Raelyn Hope

The funny thing about Dimitri’s power was the sort of out of body feelings of it. He could stand and watch the image he put up for other people, watch the version of himself he weaved into existence. The stranger thing, though, was when he wasn’t using it. There were times when he still felt as though he was watching himself from a distance, this false image he created for the people around him to see. It wasn’t really fake, of course. He did like people. He liked the idea of being friendly. And yet still, he was a walking lie and there were still startling moments of self-realization. Those moment gave their own kind of out of body feelings and left him wondering how people couldn’t see through his paper skin. 

But they did not. And just as quickly as they came, the moments faded and Dimitri was left once more in his own body, feeling the smile on his face and letting out a half-genuine little laugh. He could notice that he had struck a nerve, but he was good at watching for minute facial expressions, and her face had a habit of shouting, he already noticed. Well, some people didn’t like electronics. Dimitri could understand that. Then, he doubted that she was concerned with all the tricky little trails that a phone could leave behind. Dimitri had to leave his behind in Russia, leaving no ties to his family and a trail that only one person would be able to follow. (He was only half sure that Kat wouldn’t track him in order to kill him). 

Still the outdated phone was nearly enough to make him cringe too. Obviously not everyone got the latest and greatest, but an outdated iphone was one of the worst. “I would prefer that you throw that in the trash.” Another sign he knew, trash, and his fingers formed it as he spoke. “That thing is pretty much only useful as a paperweight at this point. A flip phone would be more functional.” He propped his chin up on his hand. A secretive and almost chiding grin took the place of his relaxed smile. “I don’t give up my secrets that easily. If you want to know, you’re going to have to figure it out for yourself.” 

Raelyn had always been an anomaly... a word used sparingly in a society where magic was as prevalent as it was. Less than zero point one percent of children are born with mutism, that percentage plummeting towards an infinitely small decimal when you pair that with being deaf as well. Having been weakened by this since birth, Raelyn had come to accept that she never truly understood the world in the way that others did. She did not know the song of a bird, nor the sound of her own voice... and yet, she’d come to see the world through the perspectives of everyone around her. Those perspectives, crafted from a multitude of senses that she herself lacked, had formed her view on life.

It was a miracle she was so positive.

Raelyn came to associate images with people, visual feelings that surmised her impression of a person. Though these tended to change with time, her initial guesses were not far from the truth. Studying her new room mate, his mind was awash with thoughts of others, not all of them positive. Philosophical idealisations of his own experience walked hand in hand with terrifying dramatisations of a girl seeking to do him harm. That girl and the others that fluttered through his consciousness had a similar appearance... family perhaps? Everyone here had some reason to run away.

When he signed trash, her brows furrowed. The phone had been through everything with her. Sure, it was a bit clunky and had a habit of self-erasing every few months... but it had stayed true through thick and thin. She wasn’t about to reward that kind of dedication by tossing the device out the window on a whim! Besides, it wasn’t like she was made of money. What few dollars she made at a local gym teaching Muay Thai barely covered rent.

He continued on with his insults, a rambling mess of metaphors all with the intention of hurting her poor phone’s feelings. She caught the odd word, his thoughts filling the blanks as she tucked the phone away and went back to writing. At the mention of secrets, her grin widened. So that was how she was going to get to know him... but searching. Every good search began with questions.

She guessed his power had something to do with that strange anomaly she had experienced earlier. Perhaps he could project his consciousness to invisibly search an area? Maybe he could clone himself? She shook her head, lips turning down in thought before she scribbled a wry line. Fixing him with a sarcastic, lopsided grin she hoped would earn a laugh.

“Did you find any secrets in my sock drawer? Most women would call you a pervert for hunting in there.”

Kennedy glanced up when the other woman approached her, notepad in hand. She read the words written down and nodded. “Yeah?” She sighed, reaching for the roll of paper towels across the table. Pulling a few pieces loose, she started to mop up the warm liquid. After enough of it was wiped up, she managed to scoop up the wet papers. She stood and opened the trash can, her foot pressing the pedal just a bit too hard. The lid fly up and she jumped slightly. 

As she turned back to the woman who offered to help, she tilted her head slightly again, wondering why she had written the words instead of speaking. But she didn’t ask. Instead, she put her hand on her chest, and then slowly, offered each letter of her name in ASL. When she got to the y, she accidentally put up “I love you” instead, though she realized and quickly dropped the pointer finger, leaving the letter y for her. “Sorry…I don’t know much.”

