Participants:
| Scene Title | The Earth Is A Mess |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | …and Adam needs to rule it. |
| Date | May 5, 2009 |
Off The Coast Of Manhattan
Adam has decided to take Zoe out on a little boat ride. There's a small boat out in the harbor that he appears to have rented and he walks her along the pier before he says, "Well, here it is, why don't you get in?"
Zoe looks at him sidelong. Vanity (omg she has some) has prompted her to wear contacts again, but her glasses are in her bag in the event of one or both of them falling out and sinking down to Davy Jones' locker. She was also smart, and took her dramamine beforehand. Giving Adam a grin, she steps onto the boat cheerily enough. "You're not selling me into white slavery, are you?"
Adam mms, "I don't believe I was ever involved in white slavery." but his face is sort of stoic, because he was at least /very/ involved with slavery. The boat is nice, not quite a yacht, but it does have a downstairs. He begins to undo the ropes that keep it held at the dock, "I used to be quite a sailor, but now boats are all motors and buttons, there's hardly any skill required anymore."
"I'm pretty sure you used to be quite everything." she says with a faint smile. "It's almost a shame no one waltzes anymore except in ballrooms, you must be wonderful at it." She looks around. "Anything I can do to help?" And then, "Can I ask you a question?"
Adam mms, "Well, four and a half centuries is a long time to develop sets of skills. I'm sure i'm not being terribly boastful to say I have forgotten more than most anyone else has learned." he pauses as the ropes are undone and he hops into the boat, "No, I've got it." he pauses, "Sure, what do you want to ask?"
"You've done some bad things." she says seriously. "In some of the wars you fought…the choices you made. I don't know that it's fair to necessarily judge someone based on their past if they've made an effort to change, and I mean, you've adjusted to an integrated world where human trafficking is considered deeply anathema by most of civilized society, but at the same time, you used to own a plantation and you fought for the Confederacy. Do you…regret? Do you reconcile? How do you deal with some of the choices you made?"
Adam is quiet after the question and sits down at the captain's chair. He turns on the boat and pushes the throttle and all that jazz and begins to head out into the Atlantic. "I remember the time I was in." he replies. "If you read about me, in a book, and found out I was a slave owner and a captain in the confederacy. Would you judge me poorly?" he shrugs, "It's part of me, sure. But I'm no more the same man than you were the same person at 5. Everything has a context."
"But even then, there were choices." she points out as she watches him work. Her tone does not suggest argument or offense. She wants to understand, and she's a scholar, and scholars generally don't just scratch a subject's surface.
Adam mms, "In some ways, sure. There were always those who spoke out about slavery. But it was an accepted way of life for my entire lifetime until then. It wasn't until the 1800's that some countries began to do away with slavery." he pauses, "We don't tend to question the way we were brought up. It's just assumed."
Zoe nods. "How did you - I guess the best phrase for it is, grow out of it? All the pre-concieved and brutal ways human beings treat each other?"
Adam turns to look at Zoe as the boat continues to move out. He turns back to the ocean, "Zoe…those brutal ways never stop. They just take different forms. There's a pit in Staten Island where people fight to the death, did you know that?"
"No, they don't stop in entire. I know something about Staten Island Adam, and I'm not as naive as you think I am." Zoe frowns a little. "People make the mistake of thinking I live in some kind of clueless fairy tale world all the time, and they couldn't be more wrong. I've seen the past, I've seen killing fields - the first vision I ever had was of a battle and men killing each other." She looks over the side of a boat. "But these past hundred years alone, have also seen a woman refuse to give up her seat on a bus, and a wall splitting a country in half come down, and apartheid against a country's own natives coming to an end. They may seem sentimental and insignificant, but they've changed and shaped the world in incredible ways."
Adam nods, "And in Africa, genocide is a daily occurance. In China, they send you to work camps for being too Christian. In Cambodia, girls as young as 8 are sold into prostitution." he pauses, "Things change. And things stay the same." he pauses, "I've seen too much suffering to believe this world will ever truly be…" he pauses, "Peaceful. I'm sorry if you find my cynicism droll, but it's part of who I am." his lips purse for a moment as he turns off the engine now that New York is a faint outline in the distance. "I'll take you back if that's what you want."
"No, not droll." she says. "Sad, I think. I hope you don't believe that even if human cruelty is inevitable and continual, we shouldn't bother trying to stop it." She blinks. "What gave you that idea?"
Adam shrugs, "I don't know…" he pauses, "I guess I was starting to get the impression you weren't very impressed with the man I'd become." he glances towards the coast line where he can barely make out some tall buildings.
"I don't really know much about the man you've become, just the man you were." she points out. "We know who we are, but not who we may be." Because it is so damn sexy to quote Shakespeare on a date. Oh, Zoe. "You've lived an incredibly long life - which you're going to continue to live. Who you are is probably going to change constantly just based on how the world changes around you. So who are you now? Who do you want to be?"
Adam looks thoughtful about the question. He moves from one side of the boat to sit next to Zoe. "That's complicated. I really do want to make the world a better place. But it's just so damned hard…and sometimes, the choices are just so…" he trails off, "I have to be a lot of things to a lot of people. Sometimes so they'll listen to me, sometimes so they won't get in my way…but sometimes…I feel like the only time I can be myself is with you."
She smiles. "The earth is a mess, and you just need to rule it." she teases.
Adam shrugs a bit, "Perhaps." he says, "Who better than me, really?" he leans back and slides his arm about the back of her seat, "But….time will tell, I suppose." he pauses, "You think it's pretty?"
Zoe grins. "I somehow think a world that's starting to transition into democratic governments so readily would be a little offput by the prospect of Adam the Merciless. Though I'm sure you with a fu manchu beard would be a fearsome sight to behold." Because she's just geek enough to reference Flash Gordon. "The skyline, you mean? The city?"
