Participants:
| Scene Title | They All End in Tears |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Adam and Tamsine reunite after his trip only to split apart — their relationship just one more casualty of the violence. |
| Date | September 12, 2009 |
Tamsine's Apartment, Greenwich Village
It's a Saturday night, but now the bar has a decent staff, Tamsine is taking it off. It looks like it's time for spring cleaning. Several trashbags line the entry way, ready to go out to Staten Island with a charity group from a nearby church. The house is cluttered but very clean, as she's turned it upside down in an effort to get rid of anything she doesn't use. Many of the bags contain Lily's things, but only those that didn't carry specific memories or had not been used for very long or very often.
When the knock comes to her apartment, Tamsine moves toward it — she's in cut off jeans and an old tye-dyed t-shirt, her hair in a pony tail, a smudge on her nose from cleaning. She peeks through the peephole and opens the door. "Hey," she says, raising eyebrows. "When'd you get back in town?"
Adam looks a tad tired and replies, "Recently." he says a bit as he comes in. For once, he's not carrying any gifts or anything. "It was a bit of a stressful trip." he leans down and kisses her on the cheek for a moment. He makes a move towards the couch and sits down, letting out a bit of a sigh, "How have you been?" he questions, "What happened that got you caught up?"
She sighs, closing the door, though it gets caught on a trash bag. Kicking the bag out of the way with a bare foot, Tamsine manages to close the door completely. "Did you hear about the courthouse shooting?" she asks, moving to sit on the chair beside the sofa. "I had to teleport out of there — and apparently it got picked up by camera or something. Some cops came to arrest me the next day, the day you were leaving." She frowns, looking down at her short nails. "I didn't want you to worry." She frowns, glancing up at him through a lock of red hair that falls across her dark eyes.
Adam frowns for a moment at that. He tilts his head a moment and considers her for a few moments. Then he says, "Are you hurt?" he questions, "Did they do anything to you?" He seems both simultaneously concerned and…perhaps a bit pensively angry.
Tamsine doesn't lie. The only thing she's ever kept hidden in the past was her Power, and even then it's not like she lied about it; she just didn't tell anyone. So there is a flush of shame as he shows his worry over her, when she hadn't let him come to her aid. "No, I'm fine. They didn't hurt me. They put me in a jail cell, and because … well, the day before? At the courthouse, there was a man who was having an asthma attack, and I grabbed him when I teleported. I took him to the hospital, and sort of appeared in front of everyone there. Stupid, but I wasn't going to let someone die when I could save him." She frowns.
"The nurse at the desk wasn't helpful, and a Homeland Security agent helped me, and gave me his card. I still had it with me when I got arrested, so I called him for help. He got them to release me and drop the charges, as long as I registered. So I had to do that a few days later; I couldn't leave town until I did, so that's why I didn't try to catch up with you." She takes a long breath, not realizing she said all of that on one.
Adam is quiet as she explains the story. He stiffens noticably at the talk of the Homeland Security Agent and shakes his head a moment. He pauses quietly at the thought of that and asks, "Who was the Homeland Security Agent?" he questions. It was a he, so it's not likely one he's met yet. Though for a moment he does touch his jacket as if reassuring him of the HomeSec badge he, himself, keeps.
"His name is Len Denton," Tamsine says quietly. "And I'm fine. I'm registered now, so at least I guess I can quit worrying about them 'catching' me, since they already have." Her laugh is a bit bitter. "I don't love that they know what I can do, but… it works out. I hired you a new bartender, since I went back to work while waiting for the meeting with HomeSec for them to poke and prod and make sure I can't relocate the earth or something." She smiles a little at that.
Adam slides his fingertip to his cheek and his tumb slides under his chin. He tilts his head for a moment and then nods. Len Denton, we'll have to look that up later, hm? Time to get someone on this. He licks his lips a moment and then says, "I'm glad you're ok." he frowns, "Are you sure he's legitimate?" he questions, "Can I see the card?"
She shrugs and stands, heading into her kitchen where there's a bulletin board of Important Things. She's finally cleared it of Lily's calendar and the various things that had to do with being a Mom: orthodontist and pediatrician phone numbers, the PTA and soccer rosters, the cafeteria's schedule. It's no longer important to know that Thursdays are Spaghetti day. She finds the business card and brings it to Adam. "He helped me; if it wasn't for him, I might have had to stay in that jail for longer, and would probably have a court case coming up for failure to register." She takes a shaky breath, before adding, "That day in the courthouse, Humanis First members were there to kill someone who was there for just that. An old gentleman who probably never hurt a soul in his entire life."
