"Blame your grandmother and old habits for that one."

"Okay I will."

A little while latter Meghan's dad is raised on speakerphone and agrees to come home early from work so that Meghan's mom can nap and then sit with her for the night.

And while waiting and after a trip to the bathroom which shall be elided out of kindness to both the readers and the author, Meghan's mom sits on the couch with her daughter and brings up wikipedia. 

(Megan squirms in an agitated manner against her which slows the process)

"Let's see what wikipedia has about backlash, it won't be a lot of detail but - if that's what this is maybe it'll help..."

She leans over to look at the phone.

"...You'll have to read it to me. I can't. I can't focus on it. There's not enough room in my head. There's only barely any room in my head around...that. It's like...a whirlpool and I have to keep trying to get out or it'll drown me."

More hugs. She's very worried and unhappy to see her daughter so miserable.

"Hmm...well it says medication doesn't really help much with the symptoms, hopefully the pills will still help you sleep if you need it.. They aren't really trying to treat the problem directly. I'm not sure what you'd even try to treat this...sort of feeling. Maye a mood stabilize. But anyway..."

"Well I think my mood is stably BAD right now."

"Hopefully it won't matter." sigh, "Also it says that with psychological symptoms it's sometimes possible to sort of..bend them, or shift them Into a different shape. Maybe there's something less...exhausting." For everyone really.

"Maybe. But..if I fuck with it...it might drown me. When they left me alone. I thought I would drown. Because I didn't have anywhere to go. I felt like I was alone forever and everyone forgot I existed. Please don't leave me alone. Please don't forget about me."

Clinging "You can hate me if you want. I don't care. Just as long as you don't ignore me."

Well the phone can go away for now.

"I love you. I'm here for you. Even if it's exhausting. We're going to take the week off, so we'll be around. We both have the leave for it." They talked about this on the phone earlier but maybe it will help to be reminded. She can say this several times and hug her daughter until her husband comes home.

He's not a huggy person but he can apply hugs. And cook Meghan's favourite for dinner while his wife naps. Meghan attempts to assist with this but mostly ends up slowing the process down due to mutual distraction.

Dinner is likewise a distracted affair. They give up telling her not to talk with her mouth full after she almost chokes trying to swallow too fast.

afterwards they try to find some way to keep busy. She doesn't want to watch a movie, or more to the point doesn't want anyone else to watch the movie, and her focus and patience for turn taking are badly disrupted. They end up playing several rounds of War.

And then Meghan's dad goes to bed and Meghan and her mom adjourn to Meghan's room.

She tries to settle down but she can't relax into sleep even with her mom's presence and reassurances. After an hour of this she gives up and agrees to take a pill. Shortly thereafter she finally drifts off after a period of less and less coherent mumbling

Even then her sleep is very fitful and she wakes crying and calling out several times and gives up early in the morning when the pill starts to wear off.

A while later Meghan's dad wakes up and Meghan's mom goes to get some sleep. 

At some point thereafter Meghan remembers that her phone is in her bag and fishes it out. It turns out that though the idea of posting to social media is very appealing she lacks the patience to actually execute it. It's simply not immediate enough in practice. An argument with her dad ensues, ending in him eventually agreeing to make (1) post to twitter on her behalf updating people on Current Happenings, and take (1) picture for comparison purposes (later they will be glad of this decision). He firmly declines the suggestion that the picture should be in underwear. (Later they will also be glad of that decision).

Later several relatives filter in having been alerted via text or email overnight. Meghan attempts to hold court, aggressively interrupting side conversations, and bringing up some topics that she will later be embarrassed at having mentioned. 

Eventually someone suggests she could play the piano for them. She eagerly agrees but has difficultly focusing due to constantly watching the audience. She does manage to play some short pieces but eventually gets frustrated and starts banging on the keys as loud as possible instead, in spite of the discomfort this causes to her injured fingers. At that point it is declared to be lunch time.

The next couple of days pass in more or less the same fashion as the first.

On the evening of the third day Meghan is brushing her teeth (which takes about four times longer than usual due to frequent interruptions) when she makes a startled noise.

Meghan's mom was of course on hand to supervise and provide company and immediately responds "What is it sweetie?"

"My eyes look different! Look!"

She squints carefully and turns Meghan's head into the light. It's hard to see but after a moment it's apparent what she means, Meghan's eyes previously a pretty standard blue now contain a hint of teal.

"I see it. I wonder how much they'll change..you should have a few days left..."

"I'm really gonna be an esper. It's really happening." She's happy and excited and incredibly relieved. After three days of this her reserves of energy and resilience are wearing thin but knowing there's a definite end in sight gives  her new energy.

"I want to take a picture RIGHT NOW. We should take LOTS of pictures. Because it's COOL. I bet I get green eyes. Because I think green eyes are cool."

She smiles. She is also incredibly relived, even if the idea of her baby girl walking into a dungeon is kind of upsetting.. They can cross that bridge when they come to it though. It might be that whatever power she ends up with isn't even good for that. Espers do lots of things that aren't walking into dungeons.

"We can take more comparison pictures for posterity. I've heard that espers always like the changes to their appearance, so whatever you end up with, I'm sure you will be happy with it."

"Yeah. I'm gonna be like hot and stuff so the boys will want to look at me and the girls will be mad they can't be as a hot as me. Unless they're lesbians. The lesbians will also want to look at me. I'm not gay but I think they should look at me anyway. Also if the lesbians are espers I might make out with them anyway. For guiding." She squints into the mirror, is that stupid bump on her nose different" Maybe? Hard to tell.

She hadn't really wanted to consider that aspect when applied to her (barely legally adult) daughter. But saying so will not be productive.

"Finish brushing your teeth and you can tell your father and take pictures before bed."

"Okay. Everyone should get to see pictures of me."

She actually falls asleep somewhat more readily that night, though still with the aid of a pill. Her sleep is still very disturbed but she's a little quicker to fall back asleep after.

By the next morning the changing eye colour is more readily apparent and is duly admired by today's assembly of relatives.

"Does this mean you'll buy me a car?"

"The fuck do you need a car for Danny? You live a block away from a subway station and work two blocks away from a subway station."

"I think it would be cool to have a really nice car."

"You cannot just ask people to buy you a car."

"In any case there's no guarantee of having the kind of power that makes the really big bucks, you know that."