Participants:
| Scene Title | Penguins, Prophets, and Plagues |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | One of each comes when members of the Ferrymen converge on the Brick House. |
| Date | March 12, 2010 |
The Brick House is one of the single-most secure Ferrymen safe-houses on the mainland. Situated on the edge of the east river in the dilapidated ruins of Long Island City's crumbling industrial infrastructure, this two story brick mill building is the picture of abandonment, with masoned up windows and chain link fencing surrounding the property and its rather expansive and overgrown waterside lot.
However, subterranean access to the structure made available by the basement of a larger, demolished factory that was once connected to this structure has provided discrete and clandestine access to the facility. Currently inaccessible during daytime hours, the Brick House's tunnel entrance operates once the sun goes down for all but the most stealthy of Ferry operatives, to minimize daylight foot-presence in the area.
Colette Nichols is one among only a handful of Ferry operatives able to come and go from the safe-house during all hours of the day, and her job as an unseen courier makes her presence here guaranteed more often than not. While she may be recovering from her accident, the use of a cane and slower steps haven't deterred her from supply runs to and from this building.
More conventional couriers, like Ygraine Fitzroy, have to make due with arrival after dark. It's with a package of paper masks and other assorted medical supplies from the Hangar that has brought Ygraine up through the basement entrance into the sealed up building, where tattered old furniture and hanging chemical lamps light peeling wallpaper and crumbling brick.
It also happens to light up the presence of a handful of safe-house residents seated around a warped old formica table, sorting out supplies from a backpack. Situated on that ratty sofa when Ygraine emerges into the ground floor kitchen from the basement, she can see the wayward Colette sifting through packages of freeze-dried meals, stacking them up on the table as they're removed from her backpack. From here, she doesn't look much worse for wear, save for a tiny crescent-shaped pattern of bruising on her right cheek and brow, mostly hid by her hair. The cane she uses, resting up against the sofa, seems innocuous enough.
Across from her at the table, a matchstick thin blonde woman sits with her legs pulled up beneath herself, scribbling in a notebook quietly while Colette sorts. Else Kjelstrom is a fish out of water here, but at least a quiet one given the circumstances.
Her arrival preceded by a solid 'clump' from just beyond the kitchen door, the courier's appearance in the portal might not be a surprise to those beyond it - but what she finds within clearly startles her. She stares for a couple of moments, blinks, then hastily busies herself with the task of swinging a heavily-waterproofed pack off her shoulders, focusing upon that as she advances towards the table, intent upon unloading her delivery herself. Preferably without looking up, it seems.
When Melissa makes her way into the Brick House, she looks tired, a little, and the black streaks have been washed out of her hair. Of course, she's still dressed entirely in black, but her hair is ordinary blonde. She's brought a box of supplies with her, medical stuff it seems like, and a quick glance around has her following Ygraine towards Colette's table. "Hey guys," she says, in a voice more dull than anyone else here has ever heard it. Isn't she supposed to always be bright and bubbly?
"Hey Mel," Colette offers nonchalently, focused on checking the ingrediants of the free-dried food and moving anything with nuts in it to a seperate pile; the safehouse Operator has a food allergy after all. When she leans forward to lay down a package, Ygraine gets the sight of something unusual poking its head out of her courier bag, a stuffed penguin. "How's things going down at the Den? I've been— hearing some stuff…"
When Colette looks up from the sorting of food, her eyes aren't settled on Melissa, but the silhouette of Ygraine standing on the opposite side of the table. Green eyes are wide, voice hitched in silence and when she bolts up to stand, there's an immediate yelp as she moves her hand to her side and hunches forward with a hiss of breath.
Else looks up form her chair, moving the notepad aside and looks like she's going to get up and move to the teen, but Colette's dismissive wave of a hand has the waifish blonde slinking back down into her chair, brows furrowed and brown eyes uplifted towards Ygraine in silent query. Her nose wrinkles, eyes flick back to Colette, and Else puts her attention back down on writing in her notebook.
"Y— Ygraine." Colette murmurs out with a grimace, from the pain in her ribs. She grabs her cane, rests some weight on it and hobbles around the table with dark brows raised to her hairline. "I— " Colette looks back to the penguin sticking out of her courier bag, then back to the Brit. "I— I got him." There's a weak smile, teeth toying with her lower lip subtly.
