Next On River Styx?!

Participants:

elisabeth2_icon.gif richard_icon.gif ff_silas_icon.gif

cameos by Aurora, Ricky, Lili

Scene Title Next on River Styx?!
Synopsis Not if God is merciful at all.
Date May 30, 2019

A Park


" … And Jesus fucking Christ, they put me and Magnes in an elevator and stranded us there three times!" Apparently someone has introduced Elisabeth to River Styx. She is torn between hysterical laughter and outrage at the situation here. "Who the hell even are the people writing this bullshit?" she asks, giggling.

Elisabeth is not silence-fielding the conversation. There are no secrets being discussed, nothing important that needs to be muted. And she's figured out that almost everyone has an opinion about this parody of a show. "It's not even a sitcom, which… kind of boggles my brain. It's like someone who knew enough of us is sort of helping them but not really."

As they sit in the small park watching Aurora and the twins play on a playground set that has seen better days, she informs Richard, "And now I swear to God, I'm hooked. I have to see what absolutely ridiculous thing they'll put in next! Do you watch this thing? Because… I gotta tell you, just in case you ever wondered, I could never in a billion universes kiss Magnes in an elevator. Ever."

Silas has always had one hard and fast rule: if you want to hang your hat somewhere, you have to know it, to really know it, or sooner or later your lack of knowledge is going to come back and bite you. That's why Silas has made it a point to venture around the Safe Zone whenever he's not drowning in work: because you have to know the territory.

Today's walk has been a nice one so far; the air is warm, the sun is shining, there's solid ground beneath his feet. He's found his way to a pleasant park… and if the voice he hears up ahead is any indication, he's not the only one who's found his way here. He grins, drawing closer… just as Elisabeth starts talking about kissing Magnes in an elevator.

"Oh lawd. So you're watching that show too, huh?" Silas says, grinning as he saunters up to the bench where Lis and Richard are sitting. "Heya Lis, heya Richard," he says with a grin. "Hope you don't mind me jumping in, but… that show. Dear god."

“I have, unfortunately,” Richard says leaning back on his hands and watching the playground set as he tries not to grin, “Seen this show. They’ve gotta have someone from the old Ferry involved with it, because there’s just enough truth in there if you dig through it all, but… I don’t know who. Maybe they’ve got a Brian, that would make a certain amount of sense…”

He looks up, then, as Silas approaches - raising one hand with a chuckle, “Hey, uh— “ He pauses awkwardly for a moment, not remembering if Silas has an alias like most of the dimensional refugees. “— how’s it going?”

Elisabeth rescues him by supplying, "Hey Silas!" She is still chuckling as she gestures him to join them. "It's horrible. And I couldn't look away! It's like watching a train wreck and I was alternately laughing so hard I was crying or so fucking furious I wanted to break the TV. Although I suppose that's probably what they're going for."

Shaking her head, she can't help that she's still laughing. "The guy playing Sylar cracks me the hell up."

Silas chuckles. "I tuned in hoping to bone up on history a bit, but…" he trails off, his hands coming up in a helpless half-shrug; it became obvious to Silas within the first fifteen minutes that the idea of actually learning much of anything (except bad writing) by watching River Styx is inherently doomed to failure. "The really amazing part about it to me is that got more than one season!" he chuckles incredulously.

“Honestly, I’m surprised someone hasn’t tried to blow up the studio by now,” Richard exhales a low chuckle, one hand lifting in a vague upward gesture, “A lot of the people that were involved in the… revolution? Is that what we’d call it? Resistance?”

A shrug, “Well, the Ferry and allies for lack of a better term, they weren’t exactly lacking in temper.”

Snickering, Elisabeth sips from the cup that she's holding and points out, "If someone blows it up, they get even better ratings. I mean… why would you blow it up, unless they're *gasp* too close to the truth?" She makes one-handed jazzhands. Giggling, she adds, "You know it's true. All those people speculate every single day about how much of those storylines is fact and how much fiction." She shakes her head. "Christ, they've got no clue — if you put the fucking truth on there, they wouldn't even speculate that it was true. They'd be all like oh god, that's *so* unrealistic." She rolls her eyes expressively.

She points at Silas with one finger of the hand that has her cup. "You mark my words, though. Someone is gonna be dumb enough to ask me to my face —"

She jerks upright in her seat, her eyes caught by something on the playground. Without even raising her voice, the Mom Tone reaches ears. "Richard Edward, if you put that down your sister's back, you will regret it."

"Heh. Tell me about it," Silas says drily. The Ark alone would probably peg out most peoples' weirdness meters. Hell, his reality would probably peg out most peoples' weirdness meters.

He's nodding along with Lis's next point — he's just betting it's gonna be about her and Magnes in an elevator, god — when suddenly Lis goes into full Mom mode. He blinks in startlement, his gaze shifting to the playground, to try to see just what's going on over there. 'Richard Edward'? Wait what?

A dark haired little boy — who can’t be more than eight or nine — has responded to the Mom Voice by suddenly jerking back away from a younger sandy-blonde girl — Aurora, Silas will recognize — and hurling a small lizard away on the playground, hands spreading as he tries to look innocent. The girl, in turn, turns and gives him a look.

