Participants:
| Scene Title | Secret Identities |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Magnes has one, and he shares it with the newest member of the band while they bond following his recent break up. |
| Date | November 20, 2010 |
Siann Hall: Elaine and Magnes' Apartment
Having called her at around six to give her time to come over, Magnes has set up some drums on his apartment, next to the coffee table near the television. He closes and locks the door after Adel arrives, then heads over to the couch, slowly strumming at his Rickenbacker 4003 bass. "Hey. Sorry for calling so late. I was dumped yesterday, so I just wanted to do something to get my mind off of it. I thought a jam session would help."
"You were dumped?" Adel says, looking a little startled as if she hadn't expected that to be the reason she was called over. After all, there's a lot that could come up, like whether she's really got the job or not, whether Sable hates her, whether— lots of things. "I'm… okay, we can jam. Do you want to do drums? If you have an extra acoustic guitar I can play that too, though admitedly drums are better at pushing all bad thoughts away."
"I have no idea how to play the drums, but I have a better idea. Bass isn't my first instrument. And I have an acoustic I tried to practice with, but thought bass was easier." Magnes sits the guitar against the couch, walking to his bedroom. When Adel has a chance to really look around, she'll see that there's two book shelves near the windows, all full of graphic novels mixed in with advanced graduate level math, physics, and science books. There's no television, just a computer not hooked to the internet, with a very large monitor in the entertainment center. He doesn't seem to keep his newer video games set up either, it's all classic vintage stuff and DVDs.
When he returns, the acoustic is floating behind him, and he sets up the keyboard next to the drums. "You can just grab the guitar, don't be afraid of the gravitational field, everyone and everything has one."
"It's easier to talk with guitars," Adel says as she reaches out to take it, not seeming the least bit worried about the fact it's floating. It doesn't even seem to register that it should bother her, until what he said processes. "Oh— I'm not bothered by it, I mean— it's just… floating. Nothing…" She trails off, looking a little pink around the cheeks. "So why'd she break up with you?" she changes the topic immediately, as she starts to check the strings with gentle plucks of her fingers, to see if any need adjusting.
They most definitely need adjustments, as he's barely used the thing. Magnes starts to test his piano by quickly beginning to play Fantasie Impromptu, the song he's most familiar with, fingers dancing over the keys with expert precision. "I couldn't give her the normal life she wanted, I made her worry. Dating me simply wasn't good for her, and when she laid it out for me, I understood. I had to let her go. Now I feel empty inside again, like I've failed another girl I loved and wanted to protect."
While she tweaks the strings and continues to pluck, Adel focuses her attention on that act, but the frown on her face isn't because of the neglect done to the guitar. "I don't think anyone can have a safe normal life without worry— not… not with everything that's happening. I mean you saw the riots. There's nothing to say it won't happen again… Just being what we are is danger enough." After another set of plucking, she looks up to watch him play the piano, one of the instruments she didn't learn. "Maybe one day she'll be grateful for what you were trying to do to make the world better."
"She's grateful, she's a good person, I just put her through one too many scares. She's always afraid I won't come back one day. You're definitely in the band, by the way, so don't worry about that." Magnes sighs as he stops playing, closing his eyes for a long moment. "Sorry, just thinking."
"I'll warn you right now, I can't sing," Adel says suddenly, as she adjusts another string. Pluckpluckpluck. It sounds much better, but could still use more adjustments. "It's just one of those things I never was very good at, singing. It's not that I can't carry a pitch in a bucket or anything, I just never liked the sound of my voice at all. I left it to… others." She trails off for a moment, and then suddenly begins to play something. There's still some tuning errors, but— it's a song he's never heard before. Perhaps an original one. She doesn't start singing. "You still have the band too. And I think people will worry about you whether you're dating them or not."
"You don't have to sing, I can sing. But I'm sure your voice is fine." Magnes smiles, trying to keep up as she goes along, staying a few seconds behind her playing, since it's an unknown song. "I know people will always worry, but I realize now, with the life I live, there's no way I can ever have a girlfriend. There's no girl who deserves to put up with it."
That serious look doesn't leave her face, as Adel watches him rather than the guitar. She must know the song pretty well to be able to play it easily without looking, especially when thoughts must be running rampant in her head. It's not a sad song, or an overly fun and happy song— it sounds almost like a love song, something that could easily be turned into a ballad. "I guess it's a question of if you're happy with that. And you never know. You might find someone who can someday."
