[hr][h1][i][color=aqua]Jennifer Marissa Caspin[/color], & Commander Shepherd.[/i][/h1][hr]


Alice was not at all surprised to see Jen's surprised reaction. She hadn't seen her since before the fair, or talked to her. She hadn't really talked to anyone outside of her family and the team. Online it was just that little bit easier to pretend nothing had changed. They didn't have to see how she looked now. In fact Dr34dno0ught was the only one who knew, she'd felt obliged to tell him after she hadn't been online for two weeks. They knew she lived in Verthaven, so had been worried when they learned people had died at fair, she wasn't quite sure how to broach the topic of her new disability with people yet. Apparently simply showing up on their doorstep wasn't the way to go about it.

She grimaced, "hey Jen, sorry to kind of spring this on you," she shrugged in response to the younger girl's question, "I was at the fair, and got hit."

Her eyes looked very far away for a moment as she obviously relived some moment of the past, then she looked back to Jen. "I was lucky..."

Eager to change the subject, she moved on, "what about you, you ok?"

That fair.... Images of what happened flashed before Jen's eyes - because she saw it with her own two eyes. She could not believe that Alice was there, all while Jen was hauling ass with Ratchet. Jen scratched the back of her neck and looked away - and her eyes shot open when she realized that she was outside. Out in the open. Trickles of sweat started dripping down her forehead as she thought about who (Or [i]what[/i]) could be watching her. Planning their next course of action in taking her back to the place that haunted her.

Jen didn't even [i]think[/i] about the fact that she's standing out in the open in a less-than-modest outfit. She was literally at a lost for words. Once again, she could only say the first thing that came to mind.

"I... I'm so sorry that happened to you." Jen muttered, looking around. She was fairly unsure of how to go about answering Alice's question. By all means, she was far from okay. Yet, she saw this as an opportunity to talk about this to someone. "Can't say that I was..." Jen scratched the back of her neck. "... You're keeping up with the news, right?"

Alice did not have the issue with being outside that Jen had, she wasn't even afraid of being alone, at least that wouldn't mean knowing that maybe she could have done something, anything to save them. She could see Jen's discomfort though, it was obvious, she was sweating, avoiding eye contact. It didn't take a psychologist to deduce that this was a girl who was seriously struggling with her current situation.

"Yeah, everyone's sorry, it's not their fault, no one made me go to the fair, you don't have to apologise!"

Alice realised that she had raised her voice a little, and couldn't help but smile a little at the irony, "sorry, I'm just sick of people saying sorry..."

When she shouted, Jen took a step back. Okay. Maybe she pushed a button. "Sorry..." Jen found herself apologizing [i]again[/i]. She hadn't even considered that. She, for a moment, thought about it. While she was running for her life, Alice was bleeding to death. She wondered if she could have helped Alice. Or, if while she was running, she passed right on by Alice in her rush to get out of there. 

She shook her head, "I've not really been paying much attention, it's just more about the last two weeks, and things are depressing enough without adding to it."

[i]I have to explain it... Don't I?[/i] Jen thought to herself, while avoiding eye-contact with Alice as much as possible. She doubt that she could look her in the eye while explaining. While Jen walked over to the stairs to her house, she thought about how to phrase it. How to explain it. Yet, every time she thought about it, she could just [i]feel[/i] that monster's hands [i]inside[/i] of her, and she had to remind herself that everything was fine. She had regenerated. She shuddered, as she sat down on the stairs. Her gaze was fixated on the ground at her feet.

"Well... Have you heard of the Hands of Science?" Jen asked. Alice [i]had[/i] to know about it. Even if she hadn't... she would have a bit of trouble trying to explain it.

Alice half shook her head, she'd been in a hospital for the better part of two weeks, and been less than inclined to ressearch current events when she came out. Even so, she had heard them spoken of, "a little, don't they experiment on metas?"

Her voice caught a little, you wouldn't notice unless you were looking for it, but it was enough to give away her new secret.  Though hopefully not to the clearly distracted Jennifer.

