Participants:
| Scene Title | Shh… |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | A chance encounter with Shannon in Bannerman Castle's kitchen leaves Raith with even more ideas. |
| Date | November 13, 2010 |
Pollepel Island, Kitchen
The day after the meeting that almost went bad, very bad, finds Shannon doing what she's been doing since she arrived, and in what seems to be her favorite place on the island. The kitchen. Others might prefer the beach or woods, or even just exploring the castle, but Shannon? It's all about the kitchen, except at night when no one seems to be able to find her. Apparently she likes her privacy when she sleeps.
Though the food supplies aren't exactly vast, and herbs and spices are all but nonexistant, she's been doing her best to make what they have taste as good as it can. Which, admitedly, isn't that good considering that a large part of that is porridge. It's just past lunch time, though lunch isn't one of the two meals they have food for, but it seems that stew is on the menu for tonight, and she's already getting started on it. She moves with the quickness and ease of someone thoroughly at home in a kitchen, and more the sort to wield a spatula instead of a gun.
It's just after lunch time that Jensen Raith comes ambling along to the kitchen, looking for something to eat. Not a meal or anything like that: That's what breakfast was for. No no, he just needs a quick pick-me-up. Some crackers and a little peanut butter, or something like that, just so he can focus long enough to finish working. He's not surprised someone else is there when he shows up. "Don't mind me," he says when he slides through the entryway, "I just need a slice of bread or something so I don't fall over." He does at least offer a glance to Shannon so she knows who's trespassing.
Or is it Shelly? The faces he remembers from census-taking, but the names have gotten fuzzy. He'll puzzle out who's who later.
Shannon glances back, arching a brow. "Bread? Are you kidding? Do you know how little bread we have? However, I do have…" She turns back and rummages around for a moment before coming up with something and tossing it towards him. An apple. "It'll be better for you anyway," she says before returning to chopping vegetables.
"You're that Raith guy, right? One of the security people that Eileen mentioned? For the scouting?" she asks without looking back. It's a good thing too, or she'd probably lose a finger the way she's slicing the carrots on her cutting board.
Catch. An apple is better than bread, for sure. Last longer too. "Thanks." One bite and some quick chewing before Raith gets back to business. "Yeah, that's me," he says in response to Shannon's question, "One of the guys in charge of security, internal and external, plus other activities." That part is necessarily vague. "Any concerns you need addressed? Questions? Comments?"
There's a bit of a laugh and Shannon shakes her head, dumping carrots in a pot and starting on onions. "No, no concerns, questions or comments. Last night I actually offered to help, but it was overshadowed by cave girl going after smoke boy. Go figure. I didn't wanna offer anyway. Too dangerous for me, but there you go." She glances over her shoulder at him, smirking. "I guess once you do it once it gets easier or something. Brought that York kid in, before he got killed in a shootout."
A shrug. That's all Raith can really offer at the time. That, and taking another bite of apple. "We'll take any volunteers willing to, well, volunteer, within certain limits." Now things get interesting. "We don't have the space, time or ability to train operators from scratch, so for now, I'll keep this simple. If you know anything about surviving in the wilderness, or how to use a gun, or signals intelligence, then I encourage you to volunteer. We need all the help we can get right now."
"That's not what I'm volunteering for," Shannon says, putting down the knife and turning. "I can use a gun, but my aim sucks. I don't know shit about signaling or surviving in the wilderness or anything like that. What I can do is what I said last night." She shrugs. "Guess no one heard over the cave girl. I can make it so a scouting party cannot be seen. Hell, if the bad guys do show up, and we're lucky enough to have them come at us from one direction, I can make the whole damn castle disappear. Probably. It'd depend on a number of factors."
And now, what should happen but Raith taking a step that much closer? "Go on," he says. If he was only listening casually before, Shannon has succeeded in capturing his full and undivided attention now.
Except Shannon doesn't continue at first. Instead she looks him over for a long moment before she sighs. "I'm not non-evolved like I told everyone. And it was stupid to hope that I could hide it forever when I was told to help out here. I'm an illusionist. Trust me, there's no one I can't hide if I'm nearby. Nothing I can't hide if I'm close enough."
Raith gives a nod, considering this information for a moment before taking another bite of his apple. "Well, the castle is a known landmark," he says, "Obviously, I won't ask you to make that disappear. But the people inside. If it became necessary, how many of us could you make disappear? Half? All of us? How convincing are your illusions? The usual stuff you might be asked in this sort of case, you know."
The smirk returns to Shannon's lips. "Baby, I dare anyone to try to see through my illusions. No one ever has, and no one ever will. But if I'm having to just hide people? I can hide anyone within my range. Or I could follow soldiers or agents and alter what they see. But that's not really feasible either way unless it's a small group. But if we were all in one room? They could stare at us in the middle of the day and see nothing." And just to prove it, she disappears, with only the faintest of shimmers to mark the change. "See?"
Things like people disappearing into thin air just don't phase Raith anymore. He leans left, and then right, taking a look at where Shannon apparently used to be, as if to verify for himself that, yes, her illusions are perfect. And then, he grins. "I think we'll have plenty of work for you in short order," he says, "Nothing too dangerous."
As promised, it is a perfect illusion. Other than the shimmer when Shannon disappeared, there's nothing at all to mark that there's a person there, other than the voice. She lets the invisibility fade with another shimmer, and grins. "Oh, I can do better. Say there's a group of people coming to take us out, but there's a very clear leader…" One more shimmer and Raith is staring…at himself. "Soldiers listen to their leader," 'he' says, in Raith's voice. But then a finger comes up to 'his' lips. "But shh…The usefulness is ruined if too many people know."
"Loose lips, as they say." Another bite of apple, and the real Raith mentally files this information away for safekeeping. "Your little talent will stay a secret as long as we can keep it that way. Like i said, we'll have work for you real soon, so try not to fill your schedule with anything you can't easily move around. Capice?"
One more shimmer and it's Shannon again, nodding and turning to resume her chopping. "I don't imagine it'd be possible to keep it just between you and me, hmm? You'll have to tell that Ryans guy?" Something she really doesn't want, but she heard Eileen last night appointing him as Raith's helper type person. "Probably Eileen too, I'll wager."
"Need to know basis for information exchange," is Raith's response, "And right now, Ryans is the only other one who needs to know. Eileen's less likely to care about how we get something done than she is that we get it done, and you know how information is. The more people who know it, the more likely it is to get telling everyone that's it's hiding right in front of them." One more bite of apple down in the kitchen "This is a game changer in some ways, you understand. Leaves me with a few ideas I had that now need a little revising, so I'll be slipping away to track down my associate. Or try to, at least. Things as busy as they are, it's gotten real hard to get ahold of people."
"I know it is," Shannon says, nodding. "So sure, go plot and scheme. You'll probably be able to find me here. I spent most of the day in the kitchen. At night…Well, sorry, you probably won't find me then unless you're yelling my name."
"I'll just look for you here when the sun's up, then. Easier on the vocal cords." It's with renewed confidence that Raith turns and walks to the exit. "Keep your ears opened, though, just in case I came calling in the middle of the night."
"Always do. I prefer to be the one doing the sneaking, not the one getting sneaked up on," Shannon says, tossing him a smirk. "Just lemme know what you guys decide."
"Soon as we figure it out," the ex-spy calls back. A thought occurs to him, and he turns halfway back around. "Hey, we made it to the end of the week. Something to smile about for a change." But that's all. He out of the kitchen and, a moment later, out of sight, back to whatever dark corner he plots and schemes from. Looks like the plotting and scheming is about to take up even more of his time than he was planning.