Participants:
Scene Title | A Little Ho |
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Synopsis | While out shopping and lunching, Delia and Nicole find a homeless vagabond known as Lucille. |
Date | April 11, 2011 |
Manhattan — A Posh Restaurant
The air is crisp around the oldest Ryans daughter. The early afternoon sun hidden behind slightly dark clouds. No rain today though, just a little chilly. As the woman walks down the street, with her Ray-Ban sunglasses covering her stormy grey eyes, her hair is loose and falls past her shoulders now. It's been growing fast, but Lucille had to dye it again that inky black that she favored when she first returned to the states. Now that she's actively on the run again that is.
She doesn't look dirty, she just doesn't look like the Lucille that people have known for years. No makeup, her clothes very plain and she carries a dark army green messenger bag with some stuff. She has some hiding places of things all around the city, so she's not confined to one place. Where's she's been sleeping is anyone's guess.
A exhale comes from the dark haired woman as she tilts her head back and leans against a nearby wall of some place. Just out of sight of the window, digging into her dark jeans. She withdraws a pack of cigarettes and a lighter, quickly lighting it and taking a drag before blowing the smoke up in the air.
She's now smoking a pack and a half a month. Oi.
She hasn't told the woman who might be her future sister in law where she's been living or what she's seen, no sense in letting all that out before the soup course. "I've been good, I'm registered.. Living in Eltingville, you know Sable, right? She's my neighbor." Delia looks healthy but she's been keeping purposely thin, opting not to go too thick with muscles this time around in her body sculpting. She's clean, dressed in designer casuals that her brother had bought over the winter, her boots are a little off.
"I'm twenty-one now. You missed my birthday, most everyone did. I got a birthday drink though from a clairvoyant." A mix of coke and hard liquor, since then she's settled on beer as her beverage of choice. "How've you been? I mean, I don't see you and Brad in the tabloids anymore… I'm sorry by the way but it's not like you were in love with him anyway, right? It'd be like me marrying Jaiden after I got lost… the feelings just aren't there."
"Funny story," Nicole murmurs, a salad-laden fork part of the way up to her mouth, paused for the sake of the funny story. "I dated Sable a couple times." So it isn't really much of a story, but it is kind of funny. In the way that such things tend to be. "She's a nice girl." That tone may explain why they didn't keep dating. It isn't condescending or patronising, but it is clear that Nicole saw Sable very much as a girl, rather than a woman. The hazard of dating someone younger than your kid sister.
"Happy birthday, belatedly. If I'd known, I'd have baked you a cake. I've never been one for celebrating my own birthday," and not just because she's pushing thirty, "but I do love other people's parties." The small smirk that forms at the notion of a party is chased away by questions about she and Brad. "Your brother hasn't returned a single one of my phone calls since Valentine's Day. I sometimes manage to catch him in the halls at the studio, but it's always not now, I'm busy. I'll call you." And Nicole is none to pleased about the fact either. She leans forward hand cupped around one side of her mouth for a conspiratorial whisper, "Spoilers, he never does."
As to whether or not she actually loves or loved him, the would-be politician's wife looks sour. "I wouldn't be so pissed off about it if it hadn't cost me Logan." And for all the bitterness, there is equal parts sadness as well. "I should know better. Women like me don't find love. We find alliances." Nicole sighs heavily. "Christ, I need a cigarette and a stiff drink. Do you think it's too early to drink?"
She isn't really asking for Delia's opinion on the subject, or her permission, either. Nicole more or less substitutes the question for a formal invitation. Will you join me?
"Fuck." Lucille breathes out as she takes another drag and then she's walking slowly. Although not going anywhere, just standing in front of the window now. Her profile can be seen, head tilted up towards the skyscrapers around her. Her free hand, the one that she's always looking at now thanks to that dream where she was engaged.. and Huruma was dying?! Anyway, that hand goes to the locket hung around her neck. Zipping it back and forth on the chain, she taps the ash off the end of the cancer stick. Reaching into her pocket she pulls out one of the many disposable cell phones that she has. She's thought about calling dad, but it just hasn't seemed like the right time.. not yet anyway.
