Participants:
| Scene Title | Cross-world Reunions |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | One world's Izzy and another world's Richard — they're still friends. |
| Date | February 19, 2019 |
Red Hook
As she scuffs along through the market, keeping pace with him, Richard has seen this side of Liz before. The watchful suspicion with which everyone is studied is not so different than the way things were before — then, she was a fugitive. But then again, she's pretty much been one for the past seven years. It's not as bad as it was back then, though — she's not panicked or even afraid. Just wary and very aware. "It cracks me up how well they took to one another," Elisabeth comments mildly, her hands shoved into her jacket pockets as they walk. "But I'm really glad. She's had Evie, but… she's been lonely, you know? Not like playgroups were a thing for the past couple years."
Glancing at the market, she comments softly, "I hoped home would be closer to Arthur's world than the wasteland."
"It's not as bad as the wasteland, at least," notes Richard, dressed in civilian garb; that old Chicago Air bomber jacket draped over his upper body, hands tucked into his pockets, worn jeans brushing over the top of boots. "Parts of the country are… pretty bad. And I don't advise going into Manhattan if you don't want nightmares. But there are places where the war barely touched - you saw Kansas City, Chicago and Detroit are pretty nice these days too. And we're getting there, here in the Safe Zone…"
It had been a nerve wrecking morning for Isa Wesley-Khan. Worry for her friends had leveled out to distant throb of wanting to be near them, Liz and Magnes and the rest. There was also the notion that today was the day she would be reuniting with her oldest friend, in every timeline. With the way that Izzy and Liz parted one might be surprised at just how well the pyrokinetic happens to be looking today.
Black suede ankle boots click on the pavement and a noticeable warmth that Liz and most of all Richard would remember well covers them both as Isa slowly makes her way forward, a curious expression on her face. Hazel eyes widen a fraction when she sees the back of Richard's head. She doesn't cry yet. Instead she moves forward and raises a hand slightly to gain their attention, "Hey." Voice thick with emotion.
The black slacks and light cream colored top are a stark difference from the woman who usually is seen in ragged jeans and leather jackets. She was arriving from a meeting. The fuck. Isa still couldn't get her head around it fully, nervously her other hand clings to the phone issued to her from Yamagato. The biggest difference is the jagged scar that she wears on her face, it snakes down her neck and disappears behind the neckline of her top, a long, light black blazer trails behind her covering her shoulder from view and the rest of the scar. For now it glows a dull orange.
The familiar warmth creeping over her has Elisabeth looking, but it's the voice that brings her around the correct direction. Relief is the first expression on her face, and then she breathes out, tears flood her blue eyes, and she pulls her hands out of her pockets to cover the distance and wrap the other woman in a tight embrace. "Jesus fucking Christ, you guys scared the hell out of me," she whispers into Isabelle's shoulder. The month in quarantine was good for her, at least — she's put a little bit of weight back on, looking better than she has in a couple of years though she's still lean.
When she pulls away, she also steps to the side to give the two of them space to greet one another without her in the middle. Her gaze flickers to Richard. He's had time to get used to the idea, but it's still a gut-punch.
It's a voice that Richard hasn't heard in a decade, and yet he still recognizes it, in that way that some things from childhood will always be remembered. His back straightens, and he draws in a slow breath before turning moments after Elisabeth's rushed to the woman's side.
He watches them reunite through dark shades perched upon the bridge of his nose, looking her over in those nice clothes that somehow make things easier. She's not his Isabelle, he knows, but damn she looks a lot like her.
He's a bit softer than the Richard Cardinal she knew; better eating, less activity in recent years, although he still keeps in good shape. Less starvation-lean, more healthy.
"Hey, Izzy," he offers softly after a moment.
"We didn't know where you guys were. Landed in fucking Kansas." a snort of laughter into Liz's hair but tears well up in the corners of her eyes, she smells of smoke. Like a hearth that's been going for a while. She feels even warmer, she's healthy. They all were now. "I'm so happy you're… alive. Aurora must be so happy to be.. with her parents. Both.." It's all she can do not to bubble over with emotion but then Richard is turning around and Izzy is looking over at him and she steps towards him.
Quick steps and she's in front of him, studying his face, eyes widening. She does look different but also familiar, the way her lip curls. "You were only in one other timeline with me. I never got to see you in the second…" she reaches for him and wraps him in a tight embrace.
"Look at you. I'm sorry you lost the me.." There's a weak smile there. "I made it though." … "Lemme bum a cigarette."
