Participants:
| Scene Title | This Family Will Hold |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Brian and Sam talk about the Lighthouse kids |
| Date | October 5, 2011 |
October.
Pollepel Island has become a den of trouble. For so long everyone was trying to get everyone they knew and loved onto Pollepel Island. Now only a few short months later the Castle is a place to be escaped.
Brian and Samara's room has gradually become more decorated over their time here.
Originally they weren't here much. More often out among the children. Though the closer the baby has gotten, the more time they've been spending here.
He has kept her up to date on what's been going on, how he had sent one of himself west to make contact with the Guardians. The Evolved group of the west. How the relocations have started. And most recently Eve's vision.
The vision that depicts the island as a rubble.
It's early morning as Brian sits in the armchair next to the bed his fiancee rests in. Two cups of coffee sit on the endtable as Winters watches her quietly in these pre-morning moments.
The change in Sam's breathing signals she's waking long before she really stirs. Her head turns to the side and she squints as the smell of java fills her senses. "Mmmffff," she says vaguely, the first noises of waking for a mind that doesn't quite register it's not all there. Barely awake, she murmurs vaguely, "I look good in hair. It's lucky because I've got hair by the bucket load."
She mumbles something else, "Don't cut it. Secret to powerssss…. noooooooooooo," it's then her eyes open and the brightness of the day fills her senses, causing her to clamp her eyes shut again and groan quietly. But her grumbles turn to smiles when the smell of coffee meets her senses, "Bless your heart." She slides upwards to peek at Brian with a still present smile, "Please tell me one of those is for me?"
A smile flickers up as he watches her, crossing one leg over the other. Opening the endtable a small notebook is produced. Quietly. With a pen slid into it's binding. Opening the book, he pens quietly as he arches his head to listen to her. As she begins to awaken he lets out a light laugh. "These ones are fun. I've got hair by the bucket load. Don't cut it. Secret to powers." A page is turned to the left. "Couple days ago you had, "No, I'm the tomato king." Finishing his journal of this information the pen is set down. "They're getting better."
As for the coffee, both cups are pulled towards himself. "Sorry sister, you're on your own." Picking up the cups, a sip is taken of each. "Mm." Setting one down he goes to offer the other to her. "Lukewarm, your favorite."
"I'm sure you made the tomato king one up," Sam objects as she gratefully accepts the cup of lukewarm coffee. "Mmmmm," she replies at the notion of lukewarm. "At least it's not cold?" she says with a shrug. "This dream I remember. I was in this weird camp thing. It was creepy. They wanted to cut my hair. But it wasn't my hair it was this ridiculously long and heavy Rapunzel hair that I could use to, I don't know… do Rapunzel things?" she shrugs. "And it was so sweet! Brian, you have no idea. Honestly, I think it was like acrobat hair. It was awesome."
With a vague sniff she glances back to the coffee in her grasp. "I overslept again?" she attempts to ascertain the time, yet following the question, she pauses. "Or… you're not sleeping?" she clucks her tongue. "You gotta sleep. I know there's like a million of you, but sleep is still a thing."
"Sounds like a present from Delia maybe." Though he gives her a stern look. "I would never make up such things as the tomato king. How dare you." Leaning back in the chair, he laughs quietly at her dream. "Acrobat hair. I'm sorry they cut your hair. But.. to be honest, it would probably cost you a lot of money to maintain that kind of level of acrobat hair. Shampoo costs would be off the charts."
He shakes his head a little. "This body has slept. And out of anyone you are allowed to oversleep a little." He leans forward in his chair, setting his elbows on his knees. "You don't have to worry about me. Let all of me worry about you."
He flashes her a smile, going to take a drink of his own coffee. "Besides this mug is still hot, I kept it for me. So. Don't worry too much about me."
Acrobat hair would be expensive to maintain, "Fair," Sam agrees. "But think of the usefulness of ridiculously long hair that does things. Seriously, I'm not sure you know understand how awesome this hair was. Like, I would marry this hair. Which, I think, speaks to its amazing capability." She shrugs nonchalantly before winching slightly and putting a hand to her stomach. "Someone needs to deliver this kid an eviction notice."
