Participants:
| Scene Title | Hey, Brother |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Oh if the sky comes falling down, for you, there’s nothing in this world I wouldn’t do. |
| Date | December 15, 2014 |
The House Above the Sea
Fringes of the Pelago
“Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me..” Morgan mumbles as she strums an…approximation of the correct notes on her guitar. She’s close, but she doesn’t exactly have a tutor, or even youtube tutorials, to learn from. Plus she has tiny twelve-year-old fingers and an adult-sized guitar. So all that in mind she’s actually doing pretty good.
But for once she doesn’t really care how well she’s playing, her heart isn’t really in it. Today is her super-important ultra-special twelfth birthday…and everyone’s missing it. Even Nadi. She doesn’t really understand why they left, Nadi only told her something bad happened and she and the others needed to help. Now she’s all alone on her birthday. Well…almost alone…
She can hear Kendall fiddling with something in the kitchen. Even her young mind can tell he’s avoiding her, like he always does. She doesn’t know what made Kendall not like her. Maybe he just thinks he’s too cool for her? He is really really cool. He can even do magic stuff! He showed her one time after she begged him and it was so cool. But he never did it again for her. In fact she struggles to think of a time he spent more than 5 minutes in the same room as her without being forced to. And now he’s in charge of her birthday party. She sniffles and wipes a tear from her eye, why couldn’t he have gone and Nadi be here? She just wants her Nadi to be here…
Just because everyone else is out and Kendall is stuck on babysitting duty doesn't mean it has to suck. Earlier, they had gone out for supplies, and so he's digging through what they had even as the sound of inexpertly played guitar sounds through the mostly empty penthouse.
Eventually, though, he emerges from the kitchen with a little plate, and plunks it down on the table near her. On it are several pieces of apple, cut up to look like little rabbits. They look too nice to have been actually cut that way by an amateur who has only seen a picture once years ago, but he cheated. It is real pieces of apple, at least.
Kendall looks up at Morgan after placing them there, and shrugs lightly, but doesn't really say anything aside from a muttered "happy birthday." Welp, this is awkward, he doesn't know what to do with a little kid who'd rather hang around her cousin.
Morgan half-liddedly looks at the rabbits, then picks one up and examines it to make sure it’s real. “You know all the rabbits are dead right?” She says in a monotone, “They drowned.” Then she pops it into her mouth. “Did you ever eat a real rabbit? When they were still around?” She asks while chewing, “What did they taste like?”
She gives an ‘mmm’ of appreciation and reaches for another rabbit-apple, apparently it tastes pretty good. Turns out there are foods that even Kendall can’t fuck up. Yet it’s clear that the apple is not quite enough to clear the child’s depression, and she strums a few sad notes on her guitar.
Kendall snorts. "I've never even seen a real rabbit, much less eaten one, but I'm pretty sure real rabbits weren't made of apples." Kendall waves a hand towards the boarded up windows. "Before, this was still a city, the only animals they had were in the zoos. Or pigeons. Maybe other birds too…. probably other birds. Cats and dogs. People used to eat dogs too." Kendall, that's not an appropriate thing to tell a 12 year old.
Reaching forward to snag one of the bunnies before Morgan ate them all, he pops it in his mouth and crunches it. "Well there's still land somewhere. Mountains still exist, and I'm pretty sure most of the US is still there. So, probably rabbits, pigs, cows, chickens."
“I know rabbits aren’t made of apples, silly.” she says with a girlish titter. Then her face starts to drop as Kendall keeps talking. “My dads took me to the zoo for my 7th birthday. It was really fun. My favorite was the monkeys.” She starts to rub her guitar as if she’s petting an animal, and Kendall can see a few tears drop from her eyes and land on the wood. “But the monkeys drowned. And my dads….my dads drowned too.”
She sniffles again as tears start to stream more consistently down her face. “Where’s Nadi? Why isn’t she here? Is she gonna drown too?!” Her little kid brain doesn’t seem to quite grasp the ridiculousness of the idea of Nadira drowning. Or that Nadira explained where she was going and that she’d be right back. Morgan starts hyperventilating as her little mind works itself into a panic.
