Star Wars: The Earthling Gamer

Chapter 13 - The Offer

"Okay. Kara, Hazel, I need to talk with Mana. Alone." The two of them glanced at each other, but they took the elevator to go somewhere. Meanwhile, I walked towards the model of my house, and unlocked the door, flopping down on the recliner, gesturing to the office chair across the room. "Sit. I need to talk about this with you." I say blankly, still registering the information that I'm not alone.

Mana takes a seat, dragging the office chair across from me. "You have powers. Are they like mine? Like a game?" I demand. She shakes her head. "They're more psychic than anything else. I can read most people's minds, the only exception seeming to be Empowered people. There's something blocking mental intrusion against most Empowered, apparently. Not saying I've been trying to pry, but I noticed you narrowing your eyes earlier. People's thoughts usually show up on a screen automatically, and yours were garbled, while it doesn't show up at all for the others, I looked a little critically. That's all." She explains.

I honestly believe her when she says she can't read me. She had little reason to lie, to what I know. Someone who could read thoughts would have to be considerably good at acting, and there's not even a whiff of any lies or truth-stretching from her. No whisper of a smile, no triumph in her eyes, when I decided that I believed her. The System even backed me up. Mental intrusion hasn't once worked on me, unless I asked the System to let my mental barriers down for a time, to help Kara practice a bit with some of her powers.

"I believe you. It's good to know I'm not the only Empowered alive. I figured most of us were in the hands of America. It's just good to know I'm not truly alone in this crazy world, you know?" I express. A smile appears on her face, and she stands up. "I'm glad we could find and meet you and your friends, Cyrus. Now, I'll leave you to settle in, and be sure to check in with Calo about that lens you need." She says, stepping towards the door to leave.

"One last thing, actually, Mana." I say, realizing something I was missing. "What's up?" She asks. I decided to take a gambit. I had reason enough to trust her, so why not? "System? Lower my mental guards for Mana until further notice." I mentally command, and it responds with a small "Ping!"

She raises her brows in surprise, and a "Ding!" rings out as her influence meter flies up a bit, and I start to talk. "With this Game System power I've got, there's this Party function," I begin, transmitting images of the screens through my mind to her, "and I figured that it may benefit us if you joined the party with the three of us? I've got a lot to explain, too, so I think it's best if you sit back down for a bit." She looks even more surprised with each word, and when I ask her to take a seat again, she complies.

I take a few hours, explaining everything that's happened, cutting out some unnecessary details, and finishing rather simply. "So, with the whole influence thing in mind, as well as everything else, what do you think? Do you want to join us? You don't have to by any means, but the option's there. You don't even have to choose now." She sits there for a few minutes, reading over everything that just got explained to her again.

"I'll think about it for a bit, and get back to you on that. But you really should settle in, and talk with Calo before the day's done. Thank you for trusting me enough with this. It means a lot." She says, finally getting up, and she walks out the door. "Well, that was a good use of time." I think aloud. So I get to work with 'reorganizing' my new home (read: making my new? Old? I'm not sure. Whatever the case, making my home a mess.)

I smiled when I saw my old room, cluttered as ever. I find myself reminiscing back to my childhood, when everything was simpler. Back when I was a half-decent student, and was friendly with a decent chunk of the kids, despite having all sorts of social issues, and coming back to this cluttered old room, to read, sleep, and just escape, and that remained consistent through high school, until I got the System.