Kinda Bitchy Sometimes

Participants:

elisabeth_icon.gif lene_icon.gif

Scene Title Kinda Bitchy Sometimes
Synopsis While the adjective could be used to describe Lene at times, this time it's about a certain man, in answer to his mother's questions.
Date April 23, 2011

Skinny Brickfront


It's late enough in the evening that it's starting to get dark when Lene comes by to let herself in this time. Most of the occupants of the safe house are out and about — and it's something Elisabeth is somewhat grateful for. It gives her moments of silence to work on composing her thoughts, generating ideas for plans, debating in her own head which direction to jump on any given issue at this moment. Because laying low is not accomplishing anything. The time has come… Tomorrow's going to be the day to start making sound waves — big enough, she hopes, to start a domino effect and topple a future that has horrible inertia.

The one thing about being alone in the safe house is that it makes her somewhat easier to find than some of the others. Liz doesn't sit in the darkness. She hates it, and she's always got a camp lantern burning in whatever room she's in. At the moment, using one of the hot plates, she's brewing not coffee but a cup of tea, for a change. Sleeping in the chill air has given her just a bit of a head cold. Nothing serious, but her throat's a tad sore. There's no honey or lemon to go in it, but it's hot. It'll do with some of those packets of sugar taken from a coffee stand last time she bought some.

More supplies — these purchased at Ingrid's expense — load down Lene's arms as she makes her way through the building. The darkness and silence is a little nerve wracking — but there seems to be no sign of any trouble. When she sees the glow coming from one of the rooms, she follows it, peeking her head in and then smiling.

"Hey, Elisabeth," she offers, moving to set the bags down. "Want some Fig Newtons to go with your tea?"

She tries to bring useful items, but she can't help but stick in some frivolous ones too. "Or maybe a Twinkie?" she asks, tipping her head into the bag to peer at the contents.

Elisabeth is watching the door, her hand on the gun that rests on the counter but it's not in her hand. She's of the opinion that if someone can be heard approaching, it's unlikely they're going to be much of a threat — it's the things you don't hear or the ones thudding up the stairs commando-style that are to be feared. Her hand moves away from the pistol as soon as the voice comes to her. A smile quirks the corners of her lips. "No, thanks," she replies in a somewhat nasally voice. "Although if you happen to have any Nyquil — the real stuff with Sudafed in it, mind, not that fake crap — I would definitely take that." She picks up her tea and holds it near her face, letting the steam unclog her sinuses a bit. Her gaze on her visitor is thoughtful, as if she's searching for something in Lene's face. "I, uhm…. have to admit, I'm not entirely sure what to say to you these days," she admits candidly. "I'm kind of afraid to ask questions. Knowing what's coming has not seemed to help us much mostly."

Lene smiles as she sets her bags down, then reaches into a small fabric purse that crosses her front and rests on her hip, digging around until she comes up with two pills in a foil-wrapped blister-pack that she brings to Liz. "Not Nyquil, but Cold and Sinus Advil, but they have the good stuff in 'em," she says proudly.

She leans against the wall then, crossing her arms. "I get it. I'm not sure what to say either, really… maybe that's why we're not telling you all a whole lot just yet? It's not just about information and knowledge, but about doing something about it, and … that's why we're here." She hopes that sounds confident. Her nose wrinkles and she pulls out a pack of Juicy Fruit from her purse next, pulling a piece out and then offering it to Liz.

It's the medicine that Elisabeth reaches to take with a grateful look. "If I didn't know better I'd say you were a telepath," she laughs softly. "Thank you. At least I'll be able to breathe tonight." She's actually kind of delighted with something so simple. She waves off the gum, though. Tea and cold meds for the win!

Leaning a hip on the counter, Elisabeth sip the hot tea carefully, and then says, "But you are telling us things. One of you is showing us things — what came to pass in your future." Her tone is gentle. "It's a hell of a life we gave all of you. I'm sorry… for a lot of things." Maybe the main one being not having left well enough alone a year and more ago. She hesitates a moment and then asks softly, "How many of you are there? So far I know of five. Things had to have gotten pretty bad if you brought a whole team back here knowing the very real possibility that some of you might…. never get born in the new timeline."

"I'll get you more medicine. I didn't know you needed it or I'd have gotten more. Make a list, and I'll come back tomorrow," Lene says, hopping up on the counter and swinging her legs.

"You don't need to be sorry. Hindsight is twenty-twenty, right? We only know what to try to stop because we know where it goes. You can't know that, not all of it, anyway."

