PS: These shoes were made for running the hell away from you

[Marnie Sullivan]

Dated September 3rd

Marnie had never noticed until Monday morning just how many things she touched throughout the span of a day - light switches, pencils, utensils, even stray coins in a pocket. But that all became extremely apparent when even the briefest contact began flooding her brain with memories. Some she recognized as her own. Others were totally foreign.

At first Marnie had been more curious than anything. How could she not be? This was unlike anything she'd ever experienced, and she'd turned her room upside-down grabbing and gleaning memories from everything she could get her hands on. But after each one she grew more and more disoriented, and before long Marnie had decided that the largely mundane glimpses weren't worth it.

That didn't stop them from coming, though.

It was when she left her own room that Marnie became really concerned. Now the visions she pulled from doorknobs or tabletops were increasingly not her own, and she felt less like herself after each one. She had taken to shoving her hands in her pockets whenever she could. It helped. A little.

Track practice was usually how she unwound during the week, but what would it be like today? Hopefully nothing overwhelming - how many things could she touch while running, after all? Her water bottle? Adjusting her headband? Marnie arrived to practice with neither to cut back her risk. Careful to keep her hands tucked inside her sleeves, she began stretching with her teammates. Were any of them dealing with this? She could only hope - surely having someone to commiserate with would make this easier.

[Karalie Heise]

Over the last few days a whole new Karalie had emerged.  When she'd woken without her retrocognition, she was first a little startled.  In fact, it had taken a couple of hours to even realize it was gone.  The small visions she'd grown so accustomed to grabbing just weren't there, and she suddenly wondered if she'd just finally figured out how to control it, but that didn't make sense either.  She had to work to push the ability back, something she'd learned while with Lucas, and now she wasn't putting forth any effort at all.  The longer it had been since her last vision, the bolder she became.  Karalie was touching everything. She opened doors, windows, books.. she vacuumed, ate in peace, brushed her hands against strangers as she passed.  Hell, she'd even pet a dog for the first time since she was a little kid! It was wonderful! And also a little disgusting.  She never realized how clean she was able to keep her hands until she was suddenly pawing at everything, and found herself wanting to wash them or at the least sanitize them, several times that day.  And when she finally got her hands on Lucas.. He'd been happy, that was for sure.

There was some rain on her parade, though.  Karalie realized that she could, at time, feel people talking.  Not just talking, but all sounds.  She couldn't figure out what was causing it, or how to get it to start or stop, but once it got going.. she had no idea how to make it end until it had run its course.  Touching things was less fun when she felt those vibrations against her skin, but it certainly hadn't stopped her.  It happened once after her phone vibrated in her hand, and then again after she'd clapped.  Still, it was preferred to what she'd been dealing with and she gladly accepted the change!

Things had been significantly better since the retrocognition had disappeared, and she was loving everything about life.  She carried her water bottle to track for the first time in, well, ever, and started stretching.  It was still odd to touch everything, but Karalie made a point to touch whatever she could; the gate around the track, her shoes, her hair, her bag, her phone.. everything got touched multiple times.  She noted Marnie looking glum and wanted to make a comment about it, but decided not to.  They weren't friends.  They weren't enemies.  They were just.. She didn't know what they were.  They just were.

"Ready to run?" She asked, cocking a brow and being semi friendly.  May as well.. Wasn't like she was going away in person, and now she could live happy kissing Lucas without glimpses of kissing her as well.

[Marnie Sullivan]

Maybe it was Marnie's gloomy expression that was convincing the other runners to keep their distance, or maybe nobody felt like being friendly when she herself was so quiet today. Either way, while everyone else chattered away around her, Marnie was left alone until Karalie of all people decided to make small talk.

"Ready as I'll ever be," she replied. Marnie doubted she had the energy to both run and pretend to be chipper today - maybe once those endorphins got flowing - so although Karalie wasn't her idea of a proper confidante, she wasn't up for beaming a fake smile either. She straightened up from a forward bend and reached toward the sky - not as a preperatory stretch, just because it felt good. And the sky was safe; nothing to touch, nothing to see.