Sleeping earns a vague narrowing of Sami's eyes, "Sleep is just as important for you with everything… going on." The corners of her mouth edge into a frown before she forces a small smile. "Besides, me and this one," she pats her now enormous belly — she didn't think it was possible for anyone to ever be this large. She casts him a half-smile at the notion of Brian's coffee as hot, "Sadist," she mumbles teasingly while arching a wry eyebrow. "Or is it actually your third cup?"
Letting out a quiet laugh Brian shakes his head. "Unfortunately your marriage dockett is full. I may never be the man that this hair might have been but I hope you find a way to settle with me anyway." He looks down to her stomach, giving a sigh of exasperation at it. "Hey butthead. It's time to get the hell out. Finish whatever you're in the middle of and vacate the premises." His tone gets a little loud at the end and he gives a sheepish and apologetic smile at the end.
He laughs quietly. "It's ice cold in truth. And I may have had a few." His grin is ever present before he allows himself to venture to territory of 'everything' going on.
"I wish we could just keep talking like this all day." It comes out as a groan as the cup is set down.
"Tahir and Adisa. They keep saying no when I ask them to join us." Tilting his head back, he gives a little shake. "But also we should be getting off here as soon as possible. So it's hard for me to argue with them with a whole lot of passion."
Sam's marriage docket is full, "A shame that," she clucks her tongue. "Can only imagine what it would've been like to marry a giant wad of hair. A sad thing that will never come to be~" she virtually sings. At least they can keep their senses of humour despite all of the rest.
She chuckles when he refers to their kiddo as butthead. "Yeah, seriously! Stop being so stubborn and vacate the premises. Sooner than later." And then with a small smile she adds, "Please?"
But the smile fades at the mention of her siblings. "I don't even know what to say to them. To be honest, I'm not sure…" she all-out frowns. "It's bad news. It doesn't take a genius to see that." The last has her humming, "Are the kids off yet? I can rally for that. Honestly. No freeloaders around here. No matter how ridiculously knocked up."
A tinge of regret washes over his features as he eyes her stomach. "I'm sorry I called you a butthead. To be fair I was going to say asshole but I'm trying to curse less because of you. But anyways, please get out, I'm sorry."
He sighs about the siblings. "I'm watching them. If something happens I'll be there. I'll keep trying, but I don't know what I can do. He doesn't want to leave his…" He gives a shake of his hand. "Everything." At her question he takes a deep breath.
"Well that's why I'm creepo watchin' you sleep. I need your advice." Leaning back in the armchair. "I keep telling them, we need to get the kids out. And they keep sayin' it's a bad idea to move right now. But everyone is acting like there's going to be a big fight here. So.. We gotta get the kids out but we could risk a fight here by moving them. On top of that. Megan. The doctor lady? Says we should give you and the baby two weeks after the birth to safely travel." He folds his hands in his lap.
"Not sure we have two weeks. So I don't know what to do. If we move the kids, we risk a fight where you are and that's not what I want to do. But I also don't want to risk you going over the river when you could combust any second!"
Sam actually coos, "Don't apologize. Little is being a stubborn asshole," apparently asshole is still on the table, "Gets that from you~" she beams. It's so much easier to talk like that than discuss the impending doom that will fall on them.
She presses her mouth into a thin line and inhales a deep breath. "The kids come first. They have to. They're not in a position to be able to protect themselves if there's a fight here. We're not in a position to protect them enough here. I could try to phase them if it got bad, but there's no way I could get them all at once."
"How soon do we think it's happening? Any ideas." Her eyebrows lift. "And I can still phase. If something happens here after I pop, I can keep me and the baby safe. I can. I know I can. Nothing can touch us if we're in a million little pieces… right?"
"Probably. Little asshole." He smiles, looking at her stomach. He gives a nod to her testament. "The kids come first." He repeats. Taking another sip of his mug, returning it to the table. Standing up he takes a short stroll over to the window. Leaning against the wall he watches out of it.
"We have no idea." Winters grunts, shoving himself back up to his feet. Walking over to sit next to her on the bed. Taking her in hand. "Sure but that's.. I mean that's not ideal. How long can you keep up the phase. Phasing for a newborn can't be like.. I donno, healthy?" He shrugs, leaning into her some.
"So you think I should take the kids first, you and me stay here until we can? Join the kids later?"
"I think that's good. I mean, the kids go and you take them… geez… I don't know where." Sam frowns vaguely. "Someplace safe. Unexposed if we can help it. Places are becoming fewer and further between." She casts him a long look and presses her hand to her forehead. "But we need to keep the kids safe. First and foremost."
