Participants:
| Scene Title | Ice Cream Kind of Phone Call |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Nicole and Quinn talk about their shared dream. |
| Date | March 27, 2011 |
Solstice Condominiums: Nicole's Home, and Village Renaissance Building: Quinn and Elaine's Apartment
Nicole wakes up feeling too warm. Her sleep-addled mind thinks it's the flames licking at the roof of her house. The one with the yellow door. She's clutching tightly to a pillow, only just beginning to realise that it isn't her daughter.
Only she doesn't have a daughter.
This is the second time she's woken from a dream, having seen that little blonde girl, and knowing in her heart that child is hers. Nicole's heart is still pounding in her chest, pulse thick in her throat. She was terrified for her life, and for her little princess.
Her little princess. Twice now Nicole has called her daughter that. She has yet to use the girl's name, whatever it is. Normally this would be her cue that it's only a stupid dream. But…
Focusing her eyes in the dark, Nicole rolls over and reaches for her BlackBerry, charging on the nightstand. There's only a couple moments of fumbling with the contact list before she gets the name she's looking for. She's going to feel like a heel if this was just a dream. But if it wasn't…
Then Robyn Quinn should know about it.
Just like the night before, eyes snap open and Quinn jolts upright, just like both times before. Once more, her hand is balled into the cover, gripping them as tight as she can manage as she breathes out hard and long. A hand reaches up to wipe her cheek, as if she might actually be sweating this time, much like how a tear had crept into the waking world the night before.
This time, it seems not to be the case.
Breathing heavy, she simply tares ahead for a moment, trying to really reconcile what she had just seen. A funeral was one thing. Running from FRONTLINE, Magnes saving them, that was one thing. But with that pistol in hand, blowing a man's head more or less off, the fact that she could barely see… all of that is just too much.
And then her phone rings, blaring out a recent set ringtone - She's Electric by Oasis, and immediately she knows who's calling. And why.
She leans over to Elaine, surely roused awake by the sudden movement and ringing phone. "I-I'll be back in a moment," she whispers, tone shaking a bit. "I have t' take this call. Then we have t' talk."
And with that she grabs her phone and paces out into the common room, thankful for the fact that she left the heat on last night. There's a moment of hesitation before she presses answer, raising the iPhone to her ear.
"You too?"
"Me too," Nicole confirms. That Quinn answered that way doesn't surprise her. She had been suspecting - or hoping - that the woman would know why she was calling.
"What the fuck was that?" The quiet rustling of the sheets and subtle shift of the mattress can be heard as Nicole draws her knees up to her chest, pulling the covers around herself. "I told you I thought I had a daughter in one of my dreams, and… That was her."
That swift answer both puts Quinn at ease and worries her that much more, balancing out the emotions in a weird sort of way. Quinn doesn't journey to her sofa just yet, instead making her way through the living room, past the dinner table, and into the kitchen.
This is an ice cream kind of phone call.
"That was her?" Quinn repeats, closing her eyes a bit as she draws a tub of cookie dough out from the freezer. "She'll be beautiful, you know. If that's what all of this really is." Quinn doesn't really have much doubt anymore. When her eyes open, she turns around and makes her way over towards the drawers. "I-I don't know what t' make of all of that. That… I almost wouldn't think that was me, if I didn't know better…"
"I feel like I should thank you for saving our lives. But it's something that… hasn't even happened yet. If it even happens. So that feels weird?" Quinn can almost hear Nicole wince over the phone. It's at least apparent in her tone. "I've been thinking about it, and… Has anybody talked to Pastor Sumter? You know him? I've… Maybe this is something he would know something about? I mean, Robin deals in dreams, but… This is more like visions."
Nicole pinches the bridge of her nose and peers out her window at the darkened city, the sky gone indigo with the splashes of pink at the first hints of the impending sunrise. "Did you have a vision last year before the riots? Was this anything like that?" She didn't have one, but she's heard plenty of stories. Everyone in New York has.
