ILLUSION || Jason Todd

FIFTEEN

❝OR SHOULD I ACT SO COOL

LIKE IT WAS NO BIG DEAL?❞

ONE DIRECTION, TRULY MADLY DEEPLY

Sitting in the passenger seat of the borrowed car, Lorelei's vision focused on a small speck of dirt left behind. It was the next morning now and if Dick's word was anything to go by, they were hoping to reach Mr. Adamson's apartment complex within the next half hour.

Her morning had been spent shifting uncomfortably in her seat after a night's sleep in that very same seat. Her limbs were dying to be stretched, to say the least. They had stopped at a service station within the early AM, when Dick's adrenaline fully worn off and the former Robin could no longer drive until he was somewhat rested. Their breakfast was as bad as their sleep. Lorelei had opted for a chocolate bar and a banana - at Dick's request, something about needing some nutritional value. It was yummy, overpriced and certainly not filling. Sure, it filled a hole, but it made off-brand cereal seem appealing.

There was an awkward tension, too. Within the car, between the two Batman sidekicks that certainly was surrounding the ice blonde mage. She had noticed the pattern and was anticipating what was coming. There was no doubt within her mind that Dick was going to bring up the pressing matter of why Lorelei was here in the first place.

The pattern itself was simple. Dick and Lorelei would do somewhat of a deep dive into her abilities when they were alone. Which most commonly happened when they were alone in a vehicle. Having alone time with Dick was not something that happened often and while Lorelei did want to work through her... complications, it was hard to open up. Sensitive topics, trauma, the building realisation of the inevitable truths she wanted to escape. It was a double edged sword.

"So... your abilities..." Dick spoke up, trailing off his sentence as he tried to muster up the correct word to use as Lorelei groaned internally for jinxing it. The young mage was just wondering when the conversation would arise. She was slightly hoping it would come after Mr. Adamson's apartment but she supposed that logically, it made sense to have it before. "Intense." He opted, waving through his mental dictionary for the appropriate word while not insulting Lorelei. Intense was certainly one way to put it.

"Yeah..." Lorelei winced out, suddenly remembering that she had used her abilities on Dick just a few short hours ago. "I'm sorry if it was too much, I kept it minimal but they're... intense." She repeated, though she would never use that word herself. Vicious. They were vicious, in Lorelei's opinion.

"It wasn't the worst, quite similar to Scarecrow's fear toxin, actually." Dick tried. He was trying to lighten the air, knowing a difficult conversation was beginning to unfold. It was a kind gesture, Lorelei did appreciate it, but she knew.

If there was one person you could not fool in this situation, it was Lorelei. "You can't fool me, Dick. I know it's worse than his toxin. It was designed to be, I've experienced it too. I told you about the nightmares." The violet eyed mage responded, reminding dick of their first conversation of her abilities.

It seemed like so long ago Lorelei had met Dick, that she was sitting in DCPD on the verge of being charged for a crime that was nothing but bad timing - or perfect timing, depending on your perception with the matter. In just roughly three weeks, Lorelei trusted Dick enough to open up; a hard task, but she was ready. In just three weeks Lorelei had made friends and had been hunted by a fucking cult.