Connections

Participants:

abby_icon.gif alexander_icon.gif conrad_icon.gif helena_icon.gif teo_icon.gif

Scene Title Connections
Synopsis People make connections - between coincidences and each other in various ways.
Date November 6, 2008
~ Warning: Lots of foul language!

New York Public Library

Once upon a time, the New York Public Library was one of the most important libraries in America. The system, of which this branch was the center, was among the foremost lending libraries /and/ research libraries in the world.

The bomb changed that, as it changed so much else.

By virtue of distance, the library building was not demolished entirely, like so many others north of it; however, the walls on its northern side have been badly damaged, and their stability is suspect. The interior is a shambles, tattered books strewn about the chambers and halls, many shelves pulled over. Some have even been pulled apart; piles of char in some corners suggest some of their pieces, as well as some of the books, have been used to fuel fires for people who sought shelter here in the past.

In the two years since the bomb, the library — despite being one of the icons of New York City — has been left to decay. The wind whistles through shattered windows, broken by either the blast-front or subsequent vandals, carrying dust and debris in with it. Rats, cats, and stray dogs often seek shelter within its walls, especially on cold nights. Between the fear of radiation and the lack of funds, recovery of the library is on indefinite hiatus; this place, too, has been forgotten.


Abby's sitting, ass in seat, feet up on another seat in one of the communal area's. Silence makes for a good nap, of whihc, quite possibly abby is doing with the time between where she was and needing to get to work. Graveyard shifts can be murder.

There's a swirl of cold air - not freezing, but definitely noticable, as Helena arrives. She looks as if she's been rained on, but doesn't appear to be shivering - if anything, she looks refreshed, though certainly like she should be wrung out to dry. When she notices Abby napping, she attempts to tiptoe her way across the floor, but - drip, drip.

"I'm not asleep. Slept at one of the Ferryman safehouses. Grace says hello" Comes Abby's voice. "Just resting. Energy drink crash" One eye creaks open. "Get caught in one of your own storms?"

"Something like that." Helena concedes. "Sometimes I just need to be in the middle of it. It makes me feel connected, you know?" Abby may not, but it's about as much as Hel can explain it. "That girl from the other night, the one with the funny eyes? She came looking for you the other night at the Owl." Helena sounds a touch irritated on Abby's behalf about that, especially since Colette was told that was exactly what she shouldn't do.

That opens both eyes. "She what?" Abby's sitting upright now.

"She came looking for you." Helena repeats frankly. "And started blurting crap in the middle of the Owl. I yanked her into the ladies and gave her whatfor." She takes a breath. "She wants to try to convince you to help her friend - the one you healed from whatever it was, apparently something else is wrong with him. I told her that I would tell you, but that it was your choice and if you said no, she wasn't to follow you or harrass you or track you down at all anymore."

"she did WHAT?" Abby's standing up now. "In the middle of the bloody restaurant? She started talking about what I did? Please tell by all that's holy your kidding, that no one heard it or is even paying attention to it?"

"Didn't seem to." Helena says, and not that she wouldn't flip out herself, but. "There's this one girl, she was giving a funny eye, but I don't know if she quite caught on. But then, that girl's kind of wierd in general." Talking about Mallory, of course. "The funny eyes girl - I think she said her name was Colette, and she gave me a business card to give to you. Apparently she's hooked up with a cop. Which makes this even more thrilling."

"I shouldn't have helped him" Abby starts to pace around the room, one hand rubbing at her forehead. "I shouldn't have done it, I shouldn't have stopped. He's been to the diner before. Shit, the odds, of seeing him there, and that other one from the diner.." She stop snear Helena. "A cop? Hel.. i'm… i'm fucked" Swear word coming from her mouth. 'I have to quit. My job. I'll have to find something else"

Helena shakes her head. "Not yet." she says. "Breathe, Abby. We need to scope the situation, first. It could be totally salvagable. It - " she cuts off as her cellphone rings, and she looks at it, frowning. "Teo." she says. "Hang on." She opens the phone and speaks. "Yeah?"

