Stranded With Children

Participants:

brian_icon.gif samara_icon.gif harmony_icon.gif

Scene Title Stranded with Children
Synopsis Brian takes a group of Lighthouse kids from Stanton Island, gets stranded on the side of the road where he is joined by Samara and picked up by Harmony. Evolved meets and greets Evolved as some options are offered in regards to the 8th.
Date November 6

Staten Island


"Yeah, just poke that part right there. Is it really hot?"

"I don't know."

"This was a bad idea then."

The two voices going back and forth, one belonging to Brian Winters and one to a much younger individual. Joe Fulk is standing in front of the black truck, on his tip toes to peer into the engine. The hood is up, and smoke is rapidly escaping the front of the vehicle. Brian stands next to the tiny invulnerable boy, frowning down at the hood with much disappointment.
It's afternoon, and the truck is broken down on the side of the road in Staten Island. It's a cool day, and the traffic is relatively low. Which cuts down on helpful passerbies.

Inside the truck two more children are nestled in the back of the cab. A little white girl and a little black boy. Both probably around the age of ten. The child outside the truck looks up at Brian with a light shrug. "I think it's broked."

"Yeah. I know. Go sit in the car Jojo." Brian dismisses rapidly.

Brian goes to lean against the side of the truck while Joseph gets in. Holding his arms over his chest, he dips his chin down. Team Echo's evacuation isn't going as smooth as planned. They should already be off the island, but Lily couldn't find her favorite doll, and Justin was having stomach issues and Brian just had to try to fit in an episode or two of Glee before the departure. Or three. It's just such a catchy show.

A light sigh is let out before the young man shoves off the truck, looking up and down the road. He'll have to send another one of him out for help. Or something.

Samara had woken up on the island again. One of the most inconvenient parts about being a ghost is never knowing where she'll end up or how she got there. Thanks to death, she's always in the same clothes, wandering the same way— trying to find her way back to Rue all on her own. On the plus side she doesn't need food, so she's not hungry, even though she's been walking the road for awhile.

When she sees Brian and the truck, her eyebrows and lips turn into a small frown, nothing like being stuck. Her silent paces take her to the truck. Instinctively she leans over the hood as well, staring into it, her reflection appearing among the metallic parts, even if she never does.

Her head turns to face Brian and then to peer at the children; children from the lighthouse, she assumes. The faintest reflection of her can be seen amongst the windows of the car as she backs up; almost like someone is there but isn't at the same time.

Continuing with the theme of individuals leaving Staten Island, there are certain people who are a much bigger friend then they probably need to be. Harmony is one such friend, as she decided she would help a friend in their evacuation. Keep in mind, this is one of those people that has to pack their entire life just to go on a weekend vacation, so you can imagine just what they need for this evac. Packed into a Jeep Grand Cherokee with all kinds of crap in the back, The Rolling Stones thumping from the plum colored vehicle with the curly haired blond behind the wheel. Her head bobs and her fingers tap to the beat. After taking a moment to check her rear view mirror, and wipe a bit of the stray lip gloss from the corner of her mouth, she comes up on the stranded and rather frustrated looking Brian on the side of the road. Harmony slows the car to a stop, flicking the power windows down, and calling out as she leans over the passenger's seat, "Car trouble?" she asks with a smiles, "Looks like you uh.. have a full house there."

A hint in the car's reflection catches Brian's eye. Slowly turning he spots the reflection vaguely in his mirror. A slow smile turns up on his lips, before he settles his back against the door. "Waddup Ghost-face." He murmurs to the air. Tilting his head back it thumps against the window dully. "Is this going to be a thing now? Like I'm going to have a secret friend that leaves messages that I can breathe on to see.." His musings make him fade off the end, his eyes looking rather searching for a moment. "That actually sounds pretty awesome. We could be a movie." He points out, more excitement in his voice. His mouth opens again but it closes quickly as the sound of a man who can't be satisfied slips into his ears.