"Well… she's still getting used to the idea that Richard's actually not just a picture, but… she's adapting." Crossing her arms as she steps sideways, Elisabeth looks down and shakes her head as she laughs softly. He thinks she doesn't know? Really? Silly man. "So how the hell did you land at Yamagato, woman? I mean… Kansas… that makes me laugh. We were RIGHT THERE for a month! That's where the quarantine was."
"I was already dead when you reached the wasteland… the Cardinal in the Pinehearst future seems to be doing well," Richard admits, hesitating before mentioning the him that Isabelle knew. Then he doesn't mention him at all, a noticable absense.
He doesn't expect the hug, but finds himself returning it, pulling her fiercely tight against his chest. After a few moments, he murmurs gruffly, "You know where they are." Back pocket, left, as ever.
Her hand was already there and she pulls out the pack with that familiar smile and pulls out a cigarette, two. "Never change." A grin at his familiar hiding place. "Good he should be happy." The other Cardinal at Pinehearst. Isa takes a look before she snaps a finger both cigarettes light, passing one to Richard she inhales and blows off to the side. "Shahid and I…" looking back to Richard, "My husband." Somethings are different and every Isabelle swore she would never marry. "We weren't sure if we landed in the same place as you guys, there wasn't any news.. and the government wasn't really on our side in any timeline we were in." PTSD is a mother.
Tapping the ash to the ground she shifts her weight and looks over at Liz, "So we stole a car and drove across America."
"That proved to be a little bit of an adventure." That was an understatement, "I was bleeding out, Shahid had that slash up his back. There's a nice old people's home around there." She leaves that hanging there and smokes more of the cigarette, Isa and Shaw surely had a time. "We got to Jersey, car was busted. Namiko drives in with a car from Yamagato." Waving her hand, "And that's how the fucking shit happened." There's another beat, "Um… yea Namiko is kind of.. my daughter. Long story."
Grimacing as Isabelle comments on the whole government thing, Elisabeth just nods slightly. And then her brows shoot up to her hairline. "Shit, you went ahead and did it without us??" The blonde grouses, but only for a second — she understands the idea that no one knew where anyone else landed. "Oh God, you found Namiko too? That gives me a lot of hope for everyone else who spun out. Until you called, I wasn't sure if anyone survived." She hesitates and then bites back something, because she's just not sure of saying it out loud. "Hopefully everyone else will find their way to New York then." It's very clearly a huge relief to her to have confirmation that at least the people who came through the tunnel and tumbled off may have just dropped out in the world somewhere — even if not all of them make contact, it's a positive thing for her.
Pulling in a shuddering breath, Liz nods slightly. "Well…. in this world, although they do want us to keep it quiet and the lot of us hadda sign papers out the wazoo about keeping our traps shut — you know how that's going to work with Magnes," she rolls her eyes, "they're … mostly on our side, I think." The fact that she's still leery is evident. She is so much still in siege mentality, even with a month to acclimate.
"You're married? Well, I guess if there was an evil version of me, it makes sense that there'd be a version of you that could get married," Richard observes, his tone bemused as he brings a hand up to rub at his lower jaw. "A daughter, too, jeeze…"
He glances to Liz, then back to Isabelle, "They are… mostly on our side, although things didn't go quite the same as we'd initially discussed. I need to talk with Kenner and find out what exactly happened there. Still, you're all walking free with money and identification, so that's not a bad deal."
"We're throwing a party to celebrate, everyone's invited." She promises both Liz and Richard with a wink before nodding along, she agrees it isn't a bad deal. "I…" she can't lie about Magnes and the fact that he keeping a secret wasn't likely but maybe!!
"Stranger than fiction Card. Or Ray," Isa has been doing her research it seems. "You fucking went legit. Look at both of us." It's pretty hard to believe. "A company man.. with Kaylee and that fucking wacko Warren."
"Kenner." She has also read about him. "What a motherfucker.. I guess not here."
"Ffffft," Elisabeth shrugs slightly. "It's not a bad deal," she agrees with Richard. "It's just yet another series of secrets that aren't really secrets." She slants a glance around them and finally uncrosses her arms, visibly attempting to relax some. "And yeah — this Kenner's apparently the good guy like he was before the Flood where the thing BETWEEN the strings didn't make him fucking bugnuts." She grimaces. "Doyle turned up somewhere else too, and they brought him into the quarantine later on. So I'm hoping Miles and the others made it and are just laying low. Just another day in the life of a Traveler, I guess." Because when have any of their jumps between worlds actually gone according to plan?
