Participants:
| Scene Title | Far From Pointless |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Lene and one of her future adoptive mothers have a conversation as peers and friends about fate, abilities, and the future. |
| Date | April 18, 2011 |
Most people hate Mondays. Robyn Quinn, though, is the exception to this rule. At least, when it comes to work on Mondays. For her, Mondays are notoriously light work days by her standards. Sure, she had her share of paper work and real work to do, but her radio show is several days away, and any bands she's scheduled to hear usual aren't until later in the week. So, aside from the paper work her day tends to consist of listening to music, looking for new bands to get in contact with, scheduling appearances and shows, and surfing the internet doing all of these things at once.
For her? That's something she'd e doing anyway. Except today she gets paid for it. The only thing that could spoil it would be her producer coming to her with something extra to do for the week. Thankfully, that hasn't happened yet.
What has happened, though, is the arrangement of a meeting. Quinn had been hesitant, in all honesty. It hadn't occurred to her until she'd gotten on her phone to call Tartarus and double check some arrangements for the show at the end of the month that she'd passed the newest entry into her contact list.
Jolene
Calling had been simple enough, asking her to make a stop in by Studio K if she had time, and the receptionist notified so that Jolene could just make her way up to Quinn's office when she arrived. All that was left for the musician to do now was work, and wait.
Jolene doesn't have work — in fact, she's spent the morning dropping off applications at a variety of places, and is dressed in what she hopes is professional-intern-slash-college-student-chic. Hopefully the red rain boots don't harm her in the process — she hopes they mean she's practical. After all, slogging around in puddles in New York makes for cold feet and grimy shoes, otherwise.
Pinstriped skirt and blazer, a red trenchcoat, and a gray fedora complete the look for the job hunt, but Lene is feeling a little uncertain of the outfit for re-meeting Quinn. She pauses outside of the office to peer down at the red wellies, then shrugs. Poking her head into the office, she holds out a hand and a glowing, luminescent green H and I announce her arrival.
What Lene sees is a rare sight indeed. Quinn sits in a desk chair, hunched over with pen in hand and glasses on her face. Of thes tore bought reading variety, but glasses none the less. She's even dressed more formally than usual, in a nice black button up shirt and a black skrit to match. The only thing that looks typical, at first glace, are the large black headphones around her neck. Somethings, after all, are just not alowed to change no matter what state she happens to be in.
When the door creaks open, Quinn looks up, and on seeing both Lene and the bright letters, she smiles wide. Glasses pulled off, Quinn rises up out of her seat. "Hey!" she replies verbally, happily. "I'm glad you were able t' make it out." Arms opened a bit, offering a hug, she smirks. "I hope the morning went well."
"Hey," Lene says, grinning at the professional version of Quinn and raising a brow. She steps forward into the hug, squeezing the older woman before stepping back, cheeks a little pink. "You look nice dressed up," she says a little lamely, moving to set down the portfolio she carries on the desk.
"It's been a morning," the faux-redhead says with a shrug. "Not a lot of places are hiring. I almost feel like if I get a job someone else is vying for I'm a bad person, because I'm taking it away from someone who woulda had it if I weren't, you know. From … out of town." She's not sure how thin the office walls are, and the door is still being shut as she speaks.
"How are you? I have a friend who works here somewhere…" She trails off. She probably shouldn't have said that.
"I hate it," Quinn confesses as she looks down at herself. "Well- no, I don't hate it. I guess it's nice t' get dressed up. It just feels weird t' do it for work. I'd be much happier if I could get away with jeans or a corset or something." She shrugs a bit, moving to sit on the edge of the desk. A hand motions to a chair against the wall, seated next to an electric guitar. There's no amp in sight though. "Come on then, sit down. No need t' keep on your feet like that."
The mention of taking someone's job gets a bit of a quiet laugh. "Job hazard, I guess?" Is that a good time travel joke? Quinn's still adjusting to this whole idea. She's seen just enough movies, though, to have a few jokes laying around. "I… wouldn't worry about it too much. I guess. A lot's changing anyway… you could be getting a job someone's no longer supposed t' get anyway, you know? I guess." I guess seems to eb a bit of a running theme.
