streets. Maybe this time she would be lucky. Maybe she would run into that very nice singing woman again, or someone would have a morsel to spare for her. Hiding her sunken expression the best the young girl could, she traveled toward the more busy parts of the city where there would be more people to interact with.

Shakily Leslie mustered what charisma she could, swallowed what little pride she had, and she begged for a meal, a drink of water, any spare change that people might have, anything they could spare. Times were hard for many people at the time, when most really weren't lying when asked if they had anything they could spare, even for this young homeless girl.

For a few hours she had been at it, and at a few points, her body had even given out and she had fallen on the broken pavement and scrapped herself up a bit. The scrapes could just be added to her attire of dirt and grime, but she didn't give up she couldn't. Even her personalities seemed to feel sorry for her that days as there hadn't been one harsh peep out of either of them, except for one.

"Don't give up, Leslie, keep trying, someone has to be able to help you." Leslie nodded, her chin hitting the pavement a bit as she trembled trying to get up from the pavement.

[q]

It was pay day for Chris. What he was paid was unimpressive, but it was all his own, gained through his own effort. There was something about that he found satisfying. His good mood would last all day; the money would run out later. He could think about it then. Right now, his thoughts were filled with second-hand screwdrivers and a soldering iron and maybe some spare screws. He was fairly sure he was running out. Even if he wasn't, he would buy some anyway. They were one of those fiddly little commodities that one could never have enough of. But maybe he could get a wrench instead. A lovely wrench, free from (most) rust, a tool that...

In the middle of this mental reverie, Chris fell spectacularly. Standing on his own shoelaces, he went flying, half-catching himself on his left elbow. The fall left him dazed for a few seconds. As he slowly stood up again, blinking to reassemble his thoughts, he saw her. It was a pathetic sight. That grubby girl sitting in her alleyway niche, begging something, anything that could keep her going. Chris was poor, had to miss a meal here and there, forage for scrap materials; but he wasn't as bad off as she was. He couldn't really afford to help her. The wrench, screws, or whatever else he bought that wasn't food would eat into what little money there was for sustenance. All the pennies he could save should strictly be invested into some kind of technology something that could help the Titans in the future. Logic said he should walk away.

Instead, he kept standing there, watching her with vague curiosity, thinking. The indecision had rooted him to the spot. But he started walking towards her. It was pay day, after all. It was practically a holiday. What kind of person would he be if he ignored the needy? He ought to spread the cheer.

"Hey. Er." He waved at her awkwardly, though by now he was standing only a couple of feet away. "Do you like bread?" He hadn't heard of anyone disliking bread, but he thought it worth asking. "I don't know if you're, um, allergic to gluten or just don't like bread or whatever, but I wanted to check." He paused. Charging into the middle of a chaotic situation was fine for him. A more small-scale problem like this, one with a less obvious solution? That was hard. "Because there's this bakery nearby, and if you're interested in bread, I could get you some. A whole loaf. You aren't going anywhere, are you? In the next five minutes, I mean," he added hurriedly. Even he realised that asking a homeless girl whether she was leaving her homeless nest was insensitive.

[cage]

Simply being was a struggle and Leslie was quite tired of it. Her personalities had almost given up on her it seemed as they randomly chimed in at all and while people were generous with what they could be, most just couldn't be. Yet in the midst of these thoughts to big for a girl at such a young age, a glimmer of hope shined through. Her eyes settled forth in their haze on a pair of shoes approaching. Her gaze traveled up the owner they belonged to and she saw that it was a young man witha look of concern, and that concern was for her.

Shakily, she pushed herself up on her palms and got to her feet. She was a willowy little thing with piercing eyes and an expression that sobbed her situation to the world. The man spoke to her and she perked up to listen. Bread? Did she like bread?

"Is this guy serious?" Leslie's scoffing thought went dually ignored and unpspoken as the man spoke of allergens. He offered to get her a whole loaf of bread and she froze staring at him with her mouth hanging open slightly.

"Say something, Leslie." she was reminded and she shook her head desperately before speaking hurriedly.

"Oh yes please! Anything you can spare, I'm not going anywhere. Thank you so much...I..."

"You're talking too much." her thoughts shushed her. Leslie stared at the pavement for a moment, her lips pursed together. She really wasn't sure what else she could say but she was so beside herself.

((OOC: Just incase the multi-dialogue is confusing, the violet is the stuff that Leslie actually says aloud. Also sorry about the shortness.))

