Waking up is hard to do

[got_burned]

[Note: This is seriously backdated.]

It's dark. Dark and enveloping, in the same way that water is wet and drowning. It's no comfort, no help, because there's something profoundly wrong with it being dark

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[got_burned]

There's not much to analyse about something being thrown out of a window, but the choice of missile can in fact tell you a lot about the person who performed the defenestration. More often than not, though, you'll learn a lot more just by looking up.

Michael lifts a hand to visor his eyes from the diffuse Michigan daylight as he glances up at the building's exterior, standing clear of the shattered chair limbs lying attendant in a pool of diamond shards of safety glass. The chair's brocade-upholstered remnants tell him that it was from a room intended for a hotel guest, and not a conference room.

Rapidly he finds the curtain billowing out of the now forcibly open window, and makes a note of the floor. He has to get up there, and now, so he begins to move swiftly inside-- that is, before he sees his mother leaving the building.

Dammit, can't she do anything he asks?

"Ma," he says as he approaches, "I told you to stay inside!"

[erin_go_boom]

Fiona is covered in sweat and dust, the familiar scent of cordite wafting around her. "Confused. Yes. Well. So was I. I don't like being confused, Michael. We've tried to leave. Politely. I decided it was time to make the point a little more forcefully."

Indeed, judging by the amount of damage done to the living room, she has applied quite a bit of force to making her point.

[got_burned]

Michael forces a smile.

"That's great. Are you done?"

[erin_go_boom]

True to her mercurial nature, her expression shifts. "No, Michael. We're both still here, and now Madeline's been pulled into this as well. I don't think I've done nearly enough." She gives the ceiling and floor a thoughtful, sweeping gaze. "Perhaps I need to start on the load-bearing walls...."

[got_burned]

The downturn of his mouth is his reponse before he sets off the fire extingusher briefly, sending a cloud of electrical-fire dousing carbon dioxide into the room. The gesture-- and his expression-- serve the same purpose: he's had enough of this, and he would rather like her to stop. Now.

[erin_go_boom]

She gives a dramatic roll of her eyes. "Fine. I'll take a break until I can renew my supply of C4. I don't really have enough on hand--"

[got_burned]

"Fine," he says, his voice rising just a touch as he fixes her with a hard look. "You can go right ahead and do that later, but right now I thought we should talk and come up with a plan."

[erin_go_boom]

In the absence of any usable furniture, she sits on the floor. "Fine. Where do you think we should plant the first round of charges?"

[got_burned]

That cut on his chin is throbbing. It might be related to the frustration factor he's going through.

"I need more information."

[erin_go_boom]

"Explosions can be wonderfully inspirational," she points out. "We could see who comes swarming out after the dust settles."

[got_burned]

"You really think they'd let you get that far? Whoever 'they' are. I need names, Fiona. I need to know who works here, who's staying here, what they want, what their boundaries are, who they're working for."

[erin_go_boom]

"What spots will make the most satisfying crunch when a claw hammer--"

[got_burned]

"Fi."

One word, with many complex, layered meanings.

[erin_go_boom]

She reaches out to touch his leg, but her gaze is focused somewhere else entirely. "I want to hurt them, Michael," she says quietly. "I want to see them bleed. I want them to know exactly how big a mistake they made. They can live just long enough to regret it."

[got_burned]

The fire extinguisher is set aside for the time being before he crouches down to bring himself to her level. His expression is a little softer as he meets her eyes, though the blossoming bruise on his jaw from earlier gives him a less mild look.

"I know. And we will. But I need to know who they are, and I want to make sure we take them all down so they can't keep doing this. And I can't do that if I don't have the right information."

[erin_go_boom]

Her hand slides up to his arm, his shoulder. "Then what's our next move?"