Sign language was a complicated mess of gestures that, if adjusted even slightly, could be taken the completely wrong way. The eccentricities of how one should hold their fingers was often lost on the average person, paired with facial expression it became downright impossible. So, as one could imagine, when Kennedy presented her name by signing the letters, Raelyn’s beaming smile became positively radiant. That this woman had gone to the effort of learning even basic sign language was a huge mark in her favour, as far as Rae was concerned. When she misgestured her last letter, Raelyn did not laugh at her, merely nod. She knew what the girl had meant, everyone made mistakes.

Raelyn presses a fist to her chest, first signing her deaf-name - first pressing her knuckles together before extending index and thumbs until the tips touched, before pressing both indexes to the side of her mouth as if pushing up a smile. The name had been given to her by an online deaf community she kept in contact with. They had been the only people willing to maintain a friendship throughout her worldwide wandering. Following Kennedy’s lead, however, she then spells her name. Raelyn.

Without further preamble, Raelyn plops herself down in a seat beside the one Kennedy had previously occupied, hands resting in her lap like some overzealous schoolgirl. Her smile was unwavering as she retrieved a pen from her pocket and began absently writing out the lesson plans in neat font on her notepad. In between sentences, she scribbles a quick note which she sets on the table beside her, writing far more messy. “U Are a teacher?”

Dimitri was pleased with this arrangement. So far he had no warning bells at anything about Raelyn, the house, or the room. Of course, he already noted that there were some others around the house he would have to keep an eye on, but at least he wasn’t sharing a bedroom with them. This girl was sweet enough that even if she did suspect him of anything, she wouldn’t do anything about it. It was almost like having a built in pet, though he was thinking that average people probably didn’t consider other humans pets. Well, he was still in the learning phase and old habits and all. 

He smiled innocently as confusion pulled her eyebrows together. It was amazing the things that the mind would dismiss if the eyes did not understand it. That was the best part of his magic, in his mind. People hardly ever even realized he had it, that he was using it. He could hear Kat in his head telling him he ought to be more careful, something he ignored as easily as he ignored her when she was actually physically present. 

Dimitri’s eyes flicked over the notepad. He tipped his head curiously at it, like he didn’t understand it. (English letters did look strange, but he knew them well enough to read without a problem). He ignored the asked question, shoved off of his bed, and crossed the room to her bed instead and crashing down on the foot of it. Personal space had never been a strong point of his, to be fair. “Don’t you have a phone? You know,” he made a calling motion with one of his hands against his ear. “Just seems like this would be a lot easier to type out. You could even have it speak for you.” 

The strange duality of imagery ended after a few moments, her mind filled with the familiar image of herself as seen through the boy’s eyes. Such things she was used to, but the split-vision had made her head spin, albeit brief as it had been. For the moment she discarded her confusion, focusing instead on him as he effortlessly picked himself up and plopped down right next to her, that curious grin on his lips.

Sunshine through pines, the first thawing ice of winter.

Raelyn relaxed, never particularly caring for personal space either. At the mention of phones, she winced. She acknowledged the helpfulness of the technology though... she had never known what she herself sounded like. She had no voice, no vocal chords thanks to a freak mutation at birth. She had once spent weeks listening to music, imagining what her voice might have sounded like... briefly she had experimented with using a text-to-voice machine, but the mechanical tone had filled her with a dread she couldn’t quite place her finger on. Instead, she’d settled on writing simply for the fact that she nearly always had a pencil in hand for her sketching.

Regardless, Raelyn smiled and retrieved an old-fashioned iPhone from her pocket, one of the earliest generations of the device. Pulling up a simple notes app, she typed out a quick message and held it up with a smile. “If this is what you’d prefer, I can use this!” Pointedly not mentioning her lack of desire to use an artifical voice. Somethings would only dampen the mood, evidently.

For a moment she took her phone back, tapping out a quick message before presenting it with that familiar grin, that of a child presenting proud work to their parent... it was a common feature on Rae. Frowns and sadness were distinctly rare from her. “So, what’s your special power? Everyone here seems to have one.”

He tapped her leg, but more to get her attention than to ask her to stop. “Not to be rude, but am I high?” He questioned, just to make sure. He didn’t think he’d taken anything, but that could be the drugs. He’d sworn them off after opening the shelter, but even he had stupid moments.

