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Scene Title | Not So Shocking |
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Synopsis | Just when you get used to the way things are, they change again. |
Date | May 28, 2011 |
Eltingville Blocks — Brian's Apartment
A sharp crackle-pop.
The lights went off.
"I was reading."
The darkness is penetrated by a tongue of blue-white electricity, and with a flicker the lights in the room come back on. The dim light the only thing keeping the small house from plummeting into darkness now. A few mattresses have been pushed together now that Samara has been living here for some times. Sheets, clean blankets. The nice things a house should have, rather than the Spartan conditions Brian was surviving on. Things are still sparse. But at least they are almost up to par with the standards of living for a laady~
He had gotten use to his power. It had grown on him. Of course he missed his old power. Being everywhere at once. Knowing everything, doing everything. Learning faster than everyone. And of course, being unkillable. But electricity had grown on him. It was like having a gun with no bullets. Except a gun that didn't work in the rain. Or on rubber. Or…
Maybe he didn't like it that much. Lips finally found their way to the mouth of the woman next to him on their makeshift King size bed. Her eyes finally drifting shut and the book slumping out of her hands. Another tongue of electricity and the room was plunged into darkness once again.
NEXT MORNING
It's a crisp morning. Borderline cold. Samara will find herself chilled out of her sleep. The stinging cold of the early hours finding its way to her feet and creeping up along her limbs, across her expanding belly and— There is no blanket. Or there was. But it has been rolled away. The blanket is quickly replaced on the pregnant woman though it may be far too late to prevent her from waking. What Samara will find is her sleeping fiancee next to her, shirtless and bearded, just as he was when she fell asleep.
And then there's another fiancee, standing over them. Looking a little concerned with one arm folded over his bare chest. Finger playing at his lips as he looks at Samara and… him contemplatively.
Adaptability has always been one of Sam's strengths. Even before the days when she lived as little more than a ghost, she'd been an adjuster—one of those people who could find a way to thrive anywhere. Well, almost anywhere. Rampant change and fluctuating hormones had their effects, but even then, with some semblance of stability, adjusting to Eltingville Blocks was easier than she'd expected.
The different bed, different room, and generally different smell of the entire apartment had become normal, particularly when she could sleep next to Brian through the cold of the night. Somehow, here, in the slums, she'd found herself again. Desolation should've been heavy on her mind, but the hope and promise of the small life growing within her did more to elate her thoughts and spirits than expected. Which could explain the nature of her dreamworld…
Somewhere in Sam's Mind
"You shouldn't eat clouds you know, they cause indigestion," comes the advice from a very winged Jane Dunham who sits across from her daughter. The white wrought iron table and chairs laid in front of the small dream team match perfectly with the white mist along the ground which everything rests. The lack of colour continues in Jane's dress—a lovely bodice with spaghetti straps, made ethereal through the white fluffy feathers along the skirt.
The very thin Sami glances down at the white teacups laid upon the table and reaches to bring one to her lips. "It's cold," she pouts. Like her mother, her entire dress is white, strapped along one shoulder, but slender in form as if to accentuate her not-pregnant body. Her hazel eyes flit towards Brian at her right. "Why's it cold?" she nearly whines.
Brian, dressed head-to-toe in a white suit (of all things), opens his mouth to say something, but is interrupted by a dark-haired man. Who, is definitely not Peter Petrelli (mostly because they've never met) except… in Sam's head he is.
His breath blows a cold wind through the entire scene, forming frost along the sides of the table, and freezing each of the guests in turn, solidly, such that none can even blink.
His red eyes turn to Sam and the shriek is more than imminent in fact…
In The Waking World
Sami sits up in bed as she tries to catch her breath, tugging the blanket tighter to her body as her eyes snap open. Ragged breaths, slow her heart as she stares at the Brian standing over her… only to glance at the one sleeping beside her.
Her eyes widen as she shakes her head. Unbelievable!
"You shouldn't be here, you know," she whispers in a scold. "There's no way you should've tried breaking in. Honestly, I don't even know how you knew how to find us… does Doyle know you've even left! You're too young to be trying such dangerous thing—" Yeah. Teen Brian doesn't belong in Eltingville Blocks. Even if preggo-Sami does. Yeah. Logic. It fails her.
Blissfully unaware of Petrelli night-terrors, the young man remains standing over Samara. Arm over his chest he takes a deep breath. Long faded scars will become more apparent on his chest once Samara gains more control over her waking state. As well as the fact that his middle finger on one hand is missing. And the Brian lying next to her is sleeping naked. Brian doesn't like sleeping naked. Most of the time.
