Participants:
| Scene Title | I Wanna Go Back To Denial |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Magnes' math has no room for L-O-V-E and gives in. His science also has no explanation for how a person can turn into pure fire. |
| Date | November 26, 2010 |
The ramparts are cool, the air crisp, winter well on it's way and christmas just around the corner. Abby has a few wishes for Christmas, but the odds of them being filled are nil. She's cross legged on the ramparts, eyes closed and practicing. Ramping her temperature up, lowering it back down to normal, working to try and get the fine control that she needs. With no bar to worry over - not that she doesn't worry over it - or a job other than helping run the place and keep things moving smoothly, she can take the few hours in the day to do this.
Which is where Magnes finds her just before dawn will creep across the sky, breakfast yet to be served much less started, the day after thanksgiving and otherwise centering herself, calming her emotions like Huruma had so instructed.
"Abby?" Magnes asks, wearing different clothes than the night before, suggesting he brought more than food. He's wearing his unzipped leather jacket over a Fantastic Four shirt, holding a plain black and white elementary school notebook. "Kind of fitting that I gave you a Phoenix costume a few years ago. Maybe I'm a costume precog." He grins, walking a little closer.
"Or maybe you just really like to make costume of characters for people" Abigail points out quietly, cracking open an eye to locate the gravitokinetic and motion with her chin for him to take a seat. "What did you need? Breakfast will be started soon, porridge. There's a little brown sugar to go around and if you ask nice, I might dig up one of my hershey bars to shave some over the top of yours. I do it for the kids"
"That's alright, you can save it for the kids." Magnes takes a seat near her, then holds up the notebook, flipping through it so she can see. It may as well be rocket science on every page, except that he's using words she clearly recognizes as well as numbers. On one page, he uses her pink hair as a variable for figuring out why she currently has brown hair, and most recently he scribbled about the ring on her finger. It looks like pretty advanced stuff, but even to someone who does know advanced calculus, it makes no goddamned sense anywhere but Magnes' head.
"I filled up this entire notebook since the 9th, ending with the ring I saw last night. I've been doing math, a lot of math, and I've determined that there is no way you've gotten married." He points to a few of the equations on the last page that mentions the word ring a lot. "See, I worked out the statistics using the other variables in the book, and I think you're just holding the ring for someone." Denial math!
Both eyes are open now, looking at the so called math on the page, reaching over to take the book from him. Abigail flips through the pages, pausing to make note of this, make note of that, working her way through till she can find a blank page and holds one hand out. "You forgot something Magnes, I need a pen"
Magnes reaches into his jacket, then holds out a pen to her, tilting his head. "I thought I covered all my bases. Did I forget a hair color?" he asks, eyebrow raised.
The pen is taken, uncapped. The cap popped to rest in between her teeth, Abigail's starting from the front page, working her way back, a bix X on either side of the pages till eventually she comes to the end and heedless of any senseless screaming that may come from Magnes, she turns it sideways and lengthwise across the page she writes four letters then underlines it three times before passing the notebook back and then then pen.
L O V E
"I wanna go back to denial." Magnes sighs, one of those soul-crushing sighs as he takes the notebook and pen, slipping the pen back into his jacket. "You know, I've been thinking a lot lately, about all my relationships, about every girl I've ever liked. I always thought I had a handle on myself, but Elaine breaking up with me kind of made me put everything into perspective. I think I'm only over you when I have a girlfriend. But Robert? How could you marry Robert? I mean…" His head hangs, staring at the ground inbetween his feet. "Who am I kidding? I'd be upset no matter who you married."
"Because I love him Magnes. Because he brings me home grocery store flowers knowing that I like them over a hundred dollar boquet from a florist. Because he rubs my feet on the couch after I've been working in am ambulance all day and that's all I want. Because I love the way his face lights up when I take him to 21 and we have dinner in the prohibition basement and he's surrounded by musty old wine bottles Magnes" Abigail looks down to the words written on the page. "Because he puts his hand on the small of my back and puts just the slightest bit of pressure and I know that he loves me back as much as I love him and that we've both been through so much and deserve the spot of sunlight we both bring into each others lives Magnes. SOme day you'll get that too but maybe, it's not right now and maybe, you're trying to hard, running from girl to girl?"
"I don't know, I don't really want to jump into anything again right away, I do love Elaine, and it feels like betraying her, but Delilah says it's over and I should move on and see what's out there." Magnes shrugs, staring down at the notebook now himself. "Maybe I shouldn't be worrying about girls. I mean, I'm starting school soon, and I'm becoming a minor celebrity, maybe I should focus on that. You know, I really make a concentrated effort to get over you, I don't try to get on your nerves on purpose, but it always comes back to this."
