Participants:
| Scene Title | Ruining Him |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Tracy gets Magnes drunk, Magnes says some sad things, and some happy things, and they eat pizza, then he passes out. |
| Date | May 30 2009 |
It's totally swanky!
Tracy spent the night with a tazer beside her bed. It's only fair, after two unwanted visitors. Morning came, she got up, and went to work. Things seemed to go fine. Back-to-back- meetings, lunch in the office with some paperwork - mm BLTs are good - and then? It happens. Thoughts reach her brain. Everything is set aside while she considers everything that's happened. Hiro Nakamura. Adam Monroe. Magnes Varlane. Matt Parkman. Cardinal Richards. Or Richard Cardinal, not really sure. But things start to fall into place.
In the safety of her office, she takes out a phone and dials a number in her phone, listed as T2. And it rings.
Sitting high above one of many random skyscrapers, Magnes is just taking a ten minute break inbetween deliveries when his phone rings. It's a bit early for another delivery, must be someone else. "Hello? This is Magnes."
"Oh, hey!" Magnes seems to be in high spirits, not all distrustful and grr I have a boner, like the night before. "What's up? I'm on my break."
Men do manage to make those go away and feel much better afterwards. "I…um…I hate to dissapoint you. I'd love to be calling for a social occasion but….I'm afraid I need your help."
"With what?" Magnes asks, his tone a touch concerned as the wind blows heavily against the phone. He tries his best to turn a different way, facing away from the wind, but it doesn't work too well.
She'll get there. But first. "Are you…on a boat or something?" Because wind whips across a boat. "Or in a tunnel? I can barely hear you."
"Sorry, I'm on top of a building, I'll jump down." Suddenly, it sounds like someone is sky diving, with went rapidly grinding against the phone until the sounds of cars and the city become audible again. He's sitting on the side of a building now. "There, that's better, not much wind now."
"No don-" Anytime someoen says they'll jump off a building, the best idea is to not let them do it. For a moment, Tracy's heart is in her throat, but then she relaxes. "Be careful, don't hurt yourself." Almost like a big sister might scold. "Anyway, Magnes….I know you're going to fall off that building when you hear what I have to say, so hold on. I need to talk to Hiro Nakamura."
"I don't really think you can." Magnes says, sounding rather apologetic. "It's not because I don't trust you or anything, but we have no idea where he is. He may be dead, Adam Monroe did a lot of damage in Japan. That man I fought was someone who worked for him."
Well that's not good. Or it is good. Tracy's not really sure at this point, but Magnes seems to know a lot of what Hiro knew, so maybe that'll be enough. "I need to talk to you then….can you tell me about this Adam Monroe?"
"I can tell you a lot about Adam Monroe, but he's dangerous." Magnes pauses, then the street noises suddenly stop, and there is no wind, it's just quiet in the background. "If you promise to never meet him, because god knows what he'll do to you."
Okay, that's even scarier. "Where are you now?" She says, but then shakes her head. "Nevermind, as long as you aren't doing something crazy. Tell me about him, why's he dangerous?"
"I'm at work, in the back room." Magnes answers, and she knows where that is, she has a menu! "He's Evolved, a regenerator, he has other Evolved working for him, like the one who tried to kidnap me in Tokyo, on the video. He killed Kaito Nakamura, Hiro's father, only a few weeks ago. His motives are likely very dangerous. Was Kazimir in the news? I'm not sure."
"Nevermind what was in the news." Tracy stands, walking easily across her office to close the door and make sure it stays that way. "Tell me everything you can, nevermind what was in the news. Reporters has a way of getting some things wrong. So just take a breath and go through it slowly, please."
"Alright, I don't know a lot about it, but this Kazimir guy wanted to exterminate a bunch of people, and Adam worked for him. I'm not sure what his motives are now that this Kazimir guy is dead, but I do know that Adam is killing people, and a lot of my friends are on his radar for one reason or another." Magnes sighs, and someone in the background yells something about pepperoni. "I'd have gone after him by now, but like I said, he's dangerous, and sort of immortal."
"Dont do anything that might get you hurt." She's scribblign things down as fast as she can on a pad of paper, standing over her desk. "Tell me about your friends who he's targeting. Knowing who he's going after might help to pinpoint where he's coming from."
