Participants:
| Scene Title | Breaking Eggs |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Melissa rebukes Luke for his actions the previous night, and he responds with microwaving an egg. |
| Date | March 10, 2010 |
"The Den" is a cover name for a Ferrymen safehouse based out of Roosevelt Island. The structure is an expanded basement beneath the Butcher's Fancy located just across the street from the Summer Meadows development on the south side of Roosevelt Island.
Beneath the floorboards of the butcher shop, the Den sprawls out as a surprisingly large underground complex comprising more than just a single building's basement. The basement of an adjacent tenement building under management by the same owner as the butcher shop is compiled into the same structure. The entry point of the Den is a large hall with an eight foot ceiling and industrial spiral staircase descending from the back stock room of the butcher's shop above. This room is decorated with old patched up sofas, a single television and a few old bookshelves stacked with records and an old fashioned turn table. Speakers for the turntable flank the couch, but the left most one is always cutting out.
Adjacent to this hall is a storage room containing non-perishable foods stacked in cans and jars on old wooden shelves as well as a small armory consisting of typically no more than five or six bolt-action rifles and boxes of ammunition and a pair of handguns, necessary in case the safehouse were ever overrun.
Opposite of the storage room is a wide doorway in the concrete that leads into an eight foot long earth and board tunnel lined with hanging construction lamps that connects to the basement of the adjacent tenement building. It's this tenement building that serves as residence for some of the safehouse's tenants. The basement itself contains a boiler, furnace and work-bench with tools, along with stacks of old newspapers and magazines in cardboard boxes. Stairs here lead up to the ground floor of the two-story tenement building, which was condemned by the town in 2008. The front doors are bolted shut and do not provide entrance, which is why the basement access was created to keep outside appearances.
All of the exterior windows of the condemned two-story building are shuddered and covered with weatherproof plastic to keep in heat, while only the ground floor has any working radiators. The tenement building itself looks like it may have been little more than a halfway house before it was condemned. Small rooms consisting of little more than a single mattress on the floor are barely large enough to be considered full bedrooms. The ground floor features the only working bathroom, as well as a communal kitchen and dining room. The second floor is largely vacant, due to the poor stability of the flooring and lack of any furnishings in the remaining rooms.
At night, no lights are allowed in the tenement building, to give it the presence of abandonment.
Melissa didn't stay long at the Den the night before. After a run through the snow evading cops, she wanted to warm up, clean up, and calm down. But now…Oooh boy. The first resident of the Den is gonna get it! Though it might be tough to look stern and disappointed when you're wearing a black surgical type mask to keep away any germs from the safehouse's sick residents. Still, it doesn't stop her from going to look for Luke! With a frown on her face.
Luke has a feeling that he's going to get it. After all the trouble he's gotten into over the years, he's pretty much developed a sixth sense about these sorts of things. However, his entire demeanor is unrepentant, as he's sprawled on a couch and reading a magazine. It's…. well, it's not Playboy, at least. Now, he's just waiting for the anvil to drop.
Melissa stops and simply studies him for a moment, before she moves over, reaching for the magazing to push it downward. "What the hell were you thinking?" she asks, though her voice is soft, more concerned sounding than angry.
Luke lifts his gaze to Melissa's, although technically she has the upper hand since he's on his back and she's standing over him. "What? Those dicks were shooting that friggin weapon at everyone. I don't know about you, but since when did they start using something like that for crowd control? That sort of thing shouldn't have been used, nearly gave me a heart attack." actually that was more Melissa's doing. "I probably saved at least a hundred people by trashing that thing. And the only one who saw me do it was you."
And Melissa knows it was her doing, and there's apparently some guilt there since she winces a little. She sits on the edge of the couch, nodding. "I know. They were treating us like animals instead of people. But Luke…it's situations like like night that have people fighting to lock us up. That one girl killed a cop. Now, don't get me wrong, I appreciate the sentiment. I'd personally love to kill the people who put me in Moab." And secretly she enjoyed hurting the cops too. A little bit.
"So here's the thing…One? You getting that close to the cops meant that you might've been nabbed. Which would've meant either you in jail, or more dead cops. And hate to break it to you, darlin', but long as you're staying here, you're under my protection, and I don't let those I protect get tossed away. Don't push things so far that I have to do things I'll regret to keep you safe. Please."