Richard stifles a laugh, clearing his throat before calling over towards the playground equipment, “Listen to your stepmother, Ricky! Play nice with your sisters.”

Lowering his voice again, he allows in amused tones towards Elisabeth, “Well, he’s definitely my son.”

Elisabeth drops her voice to a whisper, sending it wafting directly into the child's ear, causing him to cast a sheepish grin toward the parents. "Sorry, Mum!" he calls.

And then her blue eyes return turn back to the conversation. "Sorry," she says to Silas in a normal tone with a grin. "I'm riding herd on two wicked males these days." She winks at Richard. "He is most assuredly your child. But she'd make him eat it if he managed."

Leaning back again to get comfortable, asks, "How's the theater coming along, Silas? I'm really looking forward to seeing it."

Huh. Well that's interesting. Silas offers a brief wave to Aurora before shifting his attention back to Richard and Lis; at Lis's comment about her riding herd, he snickers. "Seems like you're doing well enough," he says with a grin.

At the talk of the theatre, though, his grin becomes more sincere; he looks proud. "Construction's wrapping up on schedule; Fiddler's Green Dinner Theatre should, barring unforeseen developments or acts of God, be holding a grand opening in less than a month. Amelie's putting out casting calls for our first show already. For my part of it, the kitchen's ready; I'm gonna start running interviews for waitstaff soon."

He glances to Richard and Lis. "We'll see you there on opening night, I hope?" he asks, still smiling proudly.

“Uh oh, he’s in trouble now,” Richard observes as he watches a second little girl - Lili - walk over and gang up on Ricky with their sister. “Girls stick together.”

He looks back up to Silas with an easy smile, bringing one hand up in a casual salute, “We’ll be there with bells on. Not literally bells, but, you know what I mean.”

She doesn't have to look to know what their offspring are doing — Elisabeth has an ear out, just in case it gets out of hand. She grins at Richard cheekily. "He really should know better by now, but he's kinda hard-headed. I dunno where he gets it." Big wide eyes. So innocent!

It's honestly the most relaxed Silas has ever seen the woman, despite the fact that they're out in the open and she's still watchful. "Absolutely," she adds to Richard's reply. "I wouldn't miss it for the world." She wants to see Silas succeed. "Any ideas on what show she's planning to put on?"

Silas's grin broadens a bit; it's always good to know you've got someone in your corner when you're going into something big like this. "We'll save a box for you, then!" he says, chuckling and leaning turning to watch the kids a bit; sure enough, the lone boy's in for it. He chuckles aloud. "Guess I was lucky. I didn't have to worry about getting ganged up on, at least; I only had the one sister." And I was the roguish one, he thinks.

Luckily, Elisabeth's question provides a shift back to safer territory. "My Fair Lady!" Silas grins. "She thought it was appropriate, and I agreed." He pauses, then gives them both a lopsided, vaguely conspiratorial grin. "I'm hoping we get a chance to do The Music Man at some point, once I've got a good kitchen staff together; I might have to try out for Professor Harold Hill if we do."

Richard smirks back at Elisabeth, reaching out to give her shoulder a playful push. “Hush, you,” he declares, and then he looks between the two, that hand scratching his chin.

“I’ve got to admit,” he admits, “I’ve heard of it but I’ve never really seen any of those old broadway plays or anything. I did sneak into a showing of Sweeney Todd once, if that counts.”

Laughing at the light shove, Elisabeth just wrinkles her nose at him. "My Fair Lady is a classic. Always a great choice, since most people have some clue what it is." She looks at Richard, "Sweeney Todd? Was it any good? Honestly, I have to admit that's not one I wanted to see, even as a movie much less on the stage." She shrugs easily. "I like musicals," obviously, "but if it's a big enough hit, I'd love to see something like Mary Poppins or Grease. What better way to make a success than start with things that bring good memories for people, you know?"

She shrugs. It's just a thought. "You should make contact with Raquelle, too — he has impeccable contacts, and I bet he'd be thrilled to get involved. Runs the Cambria Day Spa over in Red Hook. He mentioned once the idea of getting Broadway kinds of stuff up and running again."

"Haven't seen Sweeney Todd," he muses. "Heard it was pretty dark, though," he says, frowning. "Have to run that one as a late show or a Halloween special, maybe, if we did it." He shrugs, then grins. "Well. Amelie'll be happy to have the chance to broaden your horizons when it comes to plays, I'm sure," he says.

At Elisabeth's comment, Silas arches an eyebrow. "So noted," he says, filing that note away; he's not really a spa sort, but maybe he'll have to drop in. But the bit about Mary Poppins is just too good to pass up… he eyes Lis, grinning. "Mary Poppins, huh? You know, we just might be able to line that one up. Come to think of it, I think I know someone who'd be perfect for the lead for that. She's got quite a way of keeping kids in line…" he says, grinning merrily at the both of them, a gleam of good-natured humor in his eye.

“Oh, man, I bet Raquelle would love it,” Richard chuckles, raking a hand back through his hair before looking amusedly from Silas to Elisabeth, “Hm. I think you’re right, Silas… they’ve got a great singing voice, too, as I recall.”

