Participants:
| Scene Title | Hope and Apprehension |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Isabelle consoles Magnes and convinces him to perhaps consider the concept of hope. |
| Date | January 20, 2012 |
Outside The Abandoned Panucci's Pizza
Having gone home and found that it was devoid of Eileen or Gabriel, Magnes took a shower and changed his clothes. Now he's outside again, in a gray pinstripe suit without a tie, blazer allowed to flow open. But despite the fact that he doesn't smell anymore, he's drinking some kind of mysterious booze from a gold Legend of Zelda NES cartridge that's been refitted to be a flask.
He stumbles a little, rattail resting over his shoulder, his eyebrow ring and the partially shaved sides of his head making him distinctly not very Magnes-like, at least to people more familiar with the Prime version of him.
Sitting on the ground already, he's outside of the boarded up Panucci's Pizza, where Magnes' old apartment used to be, somewhere Isabelle would prhobably know fairly easily. Though it's the middle of the night, so it's probably an odd sight to see someone just sitting on the ground in a suit in front of an abandoned building.
The soft sound of footsteps can be heard echoing towards Magnes until a woman wearing a simple red dress, the fabric light and gossamer, she seems to glide on the pavement. But Isa Parker is grounded so to speak thought, though some would argue she wasn’t because she was holding the flask that was gifted to her by the sweet sibyl Tamara, her own liquor was smokey and she had always liked mezcal and the burn was nice, mixing well with the burn she always felt deep within her, her fire. Dark hair sports a fresh haircut, hair falling in layers to her shoulders. The wind blows a few strands of hair into hazel eyes that land on Magnes’ seated form. Eyebrows raise and the woman stops turning an eye towards the abandoned building. She had hidden out there once back in her own timeline, she figures she was on autopilot.
His hair.. God.. the clothes and that.. Ah this was not the Magnes she had just came through a portal with. But call it her drunkness, she didn’t care. Any friend was a friend, in every timeline. At least in her book. Every enemy, a enemy in the next timeline. Her theory hadn’t been disproven. “Magnes!” Her words come out a little loud, a bit tipsy. She comes closer to stare down at the man.
“Fuck, you’re boozing alone too.” Her tone is hushed as she studies the man. He looks just like her Magnes, “What the fuck is going on with your hair?” A hand on her hip, she doesn’t seem to be affected by the cold wind in the air. In fact, the air around her fills warm. A comfortable warmth as if you were sunbathing on the beach. Her hips swing as she rocks side to side, blinking her eyes a bit and squinting at the man. “It is you. Holy fuck.”
"Isabelle!" Magnes looks up at her, smiling for a brief moment, then suddenly he looks back down, and takes a drink. "I left, I couldn't… years ago, I couldn't keep doing it, my father was right, I didn't know how to have a normal life. I had to disappear…"
He looks back at the pizza shop, and allows his head to thump against it. "I couldn't even run this shop right…"
"I took a shower, I met this beautiful woman, so I put on clean clothes and stuff. But by the time I started walking, I started drinking and thinking… why would I bother?" Sip. "She has a whole life, and I'm just some freak who screws everything up…"
Taking a swig of her own alcohol. She has a variety of reactions to Magnes’ words. One, he knows her here too and she didn't see any information on herself in his timeline so her eyebrows are raised as she comes to sit on the curb next to Magnes. “Your pops is a fucking asshole and you should never listen to him. Ever.”
Izzy’s hand goes out to grip Magnes’ shoulder and she looks up towards the new night sky. “Pfft, businesses are hard. I'm sure you tried.” It's surreal to be doing this and she wonders if this is how Magnes and Liz felt when first encountering Alternates.
“I.. well I'm happy you've kept up cleaning yourself.” Wrinkling her nose, the air around Magnes is noticeably more warm with Isa this close. She pulls out a pack of cigarettes, placing one between her lips before igniting a finger in fire to light it. Puffing on the cancer stick, she blows out some smoke, snuffing out the fire a trail of smoke rising from her finger. Ahh a beautiful woman, this Magnes is different yet familiar. “Whose the lady?”
"Dawn Carrington." Magnes answers, aka Elspeth's alias for this world. "I met her the other day. She's nice, and beautiful. Well, she yelled at me at first, because I was being drunk and stupid. Fuck, I guess I'm drunk and stupid again…"
He reaches up, trying to gently pull her down with him. "I haven't seen you in so long. I keep chasing after people, even though I gave up on all that… I keep having hope and I hate it. I screw everything up."
"Hey, Isabelle, we should go on a date. Forget the rest of the world telling us what to do, we'll drink and beat people up in bars, and I'll finally have sex, it'll be great!" he suggests, taking another swig.
