And Thus Is Friendship Rebuilt

Participants:

alec_icon.gif elisabeth_icon.gif

Scene Title And Thus Is Friendship Rebuilt
Synopsis Elisabeth seeks refuge from nightmares in the dawn's early light … and finds someone who maybe could become a friend again.
Date July 26, 2009

Village Renaissance Building Roof


The morning sunrise is beautiful from the roof, even more so after a couple of days to recoup from a recent brush with death. Alec, or one of him anyway, sits atop the roof on the porch, making use of Cat's lawn furniture. This is New York, such things aren't uncommon, though perhaps a bit of Alec's set up might be. There's a small folding table next to him and a laptop with some nice receivers run through it. Since Hana Alec has started going low tech with some of his ideas, just in case the enemy gets a Hana of their own, so any opening of the door knocks over an empty bottle, making a small noise or two. He stares at the sunrise, seemingly at ease with the world.

It might be a hint of how not-quite-up-to-par Elisabeth is that she never even thinks to look around the rooftop as she bursts out the door. The tinkle of the bottles doesn't even register on her. She never glances behind her, heading with stiff movements for the edge of the roof where she finally pauses at the retaining wall. Wearing a pair of Cat's sweatpants and a T-shirt, her mangled arm cradled to her body, the blonde puts her good hand on the concrete top of the wall and turns her face to the sun, her breath ragged. The spot she stops in gives Alec just a brief glimpse of profile, though her back is mostly to him.

Alec is silent for a moment before he speaks up, "Did you at least bring me Starbucks?" he says, tapping a couple of keys on the keyboard, going through the footage he's got from the small transmitting cameras he's placed to help accent Cat's exsisting system.

Elisabeth sucks in a quick, startled breath, whirling to see Alec sitting on Cat's porch furniture. "OH!" She puts a hand to her heart, which is now beating even faster than it was before thanks to the adrenaline of surprise. "For fuck's sake," she hisses, "Don't do that!" A hand sweeps up to her face, wiping away the tears that streak it, and she resolutely turns her back on him again.

Alec quirks a brow, "I've been up here since you returned." he points out, "Who do you think's been watch-Nevermind." he sighs and goes quiet again for a long time, letting seconds tick by. "You're gonna make me ask aren't you?" he says softly.

There's a long moment where it appears Liz might ignore him. Then she finally asks, "Why the hell would you care to know? It's not something you can fix. And if I told you, it's just more ammunition for you to use against me, isn't it?" Her tone is soft, faintly bitter.

Alec eyes her for a long moment, "Okay. But if you get a second and you think you can cough it up I'd really appreciate my head back. I mean I can make more but they don't regen like some people's." he goes back to his screen, checking a couple more things.

Elisabeth reaches up to rub her forehead, still not turning around. "Sorry. Just nightmares," she finally replies brusquely.

Alec nods his head as if he doesn't believe her but lets the matter drop. "So then that's a no on the Starbucks?" he steers the conversation over to safer less 'kill Alec' ground.

It's funny…. she tells him the truth about everything he's ever asked about, and he still thinks she's lying. The only lie she ever told him was by omission. "I haven't left the building yet," she tells him. "There's coffee downstairs if you want it, but I'm not going back down to get it," she tells him softly, her face still to the sun. Maybe because, as evidenced by the fact that her good hand goes back up to her face to wipe, she can't seem to quell the tears.

Alec believes they were nightmares, surely, he just doesn't believe they were 'just nightmares'. There is a difference. Nightmare is walking in on your parents going at it, but you don't act like Liz from that. Usually. "Alright, then punch me would you? I want coffee and I can't leave the monitors."

Elisabeth sighs. And she stands there for a minute, then walks over and kicks him viciously in the ankle. He can't feel it, and it doesn't make her feel better. "There." She moves over to lower herself gingerly into one of the chairs where she can still watch the sunrise.

Alec eyes her then walks off downstairs while another/the original stays in the chair, watching. "Thank you. Would you like anything while I'm down there? Coffee? Beer? Breakfast? Rumor is I can cook pretty decent omlettes."

