Participants:
Scene Title | A Girl In His Room |
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Synopsis | Magnes has a girl he's dating in his room! |
Date | August 14, 2009 |
Magnes' Room
A little later in the evening, Magnes has had time to move all of his stuff once again. Various life sized Heroines hanging up on his walls, Lois Lane, Starfire, Wonder Woman, and just in time for the new G.I Joe movie, the Baroness (As drawn by Adam Hughes) is on the ceiling right above his bed, and of course there's all sorts of other smaller geek posters, like Watchmen smiley faces, a Spider-Man Loves Mary-Jane poster, and even a Why So Serious poster from the Dark Knight movie.
The bed itself is without Pokemon sheets, he learned from the time he brought Abby into his room, instead the sheets and blankets are a mixture of red and blue, but without Superman logos, so, technically… they're normal. There's around four small book cases, filled with mostly graphic novels, and containers littered on the dark blue carpeted floor with regular comics.
Magnes himself can be seen sitting in a blue beanbag chair with a Superman logo on it, next to a black beanbag chair with a Batman logo on it, playing a 360. He seems to have a lot of gaming systems, games, and DVDs in general stuffed into the small entertainment system, likely the result of the Company salary, but his TV is a modestly small 26 inch HDTV. The first thing Claire might notice once she walks into the back of the Panucci's Pizza door, walks up the steps, and into Magnes' room (Which she was told on the phone was unlocked), are the 9th Wonders comics on shelves against the wall in the back of the room, a little over 20 issues. The first issue, of course, is Claire herself, in a cheerleader outfit surrounded by flames.
She felt a little odd walking into the room, a small amused smile touches Claire's lips as she scans the room. "Hey, Magnes." She says softly, turning her back on him long enough to shut the door. Turning back again, she finally moves deeper into the room approaching him.
Magnes, wearing, no shoes, some comfortable baggy blue jeans, and that Squirrel Girl at the beach shirt he seems to wear a lot, stands up to greet her with a smile. Unfortunately Claire gets to see that he's, well, had an incident. He obviously has freshly dried cuts on his face, exactly five, in the shape of fingernails dug into someone's skin. The thumb is on the right side and the other four cuts are on the left. Then there's his arm, exposed due to wearing a t-shirt, another five fingernail cuts, only the ones on his arms also appear to be burn wounds; strange. "Hey, Claire. This is where I used to work, I figured Panucci wouldn't mind me staying again if I helped out and paid rent."
Moving with every intention to greet Magnes with a hug, Claire catches sight of his face and she frowns a bit. In stead of the hug, her hand moves to grip his chin and turn his face so she can see the mark. "What happened?" She asks her tone colored with concern. Stepping back, her hand then sands down his arm and lifts it to look at. "Company operation?"
"I was sort've dating this Company girl, it wasn't anything serious, just wanted to get to know her a little. She seemed to agree, then uh, when I told her I just wanted to stay friends today, she wasn't really happy." Magnes shows the burnt nail punctures as proof of her unhappiness. "I sort've expected worse, so, I came out alright."
"Is this the kind of person they are recruiting now a days?" Claire murmurs her fingers stroke lightly over the marks. "I guess Company girls are a bit on the dangerous side." she jokes softly, eyes roll to look up at him as she lifts the arm to press a kiss on the marks. She starts to look up at him again , but notices the comics behind him. "Are those them?" She asks moving past him to get a closer look of the 9th Wonders Comics. "That's…." She reaches out to pick up the first comic gingerly, staring at the image of her engulfed with fire. ".. when I went into the train fire. It was after I asked Zack to film me." she looks a bit amused and greatly disturbed at the same time.
"It's not her fault, really, she's, well, complicated. I'm not trying to be secretive or anything, I just don't wanna say bad things behind her back." Magnes says before following her to the comics, nodding at her question. "And you're topless in this one." he teases, pointing to the cover of her with her stomach cut open on the Autopsy table. she's only technically topless, if rib cages count.
"Oh god… that's in there?!" Claire exclaims grabbing that one as well, her cheeks flame red. Just the other day she mentioned that to Cook, but this… this was different. "I still remember opening my eyes to that, " Still holding the two, one in each hand, Claire stares at the rest. Just by looking she recognized some of the people on the covers. "Look at them all." she whispers, more to herself then anything. "I — this is insane."
"Well, you're only technically topless." Magnes watches her, being obviously less attached to the people who aren't Hiro or Claire, most of them not being 'real' to him yet. "I know this is freaky, but, you haven't read the fan fiction online. You probably never wanna read that."