“What can I say,” Richard says with a wry smile and a shrug of one shoulder, “It’s a family business. Warren’s… well, I’m not going to say he’s stable, but he cares about his family at least.” He motions a little with a hand towards Liz, “Kenner here’s not a bad guy, but— we were agreed that we didn’t need any more of these secrets, so I’m not sure what changed.”
Still no word on Miles. Isa found herself worrying for the teleporter and also scolding herself inside for feeling for him, she wanted to continue distrusting all teleporters but that reality was quickly becoming more and more silly as time went on. On the thought of what could have changed the pyrokinetic can only think on her roots with PARIAH and her general distrust of all things government. She saw what happened when the world embraced the Evolved, it didn't always end that pretty. "Top brass doing what top brass always does, controlling the situation." The wind ruffles the back of her brunette hair and the wrinkles around her scar grow deep as she shrugs.
"It's an easier narrative, the one they're using." Or not using.
Elisabeth's shrug is easy. "It's going to be difficult for me to deal with Kenner until things fade," she admits. "But since you're the one that has to do that, I don't think it'll be an issue." She shoots him a cheeky grin. "This is what happens when you're the boss — you get to deal with all the bullshit." She does nod to Isabelle, though. "Honestly… I don't know that it's wise to dump alternate timelines onto an unsuspecting public. I mean…" She shrugs a little. "Individuals are good people… but people are stupid. Things are finally rebuilding. The last thing I'd really want is a panic over the possibility of an invasion, you know?" Her blue eyes roll. "If people even believed it."
“Yeah… the possibility,” Richard murmurs as he looks across the market, expression clouding briefly before he brushes it off with a shake of his head. “Anyway! We’re not here to talk about all that, I…”
He offers a wry smile to Isabelle, “I know some stuff about our past that should’ve been the same in your world, that you might not know… let’s, uh. You had lunch yet?“
Isa rememberers Bright and Arthur but she gives the two in front of her a hard look, "They see people flying in the air but cross dimensional is a stretch." The irony of it. Whether the public gets it or not is little of Isabelle's concern, her family is safe, sound and reunited. For the most part anyway. The talk of their past makes Isa stiffen and she shares a look with Elisabeth before slowly shaking her head, "You're buying."
"I have learned some things as well." It's as much of an admission that Richard's gonna get right now but her hazel eyes darken a fraction while that scar glows a hot orange, smoke wisps from underneath her hair and Isabelle stops herself before she goes full Hades and takes a breath closing her eyes before reopening them. A flash of her mother's face and her screams echoes through her mind but she keeps the cool, collected look she's adopted when she's fighting through her rage. "I need to hear about what happened when you landed too."
Isabelle's glance is met with Elisabeth's calm blue eyes. "Yeah — he's buying," she agrees with a grin. Her hand rests on Izzy's arm and squeezes lightly. "You don't have to tell all at once," she murmurs, knowing where the other woman's head went. "C'mon… lunch and drinks."
She hesitates and then admits, "well, hell…. all the old places are gone. So lead on, Richard." Amusement as she realizes she doesn't even know what's around is tempered by the momentary disconnect. "When we landed it was a clusterfuck," she tells Isabelle succinctly. "People hit the walls and vanished and then we landed and … something came with us. If we're talking about this though, I need a drink. And we need a silence field too." It's definitely not something that needs to be talked about in public.
“It’s not belief, they say they’re worried about some sort of interdimensional arms race… which, to be fair,” Richard admits with a shrug of both shoulders, “I know I don’t want Monroe’s company to get a hold of the Looking Glass technology.” He watches Isabelle for a moment, waiting for her to calm down with a hint of wariness… and then he nods, once, as she does.
He sweeps a hand towards a building off to the side, then, leading the way in that direction through the crowds. “Red Hook Tavern,” he suggests, “Decent food, decent drink.” He wouldn’t say good, but they’ve both been in places where the best to have is ratburger and moonshine, after all.
It's a strange thing to be here having lunch as if she wasn't an interdimensional traveler, the flask she kept in her back pocket is ignored. She can order a drink at lunch and Liz voices her desire in the physical and a sly smile crosses Izzy's lips. "I wonder if he can keep up," they had many nights with Isabelle's moonshine. The traveler is as calm as she will be though that nagging feeling in the back of her head still bothers her. The door she's locked on her own, as best she can. The door with the white smoke wafting out from underneath. Word of how Liz and the others fared makes her eyebrows rise and she leans in, "Something.. else?" Her brow furrows visibly and she looks to the sky. What did they do?
