Always Seems To

Participants:

nicole2_icon.gif quinn3_icon.gif

Scene Title Always Seems To
Synopsis Questions of dreams lead to a loop being thrown.
Date March 23, 2011

Studio K


Kristen Reynolds is out of her office. Her assistant is gone as well. The face of The Advocate isn't around, either. So why is Nicole Nichols at Studio K?

Because none of them are there to hassle her when she starts going through Dirk's desk drawers, apparently. She's dressed down in flared jeans and a green boatneck sweater. Terribly casual in the way that she's left her bra straps exposed at her shoulders, but at least coordinated so that they're a nicely contrasting grey. At least, she thinks they're nicely contrasting. She's just feeling lazy and couldn't give a damn today. She's even pulled her hair back into a ponytail, which is incredibly unlike her. But then again, so is rifling through someone else's desk.

Presumably.

There's little warning for Nicole when someone suddenly knocks on Kristen's door… and even less warning when it pushes open immeidately after. "Hey, Dirk, do you know where Kristen is? I need t' talk t' her about somethin' I'm planning…" It's a familiar Irish accented voice that trails off as her eyes look over the room and find Nicole instead of Dirk. For a moment, Robyn Quinn just blinks and stares, her head tilting to the side as she regards the other woman with a bit of surprise.

And then she grins.

"You know, you should hope Dirk doesn't find you in here pretending his desk is yours. He might not let you leave without gettin' under the desk first," she quips, closing the door behind her. It doesn't seem too odd to her, finding Nicole in here. Or if it does, she doesn't really seem to care.

When Nicole looks up from rummaging through Dirk's desk drawers, she looks vaguely like a someone caught with their hand in the cookie jar. It's brief, however. She's not one for guilt about this. A plain white envelope is procured and set out on the desk's surface, the drawer shut with an audible thunk!

"Oh, he'd like that," Nicole smirks. "He likes to pretend that he's all into me, but he so is not. I don't think I'm his type. He wouldn't actually know what to do if he found me under his desk." She shakes her head and plucks up a pen, writing something across the front of the envelope and then lifting her gaze back up to Quinn. "As far as I know, Kristen's in New Mexico right now. How're things? Haven't seen you since your concert. Love the album, by the way. I've got the CD in my car right now, actually."

"New Mexico? Christ, I must've missed the memo in all the craziness at the end of last week." Quinn doesn't look terribly pleased by this news, heaving out a sigh as she leans back against the door, hands slipping into jean pockets. She's not really dressed professionally at all in her jeans and short sleeve, lowcut t-shirt covered by a blue, unzipped hoodie, but she's never really thought people would care. Particularly since she spends most of her time either in the office or in one of the radio studios. Plus, apparently Kristen isn't here to yell at her!

"Glad you like the CD, though! It's been doin' well apparently. I'm… kinda surprised. Already workin' on new stuff, if you ever want t' stop by the Verb for a listen." Though she smiles, she rolls her shoulders a bit, looking from Nicole, over her shoulder to the door behind her for a moment. "Actually, I was kinda hopin' t' run int' you t'day. Mind goin' for a walk with me? I mean, if you've got time."

Quinn pushes off the door, grinning as she takes the offered arm, but she doesn't immediately move to open the door. "Anywhere, really. Outside the building." She looks around a bit nervously as she rolls her shoulder, before she leans up a bit close to the slightly taller woman. Which might look a little odd to an onlooker, but all Quinn does next is whisper quietly. "I kinda need t' talk about somethin' with you, but part of it's kinda… sensitive. I can trust you, right?"

Nicole's breath hitches for a moment, for all that she looks completely casual. She's used to keeping a straight face when someone leans in to tell her something. "Yeah, of course," she replies in similar hushed tones. "It's not about my sister, is it?" No news is good news generally when it comes to Colette.

"Not… really?" Quinn quirks her lips side to side as she now pulls the door open, holding it for Nicole to go first. "I… you'll see. It's hard t' explain. But it kinda… she comes up," is the best way she knows how to put it, letting out a little sigh as she steps out after Nicole. "So! A short walk sounds good. I'll try not t' keep you from your plans for too long."

"We can take as much time as you need, m'dear," Nicole assures, heading out into the hall and then for the exit. Once outside, she turns her attention back to Quinn in earnest. "She always seems to, you know. Come up. 'Letty." She shakes her head and tucks an errant strand of dark brown hair behind her ear. "What's up?"

