Participants:
| Scene Title | Seeing By The Fireflies |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | To protect his daughter from Humanis First, Matthew Parkman sends his daughter off to live in secret under a watchful eye… |
| Date | October 10, 2009 |
A fall afternoon like most others has settled down on the coast of Staten Island. Outside of the newly refinished and reconstructed Lighthouse, in the high saltgrass with view of the lapping waves and rough rocks, a young girl sits in the glow of the afternoon sun, dark hair swept back from her face and held in place with a few bobby pins. Her black hooded sweatshirt is dark enough not to show the stains of oil and grease on it, but her hands, knuckles and face are smeared with the black mess.
Sitting cross legged, her lap serves as a convenient place for a screwdriver and wrench to rest, while at her side an old dirtbike is standing up, her focus attentive to the front wheel, the rapid-click-click-click of a ratchet working a nut tight on on it where the wheel connects to the frame.
Exhaling an exasperated sigh, Colette Nichols stares out at the water through the spokes of the tire, green eyes watching the shades of blue, purple and orange play out across the waves, a happy smile on her lips. Not far away, other children from the Lighthouse are out enjoying the cool autumn afternoon, and while Colette may no longer live here, the teen has been here regularly, volunteering to help Brian however she can, while also day by day working on that dirt bike thanks to instructions from Devi.
Quiet footsteps can be heard coming up behind Colette. The feet belong to a girl, probably early teens. Her light blue eyes scan the area and there is a hand on her hip. Dressed in a pair of dark jeans and a dark blue shirt, the girl's blonde hair is pulled back into a ponytail. On her back is a big black backpack.
Molly Walker looks tired as she stops walking and is just standing behind the older woman. She couldn't stay there anymore.. not without Matt, she thinks to herself and Molly looks down at the paper listing where the Lighthouse can be found and all sorts of other information. Some has done there homework.
There's a quirk of a brow as Colette turns, looking up towards Molly with an arched brow. She grimaces, crookedly, and lays down her wrench on to the ground and brushes the grease off on to her pant legs. Crawling up to her knees, she offers a small and hesitant smile. "Hey there, you ah— " green eyes wander down to the papers held in her hands, and she pushes herself up the rest of the way with a thoughtful look on her face. "You must be Matilda, right?" Both dark brows go up, a broad smile spreads across her face as she steps away from the bike.
"Brian told me to be expecting you," there's a look out past Molly's shoulder, towards the fields beyond the Lighthouse and the car driving off deeper towards Staten Island's inland, then those eyes settle back on Molly. "My name's Colette," she says with a crooked smile, offering out a hand only to jerk it back in hesitation, fingers still smeared with engine grease.
"Ah— s— sorry." The teen's head jerks back to the dirtbike, "I ah— it's— a work in progress?" Her nose rinkles, and she looks up to the Lighthouse. "I heard what happened to your parents, m'real sorry about that. But you know what, it's pretty awesome here." Her smile grows just a touch bigger. "Brian's an awesome guy, and there's a lot of kids your age here too, and all of them are like us." Dark brows go up temptingly, and as Colette waggles her fingers in a wave, tiny starlight motes of white light dance around her fingertips.
"Wow, what else can you do with that?" she says indicating Colette's show of her ability. The young teen looks at the lights and grins. With a brush of her blonde hair out of her eyes, she squints at the bike behind Colette.
"How long you been working on it?" she says pointing, a hand goes to her pocket and she looks down. "How many other kids are there?" she's read of the place, but she and Matt both decided that nobody here, not even Brian should know her real truth ability or name. It's too risky. At least, that's what Matt told her.
"All sorts of things," Colette notes with an impish smile as she moves to stand by Molly's side, looking down at the younger girl with her head cocked to an awkward angle, regarding her thorugh the veil of lowered lashes. "Like…" her finger traces a shape in the air, a luminous red butterfly that flutters and flaps its wings once drawn, dancing in front of Molly, fluttering thorugh the air and then disappearing with a sparkle of multi-hued colors. "It's more than just tricks… but it's nice, and it's mine." Quite the change from just a year ago, and it's something that Colette prides herself on.