"Technically or not… I haven't told very many people about it.. and well.. now." Claire is a little freaked, yeah. But then if your life was a comic book you'd be a bit freaked out too. She sets the comics back in their place. She catches sight of one and slowly pulls it out. "I picked out those glasses for him you know?" The image on the comic is of her adoptive daddy. Her thumb brushes along the plastic covering, trying to ignore the pang of homesickness that comes from missing one's parents. Even this one she puts it back gently. "Sorry, I guess I am a little freaked out about all this. This is my life and the lives of family."
"It's only a few months of your life, and not every moment, so, you can think of it as being on a reality TV show, only, most people don't even know you're real." Magnes sighs, moving a hand around her shoulders. "I don't really know what to say, I mean, I won't read the issues anymore if it helps at all, I read most of time a really long time ago. I almost feel bad about it now."
Claire shakes her head a bit and turns a little so that she can run a hand behind his back, though she can seem to take her eyes off the comics. "No. Don't feel bad, Magnes. How were you to know?" Pulling her eyes away from the shelf, the ex-cheerleader looks up at Magnes. " I didn't expect to feel like this when I saw them either. It's like an freaky episode of the Twilight Zone."
"Well, actually, if this were the Twilight Zone, it'd turn out that our entire world is the comic, and gradually, by the end of the episode, we start talking in speech bubbles or something. Then it ends with a shot of some kid picking up a comic from a shelf, us on the cover talking about how screwed up the situation is, or accepting the situation, depends on what mood Sterling is in, I think." Magnes smiles as he completely geeks out, mostly in an attempt to cheer her up. "And on the bright side, there's not one scene of you going to the bathroom or picking your teeth or any of those other things girls pretend they don't do."
She does actually chuckle, then Claire sighs. "I guess." Her stomach feel a little ill when she looks at them. Only a few months, it was some very important months in her life. "Sorry. Your right." She turns to wrap her arms around his waist and gives him a hug, her head rest on his chest for a moment. "I still want to borrow them. Look them over. "
"You can, Claire." Magnes agrees, wrapping his arms around her, then suddenly looks around at the various female posters, most of them with, well, 'unnatural proportions'. "Crap, I forgot to take the posters down. I, uh, I don't have unrealistic expectations about women or anything, just saying…"
Pulling away enough so that she can look around, Claire chuckles. Leaning against him and looking up she gives him a smile, her eyes narrowing a bit. Her words are soft as they are spoken, "If you did, I somehow don't think I'd be standing here right now." Her brows lift slightly, "Cause I am not anywhere at their caliber."
"Hey, as far as comic characters are concerned, well, I'd say you have the best artist…" Magnes begins to lean into a kiss, but in an extreme bout of awkwardness, his forehead bumps into her's. "Damnit! Uh, maybe I should go get the pizza, I think it's done now."
"I think that is the nicest, geekiest thing… " Claire doesn't get to finish that amusing thought as their heads bump. Oof. There is a soft chuckle as she as she rubs at her forehead. "What kind of pizza are we having tonight?" She asks as she moves to look for somewhere to sit, which ends up being the bed.
Cheeks flushed as he snickers a bit, Magnes heads for the door. "Half supreme, your favorite, and half pepperoni and bacon, my favorite." Then, he's gone. When the door opens it smells like pizza, since, well, they are above the shop. He's only gone for around five minutes, and he comes up with a box, locks the multiple locks on the door, then goes to take a seat on the bed with the box in his lap. "This is so weird, I mean, I've never dated a girl and had her in my room at the same time."
"Yeah, well. I admit it's been while since I did any kind of dating." Claire rolls her eyes a bit and bumps her shoulder against his. "Course, after almost dying… I hadn't planned on it either." She shrugs a bit and sighs. "So.. pizza." she leans over to lift the lid on the box. "Can I try one of yours?"
"So, then, you've been in a guy's room before?" Magnes asks, possibly a dumb question, but it's obviously not the real question he's asking. He takes one of his slices, then nods down for her to take one as well.
"Well, not really." Claire explains with a shy smile. Taking up one of the pieces of Magnes' favorite, she straightens and takes a bite. "My dad was really protective. One of the few time he relented and let me go to something cool." She nods toward the comics. "I ended up on a slab." She quiet or a moment as she chews another bite.
"My parents were the same, except they never really relented. I wasn't even allowed to go to school with other children, or high school. It was all strict home schooling, trying to prepare me to be a physicist or something, a subject I'm not even good at, even though I have gravity powers." Magnes takes a bite of his pizza, bashfully staring at her, then quickly averts his gaze to the pizza. "I snuck out a lot when I was a teenager, mostly to go skating or buy comics my parents didn't approve of."