There's a bit of a laugh from Quinn, though it's not really a happy laugh. "Does she? I wouldn't know. I haven't really seen her in months. Not… since November, I think." She may be mistaken, but the point stands that it's been a very long time since she saw the woman who was supposed to be her mentor. So maybe she's a little bitter, even if her opinion of Colette isn't always at it's highest. But that, she decides, is not something Nicole needs to hear about. Not when it sounds like like Colette's causing Nicole her own problems.

"I'm not really sure where t' start about this, because it's not entirely my thing t' talk about, though I was given permission to," Quinn starts, running a hand back through her fingers. "I guess… have you had any weird dreams lately?" Because if the answer is no, Quinn looks like an ass, but there's no need to keep being so worried. If yes, well…

Colette causing problems for Nicole is putting it mildly. "Yeah, she's been laying extra low since my run-in with that Heller son of a bitch." The thought is shrugged off quickly, however. Not the point of this meeting.

Weird dreams was not the topic she expected, however. "Actually… Yeah." Nicole flicks a look sidelong to Quinn. "How'd you know?"

Heller was not something Quinn had expected either, and for a moment she looks mildly uncomfortable. "I heard about Heller," she remarks quietly. "Apparent some of his people showed up at my concert looking for people." Meaning, she's not the only person Heller is causing problems too, even if it wasn't a direct action against Quinn. "Has me a bit worried, so I'm trying t' be careful."

But, yes, off to the real topic at hand. Quinn grins a bit, tapping the side of her head. "I'm psychic!" she proclaims amusedly, only lasting a moment before she laughs, and shakes her head. But that jovial mood fades just as quickly, her expression becoming more serious. "I bet I can tell you what it was about, too. Something something with some certain people, among which included my girlfriend, Eileen and some others, something something deciding weather or not t' kill Elisabeth Harrison." Quinn speaks lowly, so that just they can hear, and gives that a moment to linger in the air before she looks up at Nicole. "You're not the only one who had it."

Nicole hadn't realised Heller's people had been at the Glass Wonderland début, so her eyes widen a fraction at that knowledge. It's filed away to be discussed later. Right now, the fact that Quinn knows what she dreamt has Nicole's attention. "Your girlfriend's the redhead, right? I… I don't know who Eileen is, but I thought I saw Jessica Sanders. Do you know who she is?" A frown draws across Nicole's face. "In… In that dream, I wanted to kill Harrison. If she hadn't been pregnant… I don't even know her, except as a face and a name."

There's a slow nod, the hand not looped through Nicole's arm slipping into her pocket. "Elaine, the redhead, yeah. She… had the same dream. An' so did another friend of ours, someone who's normally an electrokinetic." Deliberate inflections are used to inform Nicole that she means Ferry friends specifically. "I didn't have that dream. I had another dream, of a funeral… for a friend." Quinn lets out a long sigh, shaking her head. "Lots of people I knew were there. Some of them… some of them had the same dream. But not all of them. The woman givin' the eulogy in it didn't." There's a moment of pause, before Quinn looks back at Nicole. "Colette was there. Crying on my shoulder while I read along in my bible with the service."

"Lynette," Nicole murmurs at the mention of another electrokinetic. "Is that her name? In the dream, I knew her name, and I knew what she could do. I… I seem to remember seeing her at your show? I thought maybe I just spliced her face into my dreams. I just…" Lower lip is bitten down on for a moment while she looks for the right words. "I don't sleep very often, because of things like this. This isn't the first weird dream I've had, either. I had another dream, where I had a house and… And I think I had a daughter."

The older woman falls silent, expression stormy. "It really rattled me," Nicole admits. "I've never had a dream like that before. Children aren't really on my agenda. I already raised Colette and fucked that up royally. But it felt so real, and so right, and I was so… It felt as real to me as that dream that your girlfriend and I had."

There's a brief pause for consideration. Nicole turns and leads Quinn to the mouth of an alley where she stops and unlinks their arms so she can instinctively reach into her back pocket for her cigarette case. When it isn't there, she winces. Though she's quitting, the habit isn't entirely kicked. "Do you know a girl named Robin Bristow?"

"A daughter?" Quinn replies with a bit of disbelief - not because she can't see it in Nicole, but because that's a much more serious thing to see than anything the rest of them have seen. At least, to Quinn. "I haven't either. It felt real. Like it was happening. Which Elaine told me was the same of her, which was the only reason I thought something odd of it. Otherwise I would've written it off, at the time I thought she'd met everyone she saw in her dream. Didn't turn out t' be the case." Quinn rolls her shoulders, and perhaps coincidentally, she's reaching down into the bag kept over her shoulder and pulling out her own package of cigarette. She's not trying to quit, but it's also not a problem, if you ask her. Just something she does when she feels stressed.

