Participants:
| Scene Title | We're in it now! |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | A Lucille has a heart-to-heart with her father. |
| Date | November 9, 2011 |
Somewhere outside Jade City, British Columbia, Canada
After the mission in Alaska, the team was once again tucked away in the comfortable confines of Hollis’ cabin. It has only been, just over a day, and — already — Ryans is antsy to get on the road back to New York. Unfortunately for him, he has been vetoed by others; and, since he can’t drive, he is pretty much stuck. While, the old man wanted to go, they wanted him to rest. With good reason. However, it irritated him and when his anxiety was up, he didn’t sleep well.
This is why Lucille will find him in the main room of the cabin, settled onto the couch. His injured arm resting on the arm of the couch, his only intact hand clutching a drink; the sling he is supposed to be wearing is flung on the couch next to him. Socked feet are stretched out before him toward the fireplace, with his ankles crosses. The flames flicker across her father’s face, deepening the lines of his face making him look as worn as he feels.
Ben turns the short glass filled with amber liquid slowly in the light, eyes unfocused with his thoughts turned inward.
In the cold night full of nightmares and sweats from her experience Lucille awakens with a start. The panic she feels resides as she recognizes her surroundings and relaxes. As quiet as she can she tiptoes out of the camper and stands outside staring up at the night sky. Clad in sweats and an oversized sweatshirt she might look like a budding student on the journey to self discovery but instead of studying economics and other things of the sort she's had the hard school of survival, of battle.
Spotting a light on in the main room of the cabin the young woman pads over to the door before peeking her head in. Seeing her father she smiles softly. Seeing her father alive almost made her break down that day but seeing him with his missing hand hurt her. She was sure he was having a horrible time. “Hey old man.” She closes the door silently behind her. Taking note of his state she pads over to Hollis’ liquor bottles and takes a glass of tequila.
Pouring a healthy glass before finally settling onto to the couch she holds out her glass. To what their toasting? Life.. being together.. who knows. There's a whole lot to be sad about too that's for sure.
“Hey,” is softly returned.
When the glass is held out, Ryans studies it briefly, lips pressed together tightly. Could be anything going on behind those eyes, but then slowly his touches his glass to hers. There is no real heart into it, when they click, but he does it. When he pulls the glass back again, he studies her.
“How are you holding up, kiddo?”
Taking a long sip Lu stares off into space for a while mulling over her thoughts. A look towards her father, “I met that boy before.. Magnes. He was a regular at the bar Old Lucy’s I worked at.” The words spill out of her as she flashes back to seeing Magnes becoming a black hole and seeing Elisabeth flying into the sky after him.
“I've fought before.. shot before.. had to use my ability to fight before but this.. this was so different.” She looks to her father with tears in her eyes, the moisture glistening in the light. “The things they were doing to Elle and Colette..” She trails off and looks to the side. The sounds of the night outside can be heard during Lucille’s silence.
“I didn't lose a hand though.. how are you Dad?” She takes a hand and lifts it to her father's face. “I know it's your job to protect me but I was worried sick about you and Huruma while it was all going on.”
“I’m alright..”
Whether or not is, that is for her father to know. He has spent his life being strong for them, not showing them anything. It was part of being a father, so to was it that he let them learn the harsh lessons of life. “If you didn’t feel worry for your family, then I would be concerned. The whole fight, I was terrified for you and Nicole. It is part of what makes us human.”
The glass is set on the table, next to the couch. “This is the world I have lived in all my life,” The look he turns her way, shows a hint of sadness, “One I never wanted you girls to know.” Which was the whole reason that he left the company after her mother died.
“You are in it now,” he doesn’t sound happy about it, but there is a sort of… defeat in his tone.
“With all the division between the Evolved and Non it's hard to remember that in the end we’re all just human.” She feels less or more than human depending on the day. It's confusing being treated as subclass but exalted in other places. Lu takes another drink from her glass draining it before placing it next to her father's.
