Participants:
| Scene Title | I Wonder Why The Hold Up? |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | While cleaning their weapons, Claire and Magnes talk more about what was. |
| Date | January 07, 2010 |
Click Clack
It's early in the morning, the day before having been a success for the assault on Marion Island. Claire sits at a table with the AK she had on the mission, parts for it lay out on the table. She's been learning over the last few days how to disassemble and clean the weapons she's been using, by the men and women that work the armory. Busy work to keep her mind off of the horrible memories that keep popping up in her mind.
Cha-Chack
Each piece is being throughly cleaned, the scent of gun oil thick in the air, before being replaced on the gun. Her blue eyes are intensely focused on what she's doing, her stomach makes a soft rumbling growl as she's still not been eating well. Of course, as always she ignores the sound.
Entering the room with the pants and boots he wore on the assault, but wearing a NAVY shirt on his torso, Magnes almost looks like a soldier! He holds the M-16 in one hand, and when he spots Claire, he takes a seat across from her at the table, sitting the gun at an empty spot. "Hey." he greets softly, smiling. "Yesterday was the first time I ever saw you fight, or shoot anyone. I mean, I knew about the PARIAH stuff, but, I never saw you do any of it before. I think yesterday was the first time I killed so many people… the first person I killed was two or so months ago. So much for being able to escape the rest of the world together." He motions to the rest of the room, just a tad bitter. For once he's not talking about her memories, just this… situation they're in.
Another piece of her weapon is slid into place, before she realizes there is someone across from her. Blue eyes lift from what she's doing and it takes a moment for her to recognize… "Magnes, hey." She offers softly in return. The rifle is laid down so that she can work on oiling another piece. "Really? You've never seen me fight?" She sounds curious about that, a brow lifting. "Should of been in Madagascar, seemed like everyday was another ambush or attack. I don't know how many I've killed.. or how many times I died.. not with all the gaps." Oil is rubbed over another rifle part, as she falls silent.
"Truthfully, there is no escaping it. I've seen some of the worst stuff you could imagine there in Madagascar, and if what I don't remember is even worse… hell… I don't thing I want to remember. But it made me realize I need to keep going. A normal life.. not sure I want that anymore. I know when I was younger that's all I wanted. To be normal." Her head shakes slowly. "If I had been, I wouldn't be able to help fight this."
"And all this time I was hoping you'd get a pardon so we could go to the movies together." Magnes still smiles, his mood struggling to stay light as he teases, then just begins to take apart the gun after unloading it. "I know I can't stop you from fighting, but as long as you fight, I'm gonna fight, I couldn't live with myself if I didn't." He shakes his head, looking to her apologetically. "Sorry if all this talking like a boyfriend bothers you, I'm trying to stop, it's just not really an overnight transition, y'know?"
"I don't know.. sadly. All I have is just blank space when it comes to a lot of things." There is a grimace as she admits that, "It's like waking up from a long sleep, but I was still living the life."
"Is fighting what you want though?" Claire asks suddenly, looking up from what she's doing to study the man across the table from her. "Shouldn't live your life around someone else if deep down that's not what you want."
"This is your chance to start over and make your life what you want it." She nods her head towards the door he came through, "Do you know I've been hearing about how people had been kidnapped and brought here, given deals… but when I asked around how I ended up on this mission… I've got nothing. Most say I came on board with Richard. They also say talk to brass about it and well, they tend to be busy."
Head tilting, Claire's eyes narrow a bit. "Did you get a deal? What was it?"
"I was kidnapped too, I wasn't given a deal except what everyone was told when we were briefed, which was that we all get pardons, that includes you." Magnes leans forward, resting both arms on the table as he focuses on her eyes. "I was fighting before I met you, and now you're one of the reasons I fight. I want to end all this so we can all be normal again. I can't go back to being a pizza boy, and after a few months of being a cop, they were going to fire me because apparently saving people and landing choppers is bad PR. The government has just completely ruined my life in so many ways, they've ruined everyone's lives."
He sits up and taps the side of his head for a moment. "But, I know what you're going through, with the memories. At some point I ended up in the Company, I met you while I was in it. We met on Cat's rooftop a lot, and I told you about how I read the 9th Wonders comics. You asked me what I thought about 'Claire' a lot. It's funny, looking back on it." He shakes his head, then gets back on track. "But anyway, I don't remember what exactly happened while I was there, they erased most of my memories of those two or three months, I only remember bits and pieces of conversations, I know I had friends there, but I don't know their faces or names, I lost so much, except my training. You were at my place when I finally woke up completely, Elizabeth was there too. My only real clue was a note I wrote to myself, that said 'You did it for Claire'. And, you were there for me, through the memory loss. Luckily I didn't forget things outside of the Company, but there weren't too many memories like that to begin with. They're mostly of phone calls to Abby, business with Tracy Strauss, hanging out with Delilah, and dating you."
