Participants:
| Scene Title | Securing A Pitch |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Melissa Pierce gets a visitor seeking a reference, and ends up finding the person he was looking for. |
| Date | November 28, 2010 |
Sundays aren't days that Melissa usually works, at either the club or the Suresh Center, but with everything going on, little is as it should be, and more and more people are needing help of some sort. And with Melissa back to living on Roosevelt Island, at least for the next three months, there was no reason why she shouldn't go in for a few hours.
A babysitter was found, and clothes put on that weren't strictly clubwear. Which in this case means jeans and a black tee-shirt, and right now she sits in her tiny little office, tugging her hair back into a ponytail as she reads over her computer screen.
There's a soft knock on the door frame just before someone peeks his head in. Kincaid August happens to be about her age, dressed nicely, with brown hair cut close and darker stubble standing out on his cheeks and chin, like he doesn't always remember to shave. His dark eyes are too dark to even be properly called brown, as he speaks, "Melissa Pierce? I was told you had come in today."
He steps deeper inside the office, pulling a card out of his pocket and holding it forward. "I'm an assistant producer that works with the Advocate and Studio K Radio, and I was wondering if I could talk to you for a few minutes. I won't take up much of your time, I promise."
Eyes lift and hands lower, before Kincaid's words have Melissa's brow furrowing. She takes the card and glances over it for a moment before looking back at him. "You work with Brad?" Well that's a little salt in the wound, but she hides it well. "Yeah, you can talk to me. Not sure why a producer would need to talk to me, though," she says, setting the card down and leaning back, motioning towards the empty chair on the opposite side of her desk.
"I didn't know you knew Brad already…" Kincaid says, shifting those dark eyes away for a moment, before he moves to take a seat on that empty chair. "I'm working on pitching a show idea to the head producer, and I want to have as much of it lined up as possible before I pitch. The ideas for a show about Humanis First. Where Brad would be interviewing people on both sides of the fence, victims and supporters. I was wondering, since you work as a counselor, if you could give my card to someone who might actually wish to come forward and talk about experiences involving Humanis First."
"Mmm. Yeah, we're acquainted," Melissa says with a soft sigh. "We're…sorta dating." Maybe. She hopes. But then his explanation has her brows shooting up. "Experiences involving Humanis First?" She shakes her head and holds her arms out so he can see the little scars along them. "I got those scars when Humanis First blew up an ice cream cart by a Registration Center. Kids were around. Innocent people were around, evolved and non-evolved both. A couple days later I caught a group of them trashing a business belonging to an evolved man. When I told them to stop, they beat me, giving me a concussion and some cracked ribs. You need someone to talk about how Humanis First are a bunch of jackasses, you don't need to look any further than this office," she says, withdrawing her arms.
"Then I luckily came to the right place," Kincaid says, looking both disgusted at what she has to say, and pleased at the same time. "It will likely turn into a heated conversation on both sides, but— that's what makes for good ratings in the end, and it also will draw attention to just how bad they can be. It would be a good idea to let them start it first, if it gets violent, and the head Producer will likely have more to say on the matter, but… I don't want you to do this if you think it will get you hurt."
Melissa snorts softly and shakes her head. "Better me than someone who hasn't gotten hurt before. I won't start any violence though. I will play up the scars though, so people can understand just how bad these people are. They're like the KKK on crack, and even that doesn't properly explain how bad they are."
"That's what I compared them to when I pitched the idea originally," Kincaid says, smiling faintly, even as his eyes shift to those scars that she'd pointed out already. "I'll be sure to add your name to the list when I pitch. Someone who has been a victim and has been talking to Evolved as a counselor seems to me like one of the best choices to put up there and talk about it. Practically an expert."
"You gonna be pitching it to Brad or to his producer…Kristen, I think? If it's Brad, he'll have my number to get a hold of me, even if I'm not here." Melissa asks curiously. "And yeah, guess I'm as much an expert on them as anyone can get." If being beaten by them and killing a few of them makes a person an expert.
"It's an expert in the wrong ways," Kincaid says, nodding his head in apology and also sympathy, for all the pain that she's no doubt been through. With that he stands, offering his hand out again, not for the card, but for a handshake. "Brad will be involved closely in it, so I'll make sure he contacts you, but it was very nice to meet you." He sounds deeply sincere as he says that, too.
His hand is taken and Melissa nods, smiling. "Was nice to meet you too, and I look forward to hearing more about this, even if I don't end up on the show. I DVR all of Brad's shows."
"I get to watch them from a production booth," Kincaid says with a smile and a bit of a laugh to his voice. "Hopefully I'll see you again soon, either at the show, or somewhere else."
"Lucky you. I was hoping to be there during the last show, but it didn't work out," Melissa admits with a wry smile and a shrug. "Take it easy though, Kincaid. And good luck with the Humanis First show."
There's a hint of hesitation, as if he may want to say more, but what Kincaid ends up settling on is, "I hope it turns into a rating blood bath and not a literal one, and that it hopefully opens people's eyes to how horrible what they're doing is." So he hopes. That's why Media does what they do, isn't it? With that, he turns and leaves the office.