Power Swap: Where are the Voices!? (Open)

[Orion Urswick]

Orion woke with a start. He glanced at the clock - 5:43 am. It was a little earlier than he usually woke, but there was no reason to go back to sleep for another 17 minutes. He sat up with a groan, stretching his arms over his head as his back popped. He hated growing old.

He cocked his head to the side, feeling something was a little off. When nothing obvious presented itself, he shrugged and slowly made his way out of bed and to the kitchen, where he prepared to get ready for the day. It felt quieter than normal, he thought. He didn't have a lot of visitors, so he didn't generally hear a lot of voices in his own home, but he usually got at least a snippet or two. Maybe today was going to be one of those days where he wouldn't hear them as much. That might be pleasant, for a change.

He went about the house, getting ready, until he grabbed his syllabus for the day and walked out to his car. It was a sunny morning, and he smiled, tilting his face upwards. Today was going to be a good day.

He lived only a few minutes from Hammel, and was soon pulling into the parking lot. Another minute, and he was walking towards the place he visited every morning - a bench by the pond. He had discovered many years ago that Sophie had visited this same bench often, usually with a friend or student. He could almost have conversations with her here. His heart began to beat more rapidly in anticipation, just as it did every morning. He sat, taking a deep breath before uttering,"Good morning, sweetheart."

A few heartbeats passed. Nothing.

His brow furrowed. This was unusual. "Sophie?" He concentrated, willing her voice to appear, but nothing happened. Sweat began to beat his brow. "What's the problem?" he muttered, adjusting himself a little. He sometimes had problems listening to a certain conversation from the past, but never from his wife.

For the next ten minutes, he went from questioning the air, to slight panic, to full-on panic and terror. No matter where he went, he couldn't hear anything. For most people, losing the voices in your head was a good thing. But not for Orion. Those voices are what kept him sane.

He ended up curled against the trunk of a tree a good hundred yards from the bench, shivering and mumbling incomprehensibly to himself. "Where are you, Sophie?" he whispered, eyes wide and breathing uneven. "WHERE ARE YOU!?" He cried out and slammed his fist against the tree, hardly noticing the tear in his knuckles and the blood that began to flow. He had a sudden bubbly feeling in his chest, before it burst out of him, creating invisible barriers in the air. He stared, dumbstruck.

What. The. Hell. He lost his voices, his precious Sophie, and now he could create force fields? The world was going insane.

[Abe Milton]

Abe woke up feeling…odd. Definitely odd. For one thing, he wasn’t feeling sick to his stomach, and nor was he feeling his customary craving for spicy food. Strange. He blinked his eyes, then shrugged and pushed himself out of bed. He fetched his cane and limped to the kitchen, where he had a wonderfully bland and sweet meal—for once—and then went to the restaurant to see how the breakfast shift—normally pretty quiet—was doing. It was surprisingly busy, and the building echoed annoyingly to his ears. He reached up to rub them, then proceeded along, checking everything out. Loud noises were bothering him, surprising, considering they never had before. The first surprise, however, came when he tried to make the displays. Normally, when it came to preparing the dessert or special trays, he just took a pile of mashed potatoes and shaped them into the right meal. However, today, he found he was unable to do that. Nor could he shape anything else. Instead, whenever he reached for the well inside his head that indicated his power, noises got louder instead, and seemed to change pitch.

Well, that wasn’t good. Thoroughly unnerved, he called the manager to cover his shift and headed out for a walk in the park instead. That way he didn’t have to think about it. Noises seemed loud still, so he lengthened his stride until his knee made him slow down again.

And a good thing too, because that was when he saw the man curled up next to a tree. He glanced around, to see if anyone else had noticed, then quickly stepped onto the grass and carefully lowered himself down to kneel next to the man. Not too close, though. As a former Hammel student, he could recognize forcefields when he saw them.

“Hey. You okay? Can I see that hand of yours?” He offered the man a reassuring smile. “I’m Abe. Nice to meet you.”

[Orion Urswick]

Orion didn't care if people saw him. Right now, all that mattered was that his world was falling apart. He didn't know how it was happening. But it was. Sure, Sophie was dead, but he had managed to finally accept it because she was still here, living at Hammel, in a way. But now.... It was like he was losing her all over again.

And now he was just creating force fields. It made no sense.

Tears streaked down his face, and he almost didn't hear when someone called out to him. He did, though, and for a split second, he thought the voices had come back. His head shot up, but then he saw a man standing there, and he shook his head, blinking up at the unfamiliar face. "My... Hand?" he muttered, squinting. "Why?" Did he LOOK okay? He bloody well was not. "No, everything is dying," he croaked. "I can't hear them anymore. Nothing is okay." He cast his gaze aside, not really caring that he wasn't making sense. "Orion," he replied, unable to return the pleasantries. "Do you happen to know how to get rid of force fields?" Because, he now realized, if he couldn't get rid of them, he might just be stuck here. Although really, at the moment, he found it hard to care. Let him stay. It wasn't like he had something to return to. As much as he loved his students and his career, he wouldn't be able to go back if the voices were gone...