[q]

Chris was unaware of any of the homeless girl's internal dialogue. The only thing the silence made him think was whether she really did have an allergy after all. Maybe it was a super allergy, something crazy that caused her skin to burst out in angry red welts if she so much as came in contact with bread crust, or...

"Oh yes please! Anything you can spare, I'm not going anywhere. Thank you so much...I..."

Chris berated himself. He had never even heard of a super allergy like that. And why would it be specifically bread crusts, anyway? It was far more likely to be milk.

"Okay. Well, um. I'll be right back, then. Shouldn't be more than five minutes."

And with that, he walked off to the bakery, the pay-day spring still in his step. Maybe he would get a loaf of bread for himself, too. They could sit together and talk about cloud formation and concrete and general science and...

His mood was dampened slightly when he saw the bakery. Closed. Apparently, the owner was busy getting married. He hesitated, but it wasn't long before he regained his cheer. There was that other bakery, not too far away. One closed bakery wasn't enough to stop a Titan like Chris. So he walked on for a couple more blocks.

The second bakery was open. Unfortunately, it seemed, he wasn't the only one that had thought buying a loaf of bread now was a good idea. A queue of people stood behind the counter, at the front of which was a woman who kept changing her mind. He went to the back of the queue, watching as the woman changed her mind yet again. Several people in front of him grumbled. Hopefully, this wouldn't take too long. He was rarely in a rush, but he had already been away from the homeless girl for fifteen minutes, and time wasn't going any slower. In most cases, being on time wasn't important. But he had said that he was going to be back in about five minutes. He felt bad when he pictured the girl, waiting for him to come back. Maybe she'd think he wasn't coming back at all. Glaring at the woman in front, he muttered any velocity-related equations he could think of under his breath, in the hope that she would hear them and go faster.

[cage]

Leslie planted herself on the street curb and waited, her eyes down and slightly ahead of her just barely in focus. This man was going to be very generous and she was so greatful and all she had to do was wait...just a little longer. Her stomach was practically screamnig from the pain of hunger and she shook her head trying her best to ignore it. Leslie waited for what seemed like hours and it had really only been about five minutes. To a child, time does not pass after all. More time eeked by and Leslie was simply staring at the ground, glued to the same spot.

"I think you should look elsewhere, Leslie." Her thoughts tried carefully, but she shook her head to dismiss them.

"He ain't coming back, stupid." Her eyes narrowed fighting back tears. If he couldn't help her, he should have just said so. Now when Leslie's emotions are elevated in any way, a very peculiar thing tends to happen around her. From seemingly nowhere, golden sparkles bounced up from the pavement and crystalized into tiny solidified droplets the shape of tears. The formed slowly at first, the sparkles small in number and hardly noticable by any onlookers save for the soft sound the bounces upon the pavement made.

At first the phenomenon caught very little attention, but as Leslie began to shed tears, the display of shining crystals gathered around her began to grow rapidly, sparkling in the afternoon sun, and almost as rapidly the crowd began to gather. This of course only made the young girl even more upset and as a result, her sobs became audible and the crystal shards grew in size. One woman even dared to step forward and snatch up a crystal in her hands to inspect it. In only a moment the crystal exploded into a small pool of glitter in the woman's hand and then disappeared entirely.

[q]

By the time Chris managed to get to the front of the queue, he had gone through so many speed and velocity equations that one such equation was the first thing out of his mouth.

"Er, sorry?" the man behind the counter said. Chris looked at him with mild confusion, until the rest of his brain caught up with his ears.

"Sorryertwoloavesplease." He slurred the words together as he spoke, pointing at the bread loaves displayed in a basket behind the counter. Practically throwing money at the man (he had made sure to count exact change from his pocket while he had waited), Chris hurried out of the store and down the street.

By the time he found the right street again, he had slowed down. Avia was right about the jogging thing. He really needed to do more running in a controlled environment. At least then he wouldn't be out of breath all the time. Briefly, he wondered why there were suddenly so many people around. Before, there had barely been any, but now a crowd was forming. It was strange, but not for long. As he pushed past the crowd, he looked up and realised what they were looking at. The strangeness of that sight explained the crowd. He hesitated, the bread still held under his arm. For a moment, the rest of the world was forgotten. All he had eyes for were the crystals. He wondered how they could just appear like that, maybe it had something to do with what they were made of? Something imbued inside them? Maybe they were falsely transparent somehow, a device hidden within, or maybe they were...

