I Like Electricity

Participants:

anders_icon.gif cat_icon.gif helena_icon.gif

Scene Title I Like Electricity
Synopsis Anders shamelessly flirts on Helena, who flirts back with encouragement from Cat, after the party outside brings the party inside.
Date March 9, 2010

Summer Meadows Anders' Apartment


Escape! It's not a far run to Anders' apartment, as he does in fact live in Summer Meadows. Despite the raucous and dangerous sounds of the party and the police growing more and more distant behind them, Anders is laughing by the time they make it to the apartment complex. Blame the beer and the adrenaline rush or perhaps it is just because they are far from the maddening crowd that was growing more and more mad, no doubt due to some Evolved's power. "Here we are," he declares, one hand still holding Helena's as he fumbles in his pocket for some keys.

The door is unlocked and opened to reveal what is definitely the apartment of a single 20-something male. The structure is basic enough — plain and dingy white walls, garage-sale chic furniture making up a living room — nothing which matches with anything else — a small kitchenette, and two doors — one leading to a bedroom, the other two a bath. "Home crappy home. You want something to drink?"

"Yeah." The blonde is flushed pink from running, and though she's not laughing, her adrenaline is pumping, both from the danger and the escape from it. She's trying not to think too hard about what was left behind. "If you don't have beer, I'll take water?" She keeps eyeing the door, not out of escape, but because Cat surely isn't far behind. "You know," she admits with a sudden chuckle, "In all the excitement, your name flew outta my head."

"I have both beer and water," Anders says proudly. Not even tap water, but Dasani! He heads to the fridge, pulling out two beer bottles — Heineken — and a Dasani bottle. He opens the two beers on a bottle opener attached to the refrigerator, then hands her first the alcohol and then the water. "Anders. And you were…? There were a lot of names, but yours didn't stick either, Miss Moab." He tips the neck toward his mouth, taking a swallow or two before clinking it against hers.

"Cheers to us for not getting burnt or shot or whatever the hell else. What the hell. Police is never around to enforce curfew around here. They musta been tipped off." Well, duh. There were flyers.

It may or may not be heard inside when Cat arrives. She parks the snowmobile in the most secure and obscure spot she can find nearby, then makes her way to the apartment with the sound of booted feet on a person weighing about 65.75 kilos. A gloved hand is lifted and applied to the door in a knocking way three times.

Then she waits.

"It was kinda publicized." Helena points out, looking for a surface to set the water down on. Beer first! She clinks and says, "My name's Helena. Dean. I'm Helena Dean." Now, either he's heard of her/seen her on youtube doing the Phoenix spokeswoman call to freedom thing, which is why she's looking at him a little furtively, or he hasn't, and she'd actually be kind of relieved about that. And then there's a knock at the door. "That's probably Cat."

"Helena. That's a pretty name," Anders says with a grin. If he recognizes the name, especially paired with the surname, he doesn't show it. "And Cat. Lemme get that!" He takes off his leather jacket and tosses it on the couch on his way to the door, opening it to Cat outside. "Welcome to my very very humble abode," he tells the newcomer, opening the door wide enough to let her in, before poking his head out — as if perhaps to search for cops. Was she followed? Nope. He shuts the door, and gestures in. "Make yourself comfortable, ladies. Cat, can I get you a drink? Beer? Water? Gatorade? I think I have orange and red."

Stepping inside, Cat commences to remove her coat. "Thanks, Anders," she greets in return. "No police behind me," she assures on seeing the man check. It takes a moment of thought from there to make her drink choice, spoken with a slight grin. "Beer's good. Stout if you've got it." Designated driver mode is left behind, Cat plans to crash here and return when the sun's back. She just hasn't told the host yet.

She too may be recognizable, seen in better light than at the party and calmer surroundings, her public mentions being rather more recent.

"Thank you." says Helena, smiling at Anders. She's not an idiot, she realizes Anders is probably out of his element (and that his element probably includes beer pong and wet tee shirt contests), and that they just came from celebration turned riot by way of police brutality, but the teensiest, tiniest voice in her head acknowledges that it's nice, for once, to get a compliment. "And thank you for taking us in. We'll try to make ourselves as minimal a nuisance as possible."