She's pulled closer to her friend with a “Oof!” But she holds onto to her cigarette and flask while listening to, Ah fuck. “You're already meeting us. Shit.” Isa wasn't sure it was gonna take long anyway. She's must less concerned about people finding out, though she supposes it could complicate things.. her thoughts going back to Tamara, Collete and Kathleen’s warnings.
“Where did I go?” She asks innocently as she tries to take a casual sip of her flask. Eyebrows raised as she takes another drag from her stoge.
And then Magnes is doing that thing where he's saying things he shouldn't and before Izzy can puke she stomps her foot and jet of fire extends from her foot almost across the street, the toe of her shoe burned. “Magnes what the fuck are you talking about!” she shoves him over with a glare before laughing.
“We can beat people up in bars without fucking, come on.” Hoping to her feet, Isa sways a little and looks down at her friend with a expectant expression on her face, “Well come the fuck on, you gonna fly us to a bar or what Magbutt.”
"I don't know, I'm the one who left, but then I didn't see you around anymore. I left everyone, I didn't think I could… do this anymore. I can't lead a normal life." Magnes slowly stands up, and offers her his hand. "If by fly you mean really high jumps, yeah, I can do that."
He looks her in the eye, considering things. "Well I mean, you were my best friend. I mean, I figured I could take a shot at pity sex. Dawn Carrington probably has some amazing boyfriend, or a girlfriend, and is totally on a different level probably. He's probably buff, and handsome, and has a job, and doesn't drink."
“Yes yes, sorry I always say the wrong thing.” Clasping his hand she looks over at him. “Fuck no, we’ll get you a working girl for some pity sex. I'm sure there’s some shapeshifter sex bot working around here..” her voice trails off, there has to be a seedy futuristic like place around here. Isa snorts at Magnes’ description of Dawn with a shake of her head. “She's grieving Mags, her sister died.” And a lot more people too before they made it through to this apparent utopia, from the looks of things though there were plenty of demons still roaming the city.
Speaking of dead.. Brenda crosses her mind again. “You ain't seen Brenda either?” She figures not but it wouldn't hurt to ask.
“Listen, let's go somewhere else. We can talk, beat up some dumbasses. It'll be like old times.” She's not sure she can lie to him about who she is. Not for long at least.
"Don't really know where anyone is. Haven't seen a lot of people in a long time, I mostly just drink and sleep on Eileen and Gabriel's couch." Magnes reaches out to wrap an arm around her waist, which is followed by him swallowing hard, because he still can't handle this close proximity with Isabelle.
The warmth is really the worst part, that quite literally makes it all way hotter.
"I guess that's why she was in that mood… didn't know you knew her. Fuck…" He suddenly leaps, holding her tight, and immediately lands onto the roof across the street from them. "I wanna get a job, not drink as much. I wanna be her friend and stuff, it's not good to be alone. She seems lonely, she's so angry…"
His arm still around her, he looks down, he can't help but look down. "Dawn's so… interesting, I don't know. What do you say to someone going through that loss? My parents are gone, but I got abandoned a long time ago…"
“Keep breathing Mags, keep breathing.” She's not looking down, she refuses too. “Eileen? Jesus you're under her everywhere we go!” It's a tease to her friend and she is grinning before they land on the roof. “Wooooo I’ll never get use to it. How fucking sick that feels.” Her cigarette was dropped but she doesn't care she has more, her flask she shoves down into her pocket of her dress.
“We’re all a little angry Mags, it's been a hard journey to get here.” That doesn't so weird at all right? Life is hard, she reasons with herself.
“You say, I'm here for you and if you need anything at all let me know. And then you just be there or not if they want you to fuck off.” It would seem no matter what timeline they are in, still best friends, giving advice. “You've got a good heart no matter what it seems like.” She smiles, she hadn't met Hermod.
"I think that, when I really think about it, I mostly got mad because I sucked too much to date Abby, so I had a tantrum and started drinking and stopped talking to everyone." Magnes states with some measure of brief self-awareness, grabbing her waist again, trying his best to breathe. He leaps, and lands on a roof with some laundry hanging up on a wire.
"I don't know if I have a good heart, I feel like I poison everything. When I try to be a hero everything gets worse, when I try to make a connection I say or think the wrong thing and ruin it." He lets her go, and starts walking around the roof, groaning. "Now I just ruin everything by drinking! It's at least funner, and I don't have to worry about the soul crushing hope of life actually getting any better!"
