shatterverse | (no subject)

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Eden is looking pretty. Her sunburn is gone, she has makeup on, and is wearing a form-fitting copper dress with a silver belt. Her feet are bare - she'd rather go bare-foot than wear her sneakers or flip-flops. Eden has committed many crimes, but fashion crimes aren't one of them.

She's looking for an owner of a certain car ~~who's not Gabriel, because no, okay?~~. Is he by the pool? Is he in the bunker? Is he on the boat? Is he in the house? Eden will look.

Who does she find?

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The look Eden sends Val is sharp - a 'stay out of it' look if there ever was one, with some swear words at the end of it. She won't use her power unless Val comes any closer.

"Relax," she tells Val, gaze switching to Gabe, waiting for him to make a run for it. "I just need to get a few things straight."

Steve's twin is... a poor substitute at best, but at this point Gabriel would be happy with pretty much anyone.

"She can make people do things," he babbles to Val, jerking his head in Eden's direction in a rather redundant indication of who he's talking about. "Please, help-- I think she's going to kill me."

He's been backing slowly away this whole time, but the idea of making a real run for it just hasn't penetrated his fear-addled brain.

"Yeah, nobody's killing anybody here," says Val with a frown.

Make people do things. Ouch. Still, she'll give Eden the benefit of the doubt for now. She doesn't know Gabriel that well.

Her jog took her almost between the two before she was stopped by Eden's look. It doesn't take much to step into the widening gap between Eden and Gabe and fold her arms.

"Anything you need to get straight, you can do it from over there," she says with forced pleasantness. "And if you're using mind control on Gabe here, I'd like you to stop, pretty please."

Threatening someone who can control people is unfathomably stupid even for the reckless Valerie, so she doesn't do it. But she's definitely putting on the famous Bell protective glare.

"I'll stop when I'm convinced he won't open my skull," Eden tells Val coldly.

"You," said to Gabriel, "tell me what year it was for you in our world. Tell me what power you have."

"Two thousand one," he grates, and then pauses. Never having heard it described like that before-- still unused to Steve's idea that he has an ability, something special that differentiates him from the rest of humanity-- Gabriel doesn't know what to say to that second demand. "Power? What power? I don't understand."

Val has just had her first bright idea of the day.

One hand moves sharply, and a tendril of bright-glowing white light whips out towards Eden's face, wrapping itself around the lower half of her head and sealing her mouth shut. It's soft and comfortable, like a down pillow, but with the amount of concentration Val's giving it it's also highly resistant to attempts at removal.

"I'm really fucking hoping I'm right and that shit works by voice," she says, "or I am royally fucked right now. Look, Gabe's harmless. I'll vouch for him myself. Steve's a good judge of character; he wouldn't be-- friends with the guy if he were in the habit of cracking skulls, all right? Gabe, can you run away? If so, now's probably a good time."

Eden gives a surprised squawk and tries to pull or drag the...whatever...off her face.

So, yeah, it works by voice.

Next time she should just make everyone freeze. Say something like 'don't use your powers'. That's what she'll do.

Gabe doesn't need to be told twice. He makes tracks in the direction of the bunker, his hands falling from their raised position only when he's long out of sight.

"Right. You."

Val's somewhat at a loss for what to do with Eden now.

"Makin' people do shit ain't nice. Don't do it. Gabe's got enough problems, okay? You find out what you needed to know?"

Eden gives Val a middle finger and the bitchiest glare she can manage. Which, considering everyone at this fucking house has some issue with her wanting to keep herself safe from a serial killer, is pretty damn bitchy.

"Yeah, right back atcha," Val snorts, suiting gesture to word and shaking her head. "I'm gonna let you go now, all right? 'Ccause I'm too goddamn nice for my own good. Nothin' I can do to stop you fucking with my head, so I guess I just have to trust you ain't as much of a heartless bitch as y'look."

And the tentacle releases, breaking off into shards of white light that disappear rapidly once disconnected from Val herself.

A bit of Eden's maturity comes back to her - though her stare is still cold, her words clipped.

"The person he might become fooled a lot of people," she says as she turns to go to the front of the house. No use in overstaying her welcome. "Fooled them and destroyed countless lives.

"I needed to make sure he wasn't a threat."

"Yeah, and making him practically piss his pants was just a bonus, eh?"

Val shakes her head again.

"I get it, but next time you might want to try ditching the 'scare shitless first, ask questions later' approach."

She shrugs the shrug of someone who's still angry but trying to keep it under control. "Can't help it if he reacts badly, can I?"

She might have mentioned 'oh, by the way, I'm not going to kill you' - but she needed to know whether he was Gabriel or Sylar first. If it was Sylar, she wouldn't be saying that, now would she?

"Actually," says Val levelly, "you kind of can. A simple 'not going to fuck you up unless you're a murdering bastard' would do the job, I'm betting. Not that I'm exactly the queen of diplomacy, y'understand, but I fuckin' well manage better'n that."

"I distinctly remember telling him all I needed was to get a few things straight. If he wants to see 'going to kill me' in that and freak out about it? Not my problem."

"Fine. Whatever. I'm not quite dumb enough to give you trouble about it."

...ignoring the fact that she's done nothing but give Eden trouble about it since she showed up. Yeah.

Val flicks white wings out of hunched shoulders and takes off without another word. Some nice flying will clear her head, she's sure.

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