"Stout… Mayyyybe I have a can of Guinness left over, I'll have to check. You got more stones'n I do to drink that stuff." He lifts the Heineken, then grins back over at Helena. "Very welcome. It's not every day," (or ever) "that I get too such lovely ladies to keep me company." He heads to the refrigerator and pokes around, coming up with one can of Guinness. "Luck o' the Irish, would you look at that." He brings the can to the tall brunette. "So… you two aren't from Summer Meadows, I can tell that. But you're cool with hanging out with us? What's that about?" he says, moving to the couch and sitting on the middle cushion, no doubt hoping he'll be flanked.

While waiting, Cat shares a glance with Helena, one which might playfully suggest making an Anders sandwich. Or maybe he just imagines she does. Or hopes. When she settles onto the seat with the stout in her hand, fingers moving to open it, it's with straight posture. The first indication she was raised in some degree of privilege and comfort. Poised. "Thanks, Anders," is offered. "It can be an acquired taste, I admit." Questions on being cool to hang with him and his are left for Helena to field.

Helena does move to the other side, perching a bit more on the arm than the seat, but it ought to make him feel like things sorted out just like he wanted them to anyway. "You've heard of Phoenix?" she asks simply, darting a look at Cat. No hiding anymore, right? A slow grin spreads across her face.

"It's in Arizona, right?" He looks serious for a moment, and they might think they've stumbled upon the airiest of airheads in the city. "Nah, kidding. That group, right, that's like, pro-Evolved? Yeah. Wait. Is that why you both look familiar?" He glances at one, then the other, brows raising as if in appreciation. "Oh, man, that's cool. You guys are like Sarah Connor or something, all freedom fighting vigilante like?"

From the other side, leaning forward slightly to catch sight of Helena, Cat's generally stoic demeanor parts a bit. She emits a short and quiet laugh. "I think I once fought a terminator." Fingers open the can of stout and lift it so she can take the first drink from her can. "Our lives, you could say, occur during interesting times."

Helena drinks the Heinekin down and says, "I think she might have, too. This one guy, he wouldn't stop coming. It was scary." She shakes her head. "But yeah, we're with Phoenix. Which is part of why we wanted to get out of there." She turns on the smile, because hey, he seems receptive to it, and flicks her eyes briefly to Cat. "So what is it you do, Anders? I mean, you're Evo, or I imagine you wouldn't be living here."

Anders leaaaans so that he can face Cat, but so that his arm is resting on the arm of the sofa behind Helena. "Wow. You do have more stones than me. I'm impressed." He grins up at Helena, but then talk grows a bit more serious, and his smirk fades. "I work at the QuickStop. Night shift. Nothing to be proud of, but it's more than I had going for me six months ago, so I can't complain. I kinda got stuck over on Staten after the bomb. Lost everything, did what I could. I'm Evo, too." He glances from one to the other. "You," he points at Helena, "I know you did something to keep the cop from being total toast, but I'm not sure what. Both Evos?"

"I'll remember you said that, Anders," Cat remarks with another slight smile. She seems to enjoy being mysterious, if that's indeed what she's being. The can is lifted again, she takes another small drink with eyes taking in the apartment's interior, as a chuckling remark is made to Helena. "He seems not to have noticed, when he met us."

"Well, he noticed me." Helena points out, but doesn't add that Cat's is a little less obvious. "I'm an atmokinetic." she explains. "I control weather patterns and phenonenon, and before you ask, no, I can't do anything about the snow, but you may have noticed your living room's probably a lot more comfortable right now than it normally is, given the weather." Ambient temperature control for the win.

"I … well it was dark, so I didn't recognize you, not until you mentioned how I should, you know? And heyyy, that's cool, it is warm in here. My heater sucks." He grins at Helena, patting her on the shoulder as if in thanks, but he leaves the hand there. "I can disappear. Luckily I can reappear, too." He grins as if he's being clever. "Were you both in Moab? That place really exists? I thought it was just for like crazy bad powers. I mean, Weather Girl, you seem pretty sweet, not like you'd be flinging thunderbolts out there like Zeus or Thor or something, right?" He glances at Cat. "And what do you do?" He didn't get the hint, clearly.

"I wasn't in Moab," Cat provides, "but I've been there. I've got three college degrees. I speak, read, and write seven languages, have a fair knowledge of emergency medicine and complete knowledge of anatomy." A spreading grin is flashed. "I read a lot. But I never have to look at the same book twice."

Silence settles in as she lifts the can, preparatory to drinking more, broken with a quip. "I also have the power to make people's eyes glaze over and put them to sleep."