Abby waves her hand, one hand to her lower back as she resumes pacing the room, her other hand twisting at the little gold cross that hangs around her neck. She's not happy and her blonde ponytail bobs with each step. "God, how could she do that"

Helena's expression goes pale. "Did you get the syringe?" she asks in alarm, though her tone remains steady as she speaks into the phone.

Quite without warning, a voice comes from one of the doorways that has been left abandoned like so much else in this burned-out, rotting institution. "Syringe? What the hell are you talking about?" Conrad asks, stepping out where the girls can see him. His hands are in his jacket pockets, that jacket being one of the nicer New York Mets sports fan's type. No, he didn't give much in the way of warning that he would show up. Just suddenly here he is. Surprise!

Abby looks over at themention of syringe, then to Conrad as he enters. A slight wave of her hand to him greeting as she brings her steps to close near Helena. Not close enough to hear the conversation, but close enough.

Helena lets out a soft hiss. "If you can get it, try. If you can't, just get the hell out of there and come home. Make sure you're not tracked. Okay?"

Conrad saunters across the floor toward the girls, giving Helena The Eye. As if suddenly noticing Abby is there he looks her up and down and asks in a challenging tone, "Who're you supposed to be?"

Helena clicks off the phone, shoves it in her pocket. She's still a bit soggy from being out in the rain. "Conrad, Abby. Abby, Conrad. Abby heals. Conrad yells. Make nice, I'm going to go change."

"Tooth fairy" Abby answers, Conrad given the 'look' back as well. perky abby she is not today. Lines around the corner of her eyes. "i'll be nice" She offers her hand to the man. "Abigail Beauchamp" Her southern accent shines straight through. "Looks like no more nap for me before I head to work later. Know what she was talking about?" as Helena walks off to change. Abby's in her waitressing uniform, pink classic old fashioned sheath and white apron, with jeans beneath for warmth while not actually as the diner.

Alexander has arrived.

"Wayell, Miss Abigail," Conrad drawls back in a make-fun southern accent, "So nice to meet yew." Switch back to normal Con-voice as he shrugs after Helena, "Who knows? Maybe tryin' to order a crate of botox or something. After a while you get a little desensitized to the crazy around here."

Teo has arrived.
Abby's brows draw down and she quietly takes back her non taken hand. "Maybe, maybe not, or maybe she'll tell us when she gets back" The ponytailed blonde resumes her pacing, twisting of the cross and muttering under her breath what one might swears is prayers.

Helena ducks into one of the many alcoves designated for sleeping, yelling out, "I heard that!" as she changes. It only takes a few moments and then she's in a new old pair of jeans and a sweatshirt. She's meeting up with Abby and Conrad in one of the communal areas - Conrad may or may not be recalled as an occaisional contact of Cameron's. He made it past the guards at the exits, which means he knows passwords, and Helena isn't freaking out. So. Oh, and she's barefoot, because ambient temperature control when you're an atmokinetic is a piece of cheesecake. "Apparently Teo and Alex were at some bowling alley and some girl got murdered. There was a syringe at the crime scene with fortis et liber on it." She lets the implication hang.

'For those of us who weren't educated with latin?' Abby turns to helena as she returns. 'Toss me the number, for the weird eye'd woman while your at it"

Either Conrad knows passwords, or he SNUCK past the guards. Ooooh. "So somebody put Latin on a frickin syringe, big deal." If he paid attention to whose motto that is, he isn't letting on. "It's a bunch of Latin nerdishness. Who cares what it means? It means our ex-buddies either did it or someone wants someone else to think they did." Okay, so he did pay attention.

"Strong and free." Helena says. "It's the motto of PARIAH. It's on their grafitti, everywhere." Digging into this new set of jeans, she pulls out the business card and gives it to Abby. "Her number's on the back."

Helena adds, "Listen, Abby. It may not be a disaster and you may not have to quit. I'll go with whatever you want, but if you want my suggestion, we may be able to be tactical about it."

