Participants:
| Scene Title | Phantom at Cat's Cradle |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Eve's back. |
| Date | March 28, 2019 |
The lights are bright in Cat's Cradle as a fog machine is at work. The raspy voice of Stevie Nicks can be heard singing an old Fleetwood Mac classic blaring over the speaker system threaded throughout the place. It's a dance remix and the pounding bass makes the floor rumble as the packed house sings and dances along with the music.
Cat's has been in a constant state of partying since Eve's "death." Sassy the main bartender had decreed that Eve has mentioned many a time that in her death people were to cut loose, celebrate, live. He wanted to follow her words to the letter. That's why there were balloons everywhere and free cannabis flowing around the room. A group of young women dance around one of the booth like tables, short dresses and high heels some of them at least. The women range in look and age, they call themselves Eve's Daughters. Fangirls really. The door leading down to the Oracle Room is noticeably shut and a chair sits in front of it. A feeble attempt to block the way down there, to block the memory of the once owner of this venue.
The stage is lit in purples, reds and blues. A young woman walks around with a tray of drinks to serve as well as freshly rolled joints. There's a large blown up photo of Eve Mas just begins the bar. The pale woman is laughing open mouthed with a smoking gun in her right hand and a smoking joint in her left.
Lynette didn't know where else to go. Her daughter's drawings of the red lady and Miles' insistence that Eve was alive made her desperate to find her friend. Her sister. She isn't in the partying spirit, although she does have spirits sitting in a martini glass at her fingers. She looks at the stage and at the large picture. At the dancers and drinkers. Like she thinks Eve might pop out from the crowd laughing and smoking. Just like the picture.
Silas lounges alone at a corner table, a half-empty mojito in front of him. He's surprised they let him back in, after last time… though to be fair, that brawl totally hadn't been his fault.
Well, whatever. His eyes stray to the picture on the wall. Joint in one hand, gun in the other. Yep. Definitely Eve.
He idly wonders if they know that she's alive — or at least alive-ish — yet. His eyes stray to some of the dancers, and he chuckles appreciatively. Booze, Fleetwood Mac, and pretty girls all over the place. It's like bein' back on the Forthright. Except hopefully less danger of sinking. Or drowning. Maybe that's why he's back here again; the place definitely has a unique atmosphere.
In and amongst the daughters of Eve, Hailey is dancing like it’s going out of style. She’s almost twenty-one and such a regular fixture at the Cradle, that Sassy can sometimes be convinced to serve her a drink with a kick. Tonight, he’s been a little off and on with her selection but the young blonde is feeling loosey goosey and free as a kite.
Eve would approve.
What she would not approve of, is Hailey’s polite decline of the cannabis every time it’s passed around. She can’t afford to be that fun and fancy free, not until after she finds out what sort of rules the police have for people working for them. Much to Lance’s glee, Hailey is not planning to go back to the zoo.
A newer arrival to Cat’s Cradle, Cassandra has made it a point to find interesting watering holes that seem to err on the wilder side, and the Cat’s Cradle certainly fits the bill. The constant party that’s been going on was an attractant, to be sure, and the revelation that Road Warrior Eve, or Mad Eve, or just Eve in this world was the former proprietor seemed to make this a fated thing. She wasn’t the sort to believe in fate, of course. After all, when you can look back and see exactly what happened before, believing things are pre-determined with the choices people make seems silly. Still, seeing Eve’s photo with her joint and her gun on the wall at the end of the bar, laughing, brought back memories of times far in the past, of worlds that will never be returned to, and the hand that the crazy seer gave her, helping her out of the insanity of the world that she jumped into unaware.
Shouldering her way politely to the bar through the crowds of people and the pot smoke, Cassandra manages to find a seat that gave her a view of the place without too much of the smoke swirling around her. Sure, she’ll probably get a contact high without even needing to smoke anything, but it’s not going to be so much that she’s going to lose control. Still, when Sassy comes to take her drink order, a $20 is slid across the laquered wood of the bar with a request for a simple limeade - Sprite and lime juice. Perhaps later she’ll add a little rum or vodka to the mix, but for now, she’s starting off easy.