Raelyn forced the images of the football from her mind the moment his finger touched her leg, not wanting to make him unhappy as she rested her hands in her lap. His gentle words, confused and curious made her smile. So she had made him a little happier.

Sunshine, warm and gentle. Swaying pine trees. The images filled her own head in response to her mood as she wrote down a quick reply on the white sketchpad, showing it to him in his mind.

“I don’t think so, but I’ve been wrong about that before. :)”

Nico was pretty sure he was getting old. It was only a few years ago that he would have been out and about on a free night, partying or at least hanging out with someone. But now, he was spending his free night holed up in the house, kind of listening to a football game and mostly half dozing on the couch. It was warm and comfy, and he honestly could be doing a lot worse.

He had sat up to hear a more interesting part of the game when an image slipped into his head with all the subtlety of a freight train. For someone who tended to have mostly hazy imaginings of people and places outlined mostly with sound and random colors, the suddenly clear image of a girl holding a sign nearly had him falling off the couch, turning his head as if it would do any good. “Jesus Christ on a cracker, what the fuck? I mean, hi? I guess?”

Raelyn blinked, flushing as she realized she’d scared him. In truth, she’d merely hoped to communicate with him, to give him a vivid image. Most blind people she met - of which there were surprisingly quite a few - were ecstatic to ‘see’ things in their mind again. With this man, however, it was clear she’d managed to simply shock him.

How could she make him more comfortable...

A wide grin broadened on her lips as she moved over to the couch to sit beside him. She made an effort to sit down heavily so that the man would know he was there, before turning her gaze towards the television some distance away presenting the football. She’d never been a fan of the sport, but perhaps she could make this man enjoy it somewhat more. After all, maybe he’d never actually seen the pitch?

She sent an image of her drawing board, briefly, before beginning to essentially stream the television into his mind. Her smile widening a fraction as she hopefully made someone’s day a little better.

“Tap my leg if you’d like me to stop. I’m sorry to intrude!”

Walking through the main entrance hall, feet scuffing the carpet, a particular image made her stop dead in her tracks. It was muddled, muffled. A work of imagination with edges blurred and images hazey and malformed. He was... blind. Raelyn could tell he hadn’t been blind from birth but... perhaps a very young age. She’d seen the thoughts of blind people and there were eccentric and eerie.

Raelyn found herself hovering towards the boy. But how could she talk to him? He wouldn’t see her sign language and touching him would likely make him jump three feet in the air. He didn’t know she was mute, after all. An idea struck her. Five minutes later she was standing infront of a nearby mirror to the man with her sketch pad held aloof so that she could see herself in it. Writing the words backwards so that they didn’t reflect awkwardly had been a struggle, but she’d managed. Moments later, the image of herself holding the sign along with a warm grin would flitter gently into the man’s mind. 

“I’m mute and can’t say hello... otherwise I would. I hope this suffices!”

@nico--daimen

He wasn’t really looking for anything in particular, but he wouldn’t be able to sleep until he had thoroughly discovered the room. He had to know his surroundings to be comfortable in them. Even then, he never needed much sleep anymore. Naptimes had not really been a part of his daily routine as a child. If they had been, they would have been a test and he would have passed because neither him or Kat would have been willing to miss out on hours of daylight. And the would have known that it was a test because everything was a test. 

Irrelevant. His attention shifted back to the girl once more, the vision of himself on the bed smiling wider in response. “Raelyn?” He tried, not bothering to throw his voice over to the doppelganger. Really, he was only saying it aloud to decide how he felt about it himself. It wasn’t bad, just different from the names he’d grown up with. “Dimitri,” he replied, as he decided to pull open her dresser drawers to see if she had any kinds of weapons hidden away with her socks. It was a simple enough name at least, and one that he knew all the letters for. Languages had always come easily to Dimitri, but he’d never had much reason to learn sign thoroughly. 

There was nothing in her dresser. So far he had seen nothing of concern at all, so he worked his way back over to the bed, taking the place of the false reality he had created and dissolving his work. He watched her digging around, head slightly tilted and cheery expression still fixed on his face. 

Raelyn surfaced from beneath the bed clutching her black sketchpad, a necessity for someone who couldn’t talk as not everyone in the entire world knew sign language... unfortunately. Regardless, it helped with communication and so she used one. Within a moment she was sitting on her bed once more with a wide smile on her lips at the realisation that her roommate wasn’t a complete and utter tool. She’d bunked with the worst of the worst in her time travelling, the jocks, the rude.... they all got under her skin as quickly as a needle.

