Allegedly

Participants:

adam_icon.gif odessa_icon.gif

Scene Title Allegedly
Synopsis Adam orchestrates a long-overdue reunion with a certain Company doctor.
Date November 17, 2008

Central Park Zoo

The five acres of the Central Park Zoo are divided into three major exhibit themes: the Polar Circle, the Rain Forest, and the Temperate Territory. It features everything from leaf-cutter ants to the ever-popular polar bears; California sea lions to colobus monkeys; the two-toed sloth to the Japanese macaque. The exhibits are always a major draw for tourists, but the zoo offers a variety of classes and programs intended to educate the public in wildlife and wildlife conservation. The associated Tisch Children's Zoo includes a petting zoo and the Wildlife Theater, as well as a variety of exhibits targeted to the younger audience.


It's cold out, but that's no problem for the creatures inside the massive outdoor enclosure that Adam stands in front of. The man has acquired a black woolen bridge coat to ward against the autumn chill as he gazes at the polar bear swimming just a few feet in front of him, the two beings separated only by a few inches of glass and a considerable volume of water. He's been standing in place for about an hour now, waiting for whoever it is he's decided to meet, and his normally well-groomed hair has been tossed about and tousled in all directions by the wind that sweeps through the zoo every minute or so as it changes its direction. He can't be that hard to miss, at least for someone who's specifically looking for him.

It wasn't finding the man that was the difficult part. What was difficult was weaving her way through the streets of New York, on foot, attempting to find the zoo without looking like a conspicuous tourist. Lacking money is a drag. Though Odessa did maybe, perhaps, possibly, sort of borrow a couple of twenties from Ethan without asking permission. Allegedly. The blonde woman spots the man she's waited months to see and finds herself frozen. Is it really him? Are they really here? She looks around nervously, half expecting a slew of Company agents to come down around their heads at any moment. A large part of her wants to turn and run, but she doesn't. — Even if she can't will herself to step closer, at least she still stands in plain sight. That's something at least.

Several moments pass before Adam has the presence of mind to realize that he is being watched - and he silently curses his apparent lack of attentiveness as he slowly and casually turns, only to be greeted by the sight of a familiar face. It takes all of half a second for a bright, wide smile to make its way onto the immmortal's features, and with a cheerful call of "Odessa!" he starts striding in the direction of the woman She doesn't seem to be at her ease, but he's not going to let that bother him. "Have you been here before? The exhibits are marvelous. I think I might actually visit one of the poles some day. Care to join me?" …Yes. Yes, Adam may have just invited Odessa on a hypothetical polar expedition.

Odessa can't help but smile in return when she's spotted and approached. Gone is the confident physician who drew pint after pint of blood with disinterest and disdain. In her place is a woman who shows concern. "Adam." Her voice is breathless. She can't hardly believe they've finally reunited. "I was so worried about you. I thought that… They said horrible people had taken you."

The obvious worry in the doctor's face affects her former patient very little. "Oh, come now. You can't imagine I'd let anyone do anything to me after I gave your prison the slip, do you?" Adam comes to a stop about a foot in front of Odessa, and though his hands are tucked into his pockets he quirks one elbow outwards to offer it to his new companion. "Shall we walk? You can tell me what you're doing walking around in New York."

Odessa fixes Adam with a shocked look. "You… escaped? They told me you were taken." She takes the proffered elbow as her expression slips into something a bit more numb. Of course she was lied to. "I escaped, too. I wanted to find you, since no one else seemed able to. I wanted to bring you home." She walks along wherever he decides to lead her easily enough. "I… don't even know where to call home anymore."

Adam can't help but laugh. "A group came waltzing into the Company facility to free dangerous prisoners like myself. I eluded the group and following agents with a few compatriots, and have actually been something close to 'happy' since that time. There's no way, Odessa, that I would've gone back there. Even with you. So-" And he turns partway, his other hand rising to let his fingertips cup the woman's chin, "-perhaps you need to find yourself a different home. A place that doesn't trap you there like an animal."

Odessa dances back a step, eyes wide when those fingers touch her chin. The hold on his arm is relinquished. "I- I suppose." She watches the man like a frightened animal. Perhaps there's a reason she was caged.

There may indeed be a reason but there's no cause to push for it. Not yet, anyway. Adam stays in place, watching the woman as he returns his hands to his pockets, and frowns. "You're jumpy as a hare. Is someone after you that I should know about? Bring some friends along for the ride that I haven't spotted?"

"No!" Odessa insists with a firm shake of her head. "I would never! If- If they caught me— Adam, you don't even understand what I've done…" She turns away, gaze drifting over a nearby exhibit. "I just… walked out. Walked away. Left. Surely there are people looking for me. I don't want to think of what they'd do to me if they found me." She glances back over her shoulder, blonde hair falling in her face. "I would never bring that upon you."

"So don't let them find you. The Company is easy enough to elude as long as you keep your wits about you and stay out of the fairy princess' line of fire." Adam starts walking again at an easy stroll, his head tilted upwards so he can examine each cloud in the sky. "And if you ask me, you should've walked out a long time ago."

