A Friday Reunion

Participants:

arlo_icon.gif marlowe_icon.gif tania_icon.gif

Scene Title A Friday Reunion
Synopsis Tania and Marlowe reunite a man with his dog and plan other philanthropical acts.
Date June 1, 2018

Red Hook


The spot that Arlo had asked to meet is a lovely park in Red Hook, maintained if not perfectly landscaped like it would have been a few years prior. The park sits on a grassy gnoll where the tall bald man can see anyone coming and going, at least in the direction his blue eyes gaze off into. There's a bit of the thousand-mile stare in those eyes, and his hand drums nervously on his knee as he waits.

The meeting was arranged the day before, when Arlo was being discharged from the hospital — he has no cell phone, so there's no way to get ahold of him if the meeting needs to be cancelled or if the two young women meeting him are running late.

"Maybe they aren't coming," he says aloud, as if there were someone there to hear him. He glances over his shoulder to make sure there's no one behind him. The park is empty, being not much more than a square in the center of a few buildings, a green space for kids to run and play but little else.

"Hey I see him," Marlowe points out with amusement. It's hard to not spot the guy whose characteristics are the opposite of most of the people she works with. Her left arm's still in a sling and wrapped in bandages, so she has to wave with the other, but the hand that waves is bedazzled with a few sparkly loops of bracelet around her wrist that catches the light. "Arlo! Over here!"

With her partner-in-crime still wounded, Tania is in charge of wrangling the dog. But Friday is trotting along next to her through the walk, until they all see Arlo. Then Friday runs, pulling Tania along with her. Tania and her bags full of things for the dog. Food, sure, but also toys and things because Friday got a little spoiled. So on the heels of Marlowe's call, Arlo gets to see his dog rushing his direction.

The call from Marlowe has Arlo looking in that direction, and he's instantly on his feet. His long, lanky body still looks too thin, but three squares in the hospital is more than he was getting without. He begins to move forward, leaving behind a few hospital-issue plastic bags that have replaced his backpack — no doubt lost to him when he was kidnapped.

"Friday!" he calls, and once they're closer he drops to his knees to let the red furry beast rush into his arms. The dog licks at his face and wags her tail furiously. The man drops kisses upon her head, and laughs, weakly, before looking up with teary blue eyes.

"Thank you," is all he manages to say, before he buries his face in the red fur of Friday's neck.

The sudden surge of enthusiastic dog has Marlowe stepping aside quickly to get out of the way, also trying - but failing - to catch Tania before the poor woman is dragged the rest of the way. Oops. She can't help but smile happily for the warming sight of the reunion with man and man's best friend. She catches up to Tania's side, dabbing a wet sheen from the corners of her eyes. Let's not mess up her makeup though. "Don't thank me, Tania's the one who's been taking care of her." Even though, Marlowe's apartment technically is big enough to house all of them. "You're doing alright?" she asks of the man.

Once they reach him, Tania untangles herself from the leash, letting it drop. While they reunite, she sets the bags down, because all that is his now. The bags are a step up from plastic, at least, but not quite as convenient as a backpack.

"We were glad to take care of her. I'm just sorry we couldn't get you back to her sooner." That isn't it, of course, but she would rather put it that way than bring up the traumatic kidnapping. At Marlowe's question, Tania straightens and looks over at Arlo, expression curious but hopeful.

Arlo eases back to sit on the grass, planting his arms behind him to brace himself up. "I am. My head's pretty darn thick, turns out. I probably should have been out a week ago but the nurses kept finding excuses to keep me there for some reason." His smile indicates he knows the reason — they knew he was homeless, and didn't want to cast him out on the streets once again.

"Thank you for keeping her and thank you for helping me. Tania and Marlowe, right?" He glances from one to the other. He points to Tania. "We've met before. I don't remember where, but I never forget a redhead. Friday would be offended." He squints up at Marlowe. "You were both at the apartment that day. I am grateful. I wish I could repay you, but…" clearly he has nothing to pay them with.

