Participants:
| Scene Title | Proper Time Travel Methods |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Showing up for an overnight with two of the women who raised her, Adel is exposed to what should be awkward conversation and one of the most iconic time travel movies ever. |
| Date | April 23rd, 2011 |
Village Renaissance Building: Elaine and Quinn's Flat
Curfew keeps knocks from happening too late at night, but it doesn't always avoid the knocks just before it comes into effect.
This would be one of those nights, when a knock comes just before the hour would become too late. Usually this means someone expects to stay the night, whether she's been invited or not.
Adel stands at the door, with a backpack over her slick yellow hooded raincoat and a bag of fast food in front of her, the grease making the bag damp— As usual, she seems to be bouncing in place as she rocks from toes to heel in anticipation.
There's a good minute or so before Adel can hear the sounds of footsteps. "One second, I'll get it!" Unmistakably the sound of Robyn Quinn's voice, thudding footsteps audible even from inside the apartment. When the door flies open, Quinn looks - surprisingly harried. Hair a mess, wide eye, shirt untucked, no socks or shoes on. She looks at Adel for a moment, blinking a few times before recognition crosses over her face. "Adel!" she exclaims, throwing the door open the rest of the way.
An amp is set up on teh kitchen table, a guitar plugged into it, while Rock Band plays on the TV behind her. Given that it's paused, that may explain her appearance. "I didn't realise you were going t' come by t'night…" A look back in the room, Quinn rolling her shoulders a bit. She doesn't look uncomfortable, just like she's a bit on edge. "Elaine! Did you forget t' tell me Adel was coming by?"
Elaine looks over, shaking her head. "I didn't know she was coming. I'm just glad it's Adel and not someone else." The redhead's got the wireless microphone in her hands as she turns to peek over the back of the couch. "Hey Adel… I'm glad you're here. Kinda a crazy night."
"Surprise!" Adel cries out almost as soon as Elaine gives that she wasn't really dropping by thanks to invite or even with any warning at all.
"Uh— french fries?" she says, holding out the bag to the woman answering the door, expression a little on the sheepish side as she steps further inside. "We didn't have fast food where I came from and I gotta say, damn, I didn't know what I was missing at all. Which is probably good— you guys must have missed it though! No french fries! not like these— sure we sometimes had potatoes and someone would cook them in a pan, but they were never this long or this golden or this evenly salted with yummy goodness. And ketchup. Man if I could take anything back it would be a whole fuck-ton of ketchup packets."
When all else fails, ramble. It cheers people up.
"So what happened?"
There's a warm smile and a laugh at it all. The shouting of surprise, the french fries, the rambling. Quinn takes the bag, opening it up and peering inside like there might be treasure inside. "Christ, girl. You really do come from teh worst of times," the musican says with a laugh, pulling a fry out as she steps out of the door way and back towards the couch. The bag is offered to Elaine, before she heads towards the kitchen for a paper plate. "That just means one week we need t' take you on a food tour of New York. Hell, even I still find stuff around here. Night I emt Sable, she took me out for chicken and waffles. Who the hell puts fried chicken and waffles t'gether?!"
She lingers in the kitchen though, a frown forming on her face. "Magnes' evil twin came by. With a gun." She takes a deep breath, eyes closing. "But he's gone now, we're fine, an' I'm trying not t' think about it."
"He made some good points, though," Elaine admits, sighing. She peers back to Quinn. "You realize that came from the jazz era, when the jazz musicians would have their chicken for their dinner but they wouldn't be able to eat it until after when it was breakfast time so they just ate both chicken and waffles?" A fountain of knowledge, the redhead is. "Food in New York is good, at least."
"We'd have breakfast at dinner and dinner at breakfast sometimes," Adel admits, but doesn't try to push the topic as she sits down next to her mom on the couch. The mom who may be younger than her, but in many ways is a bigger fountain of knowledge.
The bag itself is filled with nothing but french fries, ketchup packets and napkins. Too late to bring dinner, but never too late for french fries.
One of the cup-shaped things is pulled out along with a handful of packets, and she begins a ritual of individually ketchuping each little fry with a line of red before nomming it.
"I'm glad you're both okay." She knows about the other Magnes, and doesn't seem worried, for some reason or another— or at least not on the surface. Hard to tell sometimes. "I don't think he has dad's power at least— or I never saw him use it when he easily could have. But lack of power doesn't mean he's not dangerous. Just means I'm gonna be asking dad to float a pencil every time I see him." Just in case.
"He didn't do anything with her ability for us. Just… showed up, waved a gun around, an' told us we're shitty friends and he's going t' show the truth t' Magnes." Shaking her head, she walks back out with a paper plate for fries to be emptied out on to. She shudders a bit, ruffling Adel's hair as she passes. "Glad you showed up. We could use a little perkiness. How's your day been?"
