Participants:
| Scene Title | Warm And Tingly |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Not everyone finds the Dome very interesting. |
| Date | February 1, 2011 |
Word about the Dome has gotten around town quickly, as bad news always does. And like colorful news, good or bad alike, the size and scope gets exaggerated a little further with each retelling… like the fish that got away, if it was a school of man-eating piranha. Or something.
Reactions have been mixed. Some, with friends or even family suspected to be trapped inside, are making panicked phone calls to everyone they can think of. Others, with no personal stake in the matter, are staying the hell away. Then there are the ones like Daryl, who have drifted toward the edge of the thing just to gawk at it in person. Probably get hassled by someone in a uniform if he sticks around long enough, but it's worth the risk: how often do you get to see something like this, anyway?
Okay. So Elaine had warned Quinn not to go snooping too close, but the redhead couldn't help it herself. She's not getting too close to the thing, but she brought her camera, just to see if she could get some good pictures. There likely wasn't much she could do, but… it couldn't hurt to have some samples to look at.
Unsurprisingly, Koshka has found her way out to the Dome's edge as well. It wasn't easy getting out of the apartment, ducking out while the guardian type was otherwise engaged. Chances that Brian or Samara would have let her come down here on her own are slim, but she was curious enough to investigate the phenomenom that's riddled the news networks.
As the others approach, Daryl has already made his way to within throwing distance of the edge, and is occupied doing precisely that: searching out little chunks of rock and metal and trash, the sort that collect in alleyways because no one bothers to clean them out, and heaving them so that they crash into the force field. Why couldn't his science classes at school ever be this interesting?
Throwing things at it doesn't seem like the best idea, in Elaine's eyes. As she watches Daryl throw a piece of metal, she shakes her head a little, staying back as she peers cautiously towards the Dome. It certainly was impressive, if not scary.
Koshka glances up as the thrown object hits the barrier, then in the direction it'd come from. The Dome itself stands impenetrable, no meager bit of trash is going to find its way into the lands it contains. She ventures within arm's reach of the nearly invisible field, only the faint blue-ish line at the ground showing where it ends, but doesn't reach out to touch it. Yet.
And she nearly gets a handful of thrown gravel for her trouble, but Daryl spots Koshka at the last second and stops short. "Hey," he calls out, "hell of a thing, huh?" He does chuck the next payload, but only after moving further over to one side for a clear line of sight.
Elaine leans against the side of a building, bundling her coat around her all the more. She peers towards Daryl and Koshka, frowning heavily. "I… don't think touching that thing is a good idea. You heard that people were sliced in two when it came up, right?"
She didn't see him the first look back, but when Daryl speaks up, Koshka spots him. She grins slightly, equally moving just a little to allow free space for throwing things. "I knwo, right," she calls back. "It's so weird." Her grin slips slightly when Elaine speaks up, looking to her with brows beginning to knit. "Uh.. but that's when it came up. Seems harmless now."
Daryl shakes his head. "Yeah, maybe," he calls out to Elaine, thinking back, "but I haven't seen any of that so far." Did they actually show the aftermath on the news, or was it just part of the hearsay going around? He doesn't remember, now. "And it's not like we're gonna go up and touch the thing," though no doubt there are probably some others who have done exactly that.
"Okay, I'm just saying… be careful. I've seen and heard of some strange shit before, but… I'd rather not watch any gruesome deaths today." Elaine says. Her arms fold over her chest as she takes it upon herself to supervise, at least for the moment. "And just cause something seems harmless doesn't mean it is."
Koshka shakes her head and turns back to the Dome. The gravel and piece of metal that hit it came out alright, so what harm could come from touching it? "Yeah, right," she says, just loud enough to carry to Daryl and Elaine, feet carrying her closer to the Dome. She lifts a hand, reaching out to touch it, a sly grin pulling at the corners of her mouth.
Just as her hand touches the barrier, pressing against a nearly invisible wall, Koshka lets out a yell. She jerks, spasming and twitching as though being electrocuted.
As casual as Daryl was acting about it, he hadn't actually gotten as far as actually reaching out and touching someone the force field. "Shit. Are you okay?" He dashes forward, reaching out to grab hold of Koshka's other wrist, doing his best to steady her as she loses control. If it conducts through her body to his, like electricity? Well, he isn't thinking that far ahead yet.
