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Also Featuring…
| Scene Title | Like Burning Money |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Magnes comes to make a grand gesture to Elaine in typical Magnes fashion. |
| Date | February 4, 2011 |
The Verb: Elaine and Quinn's Apartment
It's too damn cold outside, and even inside with the heater nice and toasty, Elaine is kinda chilly. Which is why, after they got back from Jersey, she'd decided to work on some lasagna. From scratch. She's getting damn fine at this cooking thing, busy heating up the kitchen with a meat sauce and various grated cheeses as well as the noodles. She bustles about in the kitchen, humming lightly to herself. It's one of Quinn's songs she's humming, mostly because the day is pretty much all about Quinn. Since it's open to the living room, it's great since it allows her to cook but still be a part of anything going on in the other room. Well, if she wasn't entirely absorbed in home-made lasagna.
Magnes is wearing a backpack with his long black formal coat, a pair of blue jeans, and some red Chucks when he knocks on the door of Elaine and Quinn. "It's Magnes." he announces, sliding his hands into his coat pockets to wait for an answer.
It didn't take much coaxing to get Sable to stay over for dinner. She accepted immediately upon the first offer, feeling as bound to say yes as she was not to herself ask and thus presume. She's remarkably sedate, all the same, her usually semi-constant chatter lapsing instead into occasional laconic remarks of uniformly complimentary and/or self deprecating fashion. It's not that she's not acting herself, as much as she's not acting the herself that's most often seen.
She's reclining on the couch, the squish-faced Schoedinger perched on her belly, peering into the dark haired girl's face. As the knock comes at the door, 'Inger hops down and Sable turns her head to peer at the source of the noise. A thinning of her lips. Magnes? This is a confluence that hasn't occurred in quite some time.
She doesn't get it. This is not her home to invite people into, and Sable has no idea where things stand as of right now with everyone's relation to everyone else. Best to wait for the lady of the house to get the door, she figures.
Quinn, on the other hand, is sitting next to Sable. Well- if one can call what she does sitting. As she is wont to do, she hangs upside down over it's edge, holding a CD case out in front of her, still beaming brightly. Like she doesn't even really believe she's holding it in hand, and it will turn into some sort of ethereal smoke at any given moment.
The knock has her "sitting up" with a bit of a start, and thankfully this time she manages to avoid hitting her head on the glass top table in front of her - a feat in and of itself! "Magnes?" she questions outloud, scrambling so that she's up and on her knees, looking at the door - Inger unsure of what to make of teh display as she stands on Sable's stomach, peering at Quinn. Qrinkling her nose, the Irishwoman sighs, seeing no one else doing much moving. "I'll get it!" she announces, grabbing a little credit card piece of cardstock from one of the boxes she brought home earlier.
"I just came back from Cape Cod." Magnes states as he waits to be invited in, and starts removing his coat and backpack already. "I spoke to my father, made a few decisions, and I was wondering if I could see Elaine. This is important and I want you all to hear."
There's a surprised look from Elaine as she peers over at the door when Magnes enters. At the mention of his dad, the redhead looks a little worried. Usually Magnes' encounters with his dad end up with Magnes feeling horrible about himself. She'd recalled hearing that more than once. The redhead does seem a little surprised. "Sure, I'm here. You'll have to excuse my mess, I'm making lasagna."
Sable considers ducking behind the couch, maybe grabbing 'Inger as she rolls herself over the back and huddles down under, ready to avoid shrapnel. It may just be shell shock, one too many interpersonal explosions within the space of a single year, still young, but she - to quote a franchise she would scoff at - has a bad feeling about this.
But she doesn't hurl herself into cover. Instead she sits up, pulling Inger into her arms and giving the little critter a light shake. Inger wiggles free and makes the going good - Sable can play a little rough sometimes, more used to dogs.
Quinn holds out the cardstock card to Magnes, smiling. "This is for you, Magnes." On the front of a picture of her album's cover, the back a little code and instructions on how to redeem t for a digital copy of the album. "I'd give you the real thing, but I only have so many for now!"
But then he makes his announcement, and his expression becomes more pensive, looking back at ELaine with a bit of a frown. She retreats back a bit, wanting to stay out of the way if she can. Moving to the couch, she leans against it and looks down at Sable and Inger, quirking an eyebrow.
"Oh, thanks!" Magnes sounds thankful for the numbers, but then everyone's waiting to see what he wants. When he's hung his coat up, he goes into his backpack and pulls out a comic book in some plastic, and a cigarette lighter. Said comic is Amazing Fantasy 15. "This is my Amazing Fantasy 15, Elaine. I don't expect you to necessarily do anything after this, but I want to show you that there's nothing on Earth I wouldn't do for you, even this…" He turns on the lighter, starting to move it closer and closer to the comic.
Okay, Elaine may not know everything about comics, but she knows Magnes has some pretty nice, expensive, rare comics. The redhead goes wide-eyed, staring intently at Magnes. "Do not be an idiot, Magnes, that's like burning money. I appreciate that you care and all but you don't need to burn that comic to impress me or something. Jesus, what does that thing go for these days, ten grand?"
At first, Sable has no flipping clue what is going on. Comics are nerd stuff, but lighters are smoker stuff and the two stuffs don't mix in her particular ontology. But when Elaine more or less explains what's going on, and Sable contextualizes it in terms she can understands (smashing a Rickenbacker 330 John Lennon played)… she's up on her feet, Inger set to one side with maybe a little too much haste, prompting a yowl of displeasure from the little guy.
