Participants:
| Scene Title | So Not Hair Kids |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Simon meets with Mallory for the first time since his disappearance. |
| Date | April 6, 2009 |
The High School is in Ruins.
Washington Irving High School, or at the least that rubble of the great school that was. This is the second time Simon has come here since he'd returned to the city, only now he's not here to reminisce. He's here to meet his sister and likely get his bones grinded into dust. That's what he expects considering he just up and left one day, keeping in touch afterwards through text messages mostly.
He's standing on top of a rather large piece of concrete, which hasn't been removed from the scene just yet. He looks up and down the street for Mallory, balancing back and forth on one foot. Left foot, right foot, repeat.
Mallory comes walking down the street, zipped up hoodie on with a skull and crossbones over her heart. That's not really a great sign. She has a sour expression on her face. Her hair's a little shorter than the last time Simon saw her, when it was a little too long; she got her split ends trimmed or something, but whoever did it did a bad job, so it was probably her being bored with a pair of scissors. She comes to a halt about two yards away from him and scowls, saying nothing.
Oh, a scowl. Typical Mallory, sure, but this time he has a feeling its directed more towards him than…the rest of the world or whatever. “Hi,” he says simply, staring the girl down for a moment before he hops nimbly off of the rubble and walks towards her. “I know you probably hate me, “ he begins, but his voice trails off from there. Clearly he didn’t put enough time in front of the mirror in before he decided to meet Mallory.
Mallory keeps her hands shoved in the hoodie's pockets. No hugs today! Still the scowl, and her lips press more tightly together. She's not speaking quite yet, which is also a bad sign.
Simon takes another step closer to Mallory and lets out a breath of air. Clearly there would have been no preparation for Mallory's silent treatment, anyways. "I missed you, if that means anything. And I got you something from this cool museum with funny caskets. It's at home, though," he says, voice getting softer towards the end. His own hands are gently pushed into the pockets of his jacket as a cool breeze blows through and rustles his hair.
"You left," Mallory finally says, scowling intently still. "You left me here with the stupid people and you just wandered off and now you're back and what? You're gonna apologize? You think you can make up schoolwork?"
"Schoolwork?" Simon shakes his head slowly and coughs to the side. "Um, no I'm not going to - I mean, there's the GED, Mallory," he starts to explain, fully realizing that's not the point of what she's saying. "I know I left, but I freaked. I had to get away. I didn't think you would understand," he says, turning away from his twin to stare at the destruction next to them. If they ever rebuild, he's hopes that the new building will look nothing like the old. "And yes, I am sorry. I am going to apologize."
"Right. I wouldn't understand. I was here, too, you know," Mallory snaps at him, removing her hands from her pockets and clenching them into fists. "GED, huh? You know the only reason I never took the GED was to stay with you in school."
Simon shuts his eyes tight for a moment, making little crows feet in the outer corners of them. “I know that,” he says, letting his lids flutter open again so that he can look at Mallory. “I realize that I FUBAR’d, ok? I’m not happy about it. Totally unhappy about it, actually,” he tells her as he pulls his hands out of his pockets and cross his arms in front of him. “I want to make it up. Tell me how.”
"You're lucky you're my brother," Mallory tells him in a low voice. "You know I'm going to forgive you. You know I'm happy to see you again. And you don't even really have to do anything. You're the only person in the world who can do something like that, you know."
Mallory shrugs, stuffing her hands back into her pockets. "We'll always have each other," she tells him. "Or at least look out for each other. Which you didn't let me do when you left."
"No, I didn't. That's not going to happen again, though," Simon says, his smile growing a bit wider at the point. He takes another step and uncurls his arms so that he can try to hug Mallory, however awkward it might be. "I'm here to stay, and if I decide to run off, you'll be the first to know about it."
Mallory immediately stiffens. Hug time? Seriously? She makes a face as his arms fold around her. "Yeah, right," she mutters sourly, finally unhooking one arm from pocketland and slinging it awkwardly around him to pat his back twice. Mallory sucks at hugs.
Yeah, it's an awkward hug, and Simon didn't expect anything less. They were never really hug buddies or anything. So he lets go and steps away from Mallory, looking relieved all over. "So, you have to tell me what you've been up to. You know, since I left."
Mallory glances around them at the wreckage, blinking twice before turning her gaze back to his eyes. "Payback for this. A little, anyway."
Simon turns and takes another close look at where the school used to be. He blinks as well, thinking, then turns to Mallory with a sly grin. "What did you do?" he asks her with a twinkle in his eye. Payback was totally deserved for what happened here, and Simon is a little proud to hear that his sister may had her hand in dishing some out.
Mallory stuffs her hand back in her pocket. "There's a lady I met when I was looking at Phoenix stuff for you. She's better than me at what I do. We found the money of the people who blew up the school and reappropriated it." She smiles very thinly. "Mostly the lady, but I did some, too. Spread it around." She sighs faintly. "Of course, then they robbed a bank and killed some more people." Oops.
