Homeland Insecurity

Participants:

delilah_icon.gif magnes_icon.gif

Scene Title Homeland Insecurity
Synopsis Delilah is informed that she is now the only thing left of Magnes' personal life; there is also chatting about whether or not seriously dating is a viable option- and as it turns out, either not yet, or possibly never.
Date June 16, 2009

Delilah's Apartment

Just entering the apartment, it gives of a feeling of comfortable homeliness; light colors, pastel shades, floral designs, clean and sweet smells, and only accents of dark where it most fits. The front room leads to a den further on, with a large sofa in a coffee cream color sitting opposite a similar chair, and a wooden table in between. There is only an almost retro-looking television off on the other side, but the things hooked up to it show that it is not as old as it seems. Nothing is, really.

To the far end is the kitchen, which always seems to smell like something recently cooked there; the appliances and counters are squeaky clean, but obviously used on a regular basis, and the leftover anything in the fridge can attest to that, as can a perpetual dish of cookies on the table. The bathroom is also squeaky clean, and it seems as if anyone coming out smells significantly nicer than when they had gone in; there is a closet within where the washer and dryer stay. There are two bedrooms, but one is emptied and instead made into a big rainbow-colored sewing and storage room, complete with fabric bolts and racks on wheels centered around a masterfully ordered sewing machine and table.

The actual bedroom is based in those mainly soft colors, yet the lower walls have at least two long, cluttered tackboards home to pictures, clippings, seemingly random crafts, and generally quirky things. A desk in a similar state sits in the far corner by the closet, opposite a low, wide, fluffy-looking bed swamped in pillows and comforters. At least half a dozen stuffed animals peek out from various points.


Wearing his Negative Venom shirt (A typical Venom shirt, except the symbol is black, and the rest of the shirt is white), a pair of black cargo pants, and his inline skates, Magnes chooses the later part of the evening to visit Delilah. Thanks to the Company, he's not on a pizza boy salary anymore, so decided to actually get her a few things before coming, quickly but lightly knocking on the door. "It's Magnes."

Well there's a voice she hadn't heard lately. The door opens with a short swing after his knocking, revealing Delilah in a loose shirt and jeans- though the shirt is quite long for her. "Hey! Haven't seen you in a while. For a bit I thought I scared you off- what's up?" Her hand beckons Magnes inside with a flitting gesture, and the teenager moves aside for him.

"Sorry, I've been really busy. Training hard to get a tighter grip on my abilities, stuff like that. I got you some things though." Magnes reaches over to grab a large square shopping bag, entering when she beckons. "Some more graphic novels, some vintage pin-up books I saw in an antique shop, and uh, I took my first shot at making a dress that's not a costume."

"You spoil me." And no, that is true. She's giving him a piqued, yet careful look as she closes the door behind him. "You found an antique shop that doesn't charge out the ass? Ah- Oh? Really? Did you use a pattern, or try it freehand?" Please, please, have used a pattern. And please let it not be something too weird.

"I'm not much of an artist yet, I had to use patterns. I stitched them together and all, and I attached a belt." Magnes sits the bag on the table, pulling out a modestly designed denim dress with a red belt in the middle and frilly colorful designs on the bottom. "I hope you like it." He does not comment on the antique shop and their prices! "And sorry if it seems like I'm spoiling you, I'll try and cut down on buying stuff, if it's weird or something."

"Buying is a little weird, maybe, yes- but if you make me something…" Then she is not going to argue much with that, as it would be entirely noble. As Magnes draws out the gift of a dress, Delilah smiles brightly and takes it by the shoulders from him.

"Ohh, very cute." Her hands hold it up onto her chest, where one palm pins it and the other smooths it down over her standing lap. "I have just the things to go with it, too, hmm. Thank you, Magnes." Incoming- sudden peck on the cheek! An entirely innocent gesture.

"A-ah, I um, I'm glad you like it." Magnes' cheeks light up from the peck, taking a seat on the couch. He bashfully stares at the floor as he begins to remove the outer shell of his skates, intending to leave just the sneaker portion on. "I uh, I missed you, Delilah. I can see you more often though, I've made a lot of progress."