“Well I'm not gonna encourage you to be a child and that was childish! Tantrums about not being able to date a girl are a big no no but I can't judge on the drinking fucking look at me.” As the leap to the land and hang on a wire she nods her head with a Whoa expression on her face. “Ah fuck that Mags you never poisoned me. I think it's just your perception. I bet Eileen and Gabriel love to have you around, I would.”
Then Magnes is freaking out on the roof and Izzy suspects that they won't be bar brawling so she sits in the roof cross legged the ends of her dress flapping up by the wind. Pulling her flask out she tips it back and takes a long swig before placing it firmly on the roof’s floor. “Listen,”
Extending her hand out she engulfs it in flames, staring into the fire. Hazel eyes squint reflecting the flame as it changes shape to a ball hovering above the palm of her hand, crackling and glowing brightly. “Sometimes we fuck up. And it might seem like that's all we’re good for.” Izzy knows the feeling and she tosses the small fireball back and forth between her palms, light trails of flames in its wake as it passes. She watches it with her eyes before making it stop and hover right in front of her face. The orange glow illuminating her features.
“But sometimes you gotta fuck up Big so you can learn and bounce back.”
"You think I can be better?" Magnes asks, walking to the edge of the roof, standing on it in a way that would be ridiculously dangerous for most people. "I'm afraid of hope. If I quit drinking, it's because I have hope that life will get better. But if I have hope, I'll be disappointed, I'll see how hard life is, that I can't move off of Eileen and Gabriel's couch."
"I don't know what to do, I don't know how to be happy." He slides his flask into his blazer, staring down at the street below. "You know, I can't even jump. If I jumped I'd just instinctively catch myself in the air."
“You sound like you need to lay off the booze for a couple days. Hit the gym with me, get your shit together man. Life's too short to fucking be feeling down about yourself.” Isa stomps her foot, putting the fireball out as she walks up close to Magnes. Smoke trails around her body and the air gets significantly more warm.
“The Magnes I know believes in himself and damn it you’re gonna believe in yourself too if I have any say.” Pocketing her own flask, she sways and pokes Magnes in the leg. “You hear me? You are Magnes J Varlane and you will succeed.” Patting his thigh, Izzy blinks and puts her hands on her hips.
“Sometimes life shits on you but you should have hope that one day someone will come to wipe the muck off your sunglasses. Guess what,” she leans in with a grin. “I'm wiping your sunglasses clean.”
This Magnes is definitely not as built as the other one, so the gym certainly makes sense. He bridges the gap between them, then moves to wrap his arms around her, and lay his head on Isabelle's shoulder. "I wanna get healthy…" he sighs, just wanting to rest there like that, standing up. "I think Gabriel can help me with my drinking, he's good at addiction stuff."
"Do you think life will get better if I believe in myself?" he asks, seeking very simple reassurance.
The notion of a rehabbed serial killer helping her best friend kick the drinking habit is not lost on her but she keeps telling herself she's in a new world. So why not? Leaning her head against his she stares out at the skyline. It is beautiful, the extra vegetation in Midtown. This world is a paradise and they should feel like it too. “Yes Magnes, you've gotta believe. And if you don't..”
Isa gets a serious look on her face and she squeezes Magnes close, he knows that look. All the Magneses do. “Then I'll believe in you until you can.”
Magnes lifts his head, looking into her eyes, then he starts to lean in when she says that, as if perceiving it as a cue.
Izzy’s eyes widen and she glares at her drunk friend and places a hand on his leg, “Listen,” She says as she jerks her head back from kissing Magnes lips. “I said no to fucking and that means…” his leg gets really hot. Actually her fingers are lit in tiny flames and it makes for burning his pants, the burn is quick and she yanks the rest of the pants off, they smoke and burn in her grasp, as she holds with with a smile on her face.
“Now you go home and think about trying to kiss your best friend like that. NOT EVEN MY MOONSHINE MAGNES NOT EVEN MY MOONSHINE!”
Magnes suddenly tries to cover himself, looking down. "Okay… okay I understand… sorry!" He holds his crotch, then offers his hand to her. "Uh, I guess I'll get you down now, and go home, and get pants…"
“No no go go.” Izzy implores her friend. “Lemme drink in quiet for a second. I can get down.” Isa looks at Magnes in the eye as she plops down on the ground. Taking her flask out, she tips it back and drinks a healthy gulp before burping out a jet of fire. It materializes right in front of her mouth and blows out a few inches. “Go sleep it off!”
“If I hear you haven't slept I’m gonna roundhouse your ass until you get some shut eye, alright?” Izzy gives her friend a hard look and sighs. “I love you, go home Magbutt. Meet me in front of your old place tomorrow morning. Don't make me hunt you down. We’ve got the gym in the morning.” She means it.