"A friend?" An eyebrow is crooked, a glance made to the now shit door. She doesn't ask who though. "That's neat. An'… I'm fine. Had an' interestin' weekend. Had a show happen short notice last night. I wanted to call you, but there just wasn't enough time." Said apologetically. She really did want more people she knew to be there, and she didn't see Lene at all afterwards, so she assumes she didn't ehar about it on the radio or anything.
Lene takes a seat, glancing down at the guitar and smiling, watching her feet as she moves to sit. "I'm sorry I didn't make it! I'm sure you were fabulous though. I've never heard you play badly. I don't think it's possible." She flushes a little at that. "But you had more practice later," she adds with a smirk.
"As far as the job goes… I don't know. I don't really think anyone is supposed to get or not get things, though, or … you know, we wouldn't be trying to change things. It'd be pointless if everything was fate, wouldn't it?"
The way Lene says it, the question isn't rhetorical at all; her eyes meet Quinn's and she waits for a response.
Now, there's a weighty question if there ever was one, and in it Quinn forgets her response to having more practice "later". In response, Quinn looks a bit off to the side, hands folding in her lap. "I don't believe in fate," she says rather confidently, though quietly. "I got sent into the past once specifically to keep things from changing. If you ever meet a man named Hiro, he's an ass. But that was proof enough for me that fate doesn't exist. Or at the very least, not everything is fated to happen. But in the end… I think we make our own futures."
She takes a deep breath, before looking at Jolene with a smile. "THe dreams scared me when they started because it really rattled that belief. Not that some of what I saw wasn't wonderful. It was just… very unexpected." A bit of a shrug, and her hands move to her knees. "So, yeah, it'd be pointless if everything was fate. But I don't believe for a moment that's the case."
A beat. "An' I'm glad t' know I didn't offend your ears as the years went on. That would be just dreadful." And she can't help but laugh, possibly a welcome diversion after the previous bit of seriousness.
In Lene's past, Quinn's (probably derailed) future, they must never have a conversation about 'fate,' since Lene seems to breathe easier when Quinn agrees with her. "If you see… well, you have, a little of it… the future that's in store unless we change it, you can't believe in fate, or…" Her lips press together and Lene glances up as she swallows.
"Or … there's a song by, I think it's called Dep-e-che Mode?" She pronounces it Dep-etch-ee. "I think that God's got a sick sense of humor? Something like that. I don't believe in that either, but I do believe in us. People like you and your friends. Me and my friends. We can change things. We will change things."
She flushes and she shakes her head. "I'm sorry. You didn't… ask me to come see you so I can talk like a crazy person, I'm sure."
"Depeche Mode, dear," Quinn corrects with the proper pronunciation, and- something she doesn't really think about thrown in there. Maybe this whole mom thing has been on her mind a lot the last few days, and who could blame her? "I know that song. I think I have the record it's from back home. But I agree with you, that that's a crock too. Than we can all change things. Though I think you an' your friends have a leg up on the rest of us," she adds, grinning at the younger woman.
Pushing off her perch and to her feet, Quinn looks down intently at Jolene. "I asked you here t' talk. About whatever, really. I'm interested. I'm not.. going t' pry for anythin'. I understand there's stuff you can't tell us. But I am interested in everythin' else." She lets out a big of a sigh, eyes closing. "I'm still… adjusting to this whole idea. You, Adel, an' I know there's others… it's weird. But not a bad weird, you know? I… kinda like it, t' be entirely honest."
Lene smirks at the dear — no doubt she'd been corrected a few times in her life with the same tone by an older version of Quinn. "Oh. I thought it was like… Apache or something." Apparently languages are not her forte. "I'm glad you know about Adel, though — it'll be easier to not have to bite my tongue every two seconds since she's tight with you all now."
