Participants:
Scene Title | Great Expectations |
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Synopsis | There's no Pip, Estella, or Miss Havisham, but there certainly are some great expectations. |
Date | December 21, 2011 |
The Lucky Lady, The Hub
It’s probably a nice, warm, sunny afternoon. Not that anyone would know, being in the Hub. The Lucky Lady is pretty quiet given that most people are off working on their assigned tasks, but Elaine is done for the day. The kids have been taught and sent on their way and it’s not soon enough today.
Shuffling in, the redhead makes her way to sit down, resting her head in her hands and rubbing her temples lightly. Bad day, maybe?
Standing behind the bar, not drunk for once but pouring her first moonshine of the day, is Isabelle her blue eyes are downcast staring longingly into the flame of a single candle sitting on the bar. There hadn’t been much activity today and she was grateful for the silence. Grateful that Brenda was out again causing mischief somewhere or naked.
“Do you have water or something back there? Something not-moonshine? I think moonshine would make me sick right now,” Elaine slumps forward a bit, burying her face in her arms. “God, I had the most exhausting day. I thought I slept fine but I woke up and I felt like I hadn’t slept at all and then all day I just couldn’t stand the kids, which which was weird. I think I’m cranky from the sleep.”
The barkeep ponders on whether she should poison Magnes’ girlfriend with moonshine regardless of her protest but then she remembers that she is behaving and so she reaches under the bar for the water jug and she pours a big glass for the teacher.
“I don’t really like kids, not even when I was one.” Her previously untouched glass of moonshine gets grabbed and she downs the shot. It might have something to do with the fact that she couldn’t have kids. But anyway, Magbutt’s ginger was here and Isabelle was going to keep the mood light. She wrestled that demon a longgggg ago. “But I mean, having an off day.. Happens babe.” She fixes Eliane with a stare. “Maybe you had a nightmare you can’t remember?” Her head tilts.
“The kids just made me really grouchy today. Too loud, too busy… it was just a bit much,” Elaine sips her water, glancing back over at Isabelle. “A nightmare could be possible. Didn’t wake up though.” She pauses. “No, I was wrong, I woke up once because I thought I was going to be sick. I’m not sick though, I can’t be sick.” No, being sick makes people think you’re sick. “I don’t want to pass anything to the kids.
“But what if you are sick?” Isabelle is never not into playing devil’s advocate. And messing with people is what she does. Now she wishes Brenda was here to help her tease. “Grouchy eh? You sure you don't need any moonshine to settle your belly and mind?” Her eyebrows raise and the pyrokinetic leans in.
“When did you start feeling sick but not being sick hm?”
There's a smile on the woman’s face.
“Oh, I think I’ll really be sick if I have any of that moonshine, I’m a little sick just smelling it.” Elaine takes another sip of water, though she’s not sure why she’s being smiled at so much. “I haven’t felt great the last couple of mornings, usually my stomach will settle if I have a late breakfast. It’s kind of a new thing. You don’t think I’m sick do you? Sick or sick? I just don’t want to die. I’m not dying, not if I have anything to do with it.”
“I have an idea. And just trust me.” Isabelle wishes she could just hold out the thing and say, ‘Don’t Look Just Pee.’ But that would be weird and messy and so instead she pulls out a pregnancy test from under the bar. “Brenda thinks she's pregnant half of the year so I always keep them stockpiled.”
The way Isabelle insiniuates that Elaine is pregnant is shrugged off. In her mind, if you have sex without a condom. A baby angel is born. How precious.
“Go pee over there.” She points out in the hall. She's serious. “I mean you're either pregnant or got Shanti.” There’s no way in Isabelle’s mind that Elaine isn't. She doesn't think of food poisoning, some sort of freak menstrual cramp.
“I thought you and Magbutt were gonna take it slow!”