So the former model just stands there, legs crossed at the ankles. Her black boots scuffed but not dirty. Lucille cares about her appearance to much to ever look dirty. New muscles on her arm ripple as she moves, her figure way more athletic then before. It's when the dark haired woman spins around again and is looking at herself in the window that she notices something in front of her. Red hair.. blue.. no way.
"Well I'll be damned." She murmurs as she takes another long pull from her cigarette and blows the smoke towards the window. Just studying the woman that she knows as her younger sister. Eyebrows at her female companion. What is this? A lunch date, maybe Delia's a lesbian now.. hm.. would totally explain why she broke up with Jaiden.
Now, mentally preparing her speech about how she doesn't care if Delia likes women and how it's good for Lu because now she can have all the men, she continues to smoke her cigarette. Not knowing whether she wants to walk in or not yet. But her stomach is growling something fierce, "Shutup you, we ate last night."
"I've seen things, Nicole," Delia says quietly, swirling some of her soup around with the overly large spoon they gave her to eat it with. The creamy texture of the experimental order is nice, if it weren't for the fact that the redhead was trying to impress the older woman with her order, she wouldn't have ever tried the dill pickle soup. The name alone is enough to put a few people off but from the amount of tureens brought out, it seems to be a crowd pleaser. "I don't think Mister Logan was right for you, even if you do love him."
Because Delia knows all about love and what's right and wrong.
A casual glance toward the window has the dreamwalker dropping her spoon with a sharp clink and reaching across to grip Nicole by the arm. "Nic, that's Lu.. Oh my god, it's Lu…" Her words are barely a whisper and before she can be stopped the younger woman has pushed herself from her chair and is beckoning to the woman on the other side of the glass to join them.
"Seen things? Listen, Delia, half the women in New York have seen Logan's-" Nicole's snide comment is aborted in favour of swiveling her head up to spy whatever's caught Delia's eye. Lu isn't anybody she knows, but it isn't hard for her to put the puzzle pieces together. She doesn't protest when Delia invites her sister inside.
With a brief nod, Lucille grins and looks over her shoulder before stomping on the cigarette and coming to the door of the restaurant and breezing inside. Ruffling the back of her hair, she just points at the table Delia and Nicole are sitting at as the hostess tries to ask if she needs any help. Her boots clunk on the floor as she moves towards the two women and then she's stopping right in front of their table.
Pulling her sunglasses off so that she can look at both women with cool grey eyes, a smile upturns the corners of her mouth. "Well, fancy meeting you here." She chuckles at the redhead, obviously happy to see her. "Happy belated birthday Deli." Lucille says softly before leaning in to give her sister a hug. She didn't get to call Del on her birthday.. and she's been wondering when she'd see her so that she could celebrate with her. After the hug, Lu claims a chair to sit next to the two women. This is awkward.. she didn't expect to see her sister around here.. or anywhere really. Nicole is given a nod, "Hi, I'm Lucille." She extends a hand towards Nicole over the table.
Now don't you ever say Lu doesn't have any manners.
"No, Nicole, not— that," is hissed before Lucille finds them and Delia's long arms wrap around the smaller and darker of the two Ryans siblings. The redhead's hug is a little longer and a little tighter than is appropriate in a restaurant that serves ten dollar soup and fifteen dollar salad. Hugs here are really just a fond pat on the arm or shoulder, cold and distant.
When they finally settle back into their chairs, Delia's smile is much larger than Nicole's seen it in a while. "Nicole, this is Lu, my big sister. Lu, this is Nicole, my favorite sister." It might be a joke. "We're just having lunch in between shopping, I got paid the other day and I need clothes." The soup is pushed in Lucille's direction, the more adventurous of the two girls. "Order what you want, it's on me today."
