Participants:
| Scene Title | I'll Remember Everything |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Liette discovers a new power after an encounter with Catherine Chesterfield, and the discovery is reciprocated by findings about the missing scientists… |
| Date | March 18, 2010 |
Jack was showing far too much interest for Brennan's comfort. Far too much and his rule that was instituted that Liette was not allowed to be with Brennan outside of the vault or monitored tunnels had the physician decidedly off kilter. With the approach of the not so sane individual and the request that he meet with him and Cardinal somewhere in the tunnels, Brennan had agreed. Agreed to it so that Mortimer would depart and Brennan could plan to move on. It had been ten days since they arrived in the tunnels. Grand Central Terminal was no longer a proper secondary point. Not with Mortimer's terminal so close.
Under the premise of Liette being restless and needing to walk and bringing only their money and a couple extra layers of clothes beneath the guise of the gang members number 2 and 24, the two had made their escape. An escape that was slightly complicated by the blizzard that was above ground and almost made the physician turn tail and head for GCT. But with Liette's reaction to the blizzard, and the determination to put as much room between them and their former hosts, they forged ahead. The blizzard would be good. Would make it harder for Rebel or whomever the technopath was, from finding them.
There was one stop, to gather messages and knowing full well that Rebel might hear regardless. A meeting with Agent Lazzaro, Joseph Sumter offering his number and a safehouse. How they came to be in the Garden was a long and convoluted story that involved finding a ferryman and asking them the physical directions, not wanting to chance it over the telephone lines. It also involved lots of hot chocolate, dumping of the "uniforms" and while waiting for said ferryman, an impromptu and short snowball fight that didn't involve snowdevils.
But one boatride later, a fair chunk of money exchanged to get them across to Staten island and some pink cheeks, white noses and a warm house, the two were in the Garden. Feet soaking in warm water to counter hypothermia/frostbite/frostnip, he was sitting across from her at a table, ferryman elsewhere in the background.
"So. How was today's adventure rate on your scale of things I've never done before?" Brennan inquires, genuinely hoping that she'd found all the subterfuge at least exciting, and was doing okay.
"I'm done with winter can it be spring now." Liette murmurs, still holding the over sized motorcycle helmet she had been wearing with a large hunter orange "2" painted on the side of it. The aviator goggles she'd borrowed still hang around her neck loosely as the tangle-haired blonde reclines back into the chair she's seated in. Lips pursed and brows furrowed, the young girl rolls the helmet around, fingernails scratching at the paint for the "2" where it peels away from the enamel of the helmet's surface. "I'm definitely done with cold, I should've had Pop find me a cryokinetic or a thermokinetic so I could stay warm!"
Huffing out a breath, Liette shakes her head and lifts one hand up to rake tiny fingers through the tangled mess of her hair, half frozen from the ice still thawing out of it. "So why'd we leave Mister Jack's place, anyway? He had television!" Both of Liette's brows go up sharply at that. "I'm not allowed to watch television, even when I'm on an assignment, Pop says it'll 'distort my world view' or something like that! He doesn't much like television, so it was fun to watch! Mortimer let me watch Happy Feet and this movie about sparkly boys that don't like wolves!"
"Winter is usually abating by now, going away. Michelle says it's something someone is doing. Another atmokinetic. She says there's a sense of longing and grief in the air, she can feel it. I wish that you could feel it. I bet you'd be trying to figure out how to make the person happy" he remarks, acknowledging that one ability that the young girl can't seem to replicate. "You'll have to ask him when you get home, or maybe we'll meet someone along the way who can. Who knows hmm?"
Why did they leave Mortimers? "You remember Liette, how you told me that you weren't allowed to tell anyone much of anything because you might fall into the hands of terrorists or people who would want to cut open your brain? I'm sure Mortimer didn't have intentions like that, but he .." How to put it without scaring the young girl. "He concerned me and if we stayed too long in one place, I was worried that the guy who is trying to find us, who threatened to hurt Michelle and the girls, would find us. I left a letter for him telling him why we had to go and that we were very grateful for his help and how much he made things easier on us"
He looks at the hat before running his hand over the ten day stubble that he seems to have accumulated in the tunnels. All the more better to insulate the face. "I was worried he might do something Liette, worried he might hurt you and I have to protect you. Do you understand?"
Liette's brows furrow, teeth toy with her lower lip and her head dips down into a slow nod. There's a somewhat odd look of seriousness about the teen at that sentiment, and when she looks back down to her helmet, Liette stops picking at the paint. "I'll make sure to tell Pop about him when I get home then, he makes bad people go away." There's a subtle nod of her head at that, the side of her thumb smoothing out a curled piece of acrylic paint.
Looking towards the fireplace, Liette's slight weight shifts in the chair, one matchstick thin leg crossing over the other as her eyes become unfocused on the flame. "I miss Pop…" she admits in a quiet voice, "and my sister." A tiny crease furrows between her brows, the only wrinkle on the young girl's face. "I— I want to go home Doctor Brennan…" there's a worried squeak at the back of Liette's throat, her teeth press down against her bottom lip, whitening it from the pressure, and the way her lashes swat together seems to try and hide the fact that she almost started crying. But she's playing it tough today.