Passcodes. Teo dug them out of his head in the cab, otherwise he'dve stalled and probably got his head riddled with bullets or psychokinetic knives or God knows what when he stared balefully at the sentries. He pushed past with little more salutation than a curt question as to Helena's whereabouts and tore over the floor at a pace so quick the hallway corners and lingering density of dust motes almost sighed against his sleeve as he fled by, Alexander at his shoulder.

They appear abruptly, their approaching footsteps sharply staccato in the queasy vacuum of vast architecture and long-standing dereliction, arriving in the same way they'd scattered from the bowling alley: like roaches. "Hel," he nods at her, blue eyes dovetailing past the other two Evolved, crinkling slightly in salutation. "I got a look at him but only briefly. Blond guy, about Al's age."

Alexander is pale. Er. No, really. ALmost to the 'greenish' part of the human spectrum. "I don't know what he poisoned her with. But yeah, this was on it," He flashes a little piece of cardstock with 'Fortis Et Liber' on it, for all the world like a cop badging his way in somewhere. No greeting, no preamble. "Have they come to assassination already?" he asks, as if puffing himself up for righteous against against their erstwhile comrades. There's that subsonic hum around him, of power being firmly repressed.

Conrad raises an eyebrow at Alexander and says pointedly, "Yer humming, Al." To look at his demeanor it's hard to tell whether he gives a rat's that PARIAH may be assassinating people. "Who exactly got stuck with the needle?"

Abby takes the card, gaze and concentration going to it. Oh, oh nice. Cops business card. Could things get /anymore better/? wait. yes! it could! "Phoenix. Did that? Or is someone perhaps trying to frame them?" The slim blonde tucks away the card, a quizical glance to al and an attempt to touch him, get near him, somehow. Skin to skin to make sure he's okay.

"Why would they assassinate some random girl?" Helena asks, noting to Abby, "No, Phoenix is us. PARIAH's the ones that left. They shouldn't be calling themselves that." she frowns. "Were the police called in? How did you guys get out without getting caught? Did you see who did it? Start from the beginning, one of you." She beckons to one of the reading tables. "Conrad, you know Alex and Teo? If you don't, now you do. Grab a seat."

"Told him to watch that," Teo remarks, glancing over his shoulder at the telekinetic who has, indeed, started buzzing again. Better than the rumble and algid breeze that had kicked up at the alley, though, so there's no criticism in his voice or face then, merely a shadow of concern that collapses into hard-edged focus the moment he turns toward the table Hel pointed out. "I called the PD.

"I was already on the phone with them before we realized she was already dead and the tag was on the syringe," he explains: he isn't stupid enough to have given himself to Caller ID otherwise. "I'll mock up a story in case they want me down at precinct anytime soon, but honestly, they had enough witnesses and cam feed to plow through. We left a good while before the uniforms arrived.

"No trouble. We got our shoes back and everything: it's a pretty big place, crowded, and sorority girls falling on their asses isn't as uncommon as you'd think think." Alexander's pallor warrants a twitch of his cheek, and Conrad's introduction a nod of his head; he leans over to clap the older man on the arm. Salutations.

There's a little color, creeping back into Al's face. And he nods, tightly, and seats himself. He swallows hard, once, throat working, before the hum around him begins to die down. Teo's doing a great job on the talking, so he doesn't interject, not yet. Merely pulls his hands out of the pocket of his hoodie and splays the long fingers over the surface of the table, as if to stop them shaking.

Uh…okay. So Conrad's being all pally pal with this guy? "What're we, drinking buddies now? You wanna screw my sister?" he says sarcastically, grinning anyway to take a little bit of the sting out of his words. All right, so maybe there's nothing wrong with this Teo guy, but Con's not the touchy feely type. "Okay check it out, you're really starting to freak me the hell out there." he says, pointing at Alex. "You about to explode or something? No point being pissed off about every last dipshit thing these scumbags do. They're always gonna be doing it so if you're gonna react like this maybe you oughta go burn off some of that stress you're building up."