Nicole reaches across the table to take Lucille's hand. Her grip is warm - like physically, temperature-wise - and firm as one might expect from a woman who makes her living on first impressions. "Suddenly I've gained a third sister," she teases.
"Though it's feeling less and less official by the day, I'm your brother's fiancee." The ring Bradley Russo slid onto Nicole Nichols' finger in front of live (packed) studio audience is nowhere to be seen on either of the woman's hands. Just the ever-present diamond tennis bracelet around one wrist, and a gold chain around her neck, tucked inside of her dress.
That hug causes a softening of Lucille's already smiling expression. The sister love has just melted her heart for the moment. Luc blinks and she looks down at the soup. "You big baby, did you even eat that much? And clothes.. mm shopping." Del knows that the former model was grounded many a time for overcharging their parent's credit cards back in high school. That before she worked in a boutique. She grins and takes a spoonful.
"Hm.. tasty?" Lucille looks over at Nicole, "If you're her favorite sister, then you must not get on her to clean her fucking messes." Like.. when Del use to leave her clothes everywhere in Lu's apartment! Ahhhh, sometimes Lu misses the old days of rooming together with her sister. "I don't mind having a third sister. I hope you're older than Del though, I don't think she could take not being the baby anymore." She teases and then Lu's eyebrows raise. "Brad? You're engaged to him.. oh I think I read that somewhere." Luc nods her head, before regarding both women. "How is Sir Farting Hands?" a sincere inquiry into her brother's life.
"I.. you got paid? And shopping? I'm confused. Did I miss the memo where you could have a job where you get pai-."
Lu's mouth drops open in horror as she leans forward to stare in Delia's face. "Are you.. escorting?!" she practically shriek-whispers, if there's such a thing. A sidelong look is given to Nicole, "You don't look butch enough to be her pimp." She says with a frown and then she's tilting her head. "Okay, I'm just kidding. But how in the hell are you getting paid exactly Del?" Lu dips the spoon in the soup again and takes another gulp of it.
The amusement in Delia's face drops all too quickly when Lucille makes her assumptions on the redhead's career choice. "No Lucille," is the dry reply, "I'm not escorting, I have a job as a stripper. I hook on the side…" She points out the window and leans a little to the side, extending her arm just enough to catch the attention of a few of the people around them. "Tuesdays and Thursdays between seven and eight thirty, I'm on that street corner over there. Of course I'm not escorting, you jerk." It's not exactly a playful swat that Lucille receives, more like a bare knuckle punch to the bicep.
"God and people wonder why I try to stay away from you," her voice is a little quieter now, as she slumps down in the chair, a pouty expression crossing her features. To punctuate, she shifts her chair a little closer to Nicole. Maybe it wasn't a joke after all. "Anyway, no I'm not. I have a real job, a good one down in Greenwich Village. I'm a clerk at a store and if I do say so myself I'm doing fabulous." Like it takes a lot of skill to dust and sell gross things to weird people.
Nicole isn't sure at first whether she should be flattered by Lucille's suggestion that she might somehow be younger than Delia, or if she's insulted because Lucille's suggesting that she might somehow be younger than Delia. Any giddiness or indignity are cut short by utter mortification when Lucille not only suggests that Delia is an escort, but that Nicole is her pimp.
Madame Nichols' mouth drops open and she just stares at the two sisters as they banter back and forth on the subject, blinking several times. It's perhaps not entirely unlike an exchange that might take place between herself and her little sister, but it wouldn't happen somewhere where she's trying to eat a fifteen dollar salad.
"Ow. Quit with the pouty face, I was just kidding." She looks over at Nicole and she seems to be gauging something. She knows that Russo is their brother.. she might be trusted and if not.. then Lucille will just sleep her and she and Del will run away. With a soft sigh, "That's great though Del, I'm proud of you. But why isn't HomeSec coming to hunt you down and the Institute?" she asks with raised eyebrow. She just wants to know what happened.