[Abe Milton]

The man was crying and talking about everything dying and hearing voices. Abe had had a pretty wide experience with people. Having worked for the violent crimes and organized crime divisions of the FBI, he had some experience with the clinically unwell, and knew enough to know he was not and never would be the right person to handle these kinds of things. Therefore, he was better off to call someone who could—a doctor, maybe, or an ambulance. “Nice to meet you, Orion,” he offered as he fumbled for his phone. It was somewhere in this pocket of his. He wasn’t sure where, but given enough time…

“I thought if I’d fix up your hand,” he said, “you might start to feel better, I guess. Uh.” He paused. Had he just said force fields? Actually, he thought that he had—oh. Well. That was an entirely new theory.

“Maybe if you try focusing on them, you can get rid of them,” he offered. “Like, uh, the whispers. You wouldn’t have gone to Hammel, yeah?” It was a working theory, but the best one that he had. Okay, so it was crazy too. “I think I might be able to help you, but only if you let me get a little closer. That all right? I won’t hurt you, I promise.”

It was a little like hostage negotiation. But if he thought about that he'd just remember how bad he'd been at it.

[Orion Urswick]

Normally, Orion was quite a calm, well-behaved, friendly man. If he had been in his right mind at all, he would have felt sorry for being so rude and ranting at Abe. But, since he wasn't, he could only just try to concentrate on what he was even saying.

"My hand...?" There he was mentioning it again. Orion thought it might be worth his effort to see what he was talking about, and lifted the hand that felt a little wetter than the other. Oh, it was covered in blood. That must be why. ".... Huh. I didn't even realize I'd done that." He tried to care, but it just wasn't happening. "Yeah, I guess you can look at it if you want," he mumbled. "Just please keep talking. I can't stand the silence. My head... It's never been so quiet." His rambling probably wasn't helping the stranger into thinking he wasn't insane.

"Mmm..." He managed to squint back up at the man through the apparent force fields. "I guess I could try that, yeah." He focused on the shimmering objects around him, willing them to disappear. It was hard; he was too distracted by the quietness in his own head to be able to think clearly. Somehow, he managed to make the force fields disappear, and once they were gone, he slumped his back against the tree trunk again. "I'm.... I teach at Hammel," he replied, his eyes losing focus and staring around the air at seemingly nothing. "Physics and astronomy. God, I love astronomy. Sophie used to say-" He halted mid-sentence, he brow darkening as the memory flashed through his head. He clenched his fists and his teeth, praying for a voice, anything, but there was nothing. He wanted to scream.

Help? What? Oh, right, that guy was still here. Gabe. Babe? No, Abe. Right. "Uuh, sure. I mean, I guess. What was it you wanted to help with again?" He wracked his brain, trying to remember, before he caught sight of his hand again. This time, the sight of it seemed to repulse him. "OH GOD! Yes, please, please help," he stammered, holding it out shakily. What had happened to his hand? He didn't remember...

[Abe Milton]

This man was clearly losing it. Well, Abe had seen this kind of shock with more serious injuries, but not with just—well, his knuckles looked pretty bad off, but he’d admit to not seeing anything like this before. The reaction, not the injury. Maybe Orion wasn’t the only one who was feeling muddle-headed now. “Keep talking?” he asked. “Okay. I can do that. I was supposed to be in the restaurant today, but the noise—the noise got to me, I guess. Everything seemed louder, then quieter, then just not right…anyways, I guess I should trade with you, considering our current situation.” He offered Orion a wry grin. Keep talking? Not being the really talkative type, he wasn’t sure how well he could do that, but he supposed he’d have to give it a try. Once the force fields had disappeared, he quickly moved in.

“No, no, no,” he said hastily. “Keep talking. Sophie? Was that your wife? Why don’t you tell me about her? Or I could tell you about mine. Her name was Amber. She was—anyways. You teach at Hammel? And your power had something to do with listening, right? Just say yes or no, we can keep it simple, huh?”

And NOW he noticed the hand. His lips tightened in—something. He wasn’t sure what. Probably a weird mixture of annoyance and concern? “Here.” He fetched the hand sanitizer from his pocket, then hesitated and put it back before sticking to wrapping up the hand in the napkin. “We should get you to a doctor. Are you calm enough for me to do that, or should we just, uh, sit here for a while?”

[Orion Urswick]

This guy was trying to help. That much, Orion understood. As he kept talking, Ori managed to calm just a little. At least it wasn't quiet anymore, even if the voices were coming from now rather than the past. "A restaurant?" he repeated, shifting his head from one side to the other. "The noises were weird?" His eyes widened. "Are you a meta too? Is something happening to you too!?" Somehow, he had managed to make this connection in the back of his head. Even in his crazed state, he was still somewhat bright. "Something is happening to my head," he told Abe, holding a hand against his temple. He tried to take deep breaths. Maybe if he wasn't alone in this madness, maybe there would be a way to reverse it. Breathe, Ori, breath, he told himself. The voices will come back. They had to...