Looking down the road, Winters glances back at nothing aka Sam-eye. "Uh oh. You better hide." Aka do nothing. As the jeep pulls up Brian pulls up his award winning smile. "I am very pro-life. And I don't believe in condoms." Brian answers rather quickly to the woman, in regard to all the children in his truck. "And yeah. It appears something went crssh and the whole thing is bzzting and I don't have the technical aptitude to claclank it back into place."

Or something.

A three fingered wave is given to Brian in greeting as well as a broad grin. Her pointer finger is drawn out before she's writing along the window, two letters in her cutesy girlish writing, Hi. A smile is given to the kids in the backseat, not that they can see. Although, they may get a glimpse of Brian's window friend rather unintentionally, that's the beauty of glass, it maximizes specular refraction.

She points towards the vehicle and offers him a more sympathetic frown. Not that she can empathize; she never learned to drive on her own thanks to her untimely death. She mouths the word, "Ha!" at the notion of hiding, knowing all too well no one can see her (and often much to her chagrin). With that same slightly playful smile, silently she turns to face Harmony. Her head tilts curiously as she watches the blonde intently.

Unlike Brian, Harmony is completely unaware of Samara's presence.. for the second time. It isn't the first time she had been in the same vicinity as the ghost girl. Yeah, she didn't know she was there that time either. Such is the fate of those that are generally invisible to those who are ignorant that ghost people actually exist. But she does count the heads of Brian and his handful of children, pausing at the one that is different from the others. Suddenly, what he had just said raises other questions for just a second, and then she dismisses it as a joke. After all, it sounds like something she would say.

"Heh, I see that. Coulda used maybe two of you on one of my bored days last week." she quips back, "Well.. I can't rightly leave you stranded with children.. which.. oddly sounds like some kind of sitcom worthy of a few seasons. I also can't say I'm the most technical of people, but I do know how to change a tire all by myself. So.. let's have a look." she cuts the engine of her vehicle and slips out. Dressed in her usual pair of tight hot-pants, the slightly wild Harmony wanders over to where Brian stands, with her hands tucked into her back pockets, "Alright, so let's get a look at what's under the hood." she smirks.

Smiling lightly in return to Samara, Brian leans over to the window to blow on the window briefly. His own three finger wave is much more descreet, below his waist so that Harmony doesn't think he's more crazy than he really is. His grey gaze then flits back over to the woman in the jeep. When she mentions that she could have used two of him, he grins broadly and looks over to the side as if looking at a friend to share a secret joke. Two of him. "You have no idea how possible that is." He laughs lightly, but then his lips pull back tightly. "A few seasons? I would say a season and a half at most. They would most likely suffer a writers strike early on, the writers they would bring in later would be subpar and.."

"Oh you can change a tire?! Thank God you happened a long." Brian quips, glancing over to the window to make sure the children can't hear him being mean. Ok good. "You don't happen to have a cellphone do you? Maybe I could call a friend with a car, I've got to get these kids out of here by tonight."

"Actually.." Harmony's face shifts into an expression that indicates that she is about to deliver bad news, "I don't.." and there it is, a slightly sheepish shrug from the blond girl, lifting her shoulders helplessly, "It's not that I don't have one, it's just that I'm not used to carrying it because I have problems with signal. Messed up situation. Involving abilities. Just say that I forget to carry my phone a lot and leave it at that." She cuts her hand across the air, in a gesture. "But!" Harmony looks back at her own vehicle, rocking on her feet a bit as if judging something, "It might be a little cramped, but I could get you to where you need to go, or at least get you to somewhere where there is a phone? I promise I don't bite or have weird serial killer habits or anything. Oh, and I love kids so.. yeah, feel free to catch a lift." The girl smiles to the kids in the vehicle.

"Really? Everyone has cell phones these days." Says the guy without a cell phone. He does have other hims out in the area that could easily call.. But time is off the essence, they need to get out off here. Then he gives her another once over as if examining Harmony for the first time. He dismisses the thing about abilities, he's not carrying a phone so he won't get tracked, after all. He glances over at the jeep and gives a soft hmm. Then he looks back into his truck to examine the kids for a moment. He gives Harmony a light non-committal nod before bending.