"I'm not happy with it, but I have a responsibility. Tell me about yourself, where you come from, what you do. I want to know I can trust you, and know who you are." Magnes has seemingly changed the subject, but who knows, maybe he's still on it. He doesn't have to look at his keyboard, watching her instead, but his not having to look is more the familiarity with his instrument than the song.
"I grew up in a suburb of Boston," Adel says with a smile, as if she's getting somewhat comfortable with the change of topics. "My mom was a bit of a band groupie, huge Beatle fan. She used to say she wished her name was Penny— cause my real last name is Lane," she explains, as if expecting him to totally understand that. After all, it's the Beatles. Who doesn't know them and their songs? "I never got to know my dad, I honestly never even saw him, that I can remember. He was— I guess like you. Always trying to save the world things, even if it meant going off to wars. My mom was never with another guy after him, but she was happy— I mean she had me."
"Adel, you're a part of the band now, and the entire band knows my secret. With this, you'll be one of us. Close yours eyes, alright? You can trust me." If she does close her eyes, he starts walking away from her, opening a door, taking a few minutes to look around, then walks back out and closes the same door, holding a metallic briefcase. "You can open them. Now, what I'm about to show you is a complete secret, the band's secret, and it's kind of big."
"The bands secret? The whole band?" Adel asks, looking in surprise at the metallic briefcase, as if she expects to find out it's the football or whatever the secret service calls that case that holds the nuke commands for the President. That would be a pretty big secret! But instead she stops playing, putting the guitar aside gently, so she can stand up and get closer. Now that her eyes are open, she wants to see what's inside!
Magnes unlocks both sides with two different keys, then slides them back into his pocket and crouches down to the floor to open it. In there is his White Knight costume, boots and all, with the American Flag scarf rolled up in the middle, and the equipment for his belt pouches in dozens of slots on the upper half of the case. "I'm the White Knight."
"So you're a real live super hero? That's so primal," Adel says, sounding genuinely excited at the idea. "I mean I saw the stuff in the newspaper, and I know you do things like that, the— butt kicking. That's why she broke up with you right now, isn't it? Cause of this?" There's a pause, and she bites down on her lip. "Do you want to know my secret too?"
"Yeah, that's why she broke up with me. I'd come home with bullet bruises sometimes, and once I actually came very close to dying, and someone had to use a dangerous healing ability on me." Magnes raises his shirt, showing the black handprint over his belly button, which has an oriental dragon tattoo swirling around it in a circle. Possibly the manliest scar + tattoo combination in the universe. "Please don't say you're a guy, that'd be confusing for me on so many levels."
"No, no, totally not a guy," Adel says with a laugh, as she moves a few steps closer. There's a pause, as if she's considering the best way to do what she wants to do, looking around the room. "Can you make me weightless? Or float like you did the guitar. It'll make it easier to show you— that and once you do you have to step back a couple feet."
"Oh, sure, hold on…" Magnes waves a hand, as if it's magic, and suddenly she floats a few feet above the floor, backing up a bit with his suitcase, watching her. "I'm not sure where this is going, but I'm watching."
"This is pretty cool," Adel says as she floats, but she's careful not to kick off or anything silly. "I didn't want to damage your floor," she explains with a grin, as she closes her eyes. There's a glow that seems to come out of her chest and expand outward around her. It takes a few seconds, and then this light blue glow forms into a perfectly round sphere, just as the edge of her reach. It's transparent, only discoloring her slightly, more visible where the sphere overlaps visibly. "Now try to— hit me or something."
"That's… strange. Alright, if you're sure…" Magnes moves his case aside, then suddenly slams a fist at around two hundred pounds of force. Of course he knows how to pull it back if he thinks she's just asked him to do something insane, but for now he's giving the benefit of a doubt.
The sphere doesn't even budge under the force of the blow, doesn't move an inch. Adel even flinches at how strong it looks like he threw fist at her. "Oh please tell me you're okay…" In many ways, it was like hitting a… well, it could be called a forcefield. "It's a repulsion field— I can keep things out of it. Bullets, people. But it's kinda… limited." And she pulls it back into her, glowing and disappearing into the center of her body as it goes inward.
"I'll be fine, hurt like hell, but nothing's broken. I tend to try and push objects away while I'm punching them, makes there be less of an impact for me." Magnes motions a finger so she'll start lowering once she pulls the field in. "That's an impressive ability, guess I'll never have to worry about losing my drummer."
There's a huge smile on her face, before Adel gets her feet back on the ground. "Thanks— I love my ability, but I tend to like to keep it to myself, so— don't tell anyone unless it's really important. Outside the band, I guess. If the band can trust me with your secret identity, I can trust you guys with my secret. I'm also not registered— so that may cause a problem if they start doing background checks on the band… I kinda avoided it."
