Participants:
| Scene Title | You're No Different |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | The Odd Couple meet up after not speaking for a while. Confrontations are made, and one of them say something that changes everything. |
| Date | January 17 |
Dorchester Apartments - Harmony and Jason's Apartment
Long strips of polished wood merge seamlessly together and run through the foyer like a sheet of black ice. The mirrored finish pools into an open living room, drowning the adjacent kitchen in sunless hues offset only by a wall of burnt sienna cabinets glowing hot and bright as candles against the contrast of dark wood floors and onyx countertops-with a marbled obsidian finish so thirsty that even the three dangling lights directly above the kitchen island seem to be soaked up In the absence of daylight.
But the dark tide stems at the borders of two bedrooms, where thresholds mark the separation from public living spaces to private, beige carpeted, floors. The nearly-white tone that neutralizes the rooms is only a few shades cooler than the near-white painting every wall in the condo. The room to the right of the main space is small and simple: elegant - sharing a floor to ceiling window with the back wall of the living room, its own private bathroom and walk-in closet - but nothing compared to the master bedroom just to the right of the common room.
Another miniature foyer leads into this room, passing a den that's been converted into a musical storehouse for an army of instruments-although the vague remnants of a trophy room can be seen in the glass cases and wall mounts which now hold guitars and autographed records: somewhere in the back of the en, a single football poster remains, but it's been tattered and dirtied beyond recognition and obscured beyond notice.
Across from the den is the guest bathroom and a set of closets. Farther on is the master room itself, a wide space with ample room, a king size bed, enormous private bath, and terrace-the view from which is no small thing, given this fifth floor bungalow has been recently remodeled and still smells like fresh construction materials-which is to say, what it lacks in penthouse floor stature, it more than makes up for in penthouse floor accommodations.
A few sofas and some rugs invite guests to wait in the living room. There's a large plasma screen mounted to the wall opposite the bar, and an astounding view from the large windows overlooking one of the few functioning places left in New York City.
Room Plan Here: http://img.streeteasy.com/nyc/image/64/10700364.gif
Night pours through the undressed windows of Jason's Dorchester Towers apartment. The wall to ceiling glass squares let everything in: the pale piss-yellow lights from adjacent buildings, the dull moon peeking through holes in New York City's radioactive clouds, and the emptiness of a city blown to hell and back - full of people, yet devoid of anything real and good and wholesome. The city died long ago and Jason's just watching the corpse rot.
"Dial Harmony," he says, speaking softly into a small black rectangle. A few lights flash and the phone's screen blinks alive, glowing brightly in the dim apartment - lit only by the ambient light blowing through the vistas.
He leans back, burying his shoulders in the couch cushions and waits as the phone rings. And rings. And rings.
There is a short period of time that Harmony is able to push aside this bothersome telepathic power in order to allow herself to rejoin the normal world. It has taken her some time to actually get it under control, but she is making a bit of progress. She still can't say she won't miss this ability when hers returns to normal, but it is just something she has to put up with. At least now she can go out without being driven to her kness. Which means she can get some things done, such as getting the rent paid, even though she isn't quite staying at the apartment so much, she still doesn't skimp on responsibility.
Bundled up more than usual, Harmony opens the front door, as her phone is going off in her pocket. The blonde girl sighing, "Yeah, yeah. My half is gonna get paid, just keep your pants on." she comments as she wanders through the front room, towards her room, waving her hand about the air. She knows he is there, how? Because she can sense his mind. A quirk of this temporary power of hers.
As if by magic, no sooner does Jason think to hang up the phone does he here the familiar ringtone of Harmony's cell just outside the door. Luks turn, achingly against the cool bolts and he watches he girl - the missing person - the gone for more than 48 hours would be kidnap victim - strut right past him and into her room.
"It wasn't all about the rent you know," he calls out, craning his neck back to follow her on the night of her triumphant return. "You've been gone for-like-ever. I thought you might've been dead."
Jason clicks a button on the base of his phone and the scree dies. Stuffing the device into one of the massive pockets stitched to his hoody, he just kind of lays back, draping his head over the arm of the couch, curiously watching Harmony's room - or what he can of it - from his strange angle.
"Just saying… I thought you were dead is all."
