Norah: Empath
Jun. 9th, 2008 11:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
starrikaTitle: Empath (Norah)
Fandom: Sky High
Claim: None
Status: In Progress
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Norah Gregory doesn't want to be a hero.
Warnings: None
Empathy is a form of extra-sensory perception wherein a person acquires psychic knowledge primarily by means of feeling.
A good empath can make someone feel better. There are two sides to the empath power coin. I have the ability to feel what others feel, to understand their emotions. This sensitivity comes easy to all empaths, although the degree of sensitivity varies. The other side is the ability to influence the emotions of others around them. That’s much harder – I’ve not had much success. Not compared to great superheroes like Truthsayer and Heart.
Why are all the good empaths women, anyway? That’s a little sexist, don’t you think?
Still, even if I can’t make a room full of boys notice me, or stop fights that are brewing, people say they feel better when they talk to me. Even complete strangers will start to pour their hearts out to me at the grocery store, if we’re in line long enough. It’s as if people can sense a kindred spirit – someone who can feel what they feel.
I wonder if everyone has a little bit of natural empathy?
It’s not surprising, then, that after the blowout in the cafeteria, I had a pow-wow with just about everyone and their mother.
First, it was Principle Powers, who seemed to take my migrane as a good sign. She’s got it in her head that my powers are still developing. I think – I think she can’t let the memory of my mother go. Whenever I’m around her, she’s always got a faint stirring of guilt.
I know, it’s unethical. But she’s my principle – I can’t help but peek.
At any rate, she thinks my range to sense things is growing stronger and she wants to retest me at the end of the year. I hate to break it to her, but I’m never going to be hero track material. My powers will never be that strong, and more importantly, I don’t have the drive for it. I don’t want to be a hero.
After they let me out of the detention room, Jessica had her own talk with me on the bus home. She was worried about me, and then when I asked her about the fight, she was completely bewildered. She had no idea that Sean liked her, or that Amanda was jealous. I knew both – maybe I should have warned her? I don’t know what she could have done, but I feel responsible. I should have helped. Even if I can’t make a crowd burst out into a Kumbaya expression of love and peace.
I was only home for an hour when Sean stopped by, looking forlorn. He ended up pouring his heart out to me over a package of oreos – and ate every one! If he wasn’t so crushed, I would have been mad. They were the double-stuf ones, too.
He’s completely smitten with Jessica, which is a pity, because he’s not the type of guy she’d ever be interested in. Jessica’s head only turns for the boys in hero track, the ones skirting the edge of being bad or the ones who pull out astonishing victories at Save the Citizen. Basically, she loves the jocks. Which Sean is…not.
He’s been dating Amanda for six months, and the only reason they started going out was because she was pretty and her friend told his friend that she had a crush on him. He likes her all right, and the teenage boy part of him really likes what they do in his basement, but he didn’t like her enough to keep dating her. And he felt a bit guilty going to second base in his basement when he didn’t really like her.
Sean’s a pretty decent guy.
He left after two hours, feeling lighter than when he came over. He was still hurt and embarrassed, but I think he’ll be able to show his face at lunch on Monday. And he apologized, too, for the fight and how it affected me, even though he didn’t have to. Sean’s still catching up on the whole hero thing. He didn’t know any better, but it’s nice all the same.
I should have figured, after that, that Amanda would feel the need to unburden herself, but we weren’t as friendly as I was with Sean and Jessica, so I didn’t expect it. Amanda showed up after dinner with some DVDs and asked if I wanted to have a girls’ night. It was a ruse, since we never even put the movies in, but she’s not as shallow as I thought she was. Just insecure.
Her mother is the Siren, able to compel people with her voice. Amanda had inherited her power, but nowhere near the level of her mother’s. We were more alike than I had thought.
Amanda had been head over heels for Sean, back when they went to Metro Public Middle, and things had been great. He’d always treated her well, and she’d been one of the prettier girls in the school. It also helped that she could use her powers to keep herself popular.
And then she was shipped off to Sky High and told she wasn’t good enough to be a hero, and Jessica Salacia, who didn’t even have a real power, was prettier and funnier than her – and Sean was interested. I think she could tell Sean was interested before Sean could tell he was interested. Jessica’s the antithesis of Amanda. She’s more athletic, less frilly.
Amanda didn’t stand a chance. Sean’s had a thing for athletic girls since he saw the Summer Olympics and the girls playing beach volleyball. Not that I told Amanda that.
I barely got a word in edgewise, to be honest. But I nodded, and made sympathetic noises, and to be honest, I did feel bad for her. And I guess that helped, because she seemed a bit happier when she left, too.
Although I don’t know how to politely tell her that we don’t really have to go to the mall to buy me new stuff for a makeover. I like being inconspicuous, rather than having the school fall at my feet. Too much attention, and I can’t block it all out. It makes me nervous.
I thought that was all, but then I saw Jasper on Saturday, and I think he actually hunted me down. I was at the park – I know, I’m not a kid, but I really love the swings – and I got the impression that dad had told him where I was.
He just wanted to make sure I was okay. I guess it’s easier for him because he wasn’t all tangled up in the fight.
He sat down in the swing next to me, and he asked about me, just bugging me about stupid things, like what I thought of Medulla’s class or who was stronger, Peace or Stronghold. He made me laugh, and it made me feel lighter.
