Participants:
| Scene Title | How To Avoid The Friend Zone |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Magnes shows Veronica his power, and she teaches him all about women and the friend zone and totally thinks he should do Isabelle. He disagrees and chooses to get sweaty with Veronica in the end. |
| Date | June 4 2009 |
A gym, lots of gym stuff, it's very gymmy!
It's later in the evening, and Magnes is once again in the gym, celebrating the return of his powers. How is he celebrating? He's basically running, jumping, and flipping on the walls and ceiling. "They're back! They're finally back!" he exclaims, making a large leap across the gym, grabbing the climbing rope, then releasing it to land on the other wall.
Veronica enters the gym, ready for her evening run. Normally she would run out in the city, but it's hard to hide guns on you in the clothes she prefers to run in, and since her little bout with Adam Monroe, she's not going anywhere in public without her weapons at the ready. Today the running outfit consists of a green tank top and black running shorts with green piping. She raises a brow as she sees Magnes bouncing off the walls. "Someone's having a good day," she intones. Clearly from the dark look on her face it's not her.
"Veronica!" Magnes' face lights up, jumping directly down at her like some sort of human projectile, landing about a foot in front of her. "Minea eats like a pig! She's gonna let me buy the groceries and cook except on fridays I think. I'm gonna make her food from scratch every day."
"I'm a delivery boy, and Mister Panucci has been teaching me how to cook for about, two years or so. He says pasta makers are for novelty chefs, and unless it's your ingredients, anything that comes from a can or a bag is just junk food." Magnes explains while staring down at her on the machine, swallowing once. "I can make all sorts of things, like fresh pasta, the noodles made from scratch of course, pizza, a few meat dishes, though most of my cooking is Italian."
Veronica chuckles at the little diatribe from Mister Panucci coming from Magnes' mouth. "Well, Minea can probably handle all those carbs if you say she's as horrible an eater as she is. I try to stay away from too much pasta. I'd have to run ten miles a day instead of five if I ate it every day," she says, as she begins to stretch that leg, preparing for her workout. "But lucky Minea, her own personal chef!"
"I'm gonna make her all sorts of stuff. Sausages, chicken wings, strombolis, calzones, which are sorta just smaller strombolis, but they're a bit different." Magnes' eyes lock on to the leg, when he thinks she isn't looking, his cheeks surprisingly not flustered… mostly because he hasn't been caught, he doesn't think. "I sorta wish they made me live with you, it's hard to talk to Minea, and you're closer to my age."
"I know what calzones are," she says with a chuckle, dropping the leg to the ground and lifting her other to stretch it. "Minea's a good agent. And I was paired with my first partner here in New York at first, though he's off on some project or another," Veronica says with a shrug. "Thank god I don't have to live with the new one." She glances at the treadmills. "You going to run with me again?" Her brows lift and her lips curve into a smirk, dimples appearing in either cheek.
Eyes quickly ripped away from the second leg, he looks down at her and rapidly shakes his head. "I-I don't think that's a good idea." he wisely answers, cheeks finally managing to flush as he looks away. "U-um, hey, you wanna do what I said about showing you what it's like with my power? It copies to whoever I touch, since I don't know how to control it for just me."
"I … don't… know." These words are slowly spoken, as she looks up at him. She doesn't trust Evolved powers. The only time she's felt one, it was like the tenth circle of hell — the one so awful no one speaks of it. "I think I'm okay with gravity. I'm used to it. It keeps me grounded." She says the stupid joke to stall, maybe, or to come off as less uncertain.
Samson smiles, then reaches forward to place a hand on her shoulder. If she doesn't, you know, jerk away, he says, "There, I'm using it." He's using it, and there really isn't a feeling, except any feeling of being heavy is suddenly gone.
Magnes smiles, then reaches forward to place a hand on her shoulder. If she doesn't, you know, jerk away, he says, "There, I'm using it." He's using it, and there really isn't a feeling, except any feeling of being heavy is suddenly gone.
Veronica frowns as he touches her, since she didn't overtly give her permission, though she doesn't jerk away either. "I… won't just start floating or some crazy LSD trip like that, will I?" she says quietly, her eyes a little wide in her face. So much for tough Company girl.
"You trust me, right? Well, I mean, as much as you can trust a guy who broke his super secret government agent cover." Magnes smiles, moving from her shoulder to firmly grab her hand, then just leaps. He's gonna try to take her up to the ceiling with him!
Veronica actually laughs a little at his self-deprecating comment, but then squeals as he leaps, actually clinging to him as they go up toward the ceiling. "Oh, my God, I'm going to kill you," she gasps, one hand leaving his neck to reach out for the wall.