A crystal exploded into glitter in one woman's grasp, snapping Chris out of his technical trance. He tore his eyes from the crystals and that vanished glitter puddle that was really very interesting, how could it have exploded like that, maybe... No, he had to stop. He could think about it later, sitting down, eating bread with that homeless girl. But where was she? He had heard the crying, but hadn't connected it with the girl he had talked to before until he saw her, sobbing where he left her. Some people might have felt guilty. Chris only felt like he ought to get to her faster. Guilt was illogical. It wasn't his fault the bakery had closed, after all, nor did he have anything to do with all those slow people in the queue.

"Hey!" he called out, attempting to get closer without damaging any more crystals. It wasn't easy. Being clumsy was much more natural to him. "Bread! I have bread!" He tried waving at her, holding one loaf over his head like a trophy.

[cage]

Her nerves began to get to her as a very interested crowd began wandering in to inspect the source of the mysterious crystals. As a result the crystals began decreasing in number as Leslie's eyes widened in fear. Like the crystals, only on a larger scale, sparkles of golden color rose up in front of Leslie and behind her to form a very large figure. The figure looked a lot like a large glass sculpture of a great bird that was beginning to outstretch its wings, only to begin to fold them around the frightened girl.

"Careful stupid girl, isn't this how you got in trouble before?" Her thoughts attempted to act as a conscience and remind her of past events. People stared wide eyed, marveling at the structure guarding the girl, the feathers on the wings of the bird now elongating to encase her in a cage.

"Hey!"

A familiar voice called out, and Leslie peered out from behind the feathers of the large glass bird to see him coming toward her.

"Bread! I have bread!"

He came back. Her face lit up as the bird began to droop forward onto the girl turning into a metallic liquid and finally into a giant pile of golden sparkles that showered over her. It was if she didn't notice them at all. Her eyes were on the man entirely and as she stood from the curb, the sparkles had fully disappeared as if absolutely nothing peculiar had happened here at all.

"You actually came back." she stated breathlessly. What else was there to say? She certainly hadn't expected it. Her eyes fell to the bread hungrily and she licked her lips before her eyes flitted back to his face, her begging as obvious as a hound dog's.

[q]

Giving up with the more polite way to push past people, Chris had started giving them small shocks to jump out of the way, a simple touch to the shoulder with a bit of charge. He had put the other loaf down again, too distracted by the sight in front of him. Was that a... bird, maybe? It looked like a bird if he squinted a bit. A big glass birdish thing. It was remarkably like the crystals, an utterly fascinating phenomenon, coming out of nowhere. But then, the crystals had already started to fade. Oh, what I wouldn't do for some analytical equipment Chris thought with exasperation. This whole situation was like showing cake to a starving person, and putting unbreakable glass between the two.

And then, just like that, it was gone. By now, he had managed to reach the homeless girl, but he was still looking intently at the spot a couple of feet above her head. "Huh." All gone. He hadn't even gotten a picture. With any luck, someone else had, and would upload it later. He'd make sure to find something. The whole thing had been nothing short of bizarre. He was certainly going to investigate. "I suppose I did," Chris said, still trying to extract some kind of information out of the air. "Here," he added, offering her one of the loaves. For a few more seconds, he stood there, completely silent. It was a surprise there wasn't smoke coming out of his ears, with the speed his mental gears were whirring. But there was no point staring at nothing, he decided. Dropping down, he sat cross-legged in front of the homeless girl. The intense gaze was redirected at her, but it was another few seconds before he spoke.

"So. Tell me everything that happened. What were those crystals? Did you see what caused their initial formation? Were there any strange sounds, or maybe there was a flash or, or, I don't know, a man with a big box tossing seeds out? Something. And come to think of it..." He trailed off, eyeing that same spot in the air. "What was that bird thing? And why was it around you?" Why, oh why hadn't he brought some kind of measuring device? For all he knew, what he had missed was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of event. Stupid, stupid, stupid. He'd have to carry around a backpack in the future.

[cage]

The loaf of bread was offered to Leslie, the golden, shining, delicious treasure, and Leslie snatched it greedily, tearing the plastic away and breaking off a large piece. She stuffed the piece into her mouth and chewed in ecstasy, swallowing it way too fast. A mixture between that and the fact that the girl was already fairly dehydrated had her choking down her food. She didn't care at all and she simply kept consuming. Already she had downed a quarter of the loaf of bread before the man had even begun to speak.