Lowering his head into his sideview mirror he pretends to be fixing his hair momentarily. But under his breath, "What do you think Sam-Eye, trust the lady who's first thing she says is that she's not a serial killer?" He watches for Samara's reaction before straightening up. "Okay. Well thank you for the offer. You getting on a ferry or something? Get us onto the mainland? Or a boat or something? Just give me a couple minutes to unload some stuff." Like human beings.

Sami's lips quirk to the side in quiet consideration. Her eyebrows furrow involuntarily as she shrugs and silently chews on her bottom lip; distrust is too easy. She holds up a single finger before floating out of view for a few minutes and stepping into the blonde's car. Her eyes fix on the contents. While it's organized chaos, she doesn't see anything unusual, aside from the geiger meter. Her nose wrinkles involuntarily at the object before drifting back to the mirror.

Once she spots her own reflection, she gives Brian to emphatic thumb's up. It's all clear to her, aside from the weird meter thing. But then, that doesn't look like something a serial killer would wield.

Harmony smirks as Brian goes over to fixing his hair in the mirror. A slow shake of her head, finding the action pretty amusing. "Yeah." the blonde girl nods, "I was actually hoping to catch the next ferry out. I don't really have to get this stuff to anywhere immediately? So I can take you wherever you need to go." While she turns to her vehicle and makes a move for the back seat. The stuff she has back there was pretty much tossed inside any old way. She really didn't want to do this little favor for her friend, so their stuff just got the 'whatever' treatment. She starts rearranging thing in the back, pushing appliances, clothes, papers and books out of the way to make room for more passengers. "Can't believe she needs all this crap.." Harmony mutters to herself as she shifts things around. Then there is the yellow device with the little red needle on it, "Ah. There it is.." she blinks as she finds it, and she sets it in the front seat on the driver's side of the floor. After she is satisfied with her work, she slips back out of the car, turning to the van, "Alright! All set! Oh.. I'm Harmony, by the way. Probably would have been a more normal thing to do to give you my name first."

Once Sami gives the okay, Brian opens the door to the trucks. "Grab your bags kids, we're going in the purple car." Winters says sharply, walking back over to the jeep to where Harmony stands. "I'm Brian, by the way." His hand comes forward in greeting affter her name is given. "The one with long hair is Joejoe, the girl is Lily, and the minority is Justin. The other one is Sami." The last bit is said rather hastily, and slightly under his breath. A little grin is flashed to no one in particular. Or maybe SOMEONE very particular. "Nice to meet you Harmony." Brian murmurs as he guides his flock out off the back of the truck to the jeep.

Each bears a bulky backpack, each one having enough supplies to survive for a couple of days. As the kids round the truck, Brian gestures to Harmony. "Everyone say hi to Miss Harmony, or Mrs.Harmony. Whichever." The geiger meter draws his attention for a few moments. But his attention quickly goes back to the jeep and the kids at hand. The children are ushered into the back, though the little girl starts to sway heavily as she clambers into the back. Collapsing into the seat, her head dips low and her eyes slowly close.

Though Brian does not notice at first. He's too focused on his imaginary friend. Whispering under his breath and hoping that Harmony is focused on the kids, "You coming Sam-Eye? You can sit with me…. Can you sit?" Heaving himself up into the front seat, Brian scoots over as far as he can, allowing a couple inches of space for GhostGirl. The door shuts and the sideview mirror is adjusted so Brian can apparently.. fix his hair again. He's very vain.

When the little girl walked through her, Sami didn't react, even when the little girl collapsed into the backseat, the read-headed ghost just went about her business, shovelling into the vehicle to speed her own journey back to the apartment she shares with her ghost whisperer. She slides next to Brian with a small shrug.