"I'm not as easy to kill off as all that." comes her reply from the open door of her bedroom. There are quite a few clanks and other loud sounds that generate from within the space she occupies. She is going through a few of her drawers and her closet space. Like a girl on the run from something serious, she gathers up some of her clothing and a few other things. Her instruments have been gone for a little bit, so she obviously came back for those at some point when he wasn't here.
"You on the other hand.. I imagine you've been hiding out somewhere else, what with.. you know.. Seamus knowing that you blew up his home and everything? He knows where you live so.. I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't come knocking. You could very well be a dead man." After a second, a blond head peeks from out from the doorway, with green accusing eyes, one hand against the frame."Oh wait. You're some kind of Superman, aren't you? Got some fancy ability that you were so kind to deceive me about." Her words don't really carry much irritation, though she does bring up the fact that he lied.
Tch! Jason folds arms, looking reverse and cross-wise at Harmony's open door - and then at Harmony as she peeks out to scold him. "You know," he begins, tightening the knot in his arms, "I blow up so many houses these days it's hard to keep track of whose living room I'm actually exploding." He didn't meant to say that - in those words - but once a starts down a road it's hard to turn him around.
"And as long as we're doing away with pretense, let's just put it all out there." With a sharp set of jerks and rolls, Jason twists himself around on the couch so he can face Harmony right-wise-up. "You know I'm Evolved. I know you're Evolved. No point pussy footing around anymore really." - He huffs, squirming onto his belly and closer to the edge of the couch. "And yes, for the record, I sometimes blow things up, or punch stuff, or take stuff, and sells tuff for money. I mean come on, have you looked at the world outside of our fifth floor, apartment in the sky, terrace-view windows?" He motions to the windows. "It's a shit hole!"
"So…" A pair of yes squint and look away. "Your boyfriend got caught in the crossfire. I didn't plan it. It just happened. The whole world has gone to hell in a hand basket." Jason takes a moment to shrug, appearing as innocent and guilty as a school boy caught throwing rocks at mailboxes. "I'm just trying to get by."
"And if Seamus can't understand that, well fuck him."
Harmony is almost smug as he admits to his Evolved state. The girl's lips press together tightly, and she nods her head, "Mm. Well I made my Evolved status pretty clear when we first met, if you recall. Pretty much like everything else?" she raps her fingers against the doorframe of which she is standing within, "I've been pointing this out to a lot of people, and they all seem to get pissed at me about it, so.. what's one more." she sets her eyes directly on him, "When have I ever been dishonest to you about anything? I'm pretty blunt, right? Pretty straight forward? Yeah.. so when is it right to lie to me?" After saying this, she gives him a nod and disappears back into her room to go rummaging again.
"I know what the state of the world is like out there, Jason. I'm out there in it. I've got some things I need to get through, which is why you really haven't seen me around. I'm dealing with shit." She takes out of her drawers what looks to be a silk, purple nightie, lifting it up and getting a good look at it. Deciding that the object, that looks like something from Victoria Secret or Fredricks of Hollywood, is something she should take with.
'And by the way? He isn't my boyfriend.' She turns the valve on her hold of her telepathy, using it to plant thoughts directly into his head. Of course, this also puts her back in the state of picking things up again. 'You should probably know. I have telepathy now. Just add that to my increasing number of talents these days. So anything you think, I can pretty much hear.' It is only partially right.
"What? Wait a minute." Jason dangles his arms over the side of he couch. "When have I ever lied to you about anything?" A smirk runs across his face in a split second. "I might choose not to tell you EV-erything. But an Omission of truth isn't an un-truth. It's just quiet. I was quiet. And you can't blame me for that."
When Harmony mentions that she's in the real world he withholds his comments, but inside he thinking she's never been anywere but upstate-this, and upstate-that. Spoiled kids from rich families don't reallyknow what the real world is.
"Well, I kinda figured he wasn't your boyfriend - I think maybe, juuust maybe, you might have better tas- - - You've been reading my mind!" Jason springs up, peddling over the edge of arm chair and doggedly onto his feet. "Whoah, whoah, that's an invasion of privacy. WAIT. When did this even happen? How do powers just change. I thought you boiled eggs and made christmas lights."
