No Sparks

Participants:

abby_icon.gif victor_icon.gif

Scene Title No Sparks
Synopsis A rooftop in Chelsea is the witness to a great many things between Victor and Abigail. Te only sparks though, are in the air and going up in smoke.
Date July 4, 2009

Chelsea - Rooftop of abandoned building.


Dark has descended, almost descended. Fourth of July means that there will be fireworks and while she can't access the roof of her own building, it means that she'll need to make the trek to Chelsea and the climb up to the roof of the building she loves to sit on top of. Recovery means that what would have normally taken her half an hour is taking much longer than that and partway there she just stopped and whipped out the cellphone and called up Victor. Instead of him meeting her there, would he mind helping her to the building, rattling off the corner street that she was in, with the backpack and rolled up blankets under arms. She should have taken a taxi, so should have taken a taxi.

Hair in a ponytail, denim jacket, blue Cotton skirt that's tiered, and a white long sleeve beneath the jacket, she's parked on a bus bench, waiting for the speedster.

When Vic picked up the phone he was a jumble of questions. "You're okay? Where are you?" etc. The fact that there were ready answers was of palpable relief. His last words on the phone were, "Let me change real quick."

It's been maybe three minutes. Vic comes from out of view down the street, unafraid to let anyone that happens to see him run. He comes to stop right in front of Abby wearing a red hoodie and jeans faded almost to white. Shoes the running variety, which of course is best for him. He walks over to sit on the bench next to Abby before she has a chance to get up and puts his arms around her. "I was worried about you." he admits.

That's the thing about speedsters. Never late. "Yeah, i'm fine, just a longer walk than I can take, I should have taxi'd in. Not up for this quite yet" Her head comes to rest on his shoulder a moment and a kiss for his cheek. "Think you can cart me and the bag to the building I was telling you about?" There's a hopeful look on her face.

"Uh huh." answers Vic, quick to agree to it. He grins brightly and takes the bag, looping it over a shoulder as he gets up. Then he holds his arms out. "This is the part where I pick you up and carry you." It's also the part where it stands out that Vic is actually a very solidly-built, strong young man. He doesn't ripple with muscles but has a wiry strength which is the hallmark of runners and those who participate in heavy calisthenics.

"This is the part where I stand up and accept. Thanks for coming" And she does stand up, wrapping her arms around him like some snowy night from half a year ago, ready to let him heft her up into her arms. "We better get moving, fireworks are gonna start soon Victor"

"Soon, huh? So we got time." That easy cockiness of Vic's, never really quite enough to make him obnoxious. He spends a moment looking at the building in question and finally says, "Gonna be a little tricky. I'll need a running start to do this right…" He doesn't give a chance to let that sink in, but runs down the street to the edge of the block, then takes off in the opposite direction of the building for a ways. Stops, looks at the building with determination, takes a very deep breath, and then…

Fast as Vic can possibly go, he tears off with Abby in his arms. From the normal human perspective it's nearly impossible to tell what that was that just happened, but it feels like being shot out of a cannon and then a moment of freefall as the two of them suddenly find themselves On Top of the building. Vic lands in a crouch on the rooftop gravel, Abby clutched firmly to him and a proud grin on his face. There was a moment after running up that sheer wall that they kept going up and gravity had to bring them back.

Good thing she closed her eyes, or else she'd have been scrabbling in his arms. As it is, she tightens her arms about a few moments before they land and a slight 'oof' is given. "Lord in heaven, you'll give me a heart attack one these days doing that" She peels her eyes open, looking around. Talk about the easy way up. "Scarier, but faster than an elevator"

"Abby." says the speedster with an air of gentle scolding. He sets her feet down to let her go. "I can do everything fast. I don't, usually, but sometimes fast is the best thing." Vic chuckles then, unshouldering the bag and peeking inside of it curiously, "You ought to see what the other cadets would look like when I had to fight them in defensive tactics class. They all would just roll their eyes."

"And couldn't land a hit on you" One canvas and rubber meet solid ground, Abigail unwinds her arms. "You get the bag, I'll set the blankets out. I was not spending fourth of July tucked in my bed with beef soup" Instead, there's a big thermos of it and some plastic bowls, fresh bread, cheese, some pears that Victor adores so much. The plaid blankets are flicked out with crisp snaps and settled out. smooth the wrinkles away and kick off shoes before easing down. There's even sparkling apple cider and little plastic champagne glasses.