Abby comes behind Alex, bringing hands down on his neck and shoulders, some impromptu massage to try and help calm him, use her gift as well to see if there's anything that might need tweaking or helping with. "No, /conrad/ he's likely in shock. he almost saw a near death yesterday and now today, a real death. Just give him a moment to calm. Not all of us are so ho hum with the world around us and it's events" Abby shoots him another 'look'. "and there's ladies preent. You can hold your tongue a little nicer please"

Helena finally turns her attention to Alexander. There's not much to express hear beyond her unfathoming look and the question, "Why are you humming?"

Humor tries Teo's expression, but doesn't quite succeed. It isn't that kind of evening, for all that he seems to be keeping his nerves together far better than the adjacent redhead is. "Hey, if she's half your age and looks it," he offers in response, an easy joke that doesn't bely the fact that he withdraws cooperatively beyond Conrad's personal bubble then.

Eight years after he quit putting other thugs through the windows of Palermo's phone boxes, football firm comraderie hasn't faded; with it, the tactility of arm-clasps and cuffs around the head. He has, however, learned to kill it when asked to.

When Abigail goes to Alexander and Helena points her question at him, Teo doesn't turn his head to look. He has the oddest sense that, were he going green and quivering on his seat, he wouldn't want to be stared at either. Instead, "I'll find beer." He stands up. And stalls a moment, realizing he's unwilling to adjourn just now, however temporarily, but he squares his shoulders and fetches an inquiring glance around the others.

The air's still. "Sorry. Stress reaction," Al says, leaning into Abby's massage with nearly animal abandon. "Thanks," he says to Abby, casting a grateful look over his shoulder. "I….blame Iraq," he says. What, like Canada? Presumably he means some flavor of PTSD.

"Yeah gimme a beer too, pal." Conrad says, head-tossing in Teo's direction. He smirks at Abby and asks, "Ladies? Girl, listen. Hugs and kisses are nice an' all but we don't exactly wake up and walk around in a friendly world right now. Let's save the smoochies for later, 'kay?" As if in spite of his words Abby made an impression, he approaches Alex and lowers his tone a touch. "Seriously. Maybe you oughta just to punch, kick, or destroy something. Get it all out. That timebomb crap isn't good."
No thanks needed. Seems she's always of late, fixing something up with Alex. "Ladies. Yes. I don't give hugs and kisses. I'm using my gift on him" Indeed, she is, add another line around her eyes, temporarily. 'Should be a red bull Teo. grab me one. i'm going to need another. Sorry Conrad, i'm flat out of smoochies for anyone" Abby works alexander still. "just give me a few more and then if he needs it, he can go a few rounds with you"

Conrad barks a laugh. "Naw he wouldn't last with me."

Humor keeps trying Teo's features, but it finds no certain footing. He overhears Conrad's advice without listening, and memorizes Abby's order despite an amorphous distraction or three, peers at Alexander as if he might indeed be that— a timebomb. It makes sense. Somehow. It's always the quiet ones? Perhaps unsettled by his own reaction— or lack thereof— to the girl's death, he tries a scowl on, finally. That fits. "Be right back," he says, turning on a heel. He's out. Will return, in but a snatch of conversation.

Alexander lets his eyes close, after shooting a look up at Conrad. "I'll be fine," he says, staunchly. "Honestly. I just….it still gets to me, after all these years," he says, letting his head loll forwards to give Abby better access to those tight muscles at the back of the neck.

"…okay. All right…" Conrad says, still kind of looking at Alex but nodding as if trying to convince himself. He clears his throat and then adds, "So anyway, our ex-pals are really showing off their true colors. Not that we didn't know, but just what the hell are we supposed to do about it I guess is the point?"

"I'm sure that a great many wouldn't last with you" Abby murmurs. The heels of her palm work up where shoulder meets neck, and her thumbs apply pressure alll the way up into his scalp. The warm tingling sensation that doesn't normally accompany an impromptu massage is likely Abby's responsibility. 'We have to distance ourself from it. Seperate Phoenix from PARAIAH and let it be known that we are not the latter and not involving ourselves in such acts"

Alexander is going utterly limp. "Man, this is great," Al says, and there's an edge of a purr in his voice. "Don't burn yourself out for the day, though, doll," he urges, with no real conviction in his tone. "But she's right. It's like…the old IRA and the new. We gotta disavow."