Adam nods. He looks at the number and the name, memorizing it quietly before sticking it back on the board. He turns back to Tamsine and tries to put his arms around her, "That's horrible." he says gently. "I'm glad you're alright." he pauses, "Those terrorists are getting out of hand." he looks down to Tamsine, "I…had a thought that you might.." he pauses, "Might like?"
"Oh?" she asks, curiously, looking up at him. "I don't know if I can handle any more of your grand ideas. This bar thing is hard work," she points out with a smirk. She frowns just a little as she remembers the things that Magnes told her about Adam, or how to bring them up, or how not to.
Adam nods a bit, reaching forward to take her hand and leading her back to the couch. He sits and motions for her to sit too. "It's an idea…someone else had, but they…" he pauses and then smiles bitterly at Tamsine, "No longer with us. But…the idea has merit." he looks thoughtful as if remembering something, "You know how.." he considers how to bring it up, "Some young evolved sort of…end up feeling along, persecuted…scared. For, lots of reasons, including Humanis First."
Tamsine's normally soft, liquid brown eyes harden as she narrows them. "Yes. I'm aware of this." Too late, she's aware, but she's painfully, bitterly aware that young Evolved feel frightened and oppressed by the system that surrounds them.
Adam nods a bit, "Well, there was thought of an outreach group." he says, "A group designed to reach out to such young children in order to show them people are out there who will help them and be there for them, yeah?" he questions. "Something spread by word of mouth, held at quiet locations. The main danger to that being these Humanis First terrorists, but I'm sure we could find a way to keep it quiet." he pauses, "I know that you don't really want to be involved in…the more aggressive things that I do. But, I think this is something that you might really be able to get into doing."
Her eyes close, and tears slip out from the lids anyway. She pulls her hand away and wraps her arms around herself. "I left social work because I felt I failed my own child, Adam. I don't really see how I could do this without feeling like a horrible hypocrite as a person," she says in a quiet whisper. Speaking of the more aggressive things he does, she opens her eyes. "I was warned by someone — he didn't know I knew you, but your name came up as someone dangerous, Adam. It scared me." Her voice wavers as she looks at him, her eyes wet but no longer full of tears.
Adam arches a brow. Someone talking about him, Adam doesn't care for people talking out of school. His head falls to one side and he asks, "And who might that be?" he questions, "And how might it be that I was described as someone dangerous." he doesn't mention that perhaps, he would be, that they both know he can be, depending on who's point of view you were using.
"A police officer. He said you've killed and tortured people, Adam." Her eyes are wide and her face is pale. "Young people. People his age, and he could only be … God, no more than 24 I think at most." She gets up and walks a few feet away to look out a window at the street below: not far is the corner where she had met Magnes and Victor not so very long ago — just a few months. She turns and looks at him. "Are you wanted? By the police?"
Adam leans back for a moment in his seat for a moment. A police officer, a male. He slides through his rotary quietly, thoughtfully. He'll have to think on that identity some more. Before he says, "Torturing people is not what I do." he says in response. But she knows he kills people. "And no, not by the police. Not percisely."
"He said you tortured a friend of his, a young woman. But he wouldn't, or couldn't, give me the details," Tamsine says quietly. "I don't know if I can do this. I know I say it's all right, but … when I hear it from someone else's lips, it scares me, Adam. I care about you, I do, but to hear that you're dangerous, from a police officer… and then there's the age thing…" Her eyes grow wet again, and they shine as she looks up at him. "What kind of future do I have with someone who isn't going to age? I know we're not that serious yet, but it's hard to even think about that as an option when … when you can't die and I'm so … vulnerable." She shivers, as if to punctuate how fragile she is.
Ah, Elle. That doesn't really get him any closer to who it is this could be, but it at least answers the question of what he is. He pauses, "He wasn't a police officer." he says in response, first. "What did he look like?" he questions. But he pauses, because then there's the question of age. "What kind of future would you have with someone who could age?" he questions. "Even if we were…like that. Getting married, living our lives together…that's not something you'd have to think about for…decades."
"He's a police officer. I'm not telling you so you can go kill him or something, put him on your hit list," Tamsine says with a scowl that mars her pretty features. "It's not something most people think about for decades, but if I see myself grow old in the mirror every day while you stay the same, you don't think it's going to be a daily reminder? That you're like some god and I'm going to age and die?" She frowns. "These people you're killing… would you kill them so easily if you could be killed that easily? I think you don't have a real respect for life because you don't have to fear death, Adam. I didn't think about it before, but … that makes sense to me now. There must be other ways to stop these people or change things, rather than killing people. You had a change of heart — what if someone blamed you for all of the stuff this 'Company' has done — why are you exempt but these others not? Because you can't be killed?"
