Participants:
| Scene Title | Rien Ne Peut M'Arrêter Maintenant |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Magnes receives a visitor. |
| Date | December 24, 2018 |
The Ark, B-Ring - Magnes' Holding Cell
Magnes sits on the floor of his solitary cell, legs crossed, eyes closed. He's been meditating, trying to keep his mind clear. A lot has happened, but this is all supposed to happen, this is all leading to where they're supposed to be. He has to trust his instincts, trust Edward, trust the Eves.
He's in his long black coat and such, he doesn't bother with the blankets or anything.
In this moment, he doesn't doubt himself, despite the losses, the unacceptable losses that always come, he can't doubt himself, because he has to do something, and he'd rather be the one who does this than any of his friends.
He'd rather be the one who has to be here, who has to suffer whatever is going to come of this, because in the end, this might be the only way to find what they need.
He's not willing to take the risk of playing into Don's megalomania, he'd rather use it to make the man act.
Solitary is called solitary for a reason. It's been quiet, with only the sound of creaking metal and the sea outside the Ark. There hasn't been much of… well, anything since he was brought down here.
At least, until there's a nearby clang, and then again, silence.
Again, for several moment, until there's a sound of shuffling at the front of his makeshift cell. And then, just as suddenly as the sound moments before, a voice.
"Bonjour, crétin."
When he looks, he'll find Robyn Roux sitting just outside the door to his holding room, twiddling her fingers together and dressed in a simple yellow, loose fitting jumpsuit. "Are you even awake?"
"I'm awake." Magnes answers, opening his eyes to take her in. "I've met three versions of you and never once realized you were so French. When I get home I'm totally giving you shit for this, the Fanciest Quinn. Croissant Quinn. I'm not sure on the dimensional nickname yet." He does smile a bit, with some measure of exhaustion in his eyes.
"Despite everything, I've missed seeing your face. But every world feels increasingly like a passing dream that I'll wake up from and never forget." He closes his eyes again, lowering his head. "I miss you, but saying that is a bit like saying a prayer that you can't actually hear."
"I don't know you," is about as blunt a reminder as Roux can give, still looking down at her hands where she sits. "Who is Quinn?" She look up, a curious expression on her face. " I mean, my dad's name was Quinn, but… I never knew him." And then she rolls her eyes. "Mum is French, of course I'm French. Duh." Her thoughts seem to be coming a little out of order, her last, emphatic remark pointedly given with her sticking out her tongue a bit.
"I shouldn't be down here, Don's gonna- I-I don't want to think about it. But… I dunno. You talk like you know me, and even with… all this craziness…" SHe rolls her shoulders. "When you were above, did you ever meet a Charlotte Roux?"
"I've never met her, or maybe I did and forgot, I don't know. I know you as Robyn Quinn, I've never heard you use the name Roux before, but this world is full of strangeness I've never seen in others." Magnes is patient with her, opening his eyes again to look up at her. "You were one of my best friends in my world, we were in a band together. In another world, you were a huge music star, and in another, you were a part of the resistance to save and liberate the last remnant of humanity."
"I'd do anything to save any of you, because despite how different you are, you're still Quinn and I would never want to see anyone or anything hurt you." He looks very serious now, and says, "You have a good heart, and I know that you don't want to be down here forever, in a flooded world."
"Well, it's my name!" Roux is indignant as she crosses her arms and huffs out a breath. She turns her head away, nose up at Magnes as if trying look all haughty about it. It doesn't really quite work. "I'm not-" She turns back to the door to his cell. "What else is there to do? Leave? I almost died once o-out there, if you think I want to go back outside…!"
Hands curl into loose fists, a slightly pained expression on her face as they shake. "Bring up music one more time," she seethes, as shadows quiver and move both where she stands and in Magnes' cell, beginning to reach from the corners as if they're coming towards him. "And I'll make sure Don puts you and yours out an airlock."
A beat, and she tilts her head.
"Or not. But it sounds cool, doesn't it?" Another moment. "But, like, for real? I dunno who you think you met before, but it- it wasn't me." She hangs her head a bit, lips quicking side to side. "Like I said, Roux's mum's last name. Never met dad. Mum just called him Conner whenever she talked about hi-" She stops, closing her eyes. After a moment a sigh is shuddered out. "I don't really have long. I came down here 'cause, I dunno. You got my attention, kid. But you maybe need to not be so rude, coming here and telling people about the what-abouts, all the might have, c-could have beens."
Never mind that that's kind of why she's down here.
