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[credere]

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[yedinyy]

There was... I told you about breaches, right? When we all think we're different people, in different worlds?

[credere]

Yes, you did.

[yedinyy]

There was one, a while ago, where we were all... We were like superheroes. Not magic, but we had powers. Usually we could do just one thing.

I can do the same thing I could, back there. During that breach.

[credere]

What is it?

[yedinyy]

It's... [She makes a face, and when she twitches her fingers the water in her glass sloshes over the edge, and she sighs.]

Manipulating particles would be the best word for it, I think. It feels like I can move fluids, or change structures if I try hard enough.

[credere]

[He doesn't know what she means by 'manipulating particles', so the extra detail is welcome.]

Like...changing water into ice?

[yedinyy]

Like that, yes. During the breach I was able to restructure things much bigger than I'm able to now, but it's still-

It's strange. [She doesn't know if she likes it. She's so used to depending on herself, her wits, her body. This feels like cheating.]

[credere]

You don't - need to use it, do you? Or...are you doing it without thinking?

[yedinyy]

Sometimes, yeah. I guess I need to learn how to control it, huh?

[credere]

Do you think you'll really have it forever?

[yedinyy]

The Admiral can be fickle. He'll take it away as soon as he gave it to us.

[credere]

Oh.

...Quentin turned me into a fox.

[He knows that's a nonsequitur but a fox, Elizabeth.]

[yedinyy]

[Adorable. Her smile is audible when she replies.]

He turned you into a fox? How did that happen?

[credere]

He asked me to visit his room. He has his magic back, and -- he wanted someone to be a fox with. So I said it would be alright.

[yedinyy]

You--

Would you like to tell me about it in person? I don't like talking on the phone like this for anything important. [And it sounds important.]

[credere]

I don't know that there's very much more to tell, but - alright. [He does prefer speaking in person, he's finding.] Where would you like to meet?

[yedinyy]

Could you come help set up in the kitchen with me while we talk? I could use the help.

[If Elizabeth were a warden, 90% of her strategy would be 'put them to work.']

[credere]

Oh - yes, I'd like that.

[He's there not long after, a few minutes at most. It's not as if he has far to come.]

Elizabeth...?

[yedinyy]

[She opens the door for him, smiling, and she puts a friendly hand on his shoulder, pulling him in.]

You made it. Hi.

[credere]

"Hello, Elizabeth." He takes off his hat and ducks his head as he steps into the kitchen. "What can I do?"

[yedinyy]

"Hang your hat on there," she tells him, indicating the peg the aprons are hanging from.

"Tie one of those on, and we'll get to peeling potatoes."

[credere]

"Yes," he says, and has to forcibly close his mouth before the ma'am comes out after it. This is good, comforting, familiar, after a very peculiar sort of day. He hangs his hat and ties on his apron - and washes his hands.

Just some good, simple work. He needs it; it's grounding.

[yedinyy]

She sits them both down on some stools and puts a large pot in front of both of them, and then just hands him a knife and a bag of potatoes.

"So," she says, then smiles at him. "A fox."

[credere]

"Yes."

He makes a start with the potatoes, and it's good, it's easy - something familiar and useful and mundane to do with his hands. He falls into a well-practiced rhythm, taking only the barest slivers necessary, wasting nothing.

"The Admiral returned his magic, and -- he said it was better to do it with someone else."

[yedinyy]

She sees that, and she peels just the same way. No waste- and the peels go into a neat pile, to be boiled later.

"How did he do it?"