Participants:
| Scene Title | It Hits the Fan |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Benjamin's homecoming isn't quite as sweet as one would have hoped. |
| Date | October 14, 2010 |
Gun Hill — Delia's Apartment
He's rumpled, a little dusty from the high speed trip and looks like he hasn't slept in days. In truth he hasn't. Benjamin Ryans has been too busy the last couple of days to even think about sleep. When your in a dangerous and hostile environment, it's the last thing on a person's mind. As tired as he is, the old man doesn't dare just go to his apartment and crash, at least not till he visits some of the woman in his life.
It's why he is standing there, in front of the door to his daughter's apartment, even with a coating of dust from having a speedster bring him across the country. His fedora is still perched on his head and his duster still hangs heavily with weapons and ammunition. Seeing his girls was more important them offloading anything.
Leaning forward a little, Ben reaches up to rap knuckles against the door, head turning a little to listen to the sounds on the otherside.
"Door."
The voice of Lucille can be heard as she stretches in the front room. In between her studying of biology books and learning about the body, going for daily runs and going to a shooting range. Lucille has been a very busy woman.
She takes a deep breath and then launches into a bridge position. Body arched up, stomach towards the ceiling and head dropped down to the floor. Her new, short and ink black hair falls into her eyes and she shakes it away as she kicks one foot up and then the other. Dressed in a pair of gym shorts and a black tank top, her soft cotton forearm gloves are playing on the floor next to her. She's been trying her best to keep the gloves off, trying to trust herself.
"Deli!" she yells and then sighs before getting up and stretching her arms up before walking up to the door. She doesn't even look through the peephole before opening the door and staring at her father.. without saying a word. Blink..blink..blink..
The bathroom door opens as Delia steps out dressed in a bathrobe, toweling off her long curly hair. "Geez Lucille.. Why can't you get it? You don't do anything anywa — "
Rounding the corner to see that her sister did open it and who is behind it. Her blue eyes widen, the towel drops to the floor, and the redhead stands there for just a moment, stunned. She's almost like her sister but it takes less time for her to recover, having been there through all of Ben's antics when her inky haired sibling cut and run. All the air whooshes out of her lungs before a large gulp is taken back in and the youngest screams "DADDY!!" Bursting past Lucille, she makes a running jump to hug the old man around the neck tightly.
Almost as quickly as she grabbed him up, she's let go again and a painful knuckle punch lands against her father's shoulder. Delia's face screws up in anger and she punches him in quick succession with both fists. "Don't. You. EVER. Do. ANYTHING. Like. That. Ever. AGAIN!!!"
He wanted her to learn how to fend for herself, well he's the first practice target of fisticuffs.
There is a small smile that pulls up the corner of Ryans' mouth when he sees his oldest girl for the first time in months, blue eyes showing the relief that floods through him, knowing she is there and safe. "Lulu," is spoke gruffly, as he's actually feeling a little emotional seeing her.
He would probably say more, however, a shrieking redhead is suddenly upon him and he has to take the time to get control of it. "Lia… Delia… Delia!" Benjamin finally snaps, her pummeling fists caught up in the iron grip the ex-company man. "Stop." He hisses roughly.
He doesn't berate her anymore, just pulls her into another hug, while reaching out to attempt to snag Lucille and pull her close as well. "It's so good to see you girls again," he says gruffly.
The oldest Ryans girl just looks at her father and doesn't make a sound. She doesn't know what to feel, she wants to cry and hug her dad and be the little girl that she once was, when he was her hero. The man that would never lie to her. She also wants to rip his head off.
Her breathing gets heavier and her grey eyes just stare at Ryans as he hugs the younger sister. She doesn't want to fight, at least not right now. It's the first time that the three of them have been together in too long of a time. So Lucile decides to say the only thing she knows won't spark an argument.
"Hi." She allows herself to be pulled in for a hug but only for the briefest of moments. "Missed you dad." She says softly before she backs away and sits on the couch. Nabbing her gloves at the same time and looking down at them. Wondering if she should put them on.
There've been too many tears in the past few days for Delia, the dreams of innocent people turned to nightmares due to the young woman's own anxiety. Now that her father and her sister are both back, her family is as whole as it can be again.
When Ben grabs her fists to stop the swift punches, she just whimpers and leans her head against his shoulder, letting him hug all of the stress away from her. "You're never allowed to leave again. Ever." She never knew what her mother went through every time he left home, all she can be thankful for is that he kept up the ruse of the paper salesman rather than letting the deceased woman go through this much torture.
