[mina-dolohova]

No Lines || Mina & Brent

[mina-dolohova]

"I’m much smarter than any therapist you’ll ever get to see." She paused and chuckled. "Cuter too." Mina gave him a half smile and over dramatic shrug. "A week was a lofty goal. You should set something a little more realistic. A month, maybe two? I don’t want to dent your ego or anything, but these things take time for anyone." She appreciated his willingness and eagerness to master his ability. "A month is still fast but it might be able to be done."

[brent-dawson]

Brent leaned back in his chair. He liked her. She had the upper hand, no doubt, but she was humoring him. "I'll give you that." He nodded, although his didn't think it took much to be smarter or better looking than the lady he had seen. "A month, really?" Brent liked the sound of that. For several weeks he had begun to think it would be impossible to progress. "Man, I'd even take two at this point." In the past he would have been very defensive at somebody not believing in his ability, but Mina currently had higher goals set for him than he did for himself. "So, is this something that you ever had to learn? Or were you just born with it?" Brent knew it was easier for the Originals, but he wasn't quite clear on the specifics.

[brent-dawson]

Open

"I feel like an underprivileged youth." Brent said as stood in front of a pool table at the Viceroy twirling a cue ball in his hand. After all, this was basically a souped up community center, he thought.

[mina-dolohova]

No Lines || Mina & Brent

[mina-dolohova]

Mina went through his brain, looking at his activation and any flair ups that happened afterward. After she was satisfied Mina sat back and finished over her drink. “You’ve had quite the interesting couple of months. How are dealing with everything?” She already knew the answer, having seen it herself, but she wanted to hear his version.

[brent-dawson]

Brent raised a brow. He felt like he was sitting in the shrink's office his mom sent him to a couple times. "Well, Dr. I must say, at first I thought it was going to be very difficult to adjust, but after a week or so I found that my life is almost the same. I get pretty frustrated that I'm not further along, I had these big plans to perfect my powers in a week and failed miserably. Most of time I have no idea about what's going and I break the occasional lamp." Brent huffed. He hadn't actually broken a lamp, although he had shattered a plate, bent a spoon, blew up Rosie's bag of food, cracked a glass, and set his stove on fire after setting an oven mitt on a burner, while he was in the living area. "But I'm guessing you knew all that." The attitude was lost in his final sentence, only slight amusement was left.

[brent-dawson]

Unexpected Visitor || April & Brent

[april-astor]

"I guess we’ve got a lot to talk about." April chuckled, trying to lighten the mood a bit. She realized that he needed information more than she needed to keep things from him, so she would try to help the best she could. 

"Alright let’s see if I can answer everything. First, Hybrids are half human and half Original and they are very rare." She began ticking questions off with her fingers. "Being around you just added to what was happening because of Marcus. His ability was surging, as is a few other people that I know. I don’t know if that has anything to do with why I can control fire, but it might be. There’s at least one other person like me that I know of." She held up a second finger but didn’t mention Ryan or Robert, it wasn’t her place to expose them.

"There are more like you. I don’t know how many but it seems like there are more every day. The program has been around for a long time." April decided not to give out her feelings on the Originals or the FMID project, it was safer for Brent if he didn’t have misgivings about his creators, yet.

"I actually know another telekinetic. She might be able to help you." 

[brent-dawson]

It was an overwhelming amount of information. He wasn't sure anyone could soak all that up and not have their head reeling, but he was okay with it. April presented the facts matter-of-factly, with a no nonsense attitude that comforted Brent. Did half of it make sense? No, but it made enough sense that Brent felt like less of an idiot. And while every question seemed to make him ask more questions, for now he was satisfied with the answers he had gotten. Too much more might make his head explode. "Thank you, April. I hope I can maybe get used to all of this eventually. I don't need to know specifics, but should I worry about... infecting the people around me?" Brent said it carefully, not sure what to call it, but also trying to be empathetic of April being a changed human.

