Participants:
| Scene Title | Forbidden Things |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | What else is hope but a forbidden thing? |
| Date | November 29, 2011 |
The Hub
Lynette has been working a lot more since the newcomers arrived. Not going out to scavenge, like she might usually, but lingering in the Hub. To keep an eye out. To be near Ruiz. Mateo. Javi. But there is another reason, too. In the Hub, when she works, she doesn't take the drug. She doesn't cut herself off from the power that jumps through her veins, that tingles her skin. She feels free. Diminished, since the virus and their self-imposed quarantine on abilities. She used to command the lightning with a thought. Now it's all she can do to hold onto it and let it drag her along.
Her fingers work back the wire covers, exposing a burnt out section. She frowns as she works to replace it, although out of concentration more than discontent. She doesn't mind the work. It's something to focus on, to keep the feeling of hopelessness at bay. To stop feeling the ticking clock. Of course, lately there's something else trying to bury that hopelessness.
Possibility.
Ruiz believes in it, that they could follow these strangers to a better world. Lynette doesn't want to believe it; disappointment would be more painful than she could handle, but she can't help the thought digging into her mind. They could find a better place. They could breathe the air, stand in the sunlight, and find out if happiness is more than a dream. The kid— Magnes— he made it hard to ignore hope. She hadn't felt anything like hope in years, but he gave her a small seed of it and the roots took hold. Against her better judgment.
There was more he said, too. How his power gave him a glimpse into something grander. How it made him feel like a god.
Eve used to call her a goddess. Beautiful Eve. Dead Eve.
Her fingers on the wire, Lynette closes her eyes… and falls into her own power. Her tools are left behind on the floor as she gives into the buzzing under her skin and lets it take her over, turning her to electricity to run along the wires. She could never hold it for long, but in this form she moves fast as light and time slows down for her, giving her all she needs to cover the length of the Hub, to feel herself everywhere. It isn't a universe, but it was her whole world. Branching out, Lynette spreads herself to every corner she can reach, feeling whole in a way she can't put into words. Feeling like she could do anything. Feeling power. Being power. In those moments, the Hub is her and she is it, an indulgence she doesn't mention to the others.
She drops back into her body, there in a flash and a blink. An afterimage of her winking in and out for a few moments until it's just her left behind.
Picking up her tools, she moves through the Hub, ignoring people as she passes them, her gaze dead ahead and focused on nothing. Another wire needs fixing, felt out in her trip through them.
In another world, she wouldn't have to feel diminished. In another world, she and Ruiz could find peace. In another world… anything was possible. Hope fills up her chest, pressing against her lungs, forcing her to breathe deep. Unshed tears glisten in her eyes. A smile spreads on her face. Her steps pick up into a run for no other reason than she has to. Energy pulses through her in a way that has nothing to do with her ability.
She would do anything to give Ruiz a better world. To give him more than a moment's peace.
And in this moment, she believes in possibility.