When Morgan starts having a meltdown, Kendall stares at her for a moment. Oh shit, what is he supposed to do? She might pop a gasket and die, or something! Can people even do that? Die because they're sad? Without having any other ideas, Kendall slides onto the couch and wraps his arm around her shoulder, looking a little panicked himself.
"Nadira can't drown, don't be stupid." Perhaps there's a better way of saying that, but Kendall doesn't know how to treat a 12 year old. "Water does whatever she wants it to. She'll be back soon, I'm sure." Kendall would kill for a working cell phone right now. Maybe he can distract her?
On the table in front of them, a rabbit not made of apples appears on the table. Sure, he's never seen a real one himself, but he saw one in a video once. It hops over towards Morgan and sits up, nose twitching.
Morgan doesn’t see the rabbit at first, because as soon as Kendall shows her any physical affection she wraps both her arms around him and buries her face in his shirt, still crying hard. She does this for a minute before she lets up a little and turns her head, arms still firmly wrapped around Kendall, and notices the bunny. She gives an amused little titter and blubbers out, “I know it’s not real Kendall. I told you all the rabbits drowned. And you aren’t touching it so I can’t touch it.” Morgan’s pretty smart for her age, and nothing is more interesting to her than powers, so she studied Kendall’s while he wasn’t looking.
“I wish I had an awesome power like yours.” She says wistfully, “I’d be able to protect Nadira and everyone else so they’d never leave me, and I could have saved my…my dads.” A few fresh tears fall from her eyes but she wipes them away on Kendall’s shirt. “Do you…do you think you could touch the rabbit so I can hold it? Can you make it feel fluffy? It’d be nice if it was fluffy.”
Kendall blinks as she clings to him and starts crying, and looks decidedly nervous. What is he supposed to do? Awkwardly he pats her on the shoulder, but that seems to be the extent of his knowledge of What To Do With Crying Kids. "I couldn't do this at your age so it wouldn't have mattered." he frowns faintly at her, since it seems she knows more about him than he does about her.
The bunny, though, jumps onto the two of them, sitting across both their laps. The softness of the fur depends on how soft Morgan thinks it is. "Nadira doesn't need protecting, she's probably the strongest person in the Pelago. Maybe even the whole world… what's left of it." Better for Kendall to talk about that than the subject of Morgan's dads, that brings up painful memories of his own parents.
Morgan mercifully takes her arms off Kendall and holds the rabbit close. The bunny has a softness that only the active imagination and wishes of a child could make. She cuddles it happily, probably a little more than a real rabbit would tolerate. “You’re just as strong as Nadi, you know. That’s why she left you here with me, you’re the only one she trusts to keep me safe.” She says with wisdom uncharacteristic to her age. “I’m glad you’re here, I mean I wish Nadi and my dads were here too, but you’re pretty great. Like, Nadi is basically my mom, and she’s basically your mom. So that makes you basically my brother!” She looks up at him with a big smile like she just figured out a puzzle.
“Someday I’ll be just as strong as you and Nadi and I’ll make sure nothing can take you away from me.” Her eyes show a fierce determination born of loss. She might be little, but there’s conviction in the things she says. Then she goes back to squishing the rabbit like the small child she is.
"Eh." Kendall isn't exactly disagreeing with her, but he has mixed feelings regarding his ability. By request, he's keeping his hand on the bunny, and it stays quiet and calm no matter how she squishes it… not that Kendall even knows what noise a bunny makes anyway. Cats meow, dogs bark, rabbits do… what? Oh well, doesn't matter.
"I mean. She's not really like my mom, she's only 10 years older. That's closer to sister." Kendall is quick to point this out, because otherwise it'll be like admitting he's a kid too. But if it makes Morgan feel better… "But, uh… sure, I guess." Why not. She's smiling, which is better than crying, anyway.
