Participants:
| Scene Title | Daisies Instead |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Two separated lovers make the most of the day despite a very literal barrier. |
| Date | February 14, 2011 |
There are a few buildings severed by the emergence of the shimmery power-wrought forcefield known publicly as 'The Dome'. It's hard to know exactly how many, but there's one such building in Queens that suddenly found itself severed into two pieces, with an impassable wall seperating the two sides.
No one had been unfortunate in this area of the now deserted building. There's no blood stains, or severed body parts, and while there's also no power on the Dome side, but the building itself still has electricity on the other— Though the lights and heat don't work. Even then, walls keep a lot of the chill out. A small battery powered lantern illuminates the inside of the room, though is difused on the other side.
Adel paces back and forth on the first floor of the building, looking down at her phone, and wondering just how well sound carries through.
Entering from a back door, JJ moves gingerly through the building warily, one hand curled around his gun, the other around a Maglight before the light from Adel's lantern lights his path toward her.
He clears his throat as he approaches, stowing his weapon in his belt and stepping close to the barrier that divides the two of them. One hand comes up to graze the fuzzy edge, fingers curling back a little as the strange sensation stings the multitude of tiny cuts and scrapes on his fingertips. "A," he says softly, brows knitting and lips parting.
"Jay!" Adel says with a hop, moving toward the fuzzy edge of the Dome pretty much as close as she can comfortably, reaching a hand out toward him, before she focuses on his appearance— tiny cuts. "Are you okay? I didn't know you were hurt. Do they have medical supplies— anything? Are you warm? Do you have food? Are you…" she trails off.
"Sorry— Ingrid said you were okay, but— that was before things started getting really bad in here! Is it as bad as it looks?" Most likely she wants to throw herself through the Dome and hug him— but she knows such a thing would just hurt.
Adel can't see beneath his coat and sweater the bandages that wrap around his torso from waist to pecs, the sutures holding his skin together. And that's the only benefit of the barrier between them — that she won't be able to see them, that she won't be able to feel them if they were to hug. He smiles and drops his hand.
"I'm good. The Center has some medical supplies, but they might not last much longer. Felt like an ass having to use some of the supplies when there are others who need 'em, but oh well," he says, eyes on her face, drinking her in. "You look beautiful. Are you okay? You know they think Kincaid's in here, too, right? Got caught by HF or something, I guess. Working on finding him."
"Oh, who, me? I'd probably have a bunch of scrapes and bruises myself if I had to do half the stuff you do," Adel says with a shake of her head, thought the smile itself is pleased in a way. Girls often like to hear that they're pretty from the guys that they happen to care about. Especially on Valentine's Day.
"I heard, yeah," she says as she moves back away from the edge of the dome, ducking behind a desk to pull out a backpack. The outside of the Dome hasn't been looted yet, but the inside— not so much the same.
"I bought myself a Valentine's Day present," she says, pulling out a fluffy stuffed bear holding a heart. "I'll pretend that it's from you," she says with a grin over the bear's head, as she hugs it against her chest. Probably the hug that she wanted to give him. "I'm glad you're okay. You missed the first concert, but when you get out of here I have a signed CD— and Josh and I broke Alia Chavez out of government hands. Hopefully she'll stay out of it this time."
"I would have gotten you a bigger bear. Or maybe a chipmunk. Do they have Valentine's Day chipmunks?" he says with a fond grin broadening his face for a moment before the rest of her words register.
"Holy shit, how'd you do that?" he says, a low whistle showing his appreciation and awe. "Just the two of you?" It's not said with any sort of jealousy — more respect for the fact that the two of them did it without any one else's help.
"You can buy me another one when you get out," Adel says with a nod, but doesn't stop hugging the bear with both her arms. It doesn't look like an expensive or high priced bear— more like the kind bought at a corner store. On sale. For a few bucks.
"Just us two— it was only a convoy. They were moving her, and Ingrid gave us intel on time and place, so we intercepted. I let Josh do what he's been wanting to do for like— ever. The cannonball-Adel thing. It was actually really fun. I think I'll do it again if he asks! It didn't hurt or anything!"