"I know lee" Shortening her name. "I miss home too. But you don't know where it is, and nothing you've told me has helped me to figure it out. But you do know, and I know, that they always find you right? So we just have to wait. We have to be brave, and we have to wait" Brennan reaches over, hand held in a loose fist and lets his curled forefinger nudge her jawline. "Think of the stories you can tell your pop when you get back between now and then huh? Of getting to watch Happy Feet and the talks with Mr. Jack. Snow ball fights, the other powers that you have picked up. You've learned about what a family is, and.. you've explored a part of New York that not many get to explore, like those paintings on the walls in the tunnels" He points out.
"Did you know, that in some cultures, especially out in Africa, that what you're doing is a rite of passage? That going out, away from home and into the world on a journey and a quest, is considered the time when you go from being considered a child, to being a young woman?" Brennan nods to her with a smile. "This Liette, is your rite of passage and how you come through this, shows the world that you need to be considered a young woman and no longer a child"
Nodding her head once and sniffling, Liette's blue eyes stay focused at the top of the helmet in her hands. She's not quiet because she has nothing to say, rather on the contrary she seems to have a lot to say but is keeping it bottled up. Sniffling again, Liette lifts her sleeve to wipe at her nose, then brings the helmet down and lets it clunk to the floor softly. "I'm hungry…" Liette very quietly grouses, looking over to her arm that's still in the sling, teeth toying with her lower lip as she does.
"Do you know a healer, Doctor Brennan?" There's a lift of Liette's brows as she lifts both her feet out of the tub of now only warm water, sloshing and splashing noises accompanying the motion before tiny bare feet pad out onto an awaiting towel on the floor. She treads across it like a cat on a scratching board, glancing up and over to the fireplace again.
"'Cause my arm still hurts…" There's a crease of Liette's brows, lips pouting and eyes casting askance at the sling. "An' I don't feel so good from havin' to keep making those chemicals t'take away the pain, since I can't really use Melissa's power to do it 'cause it makes me go cross-eyed."
"Using anyone's ability for too long can make one go cross eyed. Should have seen Michelle in the backyard trying to make the weather go uuuup and then dooooown when she first told me and we experimented in finding her range. I swear, every night there was a migraine and she'd say the same thing. But I don't know a healer Liette, i'm sorry. I wish I did. How about, we take the brace off and have you lay down for a bit and we ice it down, that should help. It'll give you a break to stop having to dose yourself up. You can switch to some Ibuprofen if you know how to replicate that. It should help with the pain and any swelling and the ice will help too" He offers before doing the same as her.
Removing feet from warm water and drying them off before attending to her feet, checking for blood flow and satisfied, helping her up. "Annnnnd, hmm… to eat. I think… we could avoid bugging them and we could make grilled cheese sandwiches. Marlena loves grilled cheese sandwiches" He offers. "I am a very good grilled cheese maker. You could tell me anything that you think you know that might help u s get you home to pop, like…" Her's trying to think. "Do you go north, south or west?" East isn't an option, most everything east is well within a days ride.
Feet dried off, Liette just stands with one foot on top of the other, one hand on her hips and elbow out on her good arm, eying the doorway that leads from this cozy sitting room towards the gray light filtering out from the kitchen. Her lips purse from one side to the other, nose twitching in the same motion, before blue eyes divert back to Brennan. "I… I told you I dunno. They put me in the box before we drive, so I don't see much…" A glance is afforded to the fire, "the big truck comes, they put me in the box and it's dark, and then we drive for a long time. Sometimes I fall asleep, it's easy to do in there 'cause you can't hear nothin'."
When Liette's pale eyes settle back on Brennan, there's a hesitant smile spread across her lips. "Laying down sounds like a good idea, as long as it's not on a couch. Mister Jack doesn't believe in beds and it's really weird. I like beds, unless they're the type that are pretend beds." Her nose wrinkles, "They hide in the shape of a couch, and then woosh they leap out and are beds! They've got springs and bars and other bad stuff."
Stepping off the towel, barefoot, on the cold hardwood floor, Liette offers a confused look back to Brennan as she consider something. "What's… grilled cheese?" Her nose wrinkles, clearly picturing a barbecue grill and a block of cheese bubbling unappetizingly.
"Hide-a-beds" Brennan agree's. "Hide-a-beds are uncomfortable. But I think it's a normal couch unless you want to come see me make a grilled cheese sandwich" He waggles his brows at her invitingly. "And stop using your arm by the way, or i'll have to put it in a proper cast and you'll be in it longer. That's an order missy" Here comes another chin chuck and he picks up a chair so she can sit in it in the kitchen.
"well, the only other option then, since they seem to put you in … a sensory deprivation tank? Is there liquid in it? Is maybe, if you trust me enough, to tell me what other people call Pop at the lab. That's a surefire way to get you home. Or even the name of someone else in the lab"
"Yes, sir, Doctor sir!" Liette sharply announces with a smile, an impish smile crossing her lips as she moves to follow directly behind Brennan, toes lifted from the floor as she walks over to the chair offered, settling down into it with a lopsided smile and a slight bounce to her movements. Leaning against the table next to the chair, Liette rests her good elbow on the tabletop, chin in her palm and fingers tapping at her lower lip.
