Participants:
| Scene Title | Lies Aren't Acceptable Tips |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | After a spooky dream, Elisabeth consults a dreamwalker that can't give as much assistance as hoped. What she does offer is contact with the dead. |
| Date | March 11, 2011 |
A Breakfast Diner in Brooklyn
It's something Richard wanted her to do…. although in point of fact, Elisabeth is not against it. It's just that she's got some personal baggage with the dreamwalker situation. But she sent a message through what few Ferry contacts she can locate that she needs to see Delia Ryans. She agreed to a breakfast meeting because it's easier for her to be out of the base in the morning, and she shows up in workout gear. Clearly she'd been running in the park in spite of the chill morning. With her blonde hair caught up in a ponytail and dressed in fleece with an iPod on her arm, she's now sitting at a table where she can see the entire place with a plate of eggs, sausage, hash browns, and toast in front of her. And of course, coffee.
Through the window of the restaurant, Liz can see a redhead paused on the sidewalk. One palm open in front of her while the other picks an index finger through the change in her palm. When Delia's head lifts and turns toward the window, the blonde can see the hollows in her cheeks where she never really filled out again after waking up. She looks gaunt, much thinner than she did before her ordeal.
Shoving the change back into her pocket, Delia makes her way inside and easily finds Elisabeth. "Hey," the quiet greeting is muttered just before she scoots the chair opposite the other woman and takes a seat. After turning her cup upright, she folds her hands and lets them rest on the table.
There's a moment when Delia sits down that the blonde studies her. Jerking her chin to the menu, she murmurs, "Get some breakfast. You need at least another 20 lbs on you before I'm convinced you're not going to blow away in a stiff wind." Her tone is dry but there's genuine concern in it. She waits for the waitress to return and Delia to order. "How're you… holding up?"
"M'not really hungry," is the quiet reply, it's a blatant lie but to appease the soldier, Delia actually picks up the menu and browses through it. When the waitress comes by, all the redhead ends up ordering is a plate of toast and a cup of tea. "I'm supposed to be going out for curry later, so I don't want to fill up." The explanation offered is rather weak but the menu is closed as is the debate over her eating habits.
Piercing blue eyes the color of cornflowers peek up at Elisabeth and the younger woman gives a one shouldered shrug. "I'm— uhm.. Okay. Got a few things settled, which is good. You?" She doesn't know much about the other woman except what she's seen in her dreams, somehow it's just not enough to start an easy conversation. "I found him."
Fffft, Elisabeth snorts. She looks up at the waitress. "Bring her a plate of French toast and bacon, please?" And then when the woman leaves, the blonde enshrouds the table in a wall of silence, blocking out all other diners. She looks at Delia's face and grimaces. "I… owe you an apology. I didn't know what I was doing in that dream," she says quietly. "I never wanted to hurt you, Delia. And God knows, I do not want you on the monster's radar."
There's a slight shake to her head and Delia's lips stretch to one side in a slight frown. "It's— it's okay, no harm done." She doesn't mention the fact that she asked for the other version after waking, only to be brought the other one. "He asked me to stay but Hokuto came…" Another one shouldered shrug is given before the redhead falls into silence, not offering the rest of the story. Instead, "you wanted to see me?"
"Well…. see, there's some things I'd really like to know. About who you met and what they said to you," Elisabeth admits softly. "And there are some things I'd really like to know about Hokuto. Those are….. not quite peripheral to the primary reason I asked if I could see you." Liz nibbles her lip. "I had a dream. About a week ago. And…. similar to a dream that your father had, I think.. that it might be important. It would have happened… about 7 or 8 years from now. And I think it's a warning. But… Richard's concerned that someone's mucking about in my head. And…. he trusts you. To go looking and check. But….. in all honesty? Considering that you've been in contact with the guy that I inadvertantly sent you to…. I'm not sure that I do. So… I need to know where you stand, Delia."
"My dad had a dream?" Delia's eyes squint a little and her eyebrows come down in a frown. She wasn't aware. "Sorry, my dad doesn't exactly tell me anything. Ever." Close family ties and all. The redhead falls silent and reaches for her mug, lifting it to her lips and taking a long drink of the hot liquid. It burns down her throat, but she doesn't do more than wince.
"I don't know if I'd be able to tell you if someone was there before, to be honest." The quiet statement is a little self depreciating. "I'm— I've been tucked away since I woke up, Mister Cardinal hasn't tried coming to see me since I was in his dream. Not your Richard but… the older one. He told me that I was dead where he comes from. I don't want to die, so— the smart side of the line would be the one that lets me stay alive."
Well…. Elisabeth says honestly, "He'll tell you that's with him. I'll probably tell you that your best chance is with me. And in truth, not a damn one of us is sure." She leans on her elbows and says quietly, "The future he comes from…. he's set on keeping the timeline as close as possible to it until the last possible second. He's told me his reasons. I dont' know if I believe them. What I do believe is that he doesn't have the right to decide for us what our future looks like. And apparently in his future, the version of me that he knew agreed, because … she died to stop him." She shrugs a little. "He's seen a lot of horror. And I have no intention of letting my Richard become him. You can take that for what you will, Delia."
Elisabeth pauses and says softly, "I am … concerned. That someone out there is sending prophetic dreams to select groups. If you don't think you can tell if mine have been tampered with, that's fine. I would like to ask… if you do hear of any more, could you… let me know? The one your father had, from what I gather, was 15 years from now. Mine… not that far. And mine was…. bad, Delia. Like… Big Brother kinds of bad."