"Heheheh, yup!" giggles Vic proudly, remarking at the contents of the bag, "Aww Abby. Pears." He kneels and sets out the contents of the bag, giving her a look of well…tenderness. Probably the very best word for it. And all for pears. "So tell me what happened with you? What was the big mess?"

"Do you really wanna know Victor? Or would you rather just not? Cause if I tell you, you'll just get upset and I'd rather not have upset men more than I already do" She'll tell him, if he presses. "I should be good enough for school come Tuesday" She assures him, a soft smile at the pear.

Vic's quiet for a moment. He waits until they're situated and he sits next to her before saying, "I want to know about your life, Abby. What kind of a boyfriend can I be if you have this secret existence you don't feel like you can share with me? I don't have secrets that I keep away from you, at least not that I know of. So tell me. And I'll try not to get upset."

"I got shot. Saw'd off shotgun. I think. Looked like it. I was too busy trying to run. The place where I got taken, it was burning. I didn't burn it, just I was with Flint, making sure he was eating, talking. We went out to see what the noise was. I guess he recognized me and he just fired his shotgun" She twists enough to show him her side and the half missing tail end of her string of latin and angel wins that were a bit too clipped visually. "Flint fixed me, and someone else got the couple stray buckshots, but.. " yeah, feel free to frown now Victor. She plucks up the pear and starts slicing it.

There is of course a frown, but perhaps the miracle of it is that it's just a frown. Vic reaches a hand to touch the part of her that is whole but ought not to be, but just touch. His eyes look for hers and he draws his knees up to his chest then, hugging them. "He who?" he asks, by tone of voice sounding incredibly calm about all this.

"The brothel owner. John Logan" Time to pull away from that touch. She has a few stitches near the front where the few strays were removed. "See, your frowning. Don't worry. Flint shot back at him. Dunno whether he hit, but that should make you happy. Eat some pear, tell me how your day was yesterday. I'll let you feed me soup"

Vic rolls his eyes and shakes his head a little, taking a piece of pear and munching it. Truth is he'll need those calories after that little stunt he just pulled to get them up here. That was some edge-of-the-ability type stuff. "Am I not allowed to frown?" he asks with a twinkle in his eye.

"Yeah just.. I don't want you running off and doing something stupid in the name of avenging the woman you like. Pour the soup? Roommate made it. From a can, but he made it. See, I'm being taken care of. He's treating me like an invalid so that I'll be getting better" She breaks out the bread and the small container of butter. "You still haven't said what your day was like"

"I'm not Magnes." answers Vic casually, although there is the barest undercurrent of indignancy to it. One quickly gets tired of paying for the sins of others. He scootches a little closer to pour some soup. "Well. About today…" hesitate hesitate, "…I had to arrest a guy because he uhm. We think he sexually assaulted his ten year old girl. The mother reported it. I like my job better when it's just parking tickets and traffic stops. There wasn't any fight or anything. Nobody got beat up except the little girl." And perhaps Vic would've felt better if that weren't the case.

"Every day can't be parking tickets Victor. you're going to meet a lot of monsters along the way" She offers up in comfort. "Don't let it harden you though. At least he's off the streets and that little girl, while she's been hurt, isn't gonna get hurt again any time soon" She reaches out for the bowl when he's done preparing it. One bun laid out for him, one for her.

"Yeah but that guy'll get magistrated out of jail soon, like in two days, and then it'll be a court date that probably won't come around until next year. And what happens to that little girl in the year her dad's waiting for the trial?" Vic's voice is palpably sad about it. To him it might as well be his own kid. In fact he catches himself staring into a soupbowl over it. "I'm really glad you're okay, Abby. Listen," he looks back up to her, "so long as you're okay, whatever's happened to you? I'm not gonna freak out about it. I'll be here for you. I'd rather help you heal than go I dunno…avenge you or some juvenile thing like that."

"I'm sure there's other ways of protecting the girl, just that your part in the who event, ends when you bring him in. But his actions have been brought to light, and now people can keep an eye out. Child services will get involved." She reaches over, a hand to his arm and rubs gently. "It's been a bad time for me, in regards to stuff happening, but with no god given gift anymore, I probably will get kidnapped a great less" She assures him.

Vic lays a hand on Abby's and smiles at her, sadness still in his eyes over it. "I just need to learn how to be a little smarter, is all. Or a lot smarter, I'm not sure yet. But we discussed this, remember? You just have a different gift now." Then his attention goes to the soup. "So! Third date…Hmmmmmmmm…." Eyebrows waggle a little. "Did I make the cut?"