"They didn't stop tittering about you for awhile after too," Marlowe needs to remark with a crooked smile to the rather memorable man. She's reaching down to give Friday a light scrubbing on her fuzzy head as well. At his thanks and regret for a lack of payment, she shakes her head and glances to Tania. "Obviously we weren't in it for the money. And, you're welcome. But, we also wanted to make sure… that those kids and nobody else are going to come after you again."

“It was a long time ago,” Tania says, since their meeting was just once and in passing and it’s easy to forgive him not being able to pin it down. Her words come with a gentle smile, though, the redhead obviously a bit charmed. “You two were at the memorial wall.”

She shares that glance with Marlowe, shaking her head a bit as she turns back to Arlo. “We don’t need any repayment. I’m just glad to see you’re alright. I’m sorry it took us so long to put it together.” At Marlowe’s last words, Tania nods firmly. “Those kids won’t be trying that again, I imagine. One of the people there that day was part of Yamagato’s security team.” Which he might already know, but she tells him anyway. “If there’s anything you need…”

Arlo’s brow draws together and he reaches with one hand to pet Friday, who rests her muzzle on his knee, tail still wagging now that she’s been reunited with her person. Her owner nods a couple of times before speaking.

“They’re just kids. Unhappy ones,” he says quietly. “I hope they didn’t get in too much trouble. They didn’t mean to go as far as they did, I don’t think. It just got too big for them to handle.” His eyes tear up again, this time not out of joy, but he blinks away the tears.

“I hear that I made a lot of trouble for everyone. I hope you didn’t see anything too terrible. Memories… they can be a curse, an albatross around our necks. They’re bad enough when they’re our own but you don’t need anyone else’s curses to carry with you,” he says, a kind but sad smile given to each of the two young women in turn.

“Oh one of them’s got a heck of a shiner, from what I heard. But that’s not your fault,” Marlowe reports but is quick to hedge. She grimaces slightly, a wrinkle of her nose in distaste for the memory of why. But then she’s back to looking curiously at Arlo, with a serious tint. “It’s okay,” is her reassurance, coupled with a nod at Tania as well. “But… your power, has it always been like that? Have you ever… trained with it?” She’s going somewhere with this, perhaps. “You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to,” again, quick to qualify, “We only want to make sure you and Friday are, you know. Safe and taken care of.” She glances back to Tania. They want that, right?

"I think they'll be okay. Just maybe won't try kidnapping anymore people." Which would be good. Tania furrows her brow a little for that display of empathy, but she doesn't comment. He can forgive them if he likes. Or feel bad for them.

She doesn't.

"Not too much trouble. I'm glad you were able to use your ability that way. It's how we found you. And Friday." he might see the posters with a drawing of his dog here and there, where she missed taking them back down. "She was being taken care of by a very nice man, by the way." Tania pauses there, blinks, then looks at Marlowe. "Did I tell him Arlo was my father?" She might have done that. She was in the moment.

But as for wanting him safe, Tania nods to that, firmly. "Yes. And I don't know what we can do to help, but if you need help… we're around."

At the mention of his ability, Arlo makes a face, holding his hand out to let the dog lick his palm. He watches her for a moment, and it’s clear she has a calming presence on him.

“It was better before the war,” he says quietly, glancing at Marlowe, then back to the dog. “But it wasn’t all my doing. The one boy, he was an augmentor. I don’t usually have that big of a range. And I was scared, so it went a bit off the rails, I guess. From what I’ve heard.” He looks apologetic.

His eyes move to Tania, and his face splits into a smile again. “I wish I was that lucky,” he says. “We wanted a daughter, but we just had the two boys.” The smile falls away, and he looks over at the bags they’ve brought. “No help necessary. It’s almost summer. I’ll be fine for a while yet.”