"We're never going outside in this world again, there's no returning once you've entered the ARK. But I know that you don't want to be here, you don't want to be trapped." Magnes slowly stands, walking closer to the barrier that separates them. "You use your ability in an interesting way here." He looks around, noticing the way the shadows move. "I guess it makes sense that you would learn to use shadows instead, they're pretty close abilities."
"If you don't want to be down here, and you don't want to be out there in the flood, then you can come with us, to my home." He shrugs. "Why not have one more reason for Quinn to be pissed at me when we return. But…"
He holds up a single finger. "If you want to leave, to be free, to walk on solid ground again, then I could use your help. I don't want to escape, I want you to help with something else. And don't ask why I'd trust you. I'd trust you because I love you like my own sister."
At the comment about the shadows, they recede back a bit, ceasing their slow creep forward. "I'm not her," Roux replies in a low, almost pleading voice. "Stop acting like you know what I want." She hits her palm against the door, and from the look on her face, immediately regrets it. "I want my mom, and I want to play music and I never want to leave this place," she hisses back to him. "Maybe you'd, I dunno. If-" She sucks in a deep breath, clenching her eyes.
"I came down here on my own to talk, but I think it might have been a waste of time," she breathes out. She leans against the doorframe. She sinks down to the floor, pulling her legs close and burying her face into her knees. Inside the room, the shadows move, twist - almost seeming to dance on the edge of Magnes' vision, always on the edge.
"I don't trust you," she admits quietly, honestly. "Why should I?" And then a beat. "What would you want from me anyway?"
"You don't have to trust me, though it should say something that I'm willing to trust you, shouldn't it?" Magnes leans his forehead against the door. "What did you want to talk about?" he wonders, and considers her question. "I have to consider the fact that Don already knew our connection, which is probably why he had you there at the dinner. Most of the guests there were meant to create some kind of emotional response in us, to unsettle us. You were there for me."
"Even so, I'm willing to give you the benefit of a doubt, my trust as one of my best friends. That you won't betray me, even if you are possibly down here for him to gain information of some sort." He takes a deep breath. There are a few things he could ask her, but despite this trust, there are certain pieces of information that are far too critical to risk Don having. So…
"I need you to tell my friends the limits and functions of Trask's ability, and if you don't know, I need you to find out." There's a frown now, shaking his head. "I can't ask you to just kill Trask, these people down here are probably like family and friends to you by now. But at the very least, I want you to work with my friends, to find some way to incapacitate him long enough to stop Don's power tripping madness."
"If you can do that, if you can help us, I'll take you from this world entirely, you can see the sun again." There's a beat, and he adds, "I don't know much about your parents, Quinn never really talked to me much about stuff like that. My ex girlfriend did leave me for her though, and I kept being her friend. That's how much you mean to me."
"Power tripping madness?" Roux quirks an eyebrow. "He keeps us safe," she mutters. "From people like-" She turns back to the door, staring at it. "Michelle! She was going to ruin this place. He's just- he's doing what he has to." She sounds very convinced of this. "To keep us safe."
She stares for a moment longer. "You make it sound so easy," she whispers. "I don't… I don't know Norton that well. But I-" She swallows, looking off to the side. "I can probably find out." The shadows in Magnes' room begin to calm, before their illusory movement does down and the room seems to return to normal. Instead, she holds a hand out in front of her, shadow swirling in her palm.
"I wanted to ask you about…" She chews at the corner of her lip. "Don doesn't know I'm down here." Interrupting her own throught, she looks up from where she's settled down on the floor. "And I should really head back before Security comes to get me. We're not supposed to be talking to you."
Slowly, she pulls herself up to her feet. "I guess I just… was curious. Why you knew me, who you knew. You knew my dad's name, I thought, and…" Huffing out a breath, she shakes her head. "I hoped maybe you'd seen mum. Or Else. I miss Else." There's a distinct sadness in her voice.
"Sun's overrated, by the by. I really don't mind it down here. It's not great, but…" She looks up at the ceiling. "I don't want to be up there. Not anymore."
"Do you honestly believe that someone who's suddenly throwing his weight around and turned people against Michelle, literally the most intelligent human being in the history of mankind, and Edward Ray, a master of calculation who could keep a community safer than literally anyone, is acting in everyone's best interests?" Magnes asks, very seriously, as if he suspects that she'd already know the answer and he's largely testing her beliefs.