Once she starts with the mental conversation, she doesn't really let up, seeing as how it seems to unnerve him quite a bit. 'To begin with, you lied about being Evolved. Just before the fight, when your little tattooed tramp was all but riding your cock on the couch. This, like a few other things have probably since slipped your mind.' After a few seconds, Harmony pops from out of her room, carrying her gathered clothes and a duffel bag. Her lips are sealed, mostly because she doesn't have to speak, and she tosses her articles over onto the couch, almost hitting him with them.
'And for another thing? I'm not a spoiled rich kid. I'm the daughter of a rocker. Big difference. I've broken up with psychos bigger than you. I even had one of them hit me in the back with a metal folding chair for trying to leave him. I'm sure I can tell you all sorts of horror stories.' She gets ready to plant her hands on either side of his head on the back of the couch, until he goes scrambling off of it to stand.
"There isn't anything wrong with Seamus. No more than any other guy that can't make up his mind on what he wants." she rolls her eyes upward into her head at that comment. "Counting him, I've got three of those right about now. One of which…" she frowns as she trails off. Then pffts and dismisses it. "Oh, pipe down." she waves her hand at him, "I only just started reading your mind a minute ago. And yes, I could do that stuff, but I do this now. Stuff happens, the likes of which you sometimes cannot control. What? Have a problem with it?" the girl turns to face him directly, taking a step to encroach upon his personal space, "Don't like me reading your thoughts? Do you have something else you're hiding? Hm? I'd recommend telling me now, or else I'll just pull it from your brain." An index finger comes up, poking firmly into the center of the man's chest.
"First of all," Jason takes the liberty to fold his arms behind his head. "She's not MY little tattooed tramp. Turns out she's a pretty unscrupulous character that I never should've gotten involved in. But if you can't read minds, like the rest of us on planet Earth, you somtimes fall into those types of situations - you know - mistakes." A few things come flying out of Harmony's room as he takes a cautious step back. "But there's to be no more cock riding. That's over with. I'm moving on" - Or at least I'm trying, he thinks to himself, momentarily forgetting about her newly acquired powers.
A look of confusion flashes in Jason's blinking eyes when she goes on about guys and other stuff and more boring things and so on and blah, blah - but when she steps into his personal space he straightens up, back as stiff as flag pole, eyes wide and alert. "Eh-eh-everyone's got things to hide. That's what keeps friendships possible. Secrets area good thing." I mean, you wouldn't want to know if your father was checking out your mom everytime she bent over pick something up.
He shakes his head, releasing the thought. "Sometimes it's good to ha- - -" Harmony's finger hits him square in the chest, sending a cold shiver up his spine. As soon as she makes physical contact with him his mind goes blank, only to reboot with forced thoughts of FOOTBAL - PASSING YARDS - RUNNING YARDS - KICKING YARDS - GOALS SCORED IN A SEASON - THE BEST LINEBACKER IN THE LEAUGE - And other general football things. "SOMETIMES it's good to have a few SECRETS!" he shouts over the sound of his own thoughts.
The girl has had a lot of time to sit and fiddle with song lyrics. It is funny how life situations and changes are usually the best time for a songwriter and a musician. It has become a tactic of hers to start thinking in her lyrics in order to keep more important thoughts from leaking free. He got on the subject of her relationship status and things, and there is just certain things that she likes to keep to herself right now. '~You meet somebody new, Time to get a life. Cook a meal for two, and he shows up with his wife. It's moments people said; Your name is like a curse. If something's really bad, you can always make it worse. Everywhere you go its never better, and you regret it, You never get what you paid for. Everything you do you never make it and you can take it, You never get what you paid for.~ Usually if it is valid for the moment, the lyric she sings mentally does the trick.
"My father, and my mother are both dead." She points out to him at his analogy. "Or don't you keep up with music media? Plane crash, about 6 years ago. My brother and I were the only ones to survive." Harmony has the upper hand here, so she intends to keep him off of his feet. With a combination of mental bombardment, switching to vocal, she can probably keep him confused enough.
Unfortunatly, that works two ways, and it is normally a bunch of babble that she picks up anyway. His football ramble puts her in a place she doesn't like. Reminding her of the mass of BS that she has been cursed to dealing with, and it makes her frown. "Shut up.." she growls through clenched teeth. Her hands reach out to try and twist her fists into the front of his shirt. 'Shut up!' Her mental voice is a little more unpleasant than her normal scream. At this close of a range, Harmony's mind scream can cause discomfort to the brain. For now, it is just enough to show that if she were to cry out any louder, Jason could certainly be dealing with an intense and sudden migraine.
