<> <> <> * Katherine is already there, since she's the one who invited Thren there. She's wearing a simple black dress and matching heels, and sits there idly looking over the menu. She has a small smile on her face. * Threnody is shown in by (choose one: a waiter, a concierge, a choir of singing angels) and heads over to Katherine's table after assuring said person he can make it on his own. He's not wearing anything special; a dark grey loose shirt and black slacks. The violet appears to have finally washed out of his hair, also. <> * Katherine winces slightly, then looks up from the menu, placing it flat on the table and nodding at Thren. "Hey Thren." She turns to the waiter. "I'll have some of this," she says, pointing at the back of the menu. * Threnody nods back and has a seat, smiling absently at the waiter. "Some water will be fine, thank you." (I hate you Mecha.) (I know.) <> (Waiter is haxxor! I meant nods.) (All this is happening in telepathy, isn't it. ¬_o) (No, I'm just dumb and having a hard time phasing my words. If it were in telepathy, it'd be in here. c.c;) * Katherine sits there quietly for a bit, then leans forward on the table, and mms. "So, how're you doing with all this? I probably should have asked last week, but I was a little distracted." * Threnody looks up at Kat over the edge of his menu; only his eyes are visible. "Being caught up in interdimensional warfare, you mean? Fairly well, all things considered." * Katherine smirks faintly. "Yeah, that, I guess." She waves her finger in a little horizontal circle. "Everything, really. It's been a harsh month." * Threnody nods once, or presumably nods once; his head bobs under the menu a moment and then comes back up. "I'm doing alright. Surprisingly, helping Trish put things in perspective for me a little." * Katherine leans back. "That makes sense, I think." <> (Awesome.) * Katherine says, "I'd like a Brickchelada platter, please." She then takes a small sip of her drink, and nods with satisfaction. (If it's German, they _must_ serve brick food!) * Threnody closes the menu and puts it down on the table gently. "Um... a small bowl of molé de poi, please, and some breadsticks. I'm not very hungry." <> (I tried to think of a Samoan dish that would actually work with Mexican food, and since molé is almost poi with fewer ingredients...) (I don't even know Samoan, so I believe whatever you say.) (I'm more impressed you bothered to get the accent.) * Katherine looks a little amused and leans back on the table. "It must be nice to get some perspective on things." (I love molé. Well, some of it. And the agrave e is one of like, four spec. chars I have memorized.) * Threnody takes a sip of his water, looking at Kat curiously. "Well, it comes at unexpected times. The benefit of 'being the river, not the damn', as the saying goes." * Katherine says, still looking slightly amused. "Well, it's amusing, really, that I've got sight, but not perspective, so to speak." She leans back again. "Something I get to think about in the quiet moments, like the trip to Venus." * Threnody tilts his head. Sip. "I'm not sure what you mean. I'm guessing you'll get to it, since you're acting very strangely." * Katherine shakes her head. "Not so weird. Just... lots of time to think." She grins a little weakly. "Thinking makes me mom. Acting makes me the bitch." * Katherine takes another sip of drink. * Threnody sighs and looks down at his water, distraught. "It's that kind of thinking that's keeping you from building an identity of your own in the first place." * Katherine smirks. "You mean, besides the horribly obvious parallels and superhuman effects on my mental state?" * Threnody sighs and just sips his drink again. "I'm not having this discussion with you anymore. I've done all I can. You have to do the rest in your own way." <> (I figure, he's GOT what equates to a bachelor's degree in psychology. I think he should start acting like he does. ^_^) (Also I categorically refuse to RP a therapist for Kat.) (Probably a good idea. ^_^;) (On both counts. Besides. Kat wouldn't want a therapist.) * Katherine frowns a little. "Yeah, sure." She taps a finger on the table. "That little abstraction aside..." she trails off when the food gets there. * Threnody smiles at the waiter, then looks at his dish with trepidation. "I'm sure it tastes fine, but... some part of me is saddened at the explosion of fusion cuisine." <> "... um." * Katherine grins faintly, and