"I didn't know your parents, but I did know Robyn Quinn. Every Robyn Quinn I ever met was one of the strongest people I ever knew, even when she was at her weakest, even when she doubted herself, she always pushed ahead, always came through in the end. She put her very soul into anything, for both her friends and for herself." His tone is at its most sincere now, as if he were spilling the very core of his heart out. "A Robyn Quinn by any other name is still the woman I knew, deep down inside."
"When you find out, tell Elisabeth. No matter what happens, no matter what may seem to go wrong, we're getting out of here, we're going to another world. You're coming with me, because I still have a promise to keep, and I know that deep down inside this isn't what you want." He inhales, closing his eyes, and then says, "Because the woman I knew was willing to fight and take risks for a better life, not settle for just being comfortable. The woman I knew wanted to be happy, wanted the best life, not just the most comfortable and easy one."
"I knew people underground who gave up hope before. Elaine, the redhead, she's from a doomed world, and I'm taking her back to mine too. So many of the people with us are from worlds like this one, where there was no hope, or very little in the way of a future." He presses his hand against the door, in place of being able to physically touch her. "But you have it better than them, because this is the final world before we go home. No more doomed apocalypse worlds. And if you want to be a part of that, I need you to help Elisabeth. Don't worry about me, once Trask's ability is shut off I'll be able to handle myself down here alone."
"Mr. Ray? He's…" Roux scratches at her cheek a bit. "Mr. Ray's just- I dunno. You just got here. You don't know what's happened down here. And- you don't listen good, do you? Je le jure…" She takes a deep breath. Closing her eyes, she tries to steady herself. "You don't get it. I'm not leavin' without mum. Not until I know what happened to her." And if that means never, well… that means never.
She stares down at the ground for a moment, uncertain. "Look, I'll- see what I can do." She shakes her head. "I'm not 'bout to get in trouble for asking questions, though." She doesn't press her hand against the door, though she does lean against it. "I dunno what the woman you knew went through. Sounds like she did some sh-stuff." A shuddering breath follows. "I' just… I want my mum, and then I'll figure everything else out," she says quietly, pushing off the table. "Outta time, Magnes." That may be her way of saying goodbye.
She steps away, humming a bit of a song, thinking about the sun, about the sea, about above like Magnes so much insisted on. Humming quickly turns into muttered, lyrical speaking.
"Et quand le jour arrivera
Je retournerai au ciel
Et je retournerai à la mer…"
"I wish I could help you with your mother, but unfortunately I can never return to the surface of this world. And there's a war happening up there right now that we have no idea who will win. I'm not sure that I'd want to take you up there, but… I respect what you want, and I can't take you away from wanting to find out what happened to your mother." Magnes closes his eyes, taking a deep breath. "Do what you can, I'll be grateful. I missed your voice…"
"Et la mer va m'embrasser
Et me délivrer chez moi…"
Roux's voice hitches a bit at his last comment, turning to look back over her shoulder before she starts to really walk away from where he's being held. War. Never return. Respect. //Do what you can."
Her hand tightens into as tight a fist as she can manage, shakey as she releases it. Her gaze levels out ahead of her, and her pace quickens.
"Rien ne peut m'arrêter maintenant."
[Later…]
The walk back up from B-Ring has been an intentionally long one. It's not one Roux gets to take often, but she's certainly taken her time this time. Thinking, mostly. Letting her eyes drift into the dark corners and get lost there, like she is wont to do. At one point, she even lost herself entirely into the shadows.
No one would see her reaching her destination, but that was by intention, and now she was here. Eyes up on the ceiling as she sits on the floor. "I think it's crazy really, but you know. That, um. That seems to be how he rolls." She rolls her shoulders softly, looking off to the side. "I guess you'd know that better than I would, wouldn't you?"
Fingers drum on her leg, before she stops as a bit of pain arrests her movement. They curl back in, and she's left finding another way to fidget. "How do I even approach Norton about this? Do I? Or…"
Her gaze lowers back down to the person in front of her, and then cants slightly to the side. "He wants me to find out what Norton's limitations are, and then let the rest of them know." A hard swallow, eyes flicking to the corner of the room for a moment.
"What do you think?"
Leaning back in his rickety office chair, the person Robyn has chosen to confide in steeples his hands in front of his mouth, looking down to a sun-bleached photograph of a woman and a young man, tucked into his water-stained 2010 day planner.
“I really appreciate you bringing this to me first,” he says into his hands, turning tired eyes up to Robyn. “I tried to handle this diplomatically, but…” He sighs and spreads his hands. “What can you do?”
“I'll take care of the rest, Robyn.” There's a thin smile at that. “Your loyalty will be rewarded.”