Delia's arms move to circle both her sister and her father, bear hugs just aren't tight enough right now and she's not strong enough to hug the life out of both of them at once. "I hate you both," is breathed out in a little laugh to mask the redhead's flowing tears.
A hand brushes over red curls, even as Lucille pulls away, a kiss plant on top of Ryans' youngest's head, before letting her go as well. "I love you, too, sweety." A small smile on his lips.
"I won't stay long, I need to stop by Lynette's place and try to lay down." Fingers tuck a red curl behind her ear like Ben's done since she was little, as he admits, "I haven't slept for a few days." His hand comes around to hold up in a stopping motion, "And I don't need to hear about how wrong that was.
"It's gone, tho… the satellite." He looks between each girl. "They won't be able to track either of you, now." Ryans allows them to see relief over that revelation.
Smiling a little at her sister, "Love you too Del." She says as she pulls the first glove on. Then Lucille looks to her father and nods. "I can help you sleep if you want. You're tired enough." She offers and tilts her head at her father. She can't process how she should feel about him right now. It might also be that she hasn't been on her meds. But she's been doing relatively well without them..
"Oh, your old pal Rebel sends his regards." She lets that statement hang there, it's intended to send her father the message that they need to talk.. later. She then pulls the other glove on, now both gloves covering up to her forearms. "I hope you brought back a souvenir.. a sword.. something." She says with light humor.. light because it's actually really dark.
Lu is just being Lu.
The announcement of the satellite doesn't stop the redhead's sniffles or the frown from appearing on her face. "I mean it dad. You're not …" A quick glance is given to her sister before clearing her throat and then looking away from the both of them. "… a paper salesman anymore." For her sister's sake, maybe her father's when she inevitably finds out, Delia keeps the secret.
Stepping back, she readjusts her robe and then places her hands into the deep pockets. The robe is obviously to big, Lucille knows who it belongs to and Ben could probably guess but again, it's a conversatio that will wait until later. "I — I'm glad you're back before I have to go," she says quietly, still staring at the floor. Some of that wet hair tumbles forward to hide half of her face from view. "Because — you have stuff to talk to Lucille about." She quickly coughs the name 'keira' into her fist, coughing a few more times in earnest to disguise the first one.
"Too busy protecting evolved kind for souvenir shopping." Ryans admits to Lucille with a slightly rueful smile, not missing what she's doing. "A trip into space is not all it seems, but the view was — humbling." His brows furrow as if trying to decide if that word was good enough for the view of a life time.
When Delia calls him a paper sales man, it reminds him of what still needs to happen, he rests a hand on Delia's shoulder. "I am what I am, and even if I don't have the title, there is work still left to do. I have to make up for a lot of mistakes that were done by the organization. Plus, now I can do what needs to be done without the government breathing down my neck.
His hand slides off of Delia's shoulder, as he steps around her, eyes on the oldest of his two girls. "And I know I owe you a large explanation Lucille and I am sorry you had to go through all that before I could tell you the truth about me." He stops a few fee"t from where she sits on the couch, hands hanging at his sides and lightly fisted.
There is too much to explain now, but… I will tell you, that I was never a paper sales men, neither were most of the friends in mine and your mother's lives." His face is unreadable, even though it pains him to drop this bomb on another child. "I was a member of 'the Company'." A name that was plastered all over the news. "I hunted and protected Evolved, but I was never a part of most of what you see all over the news."
That statement made no sense and Lucille's eyebrows raise as she looks at her sister and father. What does being a paper salesman have to do with anything? And what the fuck is that name Delia just said?
The older sister's eyes narrow to slits as she stares at the two. "Yeah, Del is right. We have much to discuss you and I." And then he drops the bomb on her and she blinks at her father. She then does what.. nobody would expect. Well, Delia would expect this. That's just because the sisters know each other so well. She laughs, throws her head back and laughs.
Gloved hands made into fists as she does so, it's a few moments before she stops and let's her head drop back down. "The words hunted and protected, sure don't seem to go together." She says to her father and nods her head. "You lied because you had too, fine. It doesn't change how I feel." Lucille places her hands in her lap and she's visibly shaking. "Ironic that someone like you has Evolved children." She cracks a soft smile. "Whoever is in charge of the universe.. sure does know how to have a good laugh."
The oldest's eyes lock onto Delia's, she wants her sister to see what she won't show her father. The pain.