Colette's self-mangling efforts serve to distract Ygraine from both Else and Melissa - the latter at least receiving a nod of recognition and a somewhat weak smile before the Briton's attention is jerked towards the yelping girl.
"I… I'm glad", she says softly, tone more than a little uncertain, though her gaze flickers between the penguin and Colette as she speaks. "I… figured he might be… helpful. When I couldn't be. I've… always found penguins to be good at that sort of thing. And he seemed like a friendly sort."
Hearing that yelp, and seeing the automatic move of hand to side, Melissa half drops, half throws her box onto the table to move to Colette's side with a frown. "What the hell did you do? If you're hurting bad enough that standing does this you shouldn't be standing," she snaps, urging Colette to sit back down. And if she tries to relieve the pain a little at the same time…well, who can blame her?
"The Den is not doing well at all. We had four sick kids, but…we lost one," she says softly, before she glances between Ygraine and Colette curiously. But it doesn't seem as though she's going to ask about the penguin.
Grimacy awkwardly, Colette lifts a hand up to gently move Melissa's away from her side, brows creased. "It— It's just my ribs. I kind've got into an argument with a car," there's a wry smile there as she makes it sounds less serious than it is. "Just gotta' not move so fast. I— I'll be fine." Teeth toy at her lower lip, though, considering that one of the sick kids at the Den was lost. There's really only one contesxt that can mean, and Colette's immediate shifting of focus away from that topic is her classic evasion pattern.
"Sophisticated," Colette distracts herself in addressing the topic of stuffed penguins, lips creeping up into a crooked and only partly honest smile, "clearly he's a British gentleman, searching for his monocle and top-hat." There's a teasing, if somewhat tentative tone to her voice, and as she walks around the table towards Ygraine, it's with a subtle limp and dependance on that old wooden cane to keep herself up. "I— I'm sorry I hadn't come to talk to you yet about— Christ, about a lot of things." Dark brows furrow, and Colette's smile fades a little.
"I um, I— " Green eyes wander to the side, "I spent a lot of time at home or with my Sister after the car accident, kind've busted up pretty bad. I only started getting out and seeing anyone yesterday, and that's 'cause Scott got in touch with me and asked me if I could make a delivery out here. I— I ran into Joseph and stuff, did my second run today. Been bringing Percival here with me wherever I go," she nods to the stuffed penguin.
"I wanted to… I dunno, try'n figure some stuff out a bit before taling to you? You know how stubborn I am. It— A lot of it had to do with my dad, Felix… I know you offered to help but, it— it was osmething I had to handle between me an' them. M'sorry we moved to get Joseph before you got back from England. I— we couldn't wait."
Ygraine's expression fluctuates between concern, amusement and surprise as she listens to Colette - then she steps forward to rest her hands on the girl's shoulders. "I heard about the car", she says gently. "You always were prone to making an impression on a first meeting. I should have guessed you'd extend that to inanimate objects, too."
Glancing to Melissa, she offers an awkwardly sympathetic look, before refocusing upon Colette. "I… well. You know what my self-confidence is like. I figured that you'd let me know if or when you wanted me back in your life. And I thought that someone to hug, who'd ask no questions, might be helpful."
Then all the more reason to sit down," Melissa says, though she does remove her hand from Colette's side without an argument. But the 'damage', so to speak, has already been done. All it takes is a touch…and a bit of a nosebleed…But she continues to focus to ease Colette's pain, which gives her words an absent tone to them. "Ahh…should I just leave the room? Just came to drop off the supplies, so it won't interfer with anything…"
Wetting her lips, Colette ducks her head down and looks askance from Ygraine to Melissa, brows furrowed and a bit flush in the cheeks. "N— No it's— it's alright Mel." Glancing back up to Ygraine, Colette gives a nod to the couch and starts to head back towards it, bracing her weight on her cane as she carefully eases herself back down to sitting. Walking is no problem, bending at the middle is still an exercise in agony, except right now it feels great and she can't for the life of herself figure out why.
Looking mildly perplexed as she settles down, Colette lays her cane across her lap and pats the side of the couch for Ygraine, then reaches over to take the stuffed penguin out of her courier bag. "I know it's going to sound kind've— I dunno, insensitive of me? But I was thinking about giving this little guy to the kids down at the Den." Her fingers squeeze into the plush bird, eyes moving from Ygraine to Melissa and back again.