She makes an ugh of disgust and pinches her face like she just smelled something bad. “No. That would make you my uncle and you are not an uncle. My friend from before the flood, Joy, had an uncle and he looked like Santa Claus.” She shakes her head, “Nope you are definitely more like a brother.”
She looks up at Kendall wide-eyed as she has a realization. “Do you think if I ask Santa he’ll give me powers?! I’ve been really good this year! I think I deserve them.” You see, without the internet or tv or a ton of other children to interact with, Morgan has gone much longer in life without being exposed to the idea that Santa isn’t real. Nadira has made it clear to the other lost boys that it is to stay this way at least for another christmas.
"Well, I'm ten years older than you." Kendall opens his mouth to say more, then hastily backpedals away from that train of thought.
When Morgan brings up Santa, Kendall snorts. Nadira spoils her, geez. However, Kendall is not going to face her wrath by telling Morgan that Santa isn't real. He'll just remind her repeatedly once she does find out. "Powers don't work that way, and neither does… Santa. Santa only gives physical presents. He isn't able to suddenly make you a mutant." Kendall sighs faintly at that, reminded of the fact that there are no more X-Men comics.
“Santa should have, like, a potion he could give you that would give you powers!” She muses. “That’s what I’ll do when I get older! I’ll work for Santa’s science team and make a injic..injection that can give people powers!” She looks up proudly at Kendall like she just got a college diploma or something. She hadn’t quite gotten to the level of maturity to realize saying she was gonna do something was different than actually doing it.
“So I’ll ask Santa for science textbooks this year because if I’m gonna help give everyone powers I need to start studying now.” Morgan says to herself, “I was gonna ask for a seahorse but sacrifices must be made for the greater good.” Kendall would know that she’s been talking about “seahorses” for several months now, under the mistaken impression that a seahorse is a horse that’s really good at swimming. No one has yet been able to convince her otherwise.
Okay, that's going a little far. "The world was flooded to get rid of people like me." Kendall replies shortly, not making any effort to sugar coat it no matter what day it is. "They tried to kill me, specifically." He stops there, though, since he doesn't like sharing the fact that he had to kill someone to avoid getting killed in turn. He averts his gaze from her, squeezing his eyes shut from the memory.
The Vanguard had invaded the Pelago, hunting down and taking out everyone they could find who were Evolved. Finding out they were coming near where they lived, Kendall left their home one night, rowing away from it. One of their ships was headed there, and he pauses to stare at it in horror. Without putting much thought into it, he flung flashy illusory flames towards the ship, lighting up the darkness. There's shouts on board, and the ship turns away to chase after him instead.
Morgan doesn’t really understand the gravity of what Kendall is talking about, Nadira has made sure to shelter her from the reality of the conflict, and she has remained blissfully unaware. “But you beat them because you have powers. If everyone had powers then they’d be able to keep themselves safe from bad guys like you and Nadi can.”
Still she can tell Kendall is upset, she lets go of the rabbit and wraps her arms around him again. “If I had powers it wouldn’t matter how many bullies tried to hurt you cuz I’d just blast them away like pssshhheeewww pssshhheeewwww.” She says while making finger guns with her free hand. “And then you wouldn’t be scared anymore, and Nadi could take me with her when she left.” She has a wistful quality to her voice as she says this that is far too mature for her age.
“And I’m sure there are other people like me who want powers.” She continues, “And if I, and Santa of course cuz I’d need his destro-bution network, can give all the good guys powers then we’d all be able to beat up the bad guys and they’d go away!” She sounds so proud, like she has the whole world figured out. She has no idea just how naive she sounds.
Kendall doesn't really answer Morgan, just letting her inane words wash over him. It's her birthday, he won't try to slap that nonsense out of her, though he'll have a word with Nadira later about coddling her. When she lets go of the rabbit, it disappears, having served its purpose. "What if you had a power that just made things turn blue?" He's vaguely paying attention, but…
Kendall runs down a hall, breath shuddering out of him in a blind panic. His wild gaze is cast behind him, and he tries a door. Locked, of course it is. No one's tried breaking into this one yet, or maybe someone decided to live there.