Once he stops his prattle, Harmony reaches for the sides of his head to pull him closer, "I'm tired of secrets. Of other people's secrets. I think it's time you came clean."
The singing, the sorrow, the screaming - Jason figures it all has its part to play. And the levity he tries to consistently create sinks into his chest along with Harmony's clenched fists. His shirt wrings in her grasp, and just past her cries for silence he can faintly hear the city of New York dissapear behind him, like a wave clearing shells off the beach. There's just white noise. But when Harmony places her hands on his face, the quit is broken - torn apart by the rhythym of his pulse throbbing in his ears.
"Came clean?" he asks, almost having to read her lips over the sound of his chest thumping. "I - - - " He begins to say something but doesnt have to finish. Several dozen pictures race across his mind, each one with some image of harmony - him teasing her - arguing with her - pretending to ignore her - or just watching her from the corners of his eyes. But in the end all he can focus on is her, right here, right now. "I - - - "
Gawd your beautiful.
"I - - - "
It is going to take some time to actually push her ability back, in order to close herself off from the telepathic faucet that is the world around her. And with all of the stimulus going on about her, she has a much harder time even focusing on the thought of shutting it down. This is of course Jason's fault somehow. Why couldn't he have just let her come in, get her stuff and go back to hiding out where she was? It would have been easy. But no, he had to talk to her, and worry about her. He can probably see the frustration building all over her body. The way her fists tighten, her jaw tenses and her brow quivers. He has possibly encountered this before, though never with her. That moment of silence that leads up the girl hitting someone? It is probably coming up soon, given how she is staring at him.
And just as her teeth clench together and grind, Harmony finds herself toppled by his actual thought. She wanted the truth, but in face she wasn't quite prepared for that. She breaks herself away from him, letting go of him as if he were slimy, and taking a step back, "Wh-what?" she stares. She is used to people thinking god awful things about her, lewd and vulgar things, or things that might make her feel like a piece of meat, but hardly ever the 'B' word. "Wait a minute, back up. You can't be serious, right? I mean.. you just—" the girl, not knowing what to do with that, turns herself around, to face away from him.
It is left to her to try to abolish what he just said. But how can she when it is the main thing on her mind right now. ~It's all your fault. You called me beautiful. You turned me out, And now I can't turn back. I hold my breath, Because you were perfect. But I'm running out of air, and it's not fair.~ More lyrics to obfuscate the thoughts of the moment.
Jason tears away from Harmony at the same time she moves away from him. Large eyes sweep the room, searching for some point, any thing, to look at and focus on. But thre's nothing strong enough to anchor him from the awkward moment. He can only float helplessly in the uncertainty. "I - - - "
He forces a heavy breath. "I dind't say anything. I don't even know what you're talk - - singing about." He makes a show of raisin an index along side an arched brow. "That's the problem with mind reading. You see all kinds of crazy things, probably. What must have happened was a bunch of crazy thoughts just flew in from the fourth floor and got sucked in through the windows from the streets and got all in your head at one time." He pauses to think aout what he's sayimg. "Yeah, that's what it is. You head a head rush and then a brain freeze from all the outside thoughts."
Turning his back to her he faces the window, folding his arms again, and then again, and then again once more until the fit feels right in the crook of his under arms. "You're probably just confused… that's all."
"I never said anything."
"Of course you didn't." Harmony sounds disappointed. Though more to the fact that he is going back on his thought, rather than the actual words he used. It is something she has run into since she got this ability. People think and change their minds, and keep things inside. Hell, even she is guilty of that herself. Though that is only after she discovered how much people try to hide. "God forbid anyone actually speak their mind and stick with it." She finds that she can now move again, as it had been difficult to do so before. Functionality returning to her body, Harmony resumes gathering her things into her hands with a step towards the couch.
"You're all the same. Everyone.." she comments, slinging her duffel bag up and over one shoulder. "It's becoming pretty clear that I can't really depend on anyone else. For anything." There is more to that statement. The girl is compiling personal feelings onto the idea, turning it into a pretty big barrier against people getting close. She doesn't turn herself to look at him still, and she lets him say whatever excuse he coming up with.
Yeah, she'll be going now, she thinks..