Participants:
Scene Title | Hindsight Is 20/20 |
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Synopsis | Cat travels the path of memories regarding some darker moments and some lighter ones. |
Date | October 28, 2008 |
Dorchester Towers: Cat's Apartment
She's doing it again, flashing back. Playing memories of things experienced. The scene starting to play out in Cat's head is a few days after they had their fight over having kept Rock's secret.
It's the morning of October thirteenth, the start of another workweek for a person such as Dani, who works during the day at the Linderman Building. Cat didn't have a gig to play the night before, she's at home when the wakeup hour for her companion arrives. She could still be sleeping alone if things between them are still frosty, or have a warm body next to her in the shared bedroom.
Dani has, in fact, thawed somewhat. She's still not happy about the Peter thing. But right now it's in the Things We Do Not Discuss category. Her alarm begins to beep annoyingly at her, and she fumbles for it to hit the snooze button.
Grateful to have been allowed back into the same bed, Cat's eyes open partway when the alarm goes off and the snooze button is aimed for. She stirs, attempting to nuzzle her face against Dani's shoulder, and murmurs. "It's too early to get up. And you're so warm."
Dani seems to be agreeing. The sleepy woman groans. "I hate mornings. Especially Monday mornings. They should be outlawed. And set on fire. And then run through a grinder." She mumbles, as her brain starts firing up to speed.
She speaks quietly into Dani's ear, quoting a Dire Straits tune. Paraphrasing Industrial Disease, more accurately. Snippets combined to make a complete segment. "Two men say they're Jesus, one of them must be wrong. The first Jesus says he'd cure it soon. Abolish Monday mornings and Friday afternoons." Cat remains pressed against her companion's back and closes her eyes.
Danielle leans back a little into Cat, glad for the warmth and presence back there. "If it weren't for new job syndrome, I swear I'd call in." she sighs. "I'm gonna have to get up." One of the downsides of this relationship; she and Cat tend to keep different hours.
She skips ahead from there, to the sixteenth and calls up another memory, this one not pleasant.
Cat enters the apartment late in the evening, but still ahead of the time Dani normally goes to bed. Her guitar case and backpack are set down just inside the door and left there, she goes straight for the kitchen. Fingers grab a wine glass and a bottle, pouring some into it. She looks stricken, there could even be a trace of fear in her features.
Thursday night; Dani's inside, on the sofa, and watching the television. She blinks as Cat heads straight for the alcohol. "What's the matter?" she asks. Asking whether or not something -is- seems rather moot.
"A man died tonight," Cat reports in a subdued voice, "right outside the place where I was meeting with Helena and some of the others. He was turned to dust. A man-shaped pile of dust." Cat closes her eyes and takes a long sip of the wine.
Dani blinks. "Holy shit. You okay? Do you know what did it?" She stands up, heading out towards the kitchen; out towards Cat.
"I am," she replies in that same voice. "I don't know who did it. It was like something sucked the life right out of him, aged him through death and decomposition in a very short time. His name was Cameron. He had the ability to make fire with his hands, and it was as if he didn't even fight back." She takes another long sip, staring at the wall, before adding "He was a Harvard man, degree in political science."
Dani frowns. "You realize, this is part of WHY I don't like you running around out in that scene without me there. Not like I could do a whole lot…but I don't want you to get turned into a Cat-shaped pile of dust and me never know what happened to you."
"I know," Cat replies, letting go of the wine glass and turning to face Dani. Arms extend to pull her in, to feel the closeness as they encircle the less tall one if she'll allow it.
Dani hugs Cat, and looks up at her. "Did you know him well?" She's trying to just be there at the moment.
"I only met him once," she answers. "He was the leader, while Helena was becoming more and more the practical leader. Now she's got the whole burden." Cat goes quiet for a stretch, just enjoying the closeness, taking comfort from it, and perhaps giving as well. Because she's here and not a Cat-shaped pile of dust. "I love you," she murmurs against an ear some extended stretch of seconds later.
Dani nods, going up on tiptoe to give Cat a kiss. "And I love you too. No becoming dust. Not even allergen-free dust."
The scene of memory shifts again from there, to the twentieth and twenty-first. Midnight is crossed as it plays out. There she is in Greenwich Village, having gone there to see the place as it is now and compare with images from better days. It all plays out. The two men, their actions. Her arrow ending the threat from the one with the at least apparent radiation. Peter arriving and what he said, the other man teleporting away with Gillian. How she drove off and threw herself into that night's gig at the Wench, forcing it all out of mind for that stretch of time, and eventually arriving home afterward.
It's dark o'clock when she gets home. Cat is quiet, trying to not wake Dani up as she closes the door and enters the main room. Her gear is set down there and she sinks into a seat, staring at a wall there in the dark.
