Midnight Oil (IC)

[Electra]

After the meeting with James to set up the new team, Erin procrastinated for days before going to see Trevor. First it was too soon, then it was the thing with Trevor's eyes, but she eventually had to woman up and do it. If they were all going to be on a team together, it was only fair that Trevor be... not warned, she told herself. It wasn't like James was going to come after Trevor and try to stab him, not when he was in his right mind, anyway. Apprised, maybe, that was a better word. Trevor should be apprised of James' mixed emotions, even though she was pretty sure what James had told her had been told in confidence, but it wasn't really fair to make her keep that a secret when they were all going to be working together, especially with a telepath on the team who would probably suss it out in about two seconds flat once she started in with the mindreading and it was certainly the last thing any of them needed to have on their minds when they were going into dangerous and lifethreatening situations on other planets because that was just stupid--

Erin broke off that increasingly unproductive train of thought and went to go find Trevor already. Playing a hunch, she headed for the school garage. He spent a lot of time there with his bike, and if he wasn't there, maybe she could go for a drive instead! Damning herself for a coward, she stalked into the garage, and was half-relieved, half-dismayed to hear the sounds of engine work coming from the stall where Trevor usually kept his bike. It was hot outside, hot enough to have her in the vibrantly colored shorts and top she'd gotten from the amusement park last summer, but the garage was air conditioned and pleasant. Deliberately relaxing her gait, she headed in the direction of the noise. "Hey," she called, "you busy?"

[Gizmo]

Despite the summer heat, the legs sticking out from under Trevor's motorcycle were clad in a faded pair of well worn jeans. Nearby a pale button down shirt hung from the corner of the stall, and when the lanky teen set down his tools and slid out from under the vehicle, his athletic frame was attired in a thin white tank top, splattered lightly with oil. Luminous red irises set in fields of glossy black seemed to light up as he saw Erin and cast about for a rag to wipe his hands on. "For you?" he asked rhetorically, the shadow of a grin pulling at the corner of his mouth. "Never."

[Electra]

Despite her mental tumult, Erin's smile came naturally as she leaned against the door of the stall. Trevor's eyes were odd enough, and new enough, that they still gave her a bit of a start, but she thought she was sort of getting used to them. His chest was definitely filling out from all the extra training, she couldn't help but notice, and that was much easier to look at. "I, um... I figured you'd probably be out here," she said,her mind temporarily disconnecting with her mouth and leaving it on its own. "How's it going, the motorcycle I mean?"

[Gizmo]

"Hmm? Oh, good," he replied, tossing the rag into the open lid of his tool box. "Remote piloting should be up and running now, and the chameleon circuit..." Retrieving a narrow rectangle of matte black carbon fiber, he thumbed a button. Abruptly the shadowy, light absorbing panels of the Night Cycle seemed to ripple, shifting to a brilliant metallic blue. "Morphic molecule paint," Trevor explained. "Running a mild electrical charge through it to shift between different colours." That thought triggered a sudden recollection, and the dark haired youth hastily pulled out the sunglasses hanging from his pants pocket and placed them over his mutated eyes. "Sorry. Forgot," he apologized, mild embarrassment showing through his stoic expression.

[Electra]

"Don't worry about it," she told him. "It doesn't really, you know, bother me. It's just a little surprising when I see it still." Erin shrugged. "More I see it, the faster I'll get used to it. They're still your eyes." She crouched down next to him to look at the additions he'd made to the bike. "So it's like a built-in disguise then? That's cool." She ran her fingers lightly over the new paint job, but it just felt like normal paint to her. "You going to give it a day color, or just keep it black most of the time?" Talking about the bike was easy and interesting, much easier than talking about mutations or relationships.

[Gizmo]

Trevor murmured noncommittally then hesitated for a moment before taking the sunglasses off again and tucking them back into his pocket. "That's the idea, yeah. Riding the Cycle out of uniform was always pushing it; should help." He rand a hand along the sleet surface of the bike until his fingers sat next to Erin's. "Fit in some concealed compartments for storage and tweaked her engine for a little more speed." He turned his head from the vehicle to look at the auburn haired girl next to him with a faint smile. "Not exactly an interdimensional flying saucer, but still."

[Electra]

Erin chuckled at that. "I think I'm glad," she told him. "James' ship is cool and all, but the AI on there kind of weirds me out. She's like a real person, but she's a computer program. And I'm not totally sure she likes me. Apparently she had dealings with the Wander from that alternate world, and I guess that would be enough to put anyone off me for awhile, from what I've seen and heard of her." There it was, the perfect segue to talk about James.... and she chickened out. "I like this blue color," she told Trevor instead, tapping the chassis lightly. "Sort of matches my truck."

[Gizmo]

Trevor smiled softly. "You know me; sucker for colour coordination." Rubbing the back of his neck, his mouth pulled back into a hint of a wince as he looked to one side. "Lucas' version of you was... yeah." It seemed wise to keep the description that popped into his head - like Erin and Mark had had a daughter and let a television playing the retro channel raise her - to himself. "Got the impression she was letting 'the prince' and Kid Midnight fight over her; Rick didn't strike me as the type who believes men and women can 'just be friends'. Persephone's probably just being overprotective." He shrugged. "Real enough to get jealous is pretty real, computer or not. Hmm... could probably get Wilder or Karakuri to help build a physical body for her..." Erin could practically see the gears turning in his head as he reflexively began mentally drawing up designs.

