milliways_bar | (no subject)

She wakes from the dream somewhere in the blackness before dawn, when the stars are darkened in the sky and all the world is hushed to the point where Kim feels that if she stays where she is for one instant longer she'll start screaming just for the sake of the sound.

She snatches her coat from its peg by the door on her way out, without stopping, and shrugs into it as she dashes up the path that leads to the Tor. It's not the quick pace that causes her breath to come rapidly; it's the memory of being chased in the nightmare and the faint echo of the dream-feeling that she's trying to flee from something she can't quite discern that drives her now.

Kim darts through the leaning stone portal and into Milliways, shuts the door behind her, then leans back against it and draws the first long breath since she woke up.

A short time later she's settled in a booth with a cup of black coffee to hand and a magazine lying open on the table in front of her. From her manner, it looks as though she's planning to be here a while.

[ooc: open until it scrolls.]

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A very odd look flickers in the clear gray eyes, even as a wry smile crosses her face.

"You could say that."

It makes Kate frown, unsure of what it means. It doesn't seem right to ask, though. She and Kim are hardly more than acquaintances, and especially now when she's lost sleep and shaken doesn't feel like the right time to start asking questions.

"Hm. Y'know what helps with occupational hazards like those?"

She crosses her arms, resting her elbows on the table, and smiles softly.

"A piece of pie."

Her smile brightens, at this.

"You know, that sounds like a really good idea."

She grins. Catching the attention of a wait rat, she orders herself a piece of peach pie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, and tells Kim to order whichever flavor she'd like, on Kate's tab.

She settles on apple pie a la mode, and gives Katherine a quick smile as the rat scampers away.

"Thanks. Again."

"Don't mention it. Coffee and pie are well known panaceas."

She goes a touch more serious.

"So's a listenin' ear, or so I'm told."

She considers her for a long moment, then lets out a long breath.

"It's a little hard to explain," Kim warns.

Kate meets her gaze and holds it.

"Well. I ain't got no place else to be."

It's a gentle invitation, not a demand. Kim can take it or leave it.

She nods, slowly.

"Okay," Kim says. "Okay."

A beat.

"I'm a doctor, you know that already. It's just that it's not all that I am."

Okay.

Kate has had this conversation before.

"You're a ... superhero?"

Kim blinks, and can't help herself: she starts laughing.

"I guess that did sound a little bit self-important, didn't it? No. No, I'm not a superhero. Not even close."

With that, her laughter fades.

"Not even close," she repeats. "I'm a Seer. That's all."

"Seer? Forgive me -- like a ... a prophetess?"

She winces, a little.

"I guess, technically, but it's really nothing quite as exalted as that..."

How had Loren described it to her, on that day which now seems so long ago?

"In every world, there are a few people born who can ... sense things back and forth in time," she tries. "Sometimes in dreams, sometimes other ways. I just happen to be one of them."

Her eyes light with understanding.

"So, the dream tonight..."

She beetles her brow.

"It was somethin'... real?"

"I don't know," Kim says, softly. "Not yet, anyway. I hope not."

After a moment, she offers a small, rueful smile.

"I told you it wasn't all that exalted."

Kate looks all too serious; this occurs to her suddenly. She breaks into a soft laugh.

"'Round this place all of us have a story. Wouldn't call a-one exalted or ordinary."

Their pies arrive.

"What sorta dreams are they? If y'don't mind me askin'."

Kim grins at her.

"You're right about that."

She trails the tines of her fork over the pie without really looking at it.

"Nightmares, mostly," she adds, after a second or two. "In the dream, I'm trying to get away from something I can't see -- and it's chasing me."

She winces sympathetically.

That's a nightmare that plagues Kate, both sleeping and awake.

"Is that likely t'happen when you're awake?"