Another silhouette forms into the tall shape of Luther moving through the smokey atmosphere like that of a ship passing through a night fog. But this ship has a purpose, and it directs the man towards the bar. Whereupon seeing Lynette sitting there, makes one of two ghosts fully alive again in the world of Luther Bellamy.
He steps up from the opposite side where she's looking towards the stage, towards the large picture of Eve's face. "Goddamn Ducky. She wasn't supposed to go before us," rumbles a low timbre out of the man, though it isn't with any grief as much as it is an indulgence, the typical tone he uses every time when in the presence of the actual seer. Years of practice in using that tone has made it habit.
But. He also tips his head to the martini glass Lynette has in her fingers.
It's an odd thing, being Warren Ray. He's rather easy to confuse even though he's simultaneously sternly logical to a fault at times. When he walks into Cat's Cradle, it's with a red short-sleeve flannel, blue jeans, and biker boots, with his rather reflective chromium-like arm on display, the gold of his previous coating long gone.
On his shoulder is a robotic capuchin gracefully balanced, but then he hears what Luther says and immediately steps up next to him. "Wait…" He stares up at the picture of Eve, squinting, then looks over at Luther and Lynette, then back to the picture. Whatever his thought is, he keeps it to himself, and instead stares at Lynette. "Oh yeah, didn't you try to kill me? I forgot. No hard feelings if you did."
The robotic capuchin blinks a few times, its eyes small and made of glass. "Reminder: Lynette Rowan Ruiz, Raytech ally, do not aggress." it says with a synthesized monotone voice.
Warren raises a hand, waving it dismissively. "Calm down I'm not aggressing!"
Then, to Luther, "Glad you're alive!"
The "Daughters" dance with Hailey like there's no care in the world. It's intoxicating, Eve's example of living life is right here, proof of concept. People just enjoying it even in the face of so much tragedy. The song switches to the disco beats of Lipps Inc 'Funky Town' and the crowd screams in delight.
Sassy slides Cassandra her drink and winks, "Hey there! How ya been?" He's trying to be cheery. It's what Eve would want.
Above the crowd just off to the side, a sharp flash of red over light railing and walkway that allows access to the lights. With the flashes of purple and blue and red lightning it may be easy to miss. The screech and electronic dissonance that resonates from the speakers does however catch the crowd's attention, many believing a unscheduled blackout was coming. Groans feel the air as static buzzed but then as if there was a gear keeping the track in place the music starts up again.
Some poor woman tripping on shrooms, weed and God knows what else happens to look up to the railing and she lets out a shout because there above her is a glistening, crimson cloud. Metal filings inside twist and glitter with the light of the venue splicing through and creating a vivid multi colored splash of light in the room. Silas knows that cloud. Luther has heard stories. Lynette remembers.
Eve is having a ball, she's finally ready to come home. The only problem being she forgot to take another dose of negation medicines and so here she is, cloud and all. The nimbus of energy zips around the space in the air to the pulsating beat and bass that drones on. The woman screams as does a few of the Daughters who rapidly make for the exit along with a bunch of others. Crimson lightning crackles and shoots out hitting the ceiling as Eve trails around.
More than a few just stare upwards with mouths held open, clearly believing they are experiencing the next level of their high.
Silas had been drifting in a pleasant reverie when the speakers had started squealing. He blinks as he spies the red cloud swirling around, his mellow smile turning into a questioning frown as his thoughts slowly return to the here and now from whatever vision he'd been entertaining. He notices, idly, that his mind's moving a bit slower than usual; he's not sure whether it's from the mojitos or the haze of secondhand smoke lingering in the air from all the god-knows-what that everyone else seems to be smoking, though he suspects the latter.
But as much as all the crimson lightning flying all over the place unnerves him, Silas doesn't make for the exit just yet. After all, the last time he saw a cloud like this, it saved his life and the lives of two kids and a dog. It also precipitated an Eve… which, based on the location, seems at least somewhat likely to happen again.