Dark O'Clock usually equals a sleeping Dani. And indeed, she is for a long moment. Finally, she rouses from sleep, not because it's time to wake yet, but more because of bladdarly concerns. She heads out into the hallway, and is several steps on before her brain processes the vaguely person-shaped shape there. "Cat?"
"Dani," she replies in a somber voice. Cat doesn't sound much like herself. Something is Not Right. "It's me. I'm sorry I woke you. I tried to be quiet." Her eyes remain focused on the wall she can't see without having turned on a light in the main room. The scene is playing itself out in her head again. The sounds, the people running, the screaming, and the two Evolved men coming after. She stops there, keeping the image of the man using radiation in her mind's eye to study it. Was he attacking on purpose, or reacting out of control? Was that really radiation, or something else mistaken for it?
Dani shakes her head. "You didn't. I was up anyway. She starts over towards the other woman, looking to her. "What's wrong?" It seems like she's asking that a lot lately.
"I stopped in the Village on the way to my gig, to briefly have a look at the place. Something happened there. You might've seen it on the news, or not, already. The authorities hadn't arrived yet, it was just starting. Explosions, people running, screaming, and two guys causing chaos. Making things explode, hurting people. I had my bow and arrows in the trunk, and when one of the men started to glow… when I saw him emitting pulses, I got the weapon out and I…" Her voice trails off, leaving the rest unexpressed.
Dani suspects she might already know the rest, given the way that Cat breaks off. Though it does catch her by surprise. "I didn't even know you -had- a bow and arrows." She says, trying to lighten the mood.
She lets out a quiet and brief chuckle. "It'd been a long time," she supplies, "since I actually used them. You remember it being the sport I picked in high school, the academy required one." Cat draws in a quiet breath and lets it out before she continues. "I shot him in the chest. He fell, and the threat was gone. I… I thought at the time he was using radiation and might even blow up. So I acted. The other one had acid spraying everywhere, he was hurting a woman. I was going to shoot him too, but someone showed up and took charge, so I bailed. Played my gig, forced myself not to think about it, but now, in quiet moments, I let myself think. I can't be sure what was really going on. If it was radiation or something else. If he had no control or was acting deliberately. I don't even know if he's alive or dead."
Cat's eyes close, her body starts to shake, and tears begin to flow freely. This is a thing she would only let one person see, ever. The one with her right now. "I've never done anything like this before."
Dani looks back, and then moves to sit down. Next to Cat, if seating permits, on her lap if it doesn't. "Hey." She says, her voice soft. "You did what you thought was right. I know you did, because that's what you always do. Hindsight is 20/20. Questioning yourself doesn't change your intentions."
There's room by her, and when Dani sits Cat's head leans onto her shoulder. Tears soak into whatever fabric is present there, as arms seek to wrap around and draw her closer in, while she lets go. "I can't know if I was right or not," she states in a hushed voice between sobs, "and it doesn't matter, really, because I acted, which is better than finding out after the fact I was right and it all got much worse. I know this, but still… I'm not a robot, I can't shoot and maybe… probably kill a man without it hitting home hard later regardless of reason. I'm practical, pragmatic, I think fast on my feet, but I'm not that cold. Hope I never am."
Dani nods. "It's okay. I'm here." She reaches up and strokes Cat's hair. "I'm not going anywhere."
"No one else sees me like this, ever, Dani," Cat states as she receives the given comforts. "I won't let them."
Her mind's eye skips forward a few more days, to that Thursday morning. Cat had played a gig the night before and gotten home near 4 a. m., Dani being asleep then. She was quiet, but didn't come to bed. Some time was spent watching television, until a half hour or so before her companion's normal waking time. Then she got busy.
The shared bedroom door opens a few seconds after the alarm goes off. A tray comes through first; on it are steak and eggs with orange juice, coffee, and a single red rose. Holding the tray is Cat. She waits there, watching the woman to see if she's awake yet or batting at the alarm to make it shut up.
Dani wasn't awake yet…But the scent is enough to cause her to stir. An eye cracks open, and she looks a bit blearily about the room before spotting Cat. "Morning, Kit-Kat." She yawns once. "Still awake, or up early?"
"Still awake," Cat replies with a chuckle as she walks in. The alarm continues to sound, while she watches Dani and waits for her to be ready to take the tray of food. "Did you sleep well?" Oddly enough, this time when she was labeled Kit-Kat there was no rejoinder of Courtney.
Dani sits up. "Well enough." She smiles, and takes the proffered tray. "Thank you." She says. "You're gonna make me feel guilty at this rate."
