To Dangerous Blondes And Normal Lives

Participants:

kaylee2_icon.gif magnes_icon.gif peter7_icon.gif

Scene Title To Dangerous Blondes And Normal Lives
Synopsis Peter and Kaylee have a guest over for dinner, and the three bond over the ideal of a normal life and other similarities therein.
Date February 24, 2010

Lower East Side

Peter's Apartment


It's been a long time since the jungles of Argentina, and for all the ways Peter Petrelli is nothing like Kazimir Volken, it may as well have been a lifetime ago. Just after eight at night, the soft sound of fifties big band music carries subtly across the spacious east side apartment that Peter Petrelli calls home, and were it not for the collection of other voices in the apartment, it might just seem like any other ordinary night.

"…you know you're lucky you came by when you did, I only got off of work about a half hour ago." Comes the voice from the apartment's kitchenette, where — still in his work clothes — Peter quietly pops the cork off of a bottle of wine, one brow raised and dark eyes cast across the open space dividing the kitchenette from the dining room, where a small rectangular table that can comfortable seat four is arranged with plates for three.

"It's been a while though," he admits with a crooked smile, pouring three tall and long-stemmed glasses of the red wine, carrying two in one hand and one in the other as he walks back out towards that table, where a familiar young blonde woman sits in front of an otherwise empty dinner placement. Offering out a glass to Kaylee first, Peter's smile grows a touch, before he settles down another glass in front of his dinner guest for the evening; Magnes Varlane.

"The pasta's almost done," Peter explains, taking a sip from the wine glass before settling down into his chair at the table. "I'm really glad you stopped by though, it'd good to have one more person over for dinner. I think I saw you in the lobby at the Corinthian gala, didn't I?" His glass sets down on the table with a click. "Sorry I didn't say hello or anything, there was a lot going on. I'm sort've never off-duty." Peter admits with a grimace. "So what've you been doing since we got back? I never expected you to come by, really…"

"Well, I haven't had the greatest time, really. I mean, there's good and bad. The bad mostly involves women. Claire's interested in a guy, I'm banned from Old Lucy's, I don't know what the hell's going on with Danko, but, well, there's good too. I feel like I'm closer friends with Eileen and Daphne, not sure if you know Daphne. I helped save some Company test subjects, I'm thinking of majoring in political science, because I thought about it, and… if I could choose anyone to be like, inside and out, it would be Tracy Strauss." Magnes is still wearing the suit he wore earlier, at Abby's, which is not so much a suit, just the black jacket from one, worn over a t-shirt that says in green letters 'Meteor Freak', and a pair of blue jeans and sneakers.

He's been looking to Kaylee a few times, though there's oddly a bit of awkwardness whenever he makes eye contact with her, and he just plain seems curious about how Peter Petrelli lives. "I'll be honest. When I look at you, it's hard to see Peter Petrelli. I never knew Peter Petrelli except that time we met on the roof. Except the color of your eyes, I'm still seeing some guy walking around in Kazimir's body. Meeting you, getting to know who you are, it's kind of like closure for me. Despite everything he did, Kazimir was almost like the father I always wanted."

Reaching out to take the glass in long fingers Kaylee gives Peter a soft smile. "Thank you." She says softly, giving it the barest of sips, before setting it on the table. She then settles back in her chair, crossing her long legs, hands folding to rest in her lap, as she glances over at Magnes. Tonight she's dressed simply in a soft knit maroon turtle neck and jeans. Her long blonde hair is loosely braided at the back of her neck and shorter strand rest to frame her face.

When ever the young man looks at her, her mouth quirks up in a smirk. "Logan had him help us get everyone out of Sheridan's hands." She explains, blue eyes moving to Peter, her smile returning. Though the mention of Kazimir being like a father, draws her attention back, smile fading some. She's used those sort of words before for a totally different man… the one that had been an associate of the thing that had been in Peter. "Trust me when I say… father figures like that.. can be hazardous to your health." There is a touch of amusement in her voice.

Smirking and quirking up a brow, Peter offers Kaylee a look, then glances back at Magnes. "Magnes," Peter says with a shake of his head, "you babble about as bad as Kaylee does." There's a crooked quality to his smile and a teasing tone to his voice as he takes another sip from his wine glass and then rises up out of the chair, intent on investigating the pasta in the kitchen now that the strong scent of the sauce is filling the air despite the lid on the saucepan.

"If you ask me, Magnes, I think you need a hobby." There's a perk of both of Peter's brows at that, motioning with his wine glass towards the younger man. "You worry too much about relationships, about other people. You've got to start worrying about yourself first, and I know you've probably had a bunch of people tell you that. But, you're young and— " Peter grimaces, "alright maybe I'm not the best person to be offering up relationship advice, but I know what broke the ones I've had in the past." There's a quick look to Kaylee at that, faint smile accompanying it. "Live and learn, you know?"