"Yep, well, nope!" Liette's brows screw up in a puzzled expression. "How do you know about the tanks!?" There's a bright, wide-eyed look from Liette, one brow lifted and nose wrinkled. "The small boxy-things don't have water in them, they're just padded and stiff and have a mask you put on and breathe special gas from that takes away your ability! The biiiig tanks are full of a special kinda' fluid that you can breathe, it's super-creepy 'cause you've got water in your lungs and stuff but it totally doesn't hurt you! There's huuuundreds of those tanks at the lab!"
"You told me about them. The case that you have to ride in. When we were trying to figure out where you came from so we can get you home" Brennan points out as he digs up the simple ingredients for the sandwiches and listening to Liette jibber on. "I bet that's super creepy. I haven't seen that used before. I wish I could be in that lab with your Pop. That'd.. that'd be a sight to see. You ever swim in the tanks?" Wait, yeah, duh, probably. There's butter, and then cheese and then the combination thereof is going onto the pan to start cooking and start the cheese melting process. "I'm trying to think, Liette, how I can give you a copy of my negation. So that when your pop finally is able to come for you, you don't forget me even though they may make me forget you. If I negate someone else, and you touch me, does it work?"
"Nah the tanks aren't for swimmin' they're for mind exercises. 'Cause when you shut out a person's consciousness from outside stim-u-lation," she's clearly reciting this, "then you can access higher modes of consciousness and awareness. Mostly useful for precognition or remote viewing and stuff, Pop has me use my telepathy on some of the people in the tanks so I can see what they're viewing and seeing, then he has me record it down in a book and stuff for him, it's neat!"
Sniffing at the air, Liette noses up towards the scent of the butter in the pan and the bread being grilled in it. Her tongue rolls across her lips, brows furrowed. This isn't what she expected it would be at all! "But um, no I— I can't copy negation. It has to be used on me for me to copy it, but when I get negated I can't copy nothin' or use any of my other powers. Pop thinks the only kind of negation I could learn is if the negator had other abilities too. There's this guy he was looking for named Tyler, he wanted me to get his ability for a special project, but Pop never got to find him. We were gonna be playmates!"
"Ahh so they are the sensory deprivation tanks. I've been in a traditional one, but you don't submerse fully in it. I found it very peaceful actually" Flip goes the sandwich and it's crispy golden and a trace of cheese melts out of the side. "Well. Then I shall just have to rely on your memory to remember me then" he winks and moves his right hand in a few motions he's seen her do with Marlena. "Do that. Practice it. It means I miss you, in sign language." There's a smile as he flips the sandwich onto the counter, grabs a knife to cut it into two triangles and serves it up on a plate to the young woman. "You're first grilled cheese sandwich. Tell me how you like it"
Blue eyes are wide as she watches the hand gesture, and Liette's head quirks to the side, slowly nodding as she watches the motion and awkwardly repeats the same a few times with her good hand. There's a crooked smile, and her eyes settle down on the steaming sandwich on the plate in front of her. Uncertain on how to go about eating it, Liette furrows her brows and hastily reaches out for the grilled cheese, pauses, looks up to Brennan to see if he's going to reprimand her about eating with her fingers, then reaches down and picks up the sandwich with one hand, pulling one half of the sliced triangle from the other with a gooey string of cheese stretching from the middle. Liette's eyes go wide, teeth nibble at a corner, and then as she starts to eat, there's this contented sound at the back of her throat.
The young girl acts like she's never eaten before, large bites and fast swallows, quickly devouring the first half of the grilled cheese before performing the same ravenous devouring. Contentedly breathing out a sharp exhalation, Liette offers an askance look towards Brennan, tongue running across her lips as she nods affirmatively.
"Just one?" The tiny girl asks with a crook of one brow up in the air.
'No, you can have more" It's like all his girls, at their various ages, in a teenagers body. "I'll make you one more and then I think they have some milk here. Besides, you're going to want to have a nap. You're going to get a visitor." He puts another sandwich together, putting it down on the pan then one for himself at the same time. "If at any time, you don't want to talk to them anymore, or their questions make you uncomfortable, you just need to do that hand signal, and I'll stop it. Right then, right there. But they're people that can help get you home, I'm pretty sure. They're friends of mine. But sometimes, they can forget that the people they're talking to, don't live in the same world that you do and that I do and they get really excited"
Rolling her tongue over the inside of her cheek, Liette nods her head and then offers a quiet smile to Brennan, Rubbing crumbs from the fingers of her good hand, Liette arches one brow and glances up not to the doctor, but to the thick layer of frost settled on the kitchen window. "Why don't the people here have electricity?" Liette asks in a hushed tone of voice, musing over the way ice forms crystalline patterns as she speaks. "Mister Jack has electricity in the subway, but everything out here's…" Her eyes divert to a candle burning on the table, "…different." It doesn't sound like a bad different judging from her tone of voice, just that same inscrutable sense of mystification in every day things.