"Magnes?" Her breath holds in her chest as she steadies herself for whatever news of him there is. As they come to the tavern Isabelle looks the place up and down and grins, "It's as good as any, let's get fucked." There's plenty to go over and there's no better time than the present. "You know I make a mean moonshine," a beat as she eyes Liz to say different and she crosses her arms and gives Richard a cocky grin, its familiar she's worn it as long as he's known her. "It's pretty fucking good if I say so myself."
Her blue eyes roll skyward at the assertion of good moonshine. There is no such animal. "Someday I will forget how I almost went blind drinking that shit," she points out wryly. "Magnes is… doing okay. Elaine is one of the ones who spun out through the walls." Her tone is solemn. "We lost Lynette and Mateo as well as Miles, Ling, and «she won't leave anyone out but player can't remember and can't look it up». Doyle spun out as well, but he was located and brought to the quarantine. So… hopefully everyone who slipped landed here, just someplace other than where we landed."
She nods to Richard and starts moving in the direction of the Tavern. "Honestly, decent food to you is ambrosia to us," she admits. "I'm so tired of fish, and we were only there a few weeks. And I don't even want to think about what the hell we ate in the Wasteland." She grimaces. "A hamburger of real beef is such a gourmet thing it's ridiculous."
“It’s fucking horrible,” Richard observes with a roll of his eyes, and a grin of his own over in Isabelle’s direction as they walk. He’s shaking his head as he tells Liz, “She once purposefully broke one of the bathrooms at the orphanage so it’d close down for a week, and she used it to make some of that horrible stuff. I mean, sure, it got you drunk, but was it worth it?”
It’s not his Izzy, but up to a point, their histories should’ve been the same. “I’m sure that SESA’s looking out for the others who spun out — I’ve sent them a list of the dimensional weak points I know about, so they should at least have places to start from…
"It was one hundred percent. Worth it. Sister Agnes never suspected a thing." That is until one of the idiot kids started puking in front of one of the Nuns and then another. The gig was up very quick. "We drank it young and look at us now, I've got a fucking degree in science." She never would have done that if Kaito hadn't put her in there, encouraged her and pushed her.
News of the others is somber and she nods firmly, she was looking for Magnes too. "I'll find him." Liz knows what that means, it's family.
"Dimensional weak points, look at us. Hey," struck by a random thought that might not be so random at all. "…have you heard from Brenda?" Looking over to Richard expecting him to produce her phone number immediately or something. She had to be alive, she had to be around. She was always around. Except Isa hadn't seen her in any of the other timelines.
Elisabeth by now is laughing her ass off. "You should have seen the shit she was making in the original landing spot," she tells Richard, referring to Virus in a more oblique manner just to keep from saying 'Virus World' out loud. "Holy shit, I have no idea where the source material for that stuff came from. It's a wonder Aura's not brain damaged — It was like drinking straight gasoline, and I didn't know that baby was even a twinkle yet!" Shaking her head, shuddering in memory of the lemon death moonshine, she walks toward the tavern with her hands jammed in her pockets. "This damn woman, though? She went and got a fucking degree in physics, would you believe?" She shoulder-checks Izzy with a grin. "I have no idea how the hell she got any studying done at a bar, but she used to bring the damn homework to the club when I was singing so we could walk home together."
As to Brenda… that's a name Elisabeth hasn't heard here either, but she also didn't think to look or ask.
“Excuse me, did you just say that you’re a scientist?” Richard pulls down his shades slightly to regard his old friend (technically) over the bridge of those glasses, his expression bemused, “A physicist at that? What the hell, Izzy. I’m a CEO and you wear lab coats now? You looking for a job? I have lots of scientists that work for me these days…”
Amusement as he walks into the tavern, head shaking, “What’s come of the world… and no, I haven’t seen Brenda in years and years.”
Waving both of them off Isa looks off to the side, "Its nothing, I'm still me. Fuck that." The fuck added for good measure but she grins and beelines for the bar knocking her fist on the surface. "Drinks on this guy," pointing towards Richard with a wicked grin, "I fell into PARIAH, training with Kaito…" there's a look of frustration briefly, she thought she had killed Magnes and by all rights he should be dead. Kaito hadn't accounted for or cared that Magnes was caught in the crossfire. It still rubbed her the wrong way leaving her with the same sort of relationship she's had with anyone whose mentored/brought her up: complicated.