When he lay down on his bed, her brow creased in confusion. She could see him there, as clear as day... and yet the images that passively fluttered through her mind were from a standing vantage point, glancing through drawers and searching the room. When he said her name, she felt the emotions that welled up at the sounds. He was testing the words on his tongue and she could see him say it. Surely his imagination wasn’t that vivid? Dimitri had only been in the room a matter of moments and yet..

She blinked in shock as she recognized an image of her own sock drawer, neatly ordered and filled with a few old sketching books. He’d never seen those and thus could not imagine them. A glance over at the aforementioned drawer, however, revealed that it was in fact shut, only heightening her confusion until she finally looked back towards her prone room mate. A brief moment of scribbling later and she held up her notepad, “Anything I should know? (toilet schedules...ect)” She scribbled that last part at the realization that such a question may perhaps be a touch too blunt otherwise.

Her sketch pad was propped in front of her, a black charcoal pencil scribbling away on the fine white paper, doodling the images that were flooding her mind at being around so many people. Once, the onslaught had been overpowering, blinding... now? It was like a breath of fresh air. She loved that imagery, loved simply closing her eyes to see the world through the eyes of others.

Her pencil paused as an image filled her mind of her own back, shoulders hunched over the bar, yellow sun-dress seeming bright and distinctly out of place with the otherwise dishevelled setting. Someone was watching her from behind, approaching. She found herself smiling, turning her head to greet them with that friendly grin. She signed, ‘well don’t just stand there... come sit!’ before realising that perhaps they didn’t know sign language. She held up an identical message, scribbled hastily on her sketchpad.

Dimitri spent the majority of his walk to the room he was going to have staring around at the house. This whole traveling thing had been…informative. He’d stayed in all kinds of youth hostels (even if he had the money to stay somewhere nicer) but this house was going to be a more permanent setting, and he was a little in awe that so many people could live so close together, much less in this condition of a house. Quaint was a nice word for it. Maybe too nice, but it was the word he had chosen. There was old wood and cracked plaster and he was a little surprised it was still standing. Nothing like the gold and silver-plated life he’d been raised in, but cute, nonetheless. 

He pushed into the room without ceremony, a bag slung over his shoulder as the only ‘luggage’ he had, and gold-flecked eyes traveled around the room. It matched with the rest of the house, the same warm and ramshackle appearance. And there was a person in it. He dimly remembered someone saying something about a roommate, but maybe that part hadn’t really sunk in. He’d never had a roommate other than Kat, before. And this girl was definitely not Kat. Initially, his eyes ran her length in search of weapons, muscle, signs of a parson able o fight. he found none and the weapon inside of him quieted, allowing him to take a second glance over her and settle a bright smile on his face. Oh, this was going to be fun. 

“Well, aren’t you just the cutest thing?” Dimitri asked, pleased with how he had managed to remove all hint of a Russian accent so far. Sign language. Hmm. That was going to be more difficult, but he had learned some basics for staying silent on the job with Kat. Most of it wasn’t conversational exactly, but that would be easy to learn. He racked his brain and found the sign he was looking for, the one he had learned purely to anger his sister, then signed ‘cute’ followed by ‘you’. Of course, he didn’t think it would be followed by a sharp projectile and he couldn’t decide if he was glad of that or not. He tossed his bag to the floor, kicked the door shut, and launched himself onto the empty bed. 

This was not his home. He was going to have a hell of a time sleeping on this cot they called a bed, but he had dealt with worse. “Can you read lips?” he went on, cheerily, as if he hadn’t just shown up without explanation in her room. “Because I am shit at sign language.” He knew the sign for shit, at least, and he offered that. 

Cold lupine eyes amid soaring pines, alone. A lion loping with languid, predatory grace through tall grass. Bristling mottled-grey fur hidden amidst sheep, heads down.

Images flooded her mind as the man flowed into the room, his aura filling the space effortlessly. The way he instantly assessed his surroundings, eyes tracking the assorted corners before finally settling on her. A glinting knife, concealed weapons, combat-grace. The images caught  Raelyn by surprise as she felt her arms crossing over her chest in a decidedly self-conscious fashion. In some way, the fact that he wasn’t eyeing her in a more sexual fashion was a relief but at the same time, the alternative worried her. He thought she might have been armed, thought that she meant him harm. Could he be dangerous?