Delilah takes another good look at the dress before sitting down on the sofa next to Magnes, sitting up and carefully folding up the piece of clothing in her hands. She smooths it onto her lap again, though now perfectly folded. "So you've gotten some really good help? That's great. So have I." But she will purposefully leave it at that. "I suppose that there are different ways for everyone, hm? Did you go to some kind of camp? You look a little bit more defined around the edges or something…" And he's been gone for such-and-such a specific time period. Like space camp but for special abilities? Huh.

"Yeah, well, I'm sorta getting trained by a division of Homeland." Magnes explains, reluctantly moving one of his hands to carefully take her's. "They gave me an offer to join them or be called a terrorist in the news and probably get locked up forever. But don't worry, alright? I'm not telling anyone you have an ability, and I won't let anyone, ever, hurt you. Can you keep this a secret?"

Nothing done about the hands- though she does react passively and grasp firmly back as Magnes explains. Delilah nods once, slowly, also making a note to make notes for the others. She is not soon forgetting all of that information on Cat's computer. What if this is just one more thing? Though, then Magnes asks her at the same time to keep it a secret. He is working for the real bad guys and wants her to not say anything. Fan-freaking-tastic.

"So they blackmailed you into it?" Delilah frowns visibly, then biting at her bottom lip. No promises made quite yet.

"Pretty much, and I think they might make me register soon, but I don't know yet." Magnes gently pulls her hand over, idly moving her fingers with his as he continues to explain. "I'm learning to use my abilities, it's not like they can make me do anything I don't want to. I'm not gonna kill anyone, or harass people about registration, because I don't believe in it. But at least I can do some good, y'know? It's better than, well, being locked up forever."

He releases her hand, then raises his to rest on her shoulder. He's touchy tonight! "At least with things this way, I can protect you and everyone else a lot better than I could before. Not only because I can use my abilities better, but because I'll actually have someone to call the next time one of us gets kidnapped, or Sylar's trying to kill one of us."

He is deluded. They'll make him do those things by threatening someone else- or simply by force. Even she can see that part, right through his little happy place. "Are you so sure that I and everyone else need protecting?" A moment of channeling Abigail. "And what makes you so sure they'd help anyone? What makes you so sure they'd do you favors?"

Her hands fold on her knees, and the redhead takes a breath to think. "They don't owe you a thing, Magnes. They have everything on you, and you have nothing on them. No leverage at all. They're just using you." And of that, she sounds convinced.

"I was afraid, almost a month ago when I joined them. I was afraid of being a terrorist and having to run for the rest of my life, but now…" Magnes smiles, lightly squeezing her shoulder. "Now that I know what I can do, now that I know my potential, I'm not afraid anymore. And we all need protecting, Delilah, we have to protect eachother, all of us, we can't do anything alone, there's the one lesson I've learned from all this. They may not do favors for me, I don't know, but I'll tell you this one thing, and it's a promise I'll take to the grave: I will never compromise my virtues. There's always a way."

"I would rather run than be under someone's thumb, Magnes." And that is one of Delilah's virtues. "We have to protect each other, yes, but not by selling our souls to the people that make us have to protect ourselves in the first place!" Her voice grows a little bit more boisterous in its certainty. As if Magnes may have made a mistake. "They own you now, don't you understand that?"

"If things get too rough, I can still run. I can leave whenever I want, but they warned my pardon will be gone if I do. They don't own me, Delilah, and they're not gonna change me. I'll be honest with you Delilah, I joined them out of desperation, and now, well, I'm at this crossroads where I don't know what to do." Magnes sighs helplessly, hand still gripping. "I can leave whenever I want and deal with everything that comes with being a terrorist, or I can tough it out and learn everything they wanna teach me, and maybe leave later on, I don't know. I got myself into this mess at a vulnerable time, and now it's my mess to deal with. I just, I want times like these, with you, so I don't have to think about it."

