She finishes hers as well and sets it aside carefully, all actions to delay the answering. She has to get this right.
"It's something I can do," she says. "Only when I'm awake, I guess. It's not working right now. I've... I've always been able to do it. I guess do isn't the right word, I don't do anything, or see anything. I just... know. As soon as I meet a person, I know... how they came to be."
So difficult to explain. But somehow she's not so nervous now as she was trying to run it by Spike. Maybe a renegade time traveler will understand.
"Not just... where they were born, or what day they came to town," she says. "Everything. What it was like growing up. Things that molded them. Choices they made. Changes they went through. Pain they suffered, things they fear, what they want, what they wish they hadn't done. It's... it's a little overwhelming. I think I've gotten better at it since the Rift. Or it's gotten easier. Something."
She hunches her shoulders and presses her palms down on her crossed ankles, a little pose to draw herself inward. "I don't usually tell people. They don't like knowing that I can see every little thing. I try not to look, and... I don't see it all at once, some things don't really make sense until I really focus on them... but it's hard, sometmes. Some things are so important that they're impossible to avoid." She finally looks up at him again, searching, nervous to see his reaction. "I don't want people to hide from me. But I can't really turn it off."
no subject
"It's something I can do," she says. "Only when I'm awake, I guess. It's not working right now. I've... I've always been able to do it. I guess do isn't the right word, I don't do anything, or see anything. I just... know. As soon as I meet a person, I know... how they came to be."
So difficult to explain. But somehow she's not so nervous now as she was trying to run it by Spike. Maybe a renegade time traveler will understand.
"Not just... where they were born, or what day they came to town," she says. "Everything. What it was like growing up. Things that molded them. Choices they made. Changes they went through. Pain they suffered, things they fear, what they want, what they wish they hadn't done. It's... it's a little overwhelming. I think I've gotten better at it since the Rift. Or it's gotten easier. Something."
She hunches her shoulders and presses her palms down on her crossed ankles, a little pose to draw herself inward. "I don't usually tell people. They don't like knowing that I can see every little thing. I try not to look, and... I don't see it all at once, some things don't really make sense until I really focus on them... but it's hard, sometmes. Some things are so important that they're impossible to avoid." She finally looks up at him again, searching, nervous to see his reaction. "I don't want people to hide from me. But I can't really turn it off."