"That never works." Conrad says with a sneer in his tone. "They think we're all the same. They think we're all radical terrorists and wearin' red and heiling Hitler or whatever it is they're programmed to think. You know how people get in this kind of environment!" Suddenly he takes a moment to look at Alex and Abby with a slightly slackjawed envy and goes, "God. You two are so laying each other."

Abby doesn't stop her actions. Whats the point, it's not something she's doing for fun, but to help. 'Cute, but no. i'll be married before I do such a thing. Give me your hand. Don't worry Alex, I won't. i'll stop when your good and i've my limit. Slow is better, quickly, wipes me out" her left hand moves from Alex's neck, fingers wriggling towards Conrad. "Hold my hand, promise I won't bite, or smooch you" there's a bit of an 'i dare you' look in her eyes.

Al cracks an eye at that. "No," he says, quietly. "No. I don't have a lover," His tone is flat, matter of fact. "But you're right. We'll have to see what we can do. It may involve stopping PARIAH, much as I hate the thought of a little Evolved civil war going down."

The prodigal son returns, the long fingers of his left hand laced around three bottlenecks, his other grasping a third and a can of Red Bull in his palm. Teo knows better than to throw glass. Pauses by Conrad to hand off his, and one for Helena, before he lopes back to the table and sits Alexander's beer where he'll see it when he gets around to opening his eyes, Abby's shot of liquid energy right next to it. He then starts to sit back down.

He sort of stops short in the middle of the process when Conrad says that. You know, that part. Which isn't terribly odd; he's just off-balance for a fraction of a second, and thus takes a fraction of a second longer to put his butt back on his chair. A fraction. Teo doesn't suffer for it. "It doesn't feel like PARIAH," the Sicilian says. "I saw the guy and I didn't know him. Maybe he's new, maybe he's a shifter— maybe PARIh's breaking down into subfactions.

"And I think we can all be pretty sure they have to reclaim their name after we did so much symbolic scribbling over the old graffiti." He'd said as much. To Abigail. "But if you know the first fucking thing about pro-Evolved terrorism— fuck, any terrorism, you know a syringe and a single low-profile target isn't the best way to do it. New York's lost enough sleep and skyline to prove that point."

"Yeah, that's right…do it slow…" murmurs Conrad with a smirk as he gives Abby his hand. He snatches the offered bottle with his other hand from Teo with a "Thanks, pal." Then Conrad does a nifty trick. He hooks the bottlecap on the edge of the table next to him and yanks it downward, neatly opening the bottle one-handed. Mustn't deny the Lady her opportunity to feel up the Con-Man. Nope.

"Teo! Ladies!" it's good naturedly shot at him. Abby closes her hands around Conrad's hand and a few moments later, and one hasitly whispered prayer, yes, an honest to god prayer, he can feel it creeping inwards. "I did have fun tagging boxcars" she admits somewhat guiltily.

"So did I. But it may be the mitzvah we need to do to get the real humans on our side and put paid to PARIAH is bring them down. The question is if we can. And if we can do it without the streets running red. It'd be like a Scorsese movie," Al says, with a snort. "But you're right. It was an assassination. I just don't know what they had on the girl other than that she mighta….I don't know. She wasn't someone I knew. Maybe an informant?" he suggests, leaning back in his chair in a spraddle-legged slouch.

"Yaknow, you guys'll think I'm nuts to say it but we might need to try to cover it up. Run interference best we can. Do whatever we can to make it look like anybody BUT PARIAH did it. Damn, girl. How much do I owe ya?" That last to Abby, of course, as Conrad somehow manages to soil even the generosity of a good-faith given healing.