"Yeah yeah, new gift. I'm also under orders from my psychologist to learn to be selfish and do something for Abby Beauchamp. Something entirely for myself" But up comes the question of making the cut. "I haven't decided yet. Can you //really/ decide whether you wanna go steady after a few dates? I mean.. I don't know, I've never done this before now. So far, you are. But.." There's a soft shrug as she starts to spoon up the soup

Back on his hands he leans, watching Abby. "Still not sure if you'd rather be with Illegal Scruffy Grandpa?" Vic asks lightly, a grin playing at his features. Oh he's gathered the man's name is Flint but he likes his own name better.

"Scruffy has his appeal, much like you" Scruffy has… "You know how, you can sit quiet, for so long and some people, they like the quiet? I thought I liked the quiet. But while I was standing there, before the shooting, the screaming, the burning, I .. realized that I liked the noise, and the.. not danger, but something else"

"The excitement." guesses Vic, watching Abby. He thinks on that for a second. "So I'm the peaceful guy, but Scruffy's the excitement guy?" Like he's trying to puzzle this out.

"I dunno. You got plenty of excitement. Cut me a break Vic, i'm new to this. I have about as much experience thinking about a guy in a non-platonic chaste manner as you have.. carrying a gun" Sh eso helpfully points out to him.

Vic has an easy nod to that. "Yeah that gun thing's…yeah." He won't argue with the difficulty he has in that. He'll never be an especially proficient shot in the department. He just doesn't practice any more than he's required to. "I'm not tryin' to pressure you, Abby. Seriously. I guess I'm just trying to help figure it out. Because you know, if you figure it out then if it's good for me or us I'm happy for obvious reasons. But if it means you and I don't have a future, well…better to know sooner. But I just want to help. I'm trying to be mature about this."

"You're being very Mature about this Victor. I'm sorry. I really am. I just…" Yeah, this isn't going well. Abby and her big mouth or ability to shove her whole foot it in all the way up to her knee. She looks down at her soup, frowning slightly. "I asked a friend, not scruffy, but a female friend, what it was supposed to be like, thing is, neither you or scruffy, make me all giddy to my toes. There's no…"

Now that's bad news. The girlfriend advice. It kills 90% of all relationships, even if they've been going on for years. Vic knows this well, but he nods a little. "Hey I thought that first kiss on Date Two was fantastic." he remarks with levity.

But when has Abby ever taken advice that wasn't from a professional. Victor doesn't know that. "Yeah, yeah, I'll have to give you that, and you don't have stubble that's perpetually there" Sandpaper face. He has that one up on Flint.

"I've been known to bathe now and then." kids Victor with a grin. He scoots a little closer to her and asks, "What made you ask me out?" The reason he doesn't pin her down with his eyes for this one might be because he doesn't want to pressure her. Or maybe he's a little afraid of the answer? Soup is suddenly interesting.

"true, but you also have a stable roof over your house and stable employment" what does Flint have over Victor? Abigail looks over at him and to the quickly darkening sky with it's myriad of helicopters scattered here and there. "Because you're not Magnes, you never outright hit on me, but it was subtle. Because, you of all people might.. understand me"

"I understand you enough to think you might not choose to end up with me. And I'd only make you miserable if I tried to hold on." confesses Vic in a level but raw tone of voice. He won't look at her, but again, soup is suddenly interesting. "And I've been pretty excited about you for a while. You DO make me giddy to my toes."

"Just cause I'm not toe giddy off the first few dates Victor Childs, doesn't mean I'm gonna give up" There's a gentle punch of his shoulder, and then an offer of a spoonful of soup from her bowl. "Scruffy doesn't give me giddy toes either, so don't worry"

Vic takes the spoonful quietly. Mood's still a little bit damp, but what can you do? Sometimes a speedster can't do everything fast. "Not bad for a can." he admits, glancing at her eyes. "When my phone rings I hope it's you."

"I called you today didn't I? I should be in bed, but I'm sitting here and showing you where I come to watch sunsets Victor. Even Scruffy's never seen this place and I certainly haven't taken him to trapeze school" She nudges him gently before shifting over to sit side by side as close as she can.

"He may not enjoy trapeze school." remarks Vic with a grin, reaching an arm to put it around her affectionately. There's no pretense about it. "So you come here to watch sunsets? How do you get up when I can't rocket you up the side of the building and slip on the bricks halfway up?" Slip on the bricks? See how fast all that happened? It's not like she could know.