“Oh god, are you serious?!” Elaine tries not to shout as Isabelle pulls out the pregnancy test. “You don’t really think that… oh god.” This is not a conclusion she thought about. Well, she did think about it, briefly, right before the act, but then the thought was banished from her mind. “Well, if I have to pick between pregnancy and Shanti I’m gonna pick pregnancy but…”
Elaine stares at the stick for a long moment. “We were gonna take it slow and then we decided to just rush it because life is short.” She gets up, moving to take the stick. Once it’s acquired, she shuffles off into the hallway.
She’s gone for several minutes before returning, holding the stick. “Okay. Now you just wait for lines to show up, right? Or not show up? I’ve never taken one of these. This is all new. Gosh this is overwhelming.”
Suddenly the door swings open, and Magnes walks in, green Surge t-shirt and all. "I'm tired. I don't want moonshine I'd like to live. I'm just kind of hungry." Then, looking between Elaine and Isabelle, he tilts his head. "What are you guys up to?"
“I mean life is short but we’re also in a goddamn apocalypse! That kid's gonna need.. well I guess we really do need to get out of here then.” Isabelle says as Elaine walks out to do her business. When she's back, Isabelle looks interested and waves her hand, “The two lines are what we’re looking for. Or not looking for. Depending on what your fancy is.”
She knocks back her moonshine and then pours more. She has a feeling she's gonna need it and what do you know. “Magbutt!” She grins and then frowns, “Um when did you join the sheep and get afraid of some hair on your chest,” gesturing to her friend.
Izzy looks shocked and then laughs, “Your timing,” She slams her hand on the bar hard and her eyes close in laughter. “Oh oh oh wait,” she looks from Elaine to Magnes and then back again.
“Elaine, what does the test say?” Test.
She says this the whole time while looking at Magnes with a raised brow. Her eyes on him, he has to know. She should have given him one of the last few condoms she had left. Goddamn it. The Magnes she knew would have never impregnated a doppelgänger of his ex from a different universe.
Would he?
“Two lines, got it.” Elaine isn’t sure if that’s what they want to get or not, she hasn’t decided yet. She can figure that out when—OHGODTHERE’SMAGNES.
“What? You can’t be here, this is…” Well, he was going to have to figure it out at some point. She’ll let him draw his own conclusions. She pulls the test from behind her back and looks at it. “Uhm, two lines.” She looks like she’s about to panic. “Isabelle, throw water on my face. I’m going to explode or something, I-I-I don’t know what to do, nothing in life has prepared me for this situation.” She then looks at Magnes.
She looks at Magnes.
"Huh?" Magnes looks between the two of them. He's deduced far more complicated things, like sentinel robots, he was the first to do that. And also robots in some sort of civil war. Okay so Magnes is very good at predicting robots, but this isn't as complicated as robots.
He lingers for a bit longer than he possibly should, staring at the rest, tapping his chin, staring at Isabelle. There's a slight shock, a shock that slows his thought, slows his reaction.
Two lines?
He doesn't know what two lines means, but her reaction… okay now he knows what two lines means.
"Wait."
He crosses his arms, walking back and forth, considering this very carefully. "Okay, okay… I did say I'd take responsibility…"
The thoughts are still rushing, and he's still pacing, his pacing getting a little quicker each time. "Okay, okay, so, uh, that means, uh, that must be Adel… oh man."
He looks to Isabelle, blood drained from his face, as he's definitely in a bit of a panic. "She has to know, but I told Elisabeth I wouldn't tell her yet. But… but this has to be an exception, like, this has to be."
His pacing finally stops, and he tries to breathe. "Isabelle I need you to tell her because I'm freaking out a little bit."
Then he walks up to Elaine, hunching over, resting his hands on the table. "Okay, you know how I keep alluding to something really weird? Isabelle is going to tell you what that is, because I'm about to faint and I have no idea what's happening."
