Participants:
| Scene Title | Not Just a Visit |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Graeme has more reasons to need to see Jaiden and Ygraine than just a social call. Unfortunately. |
| Date | April 27, 2011 |
Once again vague on the details, the only thing that Graeme insisted on in the morning was that he needed to see both Jaiden and Ygraine, at the same time. And he was very insistent.
Early afternoon has come and he's early, in a remote and mainly wooded corner of Central Park, reachable mainly by an easy enough game trail rather than one of the more common running or jogging trails that are there. Half-sitting, back against a tree, he's dressed for the warmer spring weather much the same as he dressed throughout winter, jeans held up by a sturdy belt, and a black muscle tee, a black reinforced leather jacket that's a more recent acquirement draped across his shoulders but not actually worn. A couple of dark canvas bags of promised supplies and a small messenger bag rest on the ground next to him, and although he's alert and keeping an eye out for either of the people he's meeting, he could just as easily be enjoying the spring weather, book in hand and the pages turned absently at about the pace that would be if he were actually reading and not just holding it.
The call did come as a bit of a surprise, the phone Jaiden kept plugged in next to his bed buzzing with the information. Graeme has been a trusted companion and a friend and hasn't sold them out yet, so it was with a little convincing that he managed to convince Ygraine to come along. After all, he did request it specifically that both of them should come with.
Arriving separately, just in case it is a trap, Jaiden scouts the area first before approaching, making sure that no inconspicuous bums, vans with blacked out windows, or nonchalantly strolling park goers are in the out of the way spot. And it's with that relative privacy that he approaches, sipping from a bottle of water. "Graeme." he says softly, a backpack slung over his shoulder, glancing about. "What's up?"
Effective disguises are rather hard for Ygraine to manage. Lacking the option of cruising around in plain sight behind the anonymous shield of biker's leathers, she's now opting to take the risk of hiding in comparatively plain sight. Wrap-around shades, the tucking of her braid down the back of her jacket, and a reliance upon the difficulty of tailing an expert cyclist through a busy city will have to do.
Sporting a light jacket - with the sleeves pushed up to her elbows - with cycling gloves and helmet, a small pack on her back, lycra cycling shorts, and a supportive top, Ygraine coasts to a halt at the requested spot. Though she has both hands on the bars, it might be noticed that one is simply resting there, the other doing all the required work.
Nodding to the two men, she peers around, then musters a smile. "Afternoon."
"Couple of things besides supplies," Graeme admits, with a gesture to the canvas bags next to him as he rises to his feet, leaning back against the tree once more. "Ygraine, it's good to see you." There's a slight relieved smile on his face, as he gestures for both of them to sit.
"Sit down, this is long, a bit. And potentially more complicated than I'd like it to be, as at the moment it's pretty much the last additional thing to worry about that any of us need." And then Graeme falls silent, dropping back down to half sitting in order to draw from one of the canvas bags and setting them on top of the bag to be accessible, some grapes, apparently intent on remaining quiet until the two are more comfortable. "No one's come by here aside from me in the two hours I've been here, so I think we're okay, and I walked out a perimeter of about fifty feet in all directions a little over half an hour ago."
Glancing to Ygraine, Jaiden slips over to take a seat on one of the boulders surrounding the trail, taking a sip of his water, waiting for the inevitable white noise generator to make an appearance from Ygraine's pockets. "It's not usual for us to come out to visit…although it is good to see you."
A low chuckle, and Ygraine shakes her head. She moves to prop her bike ready to hand close by, then settles down against a tree herself. "I'm running my customary little white noise generator just in case", she admits with a wry smile. "So - what's this about? We really don't get out and about much these days."
"Like I said, it's not just a visit, though I'm truly glad to see the both of you. I just really didn't want to leave this to communication over a phone line," Graeme says, turning a small bunch of grapes over in his hands. "As I'm sure you both know, Remi was deported to France, at some point, on charges of Registry fraud and some other whatever it was." From the messenger bag comes a rather official looking notice that he'd received in the mail. "Except that as of yesterday afternoon, I received a call from her, from a very much local number. And she is, apparently, back in the States, somehow." Graeme grimaces. "It gets better, though." A glance around, before he continues. "She was apparently kidnapped from her estate in France by one Magnes Varlane. And then rescued from her kidnapper by one other Magnes Varlane."