Knowing there were others like him was both comforting and disheartening. How could he ever learn who to trust and how was he supposed to figure out who were the evolved beings when they all looked like normal people? "I'm not sure I even want to know, but I'm guessing the program is what made us evolve?" Brent tried to remember back to what Jack had told him at the very beginning. He knew there was a difference between what he now knows as the Originals and the second gen, but he couldn't remember any mention of a program.

"You know a telekinetic?" Brent's voice took on an enthusiastic tone. "A second gen, like me?" A smile spread wide across his face. Originals could use telekinesis, but it was more natural for them, not a painful drawn out training process. It would be incredible to see the journey of someone who has had nearly the same experiences as him. "I'd love to meet her."

[pettysexed]

[brent-dawson]

Unexpected Visitor || April & Brent

[april-astor]

April sighed and went to sit back down across from him. His reaction wasn’t surprising but she never thought she would be having this conversation with him. “I’m human. I’ve just changed. Something having to do with long term exposure to the Second Generation, Originals and Hybrids. Not only did I have Marcus and you but when I moved to New York I ended up with even more exposure. It’s like I was always surrounded by it without even knowing.”

Sometimes she wondered if it was a coincidence or if everything had been engineered. Meeting the people that she did, working for National Investments, managing to secure an apartment in the building; it was all too convenient. Now more than ever she was sure that the FMID had some hand in her life and that scared her more than she would like to admit.

"So what can you do?" She wanted the topic off of her. April needed to know how much Brent hand been told and how close he was to the Originals, especially since he was working for them. If his loyalties were already solidified with them then she was going to have to keep her distance and watch what they discussed. 

[brent-dawson]

Brent's eyebrows were raised as she tried explaining the whole thing to him. "Okay, wait, hybrids? Am I supposed to know what that means? So I basically poisoned you to light shit up? That's not my power at all. Was it Marcus's? Or does it not matter..." His last sentence carried off, but his mind picked it up, racing to catch up with the new information. "You said surrounded by it? Like, there are a lot of us in New York?" As of several seconds ago, Brent only knew of five, one deceased; Jack, himself, Mina, Marcus, and April, in order of how he learned of them.

Her question caused him to snap back to attention, and made him slightly uncomfortable. Not because of lack of trust, only because he had so little control of his power. It was a little embarrassing to admit how far behind her he was. Everything was a competition to Brent. "Right, I'm telekinetic, but I can't really show you." Brent opened his palms and shrugged, with a smirk on his face. 

[brent-dawson]

Like a Run in the Park|| Chelsea & Brent

[chelsea--blake]

Chelsea smiled politely nodding before he gave his profession and that had her raising a brow. “Oh, that must be fun.” The words were without sarcasm but she thought it was as interesting a choice as any. Not that she had any particular fondness of night clubs in general but people had different careers that fit them. She suspected that this man fit the club scene very well. At the mention of her being a temp, however, Chelsea couldn’t help but laugh simply nodding. “Uh, yeah, kind of. Again, it’s kind of just wherever they need me in the office.” Or outside of it. 

"Oh, uh, definitely maintaining health." She needed to do something for her sanity other than practicing with her abilities. She nodded at him, returning the question. "Yourself?"

[brent-dawson]

Brent stretched his arm over his head and smile with a bit of a shrug. "I enjoy it. It almost never seems like work. I'm not sure how well it fits me in the long run though, it's more of a stepping stone for my career goals." He tried to carefully tiptoe around talking too much about himself. It just wasn't tasteful, but while he was proud of his current profession, he didn't want to appear to be slowing down anytime soon. "That makes sense," Brent nodded "office work can be an ever-changing demand, depending on seasons and all that. Do you enjoy it?" He added, still trying to figure her out.