"He got me into school in Rochester, the shit is…" grimacing at when she first was in class, "Just know I worked really hard and it was all in the name of being a good terrorist." She laughs and shakes her head, "It gave me a headache for a long while but when I want something," Isa doesn't need to finish that sentence with the two of them right there in front of her, they already knew what she would say.
She leans in at the sound of scientists and looks excited at the prospect of more science friends, "Well Namiko got herself a job with Yamagato. That's how we ended up here err..". Rubbing the back of her head. "Shahid and I had ourselves a little adventure on the way in— anyway," planting her hands on either side of the bar while she waits for the bartender to bring her something strong, "They extended an offer to me. We're discussing options. The obvious… ties I have got me a meeting with the chiefs over there." What have you, she waves her hand. All she wants is the family to be together, all of them.
"Tell me what kind of work you guys are doing," leaning in eagerly.
As she leans on the bar next to Isabelle, Elisabeth is actually listening to the information the other woman is laying out with a faint frown. "I have to admit I'm totally not up on the corporate crap these days… is Yamagato a Nakamura subsidiary?" she asks, uncertain where the company falls in the mix of today's good/bad/ugly organizations.
She orders a simple beer from the bartender and then comments wryly, "Jesus, what aren't they doing? Hydroponic gardens, robot receptionists, arming Wolfhound… it seems like it runs the gamut."
“It’s under Kimiko Nakamura, yes,” Richard confirms as he steps into the tavern, easing onto a stool and resting a folded arm on it. The other comes up to pull off his shades, no longer as necessary in the dimmer interior, squinting a moment to adjust as he folds them against his chest and tucks them into the neckline of his shirt.
“They’re… well,” he tilts his head back, “They’re a good company, although there are some things that worry me. I think we’re clearing some of those up— Monica works there, actually, these days. She’ll be thrilled to see you.”
He flashes a smile to Liz, and then he’s answering Isabelle, “We mostly do— innovation. We make new ideas, then sell them to other people to market and mass produce. A lot of it’s through Warren, some through Devi, some through just ordinary scientists and engineers. Our big project right now is that hydroponics facility, since the Safe Zone has to import most of its food right now…”
A tilt of her head, "Worry, how so?" It's better to tell her than have her go and see herself, Richard and Liz both know that's where her head is going. "Monica, she's a good one." The first mate of that crazy old bat Eve Mas back in the previous world, the flooded one. She thinks of her scar and of that teleporter whose name she would never know it seems.
Slamming back the harsh liquor Isa grins widely at Richard. "Innovation. Hydroponics, I can't get over this." Slapping her hand on the bar. "I'm gonna need to get a tour. A robot receptionist..?" A snicker, "Sounds like a tech wonderland." The underlying thoughts on Yamagato linger and she swirls the glass she holds in her hands. A faint crease in her eyebrows.
"It's definitely been a process getting Aura to settle down." Elisabeth rolls her eyes. Izzy knows how the girl dislikes robots. "It's getting better though … Ricky and Lili almost have her staying in the same room when one's around." It's amusing only in that Aurora is so damned stoic about it.
Then she lights up. "Monica's there? Primal." Liz grins. "Felix and Monica, ran into Abigail, I know where Gillian is and gotta get by to see her… Just gotta sort out Vee's location, I guess." She has managed to touch base with at least some of their people. A few notable exceptions.
“As much as I like the Nakamura’s, they were still Company once… and there was some other stuff that I can’t talk about openly,” admits Richard, reaching out to take the shot glass that Isabelle’s order brought in front of him, “Monica’s… I don’t know how happy she is there, honestly, but she owes them a lot for that arm of hers.”
There’s actual worry there, his jaw setting for a moment before he knocks back the shot glass and then thunks it back down to the bar, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand as he exhales a rush of breath. “I can get you Vee’s number,” he says with a tilt of his head to Liz, “And Monica’s… uh, around a lot, so you’ll run into her soon at Raytech.”
"Abigail," Isabelle slams her hand on the bar, "That's a name I haven't thought of in forever. My nun." A gentle snort as she makes a ring in the air to the bartender. Another. The pyrokinetic listens to the opinions on Yamagato and the family that runs it. Untrustworthy okay, nodding her head along with him. "Secrets don't make friends." Something Izzy use to say when they were younger. "But I don't want to have to kill anyone for trying to kill you for telling their secrets."