Tears dried on her cheeks which were stuffed with the bread she was gnawing at, she stared blankly up at him as if she had no idea what he was talking about at all. Everything that had happened? Yes, Leslie was aware that these strange constructs just sort of happened around her, but she really had no idea why and to try to explain them to someone was an almost entirely hopeless feat. Bit by bit, she attempeted to swallow the mouthful of bread so that she could speak to him and explain just that.

"Yeah, Leslie, where do those crystals come from?" her thoughts pressed her rudely as she attempted to think about that.

"You've hurt a lot people because of those weird crystals, you know." her thoughts accused icily.

"I KNOW! I didn't mean to." Leslie quailed desperately. She gasped realizing she had said that aloud and that the man would probably think she was talking to him. "I mean, I know, they are sort of weird aren't they? I don't know why, they just kind of appear around me sometimes." Leslie grew quiet as if she were tattling on a friend, her expression dulling a bit, and her bottom lip coming out into a pout.

[q]

"Hmm." Chris barely noticed the homeless girl's ravenous joy as she attacked the bread. He was much too focused on the problem at hand. Mysterious crystals and other strange things appearing out of nowhere, and this girl kept seeing them? Why couldn't it happen around me? was his first thought, though he dismissed it quickly. Jealousy was irrational. He'd just have to be better than it, to use his logic to overpower it entirely. He'd definitely be there the next time, if he had to sit here all night. But then, that wasn't a guarantee. Perhaps it was a coincidence that these strange things were happening around this girl; he never devalued the idea of random fluctuations apparently following a pattern by the grace of probability alone. But it was easier to think of the coincidence as a correlation first.

And hadn't she said 'I didn't mean to'? So maybe...

"Is it you?" He finished, taking a few seconds to realise he had said it out loud. "I mean, er. Well. Is it? Making all those crystals... Can you make some now?" The questions were forceful, but he didn't mean them to be. He just liked getting to the bottom of a mystery. He didn't understand things from others' perspectives, didn't understand that some people might not like being questioned relentlessly or stared down by a craving for knowledge. If anything, he thought that she felt the same. Why wouldn't someone want to know the truth when the truth could be so fascinating, hold so much potential?

[cage]

Having managed to swallow all of the bread tht had been shoved into her mouth, Leslie froze as the man saw right through what she had said and seemed to suspect the same things that she did. The problem was that even if Leslie was somehow responsible for the strange occurances going on, she was certainly not doing it conciously. Yet, somehow, this man, even though he had barely seen the occurances having arrived at the last moment, he was able to derive that it was possible that this young girl was the possible source.

"Be careful about what you tell him Leslie." her thoughts warned her silently and for some reason Leslie found herself afraid. She began to shake vividly, her eyes tearing up threateningly.

"You wanna end up back at the asylum with doctor Phillis and the Shadows?" Leslie shook her head pouting to her unheard thoughts, her eyes placed on the man, but she was so alone and so afraid and she just had to talk to somebody!

"I didn't mean to!" the child whined, the weight of the upcoming tantrum threatening to surface. "I think I am doing it, but I don't know how. It just happens around me! I swear!" the sparkles began to form around her again forming into little raindrop shaped crystals. "Please don't let them take me! I don't want to go back!" she was sobbing desperately, certain that she was in trouble and that he was going to send her back to the asylum.

[q]

Chris had a flash of inspiration. There was almost no chance the crystals came from anywhere else other than this girl. But the source of her power could very well be alien. Or aliens, even. The doctor and the shadows could be alien lifeforms involved in experiments and this girl could be just one of their unfortunate victims, who...

No, that was silly. Well, maybe worth a little investigation. He'd file the thought away for later. Besides, there were more important things to worry about now. She seemed really upset, and he had a sinking feeling that it might have, just maybe, been a little bit his fault. Not very heroic at all.

"Okay. It's okay. I'm not taking you back anywhere. I don't know where 'back' even is, so finding 'back' would be a miracle of statistics. Sorry!" he added quickly, trying to cut off all the probability talk. "Sorry. It's just so... Interesting." He made an indistinct angry noise. "'Interesting' doesn't do it justice. It's like discovering a whole new colour no one else has ever seen. It's..." He had been reaching out a cautious finger to touch one of the nearby crystals, but stopped abruptly. With any luck, there would be time to examine those in detail later. With better equipment than just fingers. First, he had to fix the mess he'd made.