Simon laughs, at first, because it sounds like a pretty crazy thing to do, but that last bit stifles it with a cough. "Oh," he says, glancing away for a moment, "yeah, well it's not your fault or anything. At least you tried to stop them." He lifts his shoulders in a shrug and add, "It's more than I did."
Mallory's lips pull into a thin smile. It's not the nicest smile, either. "We still hit them hard," she says. "It was… good." Satisfying.
"I can get a lot better," Mallory tells him, though she seems satisfied still. And there's some enthusiasm in her eyes. That's rare. "She's showing me how. She gives me exercises to do." She pauses, then asks, with a less harsh tone than she's used so far, "Tell me what you did when you were away. What happened?"
Simon is genuinely happy that Mallory has found something of a role model in this mystery woman. It makes him wonder, for a moment, if he'll ever find one of his own. Not that he needs to practice his power as much. In regards to her question, he answers with, "I didn't do anything. Nothing special, I mean. I just burned a whole in my wallet and traveled. I saw lots of corn fields and went to a barn party. It was - well, I wouldn't call it fun. I really did clear my head, though."
"That's it?" Mallory demands, forehead scrunching up. "That sounds like a big waste of time, Si."
"Yeah," Simon says with a slight grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. "Yeah, it was, I guess. Still, I got everything sorted out in my head." He taps the side of his skull with a finger and smiles. "Plus, I learned how to shoot a bow and arrow at this campground I stayed at. Not that it will ever come in handy, but I'm a good shot," he says with a wink. Afterwards, he gets more serious and ads, "I'm doing a lot more now, though, to make up for it. I'm helping out a friend on Staten. He's keeping some of the kids without homes safe. It's good work."
Mallory's eyebrows go up. "A bow and arrow? Seriously? That's so stupid." Ever the encourager. "…What guy on Staten? What are you doing there?"
"Hey, shut up, it's not stupid. It's totally relaxing and this guy was showing his kids how do it at the range and said I could give it a try. It's fun," is what Simon has to say in his defense. Not stupid at all. "His name's Brian. I knew him when I tried to wait tables at the Nite Owl. He set up this orphanage over there to keep kids off the street. Lots of them are, you know, like us," he adds.
Mallory makes a face. "I dunno. I think we have enough trouble taking care of ourselves. And I don't want to associate with pro-Evolved people in case it makes people suspicious of me."
Simon shakes his for a moment and lowers his head in thought. When he speaks, it's slowly and with all the seriousness he can muster. Probably, it's even a bit melodramatic. "I don't want to hide anymore, Mallory. I don't want to go all rainbow flag and high heels about it, either, but if I have a chance to help some people out, I'm gonna do it. And these kids need the help," he adds. A pain in his jaw flares up at the end when he remembers the crazy monster that attacked the Lighthouse. "Besides, I think we've been doing a pretty good job with us overall."
Mallory shakes her head a little. "If I'm going to bother helping anyone, no way they're seeing my face." She pauses, then says, "There's a guy who knows what I do now." That makes… three.
Simon grins and nods with understanding written on his face. "You have the luxury of being able to do that. I, on the other hand, don't really. But I'm careful, really. Right now I'm just a glorified babysitter," he says. "What guy?"
Mallory makes an even more sour face. "His name's Victor. Victor Childs. His sister got murdered a while back, he wants my help a little."
Simon offers a frown and sighs. "That's rough," he tells Mallory with a bit of sympathy behind his words. "I say help him out if you can. Not that you need my approval or anything." He reaches up to run a hand through hair that has gotten way too long. "What does he think you can do, though?"
"You need a haircut," Mallory tells him bluntly. "He knows I can do stuff with computer things. There was a thing at an Apple store a while ago where we both kind of had our powers amped up or something. He's fast."
"Crazy," Simon tells Mallory with a look of surprise. "I didn't even know that could happen." He stops messing with his hair, knowing he should probably get it cut while he's on the mainland. There's something about going to a Staten Island barber that doesn't appeal to him.
"Apparently it can," Mallory says sourly. Because she is very sour. "Pretty goddamn annoying if you ask me. Though I guess if you could control it it would be better. Useful, even."
"Yeah, I guess," Simon responds with a little shrug. He notes Mallory's excessive sourness and says, "Well look I think I'm going to go hit the stylist or something," he says as he pulls at his hair. "You should, um, probably do the same. Want to come with?"
"There's nothing wrong with my hair," Mallory tells him with a mild case of murder-eye.
Simon rolls his eyes and laughs. "Fine, then just come and watch. You can tell the woman what to do because I'm so not a hair guy," he tells her as he starts to walk down the sidewalk without even a single glance to what used to be his school.
Mallory snorts. "Right, because I'm such a hair girl," she says, though it's amiable enough.
 <date>: previous log |
 <date>: next log |