"Where would I have gone?" Odessa asks as she takes up the stroll beside him. "I didn't know anyone on the outside who wasn't on the inside. I'd have never made it." She glances toward the sky, but finds herself far too engrossed looking about herself at the animals to linger too long. It takes a lot to quell the child-like excitement she feels on her first trip to the zoo, but she manages. Business first.

Adam shrugs. "The question of where to go isn't as important as getting out. One should always resist one's captors. Did you know I once tried to hit Elle in the face with a tray?" Good times, good times. "There are always people you can talk to if you want to find a place to lie low, no matter where you are. You just need to know where to look." Truth be told, Adam was almost equally enthused to be at the zoo - but he's gotten it out of his system. The polar bears helped.

"I think I heard about that," the doctor remarks absently about his attempt to hit Elle. She loosens the scarf around her neck and scratches at a fresh, wicked-looking scar across her throat. Something between a slashing wound and a burn. "The problem is that I have never known where to look." Odessa smiles faintly, a sad sort of expression. "Unlike you, I didn't get hundreds of years of adventure outside the Company walls. I was born into it. How would I know where to go or where to look?"

Adam finds himself drawn to the wound on Odessa's neck, not really out of compassion but more out of curiosity. He's seen many, many injuries in his time, and this one qualifies as being 'odd'. "And what happened to you, hmm? Get on the wrong side of the Company before you left?"

The scarf is quickly rewrapped and Odessa looks away self-consciously. "It's awful," she murmurs. "I…" Now or never, Odessa. Test the waters or don't? "A man named Kazimir Volken happened to me."

That answer comes as a surprise. A big one. Adam stops in his tracks and stares at Odessa, one eyebrow hiked high. "Sauerkraut?" This certainly is an interesting development.

Odessa flashes Adam a bit of a surprised look. "Okay. Carp, and Sauerkraut. Do I even want to know how you refer to me when I'm not there?" She also stops and turns full on to her companion. "So you do know him." She nods slowly, "Don't tell him you know me." She shakes her head faintly. That was so stupid, Odessa. Now what are you going to do? "It's… been suggested that the less I admit to knowing about, the safer I am." Survival instincts may be slow to kick in, but they do kick in. She smiles gently and reaches out to rest one hand on Adam's arm. "You wouldn't tell on me, would you?"

"Whoever told you that is probably right, Odessa. Knowing about things has historically led people to very bad ends. Trust me, I know. I've been there." Adam makes no move to draw away from his walking companion, however, and just absently grinds the toe of one shined shoe in at a bit of stray gravel that's gotten underfoot. "What did you do to get him to cut you up?"

"I was there," she offers a bitter explanation. "I was brought to him in the hopes of being accepted. He slit my throat as a means to test the one who brought me." Odessa closes her eyes, fingers reaching up again to lay over her throat. "Volken said if the man could save me, then I could stay."

"And are you staying? You've obviously been saved." Adam is silent for a moment or two after his question, and then tilts his head. "I was under the impression that he'd grown beyond such tactics. Who is it that brought you to him?" It's time to spill the beans.

"The man responsible for your freedom." While Odessa's response is cryptic, it's also her way of finding out exactly how much Adam knows about his own escape.

All Adam has to say on the subject is "Ah." He isn't certain who was actually responsible for the break on Level five, but there was certainly something strange happening with the group that was present. "You haven't answered my other question. Are you staying with dear old Sauerkraut?"

"With is a very loose and relative term, don't you agree?" Odessa takes Adam's arm once more, siddling up closer than before. "I stay within the protection of his flock, yes. It was the only place I knew to go." She smirks and traces one finger of ther back of her companion's knuckles, "Why? Are you going to take me away from all that?"

Adam stares at Odessa, his face unreadable as she steps her way in his direction. "If you're safe there, I don't see a reason to. You and I might have more to talk about if you stay with them. We could help each other. Besides, I'm not certain my cat would like it if we took on another houseguest." Huruma might eat Odessa. It's a real possibility.

Now that is interesting. "Suit yourself," Odessa muses. "I have my protectors. Not that I wholly need them, but they certainly are nice to have." She moves along at a languid pace now, open in her curiosity as she watches the animals. "One of the poles, hm? New York is cold enough." When you live in a climate controlled setting where it's always seventy degrees, New York City is cold. "But I'm sure the adventure would make it a worthwhile expedition."

Adam starts strolling again, a small smirk making its appearance. "Adventure always does make life interesting, and I'm overdue for so many vacations." Hiding out in Antarctica for a generation would probably solve the entire problem of the Company chasing after him - but it's not his style. "Have you seen the birds here?"

Odessa doesn't have the luxury of hiding out for a lifetime anywhere. Well, she would, but it would be a very lonely and unfulfilling existence. She might prefer the possibility of getting caught to a life of boredom, no matter how terrifically fascinating she finds Adam Monroe to be. "I haven't," she coos in response to his query.

"Then perhaps that's where we should head next. It's also warmer." Adam nods in the direction of the bird enclosure, a faint edge of humor coloring his suggestion. "We wouldn't want you to catch a cold, though it might help you out if you end up having to sneeze on a Company agent."


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November 16th: A Little Less Than...

Previously in this storyline…


Next in this storyline…

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November 17th: It's Stupid
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