Everybody's Fine

Participants:

brian_icon.gif rue_icon.gif

Scene Title Everybody's Fine
Synopsis Too cold to sleep, Brian and Rue cross paths wandering the hallways.
Date November 18, 2010

Pollepel Island - Bannerman Castle


"Motherfucking castle with motherfucking…"

With a blanket pulled tight around his shoulders. Brian meanders his way away from his room. Either it's too cold or his roommates are snoring way too loudly. Whatever the reason, Brian has found it necessary to vacate his room and warm himself up in the hallways of Bannerman. Walking around with a steady pace, he wears sweats and a pair of thick socks. His eyes are bleary, apparently only having woken up recently.

It's late in the evening, and still very cold. Turning round the corner, Brian frowns soundly. He might have just got semi-lost in the castle. Looking this way then that…

"Fuck."

"Sami?" The sound of Rue Lancaster's stage whisper-like voice carries down the corridor even before the woman herself emerges around the corner. "Sami, where did you— Oh! Hello." The ginger is dressed in her warm red plaid pyjamas, wrapped up tightly in her fuzzy teal robe, and wearing her black Chucks. She's obviously been awake for some time.

It's likely she never made it to sleep. "Brian. Have you seen-" Rue catches herself and shakes her head. "No, of course you wouldn't have seen her." At least, she doesn't spy any mirrors that her ethereal best friend may have been spied through recently. "Everything all right?"

"Oh. Hey.. you." You know when a name doesn't sound right coming off the tongue? Brian is currently in that phase, somewhere in his subconscious he is afraid he won't say the name right so just avoids using her name altogether. "Umm. Not tonight?" Reaching through his blankets, Winters grabs at the Disney Princess Mirror tucked into the back of his sweats. He always keeps a mirror handy now. Bringing it out and staring bleary eyed in it. He then realizes that she doesn't need a mirror.

"I guess she's not following me today. She probably blew away and is trying to find her way back to the island." He doesn't sound too concerned. She'll be fiiine. "I was playing tag with her.. yesterday? Or the day before? I mean.. We took a walk. I mean.." He closes his eyes for a long moment. "We hung out. In a mirror." He purses his lips. "She'll probably be around soon. And.. uhh.. Yeah I'm fine. It's just cold and I hate the world." He explains eloquently. "How… are you.." He says flatly.

"Rue," she offers without missing a beat. She doesn't seem offended by the notion that Brian may have forgotten her name. It's something that she's kind of used to, truth be told. She eyes the mirror with a quirked brow. "That's a smart idea." She sighs, shoulders sagging. "I thought I heard her around here somewhere, but… Maybe I was wrong. Maybe it's wishful thinking."

The girl frowns briefly and hugs her arms around herself tightly. "I'm fine, considering I have… next to no idea what's going on around here, except that people like us are in danger because the world's gone totally barmy and I can't call anyone to tell them I'm okay, so I'm sure my parents are freaking out. And my ability is apparently not my ability so I really have no idea what the hell it is that I do or anything. But, you know, aside from that little distress? I'm not actually doing too bad. And it's fucking cold. I hate that." Rue's nose wrinkles. "I'd say that blanket looks warm, but you're obviously not warm. So it must be a ruse." A shiver runs through her body.

"Oh that's good." Brian notes when she says 'besides all that'. "I'm glad you're settling in just fine then." He says in kind of a daze. Glancing at his mirror, he smiles weakly. "Thanks, I'm a smart guy." He admits, going to tuck his mirror back in. "You hear her? That's weird. I have a theory that she has a frog-voice and I'm pretty sure I'm right, so don't tell me if I'm wrong, okay." He frowns lightly. "Have you not seen her since you've been here? She was at that big meeting thing with me.. I think you were asleep."

"If your parents are freaking out, I could get them a message. If it'll make you feel better, you know. To know that they're not worried. Or at least not as worried." He frowns a little more. "Well maybe we should try to figure out what your ability is… What did you say your card says?"

Rue offers a smile and nods. "Total frog voice." It's a confirmation that'll get her in trouble later when Samara hears about it. "She and I haven't managed to cross paths since I got here, but I heard someone else say that she was brought up at the meeting… It's no big deal. She can take care of herself."

