2007-10-03: Somewhat Enlightening

Starring:

Nathan_icon.gif Cass_icon.gif Peter_icon.gif

Summary: A debriefing of kinds in the back room of Enlightenment Books. It's only somewhat enlightening.

Date It Happened: October 3rd, 2007

Somewhat Enlightening


Enlightenment Books

Friday night. The store's closing up. Making one last transaction, Peter locks the door and turns the sign around, closing out the register and beginning basic clean up. He'd told his brother to stop by after hours— told Cass to as well. He had important things to talk to them about, though he hadn't said what when he set everything up. In the additional time before the meeting, he goes over the shelves to look for misplaced books and put them back into place. There's always a handful that are just sat back down on the shelf, instead of put back where they were grabbed.

What a strange turn of events that Peter is asking Cass to show up at the store. Isn't that normally her line? However, the store owner doesn't make a fuss or a fight about it. In fact, she doesn't even think twice about showing up. There's no need for her to knock to be let in, as she has her own set of keys - luckily not on the set stolen by Jeremiah. A few turns of her keys and she's right inside the store, softly shutting the door behind her. "Peter? Nathan?" She's not sure if she's the last one here or not. Though Peter's healing did most of it's work, she's still sporting a bandage around her wrist where Mandy all but burned through it.

Timing! Just as the door is about to swing back behind Cass, Nathan is there to reach out and pause it, catching the tail end of Cass's calling out. "Hi," he says, stepping inside and closing the door behind him. He looks a bit as though he's had a long night followed by a long day, but dressed down - or dressed like a normal person, rather, clothes mostly obscured by a coat to counter the colder, wetter weather.

With the door opening to admit two people, Peter shoves one last book (in the UFO section) and leaves the shelves, moving to where he can better see them. "Hey— good timing." Saves him opening the door for anyone if they arrived right behind each other. "We might want to step into the backroom— you've been checking back there lately, right Cass?" It's the easiest way to say 'No Company bugs, right???'

Slightly startled, but trying not to show it, Cass gives Nathan a bit of a smile over her shoulder. "Hi." Strange. Has she ever actually been in the same room with both of the Petrellis together? Well, now she is. "And hi." Petrellis. Together. Should she change her last name to something starting with P? Already moving to the back room, she has a bag that she holds up. "I also brought your clothes back. I washed them and everything. Thanks for letting me borrow them." They're neatly folded. Dropping it onto a shelf, she shrugs off her fall coat. "Yeah. I think once they knew they were found out, they weren't going to try it again. But Gene helped rig up a whole lot more security, so I'd know if they tried anything."

Nathan only half listens to the two talk, taking off his coat to reveal his very dad-like sweater underneath it. It happens. Then, he glances towards the two for a moment. Clothes? Security? 'They'? "Do I wanna know?" he asks, in a tone that suggests that he can live without it, really, and resumes moving to hang up his coat.

"Oh, thanks," Peter says, taking the bag with his clothes in it. He'd been surprised how well they fit, but… "Actually that's one of the things we need to talk about tonight— Cass had a run in with a couple… villains… for lack of a better word. I healed her— but— well— I wanted to tell the both of you about what happened." It's not something pretty, from the tension on his forehead. Abandoning the front of the store, he makes his way toward the door to the back room. Out of sight, out of mind. "Two nights ago, there was a problem. Something— or someone— made me and a half dozen other Evolved lose control of our abilities."

Reaching underneath the cabinet, Cass pulls out the last bottle of Merlot that she has at the store and the corkscrew. Putting a hand on Nathan's shoulder, she sounds concerned for a moment when she tells him, "Nathan. Bill Crosby called. He wants his sweater back." Then, she hands over the corkscrew for him to open the wine with. He's better at it than she is. Then, she gives an impish grin and goes to move the seats around so they can all sit near each other without a desk in between them. However, they're back into serious conversation and the grin fades away into concern. "What happened? Did something happen? You're okay?" He's someone that can heal from just about anything, but there are degrees of that. And now she's worried. "Wait. Made you lose control of your abilities?" And the city is still not blown up? Or the millions of other things that could have happened? "How?"

"…what?" Then Nathan looks down at himself, and levels a glare in Cass's direction, just as he's handed the bottle of wine. Standard procedure. He works the bottle of Merlot open as he listens, frowning at the news of— what has to be an attack. He glances towards the bookstore owner curiously, having not really noticed her bandaging before now. Wine is poured efficiently into three mugs, the I <3 NY one handed to Cass, and another less exciting but suitable striped mug of wine handed to Peter. Vote Petrelli! is, naturally, kept for Nathan, as he helps himself to a dose of red wine before moving to sit down. "And New York City isn't rubble?" he asks, unknowing voicing Cass's thought as he looks at Peter a little more carefully than before.