But the little girl's head spins with a new image, one of a teen girl she's yet to see…


Four Years Ago


The pleading position of a sixteen year old redheaded girl sitting at the breakfast bar could evoke nostalgia for some; unlikely for Lily. The teen's black skirt and red v-neck shirt are striking, especially against her pale-ish skin, "Oh c'mon mooooooooom. It's like three days! I swear Lanny and I won't get into any trouble! You can't say no now just because," she forms air quotes with her fingers, "'a feeling'. Seriously! I mean… you let Tahir go away with his best friend Billy Westen when he was like fourteen! I'm sixteen now! Shouldn't I have time away from you guys too?!" She slides off the barstool towards her mother.

Jane Dunham sighs. Her dark hair is pulled in a ponytail away from her face as she watches her eldest daughter and shakes her head, "Samara Beth Dunham, do not give your mother lip." Her tongue clucks matter-of-factly, only spurring the temperamental teen further.

The redhead stamps her foot once, "Daddy said yes already. It's already been decided! You can't do this now! Mom… please. Lanny will think I'm totally lame and it's not everyday a girl's best friend gets her first modelling job. Besides, Lanny needs someone to give a cute smile and keep her out of trouble! You know it's true!"

Jane shakes her head a little; there's little to say in response when it's already been put together. Her stern expression melts into something far more kindly, warmer, "If you get into any kind of trouble I swear you won't see the light of day young lady— "

Elation registers over Sami's face. Her eyes brighten, widen, and her eyebrows lift as her smile extends brightly, "THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!" The teen does a quirky little dance complete with some 70's dance moves before twirling out of the kitchen. She won. She won her death.


Today


Sami shoots Brian a smile in the mirror and shrugs a little. She appreciates the ride, even if he isn't the one driving. While floating takes little energy, it's time consuming to get back.

"Minority?" Harmony raises a brow at him, "That's terrible.. And it's Miss.." she says, though she doesn't sound like she is accusing, there is the layer of amusement which would indicate that she at least doesn't mind his humor, at least. She doesn't linger on it however, and she watches as the kids are lead into her vehicle, smiling. "Hi guys!" she smiles to them, and wanders to hop back into the driver's side. She does take watch over the kids, even if Brian seems a little distracted, which Harmony doesn't really pick up on the fact that he is speaking to himself.. Or would be considered to be doing as such, if she had noticed. While she adjusts the rear view mirror, Harmony seems to notice Lily not looking all that well, her face twisting into an expression of concern. "Are you okay, back there sweetie? Do you need some air? Too much air? You look a little dizzy or something." Her bright blue eyes watching her. Her condition actually makes Harmony look down at the meter at her feet.

Has it happened? Her neurotic worry that she is going to slip up and lose control, spilling radiation all about and making people sick? That's why she carries that thing around, to ease her paranoid mind. Is she making the girl sick. She doesn't /feel/ like she is shedding radiation. "Hey.. you might wanna check on her. She's looking a little pale." Harmony says to Brian, starting up the car.

"I don't see why that's terrible at all. Justin! Are you a member of a race that populates the majority of this country?" His eyes go over his shoulder as if waiting for Justin's response.

"No."

"Do I love you?"

"Yes!"

"At the Lighthouse we're taught to embrace what we are. Whether that be evolved, or different skin color. We have to be what we are. And yes they're all evolved. Try stabbing Joe with a fork. It's fun." Brian instinctively scoots over a little bit to make room for Samara on principle. Yeah she's probably sitting in him a little bit, which might be weird but whatever. He makes hands come out of his chest. While Harmony seems to be distracted with the rear view, Brian is eyeing the meter below her feet. "Affraid the Russians are finally gonna get us?" He asks quietly, before he is interrupted.

"Brian.." Comes the soft murmuring from the backseat. Justin's voice. "Brian." This time his voice is accompanied by a tiny hand pulling at Brian's shoulder.

It is then that Brian realizes what Harmony is saying, as Justin grabs his shoulder. Half turning he frowns lightly. "It's okay. It's probably going to happen a lot, okay Justin? She'll tell us later. You and Joe make sure she's comfortable. Alright boys?" He looks back to Harmony. "She's fine. Part of her gift."

