Participants:
| Scene Title | Hey, Have You Ever Seen This Before? |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Mel comes over with a bit of a strange skin problem and some questions. |
| Date | March 25, 2010 |
Old Lucy's - Upstairs
It's kinda late when Melissa drops by. Not yet midnight, but the sun set a while ago. She raps at the door, still bundled up against the cold, and she looks a little…more mellow than usual. Not quite her happy bouncy self. But the gash on her forehead does seem to be healing, albeit slowly. So things can't be all bad.
Brenda at least, was kind enough to show Melissa on through to the door at the bottom of the stairs, so she could skip all the security features that this place had. The kind that Teodoro loves, but Abby sometimes hates. So the rap on the door means that it's someone who's A) been here before and B) vouched by Brenda to go through. A glance through the peep hole shows Melissa, no surprise and she's quickly let in to the warm upper part of Lucy's. "Hey. Odessa's not here. How you doing?" Work pants on, socked feet, white undershirt, she's been unwinding after work and pouring over the papers and the internet. "You're looking better" A gesture to the woman's head.
Melissa shakes her head as she steps inside. "Not here to see Odessa, actually. Saw her last night. Came by to see you." She smiles faintly, fingers touching lightly near the wound. "It hurts less, so I guess that's better. Seems to be going around. The getting better thing, I mean. But uh…you're not busy, are you?"
"Just looking up places to rent is all. Teo's wanting me and Al to move. You saw her last night? Do you know where she is?" The door is closed and locked behind Melissa, blonde heading back towards the kitchen so she can make something warm for Melissa to drink. "She didn't come home and i'm worried about her"
Melissa frowns. "Why does Teo want you two to move? And…I don't know. She was leaving my place last time I saw her," she says, sounding concerned now. Hat, scarf and gloves are taken off, tucked into her coat pockets. "She hasn't answered her phone?"
"She has a phone?" That's news to Abby and causes her a bit of a frown. "Just stuff, Teo wants us out of here for a bit till other stuff cools down and things are taken care of. No matter how much I point out that the bar is pretty safe. But.." But what Teo usually asks for, he usually gets. "Trying to find a place that won't break my bank account for a few months. I don't want to stay at Liz's since she actually does come home now and then." There's a few places all markered out in red.
"You could stay at my place if you wanted," Melissa offers, perching on the couch, her head tilting. "But I'll see if I can't track her down for you when I leave. No reason for you to worry."
"The offer is gracious Melissa but no. It's gotta be a place big enough for three folks and not gonna put a hole in my pocket. With hod dead business is right now thanks the snow, two or so months from now i'm going to be barely making the ends meet" Well, slight exaggeration but it'll be tight.
Melissa nods. "Well, if you change your mind. Right now it's just me and Jerry. My puppy." She watches Abby for a moment. "I heard about a healer at St. Lukes. The hospital that Peter was taken to. Went to go see him earlier. To see if he could help Peter. Turns out he did that Monday. Hadn't left him too long before I got a text from Peter." She smiles. "Your partner is alive and well. And apparently 510 free."
"And at Mt. Sinai getting tested. Lord he texts like he's five years old and never texted before. I never met the healer at St. Lukes. Half a year ago, I was the healer at St. Lukes. Is he nice? I almost went down to ask him to heal my Momma but I thought the better of it. I remember what it was like to heal when it was new. Tiring. Plus people wanting you to heal and no time for yourself" Coffee is poured for Melissa, cream and sugar set out with a spoon.
"My jerk of a partner will be back soon, I'm sure of it. Bugging me again and stuffing his face full o'donuts"
Melissa hesitates at the question. "He…I'm not sure. When he found out I wanted him to heal someone, he got pretty upset. Can't blame him on that score. Then when I offered to get him out…" She shakes her head. "At first he seemed…eager. Like he needed to get out. Then he seemed to react more like I was trying to trick him or something. Like I was one of the ones forcing him to stay there, and I was testing him. I left him my card though, just with my number on it. No name. Not sure if he'll call or not."
Melissa rubs at her arm, near her wrist, as she frowns. "He…there was this green spark too, when he grabbed me. It didn't hurt or anything. But I swung by the club and…Well. Got a black light?"