"The sentiment was sweet, but I think there's kids who need something to squeeze more'n I do. I'm gonan be okay… mostly," there's a grimace at that, "but every time i look at this guy, I keep thinking about how Mel's kids might be a lot happier with him." Colette's head quirks to the side, bangs coming to fall over one eye as she considers Ygraine briefly. "You think… that'd be okay? He was your gift to me, but I think… I think there's people who need cheerin' up more'n I do."
Having watched Colette's change of expression and apparent ease of movement, Ygraine again glances to Melissa, mouthing "thank you", to her while the cane-wielder eased onto the sofa. The pat for her to join Colette there clearly comes as a surprise, but after a momentary hesitation she moves to do so, perching on it in a fashion rather at odds with the biking leathers she wears.
"I… ahhh…. I can buy more. Toys, that is. Quite a lot more, if need be. But…" She shrugs, shoulders tight. "It… was said a long time ago that giving up all of something that you have… that means more than someone who has a lot giving away the same amount. If you feel that… he's needed there, then…"
Melissa watches Colette like a hawk, then her face softens. "The girl who…she had a twin. She's three. I'm sure she'd love something to be able to hold onto," she says quietly, smiling a bit, and wiping at the tiny bit of blood on her upper lip. When are the nosebleeds gonna STOP already? Seeing Ygraine's mouthed comment she nods, smiling a bit. "Doc and I did buy some toys for the kids, right after they got there, but…not too many stuffed animals. So if you want to give one of them the penguin, I'll take it to them."
"M'trying t'focus less on myself and more on other people since the accident. I— kind've got Felix hit by the car too because I was being stupid and pushy and just… I need to stop worrying so much about myself, and just— give back some more." Brows up, COlette gives the penguin a squeeze with both arms and leans her shoulder against Ygraine, looking over to Melissa with a quirked brow. "You— okay you kind've got like…" Colette's fingers dab beneath her own nose as if to say you got some red on you.
After that awkward look, Colette shifts green eyes over to Ygraine. "If you wanna' help out too, you should. M'too scared of catching the virus to go over and help those kids out myself, but Melissa's like— super brave and stuff. Kind've glad I didn't move in there now with all that's gone down… I mean— you know."
Scratching at the side of her face with one hand, Colette looks up to Ygraine, leaning in to rest her chin against the Brit's shoulder. "Can I ask your opinion on something? I— guess Mel, you too, if you know one've the guys m'thinkin' of…"
Ygraine looks very much as if she has precious little idea of how to respond to becoming a support for Colette, but she doesn't appear inclined to pull away. Perhaps stalling for time, she looks to Melissa and quietly (and somewhat sheepishly) says, "He's called Percival", before clearing her throat and peering down at Colette once more.
"I… I hope that Felix is doing better than you. And ummmm. What guy? What opinion?"
Melissa sighs softly and nods, rubbing at the blood with her thumb until she's gotten it all. "Yeah, I know. Good cause," she explains. "I'm not brave though. I let Megan do most of the tending, and when I go in their room, I wear a mask and gloves. But what guy?"
"I saw Andy this morning on my way in, he said there's this big Ferrymen meeting coming up next week, and if I had something I wanted to discuss to give it to him and he'd pass it along to whoever's organizing the meeting." Colette sits up straight, offers a look to Ygraine and then picks up Percival and settles in him the Brit's lap, because clearly he wants a change of company at the moment. There' a wry smile on the teen's lips at the gesture.
"I don't know if you know them both, or even one've 'em, Mel, but there's two people m'going to put up for vetting into the organization…." Which is a pretty serious topic to broach most of the time. "One've 'em… is my dad, Judah Demsky, he's a detective for the NYPD, but— he knows about what I do, and… and I just— I kind've want him t'be a part've my life."
Swallowing tensely, Colette shifts her hands around in her lap. "The other is Felix Ivanov, he's a federal agent and he's like— he's always been watching out for me and protecting me and just— he's a good guy and I think he might be on our side. Plus like, it's be really good to have someone in the government lookin' out for us. I— kinda' wanted t'see what you two both think of that…"
Percival receives a double-armed hug even before Colette reveals that she's thinking of starting work on recruiting local law enforcement officials.
"I… wow. Ummm. It's pretty clear that they care for you. And Ivanov has not only been around when you've been in trouble before, but he was one of the Feds brought in to help deal with the Vanguard. And not one that later - so far as I know - gave any indication he was using that bastard Rae's blowing of our covers to his own advantage."