JJ's brows knit with worry and he shakes his head. "I'm sure that was primal, man, but…. just… be careful," he murmurs. "I don't wanna get outta here in order to find you in traction somewhere, all right?"
A smile shows he is mostly kidding, though his green eyes hold worry in them still. "FitzRoy helped me across the bridge; her and AquaMan are helping people over the water, since the boat guy was our HF spokesperson. Coward. Wasn't even there, I guess. Just a recording." He shakes his head angrily.
From the wide grin, Adel obviously agrees on how primal the event had been. She's obviously pleaseed with herself, and the fact that she and Josh did something so potentially dangerous by themselves. Though that smile twinges slightly at the mention of FitzRoy and AquaMan. "Quinn's really worried about her— I wish I could tell her that she's okay, but— "
She squeezes the bear tight, perhaps guilty for the fact she's not sure she can find a way to share that info without having to explain more than she's likely willing to. Secret identities suck. "I'm glad she's okay— and the rest. It really sucks that you're stuck in there with the bigots, but I think they'd be worse off if you weren't in there. To help and all."
"Ygraine's pretty great," JJ says softy. "She's… she's okay. Physically at least. She was pretty shook up by all the things she'd seen. A hand, that got cut off. She saw that. I can't even imagine." He glances down at his hands — the source of his power. If they were cut off… he would not only be handicapped, but he'd no longer have his ability.
He looks up and shrugs. "I think you could maybe pass it on, somehow. I donno. Like, say you found out you have a friend in here who met some girl who walked on the underside of bridges with a limey accent? That she was helping people or something like that? No reason to make her worry. They trust you — you wouldn't have to explain everything, I don't think."
He glances over his shoulder, then back to her. "It's not so bad, at least, with them here. It's good to know that there's someone I can rely on."
"I'll try to think of something," Adel says with a quiet nod. "She knows I have someone in the Dome too, Robyn, and I actually have met Ygraine too, on the rooftop during a Christmas Party, and she introduced herself as Robyn's girlfriend. So I swing it, somehow— I just can't say who you are… I don't want to jepordize your cover. Already put Ingrid's in enough."
A drummer in a band isn't a dangerous cover— but a FRONTLINE officer and DoEA intern— those are.
"You better get out of there soon, though! You and Ygraine and AquaMan and Kincaid— and everyone else." There's a pause and she smiles— not her wide cheerful smiles of normal, but something sadder. "I miss you."
He nods, moving gingerly to sit down on the floor, nodding to her to do the same. There's the slightest of tension around his eyes as he tries to hide that it hurts to do so. "Good idea. I had to break cover a little and say I have a friend stuck with the bigots, and that I'm looking for Ryans, which is sketchy, but you know, some things are more important than covers, right? Kincaid is. You are."
JJ watches her for a moment, pressing his lips together. "Not quite a Valentine's Day picnic, but…" he says with a smile. "Can you just… sit with me a bit? Also, if we're pretending I bought you presents, can you pretend I sent you two dozen roses?"
He smiles. "One dozen yellow," he says softly, "because we started as friends. And one dozen red."
"I never really did like flowers," Adel says with a grin, as she moves closer to the edge and sits down, even if the closer she gets the more she feels the tingling. In some ways it's pleasant. By sitting down, she shows that, indeed, she'll stay with him for a while. "But I think from you… I think from you I'd like them more."
Lifting a hand up out of the bear-hug, she presses her fingers against her lips and then holds her hand out. It doesn't touch the edge of the Dome, but it gets close enough.
"While we're here— you should tell me everything that's been going on… And then I'll repay you with a full account of Operation Rescue Technopath."
"Maybe daisies instead of roses," JJ says. "They're cheerier. And a big meal somewhere that we don't have to eat out of cans." He smiles at the 'kiss,' cheeks coloring just a touch as he mirrors the gesture, holding his hand just inches from hers. Inches apart, and yet so far away.
He drops it after a moment and nods. It's one way to spend time — and he's got plenty of it in the Dome.