"I've only had my power for just under a year…" The older teen's smile is earnest, "been getting a lot of help with it too. I've got— " the thought of Conrad makes her hesitate, brows furrowed and smile saddened for a moment, "I've had a lot of good teachers, people who really care 'bout me, showin' me what to do an stuff." Wrinkling her nose, the latter question comes with something of a sigh. "There used to be more kids here, I mean— more'n just what you see right now anyway." Colette begins leading Molly up the path towards the front door, her boots clomping on the concrete steps. "I used to live here too, few months ago. Let's see… Bai-Chan's gone now, he was a good kid. Kind've stab happy," she adds with a narrowing of her eyes, hand going out for the doorknob, "but he was friends with Jojo. That kid's totally invincible, it's awesome. I saw him get stabbed in the hand with a fork once, and he was like— what— and it bent." Dark brows waggle at that, and Colette pushes the door open with a warm smile. "Come on in, I'll show you around." Green eyes track to the backpack. "Is… is that all you got with you? For clothes, I mean."
"All sorts of things," Colette notes with an impish smile as she moves to stand by Molly's side, looking down at the younger girl with her head cocked to an awkward angle, regarding her thorugh the veil of lowered lashes. "Like…" her finger traces a shape in the air, a luminous red butterfly that flutters and flaps its wings once drawn, dancing in front of Molly, fluttering thorugh the air and then disappearing with a sparkle of multi-hued colors. "It's more than just tricks… but it's nice, and it's mine." Quite the change from just a year ago, and it's something that Colette prides herself on.
"I've only had my power for just under a year…" The older teen's smile is earnest, "been getting a lot of help with it too. I've got— " the thought of Conrad makes her hesitate, brows furrowed and smile saddened for a moment, "I've had a lot of good teachers, people who really care 'bout me, showin' me what to do an stuff." Wrinkling her nose, the latter question comes with something of a sigh. "There used to be more kids here, I mean— more'n just what you see right now anyway." Colette begins leading Molly up the path towards the front door, her boots clomping on the concrete steps.
"I used to live here too, few months ago. Let's see… Bai-Chan's gone now, he was a good kid. Kind've stab happy," she adds with a narrowing of her eyes, hand going out for the doorknob, "but he was friends with Jojo. That kid's totally invincible, it's awesome. I saw him get stabbed in the hand with a fork once, and he was like— what— and it bent." Dark brows waggle at that, and Colette pushes the door open with a warm smile. "Come on in, I'll show you around." Green eyes track to the backpack. "Is… is that all you got with you? For clothes, I mean."
"Oh wow.." Molly says as she looks at the butterfly fly around. "That's pretty neat." She says and grins as she follows the older teen around. Her light blue eyes scan the area as she walks in, "Heh, sounds like you've had some pretty wild guests." She says and grins.
She hefts her backpack up on her shoulder again and nods at Colette , "I only packed light, nothing really of note to bring." She only bought a few clothes, figuring she'd get more here or something. Her laptop of course and a few other things that aren't very useful.
"Well, I know Brian's got some clothes lying around here that you'll probably fit into. I think you're going to be maybe the second oldest here now, aside from Zuleyka." Now that name's a mouthful. As Colette leads Molly in to the ground floor, she slides the heavy door shut with a clank of the metal, her head quirking to the side as she looks the younger girl up and down, then looks out and around the room. "This is pretty much everything," she notes with a chipper tone of voice, "kitchen, bathroom, tv, books— all that's down here." But Colette's focus is headed towards the stairs, nodding her head in that direction.
"Lemmie show you to the girl's dorm. You're gonna be sharing space with a bunch of girls your age. I don't know exactly how many Brian's got right now, sometimes they're not always here. I think four or five?" One dark brow comes up, and Colette starts winding her way up the newly built wooden stairs.