The drink that's placed in front of Isabelle is knocked back and she slams the glass on the table giving both of the people in front of her a look through her half lidded gaze, "Let's get to the nasty bit. Richard,"
Leaning in close her hazel eyes shine on the dim light of the tavern, "Who killed me here?"
Quirking a brow at the tone in which Monica's presence at Raytech is offered, Elisabeth pauses for a moment and swallows the shot in her glass. And then, thank God for small favors, she's distracted from whatever her own thoughts are by the question Isabelle asks. Her blue eyes swivel to the pyrokinetic and BOTH her brows shoot to her hairline. "Really, Iz? I mean, for fuck's sake, woman — I already told you what the you here was into." At least what she knew of it all. "Why the fuck you wanna wade into that bullshit? Haven't you dealt with enough?" Learning what happened to her mother was something Liz lived through with the other woman and she's not wanting her sister to face any more shit.
“It’s alright, Liz…” Richard shakes his head, the shot glass picked up again and tilted towards the pyrokinetic with a rueful look on his face, “They’re dead so there’s no need for you to go rarin’ off on a streak to avenge your own death or anything.”
The smile fades as he looks back at the glass, tilting it and considering the way the light plays off it, “In another world, someone was kept in isolation in Level Five for a long time. It was the original ‘bright’ timeline, not the one you two went through. After thirty or so years in lock-up, that Edward Ray went a little insane in his desperation to change the world. Staged a break-out. Went back in time. Fought with our Edward until finally he died on the roof of Pinehearst.”
His gaze flickers to Isabelle, “He killed my Izzy for a vial of the Formula. I put a bullet in him, but it didn’t take. He died all the same a few months later.”
Shooting Liz a look that usually would result in someone or something bursting into flames she shrugs her shoulders, "I don't learn the easy way boo you know me." There's a flicker of a smile to hide the stab of pain that is remembering more clearly what happened to her mother and father. Isa leans back though as Richard speaks of her "killer" and the glass that Izzy holds warps and smokes as her hand heats up and the air around her rising dramatically. "What an asshole. I knew there was a reason ai hated him." Besides the fact that she disliked all forms of Precognition as a rule.
It takes a moment but Richard witnesses something he's never gotten a chance to see. Liz has been more fortunate. The smoke that rises from her scalp slowly dissipates and the smell of burning coal leaves as well. Nostrils flare as Izzy breathes in deeply and exhales just as hard until you can barely hear her breath at all it's so soft.
The glass sits warped on the table but no wild burst of flames, no loss of control. Her emotions firmly in check. That door in her mind with the smoke seeping from beneath closed and locked only a distance scream. Isa's eyes open and she smiles slowly over at Richard, "Kaito's training. Bastard had some use."
Elisabeth's blue eyes on Isabelle are wary — she's uncertain how Iz will take the information that Edward fucking Ray was the cause of her counterpart's death here in Prime. When it's nothing more than a bit of smoke and annoyance, Liz relaxes. Mostly. And she shakes her head slightly. "He… was good for a number of things," she comments quietly of Kaito. "Training for both of us, getting you into school, slowing Pinehearst down." By blowing the place up, but still. "I think he did as much as he felt like he could do without making things even worse." A faint smile plays at the corners of her lips. "Our arrival in the Bright world changed a few things about what was to come… maybe changed Hiro a little too." She pauses and then looks at Richard. "I managed to save Taylor Reed in that one," she tells him quietly. "He never went to Moab. Never got caught."
“Hey, it wasn’t all of him, just… that one, and we’re all glad he’s dead,” Richard admits, his lips twisting in a grimace, “Dad wasn't— well. I understand why he did most of what he did, anyway, and I can forgive him for it.” He watches Isabelle a bit warily until the heat bleeds off, and he visibly relaxes. At least nothing burst into flames.
“Reed? Good,” he says with a brow’s lift to Liz, “I haven’t seen him in— well, a long time. I assume he’s still out there, somewhere…” The shot glass is knocked on the bar and he slides it forward to get a refill, “I ran into Niles awhile back.”
"I'm not sure we're totally different from the other us's," there's a narrowing of her eyes as her eyes settle on that teleporter she ran into so much through the timelines, "Sometimes all incarnations need to go but cheers to the death of Ray." Isa feels something about her best friend using that man's last name but that's a fight for later this year. Wrinkling her nose at the word Dad, "Are we sure that's your father? You're not as slimey." Raising her hand for another drink the pyrokinetic shudders at the thought of Moab.