"I've never seen one of these before," Liette adds as she motions to a candle, "a candle?" Blue eyes go up to Brennan. "not unless they're striped, and smaller, and ona cake." When the young girl looks back to the candles, her head shakes slowly from one side to the other. "Is… this a celebration? Did something good happen and everyone forgot to blow them out?" A quick look is afforded to the lanterns hanging from the exposed beams in the ceiling, then back to Brennan.
The front door squeals open on its hinges — Ferrymen don't knock, either, apparently. But they do wipe their feet, the sound of which can be heard once the door is hurriedly closed off from the biting chill outside, an exhale of relief for the cosier interior. "Anyone home?" Joseph's voice winds through the space, unassuming enough and underscored by the shuffling sound of the pastor struggling out of a heavier winter jacket. There's a pattering of dog paws, going this trip accompanied by the big black bear he calls a dog. Sometimes kids are scared of dogs, and he didn't think to smoke signal if she was or not before coming up this way.
'Some people Liette, out here on this island, they live a bit differently than the mainland or your lab. They don't have electricity. Shocking, I know. But candles are used for more than birthday cakes. Surely, your Pop has taught you that before there was electricity, they used to do everything with lamps and candles. To see in the dark, to read, to do a lot of things." Grilled cheese is flipped and cut, pushed across again. "Now admittedly, this is my first time here but these people too, they don't have Mr. Jacks ability to rig stuff up like he has. Maybe, we'll see about someone getting a little portable DVD player for you. And a few movies. But you'll have to limit yourself if we do. We'll see, I'll have to ask if that's something a technopath can corrupt like this Rebel guy" He cuts his own and leans against the counter, brushing bread crumbs from his aragorn stubble.
Enter the Pastor and Brennan stiffens a moment, more out of reflex the last few days than anything till he recognizes the man. "This guy, he's a good guy. If I have to go somewhere for an hour or so, i'll be leaving you with him okay?"
Perking up in her seat at the sound of a voice, Liette lifts her chin and angles a look from the table towards the silhouette moving through the Garden from the front entrance. Her eyes go wide when she sees the dog, and Liette's just up on her bare feet and padding all just now shy of five foot height towards Alicia. "Oh! Adorable!" Springing over towards the doorway to the kitchen, Liette intercepts the shaggy brown bear of a dog as she drops to her knees, offering out tiny hands fearlessly to the dog. "I love dogs!" She squeaks out, smiling from ear to ear.
Whatever Brennan had been trying to educate her about the people out here, about lights and minimized power use, all of that falls to the wayside when her raccoon-like distractions quickly has her paying undivided attention to Alicia instead of Joseph or Brennan. "You're a puppy aren't you?" Liette squeaks out, fingers curling in the air and lips twisted into a smile. "Such a big shaggy puppy all covered in ice come heeere!"
Alicia's ears twitch forward at the sound of the young girl's voice, and readily lumbers up to her with a lazy wag of her tail, head down to push her overlarge skull into Liette's waiting hands, paws bringing in delicate puddles of meltwater as she goes. "She's friendly," Joseph is quick to offer— not so much to the girl who seems to have that covered, but to Brennan's inevitable appearance, before his dark eyed gaze dips back down to regard girl and dog with a quick smile. "Her name's Alicia," he tells Liette. "I think she likes you."
'Careful of your arm Liette" IS the friendly warning from the physician. "Remember your order" But he makes no move to stop her from acquainting herself with the great beast while he finishes up his last bite of sandwich and moves over to offer his wiped hand to Sumter. "Good evening Sumter. Thank you for the invitation to stay here. Was potentially getting a bit hairy where we were. Joseph, this is Liette, Liette, this is Joseph. he was a patient of mine."
Wrist deep in the thick fur at the sides of Alicia's head, Liette's nose is wrinkled and one eye squinted in reflex against the attack of Alicia's big stinky dog-tongue slobbering across her face. The one blue eye she's got open is staring up at Joseph with scrutiny, lips quirked in a smile as her nose wrinkles and one hand is offered out from the forest of dark fur. "Heya," Liette chirps cheerily, settling up on her knees more in an attempt to get away from Alicia but the big dog tastes butter and crumbs on the girl and it's all over for getting away from the licking.
Grimacing and giggling, Liette falls back onto her rear and crawls across the floor on her heels, heedless of her arm in the sling until she comes to a pause and looks guiltily up towards Doctor Brennan, at least until Alicia is nosing around at her neck and Liette is breaking down in fitful laughter again.
Tangled blonde hair and bright pink streaks give Liette a clear definition of color and shape to Joseph, she's an easy oen t pick out in a crowd with the way she's dressed and the way her hair looks, distinctive like a hunter orange vest. Perhaps purposefully so. Once Alicia has finally snuffled and snorted at everything on Liette the big shaggy dog lifts her snout up and sniffs at the air, making eyes at Brennan, did you cook for me her face practically says aloud.
Wiping at her face with one sleeve, Liette snickers and grins broadly, crawling up to one knee and then back up to her feet, laughing noisily before her fingers extend out for Joseph again. "S— sorry. I guess she really does like me!"
Brennan's hand is gripped in a shake, Joseph giving him a quick nod. "Thanks for acceptin'," he counters, before he's reaching to grip onto Alicia's collar, a little too late, and steer her off and out of the way. "Sorry 'bout that — she likes you plenty. Off you got, 'Licia, go check the perimeter, good girl." More likely, Alicia is gonna go look for a warm place to curl up and sleep off the hike up to the Garden, but she does step aside to her master's urging, reluctantly lingering.