There’s probably a few posters that are still up, definitely. It’s not like they had mapped exactly every sheet or even a count of how many copies there are. The questioning glance from Tania gets a hearty laugh from Marlowe, because she confirms as much with it. Her eyes shine with mirth in a way that hasn’t come up in a while. Not since the bombing of the Fellowship building, really.

Her expression softens back to Arlo, his apology getting a short shake of her head. “Like before, it’s okay. I kind of wonder how those kids even found out about you,” her words come with a curious, cautious wondering. And a light frowning purse of her lips, considering possibilities. “Did you get to talk to them? Did they let you?” Though she can’t imagine Yamagato security would have allowed it, it’s apparently worth asking about.

Then she waves away the idea, as if swatting the buzzing idea flying around her. “Still, Arlo, you should have a steady place to stay. Why not with Jevaun? At the very least he’d be glad to see Friday again. And you’d have a decent roof overhead?” They didn’t exactly go inside, so she couldn’t look or make certain.

Between Arlo's smile and Marlowe 's laugh, Tania has to take a moment to bury her face in her hand. "Daughters are their own brand of trouble," she notes, in a bit of self-deprecating humor. She, it seems, is a bit of trouble.

"Jevaun was very sweet. I'm sure he'd like some company. He seemed kind of lonely when we talked to him." Like it would be a favor to the man for Arlo to stay with him, rather than the other way around. "And we would know where to come visit."

Arlo’s eyes move from Marlowe to Tania and back. His eyes drop and he concentrates on petting Friday, whose eyes are half-lidded as she basks in the attention. “The kids… they were nice to me, fed me a couple times, outside of Yamagato. I felt like I owed them so I shared a few memories, pleasant things, you know, things I thought they’d like to see.” He smiles. “A Nirvana concert I went to once… Central Park in the snow… “

He shrugs, his brow creasing, and he folds up his long legs to rest his elbows on them. “They aren’t happy here. The brother and sister, they want to go back to Japan. They thought they could find their dad’s passwords in their memories. It just got bigger than they meant it to,” he says quietly. “I haven’t talked to them, no. I hope they find what they’re looking for, though.”

As for the suggestion to live with Jevaun, Arlo chuckles. “I think I know who you mean. You two are quite the matchmakers. I’ll thank him for taking care of Friday, anyway. I wish I could repay all of you with more than just words. I lost my sculpture supplies, somewhere.” He frowns, rubbing a hand over his pate. “Or I’d offer to make you some art.”

The way Arlo describes the kids and how they treated him and their reasons for it shift Marlowe’s expression to something thoughtful as well as a touch homesick. “I understand,” she murmurs, her gaze trailing from Arlo to Friday, then back to the man. “And I’ll make sure they know about the kids’… good behavior.” Some leniency, at least, some extra Facetime. Something.

But once Arlo mentions that he’s lost his supplies, Marlowe straightens up. “What? Oh hell no, no sir, nuh uh. We’re going to get you set back up again,” she says as she reaches her good hand for the man’s shoulder. “But first, food. Have you eaten today, even?” Her clucking tongue chides the man like she can tell he hasn’t had a proper meal in a while. “And after that, we’ll all go and bring some for Jevaun.” She glances to Tania, arching a brow. The other woman’s got some time, right? Then it’s down to Friday, who Marlowe smiles at and bends a little playfully. “Isn’t that right, Friday? We’re going to go see Jevaun.”

Tania smiles when he mentions being an artist. She knows people who'll pay decent money for sculptures. Once they help him get set up again. "Best not to argue, Marlowe's a force of nature when she gets an idea in her head."

As it turns out, Tania has all the time in the world. The joy of being self-employed. "Sounds like a plan. I know a place that won't mind us bringing Friday in." Because it isn't like they're going to leave to dog outside after all this.

The man squints at the two women as they set about organizing his entire life for him. He opens his mouth to protest Marlowe’s declarations but then Tania chimes in with the warning not to fight it.

His mouth closes again and he glances at Friday.

“You heard the ladies.”


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