Helena grins a little bit at Cat. "You know, I don't know if you were hiding your sense of humor, or if it's growing as days go by." The hand on her shoulder is regarded, and she looks for a moment like she might start giggling - way to be mature Helena! - and looks at Cat with a sort of can you believe this? expression. "Lightning's actually kind of hard. I don't get to throw it from my hands," except in dreams, "I have to mix the clouds the right way and then focus on aiming. Which is not as easy as one might expect." Seriously. She is talking about calling down lightning like she's a tiny blonde feminine version of Thor.

"That's pretty epic, man." He //had gone a few mninutes without saying Man or Dude! He's trying! "So you guys got friends in Summer Meadows or just saw the flyer? You were talking to that crazy chest-pain chick, right? Mel I think her name is? She's not as nice as you two." He looks put out at that, but his fingers squeeze Helena's shoulder appreciatively. "She lives around here. I think in the condo section, though." He tugs Helena with his shoulder, aiming to get her to sit on the couch proper, beside him. "I know there's some Evo people here, but I didn't know it was like, Evo version of the Warsaw Ghetto. Am I that dumb?" He blinks innocently.

Not a comment is made, Cat simply taking a moment to study Helena's face as if to inquire if she'll let the hand stay where it is, or perhaps go wandering lower on her anatomy. She may well be thinking it'd be good for Helena to get laid. Or wondering if she'll allow herself to be seduced. The can of stout is lifted and drawn from again.

While Helena cannot kill a man by way of his pinky, she can make him really hurt by way of his pinky, thanks to Wireless. She does not however, attempt to hurt Anders, nor discourage him getting her to sit properly on the couch, and instead throws a broad can you believe this? expression Cat's way. "You're not dumb." she assures. "Summer Meadows started out as a community that Evos started for our own people. But given the way things are going…it could backfire." She shrugs a little bit, and smiles. "Nothing wrong with honest work. You ever feel like living a bit dangerously and have it be for a good cause, you could give us a shout."

"Oh, I like living dangerously," Anders says with a grin, letting his arm drop from shoulder to waist, curling around chastely enough. For now! "Unfortunately, I didn't expect company today but you girls can consider yourself welcome to anything I have … food, couch, bed, TV, beer." He's sly, sneaking bed in the middle like that! "There's uh, some leftover pizza and some PB and J, whatever you want." Luckily, besides some clothes strewn here and there, his apartment isn't too messy… it would appear he cleans once in a while. "And yeah, I appreciate the help. Staten may not have the police breathing down my neck, but it was getting a bit rough. It's good to be a person again."

Her face says yes, she can believe it, and further to that apparently encourages her to indulge. Cat remains quiet, leaving conversation to them. It could also be she's mentally plotting things that disappearing mojo could be good for. And speculating whether it's bending light away from him so he's unseen, or a mental effect like illusions causing people to simply not pay him attention. It could be experimented with, cameras used to test limits. Or she could just ask him directly.

But now is not that time. Cat just permits a slight smile to remain and enjoys her stout.

"Thank you again, Anders." Helena says with a smile, though she looks at Cat, like do you seriously think I wanna get freaky with random guy, much less with you in the next room?. Still, she hasn't pushed his hand off her yet. This is so like an ABC Family Channel movie. "So do you mean you teleport, or do you go invisible? Do I need to watch out if I decide I want to shower?"

"Oh, invisible. But you can still hear me, so I'm not super stealthy ninja man, and I can't get through a locked door. The bathroom does lock," Anders says, snapping the fingers of his free hand as if disappointed by that oversight. "I promise I won't use it with you two in the apartment, okay? I mean… you trust me enough to be here. Besides, you could electrocute me or drown me or something, and you…" he frowns at Cat for a moment, "I donno, you could bore me to death with the recitation of Roberts Rules of Order or something."

She lets her grin spread a bit more widely as the man between them speaks, Cat's unspoken conversation with Helena continuing. Her head moves just a bit in a slight nod to where he has a hand on her, then moves upward so eye contact happens, as if to say Yes, you do. You like his hand on you, because you've not subtly moved away from it.

Robert's Rules of Order? Maybe. But right now she's far more likely to recite whatever text is found in the Kama Sutra.

Helena is now blushing. Her best friend is pimping her out. After fire and calamity and oh hey, did he mention pizza? "I'm starving." Helena says suddenly, turning so she's angled toward Anders. It means his hand goes from her waist to the small of her back, but who's picky? And she's trying not to blush. "Cat's actually well trained in self-defense; she could probably bang you up a bit if you like that sort of thing." she suggests playfully. Is she trying to sabotage herself? Sheesh.