"The me from there was trapped in there. Kinda my fault," rubbing the back of her head. "Had a run in with the cops, big big misunderstanding of course." She hadn't tried to kidnap her alt timeline brother in law.
"He knows Edward Ray isn't his father," Elisabeth says darkly. "His mother and father — his real ones — never stopped looking for him. But the Dave Cardinal here is a motherfucker." She hasn't even met him, but he hurt Richard. And after all they've all been through, she's not exactly feeling forgiving about that.
Slanting a glance at Isabelle with the big big misunderstanding, she simply rolls her eyes. She knows her sister. But instead of commenting, she simply takes the next shot glass as it's laid out and swallows its contents, briefly wincing with the back of her hand against her mouth. "Yeah," she tells Richard. "Who knew all those years in Frontline and fighting the Vanguard would turn me into an urban escape and evasion expert?" Sarcasm for the win. "The Feds never got near him. Felix gave me side-eyes for that one."
“Adopted.” Richard reaches out as his shot glass is refilled, frowning at it for a moment before looking to the two women, “He did what he had to do to keep us safe. Me, Kaylee, Warren, Valerie. Are either of you going to tell me that if you could see your children dying, if you knew what would happen, you wouldn’t do anything you needed to, anything, to keep them safe?”
He shakes his head, “I know I would. I have.”
And down the hatch with the liquor.
"I didn't meet an Edward Ray that I didn't want to lob a fireball at." Shrugging her shoulders, "Good thing for everyone he's dead then." She glares at her shot glass, "He probably knew about me." It's a wise ass remark and threatens to reveal the shit she's going through herself. Leaning back, "If Namiko was in trouble I would burn the world and back," it's said evenly and though it makes Richard's point she shrugs that off too.
"But I'm a wicked wicked woman."
That causes Elisabeth to pause briefly and slant a look at Richard. And then she smiles faintly. "We all have… just to get this far." And so that, right there, is where she leaves it. Because in the end… they've all already agreed — family is everything. And sometimes you make choices to keep your own family safe even at the expense of other families. No matter how guilty you might feel.
"Now… how 'bout them Yankees? Are there still any goddamn Yankees games?" Because this world isn't the one she left 7 years ago, and it's not one Isabelle's had the chance to know yet. "And oh my god…. Isabelle, I actually have songs on a fucking record here!" She turns her bright blue eyes to the pyrokinetic. "Ygraine actually got the thing on the air and I had five minutes of fame!" Well… five minutes for the music. A hell of a lot more for the interview she gave Bradley Russo, but she doesn't mention that. It feels weird.
“She did,” Richard’s lips tug up at the corner in a crooked smile now that the matter’s moved on from everyone’s hatred of his adoptive father, “You’re a bonafide celebrity, Liz, if you’re not careful you’ll get paparazzi hunting you down for interviews at this rate.” That’ll probably be more for the interview part too.
“There aren’t a lot of organized sports right now,” he admits, “The stadium was, well, in the part of the city that isn’t anymore. I think people are watching a lot of soccer lately, although they still refuse to call it ‘football’ mostly.”
Isabelle snickers and shakes her head, "A true siren then. Ygraine rest her soul." Raising her glass for her own Ygraine, who had remained in the Bright world.
"So no angry hockey matches." Snapping her fingers, "I wanted to take Shahid." Isabelle laces her fingers through her hair and smiles softly with eyes closed the alcohol doing its job, she had a few healthy sips from her flask before getting to the Market anyway (winkwink.) The brunette opens her eyes slowly to look between Richard and Liz, "We'll need to take a tour sometime of the campus."
"Soccer." A light grin, "I remember a boy who played soccer you hated him but I just wanted to be his friend so we could steal his ball." And his whatever valuables he had in his backpack.
"I swear to you on all that I hold holy, Richard Cardinal, if the paparazzi follow me around, someone is gonna get hurt," Elisabeth informs him, only mostly kidding. There is still a very obvious edge to the audiokinetic, a sense that her head is still on a constant swivel as if she expects attack from any quarter at any time. 'Coming home from the war' is not a moment in time… it's a process. "Especially if it happens when Aurora's around, I can't be held accountable for my actions." She sticks her tongue out at the man.
"How's Shahid holding up with all the change and turmoil, Iz?" Because her de facto brother-in-law doesn't do change very well.
“I mean,” Richard sips at his drink, eyes closing, “You are in the history books, after all, Liz.”