There's another spoonful of soup, "And you're the douche, worrying dad like you are. Just disappearing without word to him. You know he's crazy." Meaning, crazy protective and will choke a bitch in a minute without a thought to find out if his kids are safe. Another glance over at Nicole, "Delia likes to be the rebellious one now, stepping into my shoes." She brushes a strand of hair out of her face before eating more soup. Yes, she's hungry.
"I'm living in Eltingville, there's tons of us there." Delia says with something of a shrug, like it's no big deal. "Dad knows where I am," is the only thing said about their father right now, though her lips dip into a downward curve and she lets loose a long sigh. "Anyway… I didn't disappear, I just couldn't use the phone or anything. You never know if someone's listening." There's a small flicker of a glance sent in Nicole direction but it's too brief to mean anything, maybe.
Shifting her weight in her chair, she leans from one side to the next, trying to get comfortable but failing. Lucille and Nicole are both probably very familiar with the feeling but Delia isn't. Sitting too long causes one's legs to fall asleep if one doesn't weight enough. "These chairs are so uncomf'terble, you'd think there would be more cushion or something, right?"
At the flicker, Nicole inclines her head slightly in complete agreement. She's just as paranoid about her phone lines being tapped. "It's good to be careful. It's smart," she assures.
At Delia's shifting, Nicole's expression softens. "Would you like to go? If you two want to head on ahead, I can take care of the bill." And before Delia can protest, Nicole leans in to add in a hushed voice, "There's at least one more zero on it than you're expecting. Really, let me get this."
"Well good, you don't have to worry about being arrested." A small smile comes from Lucille and then she's rubbing her temples. "I understand why you didn't call, it's why I never call you guys. You can't be too careful." The dark haired woman sighs, "I'm not too sure where Jaiden is right now, his place isn't safe anymore. So I'm just trudging along. I don't want to go back to where dad is living.. but.. if it's the only option."
Lu makes the motion of blowing her head off. "I can't stay there for too long though, jesus. I hated it there." Um.. it's just not her scene over there at the island. She can rough and tough it but it's definitely not her favorite thing to do. "I, yeah do you wanna leave?" Lucille asks as she grabs her bag from the floor and puts it on her shoulder. She's ready when they are and no she does not even mention the bill. She can't afford to treat anyone to lunch, barely herself at the moment. "Guys.. I have to tell you about Tahir.." If not just because she just needs women to gossip with.
Delia's face falls as Nicole offers to take the check, apparently a little too proud of the fact that she had more than a few dollars in her hand at the same time. With a half hearted shrug of one shoulder, she picks up her bag and nods a little to both of them and stands.
"Alright then," she says in a low voice that betrays some of the sullen attitude. "I need a new pair of shoes, I just have these boots and some dollar store flats… I don't think that's enough though." This is Manhattan a shoe store around every corner and more out on the sidewalk stands. "Maybe you guys can help me pick out a present for this girl I'm living with?" Then with a solemn glance to Lu, she presses her lips together and furrows her brows. "You should really think about registering or something, you shouldn't have to live on the street. It's not right."
"Go on," Nicole shoos the Ryans girls with a wave of her hand. "Go do some sisterly bonding." She fixes a look to Delia. "Save the money you were gonna spend on lunch, and buy a nice dress for yourself instead. I might like to drag you off to some charity gala in the future as a bastion of sanity. That can be how you repay me." She offers a wink to the younger of the two and then sets about hailing a waiter while the others depart.
"Yayy, shoes." Lucille says with a wide grin as she gets up from her chair and looks at Delia. "Thank you, nice meeting you Nicole." Lucille calls over her shoulder before she's walking with Delia away from the table. She doesn't mention registration. She has conflicting thoughts on that issue there. "So.. she's pretty. Has money and offers to pay for things." Lucille whispers to her younger sister. "If you won't be her ho. I will."
Because secretly we all have a little ho in us.