Melissa's brows arch, then immediately move into a frown. "I've met Felix. Seems decent enough. Didn't trust him 'cause he was a Fed, but…" She trails off, shrugging a bit. "You're right though, it would be useful to have someone in the government helping us. If he can be trusted."
Nobody yelled at her, it's a marked relief to Colette. Slouching back with a finally exhaled breath, the brunette runs a pale hand up through her bangs and sweeps them from in front of her eye. "Awesome, I— I think they'd really help out, and they're like family to me. Neither of them wanted me to Register either, so— so I think they'd be s— sort've good influences and help, you know, for us all." Worrying teeth at her lower lip, Colette offers a look up to Ygraine, brows raised subtly.
"Are you going to be going to the meeting? There's— it sounds really important, I'd like it if you did. There's gonna be a lot've people there I figure, even if it's gonna' be hard to get out ot the Garden with all the snow…" Colette pauses, brows creased together, and looks back and forth between Melissa and Ygraine.
"Have either of you ever been to the Garden before?" It's something of an impishly asked question, mostly rhetorical too as Colette begins prattling on about it. "It's like this— cottage all tucked into the woods on Staten Island. There's no electricity and no running water and just— it's so pretty. In the summer the field out back is full of fireflies, it looks like stars."
Ygraine can't help but laugh softly at Colette's enthusiastic description of the Garden. "I've only been out there this Winter, I'm afraid. It's… I spoke to Joseph there. Finally met him, before he went away. He spoke very fondly of you…"
Looking to Melissa, she offers a rather tentative smile. "Alfred's a 1050cc monster, and… I can cheat a bit at times to help get bikes out of sticky situations if I do run into difficulties. If you need a lift to get out there, I should be able to manage it. I'm intending to go, if I'm not needed to run supplies elsewhere in a hurry."
Melissa shakes her head. "Nope. This is the only safehouse besides mine that I've been to," she admits with a bit of an embarrassed look. "I still haven't met most of the people here even, I don't think. I know I haven't met this Joseph yet, anyway." She smiles at Ygraine, nodding. "I'll keep that in mind. Mostly I walk, or take public transportation. Mostly walk, though, really, since I got Jerry. It burns off his energy and keeps me…it gives me time to think. Plus, snow."
A faint smile's offered at the comment of Ygraine's named motorcycle, it reminds her that somewhere at Summer Meadows her dirtbike is buried under a few feet of snow. She'll keep that rather unfortunate detail to herself for the moment, it's a bit irresponsible sounding. "Oh you— he mentioned he met you. I— I just saw him here yesterday. I— I think he's setting up shop here permanently, since Andy's been having trouble handling the administrative work here, he's kind've a more hands-on guy."
When Melissa admits she hasn't met Joseph, of course, his number one fan in the room lights up and grins broadly. "Joseph is like, one of the nicest people ever! He used to have this church out on Manhattan, but some assholes burned it down. M'gonna be asking the Ferry if we can help rebuild it once the weather gets better. 'Cause he needs his church, even if he says he doesn't or whatever, I know what he's actually thinkin'." Or, at least, so she asserts.
"I think you'd get along with him, Mel. You're like, all kinds of sweet and stuff…" There's a crooked, somewhat awkward quality to the smile Colette offers there. "I totally thought you were a hardass the first time we met, but like— I was wrong."
Again, Ygraine is finding it hard to know quite where to look - though Colette is drawing most of her amusedly perplexed attention. 'All kinds of sweet' as a description of Melissa clearly does catch her by surprise, however, prompting a hastily-stifled grin.
"Joseph's the man who's given some people in the Ferry a glimpse of why there's more to it - far more importance to it - than merely hiding "our kind" or shipping a few fugitives out of the way of the law to assuage any guilt we might feel about not currently being in as much trouble ourselves as some others are. Though he doesn't see it that way, he's credited by more than one person I've spoken to with having opened their eyes to things they hadn't thought about before. Fortunately, he's also a really nice guy."
Melissa blinks at Colette's admission, then her lips twitch a little, before she finally laughs. "Oh, don't fool yourself, honey, I can be a hardass. and more often than not I have more reason to be a hardass than anything else. But I guess you could say I've got a soft spot for kids and suffering. And evolved, of course. I try not to beat any of the above with my whip when I can help it. Unless it's a cute guy with a nice ass who's into that sorta thing, of course."