So… he doesn't jump to his feet and make a run for it. Instead, he just slouches deeper into his chair, taking another drink from his mojito and waiting to see what happens …although the main thing that seems to be happening right now is a lot of the party girls shrieking and running away. Silas's frown deepens, taking on a mournful aspect as he watches them leave. This is not a promising start.
The appearance of the cloud has caused the animal empath to gape. Her dance fades to an end as she stares with a mixture of awe and uncertainty. It's a matter of will that she tears her eyes off the sparkles to shoot a questioning look at Sassy, trying to determine if this is a part of the memorial or not.
She doesn't run. Not yet. Jostled by the fleeing daughters, she stumbles to the side and trips, landing on her hands and knees on the floor. It's sticky and muddy from spilled drinks and when she gets up, the mud has formed black patches at her knees. Two dark grey streaks are painted on her thighs as she uses nature's napkin to remove the grime from her hands. She'll find the bathroom later to wash them properly. Right now there's sparkles and crackles of lightning, which are disturbingly beautiful.
The drink that's offered is taken with a smile and a nod. “I'm fine, thanks…” Cassandra responds simply because any other response might be lost in the cacophony of music and cheering swirling through the bar. And that's before the screams and the stampede starts.
The first scream isn't something that's expected. It's a terror-type scream, which gets her attention, and then it's only a matter of time before she catches sight of the cloud swirling down from the catwalk. It's strangely beautiful, with motes of light and dust swirling around themselves in the wake that Eve leaves as she passes through the air. Cassandra stares and hangs on to the rail of the bar, squeezing tight and managing to keep from falling off her stool or losing her drink while people push past her to get out of the bar. She watches the cloud swirl and dance in time with the music - quickly looking to Sassy. “This isn't you or anyone you hired, right?”
The last time Cassandra saw a cloud like that was just after crash landing in this world, and the rumors were that it was the Eve of this world that got hit by something and disenchanted, fragmented and scattered to the wind, and if this Eve was anything like the other Eves she met…a party is the perfect thing to summon Eve from beyond….
Lynette looks over at Luther when he takes up the spot near her and she lets out a sigh at his words. "We nearly all went together," she says, as if she thinks that might have been more appropriate, given their history together. "It's good to see you in one piece." She reaches over, putting her hand on his arm. His glance toward her drink is noticed, of course, and she opens her mouth to say something about it, but stops when Warren also approaches.
Her gaze moves from the man's face up to the monkey and then back again. "I'm certain I didn't, seeing as you're alive," she says, her tone dry. "But I do have a clear memory of you self-aggrandizing while we watched people we love drown." Her head tilts sharply, but when the robomonkey gives his reminders, she huffs out a sound that is both incredulous and amused. Maybe the monkey is better at reading the situation than the man.
But that will have to wait as the shouting draws her attention. And then the red cloud keeps it. She sets her drink down with a thud and stands up from her stool. "The Red Lady," she says, like she can't quite believe what she's seeing. Or the implications of it. Her hand reaches for Luther again. "Luther," she says to draw his attention. As if he might somehow miss it.
Luther manages the most wry of smiles in response to Lynette's comment about nearly punching in her ticket that fateful day in New Mexico. "Knew it'd take more than some god-force creature of the deep dimension to knock you down. Kaylee told me where you and Mateo popped back up." A rough hand moves to cover hers, a reassuring squeeze offered to show his good condition and to transmit his relief otherwise unspoken before he lets go. He sends a short nod in Sassy the bartender's direction. They know what he likes. And so there wasn't judgment in his look to Lynette's drink.
There is, however, confusion when Warren Ray shows up. With a robotic monkey. "Warren?" Luther's questioning rumble out implies much and clarifies nothing. His brows knit together with the Ray's stare at Lynette and remark, even though he doesn't manage a comment against it before the capuchin inserts its reminder and Lynette's dry response. Unsure what to make of the monkey or the man it is perched on, he responds with a short, safe, monosyllabic reply. "Yeah…"
The switch to Funky Town and subsequent screams of the crowd shake Luther out of his own confused funk. Enough so that his attention is drawn away from the awkward conversation to the sparking red lightning-like energies manifesting before all the eyes. This time when Lynette's hand touches his arm again, it is to a tensed, anticipating posture.