A good-natured flinch answers Abby's reprimand. Teo raises one shoulder then drops it: a half a shrug. "I think there's something else going on. I have no fu" Wait! Wait, he has a learning curve. "I have no idea what that might be. The possibilities are endless. Maybe PARIAH's trying to distract the PD from something bigger, or someone else is fucking around I don't know.

"Yeah, it'd be good if Sergei could get us a positive ID on the girl and look at the camera feed. See if there was more to her than…" the contents of her sweater, he thinks but doesn't add. She'd been pretty. He'd noticed that about three seconds before she wound up an ashen corpse. Teo settles back in his chair, shoulders squaring against the iron-reinforced wood. He opens his bottle the same way Conrad had: yank of the cap's rim against the table's edged. "Alexander already took care of that."

Conrad's hand is released once he gets a taste. 'A better reign on your mouth when your around a woman or at least me. I don't take kindly to cursing. Teo's already learning. Sorta" Alex is finished up, in that platonic way then his head rubbed before the southern belle makes a grab for the red bull, pops the tab and starts to chug it down, very un-ladylike. Her eyes dart back and forth though from Teo and then to Conrad while she does such. The chugging that is.

Alexander heaves a blissful sigh. It's oddly canine, really. "I did what I could. Shouldn'ta messed with the evidence, but I may have defanged the crisis, if what they wanted was to make a statement that they're killing randomly. You know, we should go talk to who's left over there, see what the …what they might be thinking." Look, look, redneck learn too!

If anyone's gonna watch their mouth around here, it's not Conrad. "Whatever, Missy." he says to Abby. "I don't trust anyone who doesn't cuss. Means you have something to hide." He chugs from his beer, taking in how she does her Red Bull and apparently having nothing to say about it. "Damn. Thanks, Teo. Needed that."

Abby's graceless effort to inundate herself in caffeine is watched with amusement louder now in Teo's eyes, warmth easing back into them, his scowl and erstwhile instant of clumsiness easing away. He glances at Alexander and nods.

"Hel was planning on talking to Claire," he says. "I figure if anyone that side is ready to even consider transparency with Phoenix—" he doesn't finish that sentence, realizing belatedly that that might be a harmful presumption to approach either the weather witch or the dyed-brunette miracle girl with. He flashes Conrad a grin that makes him actually look his age, then squints at Abby. "Do you want another one of those?" he asks, with exaggerated quizzicality.

Helena makes her way back from…well, wherever she was. "Where would PARIAH get something like that anyway?" she says, dropping right into the conversation. "They blow places up. A singular death won't make any kind of statement." She shrugs. "I mean, it could have been them, but it also might have been someone trying to frame them. We know the faces of PARIAH members pretty well and one of you would have mentioned seeing someone we recognize, right?"

"I could likely drink two more of these Teo" When abby surfaces for air again, every drop pretty much sucked out of the can. Hey, it takes alot to heal really fast someone from near death. Pretty much a pre-show for something her and Teo will be doing later down the road. "So, it's either someone from PARIAH, someone trying to frame PARIAH, or just.. a really bad co-incidence?'

Alexander snorts. "I don't know. Unless there's been another coup, or something else weird happening over there," he says, closing his eyes again, hands back in the pockets of his hoodie. "Maybe I shoulda left that card."
"It's like I said at first, it's either then or someone wanting it to look like them. So how about this: Let's go ask PARIAH if they did it or not." Conrad's plan is so bold, it might just work. Or maybe not. "I dunno about the rest of you but just because I think they're a bunch of hotheaded killcrazy maniacs doesn't mean I want em framed. That hurts us too."

Teo swings his feet up from the floor, leans his knees against the edge of the table. He turns his head when the weather-witch in question steps out from the doorway, motions her toward the beer he'd left her at her spot. "We were just talking about that," he says. "I think it's possible they're throwing red herring at the PD so they don't see the big project coming.

"Or," he nods at Alexander. "Internal issues. Do you think you could—" his mouth flattens. Coincidentally just after Conrad speaks, but not because of that. That same earlier presumption is stumbling at the line. The last time Helena talked about Claire, she had her hair in pigtails and her candy-striped leggings dangling over a mushroom, festive as the next girl dressed for Halloween, but the expression on her face. "Ask Signorina Claire?"