That just makes Colette burst out laughing, a sort've barely repressed snicker that snorts out into a laugh and then a sudden flurry of "Ow, ow, ow!" Mixed with laughter as she holds her sides. Awkward huffed out breaths that seem to be half giggles, half whimpers accompany her brows furrowing together and lips cracking in a smile. Clearly the discomfort isn't that bad, she she's starting to laugh at he absurdity of her own wounded predicament at the end.
All smiles now, Colette wipes at her eyes and wheezes out another laugh before looking from Melissa up to Ygraine, shaking her head amusedly. "Okay, okay— you— two are like— " Colette shakes her head, cheeks a bit flushed as she swings her cane down off of her lap, leans her weight onto it and starts to urge herself up to her feet. "Cut from the same mold I think— //sorta/." There's a lopsided and teasing smile to Ygraine at that, and Colette angles a look towards Melissa.
"You staying here? I gotta bring the rest of my goods down to the Lighthouse on Staten, there's a bunch of kids out there who aren't sick and we're trying to bring medical supplies an' stuff out there." Green eyes angle to Ygraine, until Colette catches something weird out of the corner of her eyes.
Else has started writing on herself. Hunched over in the chair, wheezing wet breaths with a line of blood just starting to run out of her left nostril, Else Kjelstrom is scribbling with a ball-point pen across her bare arms, eyes milky white as if she suddenly contracted cataracts in the last five minutes. Her lips move, wordlessly, and her fingers clench furiously to the bic pen she's scratching at her arms with. The notepad she was writing on is discarded on the floor, completely covered in writing.
"H— Holy shit, Else!"
Ygraine's amusement is brought to a close - though the startled expression she turns towards Else isn't that different from the one that greeted Colette's announcement of a shared mold for Melissa and the Briton.
"Merde", she mutters, one hand setting Percival aside as she rises to her feet and darts to the stranger's side, intent on trying to interrupt the harm being done with that pen.
Melissa frowns a little at the wincing, seeming to hate seeing Colette in pain, but she's quickly distracted. "What the hell?" she asks, scrambling up and over to Else, but where Ygraine is trying to stop the pen from meeting flesh, Melissa is crouching down and looking up at Else's face, concern written all over her own. "Colette, what's Else's power?" she asks, before she looks down at the wounds/writing. "Has she done this before?"
"I— I don't fucking know— " The teen breathes out, looking down at the blonde woman with a horrified expression, "I— I didn't even know she was Evolved!" Ygraine is able to wrest the pen from Else's hand only after prying her fingers from it, and with her writing implement gone, the blonde exhales a breath and lolls her head back, fingers still moving like she's writing on the air, arm muscles twitching and blood now freely beginning to run out of both of her nostrils. She wheezes out another breath, dark brows creased together and pale white eyes wide as saucers.
"Oh— oh my god oh my //god what's— what's happening?" Colette is in full on panic mode, covering her face with her hands and backpedaling from Else, who's gurgling breath sounds like she's got a little bit of fluid in her lungs. This close, and having had to feel Else's hands to pry the pen from them, Ygraine can feel the palpable warmth coming from her body.
Melissa's inspection reveals sweat beading on her brow, blonde hair damp and clinging ot her cheeks, and the blood running out of her nose makes it look like she just got smashed in the face with a baseball bat. Her lips keep moving, hoarse breaths making suggestions of whispers, and her fingers keep making the scralwing motions of a writer.
It doesn't take a doctor to tell that Else is sporting a fever.
"She's… in some sort of overload", Ygraine says hoarsely, though she doesn't seem inclined to pull away from the woman - instead, she's peering at her, apparently ready to intervene again should she resume harming herself. "If we have a doctor here, can one of you get him, please? If this were a fit, I could try shocking her out of it… but I don't even know what's going on here. And something to clean up the blood might be an idea. If this is an illness, let's not infect anyone else."
"Ygraine, get me some bandages and alcohol or peroxide. Colette, looks like she's got a fever. Get some cool cloths after you get a doctor or something. Those help, I think. Something cool for her to drink too. Water or juice or something," Melissa says, taking charge and dishing out orders. She may not be a doctor or a nurse, but she knows how to bandage wounds, and taking care of sick kids apparently teaches you something. As for herself, she's pulling out a bottle of hand sanitizer and latex gloves, using the former before slipping on the latter. Someone really is paranoid about the flu.