"Self-aggrandizing?! Oh, no, my mind was being stretched across time and space! But they're very similar things, I think!" Warren actually sounds sincere when he says that, rather than mocking, but then stuff is happening, and just as he's turning to check it out, Robobo freaks a bit.
"Unstable energy detected, evacuate immediately!" Robobo says directly to Warren, rather than actually yelling. Though it's clearly within earshot of anyone near him.
"What? What if we can use the unstable energy for something?!" he suddenly wonders, but Robobo is programming for dealing with this.
"Initiating secondary safety protocols." Robobo says very robotically. "Unknown technology detected outside of the parameter!"
"Oh!" He looks to Luther and Lynette, then nods his head. "I'll see you later! My monkey is detecting something interesting!"
He makes his swift leave, rushing toward the door, not really considering that Robobo can in no way detect unknown technology.
Won't you take me to Funky Town?
Won't you take me to Funky Town?
Won't you take me to Funky Town?
Won't you take me to Funky Town?
The crowd surges until all that's left are the group assembled, a few stragglers and Sassy whose yelling out of the door, "Wait wait! Pay your tabs!!" Lots of lost business tonight. One of the daughters tries to grab at Hailey's hand but she's swept away in the crowd screaming bloody murder and something about her eyes being fairies.
The cloud rumbles and shakes as it suddenly begins to constrict.
Won't you take me to Funky Town?
Won't you take me to Funky Town?
Won't you take me to Funky Town?
Won't you take me to Funky Town?
The molecules within twist and shudder as Eve begins to pull herself together. First the red mist seems to shape and solidify into a female humanoid shape arms and legs pushing themselves outward from the cloud that slowly expands like a piece of bubble gum being blown the power of the lightning crackling and popping around it. Marble white flesh shifts and inches over the glowing crimson limbs, veins paling from the iridescent ruby red to the deep blue and purple color. A scream… no… a laugh echos in reverse. One of the last daughters left with close cropped hair, blonde runs and skids to a stop next to Silas' perch. "Fuck" she whispers. Silas knows that face, from the Flooded world and… a burning building a week or so earlier. Poppy Norwood crouches in a mini skirt and black halter top her red eye shadow highlights dark eyes. "I saw it at a party… What the fuck is that??"
Down at the dancefloor the warping shape of red and pale flesh continues to transform until there standing in front of people is a familiar face laughing framed by a midnight mane and dressed in only a pair of shimmery silver roller skates, Eve Mas has returned home. Sassy's eyes grow wide and he almost falls to the floor. "Eve…" Tears brim at the corner of his eyes and across the room Eve also begins to shed tears as crimson lighting sparks off the ends of her hair.
"You should have seen your faces!"
The previous sounds of disco fades to the sounds of verby guitar and heartbeat like kick drum, Time after Time begins to sound out of the speaker system and Eve throws her hands up and skates in a circle, Poppy near Silas gasps and her hand goes to grip the armrest of his chair tightly.
Lying in my bed
I hear the clock tick and think of you
Caught up in circles
Confusion is nothing new
Aaand she's still naked. Except for… roller skates. She couldn't manage clothes, but she managed roller skates. Yeah. Yeah, this tracks, Silas sighs to himself. Granted, Mad Eve hadn't messed around with roller skates all that much, but Mad Eve, he now realizes, had apparently aged hella poorly… also where he's from there weren't really a lot of flat surfaces with enough room to skate around on, anyway, which is probably the more pertinent reason. He takes another sip of his mojito, glancing over as one of the dancers skids to a stop near his table… and it's then that he chokes a bit.
He's growing more and more used to seeing familiar faces sprinkled among the New York crowd; it still brings a moment of shock, but it's becoming more manageable. But Poppy… he'd thought he'd caught a glimpse of her once before, on the outskirts of that damn fire in Jackson Heights, but he hadn't been sure… now, though, there's little doubt: this is the same woman he saw in Jackson Heights, and this is Poppy.
