Participants:
| Scene Title | One Of Us |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Delilah never met Jesse Knight before he was Leonard Shelby- so he has a bit of explaining to do. |
| Date | February 24, 2010 |
Old Lucy's has a vibrant and lively feel to it, from the dark wooden floors to the black and cream risque wallpapered walls lit up by neon lights and many times, the flashing of cameras from the oft-crowded floor. The mirror behind the bar reflects prices of various drinks, bottles lined up, as well as the entire saloon as seen from the bartenders; bolted-down stools line the other side, and there are loose tables and chairs placed all around, though many times they find themselves pushed back for more space within the center of the saloon. A few speakers are placed at strategic places and around a raised stage to the far corner from the bar.
Above the counter, an obviously well-used bar is hung; it is this that the girls working will use should there be dancing, which is one reason many patrons choose to come aside from the drinks. Across the bar and near the back, there is a door that leads to the back room and owner's office and a stairwell that leads the residence above the floor above the bar.
Delilah in jeans is not that much of a strange sight, but somehow it can throw at least one person a day off. Today's jeans were simply for not getting splashed by dirty puddles of water made by the snow as it melts little streams along the sidewalks. Her shirt beacons brightly from out of her coat, multicolored plaid seeming to just fit her mood. Which is, as usual, colorful and generally in the best of ways. And like any other day that Dee comes to Lucy's, she seems to have already imbibed a little before coming- enough to give herself a buzz while she can visit the bar.
When the girl comes in, she is trying to tap out the water from the nooks of her boot treads, shaking off most of it before crossing towards the bar and scouting for someone behind the counter.
There's a new face behind the bar. A man, pale as milk, close-cropped head the color of a new penny. He's wiping down the bar with a dreamy air, clearly just to give himself something to do as he gazes off into the middle distance.
Delilah's hand finds a straw while she peers, and when her eyes happen upon the copper-topped fellow nearby, the paper of the straw is being bitten off in her teeth. Hmm. Having none of the female bartenders nearby, it appears that she will have to get this one's attention. Did Abby break the no dudes rule again? Or maybe he lost a bet.
"Oy, hey! Come back to earth and grab me a coke, will you?" Delilah's voice is the same as it always is, but in this instance where she does not know his face- she sounds a little more distanced on any too personal tone.
"Sure, Del," says the redheaded boy, grinning at her. Something about the body language is weirdly familiar, even if the face and the coloring is not. He pours her a coke, and it drifts down the bar to her of its own accord. Very Sorcerer's Apprentice.
Rather than immediately comment on whatever it is he is reminding her of, she simply squints at him for a moment before drawing down the drink to her. "Er, thanks." And then she looks at him again, lips pursing. Abby likes hiring evolved people, and telekinesis is not exactly the most uncommon thing when you look at it through pseudoscience. He is familiar, but for now she remains happily oblivious to any facts. Including that he knew her name(relatively). "You're awfully cute- where did Abby find you? She doesn't really hire lots of men here. Well, if she does I never see them. Does she keep you guys in a cage in the back?" She likes that thought, actually.
"You don't know who I am, do you?" Alex sounds pardonably smug about that, as he blinks those pale eyes at her, goes back to wiping down the bar. By actual hand, though clearly that's unnecessary.
Delilah sidles down the bar to sit nearly in front of him now, looking up from her stool with a little smile of her own. "Should I? I think so." Is …Delilah flirting with him? Oops. (Well, sort of oops.) "We redheads need to stick together, remember."
"Yeah, you should. I've only lived with Abby for months," says Alex, serenely.
Squint. Delilah narrows her eyes at him, half accusing and half confused. Okay, now it makes more sense, but she still doesn't seem to understand whatever joke this is. She never knew Al, only Leo.
Alexander offers her that utterly bland pokerface, like some sort of mechanical fortuneteller. He spreads his hands, with the air of a magician just having completed a trick.