"I can't really give you names, except for Hiro, sorry." Magnes can be heard walking up stairs, opening a door, then closing it. "Alright, I've been thinking about it. I keep saying it's not about trust, but, it is. I can't trust you with some things, I barely know you…"
As much she figured. "Magnes, I need you to listen to what I'm about to tell you very carefully. It's not about you being cleared anymore, you or Hiro. I think there's someone else after you." What she thinks is that this whole thing is such a confusing clusterfuck that Nathan Petrelli should be sending her to the Bahamas for six weeks. "Maybe connected with Adam Monroe, I don't know. The point is, you didn't trade information to get your pardon. You were given a pardon by some part of this government, which means you and Hiro are innocent. But either somebody doesn't believe that, or somebody doesn't care."
"Alright, first, how do you know someone is after me, and is there a reason you think they're connected to Adam?" Magnes quickly moves away from the door, just in case any strange Evolved fireballs come through. "I can take care of this, I have help, I just need to know everything that you know."
"Listen…" Her voice almost growls for a minute before she manages to calm herself down. "Normally, I'd be content with that. But not this time, it's not only you and your friends that they're going after." She stands up tall, leaning her tush against the desk with a moment to chew on her lower lip. She hates to do this. "I got a visit from a friend last night," a prick is more like it. But Matt showed her that man's face for a reason…she should have expected him to come. "They're going to try and kill me too. And the worst part is that's all I know. So if you help me here Magnes, you'd be saving your ass and mine." Another pause. "I think the fact that your face never showed up on the news after that tape should say something." She didn't keep it covered - but she didn't uncover it either.
"Alright, but you can't say you heard this name from me. As far as I know, Adam Monroe has some strange interest in my friend Abigail Beauchamp, and he's friends with a bouncy at Old Lucy's, Huruma, I don't know her last name or anything." Magnes' tone suddenly becomes urgent, almost a 'won't take no for an answer' voice. "I'm staying at your place until this blows over, you can't protect yourself, and I won't let you get killed."
Oh it's so cute, he's like a little puppy or something! She should keep him and put bows in his hair like mom used to do to that god awful poodle - er, wait a second. "No, you can't." Not as stern as his voice, but more reasonable. "It'll arouse too much suspicion." She want's to chuckle, say she's fine on her own. Even if she is shaken. "Homeland Security's taking care of me," she says, a bit softer. "I'll be alright."
"I don't mean to alarm you, but this is Adam. You saw the video, it was just us fighting, and we weren't even trying to kill eachother. Do you really think that if Adam sent that guy, Homeland could do anything? I'm coming over." Magnes opens and closes the door again, then starts rushing down the stairs. "No one's gonna know I'm there, I know how to get in with no one noticing. Just open your window."
The things she'll trade for information. Tracy really hates the whole team thing. She never did well on group projects in school. Who knows why. "Just….stay out of my work stuff, okay? My computer, just…don't touch any of that." She doesn't sound happy about this. Not at all. But she's a pragmatist.
"I'll be there in a few minutes, I have to talk to my boss. What's your favorite pizza?" Magnes randomly asks, since he is about to barge into a woman's home, may as well bring pizza.
Pizza what? "Uhm….tomato and basil?" Yes, there are pizzas where they put slices of tomato on them with slices of basil. Stupid snooty high-class girls. "What…exactly are you goign to tell your boss? I'm sure I'm not in any danger right now, and it's not like you'll be following me everywhere anyway." No, he won't. She'll put her foot down there.
"You don't know when you'll be in danger. I'll only be with you when you're most vulnerable." Well, when she can't ditch him, but Magnes doesn't need to know that! "I'm on my way, please hide any female things that would be embarassing for me to see."
"I don't leave panties lying around, if that's what you're nervous about. Just make sure you keep it in your pants, pizza boy." And that'll be her goodbye. Hey, it's sort of a joke, right? It's a terse joke - the whole situation has her rather terse. But she'll be home. Waiting for him. Maybe she should wait in a teddy or something, just to freak him out….
It takes around thirty five minutes for him to arrive, and do not underestimate the power of a Delivery Boy! There is a pizza, and it smells very much like what she asked for. Magnes stops at Tracy's window, making sure no one's looking, then steps in, closes the window, and turns around to see if she's still here. He's wearing a plain white t-shirt, some blue jeans, and black sneakers; work clothes, at least when he's spending more time making pizza than delivering it. "Miss Strauss?"
And there's Tracy Strauss, not in a teddy. Poor Magnes. She's in the kitchen, wearing one of those pencil dresses she loves. She can't even think about sleeves or pants anymore - seems this year is a lot hotter than last. At least, to Tracy. Menopause? God, don't mention that to her. In response to Magnes' entrance, she holds up a finger to silance him, still yapping on the phone. "I don't care, he signed a contract. You tell him that if I don't turn on FOX Monday morning and see Paul Hart's face glowing across my screen I'll have his balls in a vice grip." Click. Beep. Whatever it is that makes a cell phone hang up.
