Participants:
| Scene Title | Existentialism and Shortcake |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | … are on the menu when Magnes visits Peyton to offer an apology. |
| Date | April 17, 2010 |
Peyton's Apartment
How does one apologize for flipping out on an elevator? Magnes has no idea, but he's wearing a long black wool trenchcoat and a pair of plain blue jeans. He has a bit to do today, but he'd like to talk to Peyton without having to explain any bruises that will result after. Knocking on her door a few times, she'll see he's carrying a tray with a distroted glass lid, so she can only just make out that it's a white cake, but not what kind. "It's Magnes."
Why is he always bringing her food? Peyton peers out the peekhole and opens the door, arching a brow. "Bringing cake doesn't make you any less insane, Anakin." Apparently he's been downgraded from Darth Vader. Maybe Peyton's actually seen one of the movies she's alluded to since she dubbed him Vader so many months ago. It's possible. She's spent a lot more time at home and out of clubs in the past year than she ever has in her life. She doesn't let him in, but blocks the door way, one hand on hip and her head tilted at him, waiting for him to explain. It's clear she's not planning on heading out, as she's in short yoga pants and a raglan t-shirt, her feet bare and her hair in a ponytail.
Magnes stares at the yoga pants for a good ten seconds before shaking his head and looking back up at her. "Oh, uh, right, explain." He takes a deep breath, looking from left to right. "This is one of those things I can't really let the whole world hear, about why I tried to kill the detective. But as far as tackling the guy with the gun goes, I know it was a risk. But risking one person maybe getting a badly aimed shot seemed a lot better than some guy potentially flipping out and shooting everyone. In the police academy, they try to teach you to make your best judgment, and sometimes it's not an easy or pleasant one."
Her eyes narrow at the explanation for attacking Tommy, but she shrugs and steps aside to let Magnes into the apartment. "Fine, come in, but don't expect me to understand. You can't attack people in elevators. Someone else could have gotten hurt, and that guy… you give them even more reason to hate people like us, you know? Even if he obviously is someone like us." By us, Peyton means Evolved, apparently. Once he's in the apartment, she pulls the door closed.
"I'd try to kill him again if I saw him." Magnes says with an underlaying hatred in his tone, entering the apartment as he begins to look for a place to sit the cake. When the door is closed, he finally begins to explain about that. "He's the one. He invited me for a private meeting, early in the morning. He asked me a bunch of questions, then suddenly I either got tasered or tranqed, can't remember too clearly, and they kidnapped me. Next thing you know, I'm on a boat being drafted into some secret war, Operation Apollo. The last time I ever saw Claire. I was in Argentina, so far away from her, because of him. I could have done something… I know I needed to be there, in Argentina, and if I wasn't there, everyone would have died, but god, I could have done something. That bastard…"
He opts to sit the cake on the table they ate at a few weeks ago, shaking his head. "That bastard completely changed my life. The next time I see him, I'm just gonna stop his heart, and no one's gonna know what happened."
"While I agree that he didn't have the right to do that to you, you can't kill him, Magnes. That'd make you as bad as him. And he's not the real problem, is he? He's just the … he's just the arm doing the government's bidding, right? It's the whole government and the bureaucracy that's the problem, not him, himself," Peyton says, leaning against the table. "I on't think he's right to do it, but … he is doing a job that's wrong. It's not like Danko who's just out killing people or torturing them out of pure evil."
"Aren't good intentions usually the root of all evil? Danko kills and tortures people because he thinks he's protecting his own kind from a threat. I tortured Danko because it made me feel better, because I'm a person who gets all caught up in revenge, because your face, crying, was stuck in my head. Which one of us do you think is more evil?" Magnes pulls a chair from the table and takes a seat, hunching over and resting his arms on his legs. "I say a lot of things just to seem more moral than I actually am. People give me a lecture about torture being wrong, and I say I understand even though I know I'd do it again. It's not fair that only the good suffer, because somehow we have to be better than what we fight. I don't kill people, there's the extent of my ethics, and sometimes I'm not even good at keeping that…"
Peyton's brows furrow as he says he tortured Danko because of her. "I don't know if torturing people is any better than killing them, really. I'd like to see Danko killed but instead everyone keeps kicking the shit out of him and letting him live and then he causes more pain. It's a cycle that's not going to stop. He's not going to learn his lesson because someone did the same thing to him — he's not capable of that, because he's … he's just sick. Period."
She crosses her arms. "Don't do it again because of my face in your head, all right? Or, I don't want to know about it if you do. It certainly doesn't make me feel better about what he did to me or Wendy or Felix or Helena or whoever else he hurt. I just want it all to end, and kicking him in the balls isn't going to stop him from hurting someone again."
