Room 115 - Mental Cases

[Samantha McManus]

After talking to Will, Sam heads over and knocks on the door.

She's pretty sure Haley would be much less judgmental, but Miriam is probably the more helpful telepath.

[Miriam Bell]

The door opens and Miriam gives Sam a look of faked surprise. "Back for more already?"

[Samantha McManus]

"I figured you might want to know he's alright, lest you ambush me more random places."

[Miriam Bell]

"Such as the common room. Believe it or not, but I do have better things to do than follow you around. But good for Will."

[Samantha McManus]

"And, you know, we talked. And then Will tried to kiss me. Wasn't expecting that."

[Miriam Bell]

"Explains a lot, doesn't it." she says. It's not really a question but at least she's not berating Sam for not noticing either.

[Samantha McManus]

"I'm not sure it would have been more or less awkward if he hadn't done it after I already told him about Murphy."

[Miriam Bell]

"Does she understand the concept of being monogamous? Honest question here, I'm not even trying to make fun of you. Although this is incredibly amusing, in it's own way."

[Samantha McManus]

"We were trying mostly to focus on the concept that he's not 'broken' when he can't manage something."

[Miriam Bell]

"That's probably more important. Yet you led with the kiss." she says with an amused smirk.

[Samantha McManus]

"I didn't lead with it, just... he asked, aye?"

[Miriam Bell]

"And now you're here to..."

[Samantha McManus]

"I'm here to... get some peace of mind. I'm still weirded out by what I did earlier."

[Miriam Bell]

"And..." Miriam is clearly enjoying this way too much.

[Samantha McManus]

"And... I'll let my shields down if we can do this in privacy. I just... want to know."

[Miriam Bell]

"Oh! You meant literal peace of mind. You want me to take a look?"

[Samantha McManus]

"What did you think I meant?"

[Miriam Bell]

"I thought you just wanted to talk to somebody. I'll gladly take a look if you'll let me."

[Samantha McManus]

"Well we can talk too if it doesn't end up like last time, but aye, that's what I was hoping for. Can I come in?"

[Miriam Bell]

"Yeah, of course. Though I reserve the right to yell at you any time you got your head up your ass." she smirks faintly.

[Samantha McManus]

She heads in, sighing.

"Yeah, well... you helped Will. I can admit that much."

"And trying to go into my own head hasn't really worked for me."

[Miriam Bell]

"Can't look at yourself without a mirror." she just shrugs. "It's hard enough to not go crazy from this already, if we could turn it on ourselves most telepaths would probably come out the other end as mental wrecks."

[Samantha McManus]

"Anyway," she says as she finds a seat, "how do you want to do this?"

[Miriam Bell]

"Just make yourself comfortable and lower your defenses. I like to think I'm pretty good at sorting through the subconscious. At least that's where I'd expect this to be coming from."

[Samantha McManus]

Sam nods quietly and closes her eyes.

When she starts, her mental defenses are perfectly laid over her physical form, as is her avatar. It's less armor and more putting her sense of self, or what passes for it, as a barrier to everything else. Even so, it doesn't feel quite as natural as other self concepts Miriam may have encountered. It's been bolstered, honed. There's been some work put into it.

As that peels back, what Miriam can sense is, oddly enough, almost like a mirror. It's easy to see her own thoughts, her own emotions reflected in it. And those of anyone in the general vicinity. In the physical realm Sam's form ripples faintly, like something's moving underneath.

There are faint traces of Sam's actual emotions behind this. Worry. Guilt. Want. It's not that this is another line of defense so much, but more that when her shields are down it's easy to miss Sam's own emotions in the din of everything she's reflecting.

[Miriam Bell]

"You have a lot of empath in you..." she says, noting the ripple in Sam's shape as likely a reaction to her making mental contact. She briefly wonders what would happen if Sam didn't repress that beneath her trained layer of self but she's not entirely sure she wants to look into that particular mirror. Instead she tries to push past the reverberations of the minds of others. Sam's defensive sense of self must be projected from somewhere and that's where she aims to go.

[Samantha McManus]

As Miriam enters Sam's mind, the first details to coalesce around her are the confines of a room. Clinical, antiseptic. Padded walls, though at spots they've been torn at, as if with claws.

[Miriam Bell]

Miriam's avatar floats through the room, hand brushing over one of the claw-marks as she takes in her surroundings. "Kept something locked away in here, did we, Sammy?" she muses as she looks for signs of a breakout or possibly the rooms occupant.

[Samantha McManus]

The door itself is ajar. This feels more like a memory, albeit one that Sam might have embellished upon.

[Miriam Bell]

"Oh dear..." she mumbles, wondering what the reality had looked like. She leaves through the open door, trying to see if she can follow this memory further.

[Samantha McManus]

Out in the hallway, things start to look rather familiar to Miriam.

The smooth tiles, the white walls, the charts hung by each door.

This is Muir Island. One of the more private parts of it.

[Miriam Bell]

"Well, this feels a little too familiar..." she says, following the corridor and occasionally looking at the charts at the other doors. Seeing who Sam remembers or thinks she was grouped in with might help her understand the redhead a bit better.

[Samantha McManus]

Mutants who couldn't control their powers. Mutants that were in danger of hurting themselves. Miriam might recognize a few names from the ones who got walking privileges later on.

[Miriam Bell]

That seemed to be par for the course. And as far as Miriam knew Sam might have legitimately been one of them. She certainly had been, although she'd posed less of a physical risk. If Sam's issues were connected to other peoples' thoughts then maybe the root of the problem isn't here but rather with the other girl. Still, the least she can do is take a proper look around. She moves on through the corridor, but tries to make the memories trace backwards. She already knows what lies up ahead, she wants to know what's underneath it all.

[Samantha McManus]

Gradually as Miriam walks, the halls shift around her. Now they look more like the halls of a small home. One of the doors is ajar, and there's faint crying.

[Miriam Bell]

Miriam slowly drifts towards the door.

[Samantha McManus]

From the sound of it, there's a little girl inside. The door says "KAT" in large colorfully painted wooden letters.

[Miriam Bell]

With some trepidation Miriam pushes the door open a little further to look inside.

[Samantha McManus]

It's a fairly typical little girl's room. Some drawings taped to the walls. An army of stuffed animals.

There in the bed is a girl that somewhat resembles Sam, though of course much younger. Similar red hair, and some missing baby teeth. The emotions that radiate off of her are fear and shock.

[Miriam Bell]

Miriam looks around the room as she floats over to the girl. "What's wrong, dear?"