"Well, glad you got that off your chest?"
Eying Lucille, Delia takes a few steps back, perhaps Keira could be their sister… The inky haired woman certainly acts enough like the crazy wannabe. The redhead's blue eyes flit to her father and when she's made it out of view of Lucille, she shrugs her shoulders once. "I'm uhm… I should get dressed and check to see if I have any lithium down at the clinic…" Benjamin might need it.
Lifting a hand to rub at the back of her neck, Delia clears her throat nervously and purses her lips. "Maybe call… someone…" Flint? "See if.. uhm… whiskey or something… calm her down…" Is that how their father saw Delia? The way she looks at Lucille?
"It doesn't seem like they do, but they do… we were like a type of secret evolved police." Ryans says simply. "Or at least my part in it." His own blue eyes narrow at Lucille studying her for a long moment. "And there is nothing wrong with the fact my children are evolved. I have worked with evolved most of my life. The best friend I ever had was one… so there is no purpose in that statement." He sounds almost irritated by the end of that.
"Look…" A heavy sigh escapes him, head tucking down, eyes on the floor for a long moment. "I am not expecting you to understand or even forgive me. What I did and the people I worked for, I did to keep the world safe for you girls." He takes a step back and starts to turn for the door. "I am not in the mood or even ready for this right now," he growls out.
"I'm not in the mood either, but I wasn't in the mood to be kidnapped. Neither was Delia, I wasn't in the mood to be chased halfway across the world. I wasn't in the mood to find out that my hero has been lying to me since I was born!" She growls back at her father. There's must be a cosmic joke that Delia looks more like her father than Lucille. Because they are so much like.
"I can't fault you for wanting to keep us safe as children. But, I sure can be pissed that you did as we were adults. You should have said something the first time I came to you, when I first began to fall down this rabbit hole. When Rebel first contacted me, but instead you told him to not contact me again? Then you had another opportunity when we were kidnapped." Lu snaps and it would remind Ryans of his late wife. How she use to get angry when he wasn't home.
"I.." she rises off the couch, beginning to walk towards where her room is. "I'm glad that you're back. I missed you both. It was like my arms were gone. I was lost without you both." Lu looks to Delia and then back towards her room, back turned towards her father. "I love you more than anything in the world dad. But you fucked up.. big time." She's not turning back because she wants to disrespect her father even more. She does it because the tears are starting to fall.
"Get some sleep. I'll talk to you later." She says as she opens the door to her room and shuts it quietly. The only sound right after is one of the lock being turned. It use to be that the doors and windows would be slammed and loud music would follow. Not now though. Looks like some things do change. The changes that are made always seem to be irrelevant to the changes that need to be made.
Delia's stayed silent during her sister's entire exchange. She watches down the hallway as Lucille shuts the door and keeps her eyes glued to it for a while before turning back to Benjamin. "Uhhh… So…" She hems and coughs once to clear her throat before starting again sheepishly. "Can I have that bottle of Jack Daniels that you and Mister Deckard were sharing? Because I really think she's going to need it… Maybe a drunken stupor or two will calm her down."
The youngest's angelic smile is reminiscent of the one she used to give him when she was five and digging through his jacket pockets for a present after a trip. "I mean, if you don't have any left, I can get Jaiden to grab some… but…" She peers down the hallway again just to make sure Lucille isn't listening before speaking out of turn. "… She's going to really flip her lid when she finds out about everything else. Like Keira."
She scratches behind her left ear nervously and lifts her eyes to meet her father's, "Sorry, by the way, for hitting you… I just… When I heard the shuttle blew up… and I didn't know if you were dead or not… I …" Her words die off and Delia looks down at the floor again, "Your job is over, dad. You should spend your time helping Mister Bennett or Mister Doyle."
"She can think what she wants." Ryans says softly, without a hint of emotions in his voice, eyes looking off where Lucille marches off. "But there are reasons for what I did and why I had too." he looks to Delia no for only a moment. "I don't expect you guys to understand or accept it. I had too.
"As for the job being over… it's still there, only the circumstances have changed." His words are clipped and spoken tightly, a good indicator he's reining in his temper. "What I did was helping Mr. Bennet. He was a part of the ground team, while we took the shuttle." He levels a serious look on his daughter. "Until you all don't have to live in fear of being captured or experimented on… or Humanis First killing you. Same job, different venue."
With one last look to the hallway he turns to the door, it only takes a few short strides to get there, with a jerk the door opens and he striding out of the apartment.