ORDER: It is now your pose.
Magnes sits the pizza on the coffee table, staring up at her with flushed cheeks that quickly avert right back to his sneakers. "I made the pizza just the way you wanted, but it needed more spices to bring out the natural flavor." He's good at that! "U-um, you can control if people get on TV or not? Can you bring back Futurama?"
"What's Futurama?" Generational gap to the extreme. She's suddenly carrying two creme-and-navy porcelain plates over, still wearing her high heels as she offers one to him. Look, she's even smiling. See? She's not scary at all. She's a very nice lady. "You know you don't have to do this. I'm really alright on my own."
"You've never seen Futurama? Aren't you like, twenty-five?" Magnes asks, not quite able to believe she's thirty, let alone thirty-four. "And I do have to do this. In Amazing Fantasy 15, which was the first issue of Spider-Man, he let a criminal slip because it wasn't his problem. And you know what happened? That criminal killed his Uncle Ben. And Uncle Ben says 'With great power comes great responsibility'." he gives his hero speech, opening the box of pizza as he takes a seat on the couch. "This is my responsibility, I won't let you get hurt, I bet my life on it."
Suddenly this company just got a lot better. "Yes." She says with a slow smile as she gets some napkins. "Yes, I'm twenty-five." Sure, why not, right? "I made it to the Special Director to the President in only twenty-five years, I'm a prodigy." Okay, so maybe she's having a little too much fun with this. Seeing him slump down on the sofa, she can't help but blink, as if to say 'What are you doing?' Eating on the sofa? But that's what tables are for. "Don't you want to…eat?" She asks, because why someone would eat on those expensive living room furnishings is beyond her.
"Yeah, I thought we'd eat pizza and watch a movie? And you're a prodigy? I guess that makes sense, if you're ordering people from Fox around…" Magnes has absolutely no idea what the hell her job title means, so he just takes her word for it and waves her over. "I'm nothing special, I mean, my intelligence might be above high school level because I had hardcore home schooling, but since the Pet—Sylar explosion, I haven't gotten the chance to go to college so I can try to get my physics degree."
But…but…that's the sofa. "You want to eat…in the living room?" You drink alcohol in the living room. You watch the news in the living room. You have sex in the living room. But eat? That's just gross. "On…the sofa?" She sets her plate down and turns easily with a painful roll of her eyes. "Do you want a drink? I need a drink."
"Don't worry, the sofa won't get dirty. Oh right, I never told you my power, did I?" Magnes wonders, though it's not a hard power to guess, you never know. "Gravity, my power's gravity. I'll just try to make sure the pizza is light and the sauce and stuff won't fall off. And I want a drink, but none of that stuff from the other day, I've never really drunken alcohol before. Well, maybe, but I don't remember."
Drunken. It's like nails on a chalkboard. Tracy is kind enough to take her first swig of scotch away from his eyes, then pours herself one on the rocks. "I have gin, vodka r…no, I don't have rum." Somebody broke in and took some of her best bottles! Tequilla's gone too. But she mixes him something up in a martini glass and brings it over, setting it on a coaster next to him. It's a chocolate martini. "If you can taste the liquor in that, you need to go back to bottles." She says, taking her own slice of pizza while perched very much on the edge of the sofa. She begins to blot the grease off with a napkin. "Gravity, is that why you want to go into physics?" She looks at him, speaking sincerely. "You know there are programs to help you afford schooling."
"I suck at physics, my parents were making me do it, way before I knew I had an ability." Magnes takes the martini glass, sniffing it, eyeing it, then finally downing it. He tastes it for a few minutes, sitting the glass back on to the coaster, then finally… swallows! "That wasn't so bad, but my body feels kinda hot, is that normal?" Then, back to his power. "And I know enough about physics to say that my ability breaks the laws of physics and hangs it in a tree by its underwear. Science wouldn't help."
Tracy continues to blot the grease off her slice. She pauses to look at him incredulously. "Are you 12? Because if you're 16 or 17, I can justify giving you a drink, but my morals get pretty shaky at 12 and under." She points out, just…well, pointing out. Not really a point other than he can't hold his liquor. "So why do you want to college if your heart doesn't really seem to be into it?"
"I don't know, I just wanna go. I'd like to go for something other than physics, but my parents aren't gonna pay for anything else." Magnes' cheeks are perpetually flushed now, because of the one shot of liquor. His hand is on his stomach, liking rubing it curiously due to the warm feeling. "I'm 21, I'm legal enough to drink."