His hand doesn't mind being there, that's for sure. In fact it sort of massages as she talks, then grins. "Nope. I'm a romantic. I like electricity." Oh, out with a double entendre! But he stands. He will be a gentleman — for now! — and get them food. "I'll grab the pizza. Anyone need a refill?" He heads into the kitchen to rummage in the kitchen, let the girls have their girl-talk for a couple of minutes.

Not a comment made still, at least not verbally, as Helena shifts her position on the sofa and declares her hunger. Cat could eat too, come to think of it. Saying so is unneeded, given Anders getting up to go get pizza.

But once they're alone, the panmnesiac directs her voice to Helena in quiet tones so as not to be overheard. "Go for it," she encourages with a slight grin, "you know you want to." Is that an undertone of if you don't, I might, in there? Been a long time for Cat too. Inwardly she registered the man's double entendre, and didn't miss what Helena said could be considered the same. Bang you up. "We've both endured tons," she adds more somberly, "and I think you're deserving to cut loose and enjoy things."

This whole thing also presents a marked departure from the moods which have recently been customary for Cat. It's gotten her mind entirely away from viruses that only aim at people with specific genetic code and holdover Russian Nazis trying to kill people close to her.

"Cat!" It's offered in a soft hiss punctuated by a nervous giggle as she leans forward to whisper. "I don't know if I - I mean, I guess I could, but wouldn't be wierd? You're out here and everything and…" Okay, really now. The woman who withstood psychic torture and survived captivity by Humanis First and endured Moab is suddenly reduced to a somewhat nervous twenty year old who hasn't really had much socialization in the past two years. "Okay, okay! I mean, um. Maybe."

There is the sounds of plates being gathered, the fridge opened and closed, so it seems he is at least keeping to his word about not spying. A few moments later and he heads back into the living room, dropping a pizza box on the coffee table, and then handing each a plate. "It's just cheese, but it's only a day old, I promise." He flops back on the couch, maybe just a smidge closer than he was the last time. "Sooo. We could… watch a movie or something… I got some DVDs."

She's still leaning over as Anders returns, sighting him peripherally and taking the opportunity to impart a few final words for the blonde before he rejoins them. "So moan quietly when you hit the best part, bite the pillow to muffle yourself or something." Her eyes flash with a touch of playfulness and mirth just before returning to her own side and not leaving Helena much chance to reply verbally.

Taking a plate, she tells the man "It's all good."

Helena doesn't spew. Thank god she doesn't spew the beer she's been drinking, but it does go down the wrong pipe, and she starts to choke, beating on her chest and going redfaced as she glares at Cat and tries to recover her breath. "I'm okay, I'm okay…umm…sure a movie sounds great. Very," she coughs, "Relaxing." Oh dear god, let it not be a porno. Or a rom com. She will DIE.

"Cool." He goes to the makeshift entertainment center, flipping through the DVD boxes. "I got… no, no, no…" He drops the boxes one at a time — 'dumb' comedies of various types, some sports movies, lots of action. "How about T-3?" He holds up the box and grins. "For my Sarah Connor wanna bes and robot-slayers." It's probably not the most mood-setting DVD he could have picked, but then he doesn't seem to own anything that would qualify as a date movie.

Her eyes linger on the almost sputtering blonde, watching just long enough to ensure Helena isn't really choking and she won't need to demonstrate any of that emergency medical knowledge she earlier claimed to have. Cat leans back once her friend and sister in arms has recovered somewhat, giving Anders her attention. A nod seems to indicate approval of Terminator 3.

T3 is actually an awful, awful movie, but that's okay. After a while, Helena starts to yawn, at first softly, then more loudly, and finally she looks at the other two. "Do you guys mind if I go lay down? And then you can finish the movie without me snoring or whatever." Does this mean Anders scores with Helena? Or takes the couch with Cat? Or is the only action to be found tonight what's being displayed on the tv screen?

"Oh, no, feel free. It's the only door on the right," Anders says with a grin, moving slightly so she can extricate herself from the couch and his arm. The party on the streets turns into a much quieter but still a pretty damn interesting night in, at least by Anders' standards. It's not every day you meet two pretty Evos in a secret organization, after all! The morning sun will eventually wake three slumberers — two in a bed and one on a couch. Awkward conversation is exchanged over the breakfast of champions — more cold pizza! — before two firebirds make their way home in a snowmobile.


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