Participants:
| Scene Title | A Knife-esque Mistake |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Brian approaches Eileen with his concerns about Calvin Rosen and his ilk. |
| Date | January 4, 2011 |
"Jelly beans?" The small bowl dangled in front of her is set down on the table to the side.
It's still quiet around the Garden, the morning is early yet. Having asked Samara nicely to step out of the room they were sharing so some strange woman could come in and talk to him.. Well. Needless to say she was fine with it!
A finger and a thumb pluck a red jelly bean from the bowl. Bringing it up, it is flicked into his mouth. A bright smile given. "I really like the cinnamon ones." Pushing the bowl closer he goes to sit on the side of the bed. "You should have some jelly beans grow happiness inside your belly."
Folding his hands in his lap, he scoots back, watching her for a moment. "So you may be wondering why I called you to the Garden into my room and asked you to sit on a bed with me." Another jelly bean is popped into his mouth.
"I have a question." Is apparently the reason. "You know how that Benji guy on the island caused a ruckus and got in trouble and.. All that? Well. I've seen Benji in the mainland. With Nora. And Eileen. I'm suspicious. I might be a little paranoid these days. However, I've kinda done some freelance digging. I don't think they can be trusted."
Eileen eschews the jelly beans for the time being; she's not usually one for sweets, and her hands are already occupied with a ceramic cup of steaming tea that fills the small, musty bedroom on the cottage's second floor with the smell of Earl Grey flavoured with Bergamot oil and honey. It's already raised to her mouth, and she smiles a sardonic smile around the cup's rim, no real humour in the curve of her lips or her misty eyes.
The mattress creaks under her weight as she shifts, adjusting to fold one slender leg over the other. "I've done some digging of my own," she admits at the end of a sip, lowering the cup. Her fingers curl around it, and the golden band she wears produces a gentle tinkling sound when it grazes the porcelain. "And arrived at a different conclusion. What did yours unearth?"
"They're friends with a guy named Calvin Rosen. He's HomeSec." A little smirk quirks up his lips at a random memory. "Or as Cat would say. Homeland Satan." A tiny chuckle drops from his lips, his head dipping down, shaking his head gently. "She's a weirdo. Am I right?" Brian places his elbows on his knees. "Nora can speak through the radiowaves. I don't need if she needs a CB radio by her or what. But.. her friends get the radio on, she speaks to them. She's been talking to this HomeSec guy the whole time. They have other connections.. Jolene Marley. She works at Redbird. She has a friend who can tell the future.. They knew about the bomb."
He glances over to Eileen. "Please. Eat a god damn jelly bean." He wets his lips briefly. "Not the big bomb in New York City. The little but still deadly bomb at the gala. They all knew about it. They deny it but they were there. Benji and Nora went there to join up with this Calvin guy."
He goes to take another jellybean. "I think you should negate Nora. We should cut off their communication. They.. They just feel wrong. They're extremely secretive." Brian gives a little shrug.
The bluebird perched on Eileen's shoulder, half-hidden by her coat's wool collar, inspects the bowl on the Englishwoman's behalf and, with a flick of its wings, flutters down to select a sunflower yellow jelly bean speckled red like the mottling on a quail's egg. Neither she nor the bird has any way of knowing it, but it's peach.
"As are we," she says. "You have to be, to survive." The bluebird snatches up the jelly bean in its beak and hops back up onto the crook of Eileen's wrist to deposit the offering into her open palm. "Benjamin worked as an informant for the Department of Evolved Affairs. It doesn't surprise me to learn that he and the others have friends with the government, but I don't think they're spies. Praeger's had ample opportunity to move against us on Pollepel. Almost two months."
She takes the jelly bean between two fingers and pops it into her mouth, lips puckering around a contemplative expression that has more to do with what she's tasting than the conversation she and Brian are having. Another sip of tea washes it down, and the flavour from her tongue. "Have you spoken with anyone at Redbird about Marley?"
"What if they're not looking to move against us on Pollepel? I don't know.. Even though Benji and Calvin work with the government. I don't think this is the government we're working for." He falls quiet for a moment, taking another jelly bean. His eyes fixing on the bird for a long moment. "You know how we're all.. Not just the Ferry. Like Redbird. And what used to be Phoenix.. I don't know this Calvin guy put a weird idea in my head. They're people that know each other.. Like how we're people that know each other. And united for a goal. I don't know. Calvin said something about a group of people going on adventures. It just gives me a weird feeling."
"Not really. But Marley is full of shit. I feel like she mass processes it like at factories. They're all evasive. And they're all doing something." He presses one finger to his lips. "I have no idea what it is. But I just feel like it's not the same goal as ours.."
"Does this make any sense?"