Keep talking. Right. "Sophie, yes, wife.... Yeah, she was incredible. She worked at Hammel for a long time, when I was still at NASA. She.... She passed away almost ten years ago now. She's the reason I teach at Hammel now. I still hear her voice. You know um, temporal whispers. I hear voices. But not the crazy kind. I hear them from the past and the future. I'm not crazy, I swear." His voice was pleading, hoping this man would believe him. "But now I can't hear them, something is wrong. And I... I don't create force fields."

At least they were getting somewhere. He watched as the man wrapped his hand in a napkin, still trying to figure out when he had hurt himself. "I.... I think I'm alright now," he said, oddly calm. Somehow, just talking to this guy was already making him chill out a little. "I'm sorry, I.... I'm just not used to it being so quiet. I mean, most people think they're going crazy when they HEAR voices, but I'm... You know, just the opposite." He was rambling now. He looked back at Abe, then down at his hand. "Thank you... for helping. I think... I think my hand will be fine." Whether his entire being would be fine, he didn't know, but at least it was progress.

[Abe Milton]

“Yeah,” Abe said. Talking did seem to help. The man was calmer, and Abe was less convinced that he was crazy now. No, there seemed to be something going on instead. He wasn’t sure what, but it was definitely…odd. And when the man said that he was a meta, a faint smile twisted up Abe’s mouth. He was right. He really did like being right, especially on his hunches. But that was beside the point. That meant metas seemed to have their powers being switched and that was very weird. Whatever. “So your meta ability,” he said aloud, “revolved around hearing voices, and now you aren’t anymore? Instead, you’re making forcefields. Interesting. And I used to be able to transform food, and now noises are bothering me. Huh.” He was getting the hang of this talking thing, it seemed. So Sophie had been his wife. And he’d worked at NASA? Probably not crazy then.

Ah—temporal whispers had been his power. That explained a lot, although he didn’t know all that much about the power really. Just enough to understand the basics of it. “I know you’re not,” he said, this with conviction, since he really didn’t. “I think—our powers have gotten switched. Not between you and me, but for something else. It’s crazy, but it’s the simplest solution right now. Ockham’s Razor, right?” He finished tying the napkin with great care, then nodded. “I can understand. You’re used to something and then the situation changes suddenly. That’s never a pleasant situation.” He smiled at him. “All right. That should be it for your hand. I think it’s just a scratch, but I’d put some Neosporin on it to make sure. That way you don’t have to risk any infection. And you should get a real bandage on that. Need anything else?”

[Orion Urswick]

"Yeah, voices to force fields. I'd much rather keep my voices. Force fields are dumb." He frowned, like a child who had had his candy taken away and instead was given vegetables. He glanced up, still managing to be curious in his semi-delirious state. "Food transformation? How brilliant." Why that was brilliant, he didn't know. But he liked food. "But you're being affected too. So I'm not alone. Maybe there are others, too." For some reason, this made him happy, and he grinned. "We're not alone!" Well, it wasn't like he knew that for sure - Abe was the only other person he had met so far.

When the man assured him he knew he wasn't crazy, Orion slumped, relieved. Not everyone would have believed him, especially since he kept rambling on. "So who on earth is doing the switching? And why?" He got a mental image of some huge, strange deity, laughing as he messed with their abilities. "This can't be permanent. Otherwise..." his voice choked. He couldn't imagine not hearing Sophie again. "Thank you.... For understanding." When Abe finished his hand, Orion held it up and flexed it experimentally, wincing slightly at the pain in his hand. "And thanks for uh, fixing my hand. I still don't remember what I did. I don't really remember the last twenty minutes or so, really. But I'll make sure to get something on it." Taking a deep breath, he put his hands on the ground and struggled to a standing position. "Yeah. I need my voices back." He gave a very faint smile to show he was kidding with the man, but he seriously did need them back. He would go mad without them; the only thing keeping him calm at the moment was the fact that he wasn't alone. "I hope your... Food power comes back, too." Politeness. He needed to be more polite.

[Abe Milton]

“Now, c’mon. When I was in the FBI I would’ve killed for force fields. Well, maybe not killed.” Abe frowned. He’d only killed one man in his entire career, and although he’d injured others, the killing stuck with him most. It wasn’t an easy thing, to take someone else’s life. He supposed he would have to be worried when it became easy. But as he was now a restaurant owner instead of a FBI agent, it was no longer an issue. Sure, he still had a gun and yes, even a permit to use it. The reason for that was because old habits die hard, and even in a low crime-rate town such as Pilot Ridge he couldn’t let his instincts die away so easily.

Well, as Abe’s own powers had switched as well, he could hardly say that the man was crazy. In this case he might be closer than others, considering the voices and all, but generally he tended to trust him. “I don’t know,” he said wryly, then shrugged. “Makes you believe in a higher power, doesn’t it?” His grin wasn’t entirely pleasant, and then he shrugged his shoulders and tilted his head to the side. “Your welcome. Just try to remember to breathe and everything might work itself out after all.” He brushed his hands off on his pants and then carefully climbed to his feet, wincing a bit at the residual stiffness. He’d never get used to it. Or at least, it was going to take him a very long time. Once he was sure he was clean, he offered the man a hand. “Are you going to need anything else? Or should I let you be to sit and process for a while?”