“Nicole was so.. brave. I kept thinking about how nuts I would be if Delia was in that machine being used like that.” She stops for a moment anger clouding her thoughts and when she opens her eyes she stares back at her father. Nodding her head she leans forward and places it on her father's shoulder. “No dad. We’re in it now.” Together. As it should be in Lucille’s mind.
His features soften and then Ryans expression turns sad in the glow of the fire. “Would you blame me for wishing that you weren’t?” This was not the life he wanted for either of his girls and yet…. Here they were. Rubbing at his eyes with a finger and thumb, he sighs softly. “This is not a life for either of you girls.” He isn’t trying to talk her out of it, he is stating a fact. There were too much like him, to believe he could ever stop them.
Maybe this was part of what being a parent meant. Watching them jump from the nest and letting them make their mistakes. The anxiety that comes with it is a constant in his life.
Reaching out, Ryans drapes his good arm over her shoulder in half hug. It is something parents do to be comforting; for him just as much as her. “You kids deserve a better life than this.”
Looking into her father's eyes she smiles weakly. “Nah Dad I wouldn't blame you for wanting to keep us safe. I just know you to be a realistic man also. It's better if I know how to take care of myself so I can help you protect Delia and Nicole.” Her father's infinite source of backup. She would never leave. “Those dreams we all had, of the future. I ran away.. much like I have done in the past but I'm not sure if going to Alaska changed me and my course but I couldn't imagine leaving you guys.. ever.” Not when the world is so upside down.
“How did it become the life for you then?” Letting herself be pulled into the hug she closes her eyes allowing her head to rest on her father’s shoulder. “At some point in your life, something shifted to steer you towards who you are today. Paris,” with the Institute man that tried to kidnap her. “That changed me Dad. I don't think I had a choice really.”
“I was just out the teams, when it changed for me” Ryans starts softly. Meaning the SEAL teams clearly. He told the girls stories of his time in the service, often. Though, not everything. “I was recruited by a secret organization called the Company.” There was something liberating about talking about a past that he kept secret for so long. “I was trained to hunt and take out those with abilities that were deemed a danger to society.” He glances at her out of the corner of his eye, waiting to see how she reacts to that news.
“I did that until your mother died, then I made you girls my priority… but of course, as you know…” Her father gestures to say… ‘and here we are.’
The younger woman sits back as she listens to her father's words. He did talk about it all sorta but she hadn't really heard him be so candid before. So direct about his experience. “Was it hard? Doing those things?” She can't imagine having to do what her father did on a daily basis and then he comes home like everything is fine. It's funny that it's taken this long for it all sink in for Lucille, the understanding of what her father was doing. Her eyes search her father's those matching blues. If she had Huruma’s ability she would be trying to send waves of comfort and understanding to him.
“Me and Delia having abilities must have really thrown you for a loop.”
There isn’t an answer right away — unfortunately. Ryans brows tip down in thought. His eyes turning to the fire as he thinks back. He reaches for his glass and takes a sip of the whiskey, feeling the liquid burning this throat.
Finally, he speaks up, “It was like a bucket of cold water.” That was the best way he could really explain it. He doesn’t he doesn’t look at his eldest daughter, turning the crystal glass in his fingers. “I had a lot of friends, co-workers, good people that had abilities, but….” He sighs, taking a sip again and putting it down again. “But… it is always different when it is your own family.”
Fire lit features turn enough so that he can look at her out of the corner of his eyes. “You are heading down a path that you cannot turn back from. Just — just be careful, Lu. Once it becomes a part of your life, it will always be.” He tips the glass back, but doesn’t take the drink until he says in a soft rumble, “Then you have to keep it from destroying you.” Physically or even mentally.
Listening to her father Luce draws her knees up to her chest. Eyes study her father as he explains more of his past. The crack and pop of the fire feel in any spaces of silence he may take. Eyes still on her father she gets up to refill her glass then walking slowly closer to the fire a contemplative expression on her face. “It was such a shock for me when it happened. Still one of the most terrifying experiences of my life.” And the most thrilling but she saves that notion about her manifestation for her private thoughts.
