milliways_bar | (no subject)

She laughs a little. "Thanks."

Playing with the straw, she tilts her head at Kim, and the resemblance between her and Jasin is momentarily very strong.

"Is that all that's bothering you, though?"

"There's...something else. But I don't...I can hardly believe it."

She raises her eyebrows. "Like what?"

She takes another sip of her drink, "Chase has...will be able to...do things."

". . .Sorry? What kind of things?"

"Telekenesis among other things."

She blinks. "Oh. Cool. How'd that happen?"

"Someone named Max healed him and apparently...this can happen."

"Wait. He got healed, and now he's becoming telekinetic?"

"Pretty much."

She looks at Kim closely.

"That's pretty cool."

She takes another sip of her drink instead of answering.

". . .Or not?"

"I just don't know, Nita."

She eyes her, and frowns.

"Okay, am I missing something? Why is Chase getting powers a problem?"

"Can't explain it," she mutters. "Just..."

She looks at her for a long moment, and then says quietly, "Kim, look at me for a second."

She doesn't turn to look at her, can't, because she's holding together through avoidance right now.

"What is it, Nita?"

She frowns.

"Kim, I'm honestly not seeing how this is a problem. Chase is getting some interesting new abilities. That's a big deal, and he's trusting you with that information."

She puts a hand on her chest. "I kept my wizardry a secret from my parents until I thought I was going to get eaten by a shark. Is Chase gonna go do something like that?"

"It's not that...it's....he wasn't supposed to change and we can't really go home and magic doesn't exist on my earth, it...doesn't and if I have children they could have this ability and they'd be forever...different and I can't do that to them..."

"Kim, seriously, look at me." This last in the Speech, lending it a little weight.

She takes a deep breath and looks at Nita, but stares more at her ear than her eyes.

"So your world's sevarfrith -- you can't practice wizardry openly. So's mine, and wizards have been practicing there since the beginning of history." Wryly -- "It's easier to hide than you'd think.

"As for the kids thing--" She shrugs. "They might grow up with some extras. It doesn't sound like it'll hurt them."

"But we'll all have to hide and I thought that we could just come here sometimes but I wanted to go back home and get another degree and...too much change..."

"It's not...fair to bring children into a situation where they have no choice."

She sighs. "One of these days, I'm taking you to my world and introducing you to Tom and Carl. It's entirely possible to have a wizardly life and a so-called normal life as well."

That gets her a long Look.

"If you want to have kids that have a choice in everything, you're going to have some trouble having kids."