"Don't worry, you'll be alright!" Magnes' face doesn't light up when she squeezes him, he's far too happy to be using his powers to realize his situation. Then, the world seems to shift, and they spin around, suddenly landing gently on the feet, on the ceiling. It doesn't feel like the ceiling, it feels more like they're standing on the ground, the world completely shifted around. The floor seems like the new 'up', and her hair is even laying in its correct place, no blood rushing or anything! "See? It doesn't hurt, it might feel a little weird from not being used to the shift, but it's not painful. And don't let go."
"Oh, God," she says, closing her eyes — which actually helps — the world seems less topsy turvy that way. It actually feels normal. She cracks one eye open and looks up at the … floor. "Holy shit, it's like being in that movie with the goblins and the kid and the… Labyrinth! Like that guy Escher's paintings…" she says, her other eye opening as she looks around, reaching an arm high up to touch an upside-down piece of apparatus over her head. "It is a crazy LSD trip though…"
"Yeah, I guess it is kinda like Escher, I can just walk around all day changing what's up and down. I thought you might like it." Magnes' keeps a firm arm around her, smiling bashfully when he realizes she's got a grip. "I just, I don't know, I thought you might trust me more after this. I mean, like one of those things where you make someone your lifeline, a trust exercise. God, I'm talking stupid again, sorry."
She smiles at his earnestness. "Well, it is a remarkable gift. Thank you for showing me," she says, reaching up to ruffle his hair with her free hand, though one is still wrapped tight around his neck. She's not letting go, no sir. "Just don't make me fall…" She's never been afraid of heights, but the thought of a fall into that floor that seems to be above her is a little disconcerting.
Magnes is quiet for the moment, beginning to walk across the ceiling, very slowly, trying to get her comfortable with it. It feels just like walking on the floor really, since this is the new down. "U-um, is this whole, holding thing, as awkward for you as it is for me? Don't worry, I'm not gonna let you go or anything, I've done this with girls before, it's just, well, you're like a vixen or something."
"Well, you said don't let go!" Vee says accusingly. She takes his hand with her free hand, and lets go of his neck, her cheeks a little flushed with embarrassment at her own fear. "Do I have to touch you to keep the power, and not fall, or not?" she asks, now that she holds him just by the hand, looking skeptically at that handhold of security.
"You just have to touch, I promise. I've been using my power for five years, so, I'm not exactly new." Magnes continues walking, a hand-held walk across the ceiling until they get to the wall. He raises a foot, placing it against the wall, then looks over at her to do the same. "I-I mean, the word isn't vixen, it's uh, well, you're just, really womanly?"
Veronica nods, lifting her sneaker-clad foot and putting it on the wall, a little uncertain about how this shift in balance and perspective will work out. "Womanly," she repeats and shakes her head with a grin. "Well. Now that I'm not clinging maybe you can think better. So you've been like this since… 16? How'd you first notice your power?"
The shift feels more like the room just spun around to change which side is the floor again, and this time it seems like the wall is the floor. They're quite casually just walking closer to the real floor now, which, oddly enough, seems like a wall on the other end of a room. It's perfectly possible that one might be more afraid of falling into the other wall, which is the new ceiling, thus… well, it's confusing. "Yeah, something like that. I was trying to skate, and one day I actually managed to jump up really high, and when I was falling, I was gonna basically smash my head open, and all I was thinking was that I wanted to slow my fall, and that's exactly what happened. I fell very slowly, and I was on the ground."
"Well, that's a convenient time to find your ability," Veronica says, walking a little more cautiously than he does of course. "But I guess that's how it often happens, huh? Takes something traumatic to bring out the ability — otherwise, how would you even know to try, right?" she says. "I sometimes wondered if that would happen to me, you know? But I think it's a sure thing I'm not Evo."
"It's not all it's cracked up to be." Magnes says with a light frown, leaning against the floor when they finally get to it, since, it is a wall now. "I could be talking to Abby, helping her with not having her ability right now. Or on a date with Xiulan, helping Delilah with her ability, trying to meet my internet friend for a second time." Then, he raises a perplexed eyebrow, looking to Veronica. "All my friends are girls… except Hiro… I never noticed that before. How can all my friends be girls and I'm still uncomfortable around them? And I've only kissed two, one while I was asleep."
Veronica raises a brow. "Probably because you're always a friend and it's hard to be not the friend until you have more experience at that," she says with a shrug, biting her lip so as not to laugh at his talking of how many girls he's kissed. "No, I don't imagine being special is easy, though. It's the whole 'with great power comes great responsibility' thing, right?"
"How do you get more experience at that?" Magnes asks, still oblivious, of course. "And yeah, 'with great power comes great responsibility', that'll always be true. And it can ruin your life, it's done a pretty good job of ruining mine. I mean, I've had every single bone in my body broken, every one of them. No one should have to feel that…"
"By being more than a friend," Veronica says simply, apparently getting more used to being on the wall now. "How'd you do that? Like, all at once, or one at a time?" she says with a shake of her head. "No, no one should." She thinks for a moment. "I haven't broken every bone, but I think I'm at ten broken bones and two gun shot wounds."