Circling around the island that divides the kitchenette from the dining room, Peter sets down his wine glass and goes over to the stove, liftimg up the lid on the saucepan to let a cloud of steam rise up from within. A contented sound fills the silence, and as he proceeds to stir the contents with a wooden spoon, his focus turns back to the company in the dining room.

"Look, all this stuff you got involved in? I don't even want to know half of it, to be honest. I'm trying to put the whole vigilante thing behind myself, and frankly I'm a lot happier for it. I've got a lot of good people in my life," a look to Kaylee at that, then back to Magnes, "good job, good friends, and I'm starting to repair my relationship with my mother. You know, no matter how much I held a grudge against my family for everything… I just— some times you've got to let it go, you know? It's easier to hate something than forgive, and if there's anything that my time with Kazimir taught me, it's how to make amends… or die trying."

Turning back to the stove, Peter quietly stirs the sauce for a moment, voice becoming a touch quieter. "Kazimir was a manipulator, Magnes. He'd tell people what they wanted to hear in order to make them do what he wanted, and have them think it was their own idea. I saw inside his head, saw the terrible things he did… Sure, he felt bad for it in the end, but it didn't ever change who he was. He would've used you, Magnes, eventually. You're better off finding answers for yourself about things, rather than looking for answers in someone else. Nobody lives your life but you, y'know?"

"I have plenty of hobbies, what I need is direction and ambition, and I think I have that now. Daphne did give me a bit of a lecture on my life, my friend Melissa too, and I realized what I wanted to do with myself after I gave it a lot of thought. I even applied to a bunch of colleges, and I'm gonna try to drop the vigilante stuff. When I look at people, Tracy's the only person I can think of who I truly want to be like. Sure, she works for your brother, but I can forgive that." Magnes laughs at his joke, lifting the wine to take a sip. He takes a few sniffs of it after the first swallow, apparently not used to it, then takes another.

At the mention of the raid, and Sheridan, his smile fades as quickly as Kaylee's did. "Bella… I trusted her more than anyone on the planet, I told her everything about me, about my life. I felt safe with her, she was my therapist, one of my best friends, and now she turns out to be some sort of mad scientist. I still need to talk to her, that's the second bit of closure I have to get. I think where I always mess up is when I get an evil mentor, or just lose my entire sense of self. But I've learned, and, even though I'm gonna try and be like Tracy, I'm still gonna be me."

He glances at Kaylee again, then back to Peter, briefly sniffing the air. "By the way, um, can you still fly? And you should know, if you still have my ability, you probably float when you sleep and just don't notice."

Both brows lift as she turns a look to Peter, thought she smiles as she does it. "Thanks, Peter." Her words have an edge of a chuckle to them, even if they sound a bit sarcastic. Leaning towards Magnes a bit she adds, "Obviously, he doesn't mind it that much…" She is sitting here after all.

"I'm also the worst person to come to for relationship advice." Hands unfold and she holds them up in a defensive gesture, with a small smile. "I've gone about it the wrong way, till rather recently." Kaylee tucks hair behind her ear, before reaching for the glass, another careful sip taken.

The mention of talking to Bella, Kaylee's good mood fades some, her body settling back in her chair again. "I'd watch talking to her." She warns softly, giving the young man a knowing look. "Sometimes closure isn't worth the risk." It's why she's stayed far away from Adam and rather happy and alive. "You can accept and move on from what's happened. It is doable."

Looking back from the stove, Peter looks at Magnes like he has two heads for the longest time. "Wow." Probably to all but half of that does Peter's response apply. "I mean— Wow you… seem to actually be getting yourself together, that's really good." He completely sidesteps the commentary about Bella and everything that happened there, head in the sand like an ostrich when it comes to things outside of the life he's trying to live now.

"Can't say I know Strauss personally, but it's good to have ambitions, good to have something to look forward to when you wake up in the morning." Removing the wooden spoon from inside the sauce pan, Peter grins broadly and moves away from the stove, beginning to bang around in the kitchen for bowls. "Far as my ability goes, it doesn't really work the way it used to… since I figure you know a little bit about it from those old comics?" Peter hesitates, up on his toes peering into a cabinet, large cobalt colored glass bowl precariously held in both hands.

"I ah…" He settles it down on the counter, back to the dining room as he works about in the kitchen, "After what happened in Antarctica, I got injected with a batch of the Formula. I'm still not sure where it came from, but it didn't really… give me my ability back. I'm not sure exactly what happened, but it works… kind've the same, but not."

