Defining Factors

Chapter 1: A New World

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Welcome to another AU by My-Dear-Hammy!!!

This is a power au (not superheroes) there are several different ships, half of them unheard of *Cough* Francis Kinloch *cough* look him up *cough* Laurens boyfriend *cough*

I'm going to ask y'all a favor. Guess powers before you see them! Guess things that they can do! Guess secrets! Predict stuff! Hell yeah! Okay, here we go.

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Hammy's Rules For Reading

Smut Warning Proceeded and ended by: ®®®

Character focus change/time skip: ***

Actual Quotes for the rl person of that Character: *   *

Separating dreams/visions: ~~~

A lot of dialogue will be in the mind so the italics sentences will typically be thoughts and stuff. 

Happy Reading!

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Warnings: As always, you can count on my fic to have lots of foul language. Grab the soap bars. Also, descriptions of painful emotions I suppose.

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Being inside other people's heads isn't as cool as people tend to believe. Sure, it's cool at first, just look at someone and know exactly what they're thinking, what their true opinions are, if they're lying. It's unbelievable the differences between some people. More manipulative people run twenty different scenarios to a response in one second flat without even stumbling in conversation, other people don't even think before their reply is stumbling out of their mouths. It's fun to listen to people question if their lie is selling or what they think of the person's clothes while talking about the latest events. So many different things happening all at once in one person, sometimes it can get disorienting.

Now imagine listening to the thoughts of an entire city all at once, pressing against the skull and invading the quiet moments of life. And it doesn't stop there.

Think back on the happiest memory, feel that make a smile stretch across your lips. Or think of something fluffy. Doesn't that just warm your chest? Just thinking about it causes that feeling. Now imagine not only being able to hear people, but being able to feel their emotions. The warmth flooding your own chest at someone else's memory. Problem is, painful memories are always more potent than the happy ones. Painful tightening of the chest, tears pricking at the eyes, uneven breathing, racing pulses, terror flooding the veins. Heaviness weighing you down, fury fueling the urge to punch something, some burden pulling you down, the unexplainable feeling of drowning in nothing. Loneliness.

Loneliness is one Kinloch didn't need other people to feel for him. He knew that one all too well.

An entire city, ripe with emotion and ceaseless thoughts jittering away is enough to drive anyone insane. Kinloch wished he had known that this is how it would be before he abandoned his home and his family. But over time, he had learned to shut people out. He didn't hear the entire screaming city or have his chest flooded with countless emotions all at once, just the people he let himself hear.

Which is why he almost fell out of his tree when he heard one anyway.

Why can't you people just keep to yourself for once? No-oh fuck that's a red light. Yes, let's get ourselves run over- I have to change cities every ten fucking seconds just to keep-shit, that was close.

Kinloch blinked in astonishment as annoyance filled him from whoever this person was. Something clearly had him ticked off. Kinloch tried to block it out, he wanted to get some sleep and annoyed strangers getting run over would not allow that. He settled into his tree and cleared his mind, blocking the person out.