“Even did it professionally for a bit…”

Elisabeth shoots both men a look that is part amusement and part exasperation. "I hate you both so much right now," is the lazy retort. "I'm going to have quite enough going on trying to avoid the press where possible — there is no way in hell I'm getting on a stage. Besides, I don't do theater." She sticks her tongue out at them.

Silas's grin widens as Richard gets in on the act; though he raises his eyebrows a bit at the talk about Elisabeth doing the singing thing professionally; he hadn't known that. He snickers a bit as Lis sticks her tongue out at them.

"A pity…" Silas says, still grinning. "Understandable, though," he chuckles, glancing between the two of them.

It's at that moment that he puts his finger on something. A few times in the past when he's seen Lis, she's been wearing a ring on a chain. She isn't, now. Richard's wearing it on his finger. Well now… he thinks, the wheels turning a bit as he considers what he wants to say next.

"So, uh. At the risk of poking my nose into private matters," Silas says, his voice kept low. "Are you two tying the knot?"

“C’mon, I’ll bribe Candace to come down from the northwest for a weekend, she could make you look like somebody else on stage— “ Richard’s teasing, though, clearly as he grins back at her.

Then he blinks up at Silas, and just stares like a deer in headlights.

blink

Elisabeth is caught rather flat-footed as well — Silas is the first person who has asked. Most don't notice the band Richard now wears. "Uhm… well…" She looks at the shadowmorph and starts to laugh softly. "You look like you did that day when Abby just up and asked about us 'going steady'." It cracks her up. Enough so that the three children on the playground pause to look and then murmur among themselves.

Silas takes all of this in, eyes flickering from one to the other. His grin is slowly getting wider, and there's a gleam of high amusement in his eyes. "If you don't want to answer that question, that's fine," he says, still in that low voice. "But I saw the ring; figured I'd ask."

“At least he’s not offering us a box of rainbow condoms,” Richard quips after he recovers, and then he laughs, his head shaking a little. “We’re, uh, keeping it quiet for now,” he admits, reaching over to slide his hand over Elisabeth’s and giving it a squeeze, “Otherwise people are gonna make a huge thing about it.”

She laughs at the rainbow condoms. She'd forgotten that! Twining her fingers through Richard's, Elisabeth's grin turns wry. "Lover, if you think this isn't going to be a huge thing, you are deluding yourself," she confesses in a rueful tone. "I have been informed by my father that there will be a ceremony over at Our Lady, because Father Matt will roll over in his grave otherwise. And he's told me straight up that if we elope, he will kill you where you stand, after having waited this long for the chance to do this." She pauses and then simply rolls her eyes. "Our friends are gonna lose their shit once it gets out."

Silas's grin just keeps widening — the 'rainbow condoms' bit gets a momentary nonplussed look, but he's back to that grin in short order, looking pretty much like he ate the moon. "Well holy shit," he finally says — still keeping it quiet, but he looks honestly delighted. "Congratulations to you both. I'll keep it on the down low, but, uh, yeah. Lis is right. I'm betting that every one of us who made it through at New Mexico's gonna want to be there, at the least," he says quietly. He doesn't throw confetti, although the grin on his face makes it pretty obvious that if he had some confetti he'd be tempted.

After a moment, though, he frowns. "Amelie's probably gonna find out, though. Especially since, uh…" he trails off, tapping the side of his head meaningfully. Then he's grinning again. "I'm sure she'll keep it to herself, though."

“Oh, God.” Richard falls backwards, draping over the back of the bench and covering his face with both hands, “Does it have to be a big thing? Can’t it just be, I don’t know, close friends and family, like… ten, twenty people max in the back of a courtroom?”

It was never going to be ten, twenty people max in the back of a courtroom.

Elisabeth covers her eyes with her free hand, still holding her coffee, now giggling uncontrollably. Dragging her hand down her face, she says simply, "Nope."

It was never going to be ten, twenty people max in the back of a courtroom. No matter how much the two of them might want that.

With a sigh that is part amusement and part exasperation, she does point out, "It's us, Richard." Not to sound arrogant about it or anything, but they are not exactly low profile. "You're the CEO of one of the biggest corporations in the Safe Zone, you saved the world like four times, you have a massive circle of people who consider you a friend whether you realize it or not… To top all that off, your back-from-the-dead former terrorist-slash-freedom-fighter fiancée, who is apparently credited with being the whistleblower on the whole shebang that set the war in public view, is the new lieutenant of the up and coming NYPD."

She's genuinely laughing at both of them for thinking it was ever going to be anything but a Thing.

Silas's expression is more good-natured amusement than anything, now, grinning at Lis's amusement and Richard's seeming failure to realize that a wedding between the two would by definition be an Event. He looks to Lis as she makes her explanation, then back to Richard with an amused shrug; she's pretty much got the nail on the head from what he's seen.

"Well. If you find yourself needing a caterer, let me know. Rates reasonable, et cetera." He pauses, then gives Lis and Richard a dry look. "And if everyone is very lucky, they won't do a version of it on River Styx."


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