Yep, he's off the deep end. And seeing as she has made no actual promises of secrecy, Dee will not have much to invest in letting Cat know who Magnes thinks he is working with. "Alright. I won't talk about it. But you've got to remember to keep me out of any of it- I can't have weirdos from Homeland showing up…"

"Just remember Delilah, if I find a way to leave them and keep my pardon, I'll take it in a second." Magnes appears visibly disappointed, possibly in himself for making a selfish choice. "If I left now, I'd have no one to go to, I'd be on my own and a wanted criminal. At least for now, things are peaceful, and I wanna enjoy that while I can." Finally, his hand rests on her cheek, and he adds, "Do you still trust me, if you did before?"

She moves her face an inch or so away from his hand, but she nods regardless. "If you're confident you know what you're doing, then I can't really argue. I'll just trust that you know what you'll do if something happens." To Delilah, or to himself, or to anyone else. Have your peace, Magnes.

Magnes takes his hand back, laying his head on the couch to stare at the ceiling. His expression is, well, not happy. "Everything's so tense now, I feel like my older life is going away again, just like when me and Abby were kidnapped." His gaze turns to her, very seriously. "We're not gonna be friends like before, are we, Delilah?"

"I didn't say that. You didn't hear me say that." Delilah does give him a bit of a scornful look. "Nothing is going away. We've just got to be considerate of space now. I don't want homeland over at dinnertime, and you don't want me getting all up in your official business, hm? This is only a perfect example of how everybody at some point or another needs to learn how to keep one's private life from their professional life." She sits up straighter, nodding once.

"Sorry, I didn't mean anything by it, I was just, I don't know, expecting the worst." Magnes sits up straighter, a slight smile forming at her reassurance. "I won't pry into what you do, and you won't pry into what I do. What happens outside of these walls doesn't matter, and I'll keep you out of it, even if it costs me my life. You're…" A pause, bashfully rubbing the back of his neck. "My personal life."

"…Am I really all of it?" Delilah tilts her head and her shoulders, the question somewhat disbelieving. Is she seriously all he has got left? They did a real number on him, if that's the case.

"Well, I can visit Xiulan, but she seems kinda pissed at me. And I can sorta see Abby, but only because you two live in the same building. I can only see her as a circumstance of seeing you. I'm sort've on probation, and I could ask to see one person, so…" Magnes doesn't finish, face beginning to light up again. He just lets her figure it out.
Delilah laughs, though it is a quite flattered sort of laugh. "So you picked me?" Wow, one person? "I suppose I'm the only one that hasn't been angry at you, huh?"

"Well, there's a few people I could have picked, like Abby herself, or Isabelle, Mister Panucci, but well…" Magnes tugs his collar, the entire subject flustering him. "A-ah, um, maybe you could try the dress on?" Obvious comfortable subject change!

Right. Obviously he was not going to pick the pizza guy. Hah. So now it is time to play dress up, apparently. Delilah glances to the dress, then up to Magnes. "I suppose I should, then. Make sure it's not too big up top again?" She laughs, standing up from the couch and holding the dress as she wanders across the room towards the next one. "Or did you learn your lesson?" Estimation is bad.

"I uh, w-well, see, I'm pretty sure I um, well, I know how b-big they are, since the uh, st-stripping thing…" That was a mouthfull! Magnes watches her wander off, anxiously tapping his fingers on the couch as he waits. "I s-sorta got uh, woman advice recently…"

Only when Delilah is behind a closed(mostly, it is open a crack, though she is obviously behind it) door does she speak up. "Oh really now? From who? New- uh- 'friend'?" See, she is already trying to keep things separate. "And what did you learn?"

"Yeah, a 'friend'." Magnes responds with equally potent air quotes. "I was explaining all the different women I know, and saying how I'm not sure which is absolutely best for me, or even likes me. I uh, explained what you did, with the costume, a-and, she said it probably means you like me, a little…"

There is a pause, but still rustling of clothing. Et cetera. "I see. All of us?" Oh, backing the poor guy into a corner, eh? "…and do you think she was right?"