The numbers question gets a shrug. "Not a lot," is a vague answer. "But yeah, it's pretty bad in the future."

Elisabeth's eyes watch Lene closely and she purses her lips lightly. "We always think we know the right spots to change things. We look back and say things like 'oh if someone had only killed Hitler in the cradle, things would have been so much better. But… there's no guarantee of that. In fact, now that we know that people COULD do it, we have to wonder… has it already been tried, and someone before Hitler was doing horrible things that by stopping them, Hitler was the result?" It's this kind of thinking that always gives Liz a headache, and she hehs quietly. "Let's talk about something not so fraught with land mines that you feel you have to dodge because the group hasn't decided on how much and what to tell us for sure, shall we?" she offers. After a moment, Elisabeth queries softly, "Do you …. know my son well? He strikes me as a difficult young man to get close to."

Focusing on unwrapping the gum for a moment, Lene nods, slowly, extracting stick from foil and then folding the former into thirds before she puts it in her mouth. Chewing for a couple of moments, she shoves the foil back into her purse.

"Did you meet him, then?" she says carefully, before bringing her green eyes back to Liz's face. "I didn't know if you had a dream or if he came to tell you himself, or… we're all kinda doing things differently, depending on … all the factors." She doesn't say that Josh left the meeting where they decided to come clean.

"He came to talk to me the same night you and JJ came," Elisabeth replies in an even tone. She hesitates, using the moment to sip her tea. "I'm… concerned about him," she comments, watching over the rim of her cup. "He seems to have a bit of a hair trigger — I'd like to blame that on his father, but …" Her lips take a rueful twist. "It's possible that in that department he got the worst of both of us."

Lene makes a little bit of a face, but it becomes a smile. "I haven't really talked to him since then, actually, but I think I'd have heard if he's not okay. Once in a while there's less food in my refrigerator and I don't think it's -" The word that gets cut off sounds like it starts with "Een."

"I don't think it's my other roommate that's doing all that eating, and I don't think mice open refrigerator doors, so I'd guess he's poking around when I'm not there."

Her green eyes study Liz's face for a moment. "He's a good guy. Kinda bitchy sometimes, but then aren't we all? And I think he gets that from his dad, not you, for the record." She punctuates that remark with a little smirk.

A quirk of a single blonde brow at the cutting off of a name. She's never known where Lene lived, and now she begins to wonder at that too. Some amount of trust will have to be given, though, because frankly she hasn't got the manpower to run about spying on the kids that she knows of. Besides… Lene took the time to get to know Richard, and her assessment makes Elisabeth snort indelicately on a laugh. "There've been days where I'd swear that man has PMS," she admits, but the affection in her tone is still pretty clear. Perhaps one shouldn't underestimate how big a bitch Liz herself can be — she's not blind to her own faults, for certain. Blowing out a slow breath, though, she murmurs, "I hope that wherever you guys dropped him, you'll bring him back when things are a little straightened out."

The last makes Lene's brows knit together and she tips her head, looking like a confused and curious Irish Setter, perhaps. "Where you guys dropped him?" she echoes, as if she missed any of Liz's words, given that she can hear perfectly at the moment. "If anyone 'dropped' him anywhere, it wasn't me… what did Josh tell you?"

"That he went to see Richard, and it went badly." Elisabeth moves to set her cup down on the counter and frowns, studying Lene. "They fought. And someone stepped in to stop them from doing it. My impression was that whoever it was took him elsewhen, though Josh wasn't entirely clear. Said for all he knew Richard could be laying low in the now." She sighs heavily. "Look… I know that in the future you guys come from, Richard Cardinal is practically the Antichrist. Hell, I don't blame the lot of you… " She looks up at Lene. "But I'd like my son to be able to get to know his father. I'd like my son to be born, Lene. So whatever is going on with this, just…. don't blame Richard for Zeke's mistakes. The man really is doing his level best to not become that asshole." She grimaces. "Joshua may never see that, and I can't hold that against him. Not… knowing what I know about what happened to me in front of him. All I can do is …. try to get to know my son. Which I would very much like to do."

Red-penciled brows knit into a deeper scowl and Lene nods. "Well, that's news to me. If I see him, I'll see what I can find out about it," she says, voice neutral despite the concerned look on her face. "As for Richard, I know. I believe in him, you know that. I wouldn't have spent as much time at Redbird as I did, if I thought he was a lost cause, Liz. I promise. I didn't know they fought … I would have tried to stop it, if I'd known beforehand …"

She needs to hang out with Astor more often, to know these things, apparently.