Out of the blue, he starts to pace again, talking to himself. "Oh god I'm an awful father, I can't even take care of myself, I'm just a kid! No, no, MAGNES JAY VARLANE!!! You are not a kid, you are a dad. Damnit Magnes, you are a dad!"
He ruffles his own hair, staring at the ceiling, still pacing. "You will be the most awesome dad ever, you will completely and utterly dominate fatherhood, you can do it, you are awesome!!!"
Then, in another rush of panic, he walks up to Elaine, getting down on one knee, and stares up at her. "After Isabelle tells you what she needs to tell you, I need to know if you'll marry me. I'll get you a ring, it'll be a great ring, but for right now, I just need to know!"
“I..” What the fuck?
“As his best friend I will take the duties of explaining the best I can even though I don't shit about this time and space and wormholes bullshit. No offense Magnes. Or future daddy,” she grins widely. A baby though! A Magnes baby! Who is Adel? Oooh. “Your future daughter is now inside her mom Elaine.”
Hhmm.
“Well, Magnes isn't from here. He's from like this parallel universe where we’re all friends apparently,” she gives him a look as if to say if he doesn't tell her that they use to date in his own timeline she's gonna.”
“So him and that lady Liz are trying to get back. He wants to take us out of here.” She takes a long sip of her moonshine in the silence and then smacks her forehead, “Oh right and Magnes turned into a black hole and then Liz went inside Magnes and then it was all over. They went zip right to us.”
Magnes suddenly interjects, "We dated and broke up, all that stuff I kept saying, the weird stuff, it was about us, me and you dated for months and broke up. You were, uh, very different in my world. Similar, but veeery different…"
“Wait, so there’s a parallel universe with all of us and—waitwhat did you say about dating me. I mean me but not me. So you dated me because of not-me? Or were you actually interested in me in spite of your past with not-me? These are some very serious questions and were I not knocked up I would want some moonshine.” Elaine holds her head a little and takes in a deep breath. That was all very confusing and there was one thing left in the middle of that.
“Wait, did you just ask me to marry you after telling me you’re some savior from another world?”
She pauses.
“That’s the coolest marriage proposal.”
Another pause.
“Oh, right, I’m supposed to say yes. Yes.”
"We actually already had this discussion, I just… didn't frame it exactly like, uh, this. At first it was because you looked like, well, you, but as I got to know you, well… you're really not her. She was great, I love her, but, you're just, you're definitely someone different, someone I love for being you…" Magnes stands up, then moves to wrap his arms around her. "We can do this. I'll get you out of here, and we'll have an awesome baby. But uh, we have to talk about names and stuff, I'm pretty sure this baby will be Adel, who, uh, I already met, since she time travelled back to save us and such… We can discuss the names later." Names.
“Oh, so this is what that vague hypothetical situation was about. Okay, I understand, we’re cool. I stand by what I said before,” Elaine says before she hugs Magnes in return. She’s content to stay hugging him until he says some stuff about Adel and names and—
“Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa, hold on Magnes. You’re telling me you’ve already met our baby who is named Adel… which, by the way, is a very pretty name, I like it. But I digress, you’re telling me she time traveled. So you met a future version of our current baby.” Here, Elaine stares down at her stomach for a brief moment or two. “But you just said something that is sticking in my mind and now I can’t help but ask… why did you say names. Plural. Was that just a slip of the tongue or are you hiding more secret things Magnes Jay Varlane? Because these are some very big very serious things.”
"Adel came from a future where I was still broken up with you, but I was very close friends with everyone still. You were married to my other best friend, Sable. You got pretty lesbian I think, I mean I think I was the last guy you dated at least, so maybe not full lesbian but you were mostly with girls I think." Magnes shakes his head to try to get himself back on topic. "Sorry, anyway, her name was a mixture of your name and my best friend Sable's name. Adel Raven Darrow-Diego. I kind of still want her to have that name, but this Adel, I'll finally get to raise her, I'll be her dad properly, not just, y'know, a donor, who then went and died anyway before I could be in her life."