"H-hey, there's only like, three girls I have a thing for at all, and I like them all for different reasons. Well, only two now, I realized one was probably not the best for me, and I'm really not banking on Abby or anything, I mean, when is Abby ever gonna cosplay with me? Never. But still, there's other reasons I liked her, but I uh, think I, um, like you, for different reasons, more realistic ones." Magnes clears his throat, because it's full of awkward. "B-but, your question, uh, I don't know, a girl has never liked me before, well, not genuinely."

Delilah is preparing to be totally honest with him. "Have you ever had a real, honest to goodness girlfriend before, Magnes? Ever?" The door to the next room opens a little bit further, but only her head and a semi-bare shoulder peeks out.

"I haven't, god knows when that'll happen." Magnes says with a light laugh, his eyes locking on to her shoulder. "Why?"

"Because I am never going to be your first girlfriend." Ouch! See? Brutal honesty. If that is what it takes- but then again, if it hurts to hear it- she hasn't said No as in after the first.

"B-but, I mean, oh. That's alright." Magnes feigns calmness, smiling the entire time. He doesn't add any further comment on the subject after that. "How's the dress fit?"

If anything, she was expecting him to ask why. It never comes, so maybe she notes to watch out for something else about it. "Hmm." How about he can see for himself? Delilah opens the door back up, stepping out and adjusting the edges of the new dress here and there. "Perfectly."

"It looks really good on you." Magnes' smile quickly twists into a frown, eyes averting to the couch cushions. "It's because I'm immature, isn't it? Or the virgin thing and you need an experienced guy? Or, I don't know…"

"A little bit of a lot of things, and somewhat the latter of those." Ouch, again. "I've known girls that are a fellow's first grilfriend, or first- girlfriend-" Delilah even waggles her eyebrows just a little. "-and he turns into a stalker or something. You're kind of already socially awkward already- no offense- and your type are more likely to get way too attached to someone. I would rather that you test the waters out a little bit first before seriously asking me. There's always the chance my mind will change, but right now, that is what it is."

To test her own waters, so to speak, the redhead spins a little and looks down to see how the skirt moves. "This is very lovely work."

"I, uh, stalker, um, well, I'm…" Magnes takes a deep breath, because there are all sorts of things he likely wants to say, but he chooses his words wisely. "First, I never said anything about sex, there's more reasons a guy could like you than that. And, well, I don't even know what you mean by half of that. Hell, I just pretty much accepted that I'm probably never gonna go out with Abby, and now I like yo-" He cuts himself off, just shaking his head. "Nevermind, this is stupid, this subject is probably just gonna make me look even more immature. I'm glad you like the dress though, it took a while to make."

"Point is- if you like me like that enough to want something closer, Magnes-" She plops down on the couch next to him, looking quite comfortable in the new dress. "-you'll get some of that awkwardness to rub off on some other poor sap. I can't always try to make things safe for your sensibilities, that's not how the real world works. You have to help yourself too." Dee laughs a little, but not enough to make this apparently hilarious, because it isn't. "You were weird about holding hands that time on the roof. Then you wanted to touch my hair, remember? Most girls would have turned around and jumped off the third story at that point, you do realize?"

"I wasn't comfortable, there's, well, not anything else I can say, I just wasn't comfortable." Magnes reaches out to gently take her hand again, speaking seriously, but keeping an air of calmness. "But I am comfortable now, you're, well, not some scary girl now, you're human, and I actually got to get to know you a ittle. I'm just really, well, awkward when I'm not comfortable. But, my 'friend', she said I should just 'take it'. I don't know what that means, but I'm interpreting it as this discussion." He takes a deep breath, releasing her hand again. "But I can respect that, if you think I'm not, well, on your level yet, I can respect that. But I learned from Abby that I'm not gonna change so much about myself just so she'll like me, so, you can't expect me to suddenly not be me one day. I know you wouldn't, but, I'm just saying."

