Participants:
| Scene Title | Uncertain Sanity |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Warren is writing blueprints in the Greenbelt, when suddenly he's caged by a woman he barely remembers anymore. |
| Date | October 2 2010 |
For whatever reason, Warren has found himself out in the Greenbelt again. He's quickly crafted a comfortable chair out of tied together pieces of wood he's gathered, just sitting under a chair while he rapidly writes out blueprints. Another day of looking over those robots means a long night of writing down designs. He's in his usual black suit with the open jacket and hanging tie, though he seems to shiver a bit at the cold night air.
greenish blue eyes watch the man in the hand-crafted chair. They're hidden in the night's shadows; Barely visible, a hand reaches into the moonlight-accented patch just outside her hiding place, and the fingers press into the ground as if th soil were made of nothing but air. Minutes pass. Five. Ten. Maybe more… But once Milena has contact with the vegetation in the area, the rest is easy.
Roots that hadn't been there before grow rapidly from the ground, greating a birdcage-like structure all around Warren, and tying themselves together at the top so that he, with any luck, can't escape. Who knows, though? If he really is the psycho killer that he himself claims is on the loose, what will he stop at to escape? It takes a few minutes for Milena to pull her hands out of the ground. When she does, she approaches the cage. "What are you doing back here?" she asks. One hand pulls her sleeves down, hooking them over her thumb. It's chilly tonight.
"Back here? What… you look familiar, I remember this." Warren looks around at the cage once he's fully formed around him, his eyes flushing with that familiar reflective silvery color so he can better analyze the structure. "This is familiar, the rapidly growing plants." He takes a deep breath, then closes his book and looks at her with a curiously raised eyebrow. "If we know eachother, I guess I should tell you, a bit unbelievably, that I had my mind altered by a man who does that sort of thing, to… Alright, wow, this does sound crazy, forget I even said anything." With that, he opens his book again, and goes back to writing.
Milena paces around the cage, her hands touching each bar in turn. It's almost like she's the caged lion, not Warren, with the way she eyes him so critically as she gently feels out any weaknesses in the bars. "I could leave you here," she says. Despite the bravado in her words, they're shakey. Now that she's got him, keeping him here might be a bad idea. What if he escapes? Wants revenge? He'll come looking for her, and— and then!! Then what?
She's never liked how forward he is. It creeps her out a bit. "So… Stop playing around. If you're trying to— Stop that!" When he goes back to writing, she's obviously annoyed…
Tap, tap, tap. She touches all of the cage's bars in turn until she finds the right one. A moment later, a viper-like branch slithers from the ground and makes a grab for the book in Warren's hands. "You can play with your book when I'm done with you!"
Warren sighs in exasperation, not appearing to show the signs of crazy he did in the last few meetings, now he just seems to be taking it in stride. "I've been told I used to have three personalities, one of them crazy. But that isn't the case anymore because my current employer had it fixed. It's a part of the reason I can't remember you. I'm missing a lot of memories associated with the particular crazy one, I think. And I'm guessing I did something to piss you off." He watches as she takes the book, then gently rubs his forehead. "Please be careful with that, I don't really know how to use a computer very well, so that's my only copy."
It wasn't so much pissing her off as it was terrifying her. The admissions, the forwardness… Everything. The root carefully wraps the book up inside itself, and cuts a furrow into the ground until it reaches Milena, where it releases its cargo into her custody. "Kind of convenient," she says, flipping through the pages. She's tempted to tear them out and create trees with the pages. Each and every single one could be an addition to the forest, possible even to Warren's prison. "You certainly didn't forget coming here."
Admittedly, there is something different about him. While her hand is still attached to the root, she pushes it aside, steps into the cage, and then yanks her fingers free. Wood chips fall to the forest floor as she does so, and she grimaces in minor pain. The connection isn't meant to be broken so quickly, but the roots are thin, and she's in a hurry. Snapping the book shut, she tucks it under one arm. "Last time you were here, I kind of got the impression that you wouldn't mind killing me."
"Last I heard, I used to kill people. I don't remember ever killing anyone, but I certainly remember how to. It's kind of scary, but my entire past is gone, really." Warren raises a gloved hand and points to his forehead. "I can't remember my childhood, being a teenager, or anything before I was around seventeen. It was all dumped out, and then a bunch of fake memories were added. I know this all sounds crazy, but… I've had people messing with my head for my entire life, and I'm not letting it happen anymore. Their first mistake was making me sane… well no, they made a few mistakes before that, but this just sounds more dramatic."
His face goes serious though, and he looks up at her with a sympathetic frown. "I'm really sorry if I hurt or scared you, I really can't remember, you seem familiar, but… you seem honest, so I believe you're telling the truth."
She's heard all this before. And even if she kind of has the upper hand on him right now, as she looks down her nose at him, Milena just looks scared. Not quite child-like - it's way too late for that. But her gaze on him isn't as detatched as it would be if she really intended to hurt him. When she sucks in a breath, it's ragged and halting. "I dunno what to believe," she says warningly, taking steps around him, until she's facing his back.