The question faltered as he spoke, her mind filling with images of herself, hyper-inflated by his opinion of her. She’d always found it interesting to see how others viewed her, each and every person different in their perceptions. Through his eyes, she seemed cute, docile, unthreatening. When he deftly signed that she was cute, her suspicions were confirmed and a smile beamed on her face. That he knew even a little sign language filled her with happiness - saving her a great deal of effort. Maybe she could even make a new friend!

She was about to raise her hands to sign ‘not so bad yourself’ just as he asked about her lip reading. When he mentioned not being a fluent signer, she hesitated and simply offered a bright smile and a nod. Deciding simplicity was probably going to be the best course of action, she placed a hand over her chest before briefly spelling out her name by shaping the letters on her fingers. It was more difficult than signing, but hopefully, it got the job done. ‘I’m Raelyn’

While she listened for his reply, she turned briefly away - holding up a hand in apology for her rudeness - dropping down to her knees next to her bed to ferret for her sketchpad hidden somewhere in the deep recesses of the space underneath. Perhaps writing her words would be far preferable to haphazard gesturing.

Ah.

A soft grunt escaped her lips as she put her shoulder into the heavy wooden door - the only way to make the protesting hinges do their damn job and actually open. Over the threshold, she was greeted by the simple room with her bed and an adjacent empty one that she’d been informed was soon to be filled. For now, she was enjoying the isolation. Boiling water, the scent of tea, clear amber liquid steaming into clear air. Raelyn padded over to where she’d propped a small kettle on top of her nightstand, right next to a pile of precariously balanced books. Several minutes later she was bundled up in far too many blankets to be practical, a book held aloof in one hand, a mug of steaming tea in the other.

She found she almost wasn’t surprised when a bundle of images fluttered against the edges of her consciousness as someone approached the door. Aged wood, old handle, worn hinges. Male hands, rough... calloused. Worn from use. She was seeing the images that filled the person’s mind, albeit unconsciously, as it was what he was likely seeing. So it was a he. A few male faces flittered through Rae’s mind as she pre-emptively began disentangling herself from the blankets, rising with a wide smile as her new guest entered. Old pyjamas, ill-fitting. A boy’s shirt, far too large. Long legs, uncovered, a too-large shirt giving the impression that the wearer wasn’t wearing pants. Raelyn flushed as the images filled her mind and a downward glance confirmed that she had in fact forgotten to get dressed. So much for first impressions.

She shot a belated grin at the new arrival, quickly signing ‘Hello’. Sure, nearly everyone she met did not know sign language... but signing hello often killed two birds with one stone. Not only did it make it clear she was mute or deaf - why else would she sign? - but it also actually said hello... as the gesture was rather obvious. Now the real work began. And so Raelyn studied his lips, using a mixture of lip-reading and mind reading to give the impression that she was not, in fact, as deaf as a doorknob.

Hello and welcome to my latest muse, Raelyn! She’s a weird little kiddie, but soft of heart and an angel by nature... I hope she fits in nicely with our ragtag group of misfits! I am completely open to connections and ideas for plots :) I want her as interweaved as possible!

A brief summary of her backstory - keeping it brief!

Raelyn was born mute and deaf to a reasonably wealthy family in America, though the latter only found out some years prior thanks to her latent powerful telekinetic and psychic powers.

At first she was terrified of her powers, constantly hearing the coherent thoughts of those around her. This lead to multiple rough encounters, yelling matches and interactions through which Rae simply bowed her head against the storm and... survived. Such is her nature. Raelyn will never put her own wellbeing above that of the people she meets, no matter the situation... however that doesn’t stop her from dishing out countless sarcastic barbs often only understood by those fluent in sign language.

Raelyn has learned to express herself through emotive expressions and gestures, though favours Ozlan: Australian Sign Language. She favours this over traditional forms of sign language due to its capacity for sarcastic, rude and humorous gestures.

Raelyn has been taken advantage of more times than she can count, always seeing the best in people... and yet she continues to help those she meets. Sometimes this takes time, slowly warming to those she meets... but once she becomes dedicated to a new companion, she is truly devoted. An honest, real friend.

When not helping someone, she can be found curled up in a quite literal mountain of blankets, reading.