Participants:
| Scene Title | Don't Go Sharing Your Emotions |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Helena and Claude meet yet again, and she updates him on various events. |
| Date | October 18, 2008 |
Deveaux Building — Rooftop
The quiet side of New York City is cloudy today. The roof of the Deveaux building is collecting little flecks of dark as rain drizzles down on top of it. This does not seem to be bothering the roof's requent visitor, who seems to have been working on the currently empty but newly reinforced pigeon coop! Just a few new bits of wood here and there, to fix up some rotten parts.
KLANK. A hammer falls to the ground out of mid-air, as the currently invisible Claude lets go of its handle and drags himself to the edge of the roof with a quiet groan. The past week has not been kind to him, and he audibly slumps down against a wall for a bit of a rest. Phew.
"Claude?"
The familiar voice shows what is perhaps a surprising amount of concern. For all that Helena snarks and shows a certain amount of indifference toward the man, she's actually kind of fond of the old bastard. She comes into view, prepared as usual for their lessons in power management and debates on the uses of power both ability wise and in more general turns, and she frowns upon realizing he's not there as usual. Or at least appears not to be there. You never known. She moves to the wedge between pigeon coops to take up her staff, in the event that he's going to try and surprise her. That might elicit some amusement, evident proof of his training.
Claude blinks back into visibility— though only after having pushed himself proper and upright again, keeping one hand resting on the wall. The look Helena receives is one of surprise, and there's definitely an amused smirk, there.
"You just keep coming back for more, aye? I should charge for this stuff." Though his tone is confident, his posture is less so. His two recent fights have left him with a nasty but healing scrape across the side of his head, and a fresher bruise on the other side. These are the only visible injuries, but something about him makes it clear he's not feeling entirely in shape at the moment.
Helena automatically brings her stick up in a defensive position when Claude makes his appearance — you just never know with him. She's a good little student. Then, "Shit, what happened to you?" She doesn't let go of the stick, but she does loosen her grip and walk over to crouch next to him. "How'd you get roughed up?" Aww, concern. So sweet. Maybe she should bring an apple for his desk. If he had one.
An apple would probably be appreciated, seeing Claude's condition. Eating has been skipped for a day in favor of… paranoia? He'll get over it. "'Roughed up'? This here?" He waves a hand toward his head, dismissively. Psh. "You should've seen the losers." He pauses, clearing his throat for something other than just jesting. "I ran into a few Company puppets. One of them managed to yank me into visibility in the middle of Chinatown while the other went at me with a taser and a pesky attitude." That first part might not be entirely true, but for all he knows it was one of them.
Helena furrows a brow. "How'd someone manage to yank you visible?" she says, and rises to her feet. She holds out her hand to offer him a hand up. "What say we skip practice and I feed you." Her fingers wiggle-waggle. C'mon, now. "I've got a lot of news for you anyway. And we can at least stop at a drug store for stuff to clean you up with."
"I'm fine." Claude snaps, as though Helena's words hadn't been kind, but the exact opposite. He seems to realize his fault somewhat, but still doesn't entirely relax. "It'll heal just fine. And no. I can't afford to stay in sight down there. Not after being attacked twice in one week." His head jerks to the edge of the roof, though it's likely that's supposed to refer to… well. The rest of the world.
Helena cocks her head to the side. "Alright." she says with a shrug. She doesn't appear wounded by the snapped reply, but nor does she resort right to business anyway. "We found Peter," she says by way of starting a new line of conversation. "Turns out it wasn't Company conditioning, it was amnesia. It's been taken care of." Something in her tone suggests all is not satisfactory, though.
She isn't the only one who doesn't sound satisfied. "'Been taken care of'?" Claude sneers, stepping away from the wall with newfound energy. "He's been working for the Company. The Company! Willingly?!"
Helena sighs. "I know." she says. "He's still with them. Until Elle Bishop is found. And apparently there's someone new in charge of the Company. Sabra Dalton?" She regards Claude carefully to see if he knows the name. "I haven't told him I've been seeing you yet. I'm not sure if you'd still want me to. Maybe you could slap some sense into him."
"Slap him? I'll throw him off of a bloody roof again!" Claude breathes out a heavy sigh, dragging a hand over his face. The news of Sabra Dalton's new position gives him some thought, but he seems undecided on the matter of whether he's happy about it or not. "I'll talk to him. Just get him to meet me here and I'll kindly remind him of a few things." Kindly, with a stick to the head, potayto, potahto.
Helena's lips purse into something resembling a smile. "I think I can get him to come meet you. You want him all to yourself, or should I play sentinel?"
"If he needs you holding his hand, he might as well not show up at all." Claude answers curtly, though gives a one-shouldered shrug afterward. Either way.
"He doesn't." Helena's words come out as a snap - and possibly the first one Claude's ever witnessed from her. Then more calmly, "Not that you'll shed a tear, but you might want to know — there's a new Evolved serial killer on the lose, and it isn't Sylar. He murdered PARIAH's leader Thursday night."
Claude shows little interest at first, before his brow creases in thought, and his head angles ever so slightly. "That's bad news." He notes blandly, watching Helena for any signs of grief or sadness.
Helena has done most of her crying, and apparently has a thing about showing too much emotion in front of Claude. So given how observant he is, he can see her lips tighning and the brief clench of her her hands, but otherwise, she's calm. "It is. And he's targeting other Evolved, I think. So be careful." She looks over her shoulder. "I gotta get going. And I'll let Peter know you want to see him."
Claude gives a huff, either oblivious to Helena's brief show of emotion, or choosing to leave her dealing on her own. He's far from a shoulder to cry on, and he's sure Helena will manage without one right this moment. "Watch yourself, yeah?" And just like that, he's gone again.
 October 18th: Schism |
 October 18th: We'll Be Okay |