[Electra]

"James told me he was in love with me," Erin blurted. That wasn't exactly how she'd intended to say it, but she was lousy at being tactful. "Back after the prom, but before we started up with all this team stuff. He's not planning on ever doing anything about it, but he thought, I dunno, that I should know or something. I dunno." She took her hand off the motorcycle, rested both fists on her knees. And he's my friend, but he's not... I guess I don't really think about him that way, with all the stuff he does and all the girls he sees. I don't even think he maybe really feels that way about me, but he's got Hell-Ion's memories inside him, you know? And Persephone said that Hell-Ion was in love with that Wander, and she jerked him around, and I don't want to do that to anybody, but I thought you ought to know what he said, because otherwise you might never know because he's so good at keeping things to himself. And I don't think that would be fair." She finally ran out of air and stopped, looking at him expectantly. She wasn't sure he could possibly have understood any of that.

[Gizmo]

There was a pause as Trevor blinked several times, his eyebrows lifting upward. "Huh. Really should have picked up on that," he mused aloud finally, his tone surprisingly calm. "Explains a lot, actually." As the initial information settled in his mind, the stoic youth had a moment to do some brief calculations. "So that was... a while ago, then," he observed carefully, keeping his tone mild.

[Electra]

Erin rubbed a hand over her face uncomfortably. "A little while," she admitted. "Not that long, really. I had to think about it for a little, and then there was the thing with making the new team, and you had the stuff happen with your eyes. There just, you know, didn't really seem to be a good time to bring it up. And it's not like you guys are, I dunno, competing or anything. That would be stupid. I just thought you would want to know, because then you know where James is coming from on stuff. And even though I think it's the right thing to do, I feel kind of bad about telling," she admitted, "because I don't really think he wanted it spread around."

[Gizmo]

"Should have told me himself," Trevor remarked with a faint frown. "Not fair to put you in that position." Admittedly, he and James weren't what he'd call close, but they'd fought side by side. Awkward though the subject may have been, felt a vague pang of annoyance that the Prophet scion had spent a considerable amount of time smiling in his face while letting his true feeling fester. It was the sort of needless angst and drama the lanky youth found both frustrating and incomprehensible. He let out a long breath, clearing his mind. "What are you going to do?"

[Electra]

"I don't know," Erin admitted, sitting back on her heels. "Nothing, I guess. I mean, I'll try to be mindful of his feelings, I guess, and not do anything to rub salt in it for him, but I don't think there's much else I can do." She looked at him, meeting those weird eyes, and for once they were the lesser of her concerns. "I don't want anything in our personal lives to mess up what we're going to do saving other dimensions. That's too important. But I really like you, and I don't want to push you away just because it might make him feel better."

[Gizmo]

Trevor slid slightly to one side to crouch closer to Erin. "Well, you know how I feel," he reminded her, gently nudging her shoulder with his own. After a long moment, he cleared his throat and began, "Listen, I wanted to say... for the record, that is... I know we've been taking things slow. You've got things, I've got things, so that works, but I didn't want you to think I didn't-- not that there's some sort of schedule, I just mean..." The dark haired young man winced. "I'm articulating this poorly."

[Electra]

"No- I mean, slow is good," Erin told him. "I mean..." She was quiet for a minute, trying to collect her thoughts before they both made an irredeemable hash of the conversation. "It's hard for me to talk about things in my past. Most of the time it's just easier to not say anything. I'm working on getting myself back together, but it might take a long time. I don't know what I'm ready to do, or what I can do. So... I think going slow is a good idea. And no schedule." She smiled just a little.

[Gizmo]

"You're worth waiting for," Trevor assured her softly, offering his hand to her, palm upward and finger loosely open. "Whenever you're ready to talk about it, I'll be here." Tilting his head to one side slightly, he gave Erin a slight, encouraging smile. For a long moment he simply sat silently next to her, letting his rufescent eyes close with a slow exhalation, quietly content.

[Electra]

Erin closed her fingers around his, then took a moment to study his face while he wasn't watching. Doctor Marquez would probably tell her she wasn't ready for any of this, and that it would be much wiser to just pull away and work on putting herself back together into some semblance of healthy person before she tried out any dating. Hell with him. She might never get better, and damned if she was going to wait that long.

"I'll tell you soon," she promised, waiting for him to open his eyes and look at her. "I just have to...have to put it in order in my head first. But I know you're a good listener." Leaning in, she brushed her lips across his, so lightly that the touch barely registered. "I have to get ready for my training session at four," she told him as she pulled away, a slightly nervous, slightly goofy sort of half smile on her face. "Want to meet up in the caf for dinner?"

[Gizmo]

As Erin backed away from the light brush of lips, Trevor blinked slowly in a moment of dawning surprise which gradually gave way to what could only be considered a grin on the usually stoic youth's visage. "I'd like that," he replied, resting on hand lightly on her cheek before leaning forward to return the gesture, lingering a touch longer than she had but still keeping the contact brief and non threatening. Up close the youth had a faint scent of hickory charcoal and a slight warmth from the faith colour which unfortunately displayed prominently against his pale skin.

[Electra]

"Good," Erin replied as the kiss ended, her voice a little breathy. "Yeah, good, that'll be good. I'll see you at dinner, then." She stood up and headed for the door, hesitating a couple of times before she reached it. The temptation was strong to turn around and go back and see what a third attempt was like, but she really did have to get to training, and she really, really needed to pull her head together first. The way she felt right now, an unenhanced thug with a nightstick could probably set her on her ass. Oddly enough, it was still a great feeling. She paused at the door. "See you later," she said again, then headed out of the garage.

[Gizmo]

"Later," Trevor agreed, clearing his throat lightly in order to do so. Rather than alleviating the tension there, however, as Erin paused momentarily in the doorway, the young man found his voice further impaired by a sudden thickness. A beat after she left the garage, he allowed himself to fall down to the concrete floor, placing his hands behind his head as he breathed out a long stream of roiling black mist in an upward geyser. Letting the coolness of the hard surface seep through his thin shirt as the gas dissipated above him, he closed one eye contemplatively. It was going to be a long day until dinner.