"Great. It's nice to meet people who actually seem to enjoy taking care of themselves. It's becoming more and more rare." A bit of Brent's cynicism slipped out, but he was quick to keep it under control. "I'm the same. Being fit is important to me. It gives me something to do during the mornings. Otherwise, I'd probably stay in bed." Brent laughed a bit at his own expense.

[brent-dawson]

Unexpected Visitor || April & Brent

[april-astor]

"Fucking hell Brent, calm down." April hated to see him like this, hated knowing that she was the reason behind the reaction, or at least partly. They had been so close before, but he close proximity to Vincent was always going to force her to keep him at arm’s length from now on and it was already eating her up inside. 

"I started finding out about all of this around a year ago." She got up and walked over to his, putting her hands on his shoulders. "You can trust me, I promise." Taking a step back, she held her arm up between them and opened her hand, palm up and let a small flame form. After a few seconds she closed her fist and dropped her arm to her side. "I’m not the same as you, but I get it. I really do."

[brent-dawson]

It didn't take Brent longer than a moment to realize he was over reacting. Calming himself down was another matter. April's command went miles in bringing him back to reality and the chair seemed to surrender. He, however, was still seething. Anger was something that had always been a problem for him. While it took a lot to anger him, once the buttons had been pushed it felt impossible to reverse it. "Yeah. Got it." Brent sighed heavily.

"I guess a lot can happen in a year." Brent said, knowing well how true that statement was. For a moment Brent tensed under April's touch, but once he had adjusted he relaxed quickly. Some of his built up tension was released. He was reminded that April was the one person he had always been able to trust, silly that he had to be told such a thing to let it sink in, but the stress of so much new information had been getting to him. "Of course." He said, even before she was able to continue.

It felt like another wave of information was threatening to drown Brent. He was just assured that she wasn't adopted, and he easily assumed that meant she wasn't a part in this, only tied by a thread of circumstance. He tried to get a hold of his confusion, wondering what else there could be, he knew of only two things; what he was, and an Original. "What does that mean?" Brent tried to think. He knew she wasn't a second gen, she had basically said it. She couldn't be an Original, they had grown up together. He was so taken aback he forgot to answer her previous question of what his power was.

[brent-dawson]

The Garden|| Brent & Jana

[le-jana-hart]

Jana nodded and waved at him. “Pleasure to meet you as well. Maybe next time you’ll enjoy yourself as well?”

[brent-dawson]

Brent laughed and lightly shook his head, "I'll try." He said, nodding her off.

[brent-dawson]

Unexpected Visitor || April & Brent

[april-astor]

She didn’t know what to say to him, didn’t know what she could trust saying to him and she looked down at her hands in her lap as she thought it all over. April had no idea if the Originals knew about their friendship but she would wager a guess that they did and if that was the case then they could be just waiting for her to slip up and say the wrong thing. It hurt not being able to confide in him, the one person aside from her brothers that she grew up knowing she could count on.

"David and I weren’t adopted. There’s lots of pictures to be enough proof of that around the house. I never really questioned why there weren’t any of her pregnant with Marcus since they up and moved from New York right after." She sighed and tilted her chin to the side, looking across the desk at him. "What can you do?" If he really was a Second Generation then at least he would know that she was in the loop, even if he didn’t want to tell her about it.

[brent-dawson]

Brent fumed quietly in his seat. April was barely reacting to anything that he said or did, and he wondered what might be going through her head. While he wanted to ensure her safety, it aggravated him that she seemed to be holding back. As if she was hiding something from him.

With his head nodding only slightly in response to her reassuring him that her and David were not adopted, he was carefully talking to himself to attempt to keep his temper down. "What can I do?" Brent returned her question with an attitude, trying not to pace the room again. "How is that all that I get, April?" The chair beneath him began to vibrate, trying to fling itself against the wall. Brent dug in his heels and tightened his grip on the arms. How long have you known about all this?" His anger was rising, it wasn't at her, but at everything that had happened recently. He had been placing his trust into strangers because he had nothing else, and now he finds out that his oldest friend could have been of help all along.