It's a good thing he didn't call to tell them this bit of information, because the expression Jaiden puts on - a combination of confusion, anger, and delight - needs to be seen to be believed. "So…wait…" Jaiden takes a breath, trying to organize his thoughts. "Remi in the states notwithstanding, you're saying there's another Magnes Varlane running around?" He gives an exasparated sigh. "Could this get any better…." A shake of his head. "Okay…okay."
Ygraine's response is also not one that might exactly be considered wholly favourable. For a few moments, she just stares at Graeme - then lets out a tired-sounding, if rapid, stream of heartfelt French expostulation.
"Great. So the wounded woman has been kidnapped from safety, taken across an ocean, and then dumped here by - supposedly - another iteration of Idiot the Wonder-Boy? Just in case it's not been mentioned to you in the past, Graeme - while in the Dome, it was revealed to us that Varlane is now working with the Institute. The administration's present 'secret organisation manipulating the Evolved'. Which also, of course, has its own conspiracies and hidden agendas. If there are two Varlanes, rather than just the old one having finally gone so insane that he's now at war with himself, then neither of them is likely to be someone worth trusting as far as you could spit them. Anything they are involved with is likely to be a FUBAR. Which, of course, means that we arguably have all the more reason to try to get Remi out of whatever mess she's in now. Feck. Feckity feck feckfeckfeck."
Graeme's expression of surprise is very mild. Whether or not he's been told said information before, it's not something that seems to be of an issue now.
"Two, yes. One of them, the one who brought her over here in the first place," Graeme begins, "seems to be sympathetic to the Vanguard. And has, and I quote, 'an obsession with Eileen'. And a goatee, and isn't supposedly from here in the first place. An alternate, or something, going about causing ever much more trouble than the regular one manages to get into, it would seem. The other one, the one who rescued her from the bad one, is the one that we already know of." He sighs. "And the one who rescued her rescued her with his daughter from the future as well." This is said without even skipping a beat, and then he pops several of the grapes into his mouth.
God, if the earth would only swallow him up and hide him from this, Jaiden would be happy. But that can't happen. The australian lets out a soft sigh and rubs a hand over his face, looking to the sky, then to Ygraine, then to Graeme, green eyes twinkling. "So….all things being equal, Remi is currently in the states and we'll need to get her away from Magnes who, by all accounts, is working with the institute, and then get her out of the country again, all while avoiding Evil Goatee Magnes or causing him enough trouble as to not worry with her anymore. Am I pretty much right?"
"The 'rescuer' Magnes is a dangerously insane fool who regarded protecting the Vanguard's founder as more important than fulfilling his actual mission when he was sent into the past to stop the whole world being screwed up", Ygraine says softly. "And given his relentless pursuit of just about anything in a skirt, I wouldn't be surprised if he weren't also obsessed with Eileen. So the only definite differences would seem to be that the 'bad' one has a goatee and the other has the support of one of the future children."
The Briton closes her eyes. "Varlane apparently regards Kazimir Volken - the guy who came up with the plan of exterminating all human life on the planet, that I was involved in stopping - as a mentor. Whatever the fuck is going on, I'm seriously wary of reminding any version of Varlane that we exist. If there are two separate ones, then one's a Vanguard-sympathising kidnapper and the other's a Vanguard-sympathising Institute stooge. Take your pick for which is worth. And which one you want to come into contact with. Fuck. Did Remi manage to tell you anything about where she was or what was going on? Or what she hoped you'd do about it?"
Graeme shakes his head. "Neither. Thought I admit I didn't inquire too much. From what it sounded like, I'm going to say she's at Magnes' apartment? At least, I think." The guess is thrown out there and then followed with a shrug. "She did want to know if I had any way of contacting either of you. I dodged the question for a bit and just didn't say anything, then I hung up and went running in the parking garage for over an hour." And then he ran into a negator. There's a grimace at that, and another pause. "And as far as I can guess, Goatee Magnes is probably pissed off in the first place, not sure he's just going to 'not worry' or anything like that."