"Yes." Eileen traces the edge of her thumb around the rim of her cup and rests it in her lap. Grabbing tiny clawfuls of coat in its feet, the bluebird climbs up her arm to reclaim its perch on her shoulder. "I had Benjamin on the drugs until I was confident he could be trusted. We've the resources to start the regimen again. Nora, too, but I'm not sure what this would achieve. Sever their communications, maybe. Alienate them further than they already are, definitely.
"Here's what I'd like to propose." And she sets her cup aside. "We'll continue keeping an eye on Benjamin and his friends. I can use my birds to monitor their movements whenever they leave the island. You watch Marley and Rosen. See if you can't find out more about this contact of hers. The one who can tell the future."
"Listen Eileen… I kind of made a mistake." Brian admits. "Remember how I accidentally left you a knife and you stabbed Teo?" He just remembered that a few days ago. "I might have made a knife-esque mistake again." The jelly bean is balanced on the palm of his hand stretched out to the bird. "I.. Kind of kidnapped and punched Calvin." He looks up with a kind of 'whoops' and 'sorry' look to her.
"So.. I didn't have any of my own negation drugs on hand. So I just doped him up on sedatives. He.. It was an awkward situation. I feel like punching him wasn't the stupidest decision. So basically.. I kind of interrogated him. You can imagine that didn't go well."
"That's why I'm saying we should sever their communications. To make sure Nora and Benji.. and I think Howard. To make sure they don't find out we're on to them. I wrote down all of the numbers in Calvin's phone. I can still follow him. I got the address for his apartment.. He'll probably move. Marley said she lives with the precog.. I could probably tail her. Oddly enough. I think she already knows I kidnapped Calvin.. I think she just likes me."
The bird accepts the jelly bean and swivels its head so Eileen can take this one from its beak as well. Lets out an impatient chirrup when she doesn't immediately relieve it of the candy. Her attention is on Brian instead, brows knit in quiet consternation, mouth adopting a more perturbed shape.
Yeah, that probably qualifies as a knife-esque mistake, but she doesn't say it. What she says is: "Oh."
Oh. "Well, I don't think severing their communications is going to do us much good at all, now is it? They're going to find out sooner or later, if not through the radio then the next time I grant Benjamin permission to visit the city, and I can't very well renege on my promise to do that. Have you considered apologizing?"
"Well. I am a man. So no." Brian lets out a light sigh. "To be fair. He tried to kill me kind of. He took the brakes off my van I was driving. Oh he's a telekinetic. He set off an FBI agent's gun.. He interfered at this fight, thingie. Oh yeah, and he tried to kill me!" Winters pauses. "But the worst part.. He seems to know a lot about me. Yeah I know I'm a wanted fugitive but.." He waves his hands as if trying to get at something more important. "I don't know. He seems to know more than he should. I understand how he could find those things out but… I mean Nora seems to know about me too. My power."
He takes a deep breath. "Alright then. So now they'll know they're being watched. My fault. But.. I'll do my best to find out more about them. I'll let you know about Marley." Brian places his hands on his knees. "And I'll apologize to Calvin. You want the phone numbers of his friends? They're all coded names."
"Please."
Now, Eileen does take the jelly bean from the bluebird, turning it over between her fingers in a feeble attempt to determine what flavour it is based on the colour, and there's a moment where it looks like she might be having second thoughts about chancing it, but at the end of the day the consequences of her decision involving Benjamin and the others have the potential to be much more dire than this.
It turns out to be strawberry, which is much more acceptable to her palate than the other possible contenders: cotton candy and bubblegum. "He either tried to kill you, or he didn't. There's no kind of." Except when there is, like the time she kind of tried to kill Teodoro by stabbing him in the stomach with the knife that Brian eluded to earlier, but anyone is capable of being a hypocrite, including Eileen — even when she's making an effort not to. "The alternative is imprisoning the lot of them indefinitely, or killing them, and I don't think we're in a position to do either."
"Alright. I'll apologize. But he's going to try and kill me again. Which is okay. I've died before." He gives a light shrug. "I'll give you the phone numbers." Brian waves a hand. "But I'm not coming to you as like.. a member of the Ferry and you my leader, right? I'm coming to you as a friend and person I kidnapped once.. So I'm figuring since we're friends now. This whole Calvin business will just be water under the bridge."
"Well he tried to kill me. I think. If you take the brakes off of a moving vehicle with an ability, that's attempted murder right? Or at least aggravated assault. Something. OKay. Well.. I'll keep you informed. I hope you keep me informed too.. I would love to have a little dove bring me notes." He says happily.
Eileen uncrosses her legs, places one hand on the edge of the bed for additional balance and then rises from it, pausing to gather her half-finished cup of tea which is no longer billowing steam. "A little dove," she repeats, and she's unable to keep the fondness from touching the edges of her voice when she says it.
"As you wish, mon ami. Dusty gray feathers and tiny pink feet. A voice like sheep's milk and honey. Just for you."