In a way, it's strange. Eve's appearance isn't provoking nearly as much of a reaction from him, but Poppy's hits him like a punch in the gut. There are reasons for that, of course; he'd seen this world's Eve die, but he'd also seen her come back, too — and at the time he'd been too busy trying not to die to stand around gawping much, so that had probably had something to do with that. With Poppy, though — and with Asi, come to that — there's more time to dwell on the sheer shock of recognizing a stranger wearing a friend's face.
Pull yourself together, idiot, he thinks, pulling out of his reverie. This Poppy doesn't know him from Adam, may not even recognize him from the fire… but she's looking a bit scrambled by all of this still, so he might as well do something about that, at least. He musters his best grin — somewhere between devil-may-care and reassuring — then reaches out and lays his hand lightly on the hand that's gripping his armrest. "Pretty sure that's exactly what it looks like. Eve Mas, naked, cruisin' around on roller skates."
He draws his hand back, reaching for his mojito and taking a drink; it looks like the fireworks are done for the moment. He straightens up, giving Poppy another grin. "Rumors of her death were greatly exaggerated, looks like. Anyway, we're safe for the moment, pretty sure; just, uh, be ready to dive if she starts glowin'." Silas raises his glass in a toast. "Yo, Eve!" He glances around, and sees that more than a few of the people here are familiar faces. He glances to the bartender and raises his mojito. "Sassafras! Next round's on me, for everyone who didn't bail!"
—
The abrupt departure of Warren the Wrecking Ball garners a shake of Luther's head and a sigh. "Think of the payroll," utters the RayTech security chief to himself, but the grimacing tight-lipped expression shows he's thinking about it… and questioning it all the same.
As people start retreating away from the mini-storm in their midst, Luther does the opposite and approaches. The energies that crackle and pop in the air surrounding the stage, he feels them like a deep vibration in his very bones. For a hot second there's a glance back at Lynette at the bar, a confirmation requested of the visuals and energies from the electrokinetic.
By the time Luther looks back, Eve has appeared in naught but silver shimmering rollerskates… and that's it. The previous grimace hasn't left the man's features, but turn down into a frown. Immediately, Luther picks an open spot on stage to clamber up onto the dais. He shrugs out of his jacket, moving over to wrap the clothing around Eve's nakedness. But it also gives him a chance to actually grasp the woman. Maybe to confirm her realness as well.
Peering up from behind the barstool, Cassandra is well and truly confused. With Sassy’s declaration and near collapse, Cassandra stands and takes an unattended shot from the bar, slamming it back, inverting the glass and pushing it back down on the bar with a solid-sounding clatter that, were she stronger, might have left a dent or, at worst, shattered the glass entirely. Her hair whips around her head as Eve coalesces from motes of light into very naked flesh. She very nearly does the same as Luther, even going so far as to start shrugging out of her jacket when she sees that it’s being taken care of. Instead of heading out of the bar, Cassandra re-takes her seat on the stool and crosses one leg over the other, finding her non-alcoholic drink still on the bar, the glass wet with condensation. “Welcome back to the world, Eve.” She says, lifting her glass in a toast that, hopefully, catches a few onlookers and stops the panic. Eve, after all, came for a party, and it’s hard to have a party with the vast majority fleeing for safety.
Lynette watches as Eve takes a more familiar form. Tears are welling up in her eyes before the woman is even clearly visible. She turns back to her drink, shaky fingers moving to rest against the glass. She squeezes her eyes shut and tears slip out at the corners and slip down her face. While the others go to her, Lynette takes a moment to steady herself. As if she doesn't want anyone to see her more emotional reaction.
But she's lost enough friends. It's a relief to get one back.
Eve stands there and then embraces her family. One by one. She's real. She's alive. Cat's Cradle is back. It was never gone but you know!
Tears stream from Eve's eyes as she grins up to the lights flashing overhead, it felt good to be home. It felt…
Safe.