"first things first," says susan, pressing the emergency stop button. "honestly peter, your priorities."
"you absolutely cannot talk to me about priorities," says peter, rifling through the duffel bag of tools. he hands caspian a flashlight. "hold this."
susan starts unscrewing screws with the screwdriver with a determination you can hear in her voice. "right, so according to you it's perfectly OKAY to go gallivanting off on some wild goose chase--"
"you want a hand with that?" caspian offers.
"fuck off!" susan snaps.
"look, i had no idea it was a set-up," says peter as he configures something that looks like a stopwatch with too many wires coming out of it. numbers appear on its small screen, and his thumbs jab at several unlabeled buttons. "i mean, i had some idea. but--"
"but you thought you could do it?" susan snarls, wrenching the metal panel off the elevator wall, revealing a mess of wires underneath it. "you thought, oh i'll show them. let me just wave my dick around so they can all see who the real man is!"
peter says, "leave my dick out of this."
"god knows i try!" she snatches a pair of alligator clips from a side pocket and starts hooking up the wires from the not-a-stopwatch to the ones in the wall. susan does it fast enough that you may think she's doing it at random -- she's not. "you just keep bringing it back! do you know how much the three of us lost when you were caught? lucy couldn't even recover our investment, you were caught so fucking fast."
peter says, "susan--"
"and THEN, we just ran, we just ran across the country, running with nothing. hey is that thing ready?" she gestures at the not-a-stopwatch.
"huh?" peter glances at it. "oh, yeah."
"right. ANYWAY, we were running on empty, and it was strange peter because when was the last time the four of us have been apart that long? and now it's just become the way of things. i blamed you for that, for waving your dick and getting arrested and breaking up the four of us. alright, press the button."
peter does. "look, susan--"
"it became--"
"susan," says peter.
"i started thinking about it--"
"susan!"
"--and what if this happens again? what if it does. i couldn't do that, peter."
and then the lights go out in the elevator, in the entire building.
in the darkness peter says, "susan, i'm sorry."
susan sighs, and in a small voice she says, "me too."
no subject
"you absolutely cannot talk to me about priorities," says peter, rifling through the duffel bag of tools. he hands caspian a flashlight. "hold this."
susan starts unscrewing screws with the screwdriver with a determination you can hear in her voice. "right, so according to you it's perfectly OKAY to go gallivanting off on some wild goose chase--"
"you want a hand with that?" caspian offers.
"fuck off!" susan snaps.
"look, i had no idea it was a set-up," says peter as he configures something that looks like a stopwatch with too many wires coming out of it. numbers appear on its small screen, and his thumbs jab at several unlabeled buttons. "i mean, i had some idea. but--"
"but you thought you could do it?" susan snarls, wrenching the metal panel off the elevator wall, revealing a mess of wires underneath it. "you thought, oh i'll show them. let me just wave my dick around so they can all see who the real man is!"
peter says, "leave my dick out of this."
"god knows i try!" she snatches a pair of alligator clips from a side pocket and starts hooking up the wires from the not-a-stopwatch to the ones in the wall. susan does it fast enough that you may think she's doing it at random -- she's not. "you just keep bringing it back! do you know how much the three of us lost when you were caught? lucy couldn't even recover our investment, you were caught so fucking fast."
peter says, "susan--"
"and THEN, we just ran, we just ran across the country, running with nothing. hey is that thing ready?" she gestures at the not-a-stopwatch.
"huh?" peter glances at it. "oh, yeah."
"right. ANYWAY, we were running on empty, and it was strange peter because when was the last time the four of us have been apart that long? and now it's just become the way of things. i blamed you for that, for waving your dick and getting arrested and breaking up the four of us. alright, press the button."
peter does. "look, susan--"
"it became--"
"susan," says peter.
"i started thinking about it--"
"susan!"
"--and what if this happens again? what if it does. i couldn't do that, peter."
and then the lights go out in the elevator, in the entire building.
in the darkness peter says, "susan, i'm sorry."
susan sighs, and in a small voice she says, "me too."
"caspian," says peter. "flashlight."
caspian turns it on.