Makes taps his finger on the book a few times. "I mean I just did advanced equations that people use to figure out the universe, just to find out you were married because I didn't want to hear it from your own lips."
"I"m married magnes. I love my husband. He's older than me, he's richer than you, he tries to share his part of the world with me and I him. He likes to hunt and camping consists of a log cabin to my sleeping bag under the stars. He's english, and we fit. We fit so very much and I can't imagine the world any other way that with him by my side" Given that, you know, he's not here and she's on the run, plunked down in a crumbling castle and helping to keep a place running with 70 refugee's.
"Focus on school, not your heart. Elaine may or may not have moved on and maybe she just needs a bit of time. Maybe she won't but Dee's got the right of it. If it's meant to be, it will be, in it's own time and own place young padawan"
"If you're happy, then I'm happy for you. In the end, I just want you to be happy, and if he's making you happy, then… I guess I can't really complain. That's what I told Elaine, when she started breaking up with me, I told her to go be happy because it's all that matters to me." Magnes closes his eyes, placing a hand on his stomach as if there's a lingering pain. "Want help with your ability? Despite popular belief, I am pretty smart."
"I'm getting pretty good at my gift Magnes. When I want to turn, I ignite a lost faster. I learned that. Getting better at modulating my own temperature" Which would explain why it's not to chilly where she is or too snowy. "Guess good thing about being on the run is Ic and evote time to controlling it. I jsut can't really ignite here, there's no safe place to do that" There's a few other things that she want to practice, but can't. She doesn't want to forest fire the whole place down. "But thank you, for your offer. I'm just sorta meditating really. Huruma says it'll be good for my concentration"
"Could you explain what exactly your ability does? I know it's not just pyrokinesis, I mean, I don't turn into gravity." Magnes pulls his pen back out, turning to an empty page. "If I knew what your ability did, I could use what I know of physics to figure out what some of your limitations may be, if you don't know them. Not many people realize this, but low oxygen environments are as big an enemy to fire as water."
"I turn into fire Magnes, living breathing fire. Pyrokinetics who can manipulate fire, can control me. I haven't had too much experience turning into fire." She looks away from the notebook and out over the island. "I last for half an hour round about, give or take. I think if I'm in a fire, while fire, I can last longer, The fire at the bar went on for ages and They didn't find me till after"
Abby shakes her head. "Trial and error Magnes, I don't need math to tell me what common sense will. I'll need oxygen to burn, rain hurts like all hell's getting out, if I'm in it. It's why I've had a migraine a few times after dunking my head to keep from igniting. Hose me down with a fire extinguisher and it's just a little hard to breath afterward"
"I… I don't even understand how that's possible. I mean, it's beyond science, that's the only way I know how to describe your ability. But then, so is Richard Cardinal's…" Magnes stands up, moving to stand next to her. "For all intents and purposes, your ability can't exist. In a comic book, the only way they'd be able to explain it is that your soul is controlling the fire, so, in a way, your ability kind of proves that souls exist, because I sure as hell can't explain it with science."
"Baptismal fire, holy fire. Cleanses the soul" Abigail murmurs, looking way up at him. "Some things in the world Magnes, don't need explanation. They just need faith and belief that it can be, and can happen"
"Kind of weird, I'm starting to feel better. I thought after I had this talk with you, I'd feel a lot worse, but, you seem less distant, it feels like we're friends, not that we weren't before." Magnes smiles softly, looking back briefly in the direction he arrived from. "I have trouble using my ability in the water and rain too. I can use it on the water, but if I'm in the water, or in heavy rain, I start manipulating the water with whatever I'm trying to use my ability on. I think you're only the second person I've said that to, since I consider it a pretty big weakness."
"It's because Magnes, you always tried to talk to me when I was busy, or tired, or just not at the right time. And you're not just hammering at me" She points out to him. "I'm not busy, unless you count medical stuff and just, being, you know, helping run this place." When he relays a weakness though, she just nods. "Everyone has a weakness Magnes, lets just hope that no one finds yours huh?"
"The big list of Magnes J. Varlane weaknesses. Self Doubt, Water, and Abigail Beauchamp." Magnes laughs, and finally turns around to start walking, leaving his notebook floating next to her. "I'm gonna go find out when I can get back to mainland, and maybe wee how I can help out in the kitchen. I'll come back and visit, Abby, this on the run thing will work itself out."
"I'm sure it will magnes. You can help me out by checking out which countries don't have registration and are with folks who are evolved" He can access the internet when he gets back to civilization. "That's your task Magnes, for when you come back" She offers a wave to him, grabbing the notebook and moving it to float some place better, so that when the effects wear off, it'll plop down gently.