Canting his head to the side, Peter moves over to the refrigerator, opening it up and leaning down inside, searching for something. "I borrow abilities by touch now," he explains, voice muffled with his head inside the fridge. "I can only have one at a time— as far as I can tell— so there's a sort've tactical element to what I've been keeping. Right now I'm borrowing telepathy…" though he doesn't outright say from who since— well— Kaylee might not like that secret spilled.

Rummaging complete, Peter's back over by the stove with a cheese grater, humming thoughtfully to himself between words. "Telepathy's been useful for paramedic work, especially if a patient can't talk I figure. I've got my eye on another one, but I couldn't get close enough to Linderman at the gala. So, for now I'll be kepeing this until I come across something more useful for my line of work."

"Yeah, I remember the comics. You should probably never type 'Peter and Sylar slash' into google. There's actually a 9th Wonders convention coming up soon, not sure exactly when. You can come if you wanna see lots of nerds dressing up as and quoting you." Magnes simply shakes his head at any further Bella talk, possibly figuring he'll never agree with Kaylee on it, then takes another wine sip.

"Shard's ability worked like that, touching people for his ability. Oh, and if I were you, I wouldn't touch Delilah. A red-headed British girl, not sure if you know her, but yeah, you don't want that. There's a girl named Melissa too."

"But to answer an earlier question, yeah, I was at the gala, didn't have the best time, but I won't get into that. I was there to meet Linderman too, but I didn't have much luck. I figured I'd try to make a new contact, but I'm really gonna make an effort to get out of that life and make a difference in some other way." Peering at Kaylee now, suddenly remembering something, possibly just being spontaneous. « I think you are seriously hot, but you wouldn't know that if you're not reading my mind. Lalala, thinking random thoughts in front of a hopefully ethical telepath. »

It's one of those things you simply don't ask about.

The young telepath is fairly quiet at the moment, watching Peter move around the kitchen, a small smile on her lips. One thing she's not great at is cooking, something her grandma bemoaned constantly. The wine glass is picked up and she gives the contents a little swirl, before Magnes' mental shout, makes her stop, head slowly turning towards him.

"Magnes… I'm only as ethical as you allow me to be." Kaylee look of patience about her, like a teacher who's explained the same lesson over and over. "If you shout.. I'm going to hear you." The words have a somewhat calm quality to it, she's dealt with stuff like this before. "Don't try not to think, that tends to make you think louder…. just relax." She gives him a pleasant smile.

"She's right," Peter offers with a laugh from the kitchen, before turning around and carrying that gigantic bowl in to the dining room. "Normally I try and serve this seperate, but— " There's a shrug of his shoulders as the notion, and a large bowl of thin pasta is laid down on the table with a hooked ladel inside. There's a smattering of green peppers and black olives mixed in to the sauce, crushed red peppers and tomato chunks. "It's a puttanesca recipe my grandmother taught me how to make, one of the perks of growing up in an Italian household."

Cracking a smile, Peter pulls a smaller bowl out from where it's tucked under his arm, filled with a fresh grated parmesian cheese. "Gillian mentioned that Shard guy to me once, it's kind of nice to know someone out there had the same power. Nobody I've talked to seems to know what happened to him too, so it rules out learning about the ability better from him." Pulling out his chair, Peter leans over and presses a kiss to the top of Kaylee's head before settling back down to sit.

"If you seriously want to get a job or something with Linderman I might be able to talk to my mother about at least helping you get your foot in the door for an interview. He's an old friend of the family…" even if the sound of Peter's voice is a bit tense, "so— I— I don't know if it would be the best fit, but if it's what you want I'll help. You saved my ass, and everyone else's, back in Argentina, Magnes. Heck, I wouldn't be here right now if it weren't for you flying us all out've there. So… I owe you one."

"Ah, uh, I was just thinking stuff, that's all, it's nonsense." Magnes knocks on his forehead a few times. « Jean Grey, Starfire, Lois Lane… that's better. »

"Well, usually I'm not one to ask for favors in exchange for hero work, but, you'd actually be perfect for one particular favor." He licks his lips, looking down at… everything, taking in all the scents. "Tracy Strauss works with your brother. I have extremely high academic credentials, so even without this whole government deal, I could likely get into a college pretty easily and get an internship. But, what I want you to try and do is, well, see if you could maybe pull some strings and get me an internship with Tracy Strauss?" he asks quite hopefully, smiling. Daphne did say to try being a little selfish…

"And by the way, my old boss, Mister Panucci, would have loved your grandmother, taught me everything I know about cooking."

Legs unfold and Kaylee sits straight again, after a sip off her wine, as the food is brought to the table. The wine glass is settled, arms resting at the edge of the table as she looks over what's offered. Her head cants up a bit as she feels that kiss on the top of her head, a somewhat shy smile angled Peter's way.

"It looks wonderful, Peter. I totally missed lunch today, so it smells great." Having dropped off her application to Columbia, Kaylee was too full of nerves, coupled with her work down at Grand Central. It's been a long day.