Needless to say, it's becoming a problem.

I.. know Robin Bristow. I was already plannin' t' talk t' her, probably t'morrow."The cigarette settles between her lips, a lighter pulled out and lit. "I'm just… this whole thing worries me. The shared dreams thing. Some… people are set on thinkin' it's the future. An'… in my dream, everyone looked older. Visibly so, even Colette. But I just… God, I am so sick of that shit after the last few months."

Nicole waffles for a moment before coming to a decision. "Could I get a cigarette?" She'll hate herself for it later, but right now she's stressed. And if her sister's taken up the habit, and she was trying to quit for her, well… Sissy must be used to disappointment by now when it comes to Nicole. "Robin seems like a good person to talk to about this sort of thing. I've had some experience with her in these matters, but… That was surreal."

Nicole's cheeks puff out with an exhale. "Well, if they are dreams of the future, at least I know Colette's still a survivor." A rueful smile touches her lips at that. "So those people, from my and Elaine's dream… Were they all from your organisation?"

Quinn had really thought Nicole would know who Eileen is, given her wanted status and Colette's Ferry associations. It's left her feeling a little bit like she might have said too much, but you can't take back words that have already been said.

Slipping a cigarette part way out of the carton and offering it over to Nicole, the lighter held out in her other hand as she blows smoke out of the side of her mouth, away from Nicole. "I… guess. Elaine… isn't involved like that, though. An' she didn't know who some of the people were, so I can only guess. My dream, though… was all people like that." Except one, but Quinn hasn't yet realised that she saw Elisabeth Harrison in her dream too. "I dunno. The whole leaves me feeling really… unsettled. I don't like it. I haven't liked this shit since June, and it's only gotten worse." But then, Nicole probably doesn't know anything about a time war or the fact that Colette was involved in that too.

There's a lot Nicole doesn't know. And she doesn't like not knowing. "I used to think I didn't want to know what's going on with Colette's friends," she admits as she purses her lips around the filter of her cigarette and brings the lighter up to the tip. She passes it back once she's got it glowing and she takes her first puff. Christ that's heavenly. "Thanks," is only a brief distraction from her point. "But… Now? Not knowing isn't making me any safer. It isn't make her any safer. If she wants to fight the good fight, I don't want her to fight it alone anymore."

The woman lifts her chin, fixing Quinn with a very serious gaze. "Can you get me in?"

Quinn grins at first at Nicole, but it drops a bit when her question comes, the Irishwoman regarding her friend with surprise and curiosity. She's silent for a good few moments before she plucks her cigarette back out from between her lips, looking Nicole in the eyes. "You're sure about that? I mean, just because the dream had you with us…" doesn't mean you have to goes unsaid - Quinn's a staunch believer in freedom over one's destiny, and the idea of acting something through because of a dream doesn't sit well with her. She still is mad at herself for letting it happen on the Eighth.

"I can talk to people. I doubt it'll be an issue, considering Colette's done a lot for them in the past, as I understand it." She takes a long drag of her cigarette, exhaling dramatically before she lets her eyes drift close, still looking in Nicole's direction. "I guess I shouldn't question you. I know you'd mean somethin' like that. It's just… as it is, I already feel like I'm having t' look over my shoulder all the time because of it. I have no regrets, not at all. It's just somethin' t' think about." A pause, and her eyes open, expression upturning into a grin. "But it'd be nice to have another friend involved. At least then it means there's less secrets I have t' keep. I hate keeping secrets."

"I know…" I don't have to also goes unsaid in return. "I thought that Colette was going to ask me to the last time I saw her. Instead, she did her little disappearing act. I'm not doing it because of some notion that I have to fulfil a destiny. But I can't just sit idly by anymore. I want to get involved however I can. Call it balancing out my karma."

One shoulder lifts in a shrug, a breathy chuckle sending a plume of smoke past Nicole's lips. "I'm already looking over my shoulder. Scrutiny is on me because of Colette. I may as well do something to earn it, huh?" She stares down the alley past Quinn, looking distracted even though it's clear the other woman has her full attention. "I can't dive right in and suddenly be a twenty-four seven freedom fighter… I have an empire to run." For as long as Daniel Linderman hangs on. After that, everything's up in the air as far as Nicole's concerned. "But I should be able to spare resources and offer some time. Being the scheduler means I get to do things on my own time for the most part."

