Participants:
| Scene Title | Dinner with SCOUT |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Liz joins Will for dinner, gets her acceptance, and turns over some information. |
| Date | December 7, 2008 |
William's Apartment
Even though the condo isn't expertly decorated, one point in particular looks decidedly attractive tonight. The dinner table. William has been hard at work for the last few hours making a meal. Steaks, garlic bread, and a few other snacks the Captain has put time into making. Three places at the table have been set. The man is dressed casually, a white dress shirt, left open and a pair of slacks. He walks quietly about the kitchen, though he has a very un-quiet follower. Panda, the little beagle's tap tap tap on the floor indicates the dog goes wherever the man does. Hoping for a bite of whatever William is cooking up.
Making the final touches to the meal, William goes to put the glasses on the table. Looking at the door then to the clock. A light puff is exhaled. Any time now..
The knock on the door is right on time. Elisabeth is nothing if not prompt. The invitation to dinner was something of a surprise, and when she accepted it, she made a point to treat it as an invitation from a friend. When the door opens, she too is dressed casually in a pair of dark brown slacks and a green and brown sweater beneath a heavy cream coat. The blue sling that holds her arm is the only thing slightly off-kilter in the color scheme. "Hi," she greets him with an easy smile, holding out a bottle of wine. Let it not be said her manners are lacking!
"Hello, Elisabeth." William says softly, holding the door open. Taking the offered bottle of wine he gives a nod of his head. "Thank you, very much." He murmurs, rather flatly and without emotion. He holds the door open for as long as it takes for her to enter. Then he closes the door. "My sister will be late." She didn't inform him of any such fact. But some things are just predictable. He would bet his life on it.
There's a quick quirk of her lips into a grin when he informs her of it, and Liz says mildly, "It's not a problem, I'm sure." She steps into the apartment, and notes the dinner set-up. "It looks lovely. You didn't go to much trouble just for me, did you?" Her tone is easy, as if she expects him to say no. Reaching up to unbutton the top button on her jacket, the only one that's fastened, she lets it slide off her shoulders as they talk. "I appreciate the invitation."
Tilting his head, William gives a little shrug, going to set the bottle on the table. "No problem." He says lightly, making his way back into the kitchen. Panda on the other hand goes to investiage Elisabeth's feet. "Every great occasion should be celebrated." William says cryptically looking over his shoulder at her with an arched brow.
Elisabeth squats down to let Panda smell her, having mostly ignored the animal the last time. And then if she's allowed, Liz scritches her ears for a long moment before moving to stand. "So what great occasion are we celebrating tonight?" she asks with a quizzical expression.
"Your acceptance into SCOUT." William informs turning to face her with a playful smile bouncing on his lips. He watches her closely for her reaction. It was mostly his pull and insistance that got her recruited, so his anticipation for her reaction is high. Panda's reaction is stale, he simply enjoys the scritches and remains blissfully unaware of Elisabeth's approval and admittance into the Evolved Crimes Task Force.
Elisabeth blinks and looks at William with startled blue eyes. "Really?! I don't have to.. jump through hoops or anything?" And then she grins. "That's wonderful, Will! When do I start?" Her excitement is not the bouncing up and down kind, but she's clearly happy about the situation.
"Well, you'll have to go through mandatory SCOUT training. Of course." William says, inclining his head. "But, you're in." A little shrug of his shoulders. "A lot of us are Evolved, but, of course Non-Evolved have a place." William informs as kindly as he can whilst saying 'you're not really one of us'.
Elisabeth smirks faintly and says quietly, "I suppose now is as good a time to tell you as any that I finally registered this week. The same day I approached you for the job."
His brows arch. "You're…?" He had no idea. "How long have you known?" William asks, making his way from the kitchen back to the dining table. "What is your ability?"
Elisabeth moves restlessly around his apartment now, her eyes wary on him. Of course he had no idea. No one had any idea. "Since 9/11," she replies quietly. "I've known for seven years. Used it most of that time pretty regularly, too. Up til the Bomb." She shrugs a little as she walks. "They're calling it a mental influence power. A form of subsonic hypnosis."
"What does that mean? What tier?" William asks with intrigue. Another Evolved member to their already formidable squad. If they ever find any suspect, they would be a force to be reckoned with.
Elisabeth blows out a breath and says, "Tier 1." It's all she'll cop to, anyway. No pun intended. "It means….. I have the ability to 'convince' people to do things I want them to. For example… riot control. People around me tend to calm quickly when I talk to them. Or during hostage negotiations, I can usually get the hostage out with no trouble."
A 'hm' is given. "You'll have to give me all the details later." William says casually as he makes his way to the table. "Now. We can start without Lysette. She could be very late. Might have even forgot."
