Swinging [Victor]

[Deleted]

Though it's not really a good time of year for the playground, Phoebe doesn't really care. So what if the metal bits are cold, the slide is caked with snow, and the money bars are caked with icicles? The swings still work and they're the best part of a playground anyway. It lets her experience the joy of flying without having to concentrate so much like when she's practicing that skill. Even if she can't go so high.

It was Agent Stevens who got the idea to give her a break from work and 'go have some fun'. She knows that her guardian has been really worried about her lately, since she hasn't been as open about her thoughts and feelings as she used to be. But she doesn't think that they'd be approved of - maybe they'd even send her back into training and decide that she can't handle being in a mission. No, better to keep her thoughts to herself - making Agent Stevens worried is a lot better than risking any of that. But while her guardian may think that taking her to the park to play a little will help, Phoebe isn't so sure. While she's enjoying this, it doesn't help with any of the confusing thoughts in her head.

She glances over at Agent Stevens and smiles, getting a small smile in return from the woman as she sits on a bench. But the agent's primary focus remains on keeping an eye on anyone who happens to walk nearby and not on Phoebe like a normal parent would. But that's mostly because she has no need to worry about Phoebe hurting herself and a lot more to worry about someone else hurting the girl. While the kid may be very powerful, she could still be taken by surprise. Then again, the possibility of that is very remote - while she knows that rumors about a little girl fighting for the FBI seem to have gotten leaked out in some quarters, she knows they're not very specific. And there's no way to distinguish her and Phoebe from any mother/daughter pair visiting the park today. Still, better to be over-vigilant than under-vigilant.

[Deleted]

Victor was once again taking pictures of activity in Robinson Park. Apparently he did so well last time that the paper wanted him to take pictures for a follow up story. He didn't actually like the article in his opinion it was full of cliches and it was way to flowery for his taste. He was again dressed in his WWII era German Whermacht trench coat. And today he decided to wear his Indiana Jones style fedora.

Victor walked over to the nearest bench and sat down.. It just happened to be close to the playground. He looked at his digital camera and started to go through the pictures. He had to delete some that weren't quite what the paper wanted and he didn't like walking around as he messed with something like that.

'Why do you always wear that coat?' Lupin asked. Though Victor was the only person that could hear him. As far as he could tell at least.

'Look it belonged to my grandfather. And no he wasn't a bad man. He was drafted like the rest of the men in my family at the time.' Was Victor's reply.

'Ok I understand that...... Now what about the hat?' Lupin asked.

'Right you can't actually read my thoughts. Its Indiana Jones. Remember that movie we saw the other day?' Victor said/thought.

'Oh right I see it now. You liked it?' Lupin responded.

"Yes I did." Victor mumbled. He didn't mean to say it out loud. He rarely did mean to talk to Lupin using his voice he always used his mind. But sometimes he slipped up.

Victor looked up from his camera and looked around to see if anyone heard him. As far as he could tell no one did. As he looked around he saw what looked like a mother and daughter. The mother looked at him and he gave a polite nod and smiled. Then he looked at the little girl on the swing. 'Now those are fun.' He thought to himself. He watched the little girl swing for a few seconds as he thought back to his childhood then he looked back to his camera and started deleting pictures again. And his mental conversation with Lupin started once again. After a while the subject changed and Lupin said. 'You know we seem to come here quite often.'

Victor smiled, 'Yeah we do don't we? I put out another ad for our services and I hope that who ever answers it doesn't send us to the park again.' He said/thought.

[Deleted]

Agent Stevens's eyes shift quickly when she hears the man who sat down on a nearby bench mutter to himself. The polite smile is responded to with a slight frown, but when she notices that Phoebe has also looked in his direction she relaxes a little. If he got Phoebe's attention that she doesn't really have to worry. The girl is more than capable of being able to tell who they need to worry about and who they don't, and even if they do as long as Phoebe's attention is on him then harming her would be almost impossible. It's anything happening that Phoebe doesn't know about that she has to worry about.

Phoebe, having been trained for as long as she can remember for combat, among other things, is rather observant for a kid her age. Of course a random mutter from someone sitting alone catches her attention, but there's no wavering in her swinging to indicate that. Curious more than anything, she decides to silently listen in on the man's thoughts. Since she can do that without a person's mind being able to tell and has been able to for as long as she can remember, that's second nature to her - the whole concept of 'privacy' to her is a bit sketchy. Though perhaps she'd feel a bit differently if it was other people reading her thoughts.

And the moment she did, she's glad - this guy is one of those people with two voices in their head. Her first instinct is to be concerned, as the last person she met like that was the Ventriloquist, and he was a very, very bad person. But the two voices this guy has seem a lot nicer, especially in the way they talk to each other. She smiles to herself as she listens to their back and forth for awhile, eventually losing to an impulse to contribute to it.

