Participants:
| Scene Title | A More Stable You |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Kaylee approaches Magness curious to learn more about this stranger with a familiar face. |
| Date | November 24, 2014 |
Some Derelict Automotive Garage, Manhattan, Kansas/
Even though Kaylee was set to leave soon for the trek back to New York, something has been bothering Kaylee since they escaped that prison. Magnes. He looked exactly like Varlane. Sounded like him; but, the tone of his mental voice was different. Older, darker… more mature than his counterpart. Not to mention this one looked more like a homeless man then the clean cut Magnes she knew.
There was a way he talked that made her think that he knew her, but — but not her. It was when she remembered the footage from Robin Hood that Kaylee decided to find the man. Footage of her with Peter Petrelli, when at the time she had been across town having dinner with her boyfriend, Luther.
So she is on the prowl from him, determined to know more about this mystery that Colette knew, but kept secret from Kaylee. That search brings her inside of the mechanic’s shop that the group was currently holed up.
Magnes is sitting on a crate, having finally shaped up his facial hair a bit, but it's shaped differently than his counterpart. He's in a plain white t-shirt and some jeans until further notice, combing his increasingly ridiculously long hair.
He just needs a moment, being patient until he can be reunited with his family, aside from this alternate version of Isabelle.
When he feels something enter his field of gravity, he looks up at Kaylee and nods. "Hey." He smiles, sitting the comb down in midair, letting it just sort of float there. It's a definite difference from the Magnes she knows already, because he always insists that his ability is touch based. "I think you're my third Kaylee. Probably the most stable I've ever met."
There is some relief at finding her target, angling that way and noting the differences she sees. Those words seem to slow her and pull her up short. There is a mild glare sent in whatever direction Colette might be. The detective didn’t like secrets. “Your third Kaylee?” she finally asks trying hard to wrap her mind around it. Having your idea of reality tested has an interesting effect.
“How is this even possible?” she blurts out.
She sighs and pressed fingers to her temple briefly, but not from the use of her ability, but from the emotions she’s feeling. Kaylee just wanted to get home to Luther. “Tell me this… is there another me here?” In this world? “Because I saw footage of me talking to Peter Petrelli and getting into a cab with him. Same time I was across town with my boyfriend having dinner. I thought someone was playing trick on me.”
"A combination of certain abilities can poke holes into the universe, to allow travel to alternate parallel timelines. I ended up doing it by accident, though it'd probably be best if I didn't explain the exact circumstances of what happened, at least not right now, because I don't want to affect how people who are innocent in this universe are perceived." Magnes stares at her, then his eyes shift down to the floor. "It's getting harder to keep seeing these alternate versions of people. Every time I just hope I was home, I feel this disappointment when I realize that someone isn't who I know them to be…"
"Sorry, anyway, yeah, there's another version of you. I saved her from the virus world. She almost didn't even make it that far, but me and the Vanguard version of me were thankfully fighting near her. That's a whole other story though." He looks back up at her, his eyes clearly exhausted. "You should probably give her space. I don't know how she'd react talking to you. She's not anywhere near as stable as you or even my Kaylee. And I'm trying my best to get out of here with as few ruined lives as possible."
"Your boyfriend? Joseph?" he asks, curious.
So there was another version of her in this world. Blue eyes narrow slightly, but she makes no promises about anything really. However, she isn’t really making plans to hunt down an alternate version of herself either.
“Joseph?” Brows furrow a little and she gives an amused huff. “I only know one Joseph and he’s a pastor at my church. No. My boyfriend is Luther. Luther Bellemy” There is a shake of her head as she moves to sit on another nearby crate, “I can’t believe I am asking this,” she half whispers to herself before saying louder, “ but you ever met him?” There is a bit of a wistful smile when she talk about him. “Pretty sure he’s probably worried, I gave my phone to Tamara.”
Stretching a leg in front of her, Kaylee studies Magnes for a long moment, “So tell me Varlane. Why were you in that place? Moab?”
"Yeah, that Joseph. I mean, the other Kaylee here isn't with a Joseph either, but in my world I'm just so used to it that it's weird knowing you're with someone else." Magnes admits, but quickly moves onto Luther. "I never talked to him much or anything, but he was involved in one of the crazy time travel adventures years ago, so we were all in a big meeting."
"Moab…" he frowns, eyes averting to the floor again. "I was working with Arthur Petrelli for a few years. I didn't really see much of a choice, he knew about my research, that I was trying to get home. I couldn't let my family get hurt, so I figured if I helped, I could use this technology they were working on to get out of here."