"Then man up a bit - there's more sugar in that than anything else." She says, pausing to take a swig of her own very hard alcohol, before cutting her pizza up and taking a bite. "So if your parents will pay for it, why aren't you there?" Tracy's used to asking questions - she may work for politicians, but she doesn't like to be made a fool of when talking to reporters. This means she has to ask the tough questions.
"Well, I haven't spoken to my parents in about three years, they were out of town when the explosion happened, and I haven't heard from them since." Magnes suddenly holds the shot glass over to her, frowning with a determined look. "Give me the hard stuff." he demands, trying to sound manly.
She can't help but smirk at him then. He's a cute little kid, this one. She could ruin him. But she lifts her own glass of scotch, setting it down on his coaster with a light thud. "There you go," she says, sitting back on the sofa and crossing her arms to watch him do this. She'll ask him more about the parents thing after he swims or sinks in a scotch on the rocks.
"Gi, yuu, jin, rei, makoto, yo, chuu." Magnes chants before lifting the glass, then quickly downs the whole thing and slams the glass firmly on the coaster. "Oh god, it's really hot, like, my body is a heater." He feels his arms as if something were slowly crawling through him, then looks over at her as if to say 'Help!'
Tracy doesn't help. She laughs. She covers her mouth and nose while she does it, but the blonde leans back on the sofa and laughs, trying very hard to contain it…well, trying somewhat to contain it. After all, it's quite amusing. "It'll burn in your stomach for a moment, but then you'll be fine." She promises, lowering her hand after another little giggle. "You really are a little kid."
"I'm not a little kid! I kissed a girl like three times." Magnes defends, laying his head back on the couch, appearing to grow a little more relaxed after that shot. "And I'm saving the world…"
Tracy really can't understand how this Iowa corn-huster, at least that's how he acts, has survived this long. "You know what kind of people save the world? Dictators." She stands, taking the glass and returning with TWO, one for her and one for him. She hands his to him before she sits. "Because everyone has a different idea of what a 'saved' world means. The person that saves the world just gets to see everything go their way, no matter what other people say."
"I'm not out to change laws, well, except for registration, I just want everyone to be safe, I want criminals locked up, that's all." Magnes sniffs his second glass of full-on scotch, then downs it and scrunches his face. "Gah. But yeah, I'm not some ambitious guy who's gonna go and punch communists in the face, I just wanna clean up crime, make sure everyone is safe." He stares down at his glass, his eyes for some reason going rather distant, possibly sad. He's quiet.
Oh please don't let him be a sad drunk. That will be such a bore. She changes his empty glass out for her full one, only going to stop when he tells her to. "Safe's different things for different people. I wouldn't want to be the one deciding who is guilty of a crime and who isn't. Are you smart enough and moral enough to make those choices, over peoples' lives?" She reaches over, rubbing his back a little. Because if he pukes, she'll kill him. She'll have to dump the body, of course, but she'll do what needs to be done. "You feeling okay?"
"I'm fine, was just thinking of the time I got kidnapped. Don't wanna talk about that right now though, is that alright?" Magnes asks, his tone more sincerely serious than it has been in the short time they've known eachother, then he smiles and takes another shot. When he sits the glass down, it bounces slightly, beginning to float about half an inch off the coaster, but he doesn't seem to notice at all. "I'm not a judge, I'd take criminals to the police so the police can do their job." He looks back at her hand rubbing his back, reaching over to run a hand along her arm. "I'd usually be freaking out about a beautiful woman touching me, but now it's like, 'Everything's okay'."
"I think you need to drink a little more often to relax a bit." So it's kind of her fault, she should have seen that coming. Oh well, he'll be passing out pretty soon, or at least getting drowsy. Drowsy is more like it. She reaches for both their glasses, moving to stand - only coming back with one, for her. "You should probably eat your pizza, help soak up some of that alcohol before it all gets in your system." She continues to eat her pizza, with a fork.
"I made this pizza, y'know. Do you like my cooking?" Magnes reaches into the pizza box, taking a slice, sniffing it, then biting it. He's never had this kind before, though did take a little taste test the first time he ever made it. "And I don't wanna get too relaxed, I don't wanna do or say something stupid. This girl Delilah, I'm always looking at her boobs. I know it's bad, but I can't help it. I wouldn't wanna be drunk and grab one or something, y'know?"
"Your cooking is excellent, Magnes." She assures him, taking another bite. All in all it's not that bad indeed. And then he's talking about grabbing boobs, and Tracy perks a bit, just in case he should dare. "Well, she's either got low self-esteem and would be overly welcoming of your affections or she'll think your crazy, slap you upside the head and go tumbling down the stairs. Either way, you'll get knocked around some, I'd think."