[mina-dolohova]

No Lines || Mina & Brent

[mina-dolohova]

"Your memories." Mina chuckled. "You know I don’t have to ask." She pulled her hand back. "I’m trying to behave here, Brent. You should appreciate me trying to be a good girl." She crossed her legs and finished off her drink. "But if you aren’t comfortable maybe another time."

[brent-dawson]

Brent stopped and looked at her briefly. He then flung his head back and laughed. "My memories." He managed in between two chuckles. "I'm sorry," Brent slowly calmed himself, "I never would have imagined someone wanting to see my memories. Go ahead, knock yourself out." Someone wanting to screw with his head or manipulate his thoughts bothered him, someone wanting a peak at his memories. That was clearly laughable. The only thing in there that could possibly be sensitive information was his meeting with Jack, and she already knew about that.

[brent-dawson]

The Garden|| Brent & Jana

[le-jana-hart]

"Yeah, it doesn’t get that hot during the summer." She gave him a shrug. "I wanted to travel so I did and somehow I wound up here. I know, thrilling tale, right?"

[brent-dawson]

"No, it's good. I'm sure there was more to it in the moment. It's easy to minimize things after the fact." Brent smiled. "It was lovely chatting with you, Jana. I'll let you get back to the fun."

[johns-ryan]

Missing Person || Ryan & Brent

[johns-ryan]

Ryan nodded trying to play off the fact that he knew exactly who had fucked up Thomas’s face. “Yes. I remember he looked kind of rough.” He wrote down everything Brent was saying to make sure that nothing important might be discarded. Thomas was a miserable prick that deserved everything he got, but the former Bloody Mary victims deserved justice just as much, if not more. “Did you see him hanging out with anyone else at the party? Even a short conversation might be extremely helpful. 

[brent-dawson]

Brent listened to the man politely, knowing that he just had a job to do, but he honestly couldn't think of anything else that would be helpful. Every one there had to have had at least a dozen conversations that night. "Ryan, I'm sorry. Honestly, the only people I paid half of my attention to that night were the guests of honor, in case they needed anything." Saying that jogged something in Brent's memory. "No. Wait, he spoke with Damon. I remember because it looked heated. I watched in case I needed to step in, but they went their separate ways. Seemed like no big deal." Brent shrugged, motioning that he had no further information on the subject.

[brent-dawson]

Like a Run in the Park|| Chelsea & Brent

[chelsea--blake]

Chelsea nodded as he spoke, laughing only slightly at the mention of people whose names don’t always match up. “Oh, I know what you mean. I’ve heard quite a few strange ones but can’t actually remember any off the top of my head. At the time, though, I couldn’t actually believe someone would name their child that but…" Chelsea shrugged, it was their choice as far as she was concerned, no matter how odd or strange a name was. “Oh? What do you do? And I dabble, mostly office work, think glorified secretary?” Again, Chelsea shrugged because it was true, well the first parts. Dabble? Yes. Office work? Yes and no. “Nothing that amazing. And you should. It’s got steps if you like running those and it’s really just kind of beautiful. I mean, the entire park is but it’s a good place. It follows the bike trail from 59th if you ever start from Columbus. I usually start around their anyway.”

[brent-dawson]

Brent shrugged, then laughed. "I can't say much about those names. My sister rolled out three of the strangest names I've ever heard. Somehow they fit those kids perfectly. My mom about lost her head though." Brent remembered his mom yelling the first time he called her sweet grandson Indie, even though within the year she called him by it too. "I'm a club manager," Brent smiled, leaving out the name of the club. While he was quite proud of how well The Garden of Eden was run, people seemed to get a skewed first impression of him when they heard the name. "So you're like a temp?" Brent carefully hid his disappointment. She seemed so interesting when he stopped to introduce himself, he was expecting to hear that she did something exciting. He thought that maybe it was what she did to pay the bills until her passion was built up, but didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable by prying.