"I was shot last year, by some crazy Asian guy who turns into smoke or something. I was tased twice, well, maybe more, I don't remember the time I got bagged and tagged." Magnes adds, two way back memories. "I fought this lady, she could change her size and turn herself into spikes and stuff, she was huge. I barely knew how to fight back then, but I was forced to fight in a cage to win Abby's freedom. I shifted gravity to try and hurt the woman, but we fell on the ceiling, and she was on top. I broke basically everything, but I still stood up, I had to win, for Abby, y'know? But then she just started punching me, over and over, and eventually I was just done."
"Ugh. Crazy," Veronica says with a wrinkle of her nose. "Poor you." She sighs. "I got tased recently. Not a fan, I can tell you. It sucked, and I felt like I'd run a marathon the next day." She shakes her head. She begins to walk toward the actual floor once more, tugging him with her by the hand.
"Yeah." is all Magnes says, bending down so he's in more of a sitting position by the time he returns gravity to normal, making sure that when she falls, it's a very slow fall, still holding her hand. "So, how do you become more than a friend? I'm not really good at that part." he asks, quickly changing the subject.
Veronica closes her eyes as she floats a bit to the floor, landing lightly and smiling. She squeezes her hand. "It's a tricky thing. Has a bit to do with confidence, and the window of opportunity and all. Sometimes if you're a friend too long, it's hard for a girl to think of you as more," she explains. "You've got a bit of that nice guy problem, too, maybe… but don't worry. While they may finish 'last,' it's not a race, and sometimes the extra time means they get better girls in the end."
"Well, the one nice girl I had a chance with is getting screwed by a guy I don't trust at all, I think Delilah is gonna friend zone me, and even if Abby did date, I'm the last guy she'd ever want anything to do with." Magnes shrugs, crossing his legs on the floor as he holds Veronica's hand in both of his, idly playing with her fingers as if it's the first hand he ever took the time to look at. "Isabelle just wants to get in my pants, don't know why, but she's a good friend."
Veronica retrievers her hand now that they're both safe on the ground. "So maybe just use Isabelle to get right in her pants. You know, get your confidence and nerve a bit out of the experience?" she suggests. Apparently she's not the romantic sort. "Like I said, a guy's confidence has a lot to do with it. And maybe the time away from Delilah will do the whole 'absence makes the heart grow fonder' thing. After your training, maybe she'll be all impressed with the new super Maggie." She winks.
"G-get in her pants? I'd never do that, I mean, I would do that, but I mean, not that." Magnes is very deeply unclear on what he means, and looks vaguely disappointed when Veronica takes her hand back. "I mean, I have to really feel something for a girl, and I'd never use a woman for her body, ever. Plus I think there's something in the bible, I don't know…"
The brunette laughs and goes to sit on one of the weight benches. "Right, pretty sure if you're super religious you aren't supposed to do that before marriage. Wasn't sure where you stood on that count," she says with a smirk. "But then you're relegated to nice guy, if you won't use a woman. But, there are some nice girls who like nice guys, I promise." She pauses. "I don't know that many of them, but I hear they exist," she adds with a wink.
"I'm not super religious, I'm still new to religion." Magnes adds, jumping up and lightly landing on the floor again, this time right in front of her bench. "But I mean, I don't know, I can't even picture myself having sex, let alone just… doing it. That's why I jumped out of a window when Tracy Strauss tongue kissed me, I was weirded out, I'm not used to that kind of thing."
"First," Veronica says, with another shake of her head, "you need to quit calling it tongue kissing, okay? That just sounds like you're still in middle school or something." She smirks a bit. "I mean, I get that there's a difference between a peck on the cheek and a 'tongue kiss,' but… if the kiss is enough to mention as something significant, odds are it's the latter, 'kay?" She shakes her head. "Well, that's good. If you can't imagine doing it, at least I know you're not imagining doing it with me every time you look at me." She grins and heads over to the treadmill, climbing on and beginning to program her run. "You gonna run with me, Mags?"
"A-ah, I'm," Magnes stands up, very flustered as he begins to walk over to the treadmill with her. He does not confirm or deny her assumptions about his imagination. "Y-yeah, let's run."
Veronica peeks over at him through the corners of her eyes as she presses the buttons for her five mile run. "So you can say the word sex without blushing, but someone talking to you about it — not quite. I'd say I'd help you work on that, but you might sue me for sexual harassment," she says, starting into a jog as the treadmill kicks into gear. "Come on. Let's see if we can manage to finish this time without you doing a face plant."