At the offer to pass a message, Rue waves one hand dismissively. "No. I'll call them when I get out of this mess. Knowing my folks, it'll only freak them out more if I have a stranger call to let them know I'm okay. I'll just tell them that there was no cell reception in the shelters, and I was staying put until it was safe. That's pretty much the truth anyway." When asked about her card, she pulls it out of her robe pocket. It's beaten around the edges from having carried it over a year. She's due to renew before too long. "Limited Telepathy is what I registered as. It's not exactly easy to prove you see dead people."

"That's because you don't." Brian reminds hoarsely, clearing his throat over his fist. When she mentions a stranger calling, he arches a brow. Yeah he was going to just leave a cryptic note, so maybe that would have raised more alarm… Good call Rue. He lowers his chin, knitting his brows. "Limited telepathy. Okay.. so our theories on SamEye is she's either uh.. an astral projection or she's a.. intangible. If you're the only one that can see her. And hear her." He tilts his head back. "I have no idea what that means. Do you see her just like everyone else, or can you tell she's… different?"

"Yeah I brought her up at the meeting. Didn't want anyone thinking we were being haunted by ghosts. Because ghosts don't exist." He hammers in, again. Folding his towelled arms over his chests he lets out a long yawn. "And you hear her like with your ears? And talk with your mouth?"

"I see her just fine, except for the way she likes to float through junk. But we can see and touch each other the way you and I could." Rue shrugs, a little frustrated that she doesn't quite know what's going on, or how to explain it. "She sees everything… like washed out? Like everything's been put through a filter to make it grey. It's been that way since…"

The girl trails off, looking down at her feet. "Samara and I were caught in the bomb," Rue explains. "We were with a whole group of girls. We only had enough warning to… Samara threw herself on top of me. I… I woke up in the hospital a couple days later. They had been scraping pieces of the other girls off the pavement. I was…" Guilt is heavy in Rue's tone, and her eyes glisten with unshed tears. "I was the only survivor." She swallows down the lump forming in her throat. "When I first saw Samara, I thought it was just my guilt making me see things."

Brian listens quietly, lowering his chin. "And Samara had to talk her parents into letting her go with you. They barely let her go." He notes, bringing up one finger to tap his chin. "I could see how that could give you a complex. Shit, I would need to go to a therapist." He bobs his head a little before adding in a lighter tone. "Well you can feel better about that, because Sami didn't die. And now the two of you were the only survivors. So.. You can share the guilt. I saw Sami the other night. After trying to undo her power, she passed out. And became like.. shimmery. I could see her, without the mirror. Still couldn't touch her but.." He gives a little shrug. "It's an ability. And she's making progress. She'll be just like us soon. Except, frog voice."

"You can touch her? That's weird. I.. we need someone else who can go invisible. See if you can see them. But you can touch.. That's… weird." He frowns deeply. "I don't know what to make of that."

"Yeah, well, I went to the crazy bin for a while because I thought she wasn't real. So I did the whole therapy thing." Rue doesn't seem particularly bitter about it, but maybe a little embarrassed by the situation. "If she's… really not dead, then I just have no idea what's going on anymore."

One hand comes up to cover her mouth when she realises the implication of what she's said, her eyes wide. "I mean, I don't want Sami to be dead. It's great if she's not, and it's just some… weird ability thing. But it's all really confusing." The look Rue gives Brian is a helpless one.

Giving her a somewhat perplexed look, Brian goes ahead and gives a diplomatic nod as if understanding. "Well… I'll do my best to figure this out. And I'm sorry you're stuck in a cold castle. But.. Look at it this way, a lot of potential new friends that aren't dead. And they probably share some interests with you like.. wanting to not get killed by the government." He gives an enthusiastic smile. "Well.. I should probably go and try sleep again. My dick isn't going to wack itself." He pauses for a long moment. "Kidding. Sorry. I'm tired. Goodnight." Throwing a dismissive hand over his shoulder, Brian starts to trudge the other way.

Rue lets out a choking breath of laughter and waves. "Good night, Brian."


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