"I think she'd hit me, she has very high self-esteem, I'm not attracted to girls with low self-esteem." Then, a pause, and Magnes looks her over with an awkward gaze. "I mean, no offense if you have low self-esteem, you seem like a nice girl…"
"Save your breath, Romeo. My self-esteem is fine." She takes another measured bite of her food. "So don't you have a girlfriend or a boyfriend you could be with tonight? Or the next night? I have know idea when or even if they'll come here, I don't want you to miss out on weeks of your life just to sit here with me and eat pizza."
"My life is delivering pizza, sometimes seeing Delilah, and going to comic shops. Sometimes I have an adventure, but that's about it." Magnes explains his 'uneventful' life in a nutshell, nibbling at his pizza rather boredly. "I have my hobbies too, but yeah. I've never had a girlfriend, I used to wanna go out with my friend Abby, but she gets mad at me all the time. Like I said, I've kissed three times in my whole life."
Abby? Oh good heavans, this evolved business is getting more and more complicated each time someone opens their mouth. But Tracy will keep quiet, instead just continue to smile at the blabbering boy. "Well if you get out a bit more, maybe you'll meet someone." She suggests. Maybe if she can get it into his head that he doesn't need to babysit her. "I'm really good at taking care of myself."
"You're an innocent young woman, and I know you don't like to be told that, but you need someone here to protect you." Magnes moves to take her hand, trying to give her body a bit of a 'light' feeling. "I can protect you, I can take you out of here if it's needed, I don't wanna see you hurt."
As stupid as his words sound, she doesn't scoff. She almost feels guilty that he doesn't know her in the least bit. Then again, she lied to him, so if he's going to be snowed, might as well be all the way. "I'm hardly innocent, Magnes. And I'm safe here, so far only two people have broken in." And that was in the same night. "And look, two breakins and I'm still fine. You don't need to worry, I'm not your sister or anything."
"That's not the kind of person I am. I don't protect people just because they're close to me, or I'll benefit from it…" Magnes releases her hand, seeming a tad tipsy, but his voice isn't slurred. "I protect people because they're people. I'd give my life for you as quickly as I'd give it for any of my friends, because you're a person."
Tracy pats his shoulder, moving ot clean up their plates. "So are you, Magnes. Remember to protect yourself as well, hmm?" Kid's read way too many comic books. Not that Tracy knows what's in them, but if she had to guess, she'd say that was the problem. "If you don't protect yourself, nobody else will." And then she's rinsing the dishes, putting them in the dishwasher.
"I protect myself, I just don't wanna be selfish, I'm afraid of being selfish." Magnes looks down at his stomach, holding it with both hands, appearing in deep thought. "I'm afraid of being corrupt by my ability, I don't wanna think about myself too much, then get too confident, and suddenly I become like Adam Monroe and stomp around doing whatever I want."
Tracy dries her hands and comes back to sit down with him, bringing him some water. And that's as nice as she'll get. "Drink this." She urges, sliding it, on a coaster, toward him. "There's nothign wrong with doing what you want, as long as you do it in the confines of other peoples' rights."
"All I ever wanted was for people to like me, then all I wanted was for everyone to be happy, and then I wanted them to be safe." Magnes takes a sip of his water, frowning at his words. "And I've barely been able to gain any of that, as useful as I start to find my ability is, something slaps me right back to a powerless reality."
"That's because you want to be God, Magnes. You're young, you have to conqouer a sphere before you can take over the world - because only god or King of the World can make everyone safe and happy, and even then, it's impossible. At least tackle yourself first, perfect your ability, finish school. Make yourself a better person. How can you look out for everyone else if you won't even look out for yourself?"
"I guess I do keep wanting to do too many things at once…" Magnes lays his head back again, this time staring up at the ceiling. "I'm gonna try to take it one step at a time, I barely even have a personal life anymore, maybe I should work on that. It's saturday and I'm sitting with a beautiful woman for protection. We should both be out, doing something fun."
And there is the light at the dark tunnel's end. "I have work to do…" She motions to her bag, left by teh door. "But curfew isn't up for a little while yet. Why don't you go out for a bit, have a drink, have some fun? I'll still be here when you get back."
"Alright, and I'm sorry for always looking at your legs, I can't help it, like with Delilah's boobs." Magnes then stands, tripping a little, flipping through the air like an astronaut, then bumping into the door. He floats there now, passed out, not showing any signs of actually hitting the foor. This is the power of alcohol!
And what can Tracy Strauss do but stand there? Well, she stands there, and shakes her head. "I have got to get back to D.C." she mutters, picking up her bag and turning for her bedroom, which opens and closes, leaving the boy drunk and suspended in midair.