Adam shakes his head for a moment, "No, I can assure you he's not a police officer. I can assure you, he's a company agent." police wouldn't have known about Elle. "Tamsine, did you ever consider why I'm not wanted by the police? Why if I was this dangerous psychotic terrorist, that I'm not on every law enforcement agency's bulletin board?" he leans forward, "If I'm so dangerous, why am I not on television right now or on that…cops show? Because they know letting people in on their operation and what they do would destroy them." he stands up, "Do you know what these people did?" he questions, "You want to cry for them? They found little evolved children and they tortured them. They wouldn't call it torture, they would call it trying to find their limits. Are you a firestarter? Let's see how much fire you can handle. You can't be hurt by bullets? Well /what can you/ be hurt by? And then, that wasn't enough, Tamsine. Oh no, it wasn't enough at all. /Then/ they tried to synthesize the gene. They experimented on giving children powers, just to see if they could. They really deserve the benefit of the doubt?"
"I didn't call you dangerous or psychotic, but you are a murderer. You see it as righteous battle, but it's still homicide, Adam, isn't it? I didn't say I agreed with what they're doing or what they did, but … I don't know. There has to be a better way. And no, he was a police officer. It was his friend, or a friend of a friend — he wasn't clear on the details. Maybe he knows something he shouldn't, but he's not a Company agent. He's just a kid, not a killer or something." She rubs her eyes. "There's ways to fight back without killing, aren't there, Adam? There have to be."
Adam shakes his head and sits down a moment, back on the couch. "And what, percisely would you suggest? People who always think that things can be resolved non peacefully, most often end up dead. Social change doesn't happen with a protest, it happens at the end of a barrel of a gun." he crosses his arms, "Most people don't even see the change in their lifetime, they see it after they're martyred. I've no plans to become such a martyr."
"And you're not afraid because you can't be killed," Tamsine says quietly. "How willing would you be to go pointing the guns at people if you were as vulnerable as they were? And what makes you different from the HF people who think their gun barrel is the one enacting needed social change? They think the same way you do. They think that there's no other choice and that it's the only way to change things, too. They think Evolved people don't deserve the benefit of the doubt." The courthouse incident has shaken her, more than she knew. "You will say the difference is you're right and they are wrong, I know, and that you're on the right side and they're not — but that's a matter of opinion. What makes you different?"
Adam tilts his head, "Because I am right and they are wrong. How exactly do you propose you put an end to the Humanis Threat? It's only going to end up coming from violence." he says, "This won't be solved without it. How do you propose putting an end to the Company? There is /no/ other way. That's what people always end up fooling themselves to think so they don't have to get their hands dirty. Well, you know what? It's wrong. I've had four hundred year's experience. In the end? It always just comes down to who has the biggest army."
"I don't believe that," Tamsine says in a small voice. "There has been change, real change, enacted without violence. The Civil Rights Movement relied mostly on non-violent protest, and there has been real change. Their opponents are the ones who relied on guns and bombs." She looks up at him and shakes her head. "I haven't seen real violence, not until the other day in that courthouse. But I can't believe it's the only way. Wars, revolutions — of course, they work, violence works, but are there other ways people might have found? You can't know that another way might not have been effective in some situations won out by violence. And in the end — someone with a bigger gun comes along anyway." She wipes her eyes. "It's just 'might makes right,' and whoever has the biggest gun is the mightiest."
Adam shakes his head, "The Civil Rights Movement? They didn't do a damn bit of difference. You know who did? King. Malcolm X. Malcolm Evers. But they did it as martyrs. The civil rights bill wasn't even going to get passed until someone did away with Kennedy and they passed the bill as a tribute to him." his lips purse, "There has been real change. But it only comes at the barrel of a gun. Yours, or their's."
Tamsine's eyes close again, and tears stream down her face as she shakes her head. "There was change. Small change. Gradual change. Not everyone who helped was killed. Claudette Colvin. Rosa Parks," she points out. "It's not an overnight thing. And I'd rather die like King than be the person who shot him." She presses her lips into a small thin line, then parts them to take a deep breath. "I can't do it. Murder is murder, Adam. I won't turn you in, I won't tell anyone what you're up to, but I can't… we don't believe in the same things." She exhales, then sobs.
Adam considers Tamsine for a moment, then stands from his seat. He shakes his head and doesn't say a word. Rather, he simply walks to the door, opens it and leaves.
Tamsine stands still at the window for a long time, watching him from behind the glass. It's only her second relationship of her life, and the first "grown up" relationship, but it seems, from her limited perspective, they all end in tears.