And just like that, Lily's face lights up with a bright smile as if having gained some victory. A triumphant sort of glee washes over her face while still managing to look rather tired.

"She's a postcog. Meaning she gets visions of people's past. Something that is very important to the person, she will see it. Give her enough time, she could see your whole life. There's no keeping secrets from Lily. Or me." Brian murmurs, glancing over to his side momentarily to the person he can't see. He knows very well Lily passed right through her. "Lily tells me everything."

"Thanks for the ride. We're actually heading to Jersey. But we'll find a way once we get to the mainland. I was really counting on that truck, I didn't want these little ones to have to go on a bus or whatever. But it'll probably have to do."

Sami's face flushes a little brighter at the notion of sharing some piece of herself with the little girl in the backseat. She turns her head to face the child, again causing her to chew on her bottom lip. There's something a little unnerving but cool about it, especially if this girl can examine her life post-mortem. Her eyes narrow a little as she turns back to face the front. Her gaze falls on the meter again. Maybe it is about the Russians! Now that would be a scandal! Of course, that isn't exactly the issue at hand, is it?

She shrugs a little at the notion of Lily knowing her life; there's little she can do about it now, and it's not like she can tell her own story anymore. Except to Rue. Rue can hear her; that's her one comfort. She shoots him a single thumb's up in the mirror in thanks for inviting her along and making room for her, there's little other ways to communicate. Except learn sign-language— something that's now on her list of to-dos.

"Hey, I'm not accusing or anything, it's just that I know some people that might find that offensive. It's cool that you're comfortable enough to say that. Though, uh.. I kinda have to wonder about you fixing your hair.." Harmony comments, as she uses the little electric trigger on the door to readjust the side view mirror. "Overhead is on the shield, if you need." she smirks, pointing to the flap just above Brian's head. "I'm not gonna stab him with a fork.." Harmony laughs, shaking her head. She starts down the road, not much of a careless driver, so the ride will at least be smooth.

"Russians?" she perks, and notices him eying her meter. "Oh.. uh.." an uncomfortable chuckle is given, "Yeah.. that's just me easing my paranoia. It's my security blanket. I'm Evolved too.. Radiation is my thing. Yanno.. bomb, big boom, nuclear fallout.. that sorta thing? Yeah, that's my ability. But I haven't had any accidents, I'm pretty well in control. I just—" she shrugs one shoulder, "Yanno.. just sorta have that for my own sanity. I actually don't think I would explode, but just in case, I try to keep calm as much as possible, while gaining a little bit more understanding of how they work day by day. I'm gonna be trying to clean up some of the fallout areas when I get a big enough handle on things. That's the plan, at least." her eyes check the mirror again, looking to make sure the girl is indeed alright. When she snaps back, it eases Harmony to relax again.

"Ahh, Jersey.." she smiles, "Been there a few times, years ago with my parents. We toured around a lot, so.. did a BUNCH of traveling. Crazy times.. but NOTHING compared to all this that's happening." she waves her hand back towards where they are leaving from.

Brian smiles back at the sideview, giving her his own thumbs up. "I don't have a fixation with my hair. I just have a friend I can only see in reflective surfaces." He answers candidly. He's surprisingly honest in a dishonest sort of way. Reaching into his pocket, he pulls out a pen. The pen is swifftly used to scrawl something on his wrist. Which he turns over briefly just enough for his invisible friend to read then puts down into his leg, the pen being returned to his pocket.

"Do you get offfended?" He asks softly, "About the minority thing." Then she starts talking about being evolved. "So.. you're kinda like what happened to New York? Are you registered?" Brian tilts his head back. "You think they would have locked you up a long time ago."

"Yeah. This is crazy stufff right now." Though he's not sure where exactly she stands in her knowledge of CRAZINESS. He leans back in his chair slightly, smiling at Lily in the rearview.

