Petal 03 -- Open to Action

[shylyintrepid]

[When the feed starts, Jehan is clearly not in his cabin. He's down by the shore.

And he's been crying. His voice is hoarse and when he speaks, his accent is a bit thicker than usual]

If...if anyone else knew Zane, son of Venus, he...

[He wants to say "died". Died would be so much easier than the truth]

He was a...he was an agent of the Red Room. This entire time. He...he was here to spy on us.

[And he cuts the IM. As he does, you can see him break down yet again. It's going to be a long time before he recovers from this heartbreak]

Comments

[angeliaforos]

She's back now, you know that, right? Dunno if you saw her, but I tried to keep her safe.

[He frowns - and it's a weird expression on the usually playful Iris counselor.]

Fuck - seriously?!

[shylyintrepid]

[He nods. Yeah, he saw Naomi and yeah, that seriously happened]

...I think, maybe, I loved him a little.

[And cue more tears at that]

[angeliaforos]

[Shit, okay.

Now, make no mistake - Gabriel's been in quite a few casual relationships before. But he's never been in love with someone - at least, not that he can remember.

He's also not particularly great with people crying, especially when he's not the one that made them cry in the first place. (At least then, usually, they deserve it, he thinks.)

This? No one deserves to be betrayed like this.

He reaches over, patting Jehan on the back, biting his bottom lip.]

What happened to him?

[shylyintrepid]

He's...he's still alive, if that's what you're asking. I had my gun and I just couldn't, Gabriel, I couldn't shoot him or hurt him or do anything but stare.

[He rubs at his eyes]

I mean, maybe I hurt him a little. I don't remember. I don't want to remember. Any of it, not just Zane. The capture and the room and Jackass and...all of it, I just want it gone.

[angeliaforos]

[he frowns a little bit - because honestly, if he was put in a situation where he could have gotten rid of one of the Red Room guys - especially the leader - it would have been shoot-to-kill for him, and he's not even great with guns.

But Jehan also said he was in love with him. So that changes things a little, he guesses.

He shakes his head, looking at the Demeter counselor.]

Well, we're stuck here now, for the forseeable...who the hell knows how long. So...

[He pauses a moment, wondering if it's a good idea - usually he just goes with things, but he's still pretty shaken by all this stuff.]

Jean Prouvaire, I am going to teach you how to live.

[shylyintrepid]

[He was going to kill Markel. He was. But then he mentioned Zane and Jehan was too distracted to do anything but restrain him.

Jehan looks at Gabriel, confused]

Pardon-moi?

[angeliaforos]

[Okay, he doesn't speak a lick of French, but he knows that look and he knows what Jehan's asking him, and he just gives him a knowing grin.]

We're stuck here. So we're gonna make some kickass new memories to get rid of those old ones.

[Or, at the very least, push them down so far and bottle them up. If you bottle up your bad feelings, you don't have to worry about anything, right? Right.

Partially, he's doing this because he needs a distraction. Needs to not think about home and his cousins and his uncle and how they're getting on without him around.]

[shylyintrepid]

And how can we do that without breaking the rules or laws? I know what Americans think is "kickass". At least, I know what they think is kickass on television.

[angeliaforos]

Jehan, do you know me at all yet?

[He nods, shrugging.]

I'll figure something out.

[shylyintrepid]

...that worries me.

[angeliaforos]

Oh, you should be worried.

[Then, quickly.]

It'll be so good, though.

[shylyintrepid]

You have a funny way of making me feel better, Gabriel.

[But he's smiling a little]

Does it involve breaking curfew?

[angeliaforos]

Buuuut is is working?

[He nods.]

Generally speaking, yes.

[shylyintrepid]

...un peu.

[A little]

We're counselors.

[angeliaforos]

[He already knows, and he shrugs.]

I'm still not seeing a problem here.

[shylyintrepid]

We have to set an example.

[Really, he doesn't care. He just has to protest]

[angeliaforos]

I set an example all the time.

[No, Gabriel, you don't. You have no siblings to look out for.]

Besides, you're doing a hell of a job with Naomi. I don't see why you can't cut loose a bit.

[shylyintrepid]

True...

[He sighs]

Think it'll help?

[angeliaforos]

Dude, of course it'll help. We're all wound pretty damn tight right now, okay?

[He doesn't say it, not directly, but that includes himself.]

[shylyintrepid]

We are.

[He sighs]

We need a...a spa day. Or an invasion of cute things. Or both.

[angeliaforos]

A what?

I was thinking...

[He looks up in the air, almost-scheming.]

We have to figure out how to play movies here. I don't know how it would work. Maybe we talk to Chiron, IM somebody back home, have them play it over the IM and hope nobody walks through the rainbow.

[shylyintrepid]

Mama goes on them when Father is being a dick and I'm at camp.

[He listens to Gabriel's idea]

Or we could just ask for a projector and some blu-rays.

[angeliaforos]

[It's funny to hear Jehan cursing in English, especially in that accent of his. He kind of likes it, wants to get him to do it more.

This is quite possibly the worst person anyone could have picked to be a counselor.]

I don't think technology works the same way in here as it does out there. Except for those Hecate kids, but they have really bad taste in TV.

[Seriously, Cash Cab?

They could do better. Come on, Legends of the Hidden Temple or Double Dare.]

[shylyintrepid]

Get Leo and Dany to make one that works. Get the Hecate kids to charm it, or one of the Egyptians. We could make one work, I think.

[angeliaforos]

Okay, you can talk to Daenerys about that one, because that girl? Kind of weird. She looks at you - it's like she can see into your soul. Creepy.

[He does like Leo, though, and Natalie, he's heard, is good with charms.]

Have any particular movies in mind?