Pink Glitter Hair

Participants:

brynn_icon.gif lance_icon.gif

Scene Title Pink Glitter Hair
Synopsis Own it. You screwed up. It is coming.
Date August 4, 2018

Lance's Apartment


She bolted from the old carnival grounds fast, tracking in a straight line back toward the main part of the city. She didn't use any of the evasion techniques Brian taught them, although she has no idea if anyone will know that to scold her. She was so situationally unaware, Owain could have actually been five steps behind her the whole way and she wouldn't have had a clue. She doesn't go back to the backup Lighthouse — Caspian might ask questions or something. Instead she walks around for hours and then finally heads for Lance's apartment. Because it's home. Maybe. Sort of.

She has no idea if it's still home.

She lets herself into the apartment, gray eyes skimming the apartment briefly as she stands in the open doorway. Squeaks and Joe, who are usually in the main part of the apartment if they're here (Lance gets to have his own room cuz it's his place!) aren't present, and she tentatively closes the door behind her to make her way toward the couch. Her backpack comes down off her shoulders to be set gingerly on the floor at the side of the furniture. She sinks slowly down into 'her' corner of the couch and curls up there, like a small cat who has claimed its space. Her sketchpad comes out along with a pencil that she managed to find somewhere on a scav run, and it looks for all the world like a perfectly normal afternoon of artwork.

There’s no real need for Lance to use his power at the moment, but he doesn’t know that, sheathed in a field of silence as he creeps out of his bedroom and down the short hallway to the main room — slowly leaning his head out to see who it is, and breathing out a relieved sigh when he realizes it’s Brynn.

Not that it’s much better but at least he’s not going to have the fridge hurled at him. Are refrigerators made of metal? He’s not even sure.

Not wanting to startle her, he moves to cross the room towards the kitchenette — and therefore in her view — pausing near the counter to look over. If she looks up, hands move in a careful query, You okay?

Looking up when she catches sight of his feet, she looks over. She has to set her pencil down to reply, so she simply nods. It looks like she might not do more than that — just that simple response — and she is watching him with that rather indecipherable expression she occasionally gets. Sometimes it heralds days of silence. Other times she's simply thinking hard and doesn't know how to say what she might be thinking.

Uh oh.

Lance watches her for a moment, and then he steps the rest of the way into the kitchenette; emerging a few moments later with two glasses of water, setting one on the end-table to the side of the couch within easy reach of her. Hydration is important.

She watches the whole time. He steps into the kitchenette out of sight and comes back to find her still watching the spot he was standing. As he sets the glass down, she slowly sets down her pencil onto the sketchbook, which then remains there on the arm of the couch. But she doesn't reach for water. Instead, she seems to struggle with a thought again and looks up at him. I think… I might go home. For a while. Back to the wilds of Canada. Away.

At that, Lance looks stricken. “No, no— “ His hands move quickly, You can’t go back there! Nobody’s there anymore! Don’t leave! Guilt and fear cross his face as he drops down to sit beside her, lifting a hand as if to hug her, then drawing it back, unsure.

She moves to lean sideways onto his shoulder, more than willing to accept the affection from him. The reason she came to New York was because of all the Kids, Joe and Lance were really the ones she felt most connected to. There's a subtle tension in her shoulders as she rests there leaned against his side. When she finally pushes upright to speak to him again, the gray eyes are haunted. I don't know what to do. We're… not doing what we said we were going to. You gave up on college. Joe's… still fighting the war. We're still scavenging for food. And today… I saw something today. I thought someone got shot. They didn't, but… I thought for a second it was blood, and I remembered Hailey getting shot… Brynn hesitates and signs, If we're going to wind up doing the same things, maybe it's better to do them out in the country where at least we were growing our own food and not going hungry because people were stealing.

An arm’d go around her, but Lance needs his hands to talk; he shifts a bit to accept her against his side, the mention of being shot earning a wince from him. Oof. He done fucked up there. I didn’t give up. I’m just doing something different. I’m working with Jolene and Martin at the radio station, and that’s great. Joe’s— yeah, he’s Joe. And everyone’s scavenging for food, it wasn’t stealing, it was those slice rats! It’ll get better. I promise. A hint of desperate worry, What can I do to make things better for you?