"You should get registered like Sable did, we'll just have to lie on your registration so you can be tier-0. That way you'll be registered and we won't have to worry. Don't do it yet, alright? If you'll let me, I can talk to someone I really trust about this." Magnes sighs, looking back to his bedroom. "I don't think I'm sleeping here tonight, I think I'll roof camp again. I can take you home before it gets too late."
"I can probably make something up— I mean a lot of people don't manifest until they're old farts, so it could be possible to say I don't have one yet," Adel suggests, thinking about it. "I just don't want to share my power with them, the g-man, you know." Like he'd understand. "I guess you can take me home, though we barely jammed at all. I only played one song." And that poor guitar is gonna go back into a closet. "…Can I borrow your guitar for a while? I left almost everything of mine back in my old home before I left, so I don't have a guitar even…" And she could use one. And that one is ignored.
"Oh, uh, sure." Magnes clears his throat, stammering like the first time they met suddenly. He walks over to the guitar, holding it out to her. "Sorry, I guess my mind was just everywhere, it's been a crazy two days for me, and the roof is really not that comfortable. But thanks for keeping me company for a while, I appreciate it. I managed to say full words to you until a few seconds ago."
"I like full words, and I thought we had a nice conversation— I'm glad I was able to help a bit," Adel says, instead of taking the guitar, she actually moves closer and hugs him. Possibly not helping with the full word thing. "Just be careful, okay. I can't play bass, so we'd be screwed if we got a contract and anything happened to you." So he knows. It's said with a smile. "I'll take good care of your guitar, too. I promise."
"I, uh…" Magnes wraps his arms around her, and she can hear him quickly muttering math problems under his breath like some sort of fast-paced mantra. "T-thanks, maybe we can like, uh, go shopping to get you some new things, but I'm sure, um, Quinn has things you can use too…"
"Oh, I got clothes and that stuff, what I could fit in a bag pretty much. Guitar and drum set doesn't fit in a bag— not a small one, at least," Adel says, not seeming to notice the effect, or if she does she just thinks he doesn't like hugging! Perhaps. "Let's get me home, and we can jam again later."
"Yeah, that's what I meant, like, I could buy you a guitar and some drums, if Quinn can't help." Magnes swallows hard, placing a hand over his chest. "Sorry, god I'm so nervous, I shouldn't be so nervous now. It's easier to be calm when you still have a girlfriend."
This is when her apparently obliviousness becomes very, very clear. Adel tilts her head to the side in a bit of confusion, eyebrows lowering closer to brown eyes. "What does no longer having a girlfriend have to do with being nervous?"
"I, uh, are you serious?" Magnes motions toward her, raising an eyebrow. "Look at yourself, I'm going absolutely insane just being in the same room. I'm translating the dimensions of the son into geometrical time table grids to calm down."
"…oh," Adel says quietly, getting it, and not looking as if she wants to get it. "Well, that— maybe I should see myself home tonight…" As she says that she starts putting a bit of distance between them.
"Wait! I didn't… I didn't mean anything by it, it's not you. I mean, it is you, but it's not you you." Magnes places a hand on his forehead, groaning in frustration. "I'm weird with girls sometimes, like, the really pretty ones make me a stupid blob of moron."
"It's just a little awkward I guess," Adel says, shifting as she keeps her eyes somewhere else, perhaps trying to search for words for her doubt. But she's not heading for the door or jumping out a window! Or something. "You didn't just pick me for the band cause you found me pretty, did you?"
"What? No, I had a girlfriend, and a girl like you would never be interested in a guy like me." Magnes, the guy who looks and carries himself much differently than when he was a scrawny pizza boy, still very much sees himself as the way he's always been, motioning over himself. "Looks aren't going to make us famous. If you weren't a good drummer, Sable would have pushed me out of a window. She's the leader."
"Let's get me home before I'm stuck here, then," Adel says, shifting the guitar into one hand and offering him the other one. Either she thinks they'll be holding hands, or she is fully expecting to take a non-normal mode of transportation. Air Magnes has a new passanger?
"I probably shouldn't have said anything. Can we pretend I didn't say anything?" Magnes sighs, taking her hand in his, then walks to the window to lift it with his free one. "Let's go then, you can point the way, I'll fly us."
"Totally heard nothing," Adel says, even smiling as she squeezes his hand. If she can keep his super hero identity secret, she can pretend she never heard that! It's probably better for their friendship, certainly.