Room 406, morning

[izzyalienqueen]

She can hear the sounds of people in the hallway, but Isabel tuned it out, intent on the email she was writing.



To: Spaceboysgirl@gmail.com
From: Isabel.Evans@fandom.net
Subject: Hey!

Hey Maria,

I know it's been awhile since I've written. I've been busy. We've had a bunch of new folks come in for summer camp and it's been nuts trying to get to know everyone. I've given up trying honestly. There's just so many of them.

But the ones I have met have been really nice. And on Friday I managed to see a bunch of them shirtless. Shirtless Friday. It's a beloved school tradition. Did I ever mention it? ;-) I love this school.

Now it's just a matter of waiting till the workshops start next week. The down time is great but sometimes I worry when it gets too quiet around here. Sharks with feet I tell you. We're going to see sharks with feet at some point this summer.

I'm not sure if/when I'm going to get back to Roswell this summer. I miss you guys, but I really am happy here. I guess we'll have to wait and see. Also? Max and Michael have you and Liz to look out for them and thwap them when they're being stupid. A friend left and moved to LA. I might try to visit there and make sure he's doing okay. And do not ask about how I'd get there. It would make your brain break.

Hug or Thawp Michael and Max for me depending on what's appropriate at the moment.

Isabel


[ooc: will eventually be a linkdrop. Door's open. I'll be sporadically AFK as RL demands but probably not for too long.]

Comments

[like-a-sponge.livejournal.com]

Greg, bored, found himself up on the fourth floor again. He knocked lightly on the doorframe, leaning slightly against it.

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

Isabel hit send and looked up. Smiling brightly when she saw Greg. "Hey, what's up?"

[like-a-sponge.livejournal.com]

"Hey," he said with a smile. "Nothing much, really. I was just bored and wandering around. Figured I'd see what you're up to."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

She motioned towards the couch she'd made out of Xander's bed as she put the laptop aside. "Come in, have a seat. I was just sending an email home. I owed Maria and figured she's like to hear about Shirtless Friday."

[like-a-sponge.livejournal.com]

"Maria?" Greg asked, awkwardly sitting on the makeshift couch, resting his elbows on his knees. "Friend from home?"

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"Yes," she smiled. "A good friend." Reaching behind her she pulled down a picture taken the summer before she'd come to Fandom. It showed eight smiling faces sitting at a picnic table in someone's backyard. Handing it over she said, "This is just about everyone I'll mention from Roswell. That's my brother Max, Michael who's practically another brother, his girlfriend Maria, Liz, my brother's girlfriend, Kyle, Alex and Tess."

[like-a-sponge.livejournal.com]

"How old are all of them in relation to you?" Greg asked curiously, looking down at the faces in the picture. "Older? Same age?"

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"We're all about the same age," she said. "Although Max, Michael and I came out of the pods a few months before Tess. So I guess that makes us older in a way. The others were in our class at school. So they're our age as well."

[like-a-sponge.livejournal.com]

Greg nodded, processing this before handing the picture back. "Must've been nice, having people your own age growing up," he said with a wry smile. "My sister's three years older, and not so much with the sharing of my particular interests."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

She took the picture back, smiling at it before putting it back where it belong. "I really only had Max, and Michael to some extent. We were so focused on keeping everything secret that it was difficult to make friends so we kept to ourselves. Maria and the others? They didn't find out the truth until just about two years ago."

[like-a-sponge.livejournal.com]

Greg raised a brow. "What made you guys tell them? Um. If you want to talk about it, I mean."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"I don't mind. Well as long as you promise not to run off and sell the story to the Enquirer or Weekly World News," she said, smiling to show she was kidding.

"I didn't have a choice in the matter. Liz got shot and Max healed her. Maria is Liz's best friend so of course she told her what happened. Alex had been friends with them since childhood so eventually he was told as well." Isabel shrugged, "Eventually Kyle figured it out as well. I've come to the conclusion secrets are impossible to keep."