"I— I'll call Doctor Brennan!" Colette stutters out, nearly stumbling over the table. "We're the only people here right now, but he lives right across the way in Brooklyn." Green eyes level to Ygraine as Colette motions into the kitchen where a bright orange ball of light blossoms in the air by the cabinets above the kitchen sink, bouncing up and down. "Yggy! That cabinet's got all sorts of medicine and stuff in it, I just stocked it. There's a first aid kit too."
Colette starts fumbling for her cell phone, withdrawing it from her jacket, flipping it open and scrolling thorugh her contacts list frantically for Brennan's entry. While she's in the process of finding the number, Else is trembling in the chair, fingers scrawling and marking at the air, lips continuing to move wordlessly, eyes still saucer-wide.
Thanks to the sweat on her arms, a lot of the pen writing on her skin is starting to smudge, leaving blue-purple streaks on pale flesh. "Doctor Brennan!" Colette's voice chirps over by the table, phone up to her ear, pacing back and forth, "It's Colette, I'm at the Brick House. Else is— I think hse's sick. Don't bother calling me back just head down here right away when you get this message, I'm going to try and call Megan!"
Ending the call, Colette offers a green-eyed stare over to Melissa, head shaking. "He— he didn't pick up his phone, I dunno his house number. Oh— oh God Else. I'm gonna try Nurse Young, and then call Andy and see where he is."
Having been trying to recall quite where the first aid kit was kept in this safe-house, Ygraine is relieved to have someone provide her with the information. Pulling away from Else, she takes a wide route around Melissa - not wanting to barge into the other woman - en route to the cabinet and sink. Attempting to take the bouncing guide-light in her stride, she hastily checks over the available items, before rapidly ferrying them to the table, flipping open the kit and sorting out Melissa's requested aids. That done, she turns back to grab some cleaning utensils.
"Damn. I wish I knew more doctors. I know a paramedic, but not sure he'd come," Melissa says with a grimace as she takes the first aid kit with an absent thanks. The alcohol is taken out, along with some gauze, and they're used to clean off Else's arm, wiping away blood and ink both until Melissa seems satisfied that it's clean. "You guys did see her eyes right? Ygraine, when you get a sec, check her notebook, see what it says. She might be an automatic writer." Someone sure is bossy today!
After the cleaning, Melissa takes a roll of gauze and starts to bandage Else's wounds while she frowns, glancing up frequently to the girl's face. "She complained about anything the last few days? Headaches? Waking up with scratches or cuts or anything?"
"No she— I— I haven't seen her in a while. I dunno if she was here yesterday when I came by or not." Colette's brows furrow, lips purse and the teen takes a step around the table, listening to the noise of her phone dialing Nurse Young with only half of her attention. "She might've been in her room— oh god what if she's— " Colette doesn't finish that sentence, swallowing noisily as she moves even further away to the edge of the living room, green eyes saucer-wide as she watches the confusing display. "Fuck, Megan— Megan isn't answering her phone either. Fuck. I'll call Andy."
Else's head rolls to the side, bandges only slightly pink as Melissa wraps her forearms. Whatever writing had been there, and whatever minor damage she had done with the tip of the pen is thankfully covered up with antiseptic and bandages to prevent infection. Admittedly the fact that there are faded track-lines in Else's inner elbow don't help matters, but recovering drug addicts still bear the scars of what made them need to become recovering.
"Andy!" Colette finally gets thorugh to someone, "Andy it's Colette! Else is sick, I— I dunno what's going on. She got all white-eyed and started wirting on herself and all over the place. She's— " Colette cuts herself off, voice hitching as she looks over to Melissa, then to Ygraine, and then just whimpers. "You're fucking with me— you— oh my god— oh fuck. Melissa!" Colette pulls the phone away, "Oh my god did you clean her arms off!?" The teen is clomping over with heavy bootfalls, brows lifted and furrowed. "Crap." She hisses out, bringing the phone up to her ear.
"Yeah she— they cleaned her up. I— I'm s— " Colette pauses, and both the other women in the room can hear Andy's chirping British accent on the other end. "Yeah okay I— I'll tell them. It's me, Ygraine and Melissa. No— No I couldn't get thorugh to Megan or Brennan. Okay, okay I'll try Eileen. Thanks, I'll see you soon."
Flipping her phone closed, Colette just stares down at Else, watching her with a worried expression. "Andy… told me what Else's ability is." There's a solemn, nervous tone to her voice.
"She's a precognitive writer," comes from Colette with heavy weight, "you— just— you just washed away the future."