Which is when Joseph reaches out a hand to take Liette's, other coming around in a warm clasp, giving her arm a small jostle in greeting. "Nice to meet you, Liette, I've heard plenty — though I had no idea you was so good with dogs. That'll come in handy, I reckon." Letting her hand go, he glances back up at Brennan, glancing the doctor over as if to see if he's alright, before asking, "Anyone come callin' on you two yet or am I the welcome wagon?"
Sleeves are pushed up on the sweater that Dr. Brennan is wearing, jeans, bare feet. Save for the serious scruff he's sporting that Michelle will likely object to when he returns home, he and Liette don't look any worse for wear. "None yet. The others here have been giving us out space save to help warm us up. So it seems you're our welcome wagon. Hope we can stay longer here than down in the tunnels. Turns out there's this gang right beside the terminal"
Brennan leans back against the counter, observing the interaction between the two and how Liette's reacting to the man. "I'd tell them to be careful, the mans got mechanical aptitude and he was.. eying Liette here something fierce and had instituted a rule with his men that we couldn't leave the vault and tunnels without one of them with us. Was why we surface. They're literally not that far away" And thus explains where and how they were hiding. "Any word on Rebel and what he wants with her?" he looks back over to Liette and offers her a smile. "Want another sandwich or are you good?"
Brushing off the front of her skirt, Liette glances over to where stockings are draped to dry by the fireplace in the adjacent room then back towards Brennan. "He actually doesn't anymore. He told me it got stolen from him, 'cause he asked me if I knew somebody who could give him his power back, he was so sad." Liette's brows go up at the notion. "I told him there's a special lady who can but Pop would have to help, then he asked me how to find Pop and I couldn't tell him anymore 'cause m'not supposed to." Shifting her weight to one foot, Liette offers an askance look up to Joseph, smiling a bit less playfully now that Alicia had trundled off to lay down by the fireplace and rest.
"My name's Liette," the blonde notes with a tip of her head forward, brows furrowed, "Doctor Brennan says your name's Sumter, are you a doctor too?" Both brows go up slowly, and Liette's walking on her bare toes over towards Joseph, chin up and nosing around him as if she were emulating Alicia's mannerisms. Only once she realizes she was asked a question does Liette shoot a look back over her shoulder at Brennan.
"More!" She proclaims with a chirping tone of voice and one hand waved over her head excitedly.
"A doctor? Me?" Joseph is placing his hand on Liette's shoulder, casting a smile down at her. "No ma'am, I'm a pastor, like you find in churches." Not an explanation he'd tag on the end of that one, but the things he's been told— and the girl's wide eyed demeanor itself— has him clarifying what a pastor is, at all, even if he doesn't exactly have a church to call his own. "Let's go in the kitchen so you can eat, huh? And me an' Harve can siddown and talk proper."
Ushering the other two in that direction, Joseph pushes his hands into the pockets of his sweater, mild worry and stress now lining his expression once he doesn't have Liette peering up at him, although nowhere near the weariness Brennan probably knows. "All I can say is that y'all are welcome up here as long as you need it, and the others know very well too. I dunno about Rebel, but I know someone who does," he says. "And'll be able to tell you a sight bit more than I can."
Speak of the devil—
There's another presence entering the Garden, of a non-technopathic nature. She's come without electronic devices, though she does carry a selection of photographs. It's cold out there, which makes the crossing by boat less than pleasant. Fortunate, Cat is, for having her antarctic experience to contrast it against. By comparison, this is a nice summer's day. But it still has her in a thick coat with gloves and her head covered. The door is closed behind her, and the interior surveyed without words for the moment.
Another sandwich for Liette. it'll be the last one because he doesn't want to give her a stomach ache. Too much of a good thing, isn't good. "Lee like to talk. She also like to watch Happy feet. But thank you for extending the welcome. Hopefully, things will work out soon enough. How are things at the Den, I know that Lila passed, how's Megan dealing with the others. Melissa said a few more got sick. Michelle can get any medicines that they need and supplies. Just get her the list. I just have to ask that she be kept out of this affair with Liette and myself."
Indeed, speak of the devil. Brennan's not so relaxed as he was around Joseph when the pamnesiac enter and the physician gives a curt nod to Cat as he goes about making another grilled cheese. "Joseph, there should be more hot water, mind heating up the bucket for her feet again. Liette, meet Doctor Catherine Chesterfield. She's a lawyer and the visitor I mentioned" He catches the young girls attention, exchanging the hand signal with her to make sure she remembers before turning the girl loose on the other woman.
Eyes over towards the sound of the closing door, Liette's blue eyes stare pointedly at the winter-weather bundled figure approaching through the front entrance. It's hard to tell with all of the cold weather gear on whether it's even a man or a woman, from the hood to the knit cap and bulky jacket and thick gloves. Liette's thin brows crease together, and the young girl glances back up at Joseph thoughtfully before very slowly creeping her way back to the kitchen table. Liette's bare feet may make no noise on the floor, but the scuffing chair legs do as she moves the chair around before settling down in it.