Molly has never shared a room before and most kids would probably be kind of upset at this, Molly is excited! "Oh that'll be cool." She says and she follows the girl up the steps. "And the government doesn't try to make the kids register here?" she asks with a tilt of her head. "I didn't think they could be that nice." She says with a raise of her eyebrow.
She loves her father to death but his choice in career irks her nerves.
There's a shake of Colette's head and a laugh. "Nah, out here on Staten Island things are a little more lax. Brian's been really good about taking close care of the kids here. I dunno how he manages to keep things the way they are…" though back-alley deals with Daniel Linderman would be the furthest from Colette's mind. Walking down the hall, she pauses at the door to the girl's dorm, motioning to the one opposite. "That's the boy's dorm, just— so you know." There's a crooked smile, knob turned and Colette slides her way in, peering around quietly while knocking on the interior of the door.
No one else in sight.
"Awesome." Colette says with a broad smile, walking backwards as she laces her fingers behind her head. "That bed over there'll be yours." She doesn't nod towards thebed, instead the space around it just glows brighter in the afternoon sunlight spilling thorugh the window, a hazy orange like something out of a fairy tale.
"So… what is it you do, 'Tilda?" There's a hesitant smile. "I know most of the kids here don't like to talk about it, but I noticed it wasn't on your paperwork when I snuck a peek at it. Do… you know?" Dark brows go up, and Colette offers a hesitant smile to the younger teen. "We're all just here to help each other."
Mol walks over to the bed and sits on it, looking out the window as she smiles softly. "I don't mind talking about it.." she says and tilts her head. She's had this lie all figured out. "Whenever I close my eyes.." she closes them and smiles. "I can go anywhere, travel all around." She says and looks up at Colette. "It's called Astral Projection." She says simply and grins widely.
"It was never really all that hard to control, weird huh?"
Green eyes go wide and Colette lets out a soft, surprised sound. "Oh wow that's like— that's awesome! Man, I'd love to have an ability like that too! I mean, on top of what I have now, because multiple abilites are super-awesome to have, like my friend Gabriel's got." Dark brows waggle up and down, and Colette folds her hands behind her back and paces towards the bed she singled out. "Dinner's served in about an hour and a half from now, breakfast around 8:00, but you can pretty much feed yourself whenever." Turning a look back to Molly, Colette's smile softens some.
"You might need to be sort've a big sis for Lily. She's been here the longest out of all the girls. She turns eight in a couple months, and she's had a really hard time with her ability. She sees the past, and can't really control it." There's an awkward cast to Colette's smile. "She sees a lot of bad things, so… it might be good if you just talk to her, be her friend. A lot of girls, they come and go, but Lilian's always stayed. She's been really shell-shocked for a while, we had some problems here a few months back, there…" she hesitates, "there was a fire, Lily took it all pretty hard."
"You know people with multiple abilties?" Molly raises an eyebrow and shakes her head. "Having more than one ability would be cool, you could mix them and stuff. I'm sure." She says and smiles at Colette. "Hm, yeah I'll try to help her." She says as she receives her assignment. She needs to make a friend anyway.
"Where do you live now? If you aren't staying here?"
"Yeah, it's pretty cool. He learns abilities just by being taught them, he's like— super smart or something." A lopsided smile is offered to Molly as she comes to sit down on the corner of that bed, legs kicking booted feet back and forth. "I ah… I sort've live all over the place, I guess? I got adopted," no need to confuse Molly with having been adopted before running away from home to this place, "and my dad works for the police. He's an ace detective." He brows rise sharply at the word ace for emphasis.
"My sister also lives in town too, but she's out in Las Vegas last I heard on business." Then, furrowing her brows, Colette looks down to the floor and slows the swishing of her feet. "I ah… I've been staying out here for a few weeks now. My ah…" her voice gets quiet, "a good friend of mine got really hurt. Those— the people that got your folks?" Or so the fake story goes, Humanis First killed Matilda Wonler's family. "They hurt a good friend of mine, they burned down his church… it— " she swallows tightly, biting down on her lower lip and closing her eyes. "I'm just out here till I find the guy that did it."