Brynn considers the query, slanting him a Look that he and Joe often get — the one that usually brings someone glitter hair eventually. Uhm…. Make sure people aren't getting shot in front of me? she asks. The expression in her eyes doesn't match the amusement that she's forced to her face, though. I don't care if it was you or if it was Joe. I know it was one of you. Who else is going to run around with a paintball gun? What happened hurt her, and her body language is strained.

At that, Lance grimaces… drawing back a little from her, a hand held up palm forward for a moment. I’m sorry, he signs finally, I saw you were gonna run and… I wanted to make him more mad at me than upset at you. Couldn’t find anything other than red, not like the stores have a lot of colors. Sorry. A shift further away, a black-socked foot hitting the floor as he starts to push himself up.

She waves her hand a bit. I was … beyond mad, Brynn admits. Which is saying something. She really doesn't do anger much. She starts to sign something else and then looks down so she's not looking at him when she signs. I don't want him to like me. I don't want him to look at me like I'm something special or whatever it is he's doing. People … want things when they like you. And I don't… it's hard enough to have just us. If something happens and we're all scattered… I don't want anyone else to worry about.

You are something special, Lance signs back, standing now, a step away. Not because he’s upset at her, but because it’s clear he’s upsetting her. And I don’t want us to get scattered. We’re together. We always have be. Always will be. He grimaces a bit, He’s not one of us, though. You know that. He’s a friend, but… he’s on the outside. Not like you, or Joe, or Squeaks. If it ever came to it, I’d always choose one of us.

Brynn rolls her eyes as if to say Right to that response about special snowflake status. She twists her lips in annoyed fashion and then signs, Stop that. I see what you're doing. She points to the way he's shifting. Believe me when I tell you payback will come when you least expect it. Because she knows he needs to hear it so that he's okay. To do anything but retaliate with glitter would mean the schism is too deep, and she can't have him thinking that. Someone's going to die eventually, Brynn points out, her expression flickering just briefly to give away the terror of that thought, though it's quickly hidden. Eventually everyone does their own thing… Aunt Gilly, even Brian. You're right, there's no one left at home.

Lance’s brow wrinkles in worry at her words, his hands pausing in their signing back to her. I thought this could be home, he replies, hesitating a little between signs. More hurt and worried about this than the threat of retaliation, it seems. Just because we’re doing our own things doesn’t mean we’re going away. Gillian, Brian, we didn’t need them because we’d grown up, so they went to their own lives. But we’ll always need each other. Justin’s back in town, even, Squeaks met him at the library…

Gray eyes study him while he signs and Brynn nods slightly. Promise? she asks, that flicker of fear showing itself briefly again. Joe always seems mad. It feels… wrong, she admits. Back home, he couldn't go far. Here… he's got other people to work for and… She sighs. Never mind. This is stupid, even I know it. And it makes her a little angry that a stupid prank has set off what seems to her to be a ridiculous amount of scared-little-kid insecurity in her own head. Just… forget I said anything, okay? It's … hard to explain. And the more I try, the stupider I sound.

No it’s not. Lance steps back closer, dropping down to a crouch and then a knee in front of her so he can look up at her face; a hand briefly brushing her knee before he signs back, Feelings are never stupid. You’re worried about losing us. So am I. His nose wrinkles a bit as he admits it, That’s why I tried to pull you all here. So we didn’t have to rely on anyone else. So we could be together.

She clasps her hands between her knees for a long moment while she considers what to say next. Shyly, Brynn offers more than she usually dares about what's in her head. Sometimes I'm scared because … we've only ever had each other. The paintball thing? It just made me realize that all we ever had was the Lighthouse and each other. Not even all the grownups stuck around… They all had reasons, but still… are we so easy to walk away from? And that made me think… we're not blood, you and me and Joe. So why should any of you stick either now that we're supposedly all grown up and don't need anyone?