starts eating. "Well, it's always interesting. It'll swing back in a few years when everyone's tired of keeping four times the ingredients around." < * Threnody looks at the waiter run off, then tilts his head and shrugs, having a spoonful of molé. "It's not so bad. I don't think it should be so sweet, but the pineapple's likely to blame." * Katherine chuckles. "Well, the structure of the brick really accentuates the enchilada." She continues eating with a small grin. "Easier to make in groups too." * Threnody looks at Kat blankly for a moment, the has another spoonful of mole, and I am sick of the agrave, so add it in afterward or whatever. "So what were you going to say before the waiter arriving cut you off?" * Katherine gestures absently. "Oh, just more about the thinking. I'd get back to your original question about perspective and sight, but that's back towards that brick wall you're tired of." She takes another few bites. * Threnody blinks, again, but doesn't say anything. He eats slowly, occasionally shutting his eyes between spoonfuls. * Katherine takes another drink, and says, "Anyway. About thinking. I have at least two really incongruous questions." * Threnody looks up over his glass of water, expectantly. "Yes?" * Katherine frowns for a second, then leans forward. "Do you have any idea how I managed to sense your emotions down in the Foxhole? It's been confusing me for a while." Well, disturbing, really, but like I said. Lots of thinking time. * Threnody appears to ruminate on that for a moment, furrowing his brow. After a long pause, he takes a deep breath, then says: "No." And then he has more of his dinner. Yeah, that's about where I'm sitting on it. * Katherine takes another few bites. "Just a little odd for me. It's not like I need my brain to be even weirder than it is." Sip. * Threnody shrugs, and doesn't seem too bothered by it. "The ways of the mind are ineffable and deep. It could just be some quirk of my power that decided to work for you and nobody else." * Katherine grins. "Very mystical of you." * Threnody tilts his head a little, and chews on a breadstick. "Maybe so. The line between science and magic is pretty thin." (Not in my game, missy. Oog, bedtime.) (Haw haw. Night.) * Katherine nods slightly. "Well, except one of them is still more fantasy than reality, as far as I know." (I also have to get to bed fairly soonish.) (Well, it's about time to bring up the big issue anyway, now that we're done eating. ^_^;) * Threnody mmms faintly. "I don't know. It's not unknown for telepaths to 'leak' emotions when they're feeling something particularly strong." * Katherine takes another drink, and then licks her lips, before cleaning them up with a napkin. "Huhm. Well, maybe, but I didn't think you were enjoying it that much." A slight grin comes on her face at that. * Katherine leans full forward on the table. "Well, now about the second thing." * Threnody raises an eyebrow, chewing on another breadstick. * Katherine looks directly at Thren, a small friendly smile on her face. "I wanted to say that I think you're a great guy, Thren. Little odd, but I've liked you more or less since I saw you. I know in some ways, we got off on the wrong foot, but on others, the right foot." It's been a rough few weeks, but it has been a few weeks to think about things, for both of us. Really simply, I wanted to know if you wanted to move from not quite just friends to going out for real. * Threnody pauses a moment, finishes chewing on the breadstick, and is about to say something when that gets said, and then shuts his mouth again, looking silently into his glass of water. * Katherine is sitting there, maybe looking a little expectant, and takes a little sip of what's left of her drink. Apparently, she doesn't think thee's too much to add to what she said already. * Threnody closes his eyes a moment. "I broke down, back on Earth..." he says after a pause, looking back into his glass. "Everything got to be too much. I probably said some things I shouldn't have." He looks up at you and smiles, but it's a little tired. "I think it's sweet of you to ask that. But I think... before either of us could think about that sort of thing, we have growing up to do." * Katherine smiles a little herself. "Dating's not a forever thing, you know." * Threnody looks off to the side a bit. "I can't... I just can't." He takes a breath. "There's so many other things I'm responsible for. And being around you is certainly