Elaine's eyes widen in horror, and she dashes forward. "Christ! I told you not to touch it!" She trails off, swearing vehemently in Chinese as the redhead moves closer to them, still keeping a cautious eye on the Dome.
The yells turn to laughter, Koshka taking Daryl's hand as she sags backward. "Oh my god," she pants through a fit of giggles. "I'm sorry. That… too perfect to pass up." She looks up at Daryl, then over to Elaine, shoulders still shaking with laughter and the hand that had been on the dome lifted. "It's tingly. And warm."
Oh, man, the hidden depths to this girl! Daryl's first impression was so off track. His mood whiplashing almost as quickly as hers, he shoots a brief look over to Elaine - then returns his attention to Koshka, still keeping hold of her wrist. "Oh, it is, huh? I'll give you tingly and—" as he pushes her back toward it.
Elaine skids to a halt, staring as Koshka is laughing. The Chinese swears are a bit louder, and the redhead shoves her hands into the pockets of her brown wool coat. "Jesus Christ, that's not funny. Do you have a fucking death wish? None of us have any idea what this fucking thing is. Just because it's 'tingly and warm' doesn't mean it's not oozing radiation or doing something we can't see. It's not some fucking joke. There are people trapped in there. People already died from this thing."
Already off balance from laughing, Koshka is fairly easily pushed backward. She lands against the dome, caught up in another spell of giggles, and slides down until she's sitting on the ground. Hands clamp over her mouth as Elaine starts in, but some laughter still escapes in nasally fits. She looks apologetically up at the woman, though it's plain she's far too amused to truly be regretful. "Warm and tingly," she snickers from behind her hands, and once spoken clamps down on her mouth again.
Koshka's unexpected downward shift sends Daryl stumbling forward in turn, breaking out into his own spell of laughter as he bumps into the barrier in turn and staggers backward. "Well, it is," he replies, shaking his head before looking up toward Elaine. "Look, I get that people got hurt" - he'll believe 'died' when he actually sees bodies, on TV or up close and personal - "but it's not like we can do anything about it, right? I don't know how to shut this thing down. Might as well have some fun with it." Until someone else gets it sorted out, anyway.
"So because we can't do anything about it, we should have fun? Is that honestly what you think? Alright. Go ahead. Play with it. Touch the stove, too, while you're at it. Go ahead, get friendly with it," Elaine folds her arms, staring at the two. "I'm gonna get out of here before the soldiers come around. You know, the ones with big fucking guns? You'd better hope they don't think you're the one causing it. Cause I don't think they'd hesitate to shoot you. Because they can, and they can get away with it. People get shot. And if you're lucky, that's the least that will happen to you playing around with something like that." She puts her fingers to her temple, rubbing lightly. "Look, I don't mean to rain on your parade, but have some common sense. Don't go playing with something that could be dangerous."
"Oh c'mon," Koshka says, managing to gain control of herself. She looks up at Elaine, imploring the older girl to understand some unspoken logic. "No harm no foul, I didn't see anything bad happen when he threw rocks at it." Of course, had it been electrified that wouldn't have mattered since rocks don't conduct electricity. Hindsight is twenty-twenty. "Jeez, sorry people died, but.. seriously. You don't have to get all morbid and anal about it."
Standing and brushing the snow from her pants, Koshka puts on a half grin for Elaine. "Really, military's got better things to do than shoot someone for touching …whatever that is. Lighten up a little."
As right as Elaine might be about the military's attitude, she's outnumbered here, and the other two are both full in the flush of 'oh, but nothing like that would happen to us'. As Daryl straightens up, he rests a hand on Koshka's shoulder, shaking his head in silent agreement with her words.
"You ever lose someone close to you? Ever seen someone shot in the head? Maybe you should. It'd give you some perspective. And I wouldn't be too sure that they won't shoot you for messing with it. A friend of mine's got a baby she's taking care of now. You know why? Because the baby's mom got shot. Just cause she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. No good reason. They just shot her," Elaine folds her arms. "I'm glad you've still got a good attitude about things, but life just isn't that easy. I'm sure you'll figure that out soon enough."