Elisabeth nods slightly. "I'll igve you what details I can," she agrees. "All I really know is that it's sound-based, and it works." She smiles slightly. "It has some other applications, but I'm not sure how useful those'll be. I've broken glass before when I screamed." She shrugs as she moves to sit with him at the table.
Sliding into his own seat, William cocks a head. "Well, another SCOUT member." He says, staring at her a bit too long, a strange smile playing on his lips. "Interesting." He murmurs, going to start to dish the food out onto Elisabeth's plate first, rather than his own. And then Lysette's, even though she is not yet present.
"Interesting?" Elisabeth asks, his gaze on her making her feel several kinds of strange. "Perhaps. But I've got something more interesting for you," she tells him. "When I left the force to go into teaching, I didn't realize that it would be more of …. an enhancement, shall we say, of my street contacts than a severing. Something interesting came my way a few days go, about the time I decided to come back on the force. And I think it's right up SCOUT's alley." She pauses and says mildly, "A friend of a friend of a friend brought me some intel on the school attack."
His brow arches high at that, causing him to pause entirely in dishing out the food. "Really?" William asks softly, peering at her even more intently now. "What is it?"
As she watches him dish dinner onto plates, Elisabeth looks at him. "A CDROM of data…. people who may be the source of the attack. I brought it with me."
"Really?" William asks, bringing his hands back into his lap. "Everyone knows it's PARIAH." A lie, anyonone you ask in SCOUT could tell you it's most likely not PARIAH. But, he's going to see what she knows first.
Calmly as she leans her good arm on the table, her bad one still in its sling, Elisabeth speaks. "Anyone who's actually earned his badge is reasonably sure it's NOT Pariah. Doesn't fit the MO," she says. "PARIAH has been taking credit for any of their own moves via video and news feeds. This one only had banners. They've also never hit a civilian target like this before — they've said they're willing to fight, but for example, they had plenty of opportunity to do damage the night they made their announcement at the cathedral and didn't. I don't see this as being reasonable. What seems more reasonable is that another group out there wants people to think it's PARIAH, thereby keeping heat off their own backs."
William simply nods. No surprise, no deep thought. This is what he already knows. But it's good to hear it from her lips. "So who are these people. These people that aren't PARIAH?" He asks, picking up knife and fork to go to work at his steak.
Elisabeth shakes her head negatively. "I don't know. I can tell you that I *think* I may have seen one of them the day of the explosion, but not long enough to well enough to give you a sketch. He was a guy who just didn't belong on the grounds. Asian. Long hair. But other than that, I don't really remember much. Concussion." She nudges her plate toward him with a somewhat chagrined smile, asking "Would you mind?" She can't use the steak knife with one hand in a sling.
William obliges rather quickly, taking fork and knife to the meat, and cutting it up into many small pieces that she could chew more easily. Then some salad is dished out before he pushes the plate back to her. "Interesting." William says softly. "What information is on this CD? And where did you get it?"
Shaking her head, Elisabeth replies mildly, "You know how it goes with street contacts, Will… we're not required to give them up. I can tell you that I got it from someone trustworthy. Someone who's fed me good information in the past." Well, … sort of. She trusts Trask, it iwas his friends. "I glanced through it, and it appears to be a list of people." She takes her dinner and begins to eat while she talks. "Some with more information than others. But the Asian man that I think I saw fits the description in there."
Bringing up his steak to his mouth he chews as he watches her closely. "Would this source talk to me?" William asks, eating as he responds. He nods at the information about the Asian. There have been a few reports about an Asian killer. A professional Evolved. Presumably the same man.
Nonchalantly, Liz replies, "I honestly don't know. I could ask, of course. She's a street person… one of those kinds of people that get ignored most of the time, but she sees a lot of stuff. I can ask. But I can't promise."
"Or you can set up a meeting. And I can watch." William says gently. "If there's someone who could help us. I should be in contact with them. Tips are hard to find these days."
Looking up at him, Liz says softly, "And if I set up this meet and they spot you somehow and it spooks them and we get no more leads out of this source?" She's not precisely challenging him. Her tone is mild. But she's also giving him the 'are you saying you don't trust me?' kind of scrutiny.
"What is her name?" William asks, semi-ignoring her previous argument. It's simple. He has a task to complete, and there is an opening. He needs to pursue it himself. The alpha male complex. He has to do it himself. "I need to meet her." He declares simply.
Setting her fork down, Elisabeth looks straight at him. "Back off, Will. *If* she's willing for a meet, I'll introduce you. If not… then you need to respect my boundaries. If you want me on the team, that is."
William gives a light 'hm', shrugging his shoulders. Going to eat, once again. He won't bring this subject back up, and instead will play with much safer topics for the rest of the meal. "Of course, Elisabeth. You're one of us now."
Information given to SCOUT is comprised of all information on Phoenix's Wiki page under the table "Ethan's Cell."
 December 7th: A Bit Much to Swallow |
 December 7th: God, Guns, and Glory |