A hand reaches to tuck a strand of hair behind an ear, and the younger woman smiles. "I'm glad you like it. It is weird, trust me, to see you barely older'n me, to be almost a peer and all. I mean, you never acted old, but… I mean I wasn't very little when I came to you, so you kinda always treated me more like a grown up than I probably deserved, and I'm sure my friends will say probably even more than I deserve now." There's a chagrined smirk at that. "But it's weird to be… you know. Peers, I guess. It's cool, though. Weirder with my m-" There's a pause, but then she finishes the sentiment. "Mom."
"Ah, well. Age isn't everythin' anyway." There's a pretty wide smile on Quinn's face at those sentiments, that she never really acted old. That she treated Lene like grown up. At mom. "Well, if it's any consolation, the idea of being peers with my daughter and her friends is just cool. It's kinda how I like it, really." She shrugs a bit. "I mean… I can't really say anythin' about bein' a parent now, so a friend's the next best thing, right?" she chuckles, shaking her head. "Now I'm the one yammering a bit on."
And agter a moment, she does knid of peer at Jolene. "I… do have one question, I guess. I mean, I have a lot, but I have one that I feel i can actually ask." She points down to Jolene's for a moment. "Are you- you know. Like me?" And to elaborate, she cups her hands together, a soft glow forming between figner tips before she opens them, little motes and balls of light lifting and floating out from her hand. "I… can't quite do stuff like the butterflies. An' the well formed letters. Did… I teach you that?"
Green eyes sparkle when Quinn grins, and her own lips curve wider in response. She glances down at Quinn's hands as they cup and form the little motes, and her cheeks flush. She curls her hand into a fist and then lets it open, matching little spheres floating up and out of her hand like luminescent bubbles. She then wiggles her fingers and the green motes turn red, then blue, then gold.
"I'm like you some of the time," she says with an impish smirk. "But when I manifested, we thought I was like Ygraine, since suddenly I was walking on the ceiling without her help. I thought she did it to me, and she swore til she was blue in the face that it wasn't her and had to help get me down."
There's a wry smirk as she tugs up her sleeve to show a faint scar on the underside of her arm. "That came the next day when I tried to float my way off the second story, when she wasn't around." Red-penciled brows raise. "Get it?"
Thanks to the height difference (sigh!) Quinn doesn't have to bend much to look at the scar, eyes narrowed a bit. "Christ, that looks like it hurt," she remarks with a bit of a frown. ANd no, she doesn't quite gt it for a moment. It's not until she stands back straight that her eyes light up a bit. "Oooh! I've… kind've heard of people who acn do that? More in Magnes' comics, but I know that it happens… you know. In real life too." She tilts her head a bit, looking decidedly impressed. "That's wild. Though I'm surprised Ygraine never used sticking you to a wall as time out," she notes, smiling. Mostly because the thought amuses her, even if Lene was too old for time out when they got her.
There's a smirk and Lene pulls her sleeve down. "I was seventeen, so I would have been pretty pissed if it was a time out. I thought she was just trying to be funny," she says with a smirk. "Mine… well. Someone called it synchronized ability empathy, but it's not like I'm registered in the future, and it's not what's on my card here. It's got its uses but I'm limited to my resources."
Her hand moves to the locket under her coat. "The people in Magnes' comics were probably more powerful, less limited than me, but I think it suits me well enough."
"Lord. I wouldn't've blamed you for bein' pissed," Quinn says with a laugh, and- somewhat awkwardly - Quinn reaches up to ruffle Jolene's hair. The connotation of which is sure to be different between them, but she doesn't really think about it when she does it. "If you have any questions for me," she adds, looking a bit more serious. "You're more than welcome t' ask. I… can tell already that a lot's changed from what you know, so…" Another small shrug as Quinn leans back against her desk
"I bet you do good with it, though. I mean… at least right now, I'm pretty limited what I can do. Compared t' Colette, for one. But that doesn't mean I'm useless. Far form it." She crosses her arms a bit, bt only a moment, before she's waving Jolene to come stand next to her. "So I wouldn't worry about not being incredibly powerful or more limited."