Sometimes an empath needs someone else to make them feel better. I don’t think I’d ever make it as a psychologist.
Fandom: Sky High
Claim: None
Status: In Progress
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Norah Gregory doesn't want to be a hero.
Warnings: None
Empathy is a form of extra-sensory perception wherein a person acquires psychic knowledge primarily by means of feeling.
A good empath can make someone feel better. There are two sides to the empath power coin. I have the ability to feel what others feel, to understand their emotions. This sensitivity comes easy to all empaths, although the degree of sensitivity varies. The other side is the ability to influence the emotions of others around them. That’s much harder – I’ve not had much success. Not compared to great superheroes like Truthsayer and Heart.
Why are all the good empaths women, anyway? That’s a little sexist, don’t you think?
Still, even if I can’t make a room full of boys notice me, or stop fights that are brewing, people say they feel better when they talk to me. Even complete strangers will start to pour their hearts out to me at the grocery store, if we’re in line long enough. It’s as if people can sense a kindred spirit – someone who can feel what they feel.
I wonder if everyone has a little bit of natural empathy?
It’s not surprising, then, that after the blowout in the cafeteria, I had a pow-wow with just about everyone and their mother.
First, it was Principle Powers, who seemed to take my migrane as a good sign. She’s got it in her head that my powers are still developing. I think – I think she can’t let the memory of my mother go. Whenever I’m around her, she’s always got a faint stirring of guilt.
I know, it’s unethical. But she’s my principle – I can’t help but peek.
At any rate, she thinks my range to sense things is growing stronger and she wants to retest me at the end of the year. I hate to break it to her, but I’m never going to be hero track material. My powers will never be that strong, and more importantly, I don’t have the drive for it. I don’t want to be a hero.
After they let me out of the detention room, Jessica had her own talk with me on the bus home. She was worried about me, and then when I asked her about the fight, she was completely bewildered. She had no idea that Sean liked her, or that Amanda was jealous. I knew both – maybe I should have warned her? I don’t know what she could have done, but I feel responsible. I should have helped. Even if I can’t make a crowd burst out into a Kumbaya expression of love and peace.
I was only home for an hour when Sean stopped by, looking forlorn. He ended up pouring his heart out to me over a package of oreos – and ate every one! If he wasn’t so crushed, I would have been mad. They were the double-stuf ones, too.
He’s completely smitten with Jessica, which is a pity, because he’s not the type of guy she’d ever be interested in. Jessica’s head only turns for the boys in hero track, the ones skirting the edge of being bad or the ones who pull out astonishing victories at Save the Citizen. Basically, she loves the jocks. Which Sean is…not.
He’s been dating Amanda for six months, and the only reason they started going out was because she was pretty and her friend told his friend that she had a crush on him. He likes her all right, and the teenage boy part of him really likes what they do in his basement, but he didn’t like her enough to keep dating her. And he felt a bit guilty going to second base in his basement when he didn’t really like her.
Sean’s a pretty decent guy.
He left after two hours, feeling lighter than when he came over. He was still hurt and embarrassed, but I think he’ll be able to show his face at lunch on Monday. And he apologized, too, for the fight and how it affected me, even though he didn’t have to. Sean’s still catching up on the whole hero thing. He didn’t know any better, but it’s nice all the same.
I should have figured, after that, that Amanda would feel the need to unburden herself, but we weren’t as friendly as I was with Sean and Jessica, so I didn’t expect it. Amanda showed up after dinner with some DVDs and asked if I wanted to have a girls’ night. It was a ruse, since we never even put the movies in, but she’s not as shallow as I thought she was. Just insecure.
Her mother is the Siren, able to compel people with her voice. Amanda had inherited her power, but nowhere near the level of her mother’s. We were more alike than I had thought.
Amanda had been head over heels for Sean, back when they went to Metro Public Middle, and things had been great. He’d always treated her well, and she’d been one of the prettier girls in the school. It also helped that she could use her powers to keep herself popular.
And then she was shipped off to Sky High and told she wasn’t good enough to be a hero, and Jessica Salacia, who didn’t even have a real power, was prettier and funnier than her – and Sean was interested. I think she could tell Sean was interested before Sean could tell he was interested. Jessica’s the antithesis of Amanda. She’s more athletic, less frilly.
Amanda didn’t stand a chance. Sean’s had a thing for athletic girls since he saw the Summer Olympics and the girls playing beach volleyball. Not that I told Amanda that.
I barely got a word in edgewise, to be honest. But I nodded, and made sympathetic noises, and to be honest, I did feel bad for her. And I guess that helped, because she seemed a bit happier when she left, too.
Although I don’t know how to politely tell her that we don’t really have to go to the mall to buy me new stuff for a makeover. I like being inconspicuous, rather than having the school fall at my feet. Too much attention, and I can’t block it all out. It makes me nervous.
I thought that was all, but then I saw Jasper on Saturday, and I think he actually hunted me down. I was at the park – I know, I’m not a kid, but I really love the swings – and I got the impression that dad had told him where I was.
He just wanted to make sure I was okay. I guess it’s easier for him because he wasn’t all tangled up in the fight.
He sat down in the swing next to me, and he asked about me, just bugging me about stupid things, like what I thought of Medulla’s class or who was stronger, Peace or Stronghold. He made me laugh, and it made me feel lighter.
Sometimes an empath needs someone else to make them feel better. I don’t think I’d ever make it as a psychologist.