"Gyah." Ygraine leans back, gaze lifting to the branches overhead. "I'm… seriously worried that any move to contact Remi will result in us coming into contact with Varlane. Any iteration of Varlane, I want to avoid. The moron routinely flew in and out of Ferry safehouses, and has turned up to Ferry locations he was banned from revisiting after his cock-ups. I do not want any version of him to even think of our existence, if we can help it. But… do you have any idea what Remi wants? What she hopes to do? If she wants out of the country again, we can probably arrange it. If we can get her away from Varlane."
Once again, Graeme shrugs. "I don't know, honestly. She said she misses us, she wants to see you. Me. Jaiden. Beyond that … I was having a hard enough day yesterday as it is, I didn't care to add more to my plate than simply even knowing she was back." Some of the grapes are pulled off, offered over to Ygraine.
"I don't know, even what to do. I can give you the number she called me from, let you figure out where to go from there. I have a spare burn phone with me that I can give to the two of you, and I can pass that number on to Remi if you're comfortable with that. So that it doesn't compromise the ones you have. And maybe you can stress discretion." There's a stifled chuckle. "I've had to do enough stressing of discretion, lately. It seems to be a problem with telepaths, in general."
"You've been dealing with other telepaths as well?", Ygraine asks, head cocking worriedly. "I… hrrm. We can easily enough give you one of our existing numbers to use, I suppose. But if you can get us the number for her, we might have options to try to check it out. I honestly don't know what to do, or what she could possibly be wanting. Though I suppose it's not even certain that she knows we're on the run, is it?"
"Don't use the existing numbers," Graeme says. "I bought this one, it's got minutes on it, and it'd be wasted simply sitting on my dining room table for ever and ever. Better this way. I have the number she called me from, though I suspect it belongs to Magnes or something like that." There's a pause, and Graeme reaches into the messenger bag again, putting the letter away and pulling out a slip of lined paper with clear, block numbers printed on it instead, then handing it over. "And yes. My boyfriend — Aric — happens to be a telepath. And seems to have missed the memo about discretion recently as well, though Liz already knows…"
Ygraine winces, closing her eyes. "What… did he reveal, and to whom? Or should I not be prying?", se asks cautiously. "And thank you."
There's a quiet sound that might, almost, if the conversation were less serious, be taken as a snort of laughter. "Just that he was a telepath, in full public view, but only to my boss. Like I said, Liz knows, and thankfully for all us … my boss is on the same damn side, in the long run." Graeme reaches over, resting a hand on Ygraine's knee for a moment. "It really is good to see you."
Starting slightly in response to the man reaching over to touch her bare knee - Ygraine manages a snort of her own. "You'd think that they'd get the idea of the value of secrets more than most - but perhaps they're just used to everything blurring together into a single mass. I dunno. But… yeah. I'm glad to be able to be seen. Every now and then, my paranoia comes in useful. Though I'm still regretting not having spent more time mapping out the underworld of Manhattan. There's a good bit of it I still don't know."
"One would think," Graeme says, quietly. "But somehow, it seems to be something common to them, that they don't. And the fact that they're less than universally liked or even tolerated doesn't seem to occur as much either." That said, Graeme pulls over the three canvas bags, pushing them towards his companions.
"I have work this afternoon, so I ought to get going back soon enough I can shower and change," he says. "But these bags are for you guys. More chocolate, some different coffee and what I grabbed from the tea cabinet at home that I wasn't going to ever use, toiletries, a couple new books, more fruit, the like. And gift cards for some stores and such. Everything I could think of while I was out this morning." There's a sheepish smile, and then Graeme gets up, hugging Ygraine and then Jaiden in turn, before shouldering the messenger bag. "You guys take care." A pause, before he begins to walk off. "And I'll let you know what's going on with all of this, as soon as I possibly have it figured out."
Rising to her feet to accept and return the hug - albeit in a somewhat lop-sided fashion, one arm still markedly weaker than the other - Ygraine chuckles and shakes her head, eyeing the supplies before looking back t the departing Graeme. "Thank you. And… take care of yourself. Beware of the Varlane!"