Eyes drop at the mention of changes, and Lene shrugs. "Don't worry about the changes that have happened. I already told you. We know just by being here, we've probably messed a lot up that we might not want but what's more important is the big stuff. And … we're not the big stuff. Egotistical as some of us might be."
She stands. "You're not useless at all, Robyn Quinn. It's one of my favorites, actually, and I missed it." She opens her hand again to send a red ball of light into the air. "I thought I'd like flying best but you know what? Bugs hit you in the face, and that's just gross."
Quinn catches the eye drop, just a hint of a frown forming on her face. "I'd disagree. That you all aren't big stuff. Maybe… not the biggest. But you're important." She lets that sit for a moment, before she laughs a bit. "Yeah, I imagine that would be pretty gross. Magnes has taken me flying before. Thankfully, he doesn't go terribly fast…" She somewhat transfixed on the floating red ball of light. She's mre than pleased to hear thet her ability is one of the favourites. One of those small things that gives her a lot of pride.
But now that there's mention of them not being important brought up, Quinn looks off to the side, more than abit nervously, hands sitting back in her lap as light dances around the room. "There was another reason I wanted you t' come by," she says softly, eyes closing a bit. "I… have t' make a visit soon. To… where Gillian is." A moment before she looks back up to Jolene. "I was thinking about bringing her back with me. But… only if that was okay with you. I.. won't tell her anything. That's not my place."
Teeth rake over her lower lip and Lene's eyes meet Quinn's. "If she wants to," she says, her voice a little smaller and less confident. "She… she should probably know by now, I think."
Her eyes dart away. "I … if she doesn't want to see me, it's okay too. I at least got to see her a couple of times, even if she didn't know who I was." Her hand reaches to catch Quinn's, squeezing it. "Thank you. I … I don't think she knows that you're… where I went. I don't know if she knows how she died, if she saw it, so…" Lene's voice trails off as she looks back up, face a little paler and eyes a little wetter.
A sad look is angled up form Quinn to Jolene. She doesn't even pretend to understand how hard it is for the other woman, there's no awy she can. But she knows it must be. It's not even a motherly instinct that moves her, it's simply a desire to comfort that drives her to push back up and towards the faux-redhead, arms wrapping around her in a hug. "Only if you both want, then," she corrects. "I.. wasn't sure if you had. Or… wanted to, given… you know. But I thought I'd offer. Last time I checked, she was where I'm headed. So…" She rolls her shoulders a bit in the hug. "I thought it was only fair you get the chance."
Lene's head bows so she can rest her head on Quinn's shoulder, arms wrapping more tightly around the Irish woman than she could the other day, now that no instrument intervenes. She sniffles after a moment and nods before stepping back and bringing her hands up to wipe away tears. "I want to see her," she says, more adamantly. "But it's up to her. If she doesn't know — you don't have to tell her, because I know that's hard, but I think… I think she should know. Like you did." Through a dream.
She takes another step back. "I should let you work," Lene murmurs, glancing to the desk and reaching for the portfolio she set down.
Quinn follows that step just enough to reach a hand up on Jolene's shoulder and squeeze, before she lets it fall back to her side. "It's fine," she says, shaking her head. "But I won't keep you. Gotta make money somehow, right?" Which is code for you don't have to go, but I understand, hopefully it gets across well enough.
"I'll see what she says," Quinn says gently, letting Jolene continue the rest of her retreat. "But in the meantime, don't be a stranger, alright? I know you're busy with the whole… savin' the world while gettin' a job thing, but… feel free t' come by here or the Verb any time you want." A pause. "And if there's anythin' at all I can do, t' help with anything… let me know."
She raises her hand, moving her hand in an exaggerated wave - and it glows as she does, leaving a lingering trail of light in it's wake. She can't quite form the letters Jolene can, but she can still make a bit of a production out of it. "And be as safe as you can."
Eyes sparkling, Lene traces a heart in the air, her finger leaving a red iridescent heart that fades after a moment, then spontaneously reaches for another hug, head bumping against Quinn's.
"I'll be sure to wear a jacket, too, I promise," she teases over her shoulder before disappearing into the hall, red wellies squeaking down the hall as she goes.