"Physicist?" The cheerleader eyes him as if trying to imagine it. Then Claire smile with a chuckle, " I think comic geek fits better." She leans against his shoulder again, even resting her head there briefly, before sitting up again for another bite. "I can't decide if I envy the home schooling." she gives him a matter of fact look. "I mean the no friends thing, I guess isn't all the great. But well.. you got to really be what you wanted. Not peer pressure. No people judging you."
"I wouldn't say that, my parents wanted me to be this perfect prodigy child, and I just wasn't. I could never live up to their standards. Every time I picked up a comic, every time I listened to music they didn't approve of, every time I put on a pair of skates, I'm disappointing my parents. I always wondered what it was like to just try to fit in instead of being held to an impossible standard every waking moment of the day." Magnes wraps an arm around her waist, eating with one hand as he smiles down at her. "But I guess in both our cases, the grass is always greener, y'know? What matters is where we are now, on a bed under a life-sized Baroness poster eating pizza."
Claire can't help but look up when he mention the poster, brows lifting high on her head. "Look at that. Didn't see that when I walked in." she murmurs popping the last bite of pizza in her mouth. "I guess your right. The whole grass is always green, I mean." Her head lowers so that she can give him a smirk. "Not the poster," said with a touch of amusement.
"I like you more than every poster in this room." Magnes quickly adds before sliding the pizza to the bed so he can just sit with her. "All these women, maybe even Lois Lane, could and probably would beat me up for some reason. And you don't need huge, uh, spherical shapes to impress me." He's quiet for a moment, still blushing and occasionally staring over at the TV. "I don't even know what to say. Should we start watching movies? The sooner I stop talking the less chance there is that I'll keep saying dumb things."
"How will you get better at talking to a girl, if you don't keep at it?" Claire asks softly as she leans against him briefly, before moving to get up. "Practice make perfect, Magnes." She turns and holds out a hand to him, giving him a soft smile. "What movies are there to watch? Pick your favorite."
"Hey, I'm pretty good at talking to you, just afraid of, well, seeming loserish." Magnes sits down in his large comfortable Superman beanbag chair, going through his DVDs. "My Super Ex-Girlfriend is definitely out of the lineup." he jokes with a shake of his head, then continues pulling out geek movies like Iron Man, Watchmen, and a few Sci-Fi things like Equilibrium and, hey, even a Bill & Ted movie. "I wanna watch stuff you like too, y'know, since we're getting to know eachother, not just you getting to know me."
"Your not doing to bad no." Claire says as she settles herself into the beanbag. She gives a little wiggle, slumping into the beanbag, and then sits there for a moment. "Comfy." She comments finally, but as she watches him go through movies she leans way over to snatch Iron Man out of his hand. "What about this one?" She asks giving him a curious look.
"Ah, sure! That's a really good movie." Magnes reaches for the movie again, smiling. "We can just watch whatever however long you want, I'll fly you home so you won't have to walk outside alone." He seems rather excited about the whole thing, even though it's just watching movies.
Offering the movie back to him again, Claire smiles smugly. "What don't think I can't survive the walk home?" she teases pushing the movie into his hands. She is after all Claire Bennet, she'll get him safely. "But…. I think I'll allow you to fly me home."
"Even if you can heal, I don't want anything to hurt you." Magnes points out, smiling warmly, then turns the movie on and sits back in his chair, his attention divided between her and the movie. He really can't decide which to keep his eye on.
"Maybe, but Magnes. I've died so many time." Claire chides softly, sliding off her beanbag. She moves over to him, and pokes his side to make him move over. "One thing you won't have to worry about is my health." She reaches out to touch his scratched cheek, "More like I should worry about yours." Grinning, she turns to settle into the his beanbag with him.
"I'm not worried about your health," Magnes corrects, sliding an arm around her waist after moving aside for her to take a seat. "I just don't want you hurt. No matter what you've been through in the past, there's no reason you should ever have to be hurt if it can be prevented, ability or not." He leans over, whispering, "You don't deserve lots of pain just because you can quickly recover from it."
Tucking loose hair behind each ear with a finger, Claire settles in to watch the movie. "Just…" Taking a deep breath, she glance at him, "Don't get hurt protecting me. Or even killed." She shifts a bit so she can look her in the face. "You won't heal and you won't miraculously come back to life." The smile she gives him is a warm one. "Don't worry. You can fly me home, I think I'd like that anyhow."
"I'll be careful, and I'll try and get used to dating Miss Immortal." After that, Magnes pretty much holds her next to him, watching the movie, making smalltalk, and occasionally eating the rest of the pizza. It's a pretty long and one of those very rare peaceful nights.