The mention of phasing being bad for a newborn prompts another lift of Sam's eyebrows, "Better than blow up. Safer with me than the alternative. I mean, I could join the kids, but then we're what? Doctorless. I'm going to pop one of these days, and I'd just be a liability for all of you. Not good."
The last has her nodding, "Seems the smartest. But where are you taking the kids Brian? There needs to be somewhere that we can still protect them…"
"I first thought the Bay House. But I don't think we'll be able to hide there. Or keep all the kids there. We've got more now. There's more orphans that've joined us here. In the castle." Laying down beside her his hand searches out for hers. Wrapping his fingers about hers, "So my second thought was to go west. Just get away from New York. Go west until I find something that works."
"The Guardians still don't fully trust me, but if I show up on their doorstep with a busload of Evo orphans. They may be mad at me, but I can't imagine they would turn me away. Don't you think? I know that's not much of a plan.. But it's the best I got, right now. You got anything better?"
Holding her hand tightly, he leans in to dot her face with a quick kiss before finding a home on the pillow for his own head.
Sam frowns slightly, "I doubt they'd turn the kids away, but that seems like a huge risk." Her eyes stare up at the ceiling and she grants his hand a tight squeeze. "I don't have any better ideas though. Do you think they can keep the kids safe?" Her lips twitch into something more akin to worry than hope, "Finding places for them to be safe is getting harder. Any way we can just get them out of here? Entirely?"
She grants him a bright grin at the kiss. "We need to cling to the family we have and begin clinging tighter to it. Honestly, it's all we can do. And that might mean finding ways to help the kids protect themselves better. Whatever that means." She frowns slightly at the thought.
"Utah. California. Hell, Canada." He closes his eyes for a moment. "We'll find a place. Whether the Guardians help us or not. But I think. That this family." He sets his hand on Samara's stomach, smiling warmly as he catches her gaze. "This family is quite done with New York for now. You agree?"
"I'm all for teaching the kids how to defend themselves. How to use their abilities to their advantage. I've tried to train them some. But we're gonna need some room to roam around." Winters closes his eyes. "So I'll get the kids out of here as soon as we can, and then you and me will follow them. And… We'll find a new home."
"That sounds good and right. And really, the only option we have right now is to just keep the family moving and together," because ultimately that's what they all are: a family. Sam presses a hand to her stomach. "I just need this one to get out. So I can help all of you. I'm getting pretty tired of being useless."
There's a long pause. "Do you think we should risk it? I mean, I could come. I have no idea when this one is coming. There's no way to know when this could happen. Timing is a thing."
"Well.. You are more likely to get out than the kids. Pushing off before you're ready." A grunt. "Too much risk, right? For the baby? We need to make sure the baby is as safe as possible. And worst comes to worst, you and me escape with the baby if things go down here. You can phase and it doesn't matter if some of me don't make it out. We'll just meet up on the road."
"Family. We'll keep our family safe." Leaning in he pushes a kip to her cheek. "I'll do my best with Tahir, Adisa, and Gillian. She said she didn't want to leave the city either. By the way. I'll keep trying to sweet talk them into it. If anything we can find a safe place they can join us at." Taking her hand he squeezes it tightly.
"It's true," Samara agrees. "And really, we want as little risk as possible. I just… the kids. And as charming as you are, somehow I think I could win major sympathy points with the Guardians at the moment. Probably." She issues him a small shrug. "Just get the kids to up the sympathy points. Coach them if you have to. Anywhere to get them as safe as possible," she shrugs. "It's pandering and I don't even care."
She returns the squeeze and lifts his hand to press a light kiss to the back of his hand. Mobility is increasingly becoming a thing. "I could try to talk to Adisa and Tahir. They might listen to me. Maybe. I mean. Tahir loves his life so that's tricky. Adisa is just flaky and probably doesn't believe things are that bad."
"Maybe after the baby. Having you travel off the island now? Just to talk to Tahir?" He shakes his head. "Not worth the risk. I'm watching them. If anything happens, I'll be there." He tries to reassure her, giving her a warm smile. "They're with us too. I mean kids. First. Clearly. But they're my family now, too. And the world may fall apart," Brian edges down to kiss her stomach tenderly. "But this family will hold together."