Fries. Fries are good. Elaine reaches to steal a fry. "Seriously. Perkiness is always helpful. And really, you're the bright spot in our day." She nods a tiny bit. "No, he's got some kind of power, but I dunno what it is. Either way… he's rude, but he had some good points. I really want him not to be hanging out with this 'Elvira'. Really, who names their kid that?"
"I could beat him," Adel says in such a simple tone, as if she believes, without a doubt, that she could very well beat him. If it came down to it. "But I had a bunch of great teachers and my ability kicks ass," she adds on, before making a bloody fry disappear down her mouth.
"My day has been pretty good! But I wanted to spend some time with you guys so I packed a bag and decided to take you up on your standing invitation for a night over." She pats the bag that's sitting next to her. "So does it still stand?"
A wide smile spreads across Quinn's face as she plops down. All the Rock band instruments are out, even the Beatles styled ones and the keyboard. Two mics, even. When Elaine told her to get it set up, Quinn didn't mess around. And now she's pulling a replica of Paul McCartney's Höfner 500/1 bass into her lap as she looks over at Adel. "Always, you know that. We'd be glad t' have you for the evening! Particularly after t'day. No need for the bag an' all that, though. You can always take my bed for the evenin'. Unless you're plannin' on sleepin' in the room with us."
"Nice to have an ability that can kick ass. I can be verbally abusive, though," Elaine points out, giggling. "Yes, you're always welcome. I swear. Always have a place. And we've got plenty of space. Yeah, you can have your own bed and everything. I like that you wanna stay over, you know?"
"Having your ability would have been pretty cool too," Adel says with a grin over at Elaine. "I mean you…" she trails off, stuffing a whole five fries into her mouth and chewing on them, even if they're short the ketchup. Once they're swallowed down, she looks at Quinn. "Sleep with you guys? And interrupt your sexy times— no way." Did she just say sexy times— yes she did.
And she even punctuates it with a teasing wink.
"I would love t' have your ability, Elaine. Then I could actually talk with mum in French. And know what she's sayin' when she gets mad at me. Or Dad when-" And Quinn just stops dead, eyes wide as she angles a wait did you really just… look at Adel. She's also blushing more than a little bit.
Cough cough
"Ah, no, it's not like sexy time happens every night, Adel," she says with a bit of a laugh. "I mean, it's not like we haven't had plenty a' time for it over the past few months, even if it did, we could-" And she stops again. Did she jsut say that? Face goes into palms. She just almost pulled a Magnes.
Elaine blinks as she watches Adel and her fry-stuffing. "You mean I what…?" Her eyes look back towards Quinn, then back to Adel. "Whoawhoawhoa… we are not speaking of sexy-times." She peers back towards Adel. "You… you don't think it's weird? I mean, cause… you know. It's us." She's… blushing? Ahe.
"Why would it be weird?" Adel asks, genuinely looking as if she doesn't get it. There's a shrug of her shoulders as she savors another fry, this time with red ketchupy goodness. Once that's politely out of her mouth, she continues. "You love each other, and that tends to lead to sexy time, unless it's family love, and I know it's not. So why would it be at all weird— not like you guys never slept together where I come from."
Quinn blinks, leaning forward and taking another fry. "But, wait. I thought…" Quinn looks over at Elaine, then Adel, eyes narrowed as she comps down on the fry in a decidedly dramatic fashion. "You an' Sable, an''…" She reaches up, rubbing her forehead. "The future is confusing. I mean, I'm glad it's not weird. Just not- somethin' I really talk about unless I'm makin' jokes at my own expense. Or in private." She shrugs a bit, a smile returning to her face.
"Yeah, but I married Sable. That must have been weird, I'd think. And plus don't kids usually get weirded out when parents do it?" Elaine rubs the back of her neck. "God… you don't think it's weird at all? You're just so… calm about it all."
"Sex stopped being awkward when you guys walked in on me when I was fifteen and had to give me the talk," Adel says with a laugh, as if that whole thing is funny. "But that's a story that would require way too much explanation as to why it was awkward, so let us move on!" She raises a fry into the air as she makes the declaration.
"Oh, now, wait a second!" Now there's a smirk on Quinn's face, one Elaine's seen before as she leans over Elaine, peering at Adel. "I think we might have t' hear this story, if not t'night, then sometime! It's only fair, since you just got t' embarrass us!" And it's not the first time, either! Hopefully, asking to hear a story like that isn't too weird, something that only occurs to Quinn after she speaks. "Either way, it's not an issue for t'night, if you want t' stay in the same room. It'll be like an old fashioned sleep over I never got t' have once I came out!" she adds with a bit of a giggle. "But yes, I think I'm in favour of moving on. Glad t' know it's not really an issue though." Not that she's exactly going to be jumping to talk about it.