"I uhhhh…." Abby veers away from the kitchen, heading for her purse and eventually produces a keychain with a small penlight on it. Blue light spills forth from it. "Will this do? Brenda gave it to me to use at the front door when we stamp folks on underage nights" The young blonde informs, coming over and clicking it off then on.
Melissa nods and tugs up her sleeves, exposing her wrist. "Shine it here, on my skin. And keep in mind that he grabbed me through my coat," she says, tapping her bare skin. And when Abby does as asked, there's a…handprint. On her skin. That's bright green.
Well hello there. Abigail tilts her head left, then right, frowning at the obvious print. "Through your coat?" Well that's odd. Her hand on the other woman's arm, she brings her towards the sink so she can turn on the water and grab sponge. "Tried washing it to see if it goes away?"
Melissa nods. "Through my coat. And I tried washing it, but…I couldn't get it off. I don't even know what it is." But she lets herself be drawn towards the sink! "I didn't even notice it until I got under the blacklights at Tartarus. You don't think it's dangerous, do you?"
She tried washing it/ the sponge is abandoned now in favor of rubbing alcohol and a cotton pad so that she can swipe across the other woman's arm with the alternate to cleaning. "Did you feel anything? I mean beside the green? Sounds like he had a.. you know.. maybe a short circuit of his ability? I know that happened to me when I was really new to my gift. I couldn't turn it off and everyone touching me, it just.. it was just always on"
Melissa shrugs. "Not really. I mean, it felt a little…warm…I guess, when he did the sparky thing, but nothing since then. What would happen though when a healer's power short circuits?"
"Short circuits not the right word. Hiccup is more like it" Abby shrugs gently, shoulders lifting then falling. "Like I said, all mine ever did was, well, I either healed someone else or then there was Gillian and she'd make me overload and well. Lets just say I didn't need a guy to make me happy when Gillian was around and not in control" Take a hint.
Nothing gets the handprint off. "Have you looked in the mirror to see if your cut on your forehead healed more than it had before you met him?"
There's a wry smile to that, and Melissa shakes her head. "Man, do I wish. This thing still aches. Really makes me wish I could use my ability on myself. Who's Gillian though?"
"Gillian is a power augmentor. If she's not controlling her ability, you could probably make the entire block feel like it's that time of the month and they got bad cramps" Abigail fills her in. "She makes, made me do what I call uhh, healgasm. She made Brian pop out about four clones? Four clones one time, in a room with others and Al did his hiccup and he burst a few lightbulbs. Odd though, that he hiccuped and… didn't.. heal." She flashes the UV light again a few times. "It's not itchy, no tingling, no… I dunno… I mean, I've never seen this particular side effect, but many different abilities which are the same are so very different"
"Seriously? I…wow. I'd probably do more than just make a block feel like it's that time of the month," Melissa mumbles, looking a tad guilty. "But that's…very interesting." She looks back to her arm and shrugs. "If I didn't get under the blacklights at the club I probably wouldn't have known anything was wrong. Unless it's something that gets worse as time goes on."
"Want me to go down and ask him what happens when he hiccups? I mean, I used to be in there all the time taking care of people and the like. I can ask him if there's anything that you should be worried about. I mean, he healed Peter so and they took him to Mt. Sinai for testing. Want me to take your vitals or the like? SO that you have a baseline in case, the lord think otherwise, pray it be, that you get…feeling weird from it?"
Melissa considers that, then nods. "No, let's leave him alone unless we absolutely have to bug him. I get the feeling that he's been harassed a lot. I…guess that the vitals thing couldn't hurt though. Better safe than sorry."
"Yeah.. Healers get .. Yeah. It was non stop pretty much before I lost it" Abigail agree's. She's heading off to her duffel bag, a gesture for Melissa to take a seat as she returns with all her equipment. "About five minutes and I'll leave you to drink your coffee. So peter texted you?" Out comes thermometer's, stethoscope, pressure cuff, all the stuff for a good old fashioned vitals read.
Melissa sits down like an obedient little patient and nods. "Yeah. Guess you got one too, since you knew about the testing and all. At least he's not dead, right? The healer said that they nearly lost him Sunday night."
"Now see, I didn't know about that part" Even as she's working on the other woman. "I know he was looking for a healer too. I feel for the guy well, for peter and the healer. It's not easy, not in the least. People… expect you to do it, on demand. It's hard, it really is. Sometimes it just eats you up. It takes part of you and just gobbles you if you're not careful" Spoken like someone who's experienced that. Teo could always tell when she went on a healing binge. She's loose five pounds and sleep for two days.