She knows that air far too well- Delilah plants her palms on the car with a thud, still looking at Alexander as if he had just passively insulted her. In fact she just has no idea what he is on about. "Don't get smarmy- what's going on?"
Alexander leans in, with a conspiratorial smile, "I'm Leo," he says, in a stagewhisper. Like this is just the best joke evar.
Delilah studies him at length, her brown eyes looking back into his blue ones. "Leo is completely different except for the Abby, the telekinesis, the accent- Fffffff." A noise of confusion and frustration escapes her lips and teeth, and the girl leans over the bar to yank up the front of Al's shirt.
Well, there's that tattoo, scarlet, blue, and black. The swallow, for safe return. "See?" he says, mildly. Like pretty women manhandle him every day. Maybe they do.
The fingers grabbing onto his shirt pull it down a little so that Dee can glance up at his face, but then she is lifting it up to look at his tattoo again. When she finally drops his shirt her cheeks are rosy pink and the edges of her features white. She isn't sure if she should be wary or totally embarrassed, so she has settled for both. Somehow. "I don't …quite understand." Daaamn she was just hitting on him- fffuuu-
"This is my original face," Alex explains, patiently, despite her yanking on his clothes. "Leo….was never real. I'm sorry to have lied to you, but I was, in a sense, hiding out from the law."
She's getting punk'd, right? Just in case, Delilah glances over her shoulder to see if anyone with some sort of camera is hopping out from behind a table or stool. Nope. It isn't a setup. So when she looks back to Leo- Alexander- her expression simply looks torn between bewildered and frankly- betrayed. He apologizes right off the bat, but the fact that Leonard was never actually his own person is very unsettling for her. "I- so-" She squeaks out, unsure.
Alexander blinks at her. "You what?" he says, gently. Nope. Not on Candid Camera.
"So who are you?" Delilah still sounds betrayed, and looks just- really clueless on what to do next.
"Jesse Knight," says Alex, putting his chin in his hands, and blinking at her.
Despite her frustration, she can't but edge out a tiny smile when he does that. Delilah tries to manage her emotions, but sometimes people just squeak past. "So what should I call you? Jesse? I don't have to like- start over or something, do I? I- I have no idea how this works. I had no idea that you were…" Not legally a person.
"That was an illusion. It's okay. I'm still the same guy. Face is different, so is the name, but….I wasn't acting. Not really. Y'know?" he wonders, peeking at her.
Delilah sighs only a little, and it sounds like a more relieved noise than anything else. "Okay, …Jesse. 'M sorry if I'm coming off as flaky- just-" One of her friends was wearing someone else's face! "Sorry. This is my first time with something like this. " She rubs at the bridge of her nose and looks back at him. This time, to study him more closely without trying to think about 'Leonard'.
"It's my first time with things like this, too," he points out, gently. "I'm sorry for all the deception."
"You were hiding. I guess you had to do it, to keep the illusion." But he was among friends! Was Delilah the only one that didn't know? An ache in her chest thumps a little.
Alexander nods. "It doesn't make it any nicer," he says, gently, patting her hand.
"If it takes me a while you'll have to forgive me." Delilah's other hand sits down lightly to his patting over hers. "Though I don't take back the cutie part." Her lips suddenly curl into a tiny smile, holding in a small laugh.
Now he looks rueful. "I did like that face. Kept some pictures, just in case…." He trails off.
"I think I'll miss your chin dimple the most." Dee boldly lifts a hand out to thumb at his now finer chin, pointed and without such detail. "But your natural hair calls to me."
"One of us, one of us," chants Alexander, teasingly.
"You look kind of foxy, actually. Same color and everything. At least I don't have to get used to you looking like some Quasimodo, right?" Delilah settles on being able to look at Jesse now, and knowing he is actually her older friend Leo. It will certainly take some getting used to, but she'll do her damndest.
Cognitive dissonance, that's the word. "Could be a lot worse," Alex agrees.