"He's content. There are waffles." A light grin at the thought of how happy her husband was to not be on the move, "We both miss the friends we made but this place is cool. Different but.." a thought strikes her and she eyes Richard a little closer. Isabelle's gaze then flicks to the crowd of the tavern lazily.
"Who do you know that's still alive," drumming her fingers along her arm casually, "That worked on the Formula. For Synthetic Evolved."
Elisabeth groans. And although she did not set it up before, the silence field that Richard was once so familiar with slams into place immediately. "For fuck's sake, Isabelle!" she grouses. "At least give me half a second to make us quiet before you throw verbal hand grenades on the table!" She rolls her blue eyes.
Sighing heavily, she does ask curiously, "Why? What do you think you'll find out here that we didn't already learn in in the five years we were there?" Liz isn't sure precisely what Isabelle's driving at here, but given the givens, it's always safer to know what Izzy's up to.
Richard tilts his head, one hand lifting to pull the shades down the bridge of his nose and regard Isabelle over them as the silence falls around them like a shroud.
“I’m going to have to echo Liz, here,” he notes, “What exactly are you digging into Icarus for, Izzy? Those bones are long buried, and the Catalyst is long gone.”
The only secret it seems Isabelle cares about keeping is the one that she's from another dimension. Eyes flash as the Catalyst is brought up, "You think I want to make more of that shit?"
"Those bones are apart of my history." Isabelle looks away from the two and idly swishes around her drink studying it. "When my mother crossed over she participated in that project, I manifested early because of it, very early." Biting back her next words the pyrokinetic instead she swallows back more liquor it's not bitter enough to wash the taste of guilt from her mouth. "Ended up killing my parents. Locked away by the Company. Before they put us together," she shakes her head before continuing though a dark look has entered her eyes.
"The people who did this to me may be dead," and with their deaths her chance for vengeance expired, "But there is more to this story, to my story." Finishing her drink and gently setting it on the table she then looks towards the couple, "My husband's family is involved as well. So," leaning comfortably on the table. "Do you know anyone alive who has the information I need? Records on me, my mother, Shahid's family."
Elisabeth reaches over and refills her glass, nursing it this time. She's clearly listening, pulling in a slow breath and letting it out as Isabelle speaks. Her blue eyes flicker to Richard as Izzy tells the full story of what happened to her when she was brought here. She already knows what happened — she sat with Isabelle through several crying jags, rages, and guilt. But her brows pull together in a furrow at the revelation that it involves Shaw too. "Wait, what? How's Shahid's family involved in this?" That part, they never really talked about — it was more about trying to give Izzy a place to put all of her grief and guilt over what happened when she was a child.
Shoving her free hand through her hair, she murmurs, "I wish we'd known all that earlier." Glancing at Isabelle with a grimace, she admits, "Felix had … documentation. It's what they were going to use to take Arthur and Pinehearst down in their world. A bunch of old Company documents and some others that he and a source dug up." Literally. Dug up from a graveyard in a grave she doesn't want to name. She and Felix were each other's only trusted confidants with it all. "We … had all of it in our hands. In 2014." The confession is reluctant — she's definitely not sure she wants to go digging up these old fucking ghosts again. "That kind of stuff wasn't what we were looking for at the time."
Her gaze on Richard is uncertain — are they going to fall into that rabbit hole again? Can she even …. She cuts off the train of thought and simply swallows the alcohol in her glass.
A newly-refilled glass is picked up by Richard, and he looks down into it for a long moment of silent consideration, watching the way the light refracts through glass and liquor without seeing it. Finally he speaks, carefully, “Most of the records are… gone. Most of them were long since destroyed, by the Company or by the Institute when they hit all of the old Company buildings. The remaining records are scattered, bits of them held here and there by various people.”
He tilts the glass back to his lips, taking a solid swallow, eyes closed as it goes down. Once it does, he says, “Talk to Ryans.”
The shoulda coulda wouldas aren't something that Isabelle feels she wants to reflect on but she reaches over to grip Liz's hand firmly. "You couldn't have known." None of them could. As her oldest friend gives her a name the pyrokinetic looks at Richard closely, he knows what this means for her. If she asks then she really does need the help. Usually she just goes on her own. She's trying to be different.
"Thanks. You know I appreciate this." She feels she pounded them free of information as much as she should today. There were things to investigate to see still but there was also fun to have. Good times. "Alright we need three shots!" Banging her hand on the table.
The Hangover was sure to rise to meet them in the morning.