"Exactly. I'm not expecting a new Magnes overnight, or anything like that, honest. I just think you need to get a bit more comfortable with everything. The idea of it all. Just by talking about this without floating into my ceiling, it's obvious that you've been learning a little, which is good anyway." See! Proof that he can do it! Delilah leans slightly, bumping her upper arm into his. "It's nothing to do with levels, it's just that I like to be sure everybody is on the same page when it comes to, uh- expectations, I suppose I could say."

"Well, why don't we talk about that?" Magnes casually asks, suddenly curious. He'd never thought about expectations, at least not what her's might be. "I always thought, well, I always thought that if I went out with you, it'd be more or less the same as it is now, just, with girlfriend stuff involved. What do you expect out of a relationship? I never really thought about what you might think about it."

He also seems to be learning powers of Deduction. Uhoh! "You know what? I'm not entirely sure what I expect with one. I've never even thought about Us very seriously until just a minute ago." Though he seems to be asking the right questions, Delilah is still for some obvious and not obvious reasons- wary of suddenly starting something. "I suppose that you're right- that it would probably be like now. It's not that I expect princes on white horses or anything- it is different from person to person, I guess. With you I think that I would hope for support and honesty- but I think that neither of those would be entirely possible."

"Honesty, I can do that, it's just, well, I can't say certain things about my job, that's true. But how about this? If I ever do anything unethical that we don't believe in, I'll tell you in a second. And, as long as I'm not saying anything, you'll know that everything's fine." Magnes offers, figuring it's a rather reasonable compromise. After all, who cares what he's doing as long as it's not evil? "And, support, well, what exactly do you mean by support? Since, well, that can be a lot of things."

Delilah clears her throat. "Support in whatever I might choose to do. And before, that is another thing. Communication. It's not like now, where we actually sit down about specific things. Communication as in a regular, passive basis." And she is pretty sure that he's not quite ready for that part. "You can't expect to not tell me anything until something goes wrong. That's neglectful, and wouldn't make me a part of your life. Earlier when I was talking about keeping personal and professional apart? That was before you brought this up. If we were together? We couldn't keep everything tucked away." And that implies that even Delilah has some things to hide- and she does.

"I don't see a reason I couldn't support you, but, the communication thing…" Magnes takes a deep breath, seeming to really give it some serious thought as he just stares down at her hand, then back up into her eyes. "Alright, let's look at it this way. We both probably have stuff about our 'professional' careers we can't tell the other, right? But that's not because we chose it, it's not because we don't want to tell eachother, and in the end, it's not as if we're keeping a secret like 'I just shot some old lady on the job'. Our professional careers don't really, well, change anything, it doesn't change 'Us', if there could be an Us."

"You don't know that they wouldn't change anything, Magnes. You've just started, by the sounds of it, and what I do is always changing." Delilah lets him clasp her hand for just a little longer before she slips it away. "Maybe we should just keep going like we have been for a bit, hm? I'm not in a hurry, and you need time to get to know your life on that side of the fence, right?"

"Yeah, I suppose. I shouldn't be in a rush for stuff to end with us kissing or something." Magnes laughs, trying to loosen up a little by letting her know at least some of what he's thinking, then turns to face the TV. "Wanna watch movies or something?"

Maybe it is sheer cheek, or maybe she actually feels some sympathy- but Delilah leans back into the couch as if to chill like usual, only this time is different because she also happens to reach for Magnes at the same time. Both hands reach out to try and tug his face closer, and provided she catches him- precariously close- way too close- until she plants a kiss there. Just a kiss- nothing too fancy, but it was obviously not the peck on the cheek from earlier.

Magnes stares down at her after the kiss, then starts to lean in for another after saying, "Or uh, we could do this…" he says quite casually, in an attempt to hide his obvious eagarness to continue kissing.

Oh, but no! The hands on his face shift a little, one leaving and the other grabbing Magnes by the cheeks/face/chin, effectively swishing his lower features up before Delilah pushes his head way. Scoot back. "I said I wouldn't be your first girlfriend, but I never said I wouldn't mess with you. Now, how about those movies- Milk is on pay-per-view, and I haven't seen that yet…" And so it goes, Magnes missing out, and Delilah delightfully denying whatever he happens to be missing out on.


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