Elaine's red. "Oh my god. This conversation is… I dunno. Never would have imagined…" The redhead looks to Adel. "I kiiiinda do wanna know about this story. And… was it with a guy or a girl? Just, you know, out of curiosity." She looks back to Quinn. "I hope we did a decent job with the talk, though. I always thought those things were awkward. I never really had one with my parents so I'm not sure how I'd do…"
"Boy," is the only answer that Adel decides to grace them with, looking down with a brief hint of color. She hides it by putting the ketchup and fries aside and pulling off her slick yellow coat to toss it aside. Making herself at home. "You want to hear awkward, though— when dad asked me to pretend to be his girlfriend— that was weird. And you asking if Lene-ie was single— that was weird too." Oh yes, Quinn, she remembers that. "Not that I blame you, Lene's pretty good looking. Pseudo sister or not. But she's too much of a show off to be my type."
"Aw, see, now, I wasn't going t' make her tell now!" Quinn replies to Elaine with a laugh. One that peters off first when she finds out that Magnes asked her to pretend to be his girlfriend - that doesn't really surprise her much - and further when she's reminded of when she basically hit on Jolene herself. "Aaaah," she says a bit sheepishly, scratching at the side of her neck. "Yeah, I'm glad she'd decided t' walk off before I said that," she says with a bit more colour on her face. "Well!" she proclaims, hoping to distract as she claps her hands together. "Who wants t' do somehtin', then?"
"Adel, one of the most important things to know about Magnes is that he's a horndog. Which is unfortunate. I was really scared when you joined the band he'd try to sleep with you. He's… I dunno. He's just not really good with girls. I thought I would've gotten him over that, but…" Elaine can't help but laugh. "I'm just glad he didn't do worse than just 'hey, pretend to be my girlfriend'!"
"If he had tried something, I would've stopped him. No one can make me do anything I don't want to," Adel says with quite a bit of confidence. "I'm glad he didn't either, though. I don't like using my ability against family." With a plop, she's back in her seat. "Do you got any movies? You promised you'd show me some."
Quinn gives a bit of another quiet laugh, colour still on her cheeks as she rises up from her seat. Once again, she reaches over and ruffles Adel's hair, who knows why. "He probably wouldn't've pushed things that far because you're in the band, at least. Interband relationships are technically supposed t' be banned. Never… mind that that rule kinda got broken." She waves a dismissive hand as she walks over to the DVD rack, not wanting to retread that ground.
"Well… I mean. Most a' what I have is action movies. An' sci-fi. An' sci-fi TV shows, an' some sitcoms. Buuut…." Her fingers move up and down the rack, until they land on a large blue case, and she pulls it out. "You said you didn't really get t' watch many movies? Well. I think it's time t' show you the standard in time travel cinema, on blu-ray." A pause. "Well, second t' Doctor Who." And despite being up, she tosses the case - the Back to the Future trilogy - over to Elaine. "You're the one who thought she'd disappear. Show her why."
"Oh god, you don't think it's too cliché?" Elaine giggles as she takes the case from Quinn. "Magnes won't be forceful, he just… he makes things awkward. He never quite grew out of it. I blame his sheltered life." She looks back to Quinn. "Well, you and Sable… that didn't really get so far as a relationship. And if you've got three hot chicks in a room who are all into each other…" She shrugs, helplessly. "Okay. So… Back To The Future."
An eyebrow is raised at the two of them, but Adel seems more amused than anything else by the idea that her mom is admitting the whole band pretty much had the hots for each other. Minus the guy, at least, who had the hots for all the girls, but wasn't returned by all… "I really don't get that— thinking I'd disappear," she says again, gathering up her golden salted fries and returning to nomming them while she waits on the movie set up.
While Adel seems amused, Quinn seems mortified that Elaine just dropped that fact in front of her daughter-from-the future. Her mouth is even hanging for a few moments before she realises it, shutting it and clearing her throat a bit loudly. "Anyway," she says as she walks over to the couch. "You'll get it after you watch the first movie. I don't wanna explain it out right. Spoilers~." She giggles, plopping down as she points the remote at Adel. "You're lucky we already watched Doctor Who. It'd be awful to jump into a later series like that!"
Elaine giggles at Adel's reaction, blushing just faintly as she grabs a fry. "Well, slight spoilers… it's possible to unmake yourself because you mess up things so that your parents never meet or get together or whatever because you've changed your past and so you no longer exist. I'm not giving any more away than that. Besides, you'd need a Delorean." She giggles. "So clearly she hasn't gone through the proper time-travel methods and we have nothing to fear."
Proper time travel methods for her happened to be a ginger named Walter who she got to hold as a baby and make cute faces at. But Adel doesn't seem to understand these strange methods. A fact made clear by what she says before the movie starts, with a fry in hand.
"What's a Delorean?"