shatterverse | (no subject)

Gabriel seems cool. But Claire's all horrified and stuff! Sokka blinks from one to the other of them and just sort of casually scratches at the back of his neck near the hilt of his sword.

"...do you guys know each other?"

Gabriel glances up at the gasp. And the horrified face. And gets the wrong idea entirely, glancing warily in the direction Claire's looking. Hey, she couldn't possibly be scared of him, could sh--

...oh, no.

"I don't," he says quickly. Please don't let this be like meeting Eden oh please oh please God please.

Claire's speechless for a second, freaking out on so many levels that it's instinct to lean back, sort of behind Sokka.

"You're not him, are you?" she asks quietly, breathless.

If Eden's met him, Claire assumes he knows why people would freak out.

That works, 'cos Sokka's sort of instinctively leaning in front of her, frowning at Gabe.

"I like the idea of you not being him!"

Not that he knows who him is. But him scares Claire and Sokka doesn't have a Katara to protect right now!

See Gabriel slap on as innocent a face as possible! Why, he's practically radiating not-himness. How could you believe anything bad of this angelic face?

"I don't even know who him is!" he insists, raising his hands in the universally-accepted I'm-harmless gesture.

God, this had better not happen often. --And if Claire can do that thing with her voice as well, he's going to break something, seriously.

"Sylar."

Claire says it quietly, but with hatred in each syllable. He's too young: he's more like her age. The man who killed Jackie, and who's to blame for Peter's death, he was - well, a man.

Claire takes another breath, which catches slightly.

"She said you were different."

"Guys?"

Sokka's voice is just the teensiest bit squeaky, but he squashes it quick.

"I have no idea what's going on here. Can we all just pretend like we're best friends and nobody kill anyone else?"

He shifts a little bit more in front of Claire, just automatically.

She said it very dramatically, but he knows the name in relation to a face, a strap and a folder of blueprints. ...Um, what. Forgive him the slightly bewildered twitch of a smile.

"Hey, I haven't done anything," he says to Sokka, in what he hopes is a reasonable tone. Because... that's totally a sword he has, there, and it's quite clear whose side he's on here.

To Claire, tilting his head: "...Are you serious?"

"Of course I'm serious," Claire snaps. "I know you. But you were older, and you're supposed to be..."

OK, she can't actually tell someone to their face she saw them dead. Not when she's died a couple of times herself.

"Tell me Eden told you!"

Sokka would like to be somewhere else plz. Only that would mean Claire was alone with the guy who terrifies her.

DILEMMA.

He settles for watching Gabriel with what he would insist is a Totally Manly Stare, even though it bears a suspicious resemblance to a Slightly Anxious Worried Look.

"She didn't mention that!" he protests.

Oh, no, Claire is friends with Eden? Gabriel's mental image of this whole weird alternate-universe thing is shifting from 'other future in which I do bad things' to 'other future in which mean women gang up on me'.

Unconsciously now, Claire actually sets a hand on Sokka's leg, just to reassure herself that he's actually there.

"But you're not, right?" she says again. She just wants to hear it from his mouth. "You're not going to hurt anyone?"

"I'm not!" On both counts, with maybe an exception on the second for Eden, because he really doesn't like her.

Speaking of which.

With less force, and more wariness: "As long as you don't use mind control, like her." Gabriel does NOT appreciate being mind-controlled. It still makes him shudder just to think about.

Eden has mind control.

Well, that's something Claire didn't know about her. And doesn't like much, either.And it shows in her similar shudder.

"I wouldn't use that if I had it."

Edited 2007-11-16 12:11 (UTC)

"Good."

She could be a good liar, of course. But she could deny that as easily as he could point it out. And he doesn't want to keep going around assuming that anyone who knows Eden can do what she can; he'd drive himself mad.

He watches her face, still wary.

Claire, for her part, is still absolutely terrified, but angry that she can't do anything about it.

Instead she scrambles up to stand, Sokka following, and glances between the two.

"I'm going to find out what happened to my dog," she says weakly.

Anything rather than be in the room with him.

...She can't stand to be in the same room with him. God, that's pleasant. That's just lovely.

"What do I do?" he bursts out angrily, before backtracking: "In -- where you come from, the other me, what's he going to do?"

He gets mistrusted and avoided and verbally attacked, and no-one's thought to tell him why.

Claire stares at him, hard.

How can he not know?

"You killed people," she snaps suddenly, and that's enough to break the dam and let her start crying.

Edited 2007-11-16 12:37 (UTC)

He--

--wouldn't! He -- you, you can't -- that's not --

You can't murder, it's the fifth Commandment, why would he possibly --

He stares, horrified, barely noticing Claire's own reaction. "..."

Sokka lets go of Claire's hand, so that he can put his hand on his sword instead, watching Gabe narrowly and stepping a little further in front of Claire.

"Sokka," Claire says, choking a little.

"It's okay."

It's clearly not, but this teenager hasn't done anything.

Gabriel's shaking his head and staring at Claire, intermittently furious and horrified.

For a second, the first wins out. "You're lying."

He realises he's backing away, and stops himself rigidly.

No no no but backing away is good! Sokka liked the backing away!

"Um ... don't do it any more!" he insists brightly, and backs a little himself, trying to push Claire towards the door.

Away from the person making her cry is good!

Mad at Claire has a habit at making her mad at you. Even when she's scared. And he hasn't done anything so far to actually make fear win out over anger, so she snaps back at him.

"Why would I lie about that?"

Still, she's letting Sokka push her back.

"You're not lying, he's not lying, it's just different timeline things, everybody's okay now, right?"

No fighting! No killing people! FLAIL.