Participants:
Scene Title | Warren the Dog and Finn the Human |
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Synopsis | The fun will never end. |
Date | February 8, 2019 |
A Mysterious Basement
Locking Warren up is a tricky thing, as one has to consider all the ridiculous ways he could potentially escape. So, the most reasonable method was to chain him up in an empty basement, with his one arm chained behind his back. The chain is locked to a series of bolts lodged very deep into the foundation of the floor.
He's been bored since he woke up, and immediately started looking around the room with his chromium eyes. He takes in the structure, considers the materials, his chains, the bolts, the stairs. There are a million things he could do, if only he could use his hands and make a tool.
Though it's less because he wants to escape, and more because he's bored. So, when he realizes that he can't entertain himself with engineering, or wandering around, he decides to entertain himself in a different way, loud enough for anyone above to hear him.
"That girl… I…" he suddenly says, looking off into the distance. Then he looks to the left, doing a different voice. "You burn, you pine, you perish?" he asks, before looking to the right. "Who is she?"
Looking to the left again, he says, switching voices again, "Bianca Stratford. Sophomore. Don't even think about it." He frowns, turning his head again before asking, "Why not?"
"I could start with your haircut, but it doesn't matter. She's not allowed to date until her older sister does. And that's an impossibility." he answers, after turning his head again.
Above, there’s the sound of a chain being unlocked and dropped from the door, followed by a deadbolt unlocking, and finally the squeak of a doof before a light up at the top can be seen, a silhouette of a tall, broad-shouldered man appearing in the doorframe. As he begins to descend the steps, holding a tray of food, the dimmer light of the basement reveals the friendly-looking, open and earnest features belonging to Finn Shepherd, though they’re a bit more guarded than they usually might be as he considers the prisoner.
“If this isn’t too creepy to say for someone my age — given I wasn’t my age when I saw that movie — I never did think Bianca was that cute. Kat was clearly the superior choice,” he says, amiably enough. He nods to Warren. “Don’t even think of trying anything when I put this down, Firestarter.”
Finn descends the last few steps which puts him close to Warren, as the basement isn’t particularly large, and squats down to set the tray down, a little out of reach (whatever that means for the man with his one arm tied behind his back), before rising back up to his full height. Then he nudges the tray over a little closer to the man, before stepping back out of any kicks or trips on Warren’s part. It’s simple fare: some sort of stew, a hunk of bread, a glass of milk, a bottle of water. “Bon appetite, asshole.”
"Things were different back then! And Bianca had the girl next door face." Warren explains, as if this is the perfect rebuttal for Finn's entire opinion. He stares down at the glass, the stew, the bread and the bottle. "I wasn't planning to actually leave, I don't know why they tied me up down here. I agreed to stay. That's why I didn't shoot anyone. By the way, don't forget to get my motorcycle, if the police find it they'll come looking for me. But you guys probably already figured that out, you're like a tightly oiled machine! Reminds me of my old men, except you all seem very stressed out."
He kicks his boots off, then removes his socks using his feet, and finally grips a glass of milk with his feet, bending over to take a sip.
While continuing to hold the glass in between his feet, though resting it on the floor, he stares up at Finn, tilting his head, mirror-like eyes reflecting the dim light. "I'm not mad. I was supporting my brother even though what he was doing wasn't entirely right. He was doing it for love, you know?"
Awkwardly shifting the milk forward, he gets onto his knees, then leans down to slurp some of the soup up into his mouth. "I don't disagree with what you were all doing, I don't have any hard feelings. And I'm trying to be less like the old me, who solved everything with violence and burning people alive! No, I'm a new Warren Ray today! I'll solve things with engineering and friendship, and only shooting people in the kneecap when they deserve it! No more napalm!"
"What do you say, friends?" he asks, sitting back to offer his bare foot like a handshake.
FInn is quiet through most of this, though at some point he shakes his head at the gymnastics going on, a small smirk curving his mouth up. He doesn’t look like he’s feeling amicable enough to help the man feed himself at any point, though. But the fact he hasn’t pulled his gun from the shoulder harness he wears is a good sign.
“Maybe we don’t want you to stay,” he counters. “But the trouble with that is, we can’t risk you leaving and telling everyone where we’re at. It’s a bit of a tricky situation, see.”
The bare foot is decidedly not shaken.
Finn gestures to his own eyes, to indicate Warren’s. “What’re you doing, what’s going on with your eyes? The boss said something about what your ability was, but it sounded super boring so I think I fell asleep during that part of the meeting, not gonna lie.”