"Thanks. I'll have to keep that route in mind. I don't mind running steps, it can be a nice challenge occasionally. Are you training for something? Like a marathon, or do you just do it to maintain your health?" He started asking more about her, trying not to get too personal that she would shut down.

[brent-dawson]

Unexpected Visitor || April & Brent

[april-astor]

Now that April thought about it, Brent being adopted did make sense. His sister was almost as old as her mom. But from the way that he was talking and the questions he had, she would wager to guess that he was a Second Generation. It would be the real reason Vincent would have hired him. 

"I think you already know the answer to that." April downed her drink and set the glass on his desk. She wished she had another one to down before having this conversation but there was no use in prolonging it. She just hoped that she could still trust him. "I didn’t find out until after her died, and I still haven’t talked about it with my parents, just David. But it was definitely an off the books kind of thing. I think its too much of a coincidence that you were both brought to Maine around the same time." 

[brent-dawson]

The room seemed to be getting smaller as April jumped on the situation. There was no time to thoroughly pick over the events and come up with a plan to lay out the evidence to April in a calm manner. Brent stood and began to pace the length of his desk. It was all around him. He couldn't escape the inevitable, not even with his family or oldest friends. "Who are these people?" He said with his voice a little too loud. It was the first time he thought that maybe this wasn't something he wanted to be a part of. He was into the fact that he really was superior to most of the population.

Brent did his best to reign himself in, this wasn't April's battle to sort out his past. Taking his seat, he pulled in a deep breath and looked at her, "you're okay though? And David? It was only Marcus that was adopted." The last one was more of a statement, as that was what April had explained. He started wondering if he should even be talking about this with her. While he had no reason to distrust her, he didn't want to be the reason for any trouble coming her way.

[mina-dolohova]

No Lines || Mina & Brent

[mina-dolohova]

"Any extreme emotional distress would probably set it off." She extended her hand across the table. "Can I take a look?" Mina could easily search through his mind on her own, but she wanted to build a bridge between herself and Brent. If he was going to be her new pet then it be much more fun if he could put a little trust in her. 

[brent-dawson]

Brent pulled back a little surprised by her question. "Take a look?" His furrowed his eyebrows, "in my mind? For what?" Brent wanted to like her, but he had never been asked a question like this. Although Jack had done something similar. Brent was beginning to think he wasn't ready for all of this. The politics behind it became more complicated with every face he met.

[brent-dawson]

Like a Run in the Park|| Chelsea & Brent

[chelsea--blake]

The irony of his comment wasn’t lost on her, though he was unaware of it. She smiled, though, laughing lightly. “Well, I guess I could say the same for you.” Chelsea tilted her head. “I think that after a while, everyone’s name fits them in a way, don’t you think?” She thought so at least, though if you had enough confidence whilst declaring a name other than your own, she supposed that could also affect how someone viewed it in relation to your person. “What a life.” She grinned, thinking of getting out of bed later than seven and the thought boggled her a bit. “After a while you get used to it I suppose. Doesn’t feel like someone’s hitting you over the head after you do it enough.” Chelsea glanced around them at the other runners on the trail, there still weren’t that many. “That’s a good habit, helps vary your body’s adjusting to a certain path too, you know, pacing and time and the like.  Have you gone by the Terrace yet? It’s great for running when there’s not so many people there.” 

[brent-dawson]

"Thanks." Brent laughed mildly. "That is a good point. At least once you get to know somebody. I've met many people who I would swear were lying about their names, but as I get around them more it seems natural. "I still feel like I'm getting hit over the head because I'm normally up pretty late with work. What do you do?" Brent followed her gaze around them, trying to see what she was seeing. "I have read that, not good for the mind to get yourself too used to the same thing. You stop thinking. I don't think I've been over that way yet. What do you like about running over there?"