Ygraine's eyes narrow sharply at Colette's last words. "That might not be a bad thing. People can be bound by what they think is 'certain', just as much as it can free them to act against it. And we've got a notebook filled with… whatever she was writing anyway. But if it's important, I've got a notebook of my own in my jacket. We can give her the pen back." Part-unzipping her jacket, she draws out a ringbound pad from within an inner pocket.
Melissa sighs softly and nods. "Yeah, I figured as much. That's what automatic writing is. But her arms needed cleaning. Why do you think I asked Ygraine to look in her notebook? My guess is, she ran out of space on the page and started using her arms instead." She sits back on her heels, frowning then looking to Colette. "Where can we put her so she'll be more comfortable?"
"She's got a room on this floor, s'right down the hall past the kitchen, first door on the right." Colette edges closer to the pair again, tilting her chin up and keeping her hand over her mouth as if that will somehow ward away the sick. When Ygraine pulls out her writing pad, there'sa gasp of breath from Else, followed by a wheezing exhalation as the white milky color of her eyes slowly fades back to normal brown, and her throat works up and down in a gagging swallow. Chest rising and falling rapidly, Else's brows furrow together, and with a startled jump she shrinks back into the chair and looks at Melissa and Ygraine, startled.
It's only a moment later that the soreness on her arms registers and she sees the gauze bandages there, sees the blood streaked on the front of her shirt from where it had dribbled off of her chin, and shoots a nervous look to the three standing around her chair. "A'fuck— f— fuck me w— what happened?" The blonde woman brings up a shaky hand to draw back stringy hair from her cheek, her tongue wets parched lips and she snorts back a nostril full of blood, followed by a cough. "Oh, f— fuck I— I'm sss— sorry." She sounds disoriented, and from the wobble she gives, it's clear there's a light-headedness going on.
"I'll leave the notebook to you two", Ygraine says softly, tucking her own away again as she steps forward, leans down… and uses her ability to neatly slide Else into her arms. "You're going to have a rest", she informs the seer as she starts towards the door Colette indicated. "At least for a little while. And you've nothing to apologise for."
Melissa nods at Ygraine's words. "She's right. You don't. You just get some rest. And see about having a doctor look at your arm. I did the best I could but…" She trails off, giving an apologetic smile.
"Wh— hh- hey I— " Else's eyes go wide when Ygraine makes her fall right into her arms and scoops her up. The blonde wraps a shaky arm around Ygraine's shoulders, hanging on for fear of falling. Brown eyes dart around the room, and this close Ygraine can feel the warmth of the fever clinging to her. Colette watches, brows furrowed, as Ygraine forcible evicts Else back to her bedroom, before turning green eyes over to Melissa with a worried expression.
"Mel, I— th— thanks for— " Colette doesn't really need to explain, the waggle of one hand dismissively regards this whole situation. "God, I should probably stay here till Andy gets back. Fuck, if Else is sick we aren't going to be able to keep her here, I— I dont' want to catch this and there's Joseph and— I dunno if Andy's Evolved…" The young woman furrows her brows, looking to Melissa.
"Fuck, Fuck." Leaning over but not aring to crouch with her ribs still sore, Colette eyes that scrawled in notebook, trying to make heads or rails of anything written there. There's so much writing that it's just a jumble of letters and sentences and squiggly lines. She exhales a sharp breath, turns to look up and Melissa and shakes her head slowly. "I need to go call Eileen…"
Ygraine disappears from view with Else, murmuring softly to the overheated and wobbly blonde as they depart, heavy foot-falls fading away down the corridor towards the seer's bedroom….
Melissa nods to Colette as she takes her gloves off, tosses them in the trash, then uses more sanitizer. "If she does have the flu, let me know and we'll take her to the Den. I've reserved the second floor for anyone with the flu."
Wiping her palm over her forehead, Colette stares off in the direction Ygraine disappeared to, teeth tugging at her lower lip nervously before looking to the sink in the kitchen, then down at her hands. Brows crease together and Colette very slowly crouches down to pick up Else's notebook, lifting it up as she rises to take a better look at the writing. Breathing in deeply, she nods her head and throws it down onto the coffee table. "I'm gonna take some pictures of what she wrote with my camera…" Colette explains to Melissa, maybe somebody else can make heads or tails of it. But first…" she looks down at her hands again and makes a worried expression.
"Hand me some disinfectant."