That earns a chuckle from Quinn, who slides back a bit so that she's leaning against the wall behind her. "It's not like I do that shit twenty-four seven," she remarks quietly, somewhat wistfully. "Your sister almost brought me in herself. She.. decided not to because she thought I had a shot at a normal life, someone else ended up doin' it. But there's… it's easy enough t' be committed without runnin' off every day to fight the good fight." After that, a bit of a sour expression crosses Quinn's face - if it was anyone besides Nicole, she'd be chastising herself for having loose lips. "I still live my life, day to day. I do what I can, and I wish I could do more. But I'm sure you'd be fine."

Nicole has her doubts that fine is the right word for her state. Ever. As a general rule. But she smiles anyway. "I think it's worth it. You go ahead and tell your people that I'm interested. I'll do whatever they need from me. I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty anymore."

Quinn snickers, settling a bit more heavily against the wall. "I'll get on it. It… might be a it, but it sounds like that's fine anyway. I'm… curious, though, t' how much you sister's shown you. Or told you about. If you already know a lot… well, I don't think there'd be any reason t' say no t' begin with, but it can't hurt at all, you know?" She shrugs as she ashes her cigarette, ashy dust drifting off into the air and to the ground as she does.

"I don't know much." Whether it's an admittance or an assurance is unclear. "She started to tell me about the shit she was wrapped up in, and I got so mad because I was just so scared for her safety. So she didn't tell me details. I was too busy staying focussed on my career to realise that my baby sister was off getting herself into all sorts of trouble." Her myopia in that regard is something Nicole hasn't yet forgiven herself for.

"When things really started heating up, I told her she was safer if she didn't tell me anything, so I couldn't reveal anything unintentionally or…" Blue eyes dip down to stare first at her sneakers, then to the glowing tip of her cigarette after she flicks the ashes to the pavement. "Or, you know. If I… You know." Saying it out loud makes the danger of interrogation seem more real. "Our government right now scares me. I'm hoping to get myself into the camp of someone who'll change things for the better. Get them elected. That's what I'm here for, you know?" Nicole's digressing, and she catches herself at it, a quick shake of her head to clear her thoughts. "Sorry. No, Colette hasn't told me a whole lot. I know you people work with the network. I know you do good things. I know you help hide people that shouldn't have to be in hiding. I know it's a very dangerous place to be right now, and I know that nothing I say to her will get her to back away."

Nicole's lips tick upward in a faint smile. "The best way to keep an eye on her is to join her. I know where your hub in the city is. She took me there after the riots."

"Wow, really?" Quinn quirks an eyebrow a bit, a surprised look on her face. "Well, you're ahead a' me then," she remarks with a smirk. "I didn't see until until, like… October. When Colette taught me how t' do this…" Looking down at her back, she pulls if off her shoulder and holds it out a bit. There's a moment of concentration that just barely shows on her face before the bag appears to waver and melt out of view, turning wholly invisible. "I think I painted a red fish there. I… don't know, that night left me colourblind for a while." She fidgets a bit, another moment passing before the bag shimmers back into view, Quinn returning it over her shoulder.

Another long drag of her cigarette, and she drops it down to the ground. Heel crushing the remains out, she lets out a sigh. "You should keep doing that, you know? Trying t' support someone you think'll work t' make things better here. I think that's a good place t' be, is you want t' get somethin' done. If I thought I could, I'd so that m'self. For now, though, I'm stickin' t' tryin' t' help by helping out around town on an' off teh record, an' with my music." She gives a bit of a shrug before she looks back up at Nicole. "But… if you want t' keep an eye on Colette, you may be outta luck. Last I heard, no one's seen hide nor hair a' her in… months. She kinda ghosted on Sable an' the duties they were sharing at one point, an' I think she took Tasha with 'er."

"I talked to her a little over a month ago. We leave notes for each other in a safe place. I send her money. She's around, she just isn't seen." At least, this is what Nicole needs to believe in order to keep from falling apart. "You know how that sister of mine is…"

Nicole isn't quite ready to drop her cigarette yet, intent on smoking it clear down to the filter, apparently. "Do you think you could introduce me to that Lynette woman?"

"I can see what I can do," comes after a minute of thought, Quinn reaching around in her bag for something. "You might have to anyway," is a bit more cryptic, Quinn casting a glance up to Nicole as she pulls her iPad up and out of her bag - thankfully not damaged when the sprinklers went off at Studio K the other day. "I hope that's the case. Colette… She's someone I always wanted t' be my friend, but she never really seemed… willing. I'd like t' think she's still around, keepin' an eye on things. That'd be really awesome." There's a hopeful tone to her voice, Quinn tapping across the device's screen a few times. "She's a real bitch sometimes," she remarks with a bit of a laugh, "but I still want her t' be okay." Sometimes, it feels weird talking about Colette with Nicole. She doesn't always really reconcile the two as sisters since, to her, Nicole is much nicer and far, far less frustrating.