"He did, but Hokuto told me not to listen. Your Richard told me everything after I woke up, said I was dangerous to him because of what I can do. So… I think that if I did stay with him, I could end up dead anyway." It's not something she needs to worry about anymore, Delia's thrown her lot in with a completely different kind of monster. Taking another sip of her tea, she glances around them nervously, noting specifically that even though people's lips are moving, all she can hear is Liz and herself.
When she places her drink down again, she gives Elisabeth a solemn glance and nods once. "There is something that I can do, it's not telling you if someone else is tampering… but I can try to make you dream it again and pull someone else in to watch. Cat— Doctor Chesterfield, she's probably the best person I can think of— she remembers everything."
"I…. haven't even heard from Cat in ages. I hope she's okay," Elisabeth says quietly. "And … no. I don't want to pull anyone else into this dream. This one was…." She bites her lip. "I don't think it had as much meaning if you weren't in my head for it. Everyone around me…. we all saw the drone jets head north and launch missiles. But… it was the inner information that was important, to my mind. Because we already know the robot issue is coming." She looks down, her hands toying with her coffee cup while the breakfast is set in front of Delia. Liz is not eating her own anymore. When the waitress goes, she says to the redhead softly, "I was pregnant. And rabidly panicked about anyone — anyone — knowing. I think because… I didn't have permission." She looks up at Delia. "Which means the strictures on us are getting more and more Nazi-like as time goes on."
"Eugenics…" Delia says softly of the permission aspect of reproduction. "Killing the undesirables ones and making sure only the ones they want reproduce." The plate full of food suddenly doesn't look so appetizing to her anymore but to appease the soldier, she picks at the toast with her fork, not actually taking a bite of any of it. The effort is made, though, to make a good show of it. The redhead trails a small triangle of food through some syrup, drawing an amber swirl over a small portion of her plate.
"Someone is using the flu to kill us," she says softly. Us carries a heavier weight, as though she's not talking about the SLC positive as a whole. "Someone told me that if I go home, I'm going to die. I don't know who it was— some guy that pulled me out from in front of a car."
"No…. not this time," Elisabeth replies quietly. "This particular outbreak wasn't engineered — it's a mutation of the virus from last year. Which was a targeted attack. At least ….." And then she pauses. "You're not talking about Evos as a whole. Us who?"
"The ones that had to run. There's a few of the Lighthouse kids that are already dead… lots of adults." Delia's lips press together and her expression turns to a sullen frown. The fact that she's mentioned the orphans that basically disappeared a few days before the riots might give Elisabeth a hint but the redhead doesn't outright say anything. Or name any organizations.
"I don't know everything, but the people that I care for are dead on purpose." The pretense of eating is halted a few minutes after it starts and she pushes the plate a little, picking up the mug instead.
For a long moment, Elisabeth tilts her head and nods slightly. "I hear things," she admits quietly. "I'm sorry that you've lost some of the children. Hell, I'm sorry you've lost anyone to this flu. Is there anything I can do for you?" Or them?
"No, all that's left is waiting and trying to keep the fevers down." Body disposal is something for someone else, though she's been worried about it. She doesn't meet Elisabether's eyes, blinking a few tiems to dissuade any tears from popping up. Her lips pucker into a small knot and she chews on the lower one. "Can we talk about something else though? Did you want me to look and see what I could see in your head? Or find someone that could? I think— if it's a dream— There's a man that I could ask, he— I call him the bogeyman but he knows a lot. Or I could ask Hokuto."
"In truth, I might be better served speaking with Hokuto," Elisabeth finally says carefully. "I had been… under the impression that she had died. So finding out that she's not is something of a shock. Can you… get a message to her that I would like to see her?" she asks.
"I can try to find her, she sort of comes and goes as she pleases." One of the perks of being 'dead', you don't have obligations. The mug is emptied when Delia takes another drink, then set to the side with the tea bag back in the bottom of the cup. "Her body's dead, she's not… she lives in other people's subconscious." Dema calls it being a parasite, Delia calls it symbiotic.
"Uhm… I don't know when I'll see her again though, like I said, she comes and goes as she pleases. I think I see her the most, though."
There's a nod at that. Elisabeth says quietly, "She helped me once… when I really needed it. She knows my mind better than any other dreamer out there. So… if you'd pass the message whenever you can, I'd be much obliged." She smiles a little. "In the meantime…. please take care of yourself? It would break Jaiden's heart to lose you to the flu after everything that's happened." She moves to stand. "Thank you… for seeing me."
"I've been vaccinated and I'm— I'll be careful." Jaiden's friend or not, Elisabeth is still something of a stranger and Delia doesn't feel very comfortable talking about what she did to her ex. She moves to stand along with her and digs the change out of her pocket to lay on the table. The total of about $2.91 is her contribution to their meal. "Uhm.. there is something that I wanted to ask you about but I'm not sure if you know a lot about it? Staten Island, what's it like?"
Elisabeth reaches out, and she takes Delia's hand gently. She presses the cash she has in her own hands into the redhead's and says quietly, "I'm not letting you walk out of here broke. I can't." It's not in her. "And as to Staten? It's a hellhole. It's been a hellhole for a long time now…. and it's worse now. Steer clear of the Reclaimed Zone, and for God's sake steer clear of the FRONTLINE unit out there." There's genuine worry in her expression.
Delia's expression remains neutral but it's much too late to stay away, she made a promise to save her father. The cash is pocketed with a nod of thanks and the young redhead gives her a bright smile that doesn't quite reach her eyes. "I— Y—yeah, I'll stay away." She stammers the lie. "Thanks, for breakfast. I'll try to find Hokuto for you." With that, she makes a swift exit from the premises.
Elisabeth watches her go with a frown. It's perhaps time she sends a message to the gentlemen heading up the security arm of things over there. Hmmm…..