Your pictures are pretty, she comments, able to get a sense of them as she reads the young man's thoughts while he sorts through them even though she's unable to actually see them with her own eyes. And she has to wonder how he'll react to hearing her. On the one hand, he's obviously used to voices in his head. On the other hand, hers is distinctly different.

[Deleted]

When Victor heard a unfamiliar voice in his head he raised an eyebrow. He thought about what he just heard and started to think about what to do. He wanted to covertly look and see what was around him with no one else noticing. What he DID was different. His head shot up and he looked around. He didn't see anyone close to him although the voice was clear enough for its origin to be practically behind him.

'Lupin was that you?' He asked mentally.

'No I have a deeper "voice" I thought you would have known by now.' Lupin replied jokingly.

'That's what I thought.' Victor said/thought

Victor looked around some more but he couldn't find anyone else around him. 'Thank you?' He thought assuming that if someone else was entering his mind and simply complementing him then he had nothing to worry about. Then he thought about the possibility of the owner of the voice hearing Lupin. He tried to hide all thoughts of Lupin he might have that are easily accessible. He hoped that whoever talked to him just now didn't hear anything that would label him as insane.

[Deleted]

Phoebe is amused when she sees the guy look around. Using her power like this is probably not a good idea. And while she knows that, doing stuff you know you shouldn't is sometimes just a part of being a kid. Though she's also aware that it's probably a good idea to not let the guy know who she is if she can help it, so she keeps her swinging uninterrupted and even intentionally lets her eyes drift away from him so that she isn't caught staring. Besides, like he thought earlier, swinging is fun!

You're welcome! she replies, before admitting, And I've been listening for a bit, so I already heard Lupin. Hi, Lupin! I'm Force. And I don't know if you're crazy or not - the last time I 'heard' someone with two voices in their head he was crazy, but... well, there were a lot of other things that were crazy about that guy.[/color][/i] Which is actually putting it somewhat mildly. The Ventriloquist is so crazy that any person on the street could tell you that he's insane and his thoughts are even worse.

[Deleted]

Victor couldn't help but smile when he heard the voice, which called itself Force, say hi to Lupin And his smile got abit wider when he heard Lupin's reaction.

'How does she know?' What made it so good was that Lupin was usually calm and relaxed. But right now he was panicking.

'You heard......' Victor thought some about how the voice sounded. It sounded like a she. 'Her.. She's been listening, so say hi ya baby.' He said/thought.

After a moments "silence" Lupin responded with. 'Hello Force.' Then he went silent. "Saying" nothing more.

'I'm not crazy........ Its kinda hard to explain.' Victor said/thought. He never once took his eyes off of his camera. He figured a person named Force might not want to be seen in person. Epically if she didn't tell him where she was. So he kept going through his pictures and waited for a reply.

[Deleted]

Phoebe's amusement is so great that her laugh at Lupin's reaction goes through their mental link, even though in reality she's only smiling. You don't need to worry about me, I won't tell anyone, she reassures, Unless you're bad guys. But you don't sound like bad guys. And that's an assessment that she's pretty flawless at making, even though she second guesses herself constantly whenever she runs into someone who definitely seems like a good guy but the agents assure her is a bad guy. Confusing issue...

Well if you try, I'll probably get it, she adds, Everything's a lot easier to explain in your head than it is using words.[/color][/i] Usually because when someone is stumped for the right words to explain a thing the thoughts they're unable to explain become so clear she can just read them directly. So usually if Phoebe doesn't understand a thing it's only because she's too young to think in a certain way - like what the Question told her about there being a difference between what the rules are and what's right. That's an especially tough one!

[Deleted]

Lupin relaxed abit after the voice said that it wouldn't tell anyone but he still didn't talk. Victor looked at a picture and thought about weather or not he should delete it but decided to keep it. Then he thought about how to explain Lupin.

'Well I'll try...........' He said/thought. And after a few seconds he started. 'Well a few years ago, when I was still in college. I was havin' a rough time. I went for a walk and came across this strange wolf thing...........' He paused for a second thinking about what to say next. 'Well........... That was Lupin...... He then chased me all through the city.......... I had seen a wolf before but never one so big.......... Or in the city for that matter.. Then he cornered me in and I actually threw a few things at him........... He lunged at me and then...................' That was all he was able to say. He didn't really know how to explain the rest. So he hoped that the owner of the voice. Or Force as she preferred to be called got the point.

[Deleted]

True to what she said, Phoebe doesn't have much trouble of following along with his story, in spite of the hiccups in it. Weird... is all she says at first, before adding, But kind of cool though, I guess. Now she's trying to decide if she's jealous or should be especially careful to avoid very large wolves from now on. It must be interesting to have such a thing in your head, but as much as she so casually invades the heads of others she also really likes having her head to herself.

Why did he do that? is her follow-up question. Someone her age is an unending supply of curiosity, and Phoebe is no exception to that rule. Perhaps that's why she felt such a need to talk to him in the first place - she had to see what would happen.