There's puzzlement on Liette's face, teeth worrying at her lower lip, and as she contemplates her grilled cheese, pulling the sliced halves apart in gooey amusement, she finally comes to a decision on something and offers a look back over to Joseph, seeming somewhat sheepish as she asks, "What's church? And— do pastors pasteurize things? Are you a farmer?"
Oh.
Joseph clears his throat as he folds his arms against the kitchen table, considering her with a look of open puzzlement before a smile breaks it, and he shakes his head. "Not a farmer," he corrects, with a single shake of his head. "I'll, uh. Explain church in a little bit." If she doesn't know church, surely she must have some concept of God, and if she doesn't— well Joseph has something of a task on his hands. Clearing his throat, he looks towards where Brennan is greeting Cat, word of the Den dying on his tongue for another time as he lifts a hand to wave at the pamnesiac.
"Joseph, Doctor Brennan," Cat replies in greeting after being addressed. Then the girl is turned toward as she begins to unwrap herself, the face soon being revealed as one of the people who'd been in the park not far from Liette just a handful of days past. Liette is observed, a slight grin forming as Joseph is peppered with questions. She opts not to speak with the girl yet, until she's acknowledged by her.
There's a nudge from Brennan against Liette's elbow and a tilt of his head towards cat. Introduce yourself Mentally spoken and mentally nudged, hoping she's got her telepathy maybe active.
Blue eyes wide at the nudge, Liette leans in to hastily take a bite of the grilled cheese, cheeks puffed out and full before she's springing to her feet and wiping crumb-laden fingers all over her skirt, treading on bare toes — as if to give herself that boost of height to five feet — and makes her way over to Cat, blue eyes wide and hand offered up to the heavily dressed woman in that awkward manner than a child several years her junior might to a stranger. There's none of the gruff deferentialism of a teenage youth here, but more of an awkward social caterpillar that hasn't even bothered to make a cocoon yet, let alone consider the butterfly.
"H— Hi, um, I'm— Liette." There's a faint crook of the young girl's lips up into a smile, as if that's what's expected of her more so than anything. This is the first meeting the young blonde has had where she doesn't seem casual, as if somehow this is business more so than anything. "It— it's nice to meet you, um…" brows crease together, and Liette's eyeing of Cat sees to be trying to consider whether or not she's making the right social steps here. This is all new territory.
Dog was a better ice breaker than Cat's Cattishness, which is not necessarily a bad thing so much as— Cat. Joseph watches Liette go through, somehow, practiced steps in addressing her, glances at Brennan, then studies his own clasps hands on the table as he seems to cede conversational territory to the new arrival.
"And I'm Cat," she replies. "I'm also pleased to meet you, Liette." There is poise in her movements as she comes to sit wherever might be available nearby, back straight and head up. Her right hand extends to take the girl's and shake it once before releasing. The tone of her voice is chosen to comfort and reassure, to promote calm. "Maybe you remember seeing me in the park a few days ago?"
Brennan just fills up the two buckets of water, rewarming them to just this shy of too hot and gesturing for Liette to sit and finish eating and soak her feet again. "You both can talk while we keep defrosting our feet" Which is an invitation to take up the table as well as Brennan and his scruff take a seat beside Joseph and his own feet soon sink in as well. There is feeling in the toes and only a slight prickling of protest.
Lips purse and Liette's head shakes from side to side slowly, one brow arched. "No, I um," Liette's blue eyes flick towards Cat, then over to Brennan before going back again. "I don't think so? I was distracted then, though, with the snow n'stuff. So… are you here to help me get back home?" There's a pop of one of Liette's brows as she moves back to the seat at the table she'd vacated to greet Cat, settling back down and returning her attention towards the half-eaten sandwich in front of her. "Doctor Brennan said that he's going to try real hard to get me back with my Pop, so— " She pauses, almost about to bite down and looks back up to Joseph, then to Cat again. "Are— are you all here to help me get back to pop?" There's a lightness in her eyes, a curve of lips crept up into a more relaxed smile as she leans in to quietly — yet hungrily — devour the rest of the sandwich on her plate.
Outside, the wind howls as it blows hard against the side of the building, driving snow from the drifts up in a faint bristling sound against the ice-frosted windows. A draft from somewhere causes the candle on the table to flicker gently in that chill breeze.
"Well, we're here to help you out," Joseph says, a note of reservation in his tone if only thanks to the brisk conversation he'd had with Cat but a couple of days ago, a couple of feet away. He's not exactly sure what home counts for the girl, and with a glance to Cat, the bulk of answering such a question is batted back to her. His shoulders hike up as if curling them inwards might make him warmer, the sheer sound of the blizzard outside enough to combat the warmth of the cottage on some level.
"Before we can do that, Liette," Cat smoothly replies, "we first need to find where your pop is, and learn things that'll help us find him. Does he have a name you can tell us? I've also got some photos, pictures, to show you, of people who might know your pop." She opens her jacket partway and takes out printed images of paintings Eve gave her. Doc Carpenter. Luis. Doctor Zimmerman. And Gregor. She hopes, really hopes, the girl hasn't ever been exposed to or seen by that one.