interesting and lively. Fun. But..." He looks back up. "Then there's other moments. Like that one right before we ordered." * Katherine nods slowly. "Yeah, well. Years of pain aren't something that just dissapear. Somehow, though, Thren, I don't think the things you and I are responsible for are that far apart." * Threnody smiles distractedly. "About three feet apart, at the moment." * Katherine smiles a little too. Well, it's obviously bothering you right now, for whatever reason's behind your eyes, so I guess that's that. * Threnody sighs and looks down into his glass. "There's no easy way to respond to a question like that. I'm sorry. It has nothing to do with you as a person." * Katherine smiles faintly. "Yes it does, because 'those other moments' are part of who I am." I had to ask it, and I knew it would be hard. It's always hard. * Threnody sighs and finishes off the last breadstick. "I'm not sure I want to be part of any of this anymore. A very tiny part of my mind says to just leave it, go back to training. But... my mother once said that the less you want to do something important, the more you should be doing it." * Katherine grins. "I think your mom's a masochist." * Threnody raises an eyebrow. "She has a very strong sense of responsibility." Yeah, but using reverse psychology on yourself's not responsibility, it's justification. (Some of us happen to love our mothers, bitch. Shut your hole.) (Well, it _is_. What if you do want to do the important thing, huh? Then where are you?) * Threnody frowns. "Why is it reverse psychology? It's the truth. The more difficult something is, the more we stand to lose, the less people are inclined to do something that often must be done." Because if you don't wanna do it, there's gotta be a reason, and it might just be a good one. Besides. If other people want to do it anyway, you might as well let them. * Threnody sips his water, eyes closed. "Is that your way of saying you're going to leave this all behind?" * Katherine shakes her head. "I thought about it. That's part of what last week was about too. If we keep going... all we're going to get are more Laura and Trishes. More Illyanas. I..." she trails off for a second, then says, "I needed to face that. I needed to get it out, and TSM is too slow." * Threnody mms faintly, then finishes off the last of his water too. "Nobody would blame you for going. Though Rochelle might think you a fool." They could blame me or not. Wouldn't change the situation at all. * Threnody closes his eyes for a moment. "I have to wonder sometimes. Leo the pacifist, Ian the costume-lover, Vera the forgetful detective... are they capable of doing this? Am I?" * Katherine shakes her head. "Who knows? I can't prepare them. Anything I could give them..." she looks down. "Nobody's ready for Kat the DI. And that's really for the best." * Threnody shakes his head. "That's not what I mean, though..." * Katherine glares at Thren, and says a little angrily. "No? I've got it all in here." She taps her head. "But," her voice gets softer. "Nobody would want to learn how to deal with it like she did." * Threnody sighs and rubs his temples. "Why are you so defensive?" He pauses a moment. "What I meant wasn't about fighting, nor was it about dealing with the unusual." * Katherine narrows her eyes, then shrugs. "What was it, then?" * Threnody shrugs a bit. "Commitment. Capability. Openness. Trust." He looks into his water. "Leo's distracted by his sisters' plight. Vera doesn't trust us. Well, doesn't trust me, anyway, if her display on Avalon was genuine. Roy, Rochelle, Demetreia... they have no motivation, except curiosity, or in Rochelle's eyes, fate." * Katherine mms. "I don't know what to say. In the end, if I have to do it myself, I will." She smiles a little sadly. "I've had luck with building a team, but... when they don't have any solid common motivation other than the situation, all you can do is try to build up trust." * Threnody nods, but doesn't say anything. After a moment he stands up and nods once. "I'm going to go see a bit more of the city while I still have time. Thank you for dinner." * Katherine nods once, and says, "Sure, it was... well, it was fun, and then it was serious. We never really get around that." * Katherine grins a little. "You know where I live. Feel free to come by if you ever change your mind on that dating thing. Or if you want a book." * Threnody smiles. "That is the way of things. Take care." <>