"If you're making coffee, that'd be nice," Liz replies softly. "Thank you." She leans her head back on the lawn chair and she's quiet for a long time. Or at least, as long as he lets her be. "Some days, I hate this job."

Alec smiles a bit, "Like the days we blow up a building and wage a war of chaos against untold foes with surprise abilities." he pauses, "Which reminds me, how the fuck did Arthur get the power to replicate himself? What moron gave /that/ shit to him? It wasn't me I know that for sure."

"There were no surprise abilities there," Elisabeth admits. "We knew what he had in terms of powers, in general. We knew he'd had contact with at least one Brian, so we assumed he had that ability. It was why having Brian and Gillian with the same ability and you … was helpful. We were hoping if nothing else to outnumber him, three replicators to one." Her tone is tired.

Alec lets out a long slow sigh. "I'm a man Liz. Don't get me wrong, I'm witty and charming and skilled in many things, but at the end of the day as much awesome as if packed inside of me, I'm just a man. Arthur was as close as one can get to being a god. I could make a thousand of me and never hope to take down ten of him." he shakes his head, "For that matter how the hell did Gillian do it? I thought she augmented peoples abilities?"

Elisabeth draws in a deep breath and nods slightly. "There was a man out there who … collected abilities. That was his Evolved ability — he could duplicated any power of anyone he touched. There was also a man who could TAKE other people's powers, and a man who could SWAP other people's powers. The one who could duplicate powers was Arthur's son. I'm not entirely sure how he took the ability away, but he did. And Gillian wound up …. through a lot of machinations, I'm sure… getting hold of an amalgam ability — where she could duplicate people's power and shunt it into a duplicate of her own body. It's why her dupes only had one power apiece." It's a simplistic explanation, but… thre you have it.

Alec blinks, "So there are four of me now. Arthur, Brian, me, and Gillian?" he seems annoyed by this, "Well there goes the fucking franchise." Hrmph!! He's been perfecting his ability for nearly two decades and these theives just up and TAKE it. Oooo. Someone needs a whooping. He stabs at the keyboard irritably.

"Well…. you and Brian are the only ones I know who have the ability naturally. Arthur's…. I'm not sure I ever knew what his original ability was. Gillian should probably be getting her own ability — which is augmentation — back when Delphine helps her out." Elisabeth still watches the sun rising, her thoughts perhaps more on her own problems than his fit of pique.

Alec hmphs again just as he returns to the roof, carrying two plates of food and coffee. And yes, he can still cook. One of the better things about him sleeping over was the breakfasts in bed, surely. The one Alec eyes the other and rolls his eyes as he hands Liz her favorite omlette and coffee, "Ignore him, he's being petulent and childish and he knows it. It'll pass." the food is then set before other Alec, coffee too. "I'm gonna go clean up, I hear you two fighting I will come back up here and seperate you. Don't make me." He gives both of them a paternal look before heading back inside. Alec stares after himself, "Wow. I am such a dick!"

Elisabeth snorts faintly. "Just figuring that out, are you?" And then she quickly turns her face away from him so he can't see the sudden surge of tears. She's not having a great morning.

Alec shrugs, "I'm a genius kitten, I'm good at everything but the simple things. You'd think I'd know myself better, I have a millions times more opportunities then the rest of you."

Elisabeth shakes her head. "You'd think," is what she offers. She reaches for the cup of coffee with her good hand, leaving the omelette for now.

Alec turns to his meal then, smiling a bit as she gets her jibes in. For once he's wise enough to let them go, she did after all have a rough couple of days. He sips his coffee in silence and eats his meal much the same way, and actually, he seems to enjoy her silence, as if it were nice to have companionship without yammering. Though, he still keeps an eye on her. Just in case she goes for a gun.

Elisabeth shows no signs of going for a gun — doesn't even have one up here. In truth…. the silent companionship is a balm. Eventually, she picks up the fork to nibble a little at the breakfast offering. And thus is friendship rebuilt, one small step at a time.


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