"Just, when you meet her? You might be a little disappointed," is another cryptic comment, Quinn shrugging her shoulders a bit. "I'll get on that in short order though." Mostly because Quinn should really get in contact with her sooner rather than later.

"If I wind up in an early grave, it will likely be because Colette did something to finally give me a proper heart attack," Nicole concedes easily. "I love my sister more than anything in this world, but she will be the death of me." Smouldering cigarette is held aside as Nicole peers curiously at the iPad, but not actually craning to get a look at the screen. "If you hear anything from Tasha, would you ask her to get in touch with me? I'd like a chance to catch up with her. She's a sweet girl."

Having ten years on Colette doesn't help the dichotomy of wait, these two are related much, if we're honest. Their divergent ways of dealing with the hand life dealt them only widens that gap. "I'm in politics, Miss Quinn. I'm used to disappointment."

Perhaps oddly, there's a bit of a laugh from Quinn as she draws her finger across the touch screen. "Well… I won't pretend even remotely that I know Colette better than you. But from the way I've seen her treat the few people she really seems t' care about? I think she'd be horrified if she was the death of you." Well, duh? Maybe. Quinn doesn't always think before she says things, so it doesn't occur to her that that could be anything from painfully obvious to a little tactless. "I'll… pass that on, yeah. I miss havin' her around, she's a fun one." A pause, and then a sigh. "Really, I miss when we all lived t'gether and shit wasn't this crazy, but everyone misses that, I'm sure."

The iPad is slid back into her bag, Quinn's gaze moving up to Nicole with a bit of a smirk. "Job hazard, eh? That's a shame, really. I'll have t' try an' make sure this isn't one, then," she remarks somewhat brightly as she settles back against the wall. "An' there's no need for the Miss, you know. Robyn or Quinn's fine."

An absent nod of her head after a last drag of smoke and Nicole's dropping the spent stick to the ground, crushing it beneath her trainers. "I'm sure it'll be fine. I'm looking forward to this. It's about time I branched out. Besides, someone has to counteract whatever it is my fiancé thinks he's doing with the Department." There's a roll of her eyes at that notion. "It's reasons like this why my boss told me not to bother cheating registration. Lying about stuff like that only gives something for your enemies to blackmail you with."

There's a bit of a tch clicking of Quinn's tongue at the mention of Nicole's fiancé. "You know… someone made a very clear point of telling me not t' trust a word that comes out of his mouth," Quinn remarks quietly, looking a bit nervously off to the side. "You know, before Smoov had him tased. The guy, not Brad." She rolls her shoulders, pushing off the wall. "No offence. I just thought it was… kind of odd. I don't really know Brad that well, and it seemed… really sudden." She grimaces a bit, moving back towards Nicole, an arm offered out to her. "Be careful. I know I don't have to tell you that, of all people, but… be careful."

"Brad's… doing what he feels he has to do. He's still a good person. I promise I will tell you if my opinion changes on that. We're hoping, he and I, to be able to get some leverage within the Department. If he can play is cards right, we should be able to make some changes for the better." Coming back around to what Nicole was saying about playing the political arena to make the world a better place. "I know that my to-be doesn't have a lot of fans right now," and she's not talking about anything related to his show.

"But even if you're afraid to trust him, I do ask that you trust me, Quinn." The smile Nicole gives is meant to be reassuring, but it's perhaps touched with just a bit of sadness. "I'll be careful, and you should continue to be, too. But it's not good when paranoia causes us to push away potential allies." Says the woman who's paranoid enough that she carries a different pay-as-you-go cell phone every week. "But… Thanks for this. Even if you can't get your people to want anything to do with me, the thought definitely counts here."

"I'm sure things will be fine. We need all the help we can get, an'… well, you're in a position t' maybe make some real change. So, that's always a good thing." The Irishwoman chuckles a bit, patting Nicole on the back. "But know, Nicole, that I wouldn't even being talking t' you right now if I didn't trust you. That's not somethin' you need t' worry about," Quinn notes, with a wide smile angled up at the other woman. "I wasn't saying that Brad's a bad guy. I don't really know him well enough t' say either way. I just… was caught a bit off guard by that, was all. I really hope he can do some good. That you can do some good." Starting to move back towards the building, she keeps Nicole alongside her so that she doesn't have to raise her voice too loud as she speaks.

"Someone needs to. Might as well be someone who means it."

Nicole wraps an arm around Quinn's shoulders in a brief squeeze while they walk. "My thoughts exactly."


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