With a spoon in hand and the cold rub of ice cream under her arm, QUinn grabs a discarded pair of pants and- doesn't head for the couch. Instead she grabs her keys and starts out the door of her apartment, making her way towards the elevator as she listens to Nicole talk, a bit of a grimace on her face.
"I… you're welcome?" There's a noticeable hesitation in her voice when she speaks, moving to swip a card and send the elevator on it's way towards the recording studio floor. "I'm not really sure how t' respond t' that. I mean… I totally would do that, but… I wouldn't do that." Shoot someone in the head, that is. As it is, Robyn Quinn has never even fired a gun in her life. "I feel like I should go see some people for some shooting lessons after that," she continues, tone a bit dry as she taps her foot, Nicole able to hear the elevator as it dings and the doors slide open.
"I did… it was… I don't really know how t' describe it. In that moment, it was kind of like I was living out what was happening." A pause, and she hangs her head a bit, paused as she opens the door to the recording studio. "So I guess it was a lot like this? My memory's kinda fuzzy, on that. It was almsot a year ago. As for the Pastor… I think, by now, someone should have." She steps into one of the studios, the third one meant for writing and production, In it sits her red, glittery guitar, her custom Glass Wonderland Ibanez quet next to it. She sets down the ice cream and spoon, and instead retrieves the guitar, setting into a seat with the instrument across her lap. "Kaylee, if you know her, was asking around about the first dream I had, after she heard about it from two other people in it. She and him, they're close. So, I'm sure she's talked to him by now."
"You say you wouldn't do that, but I used to say I wouldn't either. Things… change. Especially in times like that." What Nicole means is when someone you care about is being raped, but to say it out loud makes it too real. She's still trembling a little at the memory-that-isn't-yet, and the way it dredges up memories-that-were.
"I don't think I know her, but… So long as someone's alerted him. Maybe he'll have some answers. You'll call me if you hear anything, right?" There's a heavy sigh from Nicole as she rests her arms on her knees and dips her head down. The phone is put on speaker and set down on the mattress.
Quinn keeps her phone propped awkwardly between her ear and her shoulder, strumming once at the guitar in her arms. "I know," is said quietly, the musician's eyes closing as she falls silent for a moment. "That's why all of this scares me so much. I… this is the third dream I've had like this now. The idea of things gettin' so bad that I'm shooting people really scares me. B-but…" Her eyes open and she sets the guitar aside. This is a good time for the ice cream, and thus is it drawn into her lap and the top pulled off.
"I had one the other night too. I don't know exactly what was goin' on, except…" She pauses to let out a sigh, shaking her head. "Sable, Magnes, an' I were on the run. From FRONTLINE. We were in some tunnel, an' we could hear, feel the explosions above us. Someone we know was there t' help us. But… they caught up t' us. An' we only got away because Magnes basically traded his life f-for ours." She squeezes her eyes shut for a moment, taking a deep breath. "He's an idiot, but Jesus, I still… I don't know. It scares me."
Nicole can surly hear the sound of Quinn taking her first spoonful of ice cream before she takes the phone back in hand, holding it a bit away from her mouth. "I'll definitely keep you posted. Particularly if I see anythin' else with you or Colette in it. Don't worry about that."
"I'm sorry." Because condolences seem appropriate even if the friend in question hasn't yet died. May not yet die. This whole thing is making Nicole's head hurt. And her heart ache. "How terrible is it that I keep asking myself who the father could possibly be?" For all that Quinn copes by keeping busy, and indulging in ice cream, Nicole can't bring herself to move. The stillness of her home, and not disturbing that stillness, feels comforting in its own way.