He reaches for the comb, as if needing something to occupy himself with, and starts working on his hair again. "And then one of the Guardians showed up during our first real successful test, blew us all up, and then I woke up, Arthur brought me back to life somehow. He thought I was in on the sabotage, which made no sense. He decided to keep me alive in Moab, which suggests he had no idea we were all about to be killed."
"Elaine, my fiance, and my daughter Addie, they were told I'm dead. I can't…" He grips the comb tightly in his hand. "I can't forgive that, she didn't deserve that…"
Well, this was all news. “So… I’m a homewrecker in your world… good to know.” The is stated rather blandly. She had thought the pastor was attractive… might have even named the cat after him, but that… “Well, either way Joseph here is happily married with a kid.”
With a little disbelieving shake of her head, she focuses on what he is seeing. “Guardians? Don’t you mean Humanis First?” That is what she was told, when she called back home for an update. She had already been suspicious. Some of what she had hear that night… still.
“What exactly was it you were working on?” Kaylee can’t help but ask, still a detective even now.
"I don't remember Joseph having a wife or mentioning one when I met him, though I don't claim to be an expert on either of you. And according to Arthur Petrelli, it was the Guardians. I'm not sure I'd trust the government or the media in this world." Magnes taps the comb against his chin, considering how to answer her last question.
"Basically a portal to go to other worlds." is the best way to summerize it. "They already essentially had it built, they were just trying to get it to work. I had more research and insight into making it work, especially since I've already travelled between worlds. But they had an entire machine, and… you need to know that Edward Ray is a pretty essential piece of the puzzle for making it work perfectly. He's absolutely a priority to protect from Arthur."
"The Edward who was in the last world I was in, he's dead now, but he's the reason we made it here. The calculations are too precise for a normal person to pinpoint all of the variables for doing this safely and accurately." He gives her a long stare, and ends with, "I could tell you about your family, but I imagine you'd rather hear it from Edward."
“I heard it from my people over at the NYPD. The forensics came to that conclusion. Even found the remains— ” read that as bits and pieces “ —of a known member of Humanis First at the site of the explosion.” Kaylee isn’t arguing what he saw, simply stating the facts as they were given to her.
Brows tip lower as she drops her eyes to look at the floor in front of her. So much was not making sense. It just meant that she had a lot of work ahead of her when she gets home.
“So, Mr. Petrelli was planning to jump worlds, too?” The words said softly. “It’s weird to have everything you have known, tested like this. Poor Colette really believed in all of it…. I’ve… always been kind of cautiously optimistic about Pineheart and all those promises.” There is a small, sad smile on her lips.
“But you’re right. I think I need to hear about my family from Ray himself. He doesn’t really strike me as a scumbag lawyer type who’d sleep with his secretary and toss her aside when he found out she was pregnant.” Kaylee gives a soft huff of amusement. “I thought he was dead here. I —” Kaylee trials off, blinking a little too quickly. After a hard swallow she continues, “I thought I didn’t have any family left.” Her head tilting a little as she looks in the direction that her father is. “Of course, it would figure it was my supposedly deadbeat father.” Yes, there is bitterness.
"There are some things that Edward doesn't know yet, about the state of his children, but I plan to try my best to explain things to him." Magnes shakes his head, considering Colette for a long moment. "Colette never seems to get a break in any world, really. But where I'm from, Arthur Petrelli was taken down and exposed a long time ago. The thing is, our world went to hell a bit compared to here. I mean, we ended up with Evolved hunting robots, and we're not even the worst robot timeline. My daughter from the future came back and stopped that from getting worse."
He tilts his head at her, seemingly in thought. "I can't remember if you had a kid from the future or not. It was hard to keep up with that whole children from the future thing." He looks around the garage, but it's clear he's more looking around at the world in general. "Arthur Petrelli's death was one of the big divergent points between our worlds. This was supposed to be the sparkling future utopian world where everything turned out fine, in exchange for basically being run by a megalomaniac."
"Being tested, though…" He can't help but consider the very concept itself. "In the virus world, I saw so much death, probably as much death as I saw in the span of years in my world. I saw what would have happened if Kazimir won, what it was like when every decision carried the weight of the last remnant of humanity…"
Looking up at her as he hunches over, there's a pain in his eyes, as if he can barely maintain that eye contact. "Seeing people dead, or alive, in different lives, it's… it's painful, it makes everything feel so fragile, sometimes futile. I see how easily everything can change, already everything here is changing because of us, because of me. I just want to go home, I want to stop affecting people's lives in places I don't belong."