"Oh, find him?" she says softly and puts her hands behind her on the bed. She tries not to sound different or strange. "I.. I'm sorry, I hate those guys," Molly says and bites her lip. "How do you plan on finding him?" looking totally innocent as she asks the questions to the other girl.
Colette offers a lazy shrug of her shoulders, shaking her head. "I dunno… all I got is a name. This guy I met knew hwo was in charge of them, or who did it or— something. But all I've got is a name to go on so— like— I dunno." Shaking her head, Colette lays back on the bed sideways, legs dangling over the edge, hands folded behind her head as she stares up at the ceiling. "I dunno if I even can, or— or what I'd do if I did find him. But… but i just— " she swallows, tensely, "I can't just do nothing."
Looking over to Molly, Colette offers a tired smile. "When I first found out I had an ability, I hated it. I hatred yself. I just wanted to pretend like I didn't have it at all… then— then I used it once to save someone's life, and— and I guess I sort've learned from then on that I couldn't just avoid problems n'stuff." Her smile turns a little bittersweet. "My friend, Joseph, he thinks that we all have our abilities for a reason. That it's God's plan or something, for us… and that we've all got a reason for having them, to help people."
Turning to look back up at the ceiling, Colette's expression turns distant, eyes focused on a small crack in the plaster overhead. "I wanna' help people… make a difference, you know? I'm sick of just being the kid everybody's gotta protect. So— I know I can do it. I've already sort've started to help people, do hard things. I just— I'm not really good at it."
"You'll get better at it." Molly says with reassurance in her tone. Her story is the same as Colette's. She wants to use her ability to help people, which prompts her to ask this next question. "What's the name of the guy?" she asks with a slight smile, if she can do one good thing today. It would be a good day.
"When I first found out I had an ability, I was just in shock I guess." She comments and then Molly runs a hand through her hair. It's time for her to control her own destiny, to help people.
There's a grimace, and Colette reaches up to scratch at the side of her head, then slowly pushes herself to sit up slowly. "I've been thinking for a while now, about what to do with the ability I have. I met these people, Eileen and Gabriel and— uh— " no, she's not going ot mention the King of Swords, that's pretty weird. "Flint." Because everybody likes Deckard. "They're good people, and like— they fight to help people, kind've like, you know… TV superheroes or something? They can do anything."
The idealism behind Colette's words are highly naive, but at the same time she can't help but idolize the Remnant for the good they've done — in her eyes — and the battles they've won. Somehow, she's yet to be on the receiving end of their particular brand of justice. "I want to be like them, I want to… to do things, I want t'make a difference."
"You want to join a band of superheroes?" Molly grins and puts her chin in her hands looking at the other girl. "That sounds pretty fun, are you going to have a cool superhero name? Every superhero needs one." She chuckles softly and looks up at Colette.
"I've felt the same way.. in the past.. my ability has really been used as an tool.. but." She looks away and out the window. "I don't want that.. I want to take charge of what I can do and do what I want with it, ya know?"
There's a small laugh from Colette, head tilting to the side to regard Molly more carefully. It's not so much amusement, as it is appreciation that she considers the younger girl with. "Heh, I— I dunno if they'd have someone like me with 'em. I really don't know a thing about that sort've stuff, but m'trying to learn. You know?" Green eyes divert to her hands, folding them in her lap as she begins letting her legs swing back and forth over the edge of the bed again.
"M'sorry you got treated the way you did, 'cause of what you can do." Colette's brows furrow, head tilted down as she rocks from side to side slowly. "Nobody's ever really needed my ability— not until recently. And even then, they didn't really ask— I kinda' offered." Her nose wrinkles, green eyes lifting back up to Molly. "You know… I've never really talked with someone younger than me like this. I'm always the kid." There's a teasing smile on her face, that serious look fading. "I kinda' like it."
"Looks like to me Letty.." the nickname just coming naturally from her. "That you've gained a younger sister.. and I.. have an older sister now." She says smiling brightly. "It's no big, people used my ability and got what they wanted and left. I grew use to it, but I won't be used as a tool anymore."