Adam arches a brow as he does not appear to get the reference, but apparently gets the gist. He glances, "Yeah…or maybe I meant me."
"Ming the Merciless? Flash Gordon?" Zoe hazzards and then ah's. "Well, if you meant you, 'pretty' is not the word I'd use for you. The view of the city is pretty. Hazy with pollutants and crowding the eye, but it's got its own kind of beauty."
Adam arches a brow as she continues to try and tell him something about this Ming the Merciless. "Right.." he says. He turns towards the city and says, "Well, I suppose if you want to look at it in a half empty sort of way. So, are you hungry? I made some sandwiches."
Zoe hey's! "I will have you know I'm very optimistic!" she tells him with a laugh. "Sandwiches would be lovely. If you'd warned me we were picnicking, I'd have made something. I make a mean pot pie."
Adam mms, "Well, I thought something simple would suffice for a short trip. No need to put a lot of preparation in." he stands, "Do you want to eat below deck?"
"I wouldn't have minded. Though it is a bit embarrassing that I spent all those years in France and my best dish is pot pie." She grins up at him cheerfully. "Um, sure?" She rises to, even takes his hand of her own volition.
Adam holds onto her hand and leads her below deck. It's not a terribly extravagent affair. A bedroom, a small bathroom and a kitchen/living area. He reaches into a cupboard and pulls out some bags of sandwiches, "So…I've got peanut butter and jelly and ham and cheese and chicken salad."
Zoe regards him solemnly. "Adam, will I have to fight you for the peanutbutter and jelly?"
Adam mms, "I hope it doesn't come to that, because I doubt you could win." he shakes his head but slides the sandwich across the table. "I've also got some crisps and spring water." reaching into the fridge and sliding all this onto the table. He motions, "Move over, I should get to sit next to you."
Zoe moves over obligingly. "I dunno," she says, her solemn gaze transforming into a smile. She puts up her fists, like she's some tabby kitten confronting a saber toothed tiger. Rawr! "I'm pretty fierce about my peanut butter and jelly."
Adam hmms, "I'll keep that in mind. Wouldn't want to accidentally start a fight." he says as he reaches for the chicken salad. Turning back to Zoe, "You do have a pretty fierce war face. Perhaps I should look out."
"That's right!" she tells him with a laugh. "The earth's a mess, and I need to rule it." It's always the quiet ones.
Adam says, "Well, I'll see what I can do about it." he leans forward during the laugh and gives a light kiss. It's not quite chaste, but pretty close to it before he opens his chicken salad."
"Well, that was slightly less like I'm being kissed like someone's sister." she snarks with a grin, reaching for her sandwich.
Adam arches a brow. He puts his sandwich and says, "I distinctly heard a challenge there. I'm not sure what it was, but I'll make my own guesses." and turns. His fingers slip across Zoe's chin and turns her to face him for a moment before leaning forward and pressing his lips much more firmly against her own.
Oh, hi. Zoe's not a bad kisser, just clearly a woman who hasn't been kissed near enough. It takes her a few seconds to relax, though she enjoys it the whole way through. It's she who pulls away first, a little shy. "Oh." she says.
Adam is…well, not to toot his own horn, but he's a pretty good kisser. He's had, one might say, a lot of practice and he seems to know how to add just the right pressure at just the right time as his lips move across Zoe's. He lets her pull away, "Hmm…Oh…I'm not sure that's the reaction I was going for."
"I just haven't been kissed like that in a long time." she says, a hand coming to press her fingertips to her mouth. Then, "We could do it again? You know, if you're concerned about my assessment." A smile.
Adam lifts one side of his lips into a sly smirk, "Well.." he says, "Let it never be said that I don't take second chances." he leans in and presses his lips against her mouth again, playing along slowly and if the kiss continues to progress, he even pokes at her lips with a little tongue.
She laughs, but not in a way that suggests he's doing anything wrong. It's a laugh with, not a laugh at. No, men who have had four hundred years to practice kissing aren't gonna get laughed at.
Adam continues with the kissing for a while, his arm slipping around her neck and the other around her side. By the time they are done, because breathing seems necessary, he's got her sitting /very/ close. He leans back, "Well, I do hope that makes up for the first kiss."
"The first kiss," she says, blinking in a way like she might after drinking really good champagne, "Was not a bad kiss by any measure. It was just surprising." Zoe smiles a bit, and says wistfully, "I really wish you'd let me bring you and Daniel together. It's hard, not talking about you."
Adam frowns at that and reaches down to take a bite of his sandwich, "Well." he says, "Perhaps one day. But not…now." he looks up at her, "Besides, things with Daniel and I are much more complicated than they appear."
Zoe cocks her head. "How so?" she asks. "Are you afraid that you won't meet his standard of expectation?"
Adam thinks about it for a moment, "Perhaps." he says, "Something like that." He's quiet for some moments and then says, "Let's talk about it another time, ok?"
"I didn't mean to upset you, of course." Zoe says automatically. She picks up her sandwich, starting to eat it. "So…what are you doing now? I mean, aside from taking me on dates and hiding from whomever's out to get you. You're not the type to twiddle your thumbs."
Adam smiles a bit and reaches out, flipping Zoe's chin with a finger, "I'm taking care of business." he frowns, ,"In fact, ,I unfortunately have to go out of town for a few weeks. I suppose I could have picked a better moment to tell you, but I shouldn't be gone terribly long."
"What is your business?" she pursues curiously, and then, "Oh, where are you going? I hope it won't be too tiresome for you."
Adam chuckles, "It's good to travel." after he's asked about the business, he says, "Acquisitions. It's all rather technical."