"Luckily not," Peter says, staying on his feet, but taking the mug with wine in it. "Elena was about to slam me in the face with a chair to try and knock me out— but it didn't get that far. One of the Evolved nearby— he's got the ability to put people to sleep. Probably knocked the whole block out." Which sounds extreme, probably, but that's what happened. "One of the other people nearby— a woman I'd never seen— she has the ability to dreamwalk— or that's what she said. Her ability and one of mine— the dreams I have— they combined. And all of us— the special ones at least— all ended up in this… dream. Pretty— not a good one, either. Think I saw the people who attacked you." There's a brief description of Jeremiah and Mandy— their abilities as well as basic appearances.

Catching Nathan's glance, Cass just shrugs and waves a dismissive hand before taking a firm grasp on her mug. She's already been through what happened to Peter and Elena and Lachlan and she doesn't really feel like going through it all over again. "Benjamin?" Her head tilts slightly. She hasn't heard of people sharing an ability unless Peter's absorbed it, so she's going to just assume that it's him until she's told otherwise. It's one of those situations where it seems like everything that could go wrong did go wrong. "Explain not good." Because there are a lot of things that could be not good. When Peter describes the people who attacked her, the brunette just looks deeply into the dark red Merlot, suddenly not wanting to drink it. The smell of it makes her a little nauseous and she sets the whole mug down an arm length away from her and nods. "That sounds like them."

At one point during Peter's storytelling, Nathan takes a good long sip of wine. A mass hallucination about people that apparently attacked Cass, who doesn't seem to want to talk about it if her wave was to be of any indication. Before there can be any more explanation of this dream or whatever it truly is, Nathan shakes his head. "If we're talking about a random chain of events, here, who's to say this… dream everyone had is even that significant?" Well someone has to be at least a little cynical. He may have bought a dream dictionary from this place, but that was only to gain the autograph of a soap star.

"Because I've had these dreams before, Nathan," Peter says, after taking a generous sizes drink from his coffee mug. He hasn't had anything to drink for quite some time now, but this is a special circumstance. "And yeah, it was Winters. I saw him briefly when we all woke up." And that's… a story for later. "It wasn't just a dream, Nathan. It was too much like my dreams of flying— and blowing up New York." And all the dreams he had in the future too— but he hasn't really felt like talking about those. "Those two— and a third— they were featured in the dream. At least part of it. Attacking people. A few people that I know— two that I didn't really know. But that's not… the dream shifted a lot. Moved around… went from one place to another— eventually we all ended up standing in a hospital. One that was… closed off. Full viral outbreak-type thing. Hazmat suits— the works." He pauses, taking a long drink from his glass, finishing it off rather fast. "People were sick," he says, voice hoarse. "And it's my fault."

Though now the only one without a drink, Cass leans forward and perches her chin in the hand without a bandage around the wrist. She's listening to what Peter has to say intently. It's not that she's ignoring Nathan's question, it's that Peter told her about those dreams before as part of his possible abilities and believes that he knows the difference between the dreams involving him showing up to class naked and those that are relevant to the future. "A third?" Great. Just what they need. Another psycho to add to the scary bunch. "A hospital?" Then, she shakes her head. "It's can't be your fault, Peter. There's got to be an explanation. How in the world could an outbreak be your fault?"

Nathan doesn't seem entirely convinced, but he lets it go. They both likely know better. It's more this twist of a "dreamwalker" that makes him wary - who knows what the hell kind of twist she might have thrown into the circumstance? Not his area, either way. Cass asks the questions relevant, so he stays quiet for now to hear the answers.

"Because I changed things," Peter explains, putting down his empty coffee mug and turning away, hands going through his hair. He's unable to face them for the moment, but they can both spot the tension along his shoulders. "Because none of this happened before. Because one of the people I saw in the hospital bed was Evelyn— and your father, Cass— your father and Suresh were talking about what happened— I only hear pieces of what they were saying, but something went wrong. None of this was supposed to happen. I don't think she ever got that sick before— and I know that…" The way he cuts off there shows that he's really hesitating with this piece of information. But then he rubs his face and turns around. "You were sick too, Nathan. And I doubt you two were the only ones. An outbreak like that never happened in the future I saw— so if it's happening now… it's my fault."