He frowns a little at that, embracing Elaine a little tighter, though much more gentle than he has been so far. "I want to give her extra names. Adel Raven Darrow-Diego Isabelle Robyn J. Varlane." There's a slight pause, and he looks up, as if to thought about something. "But I mean, she doesn't have to say the whole thing every time she introduces herself. I mean, that's if you want to take my last name, we can be more modern if you want…"
“I… what?” Elaine tries to follow the train of logic which rapidly keeps derailing and bursting into flames. It probably would all make sense if she mapped it out in her head, but right now she’s just catching onto other bits. “So not-me married your best friend, who is a chick, and you were the donor. Wow… that’s really kind of fucked. Especially if you loved her, I mean, that’s your best friend… but you were happy for her. Aw, Magnes, you’re a really sweet guy.” She abruptly hugs him, almost tearing up. Mood swings are helping just a little bit with that.
“You just want to be her dad. So you’re gonna get to be her dad. I hope it’s really your Adel because it’s gonna be weird if it turns out to be a boy. But I’m alright with that name, even if you’ve explained everything but the name Robyn. Is she your best friend too? You have a lot of best friends…”
“And there you have it! The whole story, the scoop, your butter to your preggo eggo!” Isabelle slams back more moonshine and then she's getting choked up unexpectedly something that Isabelle doesn't usually do.
“The only time someone named something after me was this bitch Lisa who named a doll after me and would stick pins in it cuz I fucked her husband.” The bartender sobs and rounds the bar.
Throwing her arms around the both of them she weeps, “We’re having a baby! I'm gonna teach her how kick ass! What if she's like a flame thrower! Just like me! That would be so sweet!” There's no DNA swapping to suggest this is possible but, “If she has an ability, you two are fucked.”
“She's gonna be a little badass!”
Isabelle’s own little protege. Nobody can tell her different. Isabelle is already thinking of all the bullies asses little Adel will be kicking.
"She has an ability. I think it's related to mine, but I've never really understood it. Like an invincibility bubble, but I think it's more complicated than that." Magnes doesn't let go of Elaine, he's stroking her hair now. "Robyn, yeah. We had a band, we're all really good friends, even when I'm screwing up. And yeah, that's what future me did apparently. Robyn can be tough on me, but I love her."
"Let's find something non-alcoholic to celebrate with, I'm a dad now, I have to set a good example." he decides, staring at Isabelle with a furrowed brow, as if expecting her to produce something non-alcoholic, but possibly also lacking the belief that such a thing is possible.
“Robyn sounds cool too. It’s too bad I can’t meet her.” Elaine shrugs a little, but the thought is lost as she jumps onto the next train. “Wow, and Adel has an ability? Our daughter’s amazing. And she’s going to be strong and powerful and she’s also going to be good because we are not raising a supervillain, I won’t have that. And she’s going to learn at least three languages.” Elaine leans in the hug with both of them, grinning. “I was kind of worried about having a baby down here but I’m not worried so much now. I’ll have lots of help and she’ll learn some really cool things.”
Isabelle grins and nods her head, “Coming right up!” Sniff sniff. The dark haired woman digs under the bar for something special, “Been saving this for a little bit. For a special occasion.”
Izzy pulls out a non descript water bottle with a clear liquid in it. “Bottoms up!” She chugs a bit of the liquid and then gives Magnes a bit more. After he takes a few sips she swipes the bottle back.
“That's Molly water. You're welcome.” Isabelle turns her back before whipping around and shoving the pair out the door. “You've got nine months to get your shit together! Tonight, celebrate naked! Byeeeee!”
Isabelle chuckles as she locks the door and leans against it. The water wasn't enough to really send him tripping but, he would feel giddy and fun. And.. yea.
“Ahhhh, young love.”
A whistle as she goes to drink herself silly. “To my namesake!”
Thud.