That's a good way to kill even Koshka's stubbornly good mood. Her grin disappears all together, being replaced by a cool frown. "Yeah. Life ain't that easy," she echoes, arms folding across her chest. She knows how difficult life can be without having witnessed someone being shot. "Try living on the streets sometimes, find out how 'easy' things are. Life's shit sometimes, and other times you just got to break some rules."
"I got my apartment blown up," adds Daryl, hands drawing back as he takes a couple of steps away from the others. "Half my family along with it— I mean, w had issues before that, but it still sucked. And yeah, I felt like crap for a while. After a while… you move on." He motions with one arm. "This is us, moving on. If it pisses you off—" Too bad, we're doing it anyway, is the unspoken conclusion.
Arms fold over Elaine's chest as she narrows her eyes. It makes her feel so much older, as she looks at them. They're teens, but so is she. Not that much older, but the experiences make her feel like she is. "Life's shit, yeah. I have lived on the streets. Lost my parents when I was fourteen. Got tossed around into shitty foster homes for years, then I ran away. Ended up on the street, got taken in with some guy who thought it was great to beat on me, scared the shit out of me until I got the guts to run away, and then I nearly died in that giant storm we had in April of last year." Her gaze flickers between Daryl and Koshka. "Some things… you don't get over. You'll always have them. And if you think you've moved on, then you're worse people for it. If you completely forget the hard stuff in life, then you don't learn from it. Go ahead, screw around with the Dome if you like. Doesn't piss me off, it makes me feel bad that you've got no fucking clue how dangerous things are getting around here. A word of advice—I wouldn't get caught snooping around the Dome if you're Evolved. It's giving us all a bad name. I'm going home." Shoving her hands back into her pockets, the redhead starts to head off.
Koshka scowls after Elaine, making no move to run after and stop her or even apologize for the earlier prank. "Some things you learn to deal with however you can," she states, possibly loud enough for the older girl to hear. "I know what it's like to be beat on and yelled at and blamed for everything that's wrong in the world. And I know what it's like to be sent away, no explanation except being told to run, left to fend for myself on the streets. Yeah. I got a clue, and maybe if people took time to find humor things wouldn't always be so bad."
Koshka glances toward Daryl, arms dropping to her sides. As she steps toward him, another look is directed toward Elaine, just a frown that possibly hints at regret. But then her attention turns to the boy again, a hand reaching up to lightly touch his arm.
There isn't much else for Daryl to say about it, beyond what he and the younger brunette have already covered. Pushing the well-meaning killjoy out of his thoughts, he blinks at Koshka's renewed touch. "Hey," he says simply, fishing for more of a reaction so he can get a read on it: are her spirits still doused, or is she looking to bounce back from it?
Whatever Elaine thinks of the response goes unspoken, if she even heard Koshka's words. Fingers balled in the brown wool pockets, the redhead trudges off, headed home. She'd forgotten to even bother taking pictures of the Dome.
One more glance heads in Elaine's direction as Koshka replies with the same, "Hey." Unable to pick out the retreating red head, she gives a small shake of her head then looks up at Daryl again. That prank was kind've stupid, maybe she'll find that woman and apologize another day. "You okay," she asks, quirking a partial, uncertain grin.
"I'm fine." There was a moment earlier when it seemed like he was annoyed with it himself, but one smile from the face that's been stuck in his head lately was all it took to jar him out of it. Men, go figure. "C'mon, let's go see what the rest of it looks like," he suggests, gesturing toward the portion of the dome that curves further toward the north.
Answer and suggestion both bring about a smile, though still seeming a little shy. Koshka nods and turns to follow the line of faint blue on the ground. With a look up at Daryl, she holds her hand out to him. "Sorry for scaring you, but it was too good to pass up."
Fingers lace with hers as they start to walk together. "Yeah, it was," Daryl says. "You did a real good job, too, you sure you didn't use to be a con artist?" Apparently it only takes a little nudge to get her back into the whole fleecing-other-people thing in general. Even if she hasn't really played con games before, that doesn't mean she wouldn't give it a whirl.