The young blonde shakes her head. "You should see if they would have you in an.. intern sort of thing? Like their assistant and then you can work your way up to fighting the bad guys like them. If you are still learning how to use your ability, we can teach each other?" she says with a hopeful look in her eyes.
"Oh hey!" Colette's smile grows broad, "that's an awesome idea. I used to intern at this computer company once, that'd be super awesome! Intern crime-fighter!" Dark brows furrow and Colette's lips quirk to the side in a smirk. "You know, 'Tilda," seems like they both shorten the names reflexively, "I never really made any real friends here… but you're kinda' cool." One eye squints shut, sort've like a playful wink. "I know a lot about being a big sister, from my own big sis. So… you know, this isn't such a bad idea after all."
Sliding off of the bed, her boots clunk down onto the floor, and Colette folds her hands behind her back, shifting her weight to balance on one foot, wobbly. "We can totally help each other out, definitely! I've had all sorts of cool trainers, so I bet'cha I can try an figure out how they'd help you, and we could do some practice! Like in the kung-fu movies, on the beach at sunset!" Colette brings one leg up and waves her hands above her head. "Hyaaaaa!" Then staggers to the side, trips, and falls atop the other bed adjacent to the one Molly's one, sliding off of it in a scramble of pawing hands and pulled blankets, face bright red and a crimace spread across her lips.
Then, she just bursts out laughing.
"Yeah! We can help each other." Molly says and bounces up and down excitedly, it is rare that anyone ever sees Molly act her age. She is grinning from ear to ear. With a wave of her hand, she nods her head and she is still smiling until she sees Colette fall..
Then she joins in with Colette, laughing hard and carefree. A side of Molly she hasn't felt in a very long time. It's like a release of everything she's been through recently. And in the sense of release, the laughing soon turns to hysterical crying.
The moment Molly starts to laugh, Colette's face turns bright red, and the older teen scrambles up to her feet, puffing out her cheeks and wrinkling her nose. "Hey! I— " but then Molly's crying. The shift from laughter to hysterical crying comes with a wide-eyed look of confusion and uncertainty on Colette's face. She looks around, finding the room still empty, and is forced to confront something she's never really dealt with well before; someone else's pain.
"It— M— " Words fail, and Colette quickly takes a few steps over towards Molly, then another, and then crouches down and wraps her arms around the younger girl, placing one hand at the back of her head as she pulls her into a hug. Colette smells of engine grease and gasoline, nothing girly about that. "H— Hey it— it'll be okay…" Fingers wind into Molly's hair. "I— You're gonna be okay here Matilda… it'll be alright…"
"I'm sorry." She says and takes a deep breath, tears falling down her face. Molly closes her eyes and shakes her head, she can't believe she just broke down like that. "I.. just.. it's been a lot going on lately." She says finally and then looks up at Colette, wiping her eyes. Crying spell over.
With a faint smile and a look up towards the ceiling. "Sorry about that.." she says softly as she lays back on the bed.
Leaning back slowly, Colette smooths her hand over the top of Molly's head and manages an awkward smile. "H— Hey no, no don't apologize. It'll be alright." There's a certain gentleness to those green eyes of hers as she moves to the side and settles down next to the younger girl, a hand laid out to set on Molly's knee. "Sometimes you just gotta cry, y'know?" Still awkward and unsure of herself, Colette squeezes the younger girl's knee and looks down at her warily, like a wounded animal she's afraid to handle; pensive and in thought.
"You… you wanna' do something to take your mind off it?" Dark brows go up, "maybe go downstairs, watch some TV or…" her attention turns away from the younger girl. "I ah— I kinda' suck at this, don't I?"
A wide grin crosses Molly's lips. "You'll get better at it." She says softly and pats Colette's hand. And as she does this, she knows just the thing to take her mind off of things, though the action will surely throw her into a whole other mess.
"I was thinking.." she says and sits up to look Colette in the eye. "Do you have a map laying anywhere around here?" she asks with a raise of a eyebrow and grin. Though this grin is one of determination and well… mischief.