[Deleted]

Victor had to think about it some before he answered. 'I think it would be better if he told you himself.' He said/thought before forcing Lupin to "speak" up.

'Alright! Alright.' The deep voice said. 'I did it because my kind, in order to live, must seek a host. And for some reason humans seem to cope well with us. But we must pick a human that matches who we are. And Victor was the only one I could find fast enough that matched who I was. A kind man. Another reason was that I took pity on the fact that he could barely talk to anyone and that if he was to ever carry on his-' At that moment Victor cut off the mental narrative.

'I'd rather you not talk about that Lupin' He quickly said/thought while feeling his cheeks warm up some.

[Deleted]

Phoebe's laugh carries through the mental link again. Victor might be disturbing if he knew just how aware the young-sounding voice is of where Lupin was going with that. She's a very, very difficult person to hide anything from, but she's also smart enough to know when it's not polite to say so.

Well, that was nice of you, she comments, What 'kind' are you, then? She can gather that he's some sort of wolf-like thing, but she knows that Lupin can't be an ordinary wolf. Even beyond the fact that he merged somehow with Victor, normal wolves are just a smart as any animal - which is not smart enough to think in words. Something that Phoebe would know better than anyone.

She spares Agent Stevens a glance, suddenly hoping that her guardian doesn't decide to leave any time soon. She's definitely enjoying this little chat and knows better than to try to explain to her guardian exactly why she wouldn't want to leave yet. Fortunately, the woman doesn't show any signs that she's thinking of doing anything beyond continuing to sit there and keep an eye on her.

[Deleted]

Victor smiled abit feeling rather embarrassed by what Lupin was leading up to. It was true before Lupin Victor could barely say "hi" to anyone. And barely whimper near a woman. Now he could look someone in the eyes and carry on a conversation with them.

'My race goes by many names in your world. One is "The Ancient Ones" is the general name that we receive. And the one that any evil member of my race is usually called is "Werewolves" But the true name of our race is Canisians. But we generally go with what the culture and our host calls us. Its easier on most of your kind it seems.' Lupin said. He was able to say it all in one breath due to the fact that he didn't need to breath.

'How come you'll tell her willingly but I have to pry it out of you?' Victor asked.

'Well she asked nicely.' Lupin replied matter of factly. Victor simply grunted in response.

[Deleted]

Most people like me, if they're good guys, Phoebe comments matter-of-factly. Which is true, but also an issue that's far more complicated than she realizes. Of course the main reason is that she's a friendly enough child to anyone who doesn't have 'bad' thoughts.

I heard that werewolves are people who turn into wolves and then they hunt people. Is that wrong? she asks now, and it's obvious that she's simply asking because she's curious.

She's actually received a pretty decent education while being raised by the government - perhaps a bit biased when it comes to the authority of the government and the position of the United States in the world, but decent nevertheless. But many 'occult' topics were skipped over - not because anyone felt the need to spare the girl from learning about such things, but because the sort of people who know about that sort of thing are also the sort of people who avoid the government like the plague. They just don't have the information themselves to teach her. Actually being able to hear about it is therefore fascinating to her.

[Deleted]

There was a deep chuckle from Lupin. 'Yes that is what they are now. But when they first came to be. They were humans just like Victor, and I assume you, who "gave in to the wolf" As Victor so gracefully puts it.' Jupin said with a mental smile that was more felt then heard. 'You see when one of my kind merges with a host, the host gains some new physical traits. Victor only gained two. His canine teeth are slightly more pronounced. And you can't see it now but he hair is the same color of what your kind calls a grey wolf.' Lupin paused to give time for Force to picture what that must look like. 'But with the werewolves they completely changed into a humanoid wolf like creature and would go on rampages and other such things. The Romans called many of the beings Barbarians.'

Victor smiled some as Lupin said all of this. It wasn't very often he heard Lupin open up about things like this. He almost always enjoyed talking to him. And to others he met. But Lupin was a oddly quiet being. Also when Lupin was talking Victor was trying to find out where the owner of the voice was. He wasn't out to hurt the owner of hte voice. He just wanted to know. After all even though he wasn't a child he was still curious by nature when it came to strange new things.

[Deleted]

Oh, is that why he's wearing that weird hat? she asks. She actually missed the explanation of the hat, as that bit of the conversation happened before he'd gotten her attention. And though she knows a lot more than most ten-year-olds about military uniforms, her knowledge of those things is almost completely contemporary. WWII is well before her time, so as far as she can tell it's just a weird looking jacket.

She's just wearing a knee length black winter coat with jeans and black snow boots - Agent Stevens is always good about making sure she doesn't look like anything special. She'd rather have something pink and 'cute', but she understands the purpose of that so she tolerates it. Of course, while pondering upon his appearance her eyes have drifted over to him again. She can't help it, really, this is just so interesting. Though when she senses him wondering who she is, she forces her eyes away again and adds, It's... better if you don't know who I am. I probably shouldn't be talking to you.