Once the tray is taken, making her hands free, Cat causes the alarm to cease its noise. "Much better," she murmurs. Turning back to the companion, her backside settles onto the bed. "You're very welcome." One hand reaches out to brush away a stray lock of hair which threatens to fall into Dani's eyes. "And nothing to feel guilty for."
Dani hadn't really started processing that far…she's not a fast waker. She smiles at that. "Sure there is. Breakfast in bed? You're racking up serious pampering points here."
"No need of feeling guilty just for being you," Cat answers with a spreading grin. Quiet returns, she letting Dani take her time in becoming fully cognizant given the recent waking.
Dani sips at the coffee. That'll help for the waking up. "Do you feed -yourself- when you do these things for me? Or will you at least share with me?"
She expects as much, remembering as Cat will remember how Dani always asks and offers to share the food when she does things like this, in fact having made more than she would eat in anticipation. "Of course," she answers, moving a little closer so she can also partake. The coffee and orange juice are for one, but there's a second fork present.
Dani smiles, and puts the tray between them. "So why did you stay up? I like breakfast, but you in bed trumps that."
"Me in bed," she answers, "happens almost every day. This, not so often." Cat takes up the spare fork and impales food with it, while thinking for a moment. It enters her mouth, as she continues to mull over sweet things that last, instead of candy bars which are quickly gone.
Dani nods. "True. But breakfast, no matter how yummy, is not so cuddly as you. Bleh. You make it hard to want to go to work."
She just smiles as her first bite is swallowed and the fork poises with another. Before it enters her mouth Cat speaks a single word. "Yes."
Dani laughs. "That's not -helping-, you know. I'm not going to find out anything we can use if I'm not wanting to go into work."
"Well, today you have to," Cat replies with a chuckle. "If only to get tickets for that costume party next week. Speaking of which, what ideas do you have for disguises?"
Dani sighs. "None at all. I work there, so I could just show up in business duds."
Her head tilts as she considers. "Reversal, maybe. You carry the guitar, I'll wear corporate lawyer clothes." Because to Cat, that's Halloweenish. Scary corporate life.
Dani laughs. "That wouldn't make for much of a Halloween costume except to someone who knew us really well."
"Or," she suggests playfully, "we could just drop some money to the charities anonymously and skip the whole thing." Cat resumes enjoying a small part of the tray's food and takes liberties with Dani's glass of orange juice."
Danielle chuckles. "I work for PR, hon. I'm going to be expected to be there, one way or the other."
"It was worth a try," Cat replies with a grin, just before partaking of more food.
Dani looks back over, as she sighs. "I haven't dressed up for Halloween in years. I need to figure something that doesn't take a lot of work, without LOOKING like it doesn't take a lot of work."
"We'll figure it out," Cat assures, as she takes yet another bite of the food and steals more of Dani's juice.
Cat then returns to the here and now, a smile forming on her face. It's mid-afternoon, she's alone in the apartment with Dani at work and just waking up. She gets out of bed and picks up her iPhone. A call is made; she arranges the delivery of one single red rose to the Linderman Building and one Danielle Hamilton working there. The card, she instructs, is to say it's from 'The treat which lasts longer than a candy bar.' Because she's as of yet still failed to find a fitting label in place of Kit-Kat and drop it so she'll think it's her idea.
It doesn't take too long for the resultant phone call to come in from Dani. Caller ID shows her ringing in.
The ringtone she assigned Dani sounds, and she taps the button to answer. "Catherine Chesterfield," she begins. "How may I assist you?"
Dani sounds amused. "Afternoon, Kit-Kat. Good to know you're thinking of me."
"Was I?" Cat replies in a nonchalant voice, smiling at the other end. She walks to the kitchen and starts coffee while speaking. "Why would you say that, Dani?"
Dani laughs. "Because unless some other candy-named person is sending me flowers. In which case we have a problem."
Now there's a sound of mock jealousy in her voice, as she stops herself from laughing. "Who is this person?" Cat asks.
Dani replies "You. With your signature single rose." She chuckles.
"Yeah, it was me," Cat admits, letting a laugh escape. "See you tonight."
Dani laughs. "You have a gig tonight? Or are you free?"
"The party," Cat replies. "We're both there tonight."
Dani groans. "Oh, DAMMIT. I'm SO out of time for a costume idea. Maybe I'll just hit a professional rental place."
"It'll work out," Cat answers. "See you tonight, Dani."
Dani smiles. "I'll see you tonight, Kit-kat. And then unwrap my candy bar later."
The call ends, she chuckles and stands waiting for the coffee to be ready.
Yes, Cat thinks, remembering a phrase used some time before. "Hindsight is twenty-twenty indeed, Dani. It doesn't only apply to remembering the bad things. And it's good not to be alone."
October 28th: Stranger Than... |
October 28th: Creepy McCreepster |