"That doesn't make what happens your fault," Cass shakes her head vehemently. "Would it be better for New York to suddenly be a ghost town because of tornadoes?" Straightening at the mention of her father, the hand she was using as a support of her chin drops to rest on her leg. "What do you mean? My father? What was he doing there?" Something going wrong? With Mohinder? Frowning, she stands up to pour herself some water. The smell of the Merlot is making her stomach do weird flips. Dumping her full mug of red wine down the drain, she rinses it out. "I told you I found some sort of…anomaly in Evelyn's bloodstream." She's silent as the water fills the mug, but when she turns around, she's looking at Nathan and not Peter. "I should get a sample of your blood, too." Hopefully to prove to Peter that this can't be your fault. "No it's not Peter. Just because you changed what may have happened in the future you saw doesn't make any of what you dreamed your fault."

"Cass is right," Nathan states, quietly, watching his brother - though he did flicker a glance towards Cass when she asked him about a blood sample. But his focus is on Peter, concern showing - as well as a sort of abstract older brotherly like irritation. "You're not responsible for this future anymore than I am for the one you visited after I stopped New York getting leveled last year." Seems like there's always a bad future ahead of them, no matter what any of them do. He looks briefly uncomfortable for a moment, before finally he nods to Cass. "Sure," is his reluctant consent.

It doesn't look like Peter enjoys all this talk about how it isn't his fault— he's pretty stubborn about this self-blame. The dream outright told him it was his fault— "Fine— then it's my responsibility." Which is exactly the same thing in the end. But if they're like Elena and going to argue with him over what he knows is his fault— he'll let it drop after that. "When the dream ended, Sylar was there. He attacked Elena and me— but Winters wasn't alone— Elle was there. And…" Other people in the Company that's slept with a Petrelli in the past. He spares a quick glance at his brother, and trails that off. "They knocked him out— took him into custody. Looks like they switched back to their no-kill policy."

Just as stubborn as any Petrelli, Cass moves back to her seat and takes a long drink of her water. "Not just your responsibility, Peter." The bookstore owner looks over at Nathan to make sure that he'll back her up on this one. She can't be alone in that thinking. Whatever this 'new' future holds, hopefully it doesn't involve her being blown up. "I'll just do a preliminary screening," she explains to Nathan about the blood sample. "If you don't want to, that's fine. You can just stop by Bat Country some time." Hopefully he knows what Bat Country actually is or that statement may just be very confusing. "They…caught Sylar?" After all this time? "That's…that's good, though, right? One less madman on the street? Elena's alright?" She assumes that she is, since Peter is at work a not curled up in a ball of depression.

When Cass glances back at him as a call for back up, Nathan just rolls his eyes and gestures like 'no, he's all yours'. If anyone is familiar enough with Peter's tendency towards self-blame to the point of it being unshakable, it's Nathan. "They caught Sylar," he confirms to Cass, with a shrug. "And apparently grew a conscience because they're keeping him caged rather than putting him down." Or he's useful in some way, but who is Nathan to contemplate the motivations of a non-government secret organisation? As an aside of an explanation to Peter, he adds, "Damaris updated me." He reaches for the bottle of Merlot, seeing as one less person is drinking now, and refills his mug. "No, you can have the sample," he tells Cass. "May as well." Christ, he's just been dealing with the prospect of a possible alter ego, now he has to think about a possible disease. Awesome. "So when do we get a nice, happy future?" he asks no one in particular, focusing on taking a sip of wine.

Yeah, his self-blame is unshakable right now. They're not the ones who traveled through time. Peter thinks himself to blame for all the changes if they aren't good ones. "I'll try to get Evelyn to come into Bat Country— but whatever made us lose control of our abilities— they also might've made them stronger. It could be what causes the tornado— or what would've caused it." He's not sure if that will happen anymore. "The people in the dream— they were all like us, I'm pretty sure." All female, actually. But that's another story. "If the person who caused it was there— it'd have to be one of the ones on the edge. A dark haired woman with a little kid… I spoke to the others. Or knew them." He only saw the woman and the kid in passing— recognized as like them because they weren't affected by the rain. If he hadn't been so distracted by people dying left and right… "I think that… there was something going on there. With her and the kid and the Company— but Sylar…" Sylar gave a rather huge distraction, as expected. "Elena's fine, though— Sylar didn't really get much chance to hurt anyone…" They kinda ganged up on him. But that's… When do they get a happy future? Never.

How fatalistic. It's true that Cass didn't travel to the future or actually see what Peter saw, however, she's not going to think that no matter what changes there is no happy future. Giving Nathan a 'oh thanks' look for backing her up on this - really, thanks Nathan - she nods. "Wait, was I the last one to know about Sylar getting put behind bars? Or I guess some laboratory setting?" How does Nathan know before she does? "Great. So now's when they grow a conscience." Not that she really wants to complain much about that. She'd rather they have more of a conscience than less of one. "That's good, at least." That Sylar didn't hurt anyone. "I talked to my father about what I found in Evelyn's blood. Without bringing up whose blood it was. He didn't have any clue as to what it could be. But if I could definitely just talk to her, get a more in depth look at what she can do, see if what was in her bloodstream has, well, if it's evolved into anything else…that would be a big help."