She pauses and admits, Being here is hard. It's not what I imagined. And even though we're supposed to be adults, I don't really feel all grown up all the time. Turning 18 didn't flip some magic switch. Especially when creepy things happen! I pretty much feel like I'm doing it all wrong, Lance. All the time. And then Owain… She grimaces. Like I'm supposed to have any clue at all how to do any of this?

Why should we stick around? Lance’s expression is incredulous at that, his eyebrows lifting a little, Blood is blood - just look at Owain, what good did that do him? You’re family. And we love each other. That’s all we need.

He shakes his head, then, You’re not doing anything wrong. Let me give you some advice a wise woman once did… we get to decide what being an adult means now. A slightly impish smile, brows raising a little. We’ll figure it out.

She can't help the small, pleased grin when he tosses her words back at her. Brynn reaches out to hug him tightly. She holds the hugs far longer than she normally would and then she pulls away and shoves him lightly. We'll figure it out. But don't shoot people who make me nervous, or we'll all be going to jail or something, she chides. It seems despite the anger over what happened, he'll get forgiven … this time. Although he may still wake up with pink glitter hair when he least expects it.

There’s another party who, no doubt, will get revenge for her. Lance returns that hug tightly, and then he leans back with a grin. Fine. Next time, flying squid attack. He pauses, then offers with a lesser smile, Want to know a secret? One of the things that I’ve been trying to deal with?

Tilting her head, Brynn gives him a questioning look that invites him to go on… because of course she'll listen if he wants to share.

You remember Kasha? Stork brought her, she was like… ten years younger than us, Lance reminds her with a shake of his head, Abby took her away before we went to Canada. And— um. You remember Cash? She was around helping me sometimes. Stone woman, usually? They’re the same person.

A slow breath, a glance away as his hands explain, She came back from the future. We were married there.

Wait… what? Brynn's shock is evident. Whoa… The girl isn't entirely clueless about the time-travel stuff. The Ferry was like a game of Telephone sometimes. But she has no idea how to respond to that. Are you okay? Because that's the more important bit. That's got to be so strange.

Lance’s lips twitch in a wry smile as he looks back to her. I’m okay. And… yeah, it is, but that wasn’t me you know? It’s super weird, though he admits, I mean, she’s always been there since we were kids, helping me out…

She must have been very sad, Brynn replies, her expression reflecting sorrow for the older Cash. I mean… if she still had her Lance, she probably wouldn't have come here, right? Her lips twist a little. That's kinda funny, too, though. I mean… we haven't even seen little Kasha in ages. The idea of her all grown up and marrying you seems… strange, I guess? But then… we didn't live what they all did together.

A faint chuckle, and Lance shrugs, Seriously. I did see her though - Abby’s in the Zone, Hailey and I saw her at one of the memorial things. But it’s, yeah, it’s weird. He reaches out, hand squeezing hers as he offers her a faint smile. They’re all going through some weird shit.

Brynn remembers Abby just a little. Not much, though — she was not really around the healer. She holds Lance's hand tightly. After a few moments, she pulls in a breath and lets it out slowly, then retrieves her hand to sign, I don't know what to say to Owain, she admits. He's almost one of us, even if not quite. And I don't want to chase him away from all of us. But… She shrugs a little. He said he wants to be my 'boyfriend', Lance. That's… way too much. She is most definitely abjectly displeased with it… though clearly conflicted.

Then tell him that, is Lance’s suggestion, shaking his head, That it’s too much for you, that you’re not ready for it. There’s nothing wrong with that. And if he doesn’t take that for an answer, if he’s not willing to be patient, I’ll kick his ass.

Because of course he will. Brynn laughs that silent chuckle, the smile finally lighting up her gray eyes in a way that says she's not caught in the bad place in her head anymore. I was trying to have that conversation when you shot him, she points out, both eyebrows high on her forehead. He's not going to live this down — at least between the two of them — for a while to come. He did kinda really seriously fuck up on that one.

Pink glitter hair will be in his future when he least expects it.

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