"Listen. You're not the only one. Weird things happen around me sometimes, too. It's not as impressive, but... Do you want to see?"

[cage]

The man insisted that she would be fine and that he would do nothing to take her "back" where she had come from. At least thats what she had gathered he had said. There was really no way to be certain. Leslie was a smart girl, but she was young, and this man used some awfully big words. Leslie also noted that the man apologized a lot, which she didn't really understand, though often she was forced to do so as well for her outbursts.

"Sorry. It's just so... Interesting. 'Interesting' doesn't do it justice. It's like discovering a whole new colour no one else has ever seen. It's..."

Leslie was calming down, sniffling back some of the tears as she watched him poke at some of the odd crystals. That was something she never really thought of those occurances, though she supposed they could be interesting. The thing was, in Leslie's condition, there were many things that were 'interesting' going on around her that only she could see. It was almost as though she wasn't sure she believed that people could see her crstal guardian or the rain. Maybe it was just this man who could see it.

"Listen. You're not the only one. Weird things happen around me sometimes, too. It's not as impressive, but... Do you want to see?"

Leslie's eyes widened and she perked up. That must have been it too. He was "dangerous" just like she was, he had to be. Leslie nodded excitedly as the crystal piles on the ground began to disappear into bursts of soundless golden sparkles. Was it possible then that he could see the shadows too? Leslie was a very confused young girl and it would have been great for her if there was someone out there, anyone who could see the same things she could.

[q]

Chris saw the crystals disappearing, but didn't say anything. Maybe it was emotions that triggered their appearance. She had been distressed both times they had been there, so it stood to reason. Maybe if she felt other extreme emotions, other things would appear. Or the crystals would be different colours. Or something. He'd ask her about it after.

"Here, hold this," he said, giving her the second loaf. He stood up, brushed himself off a bit, and eyed the people still milling around. He didn't really want to have them gaping at him in place of the crystals. It wouldn't do much for his secret identity. So he went further into the alley, found a nice shadowy section of wall, pressing both palms to it. He walked closer, until his nose was just about touching the concrete. For the last time, he glanced at the roads either side. It wasn't ideal, but he'd manage. His clothes blended in with the wall, and no one was looking specifically at him (except maybe the homeless girl). He took a deep breath, and began to climb, hands and toes channeling the necessary charge. When he was about fifteen feet off the ground, he tried pressing both feet flat against the wall. For a few seconds it looked almost like he was crouching. And then, he tore his hands away, straightened up, and turned to face downwards again.

"Not as impressive to look at, is it?" Chris said, the remark mostly to himself. He looked like he was about to say more, but faltered, looking at his feet. "Ah." He couldn't quite keep the connection strong enough. He stumbled down, almost regained his composure, and fell, five feet from the ground, onto a couple of bin bags. Spitting out what he hoped was a fishbone, he tried to stand up with as much dignity as he could muster.

"It's usually a little better than that," he said. It wasn't to regain any pride, he told himself, it was true. Normally, that stunt didn't end with a face full of garbage. Must be distraction, he decided.

[cage]

Bewildered as a loaf of bread was shoved into her hand, Leslie blinked then lifted her gaze to stare off after him as he jogged into a shadowy alleyway. All of the other people that were hanging about didn't really matter to the young girl any longer. Supposedly this man was something like she was. Weird things happened around him to. Leslie's eyes widened as he entered the shadowy area? Was he really so brave?

For a moment Leslie had a hard time figuring out what it was he was doing in that alleyway exactly because she was too busy praying that the sadows would not visit him. He was just a sitting duck in there. Moments later the man was climbing up the wall like a squirrel climbs a tree. This caused Leslie to rise quickly from the curb, nearly dropping the loaf of bread. Even after that he was attempting to stand on two feet that way on the wall, at a complete parallel to the ground! His mouth moved for a moment, though Leslie couldn't hear what he was saying.


Suddenly he dropped down into a garbage pile on the ground below him. It certainly hadn't looked like an accident. Leslie cried out as he fell and ran forward to make sure the Shadows hadn't gotten him. As soon as she reached where the light became darkness, she stopped nearly falling into the shadows and she stumbled back a bit. "Are you ok?!" she called into the alleyway which echoed obnoxioulsy. She slumped in relief as he sat up from the pile and spit. He assured her that usually this didn't go so badly, but at this point Leslie was recoiling into herself as her eyes wandered over the shadows on the walls in fear, gnawing on her bottom lip.