Melissa smiles a little and nods. "I can only imagine," she murmurs. "That's why I left my card. So I can help him get out of the hospital. When you were there…Did they force you to stay there? Because he was talking to someone on the phone when I got there. Said something about how he wasn't a toy to be taken out of the box whenever they wanted."
"No. No, I was… it was complicated. I've said that before. I believe that the Lord above gave me the gift to heal anyone who was put in my path. Good, bad, grey, didn't matter. I never registered, said it was a gift from god, not evolved. Eventually I did, long story in that but…"
The pressure cuff is put on and inflated. "There's this fed I always seemed to heal, man can not just stay out of trouble, and they caught me in his room healing him. He was bad off like Peter. Anyways, I laid down the rules, promised to come in once a week and try to heal a few people at a time. Cancer, heart problems, things that would take a long time and lots of maintenance medications. Save a few people from needing to go on the transplant list or loose an arm or the like" Abigail shakes her head. "They tended to not get greedy with me but then again, I wasn't employed by them, and I was a volunteer. Sounds liek maybe.. he got ahead of himself? Overwhelmed?"
Melissa cocks her head as she listens, then she considers. "Well, he's a doctor. So my guess is that he found out on the job. Maybe a co-worker saw him and reported it to whoever. But it does sound like he has no choice about when or who he heals. I don't think he was feigning the interest in me helping him get out, but…Abby, he's scared. I recognize fear when I see it, and he was pretty damn scared about something. If I can help him, I will. I mean, isn't that what we're supposed to do? The whole point of being Ferry?"
"He was in the paper Mel. I remember someone downstairs talking about him. He healed a girl of cancer. Listen, want me to text peter and ask him if he's got any handprints?" The blonde inquires, scribbling down vitals so she can tuck them away. She's done it seems, as she's putting all her stuff away.
Melissa shakes her head. "Nah. I plan on tracking him down in a few days. I'll ask him about it then. No sense in stressing him out while he's in for testing."
She nods, Folding up the paper, writing Melissa's name on the back and then shoving it into a notebook. "Well, you seem fine. You can get Megan to draw some blood and get em to run like.. a full blood panel on it, if your worried. I might.. go in a few days, visit the Doctor. One healer to another, or at least former healer to another new healer and see"
Melissa wrinkles her nose. "Draw blood? I'll pass. I hate needles." She even gives a little shudder. "Let me know though how he seems, if you do go visit him? Just…I wouldn't mention me. Probably."
"I'll be sure not to mention you" Abby agree's. "We'll see. Keep an eye on that" A gesture to the other woman's arm and the invisible 'tattoo' of sorts. "Wanna help me apartment hunt? I wanna try and be out by end of the week. Sooner I can do it, the happier Teo will be"
Melissa smiles and nods. "Sure. You just looking for something cheap that'll fit three people, yeah? preferably cockroach free?"
"Preferably cockroach free. If it was just me, I'd hit up Robert and ask if there's some place he could stuff me, but Teo was adamant that I bring Al with me. Said he didn't want him over at the den all the time and didn't want him living alone. I don't blame him, Al need someone around, take care of him" That and, the two of them do a good job of taking care of each other on the nights that PTSD have them in their collective grips.
"Robert? And if you want, I can keep an eye on Alex when he's at the Den? Make sure he's not like, passing out on a couch too often or anything?" Melissa suggests.
"I'm surprised frankly, that he and you aren't sick yet. All the time spent there" She murmurs but nods. "Just make sure he rests yeah? Rests and eats and make sure whatever room you put him in to rest, that there's nothing breakable. His TK goes off at night during nightmares or when he wakes up. Don't tell him I told you that, I think it embarrasses him but.."
Melissa squirms a little and shrugs. "Yeah, well. I wear a mask and gloves and keep antibacterial stuff on me." And she's been vaccinated, but she's not sharing that! "I won't say a word to Alex though. He's a good guy. Embarrassing him is the last thing I wanna do."
"He's a good guy to have around" Abby nods. "If there's a guy at your back you want, it's him, or Teo. Okay, you take.. the papers and I'll take Craigslist and hopefully, between the two, I can find something that's not a dump and that I can furnish on the sly with stuff from goodwill. Oh, and must take pets!"