Tilting his head to the side some the former replicator former electrokinetic current replicator again is peering down at Samara with a somewhat confused expression. "I'm not. I am" His lips close for a moment as he stares down at her. Looking quite perplexed. "I" Teeth click shut. "I am kind of confused." Fingers rushing through the hair on the side of his head before dropping.
Lips purse for a moment before he slowly goes to site on the side of the bed, glancing over at the sleeping him right beside her. A tentative smile curls up his lips as he places his hand carefully on Samara's shoulder. "I remember."
"Everything."
Skeptically-narrowing hazel eyes watch the replicator equally perplexed. The scars and missing finger, however, give Sami pause as she blinks harder to push away the sleepies just by sheer will. The first confession warrants little more than a furrowing of Sam's brow. She is also confused. "Um…" she begins while her eyes track to Brian in the buff, meriting a further furrowing of her brow.
"W-what?" She blinks hard as her hand drifts to the one resting on her shoulder, her ear dropping towards her shoulder as she peeks up at him doe-eyed with confusion. "What do you mean… everything?" it seems like it shouldn't be a question worth asking, that the answer would just be a given, something easy and logical, but Samara asks it just the same.
There's no smile in response, just that same confusion. "I don't know what you're talking about," she finally admits. "What's going on? You're not…" her chin drops as she looks to sleeping Brian and then raises as she looks back at awake Brian. "…this isn't… I mean… electricity, right?"
A slow shake of his head. "It's like.. All coming back in a rush. Like. Everything everything. All my memories. Like.. Fulk-me. Like. Everything everything. I." He closes his lips, looking blankly at the wall as he slowly lays back into the bed. Next to Samara, and himself. A slow smile is cast over to his faincee. "Like." He gives a slow shake of his head.
"I'm me. Me. I remember.. Not remembering. You. I remember like. Only remembering my sixteen year old birthday. I remember…" He blinks, shaking his head slowly. "Huruma and Delia found me in the castle. No—" His mouth shuts tight. "Noah shot me. He killed me. And they got Amid." His jaw slowly draws down as he claps it back up.
"I'm better." He closes his mouth and slowly looks over to Samara, expectantly as if she will somehow explain all this.
Like Brian, Sam's lips clamp tightly together; her generally nervous tendency to babble takes a backseat while she tries to process this. She swallows hard enough to be audible while she mirrors his posture, her own head shaking. Noah had never caught up with her—now at least she knows why.
She sucks in a quick breath, cool and semi-refreshing, but again, her head shakes. None of this seems to be adding up. Finally she settles on one word: "How?"
And then Sami remembers somethingnot from a fragmented soupy mess, but from the recesses of her preggo-brain. "Wait." Her lips twist to the side. "Richard Cardinal said he thought the effects would wear off, but that I"d have to have all of you in the same room at the same time to make it happen…" Again her hazel eyes narrow. "…but I didn't think it could happen. The one youhe.. didn't believe anything I told him.. I mean, I could convince Fulk-you or young-you to do almost anything, but…" her head shakes a little. "How? It just… bang! Everyone's powered again?"
"I." He gives a light shake of his head. "I don't remember putting a gun to your head, Sam. Or not believing you. So either you're a liar. Or. I don't… I think I'm blocking myself. It's confusing, but I've done it before. I.." He closes his lips. He could guess why he doesn't have control over that him. But he'd rather not go over it. He shakes his head slowly, rolling his eyes over to Samara.
"I.. Yeah. Ahm. So. Jesus. It's kind of.. Overwhelming." He closes his eyes for a moment as he tries to go over it. It's hard. "I guess so. I have no electricity. I tried already." He gives a light shrug of his shoulders, gray eyes opening once again to go over her features. He lets out a slow breath. "Jesus."
Samara flips a coin. It comes up heads.
Hormones. Gotta love 'em. "What?!" Sam squeaks rather loudly as she pushes the blankets off her entirely. Aaaah. Cold. Must stay strong. Her feet touch the floor, sending a visible shiver through her body as goosebumps form along her legs and arms. Must stay strong. "I'm not a liar!" she waggles a single finger pointedly at sleeping-Brian rather than awake-Brian while barefooted steps punctuate her quick journey to the door. "I wouldn't lie about that—" come the sulky words as she steps out the bedroom.