"And while you're here, we can help you learn about the world. I'm sorta like you, Liette," Cat shares with a hint of grin. "I don't do things with wind, mind, I just remember everything."
Brennan remains quiet, glancing to the images that are being put down in front of Liette and Cat's profession of her ability. "Dr. Chesterfield, Touch her hand and use your ability" Brennan has a reason for this, not just because he knows that Liette loves collecting abilities, but experimentation of his own.
"I don't know where Pop is. I already told Doctor Brennan that, he doesn't tell me because it's safer that way, an' I never see where we go once I get picked up." Liette's brows crease together, "My helpers are supposed to keep me safe an' bring me to the meeting places, but— there was that accident, and now I don't know if my helper knows where I am. But, I know Pop will find me eventually, he's always said if you want something bad enough there's a way!" Brightening her smile, Liette wipes off crumb-dusted and butter-slicked fingers on her skirt again, shifting to rest crookedly in her seat, blue eyes angled up towards Brennan.
"Miss Cat's like me?" Both of Liette's brows go up, and her attention is focused towards Cat, lips creeping up into a smile. "What is it, before I absorb it. I have rules I gotta' follow and there's some 'bilities I'm not allowed to have 'cause it'd be dangerous, unless Pop says so." Tilting her chin down, Liette scoots forward and looks at the pictures, then purses her lips and nods her head.
"I've seen him." Liette points to the picture of Doctor Zimmerman, "He's one of the Doctors that works with Pop! He's a very nice guy who talks like zis!" She emulates a thick eastern European accent poorly and comically. "And I've seen this guy before!" Liette taps a finger on the picture of Doc. "He's in one of the big tanks sleeping." Slowly nodding her head, Liette's blue eyes dart to the image of Gregor, her nose wrinkles and she shakes her head slowly. "Never seen him before."
Note that Joseph is not offering his power, if unlikely for the reasons of his anxiety when Gillian has absorbed it once. Things change. This does not. He watches the exchange of photographs, a hand up to rub his brow as he watches conspiracy theories gain— something. Credibility. "So what does that mean exactly?" he asks of Catherine.
Liette is watched, Cat remaining at least outwardly calm, as the girl speaks of her Pop and people she recognizes in the pictures. It's Liette she'll address first, being somewhat fascinated and also given a measure of concern by the ability to absorb. There's so many ways. Peter Mark 1 absorption which could come control issues, Peter Mark 2 which is one at a time, the Sylar way and she really wants to keep her brain where it is, and… the Arthur way which hurts like hell times ten and immediately precedes being tossed out the window of a burning house. So she questions first. "Do you absorb powers and keep them, Liette, or is it one at a time, taking a new one makes what you had before go away? And… does the person you get a new one from still keep hers? You can take on mine, if I'll still have it too, okay?" Her hand is left in reach of touching.
"It means she's been to the same place two of these men are at. This one," she holds up the photo of Zimmerman, "used to work for the Company and later Pinehearst. He once developed a serum which gives people SLC abilities."
"She doesn't steal the ability. She duplicate a copy for herself. She may or may not be able to duplicate yours. But she seems to enjoy collecting them. Like postage stamps. Haven't seen Liette mismanage one yet" He smiles towards the young woman, glancing to the pictures and recognizing some of them on his own due to just being in the medical community. "I don't know what it is that you do Doctor Chesterfield, I'm not in a habit of sticking my nose into other people's abilities. I'm also not in the habit of" A hand comes up, fingers splayed to demonstrate that he comes in peace. "Usurping other people's abilities. I wouldn't have suggested it if I didn't know that how Liette does it is harmless"
Liette seems cagey all of the sudden, and the fact that she pointedly didn't even mention the picture of Luis didn't escape Doctor Brennan's notice. "I can only absorb powers I've been exposed to. They gotta be able to affect me, so like— I can manipulate wind from an Aerokinetic, 'cause I was in an area that he was controlling the wind in and it almost took the breath right outta' my lungs!" She doesn't sound scared but rather amused by the notion. "But there's a rule on powers I can't take. Negators are impossible 'cause they negate my ability to mimic stuff, an' things that only work internally, like cellular regeneration don't work either 'cause there's nothin' for me to be affected by." It seems she'd never considered being injected by a regenerator's blood. Her father may well have, but if the sling her arm is wound in is any indication she certainly doesn't have any sort of rapid healing.
"I can have as many powers as there are grains of sand in the world, Pop tells me. But they don't stay forever. I mimic them when I get affected, but my body metabolizes the ability over a couple'a months, but it leaves…" she squints, "genetic markers in my DNA that tells a story of all the abilities I've ever had, sort've like a big book of powers! So even after they're long gone, the special in— " Her nose wrinkles, "indicators that stay behind are there, just like they would be in anyone else. Pop calls it mosaic DNA, and he calls our ability uh…" Liette's lips purse together, "Trrransitive Reactive Mimicry."
"I told you what I do," Cat replies with a mild grin to Doctor Brennan, "I remember everything." Her eyes return to Liette as she takes in what the girl said and making her own mental notes. Our ability, her pop calls it. Means her father can do what she does. "That's really cool," she tells the girl. "I don't know if you can copy mine, from what you said, but it might. Increasing your mind's capacity to store information could be considered an effect." Her hand remains within reach of the girl's own.