"I figured out how to escape my chains if I use my feet and all this stuff you gave me, but it'd take longer than I have and you'd just take my stuff away when you realized what I was doing. But I don't really want to escape, I'm just bored, this basement is boring." Warren lowers his foot and stares up at Finn, before the chromium in his eyes recedes, revealing rather normal blue eyes.
"That's a good point, I used to have a secret hideout. I just made it too dangerous for people to come down there. It's funny, in the end, me, Gabriel and Cardinal beat up my own gang." He thinks back, tilting his head. "I kind of miss Gabriel, his ability was kind of like mine. We had good times I think! I think those are the right memories."
"Oh, I guess I never explained my ability!" He thought he did, it felt like he did, but it took a moment to realize that it wasn't an actual explanation. "I can build things! I know how things work. Also memory wipes don't really stick because my brain is incredible! Harper said I've had over sixteen memory wipes, can you believe it?! That's probably where the tumor came from. Wait, was that another me? No, no that was me, I'm rolling all snake eyes today on accurate memories!"
“Jesus,” says Finn, staring at Warren as he goes on. The tall man simply rests against the opposite wall, one booted foot heel-to-wall, his arms crossed and head slightly canted as he stares at the prisoner like he’s some sort of unique specimen to be studied.
“And they think I talk a lot,” he says, when it seems that Warren’s come to the end of his chatter. “Maybe we can play some music for you or something. Through the door.” He’s not giving that man anything he can use for any sort of robot, bomb, or weapon of any sort.
“You won’t be keeping ‘this stuff I gave you,’ so whether you can break out or not is pretty moot. The hell you come here for, anyway? I told you no one has to die if you guys just back off, but it’s like you have a death wish, strolling in here just to take a look around. Your brother won. You should’ve stayed there, had some champagne and shit. Instead you’re drinking goat’s milk fresh squeezed this morning and eating the week-old stew that we probably would’ve fed to Dolores the pig if you weren’t here. You might be brilliant with a world-class brain in that noggin, but you don’t seem to have a lot of common sense, pal.”
Despite the criticism, Finn gives a nod to the man. “I’m Finn. You’re Warren, right?”
"I need to see that armor. When I saw it during the battle, I could just… I had a feeling, maybe one of the other memories, I don't know, but I can feel it! I think I worked on it! It's technology with no evolutionary path in this world, I have to see it!" Warren's eyes look wild, as if he's temporarily forgotten everything else. "Nothing else matters right now. There are things I don't want to see, don't need to see, too much for my mind. But I need to see that armor…"
"I'll sit here forever if I have to. I can't sleep, I can barely eat, who cares about freedom if I can't see that armor?!" he asks, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
But he seems to immediately calm down, perhaps easier with his ability currently off. "But yeah, I'm Warren! Nice to meet you. I hope you're taking care of my arm, that's proprietary technology and it only fits me anyway."
“Calm down, Turbo,” says Finn, pushing off the wall to go to the tray, pulling it backward with his boot to get it out of the reach of Warren’s limbs. “It’s not mine to show you, so you’ll just have to live with disappointment, at least for the time being, Dubya.” He leaves the water bottle with Warren, for the time being. There’s not that much that could be made into, right? And a man’s gotta hydrate.
“No one wants your arm. We just don’t want you to turn it into a bomb or something,” he says. “We don’t have that many nice buildings like this, you know, so we don’t want it exploded. You understand, I’m sure.” Finn bends to pick up the tray, leaning to slide it onto one of the steps to grab on his way up.
“So. Any requests? I can pipe some tunes down. We can’t get Pandora or Spotify but I’ve got a couple old ipods stocked up,” he says helpfully.
"Why would I blow you up? Richard's told me over and over again to think of the PR people. And I think you're all pretty nice people, though the lady who pointed a gun at me, I don't think she likes me." Warren considers as he watches Finn prepare to go. "Wait leave the bread!" he requests, only the bread. "Metal would be great! But none of that new kids stuff. I'll be patient down here."
Finn eyes Warren and then the bread a little suspiciously, like maybe there’s something the man can do with the bread that might hurt him, but eventually he picks it up and slow-lobs it so it’ll probably land on the man’s chest. Or maybe he can catch it with his feet, like a monkey.
“Nothing but New Kids on the Block? I’m gonna have to do a deep dive for that, but I might be able to arrange it,” says Finn cheerfully, moving to the stairs to begin his ascent, pausing to pick up the tray he’d slid through from the side a few moments before.
“First time was a great time, second time was a blast, third time I fell in love, now I hope it lasts,” sings Finn as he makes the final few steps up the stairs.