Helena nods. "I'll meet with her." Helena promises. "But they might be going behind her back, or not doing it at all." She looks at Abby. "Listen, are you going to contact that Colette girl? She seemed kind of frantic, but we'll run distraction if necessary if she won't take no for an answer."

"Have no choice. She came to my work. I don't like it at all" Abby had taken up a spot against the wall, lips pursed. "That guy should be fine. I mean, yes, i healed him fast, and i'm paying for it, but I didn't stop until the gift stopped. So, I don't see what it is that she wants. Unless he turned around and got hit by a car. I don't like it. But.. I don't also wanna go have to look for another job. I don't think that Izzy from Rapture has her own bar up yet and I still need to pay rent"
Phoenix> Alexander says, "But of course, my darling."

Alexander says, "Healed whom?" Al wonders, tuning back in a beat or two behind. But he nods at Conrad. "Well, we'll see what they do. I'm….." he trails off, realizing he's about to reiterate something for the umpteenth time. "I'm a tired idiot, is what. Where's that beer?" he looks around, and finds a spare bottle, which he pops open. So much for being raised Baptist."
"I'll come along in case they start lying through their teeth at ya, Hel." decides Con. And yeah, he's decided. And he keeps swigging at the beer before it gets warm on him. God, nobody likes warm beer.

Teo's hand arrests mid-air in gesturing the redhead toward the bottle he'd left him. Ends up falling to the table instead, pulling himself upright and to standing, as he sets about going to dig Abby up some more Red Bull. "I was wondering that," he adds, far as Abby's latest healing stunt went. "You mentioned Colette saw something, but not who the lucky would-be dead man was." His gait's a little lazier as he starts out of the room this time, slow not only because he's pacing himself to catch the answer before he's out.

"Come with me where, to see Claire?" Helena blinks a bit at that. "No, Claire and I have a meet up spot. I'll be okay. I mean, it's not like she can regenerate at me to death or something." Wryly to Abby, "You know, you could live here. Rent free, and it's not like we don't have the money. I had to drop my job at Alley Cat, though I kept my pass. It's been helpful."

'a guy who came into the diner. Like once or twice. That's probably how she could find me. I /told/ them NOT to seek me out. I'm not some little.. heal on demand, lay on hands .. fire and brimstone healer. I just.. do it. if it had been a rash i woulda let him be, but he was.. about three seconds from dead. Tret.. trent. Trent. he had been asking about a job." Abby looks to Helena and nods. 'I know. but I like my rathole in the wrong part of town and i like being alone, and with my thoughts Hel. It may not have a phone and only one room but.. it's mine. If I need to, i'll stay here" Abby shakes her head again, pushing away from the wall. 'it.. I'll have to meet up with her, at least enough to tell her to… fuck off for real" ohhh! language! colorful language!

Alexander nods in sympathy to that, between pulls on his beer. Hand him a rocking chair and a shotgun. "I gotta find a new place. Gotta get a real address, pertend to be a genuine citizen." Yes, it actually comes out 'pertend'. He ponders Abby's dilemma. "Well, I mean, if your bosses know what you can do, ain't no crime in being Evolved. Don't run, it looks too much like guilt."

"I ain't worried about you taking a bullet, sis. When Claire lies like a dog you're just gonna buy it though. You asked me to come on board this operation, you know." Oh great, now Conrad's doing his Han Solo pose where he thumbs himself in the chest and talks to Helena like she's Leia and they're still at the hate-each-other stage of the relationship. "Anyway, don't pretend I have to actually be there. All I have to do is know where you're at and I can listen to every last word. I'm nifty like that."

This time, navigational trouble and interest in the ensuing conversation mean that Teo takes much less time to retrieve Abby her cans of drink. For the woman herself, that spate of curses had warranted a little laugh and a false English twist to his words of surprise: "Bloody Hell, bird."