Pelting further down the hall, he skids to a stop at the end, trying another door. This one opens, but he hesitates. Instead of going in, he presses himself against the end of the hallway and conjuring a wall, blending in. Vague recollections about an anime with ninjas disguising themselves behind colored cloths flit through his mind, but he's focusing more on trying to regulate his breathing so they can't find him.
"…Or something that doesn’t go pew pew." Kendall's words are quieter, and he hugs her closer, not paying attention much to that either. "I'm not afraid." Those words are defiant, in contrast to the rest.
Morgan’s a little surprised when he pulls her in closer. She can hear the lie in his defiant words, though she doesn’t really understand what he’s actually afraid of. As she thinks on it she stumbles into a memory of her own, one she hasn’t thought about in awhile.
Morgan peeks through a small crack in the door, being careful not to make a sound. Nadira told her specifically to stay in her room, which just makes her more curious. She’s much younger than she is now.
Inside, she sees Kendall, sitting down on the edge of his bed, and Nadira hunched over him tending to a wound on his forehead. They’re talking in hushed tones and Morgan can’t really tell what they’re talking about. She just catches snippets: “Vanguard”, “reckless”, “followed?”. But what catches her eye more is Kendall’s expression. It’s a mix of emotions that Morgan is far too young to really understand. But what she does understand are the couple of tears that drip down his face that he isn’t able to restrain completely.
And that his hands are stained with blood.
Morgan looks up at Kendall’s face back in the present and sees a quite similar, if not the same, expression. She thinks for a moment, then wiggles out of his grip and grabs her guitar. She strums a few chords, and begins to sing, badly and off-key, but from her heart.
”Hey brother
There's an endless road to rediscover
Hey sister
Know that water's sweet but blood is thicker
Oh, if the sky comes falling down
For you
There's nothing in this world I wouldn't do
Hey brother
Do you still believe in one another?
Hey sister
Do you still believe in love? I wonder
Oh, if the sky comes falling down
For you
There's nothing in this world I wouldn't do”
The clomp of boots on the other side of his wall run past Kendall and into the room. An unintelligible conversation is held, with some arguing, and then they clomp back out again, fading into the distance.
Kendall strains his ears, trying to hear if they're really gone before he drops his illusion… and comes face to face with a woman in body armor. "Found you!" she exclaims, darting forward with a machete. With a strangled noise Kendall falls back, hitting the wall, and the machete slices across his forehead. His hands come up, and metal spikes seem to 'grow' out of them, shooting out and impaling his assailant.
She's dead when she hits the floor, and it's only a shocked moment before Kendall collapses to the ground to vomit. The blood from the unnamed woman spreads out, covering his hands. He staggers to his feet, shaking as he wipes off his mouth with the back of a trembling hand, and stares down at her, and at the blood on his hands. After being frozen in place for a couple minutes, he suddenly runs down the hall, vanishing as he does.
Morgan pulling away from him jerks him back to the present, that and the bad singing. He suddenly looks like he's going to be sick, but takes a deep breath and rubs his face, then rubs his hands on his pants like he's trying to scrub away that memory. He looks over at her like he wanted to say something, but just settles back and listens to her sing.
She finishes up her song and puts the guitar aside. “Did that make you feel better? It always makes me feel better when Nadi sings to me.” She asks hopefully as she snuggles back up against him and wraps her arms around him. Then she lets out a yawn, the two of them have stayed up past Morgan’s bedtime waiting for Nadira to get back.
She settles in and presses her face into Kendall’s chest as she begins to doze off. She’s always been really fast at passing out. “Love you Kendall…” She mumbles as she drifts off to sleep, dreaming of bunnies and Santa and science and blood.
"No, you suck at singing." Kendall mutters even as she falls asleep snuggled up next to him, and after a moment hugs her again. It's weird, but it might be something they both need. He lured away the Vanguard to protect her and the others those few years ago, after all.
"Love you too." The words are awkward from lack of use, but no less meaningful.
For you
There's nothing in this world I wouldn't do