The spoon hangs in Quinn's mouth for a moment as she's reminded about Nicole's daughter, a detail that had slipped back to the back of her mind during her trek upstairs. "Nicole… if I had a dream, that was supposedly of the future?" A pause for another spoonful of ice cream, Quinn sighing afterwards. "I'd want t' know. I'd feel kinda obligated t' find out. I mean… not I guess who the //father is," she adds with a bit of laugh. "But at least who the woman raising her with me is, you know? So… no. I don't think that's terrible." She looks over at her guitar for a moment, then down at her phone. "I had a lot of questions after the visions last June. Particularly once I met the woman who was in mine. I guess… it makes sense t' wonder. Besides, that's how it always goes on TV an' in books."
"I feel like I'm being stupid, or selfish. I…" Nicole presses the back of her hand to her lips to muffle the sound of a rattled breath, or maybe a quiet sob. "I should go," sounds weak. "I have to work in the morning. And I shouldn't be keeping you up, either."
The sound of a drawer being opened is soft, but not entirely impossible for Quinn to make out on the other end of the line. Pills are shaken out of a bottle and into Nicole's hand, swallowed dry. "I'm glad we talked, though."
"I'll be up for a while, yet," Quinn remarks softly. "I'm- I don't know if I'll be able t' get back t' sleep after that. But you're not being selfish. I'd wonder too." WHich is the truth. She is wondering right now, about what drives her to start shooting people. For a moment, she considers that maybe Magnes dying did, but if she wasn't so rattled, that might actually make her laugh, so it's quickly dismissed.
Another spoonful of ice cream, and she nods. "Go on, get some sleep. If you're around Studio K at all in the next few days, feel free t' stop by." A pause. "And if you can't get back t' sleep, feel free t' call back. I'll be around." She leans back, kicking her feet up into the other chair in the room. "It's good t' have someone else t' talk about it with. I mean… I have Elaine, but she wasn't- there. I guess I should go talk t' her in a few minutes too. She's probably worried."
There's a couple moments of silence before Nicole realises she's only nodding. "Yeah," she murmurs quickly. "You wanna go for drinks tomorrow? Dinner time? Orchid Lounge? If Kristen's not paying you enough, I have no trouble picking up the tab. Bring your friends, even. I could use a little company…"
There's a bit of a gentle laugh from Quinn - a welcome break from the other emotions of the night, and a smirk on her face that Nicole can't see. "Album sales make for good drink money," she notes, "so I think that sounds great. I'll ask Elaine if she wants t' come, if she's not busy with classwork." It always feels a little weird to say that. Quinn sometimes forget how much younger than her (and in this case, Nicole) Elaine is.
"You still talk to Sable? Bring her, too." Nicole presses her lips together, mulling her thoughts over in her head. "We should probably talk to her about this anyway."
The phone is lifted, taken off speaker as Nicole brings it back up to her ear and lays back on the bed again. "I'll be at the office tomorrow, but if anything comes up, call me. Okay?"
"Every chance I get," Quinn responds with another laugh, though this one is a bit rougher than the last. The last two nights… she needs tot alk to Sable anyway. "I'll keep you posted. no worries. Go get some sleep so you're not a zombie at work. That's the last thing we need on top of this. Zombies." It's really a shitty attempt at a joke, but Quinn can't help but grin a little.
It earns a laugh all the same, even if it is kind of a lame joke. "All right, Quinn. I'll do that. Take care." Nicole pulls her phone back and hits the end button, staring at the screen for a long moment as she tries to decide if there's anyone else she wants to try to connect with.
The BlackBerry is shoved under a pillow on the other side of the king-sized bed. Nicole rolls over to put her back to it and pulls the covers up over her head.
"I'll catch you later," is offered just before the call ends, Quinn looking down at her iPhone for a moment, before she sets it down on the floor in front of her, and then gingerly kicks it with the side of her foot, sending it sliding across the studio floor. She's not quite going down stairs yet, but she's not going to be bothered by anyone but Elaine, either.
Leaning back in her chair, she lets out a long sigh,s taring at her ice cream for a second, before suddenly it's set off to the side, and she grabs a piece of paper, beginning to scribble across it.