Lene swallows and glances down. "While getting to know you all is a … I guess a perk for some of us, it's not the main reason we're here, so … his focus might be on other things. I'll try and get him to see you, though, but … you know. He's kinda stubborn, and doesn't really listen to me much." She wrinkles a nose at that. "He's a good guy though," she adds, again.

Elisabeth laughs softly. "He did say something about a plan," she admits. Something in her eases at Lene's reiteration that he's a good guy. "There is so much I want to say to you. So many things I'd like to… " She sighs, picking up her cup again. "Tell me a little about yourself, since you want to leave it to Josh to tell me about him?" There's a faint smile. "Did I know you in your time?"

Lene's burgundy locks sway from side to side as she shakes her head. "Nooo, not really," is a little vague and possibly evasive. "I didn't grow up around here like most the others…. I grew up mostly out of state. Out in Oregon." She gives a vague wave of her hand as if Oregon was just over a few blocks. "So I didn't come back until I was a little older. And he's a little older than me, so… you know. Just one of those pesty little girls trying to bug him, probably, while you rolled your eyes with the other moms and said, 'Wow, that Josh is such a heartbreaker,' right?"

There's a couple of snaps of gum and a smirk before Liz shrugs. "You know my … I mean, of course you know Ygraine, but my mom was… is Gillian. I don't know if Ygraine told you."

"She didn't," Elisabeth replies. And then she smiles. "Your mom's an amazing woman, frankly." And although Lene may not realize it, she may have just told Liz who her father is too. Considering what the blonde knows about the Bright Future. There's a soft sigh. "I'm glad to hear she got out of all this. She deserves it." Picking up her coffee cup, she then smiles. "And of course, Ygraine I think the world of as well."

Warring emotions flicker through Lene's narrow features — first a bright and proud smile at the praise of her mother, and then a scowl and a shake of her head, sorrow and anger mixing.

"She deserved more than she ever got. She didn't get 'out' of all this — she fled because she was pregnant with Nate and had to, and then had to raise us alone. She didn't deserve that and she didn't deserve to die in a fire, and I didn't deserve to be an orphan by the age of twelve," she says fiercely, hopping off the counter and turning away.

Elisabeth winces. "Shit," she breathes out on a sigh. "I'm sorry, Lene. I misunderstood when you said you were out in Oregon — I thought she'd managed to escape." There's a grimace. "I should have realized, there was no escape. There was only underground." She sets her cup down and moves closer to Lene. "You didn't deserve any of it," she tells the girl softly. "But I'm pretty damn sure you guys know far more about the temporal consequences of this trip than even I can fathom. So what…. do you need? What can I do to help you, Lene?"

Lene's eyes are closed as she breathes deeply for a moment, and then turns to look back at Elisabeth. "The temporal consequences," she says with a slight smile. "Yeah, we get that we're screwing up our own future, but trust me when I say there's only one direction it can go, and that's up. The future hits rock bottom for people like us, and if we can throw enough wrenches in the works, something's gonna break."

She begins to move toward the door, glancing at her watch. "I should go if I'm gonna make it home before curfew," she says, with a shrug. "As for what we need from you… Trust for now, that we're not just doing this blind and dumb. If we have any plans that can use you, I'll let you know."

"I'll tell you the same thing I've already told Joshua…. We've got our own plans in the works," Elisabeth replies mildly. "And we're not going to just sit by and idly watch the lot of you shift the future about. This is our world, and our time. You've given up everything to come back and try to help, but… keep that in mind, okay?" She pauses and then smiles. "And it'd be nice if the lot of you could keep yourselves on the same page, hmm? The stresses on you must be enormous, but don't let it tear your group apart. You said yourself…. being able to see us is a perk for some of you, but in the end in a lot of ways… you're each other's only real family. Take care, Lene." She doesn't try to stop the girl, though she does call after her, "Cold meds!" Cuz … yeah… important!

As her footfalls sound softer and softer down the hall, down the stairs, and to the door, Lene knows very well that Liz can still hear her, so she doesn't yell, but simply says, "It's our time and our world now, too."

The door opens. "I'll bring you some medicine soon," is added softer, before the door's thud punctuates her exit.

Leaning on her hands on the counter, Elisabeth lets a soft, long exhale. "Yeah, kiddo…. I know," she murmurs to the empty room.


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