Grinning, Peter casts a side-long look over to Magnes, "Panucci… like the pizza place?" There's a narrowing of his eyes, and leaning forward on the table, Peter seems to be re-assessing Magnes. "You know— did you ever used to deliver from there? I ordered from Panucci's all the time when I was doing hospice work, I'd come home way too late to cook. I remember this kid… god it was probably four years ago, rolled out of the elevator on rollerblades to deliver my pizza." He gives Magnes a side-long look again, then with a shake of his head offers a, "Nnnnaaah."

Carefully doling himself out enough pasta, Peter offers a look up to Kaylee, then over to Magnes. "Strauss is a pretty hard-edged woman. But, I guess she could do you some good by working with you. I don't really know her personally, and my brother and I— " Peter looks at Magnes rather pointedly, but dosn't bring up the hey Nathan ditched us in Argentina comment, since that's really a whole longer conversation. "I could see what I can do. I do owe you and hey, who knows, maybe working for a whip-cracker like Tracy will be a good experience."

Leaning back in his chair, reaching down to pinch a little of the parmesian cheese and sprinkle it out over his plate, Peter glances at Magnes again. "I've been wondering something, actually— totally unrelated— but I was just talking to Kaylee last night about something we saw in the paper." Rolling his tongue over the inside of his cheek, Peter quirks a brow. "Do you have a family member in Frontline? We saw a list of the members who were in attendance at the gala, and there's a Felicia Varlane listed. I just thought it was too much of a coincidence, you know? Two evolved with the same last name?"

Magnes laughs at Peter's description, moving a finger to mentally pull a bit of cheese to drop on his pasta, once it's served. "Sixty minutes or less, all over the city, because Mister Panucci's delivery boy was an inline skating gravity manipulator who could jump clear across a skyline. I just wish I could remember everyone I deliver to."

He just sounds too amused, though at the mention of a Felicia Varlane, he raises an eyebrow before shaking his head. "I never heard of it, but then, I never met most of my family. I was raised in a pretty strict home school environment. I barely met anyone but my parents and tutors until I was a teenager and started going out a lot. What's this Felicia Varlane's ability?"

Leaning forward, Kaylee dishes up some pasta for herself, glancing at Magnes as if waiting for his answer to Peter's question. She had been just as curious really. A generous pinch of parmesan is added long the top with a small sweep of her hand, before her fork works into the pasta. "I don't think it mentioned abilities did it?" She frowns a bit, eyes narrowing slightly in thought as she looks at Peter. "You were the one reading it to me when you saw it."

"Varlane, didn't seem like a common last name." She comments, separating a bit of pasta and rolling it on her fork on the edge of her plate, for that first bite. Kaylee's eyes lift to glance at Magnes, "That's why it kind of stood out."

"Didn't say, but she's registered you know. If she's Tier 1 or higher you can look her up on the internet and get a listing of her ability if you know what name to look for." Quirking his head to the side, Peter seems amused by the notion of a gravity-defying pizza boy. "I'll get on seeing what strings I can pull to try and get you a position working for Tracy, but she does do most of her work in DC, so I figure that'd put you out of the city pretty regularly. It might do you some good to get some space, though."

Looking down to his meal, Peter manages to crack a smile before looking back up to Magnes, then Kaylee. "Alright, I— don't do this sort've thing often, but I think this actually warrants it." Reaching down to grab his wine glass, Peter lifts it up and cracks a bigger smile. "I'm gonna make a toast," one brow quirks up, "to surviving the end of the world, figuring out what we want in our lives…" then, snorting out a laugh he adds, "…and to finding that in dangerous blondes." The glass is tipped up, and Peter's smile seems more genuine than Kaylee or Magnes really have ever seen on him, the latter certainly so.

"To a normal life."

"Thanks a lot, Peter. I think I could get used to not thinking of you as Kazimir anymore. And I'll try to look her up, it's an interesting mystery." Magnes raises his glass as well, clinking it forward with Peter's. "To dangerous blondes and a normal life!"

Fork set down so that Kaylee can take up her own glass, her other arm resting on the table as she holds up her own glass. Though his toast gets a short burst of laughter, her hand covering her mouth briefly as she recovers herself. She gives Peter a mock glare, but she grinning as she touches her glass to his, rising enough so she can lean over to place a soft kiss on his cheek. "Too normal life… or as normal as it gets."

She then drops back into her seat, giving their host a matter of face look. "And just for that dangerous comment… Peter Petrelli, I'm not offering to do the dishes." There is a smug little smirk as Kaylee takes a sip of her wine.

No real protest over the comment, the young telepath knows she's dangerous. Hell… even her father seemed to know what she was capable of doing.


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