If they were going to chat, though, Marnie didn't want it getting very far lest she blurt out something she shouldn't. Just a couple of days ago, in the wee hours of the morning, she'd received a deluge of texts from a panicked Lucas. Although he and Marnie were on less than stellar terms, he'd admitted that he'd chosen to speak to her rather than his own girlfriend. Had he told Kararlie since? Was she the jealous type? Marnie certainly didn't know, but if Karalie was willing to be friendly today, she doubted Lucas had gotten around to mentioning it.

Buuut if Karalie wanted to be nice, then the least Marnie could do was try.

"Any idea what's been going on with everyone this week?" she asked politely, standing on one leg like a flamingo while she pulled the opposite foot up behind her. Lucas wasn't the only one whose powers had gone haywire, after all. "My roommate's been turning into a vending machine, and in class all anybody talks about is having new powers. I heard one of the pyros turned into a pomeranian yesterday and had an 'accident' in the home ec room."

[Karalie Heise]

Marnie didn't seem all that interested in actually talking, which she supposed was just fine. Wasn't as if Marnie was her favorite person anyway, but when the girl mentioned people acting strange that week, her ears perked up a bit.

She'd heard a few stories, and she knew that Lucas had lost his ability and she'd lost her own.  Was it an epidemic? Pandemic!?  Were metas everywhere having their powers switched up on them? Was Marnie having the problem? She didn't mention herself specifically, but why would she bring it up otherwise? Unless Luke had talked to her.. nah, Lucas had no reason to chat with Marnie anymore.  She was personally making sure of that.

"I didn't hear about the Pomeranian." She laughed, popping her hands on her hips.  "But I've heard a few good stories."  She fixed her hair, her hands constantly touching something these days simply because she could.  "Actually, I've been having some glitches with my own set of abilities.  No more memories." She couldn't stop the smile from creasing her lips.  "Oh my god, I've missed so much by not being able to touch, like, everything.  You seriously have no idea how lucky you are." She insisted, not caring at this point who she was gushing to.  Even if it was Marnie.

"Yah know, Luke's having some problems too, but really it's fine."  She wasn;t sure why she brought him up.  Secretly it was sort of to throw it in Marnie's face that things were actually going well with the boy, but that was more on a subconscious sort of level.  "What about you? Any strange things happen with you?"

[Marnie Sullivan]

Still propped up on one leg as she listened, Marnie didn't realize she'd frozen in shock until her ankle wobbled and she tumbled over into the grass. Memories? Unable to touch things? Karalie had never told her before what her power was, but it sounded awfully familiar.

Lucky. Right.

Marnie scrambled to her feet, cheeks flushing red - not the green of grass or black of the asphalt track nearby. Just plain old red. It didn't help that Karalie had taken the opportunity to oh-so-casually mention Lucas. Why bother bringing him up, when their history was such a sore spot? Did Karalie know about Monday morning, or was she just trying to low-key boast?

Immature though it was, Marnie felt a sort of vindictive satisfaction at the thought of the latter being true. If Karalie wanted to brag, let her. It wouldn't change who Lucas had chosen to turn to first.

Wait, no, that wasn't important right now. Apparently Karalie knew what this power was, had with it it and knew how it worked. maybe she knew how to control it? All Marnie had to do was ask.

Just... ugh, why did it have to be Karalie?

"Nothing too serious," she answered as she dusted off her trackpants - not a bright idea, as she was briefly jerked back three, maybe four months to another practice, one that had been rained out, forcing the team to run inside. It was becoming easier to tell when the memories were over; when the world blossomed with reds and purples and pinks, it was back to reality. "I'm not colorblind anymore, so that's pretty cool."

And as much as her new power weighed on her, that part was pretty cool. Although yesterday when she'd tried to use a box of colored pencils to identify new shades, that had backfired with memories of monochromatic graphs and botched art projects.