She rises to her feet, pacing slowly, rubbing her hands together as she talks, brow furrowing. "Second…If we ever want the evolved to be seen as anywhere close to equal as the non-evolved, we can't be doing things left and right to make them afraid of us." She shakes her head, sighing sadly. "They outnumber us. We make them too afraid, and it will be the holocaust again. It'll be worse than Moab ever thought about being," she murmurs.
"I'll do it from farther away then. I was mainly getting away from that other shit going on." Luke rolls his eyes, then glances back down at the magazine. Sighing, he closes it and sets it to the side, sitting up. "Eh, it's not like I was the one turning the police into briquettes. Or poached eggs." he looks thoughtful. "Ever put an egg in a microwave? A raw egg, that is."
Melissa blinks and stops, looking back to him. "Like, in the shell and all? Why would I?" she asks, sounding baffled. "And I know you weren't torching the cops. It's a good thing too. Look at what happened to that chick. If I'd let you get shot because you wanted to get some well-deserved revenge, I'd never forgive myself." Seems like she takes the role of protector very seriously.
"Eh, the cops weren't the ones who got me sent to Moab. It was my /mother/." Luke spits out. Not literally spitting, though, fortunately. "She sold me out to the government. I shoulda cooked her in her cheap-ass trailer, it'd serve her right." slight pause. "But…. I didn't."
Melissa's brows shoot up, then she manages to look thoroughly disgusted, even with the mask. "Your mother? I can't say my parents were loving rolemodels, but at least they didn't sell me out. 'Course, they didn't know either." She shakes her head, hands on her hips. "Thought parents were supposed to love you no matter what you did or were," she mutters. She moves back to the couch, perching on the arm on the opposite end from Luke. "Seriously though, Luke…I'm not tryin' to be your mother. I don't want you to stay cooped up in here or anything. Just don't take risks you don't have to for a lil' while, okay? As a favor to me?"
"She was afraid of me. Like I'd actually attack her. Or anyone for that matter." there's a slight twitch at the corner of his eye when he says that, and he hides it by shaking his head. "I'd never kill someone unless they were trying to kill me first." upon hearing her request, Luke considers it. "All right, if I don't have to, I won't." sounds easy enough.
Melissa nods. "Thank you," she says, and it sounds sincere. "And for the record? I don't think you'd attack me." She smiles. "Then again, if you did, I'd just send you to your room with no dinner to nuke," she adds, in a light teasing tone. Can't have the mood always being dark and depressing!
Luke snorts a laugh. "Hah, that's assuming I'd go." Luke smirks at Melissa, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "Nothing stops me from going and getting dinner." he sure seems confident about that.
Melissa laughs and nods. "I'll keep that in mind." She reaches over to ruffle his hair. "I'll let you get back to your magazine now. Gotta go check on your neighbors on the second floor. You're being careful, by the way, right? Don't want you getting sick too."
Luke jerks away from getting his hair ruffled. "Eh, I think I can keep from getting sick. Only lame people get sick." isn't there some kind of saying that idiots never catch colds? That might work in this situation too.
Melissa arches a brow. "Luke…Only evos are getting sick with this. And it takes their power away. So I hope you don't get sick, but if you feel like you're startin' to, or you can't use your power? Let me know, alright?"
"Well, let's find out." Luke goes off to where the perishables are kept, and comes back with an egg. He mentioned it earlier, after all, and now he's curious. He holds it in his hand, and suddenly the shell cracks apart and white stuff bubbles out, solidified. "Nope, still works. So that's what happens. Wonder how hardboiled eggs stay in the shell then?"
"Could be because it's gradual when you boil it, not a quick pop of heat?" Melissa suggests with a shrug. "Physics aren't really my strong suit, I'm afraid."
Luke starts peeling the egg, looking at it curiously. "Wonder if it's edible like this too?" he breaks off the piece that bubbled out and eats it, then shrugs. "Tastes fine to me. Guess this is a cross between a hardboiled egg and sunny side up."
Melissa laughs softly and shakes her head. "So long as it's edible. Oh, and I've been meaning to ask…You settling in alright here? Anything you need?"
"Eh, it's fine. Can't think of anything I'd possibly need aside from my old life back. But since there's no way in hell I'll ever get that, I'm just fine with the way things are." Luke reseats himself as he continues eating the egg
Melissa nods. "Alright. Let me know if you think of anything though." She smiles, though it's hidden of course, then heads on up to check on the kids.
[— Storyline navigation table: —]
|
Previously in this storyline… Next in this storyline… |