"So you keep tabs on yourself… That's very responsible." He remarks, giving a respectful nod. "Yeah. We'll just be going to Jersey for a few days. Wait for things to calm down."

"Wait.. an invisible friend? Are you serious? Is that like.. some kinda ability you have or something?" Harmony is focusing on the road for the most part, so she misses the message writing apparently. "That sounds kinda pervy to me. But that's kinda funny.." She gives a shrug, reaching over to cut off the radio completely. "But, no.." she shakes her head, "I don't really get offended by much at all. In fact.. I find that I do more offending than I get. Which is fine with me, really. I live my life with only a set amount of inhibitions, in the right places so I'm still a good person."

As he is asking about her registration status, she gets a little quiet for a second, after answering, "Yeah, I'm registered.." she says. It takes a sec for her to begin again. "It was decided that I had enough control over my ability for me to be okay. But.. I'm just barely on the edge. I kinda lucked out I guess." It is a bit of a touchy subject for her. It only adds to her neurosis.

With a sigh, she nods, "Yeah, I kinda have to keep tabs on myself. But it's really weird, I mean, I've been hiding out for years because of my ability, not really joining normal society. Then when I do decided to come out, all this stuff starts happening. I had someone warn me to hide on the 8th, because something is gonna go down. Thing is.. I don't really have anywhere to hide. Most of this stuff is just so new to me."

A light smile curls up, where Brian just shrugs. He doesn't answer the question about his invisible friend or his powers. "Harmony, please stop hitting on me in front of the children." Brian says quite politely. He frowns lightly as she continues to talk. "I'm sure you can control it just fine." He assures her, giving her a little leg pat for reassurance.

With that he ffolds his arms over his chest, glancing over tohis imagniary ffriend. Turning out to survey his kids he finally looks back. He nods about the eighth. "That's when everything is going down, I hear. Whole city's going up." When she says she has nowhere to go, he gives a light shrug. "You could come with us to Jersey. Should be safe. Or you could stay with me." He grins lightly. "By the way I'm a replicator. I'm staying and going."

"Hitting on you in front of the children?" Harmony grins, looking in the mirror at the back of the kids in the back, "If you that that was hitting on you? You must really not have much experience with girls. Either that, or I'm more used to being a bit more outlandish when I do start flirting." She dips her head over to the side to give him a 'look' a smirk pulled at the corner of her mouth. Of course she is mindful that there are children in the car. Harmony normally being pretty liberal with her vocalization, it's difficult for her to cut back on that, being so used to it.

She doesn't appear to have much of a problem with being touched, when he comes to pat her leg. So she isn't really the outwardly defensive type, "I can, yeah. I learned to control it down to a fine line. I can totally do one of those sci-fi death rays if I try." she grins at him. It's not really a warning, but the girl could at least take care of herself. "But normally, I glow bright, rather than hot. And I disrupt radiowaves.. which is why I don't bother with my cell phone much. It really sucked once, when I sneezed and knocked out the power in my apartment one time. EMPs.. they can suck."

As she speaks about going to Jersey, Harmony sorta wrinkles her nose, shaking her head, "Mm.. Not much for Jersey, but.. If your place is safe, that might be an option. And.. if you you can replicate? I could totally use my feet AND my shoulders rubbed at the same time." she smirks and looks at him again, "Oh. Still not hitting on you.."

"Still don't believe you." Brian chirps happily as he leans against the door. "EMP huh?" That could be very useful. The agent in Brian, the networker, the manipulator, starts to claw at his moral cage but is quickly put back down. Winters is protecting children not raising up a small army. Probably, at least. "I have a place in.." Well.. "I have a few places I might hide out. Or camp out. Have no idea what's going to happen really. But if you want to stay safe, it doesn't hurt to hang with a one man army." He points out gently. "But the kids, no way they can stay here. We even have a baby we need to protect." Brian gives a light sigh.

"Here's the ferry…" Brian points out. Looks like the second part of their journey is about to begin…


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