He's back shortly. Three cans of Red Bull in his hands. Given it's a carbonated beverage, he knows better than to throw those, too; sits himself on the table and hands over the beverages. "I've been thinking about moving, myself. I don't need as much space as I have." And he barely has any, frankly, a faux-wood floored hankerchief just South of Harlem, but he could do to move further in.

He gets the sense Conrad's talking about an Evolved ability. Refraining from seating himself, he stares in undisguised curiosity. What?

"She - " Claire wouldn't lie to Helena, she's sure of it. But it's a sentimental argument, and Helena recognizes that, so she shuts her trap and just nods. "Alright. If you're around when I go." She looks to Abby and simply nods. "The girl left her contact info on the card, so let me know if you want to go with." She leans back. "Teo," she then notes, "I'm thinking about going ahead and bringing your brother in. Are you okay with that?"

Abby takes one of the redbulls, tapping the top before popping it and guzzling it once again. Best. Drink. Ever. "No one knows, Save those that need to, whomever helena tells. My parents. No one at work knows and I don't want them to know. I like my life as it is, not dictated by people to heal who they think are deserving or necessary" All this spoken once she's come up for breath and looking a little perkier. if she went in, and asked out loud, who knows who heard? as for place to live. i'm sure we can find something for the three of us to live in that's closer. if your okay with such an arrangement" She lets the Claire/PARIAH issue be between Con and Hel.

"Can do. I don't own much. Just need a bed, a bookshelf, and a place to clean my gun," Al says, clapping the empty beerbottle down on the table. "We can go set up bachelor-bachelor-spinster house together. It'll be like Three's Company."

Con seems satisfied with Helena's suggestion. "Yeah if I'm busy or something, don't hold up for me. I'm just saying don't put it past your girlfriend to put on a show if it's in her interest. She's still hanging out with the real terrorists so something's not right about her." He guffaws at Alex's idea. Three's Company indeed. He raises his beer to the three would-be roommates and says, "Tell you what, I'm outta here. Thanks for the beer there, brother." to Teo, "Later Timebomb." Alex, "You too, Pottymouth." Abby. "You all have a great night."

Teo is deeply unsatisfied with the lack of disambiguation on Conrad's ability, since that sounded kind of cool, but. But, hey, that sort of revelation about your comrades is one that's done pretty well on the field and in a timely manner, so he'll let that unspoken query go along with the man who just polished off the beer like it was water.

His mouth curls upward at the corner, wry with something like approval. "Buona sera," he bids farewell, casting a hand up to wave. Blearily, his brain circles back around and trips over what the other two were talking about, stabilizing itself with a metaphorical flounder. It's getting late. Or he's coming down with something. Both. "I— don't see wh—"

The next subject change yanks his attention over by the jugular. He stares at Helena for a protracted moment. "That's fine," he states after a moment, his voice coming out a little odd, as if around a corner. Corrects himself: "That should be fine. He hasn't looked me up. I was going to go see him, make sure things will go smooth. Uhm.

"Other updates." Suddenly he's looking for some. Any. Scratches the back of his head, a noisy rasp of blunt fingernails on short hair. "Al and I bumped into a former Company prisoner the other night, no drama. And the technopath who tripped on Hana's wires is a student of mine. Wild guess which one."

"Three's Company?" Abby's.. only sorta been raised in the real world. She just shrugs, a lift of her once again empty can to Conrad. "My lease is month to month, i'm.. amenable really. Might be safer than frankly living alone and.. well, I'm pretty quiet. I can look for something, maybe close to the school for Teo. I take the city bus where i can but I'm thinking of maybe getting a scooter" But she falls silent as more updates are given. Time to listen and learn.

Helena looks a little jealous at the trio. That sounds like an awful lot of fun. But she swallows it down and smiles. "Listen guys, I'm going to go have a think up on the roof." Where she can stand in the rain and feel connected again. "Just give a hollar if you need me, okay?" And with that, she starts heading for the stairs.


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November 5th: Gutterball
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November 5th: An Unwelcome Revelation
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