"I...." Jen trailed off, as she thought about a different way to start off. "Two weeks ago, me and my friends were... kidnapped by them." She started off, but found herself unable to continue. She wiped the sweat off her forehead with a hand. Before taking a deep breath in. She figured that she should keep her mouth shut about the [i]details[/i]. "It should be obvious, but we got out.... yet, I can't stop thinking about what happened in there." She looked off to the side.

"You were..?" Alice fell silent, not quite sure how to continue.

"Yeah... It was... [i]fucked up[/i]." Jen ran her hand through her hair.

"But you aren't a..."

Alice would have face-palmed, but it somehow didn't seem appropriate, "a meta..?"

"Are you?"

"[i]Regenerator.[/i]" Jen blankly says. At this point, she could care less about keeping it a secret. NEST knows about it. Her family knows about it. Her [i]friends[/i] know about it. "A few weeks ago... I helped someone, and she gave me regeneration." She just concisely explained it, leaving out all the other details. She didn't care if Alice turned away right now, and never spoke to her again. This is the burden she has to carry now.

The burden of an abnormal life.

Many other people might have said that was cool, and Alice would be lying if she said she wasn't jealous, but she didn't say anything. She wasn't glad she was a metahuman, and god knows what had happened to Jen when she had been kidnapped by a group known only for experimenting on Metahumans. She probably felt a little less than lucky. The Doctors had told Alice she had been lucky, she'd been in critical condition, but somehow once stabilised she'd made a miraculous recovery. She should have been dead, but she wasn't, Michelle and Sophie were, sometimes Alice wondered if it wouldn't have been better if she'd joined them.

"Did you... you know... register?"

Alice hadn't, she wasn't sure if she should, if it was safe. She'd not been paying attention to the news, not enough to have an accurate understanding about what was going on, but she'd overheard enough conversations in her hospital bed to know that NEST had something to do with the Fiends attack on the fair. How could she trust them with her identity?

"Had... no choice... NEST found me out after they got me out of there." Jen scratched the back of her neck. Then let out a sigh. "I wish they hadn't... I never asked for this - any of this." She remembered the time when she wanted to keep her power a secret, and keep going. Now, anyone and their grandmother can just hack into NEST and get her identity. Who knows who's out there. Maybe someone might want to steal her Regeneration now.

"That... sucks I guess... Especially after what happened, I mean I haven't been watching the news but people talk you know. And to be honest I wouldn't want to be in NESTs database right now."

Alice half-smiled, and shrugged, "I don't think either of us ever asked for this, but we've got it, so we might as well make the most of it right?"

There was a faint pleading note in her voice, as if she didn't quite believe what she was saying herself, but was trying to put on a front for the world. A front that said that really, she was ok.

"So did they put you on house arrest or something?"

So, that means that Alice, too, is a Metahuman. Not that Jen was particularly surprised at this point. People manisfest a lot, and those people are drawn to each other. After she manisfested, she learned much more about the people of Verthaven than she had ever before. Exposed to the many faces that the city has to show. Alice asked her was she on house-arrest, which was silly.

"Well, no." Jen put her hands on the steps at her side. "I've just been... staying in lately. For... personal reasons." Jen explained. Though, meeting Alice here has really warmed her up a bit. [i]Maybe[/i] she could use a walk. Nothing bad could happen during a walk, right? 

"But, I could use a little walk. Columbiana Heights isn't that far away." Jen scratched the back of her neck. "Maybe we could walk there...?" She looked down, and saw that wearing nothing but a T-shirt and shorts is far from appropriate wear. "... After a little change of clothes, of course."

Alice nodded, understanding the desire to not really leave the house, especially after what had happened. It had been a feat of courage to open the door, let alone leave and head down the street. Now that she was out though, she was glad, there was a feeling of confiment that came with being cooped up in the house all day, and although she had only left half an hour ago already it was beginning to assuage that sensation, much as she wished she could go home already.

Alice had already noted Jen's clothes, it was pretty obvious she hadn't intended to leave the house today, but Alice's visit maybe had her convinced. Alice didn't really know why, it had hardly been the most optimistic conversation, but maybe it had reminded Jen, as it had reminded Alice, that shit happened to other people too.

"That's ok, I can just wait out here till you're changed."

She had bristled a little when Jen had said 'walk there', but resisted the urge to snap at her, not when it seemed she had a friend to spend a little time with.

"I'll be right here."