"There's one set of stairs that's still working, I come up that way. This building isn't that condemned" Abigail points out. SHe offers another spoonful of soup for him to eat from.

"That isn't what I meant by the way, about my phone." murmurs Vic after the spoonful. He reaches to take it from her to feed her a spoonful in turn. "I meant when my phone rings, every time, I hope it's you." Spoon.

'Oh" She leans forward to take the spoonful, careful not to drip. Tongue hitting the underside of the spoon to catch a drip. "I just cringe when my phone rings. I'm worried it's someone asking me to heal. But I smile, when it's yours. I prefer if it's your number showing up" She rests her head then on his shoulder, pointing out when a plume of red rises from the top of a building far off.

Oh! "It's started." remarks Vic, looking out over the skyline at Abby's gesture. He squeezes her slightly and says after putting the spoon down, "When I call you it's because it's you. That's all I ever cared about."

"It's started and I get it, I understand. It's why I smile when you call, cause you're calling for me and to see hwo I am, not 'hey can you come fix my paper cut' which, I had a surprising amount of those phone calls, let me tell you" Abigail smiles, watching the colors start to bloom across the sky in their various forms. "Was never like this back home. But then we all just tromp down to the park. I like sitting here and seeing everything just blossom across the sky from rooftops"

Vic emits a sigh and agrees, "Yeah. I mean the city's kind of grimy and I dunno…a mess. But when you get up high and see it from here? Suddenly it's easy to like it again. Maybe that's how people with the power forget. All they ever see is the big pretty picture, and they don't see the struggle down on the street, below. I hope that's never me."

'Sure it's a mess, but mess's are for cleaning up and making it shine. Just needs bit of spit and some elbow grease. That and a whole host of people who will actually do something about it. But I don't think it'll be you. I think you'll make it, that you'll remember, no struggle for you" One arm snakes around his waist and she rests her chin now on his shoulder to watch. "Ohh that was a big one"

The ones that burst up like giant colorful pom-poms and then turn into a rain of dazzling sparkles, those are always Vic's favorite. He points, "It's kind of neat how you see it burst before you hear the pop. Wow…I wonder if I could be that fast." Faster than the speed of sound. THAT would be neat. "I can't really beat soundwaves. Not yet. But I just don't have the kind of straightaways to really test it out here in the city. If I lived out in someplace open it might be easier." He grabs up a piece of pear and offers it to Abby.

"If you put your mind to it, I think Vic, you could." The piece of pear is plucked between forefinger and thumb from him, but instead of eating it herself, she lets him have the first half of that slice before she eats the other. "How about, we sit here, watch this and afterward we can go get some Starbucks and walk home. Or carry home, or cart home, speed home"

"Mmm. How about we walk home and take our time doing it?" counters Vic with a grin. It takes him no time to munch pear. Abby's scarcely had occasion to see it, but he is a bottomless pit of food. "You'll be safe with me."

"Don't think it's a matter of safe. You're not the one who bled like, half of all her blood onto a tattoo parlor floor while they hunted for pellets" She points out. But taking time walking home, she's amenable to that. "Ohh! Look! It's graduated!" A skyscraper to the far left sets off a bunch of them all at once.

That argument definitely makes a difference to Vic. He nods with his head leaned against hers and grins widely at the explosion of activity, hugging Abby to him as they watch. He's silent for the duration of that before turning to look at Abby's face and say, "I like Date Number Three."

"I like date three. Maybe I'll like date four better huh?" Maybe, maybe not, because she turns then, to offer a kiss. Something far less than chaste. Something that would make scruffy illegal Grandpa snarl and draw his lips back. Likely incite primal caveman feelings.

Vic's answer to the kiss involves not only diving into it deeply, but adjusting his hold on Abby to cradle her close in both arms. He's had this on his mind for a few minutes, it's clear. He even allows a hand to wander down her back to cup the outside curve of her thigh in a hungry caress.

Fortunately Vic is NOT a bottomless pit of lust.

When their lips part and he allows himself to breathe again, Vic whispers in a barely-daze, "What day is it?"

No spark.

No zing.

No brilliant beautiful sparkly feelings that are epic, the kind of feelings that certain vampires and simpering helpless females are written about. Not that Abigail didn't enjoy the kiss, no, she did. But it's not so breathtaking that she can't answer "Saturday"

Ignorance can be a bliss, because all Vic knows is what he feels. "Thanks." he replies, setting his forehead against hers and finding her hand to twine his fingers in.


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