A few strides and she's right in front of Magnes, a sidle and she's flanking him. "Y' fuckin' serious?" is asked frankly, if incredulously. Then she's reaching up, on tip toes, to grab his ear, aiming to twist and pull like a Dickensian school marm. "Put that shit down 'n' come with me," is growled between gritted teeth.
Quinn's eyes widen as well. She doesn't know much about comics - or even, initially, care how much this particular one is worth. Sable's faster, but she still steps forward with narrowed eyes. "There will be no comic burning in this flat, are you daft?!" she exclaims, annoyed sounding. "We smoke in here. That's about it." We is unintentional, and she's immediately hoping no one latches on to it meaning her and Elaine. But her eyes are still narrowed once that's said, arms crossed as she steps up tp join the rest of them. "Magnes…"
"Ow… fine…" Magnes drops the comic on to the table and stuffs the lighter into his pocket, following behind Sable. "Look, I'm sorry, my father said to do something, and I couldn't think of what else to do other than to get rid of something I cared about."
"Lordy," Elaine murmurs, a grateful look shot to Sable as she goes to 'handle' Magnes. Her attention, for the moment, is thankfully drawn back to her cooking. She moves to check on the lasagna as she puts it all together and slides it into the oven. At least it's a momentary distraction. "That thing is older than I am…"
Sable takes Magnes straight for the door, evidently wanting to take this outside in the proverbial sense. Her lip is set in a grim line and her brows hood her eyes. She reaches for the knob, turns, pulls, and - with Magnes in painful tow - heads out…
The door slams shut to the apartment, and there's the muffled sound of words being had. Those words are not heard by a certain someone who's been in the apartment the whole time this has been going on, trying to connect to a phone desperately. They won't know that Adel was almost crying when the phone keep failing to connect, cause she's all smiles when she comes out, finally, face washed and make up reapplied.
And something about the expressions on the faces of those present makes her blink. "What'd I miss?" she asks.
A lot.
"Magnes being weird," is offered with a bit of a wry smile when Quinn answers Adel, looking for pockets to slip hands in to. There's no such luck, and having the heat turned up as high as she does means there's no jacket or hoodie to do the same in to. So instead, she just moves over next to Elaine, looping a finger into one of her beltloops. "He was going t' burn a comic t' prove his love t' Elaine. A rare Spiderman one from what I saw of it." She shrugs a bit, leaning back. "I just don't want him starting fires in our flat."
Her tone says that that, in fact, is not all of it, but she chooses not to elaborate on it.
Stepping back into the apartment, Magnes is already back in the apartment, grabbing his backpack, then walks over to get the comic from the table. "Oh, hey, Adel. I was just leaving…"
The lasagna's in the oven, so Elaine is safe to ignore her cooking as the boy wonder returns from the hallway, sans Sable. Never a good sign. The redhead offers a smile over towards Adel. "It's our usual." She heads over towards Magnes and the backpack, looking at him seriously. "Magnes, you're smart, really smart. Smarter than me. But you don't get things, I think, because smart people don't always get people. I love you dearly, but you don't have to destroy something valuable that has meaning to you to show you care. That's not how it's done."
Quinn rolls her eyes a bit at Magnes, shaking her head. "You're always just leaving," she notes with a bit of a weak grin at Magnes. "You don't have t' leave, just stop bein' weird," she remarks with a distinctly joking tone. Looking over at Elaine, she rolls her shoulders a bit, still smirking. "If you're going t' do anything with that comic, sell it. Just please, don't burn it. Not for somethin' like that. THe gesture is inspired, but the action is silly."
"A— you were going to burn a comic to prove you loved her?" Adel repeats it as she understands, her smile and for a moment the sadness showing up in her eyes. She's been bottling up her emotions too much the last few days, reaching to grab her coat from where she played it, still the long oversized black one she's been wearing lately, and not the crazy yellow one she'd been wearing before.
"I think I need to go too, actually. I mean the lasanga sounds amazing I love anything with cheese, but… Will you walk me home?" she asks Magnes, her voice steady, but that smile almost nonexistent.
"Sorry, I should really go, I don't really think I wanna stick around after such a screw up." Magnes slides his comic into the backpack, then zips it and slips his arms into the straps. As he's heading for the door and buttoning his coat, he nods to Adel. "Alright, let's go."
"Magnes…" Elaine heaves a sigh, glancing towards the oven before she looks back to Magnes. "Don't be so hard on yourself. Okay? For what it's worth, I understood the sentiment. Just… there are better ways." She glances back towards Adel, looking at her with a bit of worry. "I'm sorry you can't stay. I hope everything's okay." She glances to Magnes. "Make sure she gets home okay. You're good at that."
"Aw. I was hopin' t' have a party t'night. Now everyone's bailin'." Quinn's disappointment is an odd mix of feigned and genuine. "But if you guys have t' take off, be safe, alright? Adel, I'll be calling you about practicin' tomorrow! An' Magnes… buck up. Stop on by an' hang out sometime. AN' come t' the concert next week. Thursday at the Rock Cellar. Be there, or your balls are forfeit." She grins with a mockingly menacing expression.
Pulling her coat on, Adel shoots an odd look at Quinn at the mention of Magnes' balls, for a moment not seeming humored or happy. A moment later she's moving back toward Magnes and opening the door for him, beating him to the sentiment.
"How do you know I won't be taking care of him. I'm woman and we are resourceful." There's that smile, finally, back toward Elaine and Robyn. "Sorry for bailing. I'll definitely be back for food. Come on, hero," she adds, as she moves out the door.
"Ah, uh, I'll see you guys…" is all Magnes says before heading out, waiting for Adel with his thumbs in the straps of his backpack.