Fire reflects in her eyes and then land on Ryans. “I.. yea I do see what you mean. I want to be one of the good people with abilities but sometimes..” a whisper of fear enters her eyes. “I can get so angry. I use to think it was just about Mom.. and then I thought it was about your secrets..” she stops shaking her head allowing herself to become buried in her thoughts.
She doesn't know what exactly makes her so damn angry but it's there. Like a never ending coal fire buried under muscle, skin tissue and nerve endings that still allows the heat to rise to the surface. She blinks a couple times before randomly changing the subject.
“Can I show you something?”
Quiet while she talks, Ryans gives his daughter the same curtsy that she gave him — To hear her out. There is no judgement in his eyes, but a thoughtful expression. His mind may even be wandering to another time in his life. “You will need to figure out how to control that.” He murmurs softly, not judging, just fact. Fingers rub at tired eyes with finger and thumb of his one good hand, as he adds, “Else you might end up being hunted yourself.”
The nearly empty glass is set on the table next to him again. “Sure,” he says with a small shrug. It is that type of ‘sure’ that a father gives when he is humoring their daughter. Not expecting much, totally trusting. He gives her a small, tired smile. “What do you want to show me, sweetie?”
Being hunted once was enough for Lucille and she takes her father's advice in stride. “I think I want to see Huruma about it. I don't want it to consume me.” Rocking on the balls of her feet she levels a smile at her father and nods her head. Steadying herself and closing her eyes she goes to that place deep within herself. To the stillness.
As his eldest opens her eyes the would notice the normal blue/gray color she usually has instead taken over by a burning golden hue, her irises burn brightly and in that moment Lucille allows her ability to creep out over the room. She exhales and smiles brightly as she feels her father’s pulse thumping. “I've been trying to practice more with my ability since well manifesting. Huruma and Hana have been a huge help,” it's not something they really talk about that much and that's something she wants to change. “I can do it without touch.” She blinks golden eyes at her father and smiles.
“Slowing down someone's heart rate could save them in the right situation.” (Or hurt them). She smiles again towards Daddy. She wants him to see she has control, she wants him to see she can do this. And it's with that thought that a plan pops into Lucille’s head and she grins inside bedside if she grinned on the outside her father would become suspicious. Lu hums a tune, a sweet simple tune that sounds like a nursery rhyme.
The small smile he had, slowly slides away to something more serious as his daughter’s eyes turn to those shades of gold. Being an observant man by nature, she can tell that Ryans is hyper focused on what she is doing. Studying, as he was trained to do as a Company agent. The difference being that he wasn’t hunting her, he was just trying to understand the little girl who once held his finger with her tiny hand, to the changed woman before him.
When the humming starts, Ryans recognizes it immediately, he heard his wife Mary sing it to the girls since the day they were born. She’ll see the moment it registers in his head, his blue eyes cutting away. The flicker of guild. Even after so many years, it cut deep to hear it.
But then he is stifling a yawning with the back of his hand. Ryans didn’t realized he had been so tired.
The stress and anxiety from the raid. The failures that came with it…. Things like that normally ate at him for days, with little sleep. Yet, here he was, eyes drifting closed as a song, sung by his long dead wife surrounds him. Maybe it is from the alcohol in his system, but he is very quickly out. Head tilted back into the couch back and sound of his breathing deepening.
With a wide grin Lu shakes with a bit of excitement at accomplishing her goal but careful to not to awaken her father though the way her ability works if someone is tired after being put to sleep they will sleep.
Her eyes flare with gold as she continues to hum. Grabbing the glass before it slips completely out of her father's hands she also shakes the blanket on the couch out and lays it over her father.
The eldest Ryans daughter smiles faintly as she trails a hand through her father's hair. She’s never had a chance to do this for her father. Give him this… serenity. Water wells at the corner of her eyes as she stares down at her father. “Love you Daddy.” Is whispered.
No doubt, he’ll figure out what happened in the morning — maybe be a little grumpy about the manipulation – but Benjamin Ryans will be proud of his eldest daughter. Though he might not say it out loud.
He’ll just give her a one-armed hug, press a light fatherly kiss to the top of her head, and go about his day.
But, Lucille will know what that means. He doesn’t have to say a word.