"No, it's not. I wasn't capable of killing him that time, that's why I didn't." Magnes sounds as if he almost regrets letting Danko go, shaking his head in disapproval. "The next time I see Danko, he's not going anywhere alive. Some people need to die, some people are just… threats. Can't even put him in jail, the government's protecting him. But, I'm sorry Peyton, I just… I lost it. When I saw Vincent, all I could think of was everything I lost, everything I had to go through, and knowing he was the start of it all, I just…"
Sighing a little in exasperation at herself for not being able to stay angry at people, except those like Danko, Peyton pats Magnes on the shoulder. "Don't worry about it, just… be more careful. You could have been arrested for attacking him. And he has power. Who the hell knows, he could have had someone mess with our memories so we all thought you caused everything — that lady getting shot, the one he strangled to knock out — just to get you behind bars or something. If you want to change this world, you can't do it like that." Like she knows how to change it — aside from her work with Endgame, which is mostly just filing things and carrying paintings around for Cardinal.
"I'm trying my best, I honestly am. I have so much on my plate right now, important decisions to make." Magnes removes the lid from the tray, revealing a strawberry shortcake. "I used to just think I might not live through the year, but this time, I'm almost sure I won't. I bit off a lot, but in the end, it'll all be for the best. But at least tonight I get to let loose and do something fun."
"That's morbid," Peyton says, narrowing her eyes a bit at him. "I guess I'm shocked I made it to 21, though, for a lot of reasons. The past year especially." Thanks to Humanis First. She shakes her head at the cake. "You don't need to bring me food every time you come over, you know. I'm not really hungry right now, and I feel bad taking your food. It's not like I need to be fed."
"I was apologizing. I'd have made you clothes, but I don't really know what socialites like to wear." Magnes stares over at her pants again, then quickly averts his eyes to the floor. "And I'm not so much being morbid, as just very realistic. Someone's gonna kill me, that's not even up for debate. If one of the many anti-Evolved people who have seen me on television don't kill me, then someone else is going to, for one reason or another. So many people can see the future, so I know a lot of people probably have a reason to kill me before I even do anything."
Peyton doesn't even try to mask the roll of her eyes at the word socialite. "You've seen me a few times. Do I dress so differently than anyone else you know? And I'm hardly a socialite these days. If I'm not hiding from Humanis First, I'm hiding from the Company or whatever else is a threat to my privacy and safety." She narrows her eyes as he talks about precogs knowing what he might be up to. "Why, what do you have planned that you think is going to get you killed? Because I highly highly suggest … uh, rethinking whatever it is, or maybe running it by someone who has resources and … maybe some connections."
"I'm not in a position to ask for help, or tell you what I'm doing. I can't trust anyone. Not one person, I'm on my own." Magnes shrugs his shoulders, looking just a tad exhausted as he's still been trying to catch up on sleep. "That's why I die at the end, more or less. It's what happens when you don't know anyone you'll trust with your life."
She arches a brow. "Everyone dies at the end, Magnes," she points out. "I haven't heard of anyone in the past who hasn't." She rubs her shin with one bare foot. "I would just… suggest you think carefully. There might be other people trying to do something and you might end up," she thinks for the word for a moment, "counteracting each other, maybe even hurting someone else who you wouldn't want to, if you cross paths, you know? That could happen with anyone at any time, of course, but you're not the kind of person who can deal with the guilt if it does, I don't think."
"Well, I don't have a choice in this, it just kind of… happened. It's a gigantic punch I'm attempting to roll with, I guess would be a good way to put it. You're the only one I've even told I have a problem, I guess because I'd like someone to know, before I end up in a ditch somewhere, that my intentions were good. I'd just… like you to tell people that, in the end." Magnes slowly stands, shaking his head. "I did what I came here to do, which was explain that I wasn't absolutely insane. I don't wanna drag your day down."
"What are you having a problem with, besides the government and Department of Evolved Affairs guy, and everything else, Magnes? What specifically? No one can help you if you don't ask." She sighs and shoves her hands in her pockets. "I have friends who maybe can if I knew what to tell them. Telling people when you're dead that you had good intentions isn't really very helpful, in the end."
"I can't trust your friends, I can't trust my friends. I'm taking a huge leap just telling you I'm even having some sort of trouble. And for god's sake, don't say anything over the phone about this, in fact, try not to say anything at all." Magnes is still mostly calm, except for his exhaustion, and starts heading into the living room. "I'm more worried about my memory than getting any help. I don't know who's in what organization, who might be aligned or some sort of double agent. I just can't take risks. Don't say anything, and considering you're the only person I'm telling this, I'll know if you said anything. I should get going."
Ugh! Peyton manages to keep the exasperated sound solely in her inner monologue. Why is he telling her of all people, if she's not supposed to try to help him? She shakes her head and sighs. "I'll get your cake plate back to you soon," she says, rather blandly and anti-climactically as he walks to the door. "I'm sure everything will be okay. And I don't talk about anything important on the phone anymore. Cat's already put the fear of technopaths into me, if not the fear of God." She walks to the door to open it for him. "Be careful, whatever you're up to."
"I'll be careful, Peyton. I'm sure we have more awkward moments ahead of us" Magnes heads out the door, looking back one last time with a friendly smile. "Give me a call if you need anything."