"I used to feel so much pity, years ago when I heard I was a drunk in this world. And then I heard your version of me was getting his life together, building friendships and everything… I envy how simple his life is." He sits up straight, taking a deep breath. "In this world, I never had to fight overseas, didn't have to kill anyone, constantly lose people. I've seen the same little girl die twice, Kaylee… I couldn't save her twice…"
He's hunched over again, wiping his eyes. "Fuck…"
There is a sort of intensity with which Kaylee watches Magnes, possibly judging whether to believe what he is saying. Watching his body language for tells.
Then what he is saying slowly registers. Sinks in. “Well, we are all shaped by the lives we live. It even changes the way you think.” Kaylee taps her head gently. “I should know.” Her smile pulls ruefully to one side. “Varlane has a long ways to go, before he reaches the level you are at. Sometimes, I think playing it safe, isn’t always the best way to go.”
Kaylee leans his way a little, a hand resting on his arm, “Think of all the things you can tell that little girl of your… or even that future daughter.” There is amusement there. The idea of having a kid come back from the future is a strange one. “Varlane doesn’t have even a quarter of that. You will be that cool dad who got to do all those great things and save the world. I mean… “ She gives him a look of someone rather impressed, “You saved people who would have probably just perished. Yeah their world was gone, but it was screwed anyhow… if I am understanding you right. Take the victories where you can.”
There is a huff of laughter, “I was always jealous of kids with parents like that. I had a deadbeat dad who ditched my mom before I was born.”
This was a difference between Kaylee’s his wouldn’t be doing what this one is; listening to what is right there on the surface of his mind. Habits of the job.
“And think about this…” The hand drops away and she turns thoughtful as she tries to find the right words. “Change was going to come even without you being here. Change is inevitable. You might have pushed it along a little faster, but it was going to happen anyhow. I didn’t find Moab because of you or anyone with you,” Kaylee points out.
Magnes’ shoulder gets a hand clapped on in and Kaylee gives him a gentle shake. “It’s never going to get easier, but you can endure it. It sounds like you have an amazing family. Lean on them, support them. They will carry you through the pain of living.” Her head tilts a bit to one side and she gives him a smirk. “You are a far stronger person than the you I know. You’ll get home and have an amazing tale for it.”
"I don't remember a version of you who was particularly comforting, so this is all kind of surreal… I like this version of you though." Magnes smiles, still looking kind of exhausted, but at least not entirely breaking down. "I never met the Edward of my world, but I never really trusted him. It took me a long time to understand him, Elisabeth helped a lot with that. Basically, the secret to understanding his motivations? Is to understand that literally everything he does is for his family."
"I am determined to get home, for my daughters to meet each other, and the awkwardness when my ex meets the version of her I'm currently engaged to… as bad as that sounds, I don't think anyone will be particularly surprised by my questionable decision making there." He smiles, shaking his head. "I've gone through a lot, but I'm still me."
The detective doesn’t seem convinced that what Edward Ray did was for the best. Growing up fatherless doesn’t exactly give you great feelings about that. “I’m not sure what to think about these other me’s you keep talking about. Unstable and a homewrecker… Make me wonder what went differently in their lives and how I ended up coming out alright.”
There is a small huff of amusement, “You are still you, and you just keep on being you, Magnes. It’s gotten you this far. Can’t be all that bad.” Really doesn’t know him like others do, but he seems alright enough to her.
There is a moment, but then Kaylee suddenly declares. “I’m starving… I could really use a burger or something.” A glance goes to the window. “Too bad we are in the middle of nowhere. Can’t wait til we get back home.”
"You've helped save the world plenty of times back in my world, you're not so bad." Magnes stands, looking around. "Let's go try to find some stuff. I might be able to cook something, maybe, if we find fire and things to actually cook."
He reaches out to give her a gentle hug, taking a deep breath. "Thanks for the talk. I hope you can meet my family."
The hug is returned and the men offered a smile. “Sometimes we all need an ear and a different perspective.” In other words, your welcome.
Now it was time to turn to serious business. Food.
“If you can cook, that fiance of yours is a lucky woman. Neither Luther or I can really cook, so we are probably first name basis at a lot of restaurants.” Eyes narrows in thought, as she turns to head out for the search for sustenance. “If we can’t find anything, I will hijack the car and go find us something. Cause if I don’t eat, I might waste away before I can meet your family.” How many times had she said that to Luther over the years. “Maybe, you can meet Luther here too.”
"All I do is spoil her, Elaine and Addie make me happier than anything else." Magnes admits, starting to look around. "But I'm sure we'll all meet some time, it'll be nice."