As for Cass being the last to know about Sylar, well. As they talk, Nathan leans forward a little as if trying to catch it, before he puts up his hand halfway, with a sort of mild smile. When it catches their attention, he drops that hand again. "Who's Evelyn?" Because that name keeps coming up and he has to ask if he's gonna follow this for any longer. Peter also gets a glance his way - there seems to be so many pieces of this story that he knows, that he hasn't shared.

Still standing, Peter looks very much like he's about to start pacing, but he doesn't. "She's— damn, I'm sorry— I hadn't told you because it was one of the few things I wanted to keep as tight as possible— but the Company already knows about her." He shakes his head. That was one slip up that he's definitely still mad about, even if Mr. Gomez had had the best intentions. If it creates a whole new future, one with a deadly virus that will maybe kill his brother— then it really is his fault. But… "She's the tornado— the cause of it. The future— everyone thought it was really Sylar, but… I ran into her in the future— and she said it was her. Her power got taken away— then returned— amplified until she lost control and leveled half the city. And let everyone know about us."

Well, everyone has to be the last to know about something or the other. Cass allows Peter to explain about Evelyn, nodding along a bit as he talks. "But they're already pretty swamped with these criminals on the loose. And now with their new Sylar toy to play around with, or whatever they do with their criminal prisoners. Hopefully they'll leave Evelyn alone." At least until they can figure out what happens to her so she's not a threat any more.

At Peter's explanation for keeping a lid on the who behind the tornado, Nathan only gives a "hm". Whatever's on his mind, however, goes unvoiced. There are more important things to talk about. He nods to Cass, then shrugs at them both. "Well at least you know, now. That's half the future prevention done, isn't it?" He reaches for his mug of wine again. "Maybe you're meant to start with the— villains." Which is a stupid thing to call anyone, but it's the vocab they're going with, it seems. "I don't know about a virus, but at least you can make sure they don't manage to hurt anyone, like you saw. Anyone else," he adds, glancing towards Cass.

"I never knew, Nathan," Peter says, shaking his head. "Something caused her to lose control— we thought it might have been a disease, or something— but after what happened in the cafe— it might have been whatever that was. And I don't think the Company is going to leave her alone. That's not what they do. I don't care how many criminals they say they put behind bars and keep from destroying the world— They take people away from their families— threaten them if you don't cooperate." He could use the two best examples he knows of, but he won't. He's not sure if Nathan knows what they did to his daughter. "And you're right— starting with the villains seems like a plan." But the way he starts to move towards his hung up coat— looks very much like he's planning to leave.

"I'm not sure what we can do about them," Cass responds to Nathan, finishing off her water and setting it down behind her. They can melt eyes out of eye sockets and slit throats without weapons. The bookstore owner really isn't in a good position to try and stop them. "We're not going to let them get her, Peter. We'll figure something out. But we'll just hope for now they're so disoriented they'll have to worry about their red alerts as opposed to their grey matters." And if the text she got from Benjamin is any indication, that would be true. Pointing over at the bag of clothes, she wants to make sure that he remembers to take those home. Not that it would be a huge tragedy if he left them here, but just so that if he needs sweatpants or a t-shirt in between now and when he's in next, he'll have them. "But, we'll try."

Nathan rises from his seat as well, taking down his coat. The mug of wine is finished, set beside the sink, as Cass talks. When she's done, he addresses his brother first. "I've never trusted them, Pete," he points out. "The fact that they have Gray alive makes me nervous." He knows enough of what they did to Claire, and what they've done to various people around him. "But by the sounds of it, they'll want these people you saw in the dream locked away or dead as much as any of us." And by the same token, perhaps the Company holding onto someone like Evelyn isn't such a bad idea either, but obviously, that attitude is at odds to what's being said, maybe they have a personal investment in the girl unlike he, so he keeps this to himself.

It's more that Peter doesn't approve of them holding someone who didn't mean to cause harm, doesn't mean to cause harm, and only causes harm if someone messes with them in such a way that they lose control of their abilities. Hence why he doesn't mind them holding Sylar, or those villains that escaped— but he does mind them holding an innocent teenage girl who just happens to have the potential to level half the city. He doesn't want to be locked up just because of that anymore, either. Grabbing the bag he's reminded of, he nods toward the Merlot, "Thanks for the wine. I'm going to see if I can get Evelyn to come stop by— and contact those people I met in the dream." And then he'll have to let them know what's what— somehow. If he ever figures out what's what. He's winging it. And he keeps winging it, unfortunately.

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License