I2DT - Wine For Two

[Miriam Bell]

"I was really just enjoying a chance to yell at parts of you and tell you what you should do..." she tries to wave it off.

[Samantha McManus]

"Your kink, not mine." She chuckles.

[Miriam Bell]

"What can I say, I just love to tell people to run off into the woods and find somebody else to roll through the underbrush with. Really gets me going."

[Samantha McManus]

"I'm starting to think that's your go-to for changing the subject."

[Miriam Bell]

"Sorry. I guess I'm not in the mood to play flirt-chicken with you tonight, Sam." she says, mustering an vaguely pained smile.

[Samantha McManus]

"Wasn't really my intent. Just lightening it up a little, aye?"

[Miriam Bell]

"I do appreciate how you throw yourself into hopeless causes." she smirks weakly. "How are things with Miss Tall and Quiet anyway?"

[Samantha McManus]

"...well you know, pretty good I guess."

"She's like... a were-librarian or something, sometimes. Big on reading."

[Miriam Bell]

"Good for you. Her. Both of you." she says, the wine having gotten to her a little. "Glad I helped."

[Samantha McManus]

"I can't say we'll find you another posh blonde telepath in triplicate, but getting out there again could be a good distraction, aye?"

[Miriam Bell]

"Oh god, please don't make it your mission to set me up with somebody."

[Samantha McManus]

Sam snorts.

"Oh come on, I had the music for the montage sequence and a blonde wig for Will all lined up."

[Miriam Bell]

"I'm sure you think you're being really clever, putting a wig on a shapeshifter." she rolls her eyes to avoid showing too much of her half-smile. "Besides, it's not about the hair color."

[Samantha McManus]

"Well it's not as if the sample size is terrifically huge, is it? It's three or one, depending on how you're counting," she says as she shifts her hair to match Trinity's.

[Miriam Bell]

Miriam almost winces a little. "Oh for the love of..." she starts before her voice softens again. "It's just one. And yeah, she was fascinating and there's something about three... well it was fun. But it was just... simple. Because no one really liked her much. No one I hung around with anyway. It was... all me. I knew that I hadn't just picked up on how somebody else felt about her and gotten it all... jumbled up. Unlike... well... things get confusing sometimes." she says, looking at Sam and her new blonde hair-do.

[Samantha McManus]

"I'm just teasing," she sighs, shifting back.

"I don't know if you've noticed, but the faculty here seem to have a lot better defenses, aye? Not just the telepaths. I'd bet they'll teach the students that, and not just to keep us out of their heads."

[Miriam Bell]

"Pretty sure the headmistress has some kind of psi-shielding on around the clock. But that's not the point, Sam... I can keep you and Haley out of my head. Well, Haley for sure, you could probably take a pretty good shot at it. But that's not the problem. My power does this. I've worked on it and that's why I'm even functional today, but I can't turn it into something it's not. It's blurry and it's subtle and no amount of control will ever change that. It's not my defenses that are the problem. It's everybody elses. And Will basically has none. And I spend too much time with him before I realized he had a crush on you." she says before she suddenly cuts herself off.

[Samantha McManus]

"But that's what I'm saying. If they can teach non-telepaths this, then the number of people you can feel safe around is only going to grow."

"...and the other shoe just dropped, didn't it?" She says, looking to Miriam's sudden hushing up.

[Miriam Bell]

"I should go..." she says, clumsily trying to get up from the edge of the dock.

[Samantha McManus]

Sam sighs and gets up, offering Miriam a hand.

"Here."

[Miriam Bell]

Miriam takes the offered hand to keep herself from probably falling into the harbor and then just awkwardly looks at Sam for a couple seconds before mumbling a quiet "Thanks."

[Samantha McManus]

"...stay safe, Miriam."

[Miriam Bell]

"Guess who just figured out how to make you back off." she says, joke falling completely flat. "I'll... see you around." she says, pulling her hand free and starting to head off.

[Samantha McManus]

"...aye," she sighs, watching Miriam go.