So much for peace. Still cold, she rests a hand on her belly and treads to the couch which has an extra blanket along its back. The great thing about hormonal outrage is it never lasts long. In fact, whether or not Brian followed her into the living room in her little fit, Sam is quickly asking questions again, "Why would you block yourself? I don't get it. Don't you want to be yourself?"
Her eyes narrow again as she slides her hand across her stomach soothingly. "Shoshanna," a pointed look is sent towards Brian's general direction, "agrees that it's silly. I wanted nothing more than to be whole for years and years and years. And years. Well or passed on. Heaven seemed like it would be kind of cool. I always wondered if I'd be allowed to drink in heaven being eternally sixteen and all…" her throat clears. This isn't about that. "Uh. Sorry you're confused… maybe… maybe there's a way to make it easier? Like.. is it like images coming back or something?"
"I was joking." He practically meeps as she leaps out of bed. Lips going thin. "I know you wouldn't lie.. It was a joke. Baby." He tries to manage in his most soothing tone possible. His brows slightly widened as he watches the brutal but short hormonal onslaught. The sleeping Brian is stirred awake. Though with the psychic link restored, and all knowledge already blessed to him, he simply graps the pillow and folds it over his head. Other him has it under control. Ish.
Quickly getting up, he frowns lightly as he goes to pad after her. He peeks out into the living room from his room before sliding out. "Shoshanna?" He asks a little skeptically. Trying not to cringe at the name. "I think.. I know someone named Shoshanna. Probably can't use that one." Yuck. "I just. It's like years returned all of the sudden. Like I remember everything but.. It's like. I don't know where to start remembering… Does that make sense? Or maybe there's still holes just some of the holes are gone. I don't even.."
Resigning with project memory for the moment he slowly walks over to the couch, peering down at her with an apologetic slash questioning look. As if asking for permission to sit with her. Granted or not he goes to lie on the couch, going to rest the side of his head on her bloated tummy, eyes going to lock onto hers. "Hi."
Samara flips a coin. It comes up heads.
"It wasn't funny," comes the very pouty reply followed by a quiet sigh. And then, with a flippant wave of her hand she shakes her head, "There's no way you know anyone name Shoshanna! It's a terrible name. Did her parents hate her?" Evidently, it's not actually on the list and Samara's heart definitely wasn't set on it. "How about Bert for a girl?" She may or may not be kidding. It's very hard to tell for certain.
Brian's silent request has Sami's lips parting again wordlessly, but then, there he is. The good news is hormonal rage dissipates as quickly as it sets in, and, quite absently, like she'd never had a flare, Sam's fingers turn to Brian's curls, looping them in succession around each finger in turn. The practice itself is completed in silence and punctuated by a hand resting against Brian's chest. "I hope he has your hair," she admires quietly.
"I'm sorry its so… overwhelming." Her head cants slightly to the side as she watches him silently. "But." A slow smile creeps across her lips, "I'm glad you're you again." Grin. "I mean now you can see everything at once again, right? And you can multitask like crazy! And you don't really have to be here all of the time. I mean, you are and you aren't, right?"
"You used to laugh at all my jokes." It's a mistake, he can tell as it comes out. He shouldn't have said that. So he should probably ride on. Quickly run away from that last bit onto newer, nicer, more hormone friendly things. "Bert's terrible." Okay. That was bad too, soon though. He's going to climb out of this whole. A deep breath is taken in as she sets her hand on his chest. "I love you."
He gives a light smile up at her. "I hope she has your eyes." A beat. "Well maybe not. Then she would be pretty. I hope she's freaking ugly. So no guy will ever hit on her. Ever. I don't want to deal with that." Closing his eyes softly. "Snaggle tooth, maybe some like hair growth defect where she only has a single strand of hair. Hunchback, like with a constant snot drip." He takes a dreamy breath. "My little girl~."
"Yeah I mean. I'm at the Lighthouse. I can finally see the kids again." Just saying it has his throat drying out completely and his eyes starting to water. " I.." He buries his face in her belly. "So many died, Sam. I.." He takes a deep breath. "Are we going to be able to be happy in this place? I mean.. not like Eltingville but like. This world. Maybe we should… I don't know. Maybe we should move. Once we get free, I mean."
"They used to be funny," comes the quick reply. But it's easy enough to— "Bert is a great name! Like… Roberta! Bert. And then…" big grin "…if we have another someday we can name him or her… I guess.. Ernie! Awesome, right?" Sami is literally beaming now and may or may not have put a bunch of thought into this. Or… it's just a big joke. Hard to tell. "I love you too."