The young blonde tries to keep a neurtal expression as he talks about the past, her small fingers working at putting the final pieces of her rifle back together. "You?" Brows furrow lightly, looking somewhat unconvinced. "You were Company? My adoptive father was Company for a lot of years. They do like to take people's memories. Though you get it done too many times and if can damage the brain. Did my adoptive mother. " Her voice trails off and she goes quiet again as she puts one more piece in place.
Holding the rifle fully assembled in her hands, it's become a familiar feeling. "I thought about having Rene wipe what's left of Madagascar from my mind." She slowly lays the weapon on the tables and sighs, "But I just can't, I've lost way too much already… and it sounds like I've lost a lot of myself as well." Closing the bottle of gun oil, she glances at Magnes again. "I don't want anymore blank spots in my life if I can help it."
"Yeah, I know about your father, both of them. But yeah, that's what people tell me, I was Company. I'm still sketchy on the details, but it wasn't for a long time, just those few short months." Magnes stares into the abrrel of his disassembled rifle, reaching for the brush she was using for her's so he can start sliding it through. "I wish you could remember our first real date, I think that's what won you over." He snickers, twisting the brush inside the barrel, trying not to talk about Madagascar too much; fear of making her uncomfortable. "I made a picnic blanket fly and we ate above the city. Well, either that won you over, or you just have a thing for geeky guys who don't know the first thing about women."
That manages to get a smirk from the young blonde, Claire tilts her head. "Fly? Really? Maybe it was cause you fly like my dad… I dunno. My last clear memories were around the time I got really sick after my grandfather stripped me of my ability…. though I couldn't tell you the names of the guy that tried to heal me.. but I do remember Abby and Richard." There is a little chuckle at the memory, but then she sighs, leaning on the table watching him clean his weapon.
"But I seriously told you about my father being Nathan Petrelli?" There is a touch of amusement on her face as Claire says, "We must have been pretty serious."
"Yeah, it's almost shakespearean that you lost your memories right when we were, well, getting a lot closer." Magnes' cheeks flush, and he breaks eye contact, focusing on cleaning his gun as he reaches to grab the oil now. "But yeah, you basically told me everything, and I told you everything. We shared secrets, and when we were alone, we would say we're shutting the whole world and all its problems out, so it was just us. You're just an amazing person, Claire. Whenever I'd say I wanna change myself to be better, you'd tell me to be myself, then find a way for me to be better, but without changing. Like, you took me shopping a lot, you'd pick out superhero shirts and stuff at Hot Topic, stuff I'd like, but looked good too."
There is no blush on Claire's cheeks, more amusement then anything. Maybe it was her time in Rasoul's care that changed that about her. "I'm sorry I can't remember." And she means it, by the sound of it. The rifle is picked up again, hand running over the stock. "So I'm going to guess by that blush that we still hadn't done certain things?" There is a soft chuckles and a shake of her head, "And we were together how long?"
"I think as far as doing things go, in that department, we were starting to experiment. If it wasn't so late this one night, we probably would have gone all the way. I should probably leave the fact that you're a serious tease out of this, but knowing my luck, you remember that about you." Magnes can't help but laugh, starting to slide oil down the barrel of the gun, very carefully. "We were together for five or so months. My perception of time is a bit messed up 'cause of the memory thing, but I know it was at least five months."
"Huh…" Is her response to all that, not sure how to take that information. "I wonder what the hold up was." It's like she doesn't even remember her hang ups either. Claire pushes to her feet and rests the rifle against her shoulder, so that she can grab up some of the extra cleaning stuff. "I need to track down some people see where I'm heading out today."
A small smile of given to Magnes, as she steps over the bench seats, turning in the direction of the armory. "Thanks for the talk, it helped keep my mind busy for a bit, but back to the mission at hand."
"Well, by the time I decided I was ready, it took you a long time to be ready too. Seems we ended on a permanent cliffhanger." Magnes snickers again, trying to take it all in stride, though it's clear, just by looking into his eyes, there's a deep feeling of loss. He's already started putting his rifle back together, or at least is doing the best he can. "But, yeah, thank you too. It really helps me to talk too. You know, this same thing is happening to Spider-Man and Mary-Jane, except she can't even tell him he can't remember her. I can't even imagine that."