[like-a-sponge.livejournal.com]

"They kind of tend to be that way," he agreed, shrugging. "But as long as trustworthy people are the ones that get leaked to, things are fine, right?"

He glanced at her with a small, curious smile. "Max healed her? You guys can heal people?"

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"So far we've been lucky," she said quietly. "Other then the FBI all of our problems have come from other aliens."

"You've got researcher face," Isabel said with a small smile. "And no, we can't all heal. Max can do that best, Michael's our warrior, I can dreamwalk, and Tess? Well she was the one that could screw with your head."

[like-a-sponge.livejournal.com]

"There are more aliens? And they don't like you?" Greg asked incredulously. "And...dreamwalk? Is that what it sounds like?"

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

Isabel nodded, "Shapeshifters are one kind. We've met one of them. Skins are another kind that we've heard of. But we haven't met them yet." She pushed back her hair trying to think of the best way to explain. "Dreamwalking is pretty much what it sounds like. If a someone's sleeping, and I go to sleep touching their picture, I wind up inside their head seeing what they're dreaming about. I'm getting better at it. Now I don't necessarily have to have a picture, or be asleep but that's the easiet way."

[like-a-sponge.livejournal.com]

"Shapeshifters," he mused. "Kind of scary-sounding. But I guess that's the point, huh?"

He bit his lip, raising a brow at her explanation of dreamwalking. "That's a handy skill. Must be kind of weird, though. Ever do it accidentally?"

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"The shapeshifting was useful. Particularly when we needed to replace the head of the FBI unit in charge of hunting us down," Isabel said grimly.

"It's weird. But useful. Especially when I want to find out exactly what someone is thinking." She looked down studying the blanket on her bed. "Don't think it's something I do casually. Anytime I've done it's been to protect us. Or if I have done it to a friend it was with their consent, to help them out. Except for the one time I did it accidentally." Isabel smiled, "Part of the reason Peter and I got to be such good friends was because I accidently took a walk through his dreams one night when I fell asleep while making campaign posters."

[like-a-sponge.livejournal.com]

"I wouldn't think it's something you do just on a whim or something," Greg replied with a little smile. "Must be kind of interesting, being able to see people's subconsciouses. Though, did you know that people dream every night, even if we don't think we do? About one dream for every ninety minutes of sleep. They start out about ten minutes long, and then after abou eight hours, they hit forty-five minutes to an hour long."

He blushed suddenly, looking down at his hands. "Sorry. Slipped into geek mode, there."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"It is," she agreed. "I went into Maria's dreams when she first found out. I was afraid she was going to turn us in because she was so scared. In her mind? I had tentacles."

"Geek mode is nice," she said softly. "Alex was a geek. So I'm used to it."

[like-a-sponge.livejournal.com]

"Tentacles?" He almost laughed outright, but limited himself to a soft chuckle. "Hard to imagine."

He studied her carefully, picking up on one particular word, and not wanting to push. But it's Greg, so he couldn't help but ask. "Was? Past tense?"

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"Tentacles. And it's actually not hard to imagine if you knew Maria." She focused on a spot over Greg's shoulder because it was easier not to look at him when talking about Alex. It's been over two months, but those two weeks of heightened emotions and good-byes still hurt. "Was. He was killed in a car accident back in March." She kept it simple, leaving out all mention of Tess and her role in it. It was easier that way."

[like-a-sponge.livejournal.com]

Greg lost his smile rapidly, watching her. He tentatively reached a hand out to touch her arm. "I'm sorry," he said softly. "Which is the complete wrong thing to say, I know, and so trite, but...." He gave a little shrug. "I'm sorry."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

Isabel closed her eyes and sat quietly for a moment, accepting the offered comfort. "You mean it," she said finally, opening her eyes and meeting his gaze. "So it helps."

[like-a-sponge.livejournal.com]

"I try," he said with a small smile. "I've never lost anyone like that, though. So I'm not sure how much of a comfort the sympathy is."