Three fingers press tightly over Sam's lips to suppress the chuckle deep within her throat. "So I'm going to give birth to the hunchback of Notre Dame? So much for living in the real world…" And then realistically and quite brightly, "I think she'll be beautiful. We'll have to invest in a gun. Or a shovel. Or a taser… Or something. Or… I guess it could be a boy. Maaaaybe."
A quiet breath is released in Sam's throat as she leans down to plant a soft kiss on Brian's forehead. "I know, hun," she blinks hard. "I'm so sorry… I wish… I wish we could've done more." She'd been so far away from the sick kids. "All I could do was send Fulk-you so they'd have a responsible version of you around…" She swallows hard while her fingers silently drum against his chest as she shoots him a sad smile. "I…" her throat clears, "…I think happiness isn't something you find, but it's something you make. I think… I think we can't just expect it to happen, you know? I mean… these troubles, the way the world is, it's not just going to fix itself. It's hard. It's scary. And.. it's weird and kind of grown up, but I want… I want this baby to grow up in something better. But. Maybe all I can do is teach her to be better, you know?" Her eyes lid as she tries to think of some way to express herself more clearly, "Where would we move anyways? I don't think we can escape these trials that easy…"
There's no reply at first to the funny comment. Brian stifles the hurt expression, he doesn't have to when the subject broaches protecting their beautiful hunchback. "A shovel-gun!" He pipes happily, eyes sparkling as he peers up at her delightedly. He gives a light shrug. "I don't know. Girls like their dads more. And I want to be the favorite parent." He gives a soft smile. "Like I want you to be the bad guy, you know?" He gives a playful smile. "I'm kidding.. Sorry."
"But we've been fighting it. Fighting the government. I've been fighting. That's how we're here. Maybe.." He gives a light shrug. "Maybe that's not our position. Not what we're meant to do. Like.. We got all the kids. We've got." He taps her large belly. "Maybe we should be like. Out of the thick of it. Out of New York." He gives a thoughtful look over to her, giving a light shrug. "I heard there's places in Asia where Evolved have made like.. Havens. Maybe it's just a rumor. But like an evolved town that's not like a slum but like a town they've made." He gives another shrug. "We could.. get way away from here."
"Yes! A shovel-gun! That'd be amaaaazing." There's a flush of Sam's cheeks, but the brightness remains while she stifles a giggle, "Thanks for that." Her eyes close again as she runs her fingers across her stomach again. "I just hope I don't make a terrible mom." She cringes slightly. "I'm pretty sure the Lighthouse Kids think of me as some big sister instead of a parent. It's because I'm terrible at it. Did I tell you I took Lance for ice cream after he followed me to meet Kasha—old Kasha I mean?" There's a pause. "What about Alison?"
"I know we've been fighting it… " indecisively her lips twist to the side. "Do you think we could even move all the kids? I mean, it'd be hard, but maybe?" She releases a quiet sigh, "But we need to know there's something to move them to, right? And that it's safe and we could find a way to contribute. Legal-like." Her throat clears. "After I pop, if I weren't so… you know, legally-dead, I could teach dance.."
"Like in that videogame where they have gunblades, except it would be gunshovel. Shovel-gun sounds better." He gives a little nod of concession. He lets out a light laugh. "We'll take turns being the mean parent okay? I am mean on tuesdays and thursdays. And wednesdays. You're mean on mondays, fridays, saturdays. And.. we're both nice on Sunday. Okay?" He smiles brightly, before darkening a little. "After he.. Yeah you told me." He lets out an exasparated sigh. "You rewarded him for sneaking out."
He stares up at her, giving a slow shake of his head. "Oh, Sam." One hand reaches up to rest against her cheek. "We're going to be great parents. In Africa." He grins a little. "So I mean. If we could find a place. Out of the country, that would be safe? You would want to do it? If it would protect the kids?"
"That sounds good to me! I like the idea of being nice on Sundays. It's like Sundays are special days when there will be no bad guy, only joy and happiness." Sami's fingers wiggle in a 'spirit fingers' formation as she beams back at Brian. And then about Lance, "It wasn't meant to be a reward though! Just… an opportunity?" she smirks. "I mean… I wanted ice cream. With pickles. And sardines." Mmmm.
"Africa," she repeats quietly. "Well I've disappeared off the grid twice now," once when she 'died', once in coming here, "what's once more?" Sam gives Brian a slow nod, "Yeah. If it would protect the kids and we could raise them to be… happy healthy adults, I think it'd be really good."