People lie. That's what they do. That's pretty much a guarantee in life. "I can't just…" She pauses, running fingers through long blonde hair. "…believe you." She pauses, reaching for one of the cage-roots. It would be so easy to drive one of them into his skin, coerce him with pain until she was sure he wasn't lying. That'd make her no better than Humanis First, though. Her hand wraps around the nearest one, and suddenly, the cage around them parts, the bars growing far enough apart for someone to fit through. "I can let you go, though."
"I don't have any intention of hurting you, and I'm not sure what I did to hurt you, but coming out here just… makes it easier to think." Warren relaxes back against his chair, not seeming intimidated for whatever reason, he just appears content, or at peace for some reason. "I feel guilty, even though I don't know what I did to you, I feel guilty that you're so afraid of me. Would it… help if we met somewhere public, and just talked? You know, with other people around?"
Milena's afraid of a lot of people. It's been a bit easier with her being government-employed and all… That affords a little bit of protection that she otherwise wouldn't have. "Yeah, I can understand that…" she mutters, pulling the boot out from under her arm and tossing it on the ground in front of Warren. She's not going to get close enough to actually hand it to him. "Technically, you didn't do anything. I'm not … I'm not stupid enough to let things get that far." Would talking in public help? A little, maybe. But then again… "You know there's people out there who wouldn't care if they murdered someone in public. I don't think it matters much if we talk in the middle of the city or here."
"If I were capable or even wanted to kill you, don't you think I would have done it by now? I know you think I could be lying right now, but…" Warren bends down to pick his book back up, keeping it closed so he can stay focused on her. "If I were still crazy, there would be nothing stopping me. It's no different from chess, I have the tactical advantage, I can see the most moves ahead, but I'm not doing anything with it, I couldn't. How could I? You're this scared, beautiful woman, if anything I have the urge to protect you."
With barely-contained rage, she says, "You're awfully full of yourself." How does he know he has the tactical advantage? How does he know he can see the most moves? How does he know that she's not capable of causing the trees around them to crush him? And how full of oneself does a person have to be to assume that someone else needs protecting?
Milena circles around in front of him again, eyes looking at the roots around them. "All I'd have to do is… Have all these trees grow around you and leave you here, and then… You'd… Have— " For a moment, she fights for the words until she manages to come up with "no advantage. There! I said it. I could leave you here and you'd have no advantage. And I'd win. So don't… Tempt me. 'cuz I'll do it."
Beautiful. Pff. He'd probably change that assumption if he saw what Humanis First did to her. "Besides, I have all the protecting I need."
"You could do it, but you wouldn't. You're a good person, you're only acting out of fear and anger. And I'm… probably not helping at all, sorry." Warren stands up, slipping his book and pen into his jacket, sighing again as he looks up at the trees. "Your ability is amazing. You can do much better things than I can. I build and create, but you create life."
Milena's head tilts to the side just a little, eyes narrowing. She can't quite believe what she's hearing. It's as if someone's taken the crazy guy and replaced him with someone civil and well-mannered. "You want to meet in the city?" she asks. After some reconsideration, she thinks that maybe talking one to one in an area with other people around might not be such a bad idea. Clearly there's a reason he came back here - she can't believe that it was just for him to think. Her chin tilts up a little, and she back toward the bars of her cage, touching them and further pulling them apart. "Not now. Um. Tomorrow, something. During the day."
Day, night, what's the difference? There are always going to be horrible people. Maybe Warren is one of them. She's clinging onto that old belief that people are less likely to attack when the sun is beaming.
"Sure, tomorrow, late afternoon when I'm done testing prototypes. I can't drink, it messes with my medication. My ability causes chemical imbalances I have to keep in check. But I'm thinking… well, you choose." Warren decides, then offers his gloved right hand, the actual human one. "Warren Ray."
If he's bluffing, he's doing a very good job of it.
Milena stares at his hand for a moment, and it seems that she's not going to shake it. She shouldn't, because obviously everything about this situation screams TRAP… but she finds herself reaching for it anyway. Though she doesn't actually take his hand in hers, she does brush her fingers against his before she pulls back. "Milena Daley," she mutters, stepping back through the bars. "There's… ah. There's this deli in little Italy." Well, there's a lot of them, but probably not too many that are still operational. "I'll see you there. Around three or so."
"That's fine, I'll be there. Here's my number." Warren's treating the situation casually, he's been keeping calm and cool for most of this encounter. When he pulls out a pen and some paper, scribbling his number down, he offers it out with his left hand. "I'll pay. Someone made a big commission, so I've got the cash to spare."
"Put it down. I'll get it." Her eyes flicker from him to the ground in front of him. Milena doesn't want to put herself into a situation where he can easily reach out and grab her. "Then get going. Don't look back. Don't… Come back, if you want me to trust you. Go somewhere else to think." This isn't really her land, so she can't technically make the rules. But she wants to feel safe here. And if that means pseudo-banning someone from it, well, she's going to try.
Warren crouches down, sitting the paper on the ground before backing up away from it. "If I made you this way, so afraid, I'm really sorry. I hope I can at least see you smile tomorrow." He offers her a half-hearted smile of his own, then finally heads away from the chair, and starts walking down the path he came from. "See you tomorrow, Milena."