Did she? Probably. Maybe. He's not a pamnesiac. He's a negator. He'll leave the memory augmentation to Cat. "Unless you can influence another persons memory with your ability Doctor Chesterfield, highly unlikely. Liette will know whether she can or not. She's a pro at this" He compliments the younger woman.
"Pop would like you." Liette notes of Catherine with a wrinkle of her nose, "He's been looking for a hyper-cognitive for a long time now for some of the experiments he does!" She may not quite be exact on what Cat's ability is, but there's still in her seemingly innocent slip that suggests broader arcing plans put in place by her father-figure. "I can't take anything like— " Liette pauses, eyes go wide and the teen bolts up from her chair. "I can!!" She chirps excitedly, and then furrows her brows towards Cat.
"Clear your head and open up your mind and I'll get inside your head and then you can utilize your ability and I should be able to replicate it!" There's a pointed look of concentration on Liette's face and even if she's asking permission, Cat can feel a faint touch of pressure behind her eyes, the girl's trying to wedge her way in to her thoughts eagerly.
The girl's face is studied, Cat nods once just before she feels the metaphorical knocking on her mental door and the attempt to turn the knob and walk in before she can answer and open it. Thoughts are cleared away, and she concentrates. What she brings out is a memory from years before, a method she used to demonstrate it for Gillian's benefit when she absorbed from her. It's a calculation of Pi to one hundred decimal places. Next up is a good segment of imagery and information from Google Earth. When perhaps imparting the benefits of her memory to a girl with little experience of the world, it seems fitting to do it by literally showing her the world.
Liette's eyes widen, pupils dilate and her lips part once her mind intrudes on Catherine's. Everyone handles their powers different, one pyrokinetic's manipulation of fire can be so drastically different from the next, the same goes for the manifold fields of telepathy. Blue irises become thin slivers and then turn to black pools as her pupils swallow them as Liette absorbs the information Cat shares with her, and Catherine can feel a tingle run down the back of her spine and a sensation like pressure in her sinuses and ears for a moment before it fades in tune with Liette's pupils narrowing back down again.
The girl's brows furrow, her blue eyes cast to the side and she considers the power in silence, looking distant and unfocused before snapping her attention back to Cat. "I got it…" Liette whispers, teeth toying with her lower lip and a smile offered to Brennan. "I got it Doctor Brennan!" She's thrilled, this is something new and versatile for her to explore, and it opens up so many doorways for recalling explanations of abilities, names, faces. She's become more than just a record of Evolved powers, she's become a record of the Ferrymen.
And everything they do.
As far as Joseph can tell— everything seems to be going okay. Listening carefully to the way the girl's ability works is curiosity inducing — perhaps another time, and a glance Cat's way is meant to communicate that he himself would rather not be outed in this immediate setting. The exchange is watched with an avid kind of curiosity, strain visible around his eyes even as he smiles for her enthusiasm. Maybe a little bit of Humanis First has rubbed off on him after all.
Because unease is manifest in the way he straightens his back and steps off from the table. "Yell out if y'all need anyhin'," he says, scratching the back of his neck and mostly addressing Brennan. "I'll be stayin' up this way for a little while — should go check which room's still good for it." Because it doesn't seem like Cat is whisking them away or driving them out into the bitter winter.
"It was nice meeting you, Liette," he adds, before the pastor is headed out from the kitchen.
'Will do Joseph." Brennan offers to the Pastor as he parts, offering his hand up to the young woman to high five like his three year olds had been doing. 'That, is pretty great Liette" He commends her. "That is a pretty cool thing." With a side glance to Cat and then back to the fifteen year old.
"Congratulations, Liette," Cat offers with a smile as she sees the results. Her shoulders roll a few times as if she's working something out of them, perhaps to cover the sensations that exchange gave her. A moment later attention is given to the pastor. "See you, Joseph," she offers. Then focus goes back to Liette, with a brief glance Brennan's way. "You're going to need a lot of books." Maybe that's an understatement.
"What do you remember from the things I showed you, Liette? There should be a long string of numbers, and a turning image of the globe from a computer screen with a zooming effect to a few places."
"Everything, and you don't have hyper-cognition you have— " Liette squints, looking from side to side, "It's not heightened memory, 'cause I can physically play back moments inside my head. I don't think I've ever actually seen a power like this before," she glances back over to Cat, blue eyes on hers, "I think it— maybe it's something internally temporal? I'd have to talk to Pop about it and he'd probably run some tests!" There's a nod of Liette's head, and only now does she notice Joseph got up from the table and left. She whips around excitedly, trying to find where the pastor had stepped off to, but furrows her brows until she spies Alicia still sleeping near the fireplace in the other room.
Nodding her head once firmly, Liette looks back to Cat with a crooked smile. "I'm gonna' have to look at all sorts of things, oh this is so awesome, I can't wait to share this one." She mumbles distractedly to herself, lips spread in a wonderful smile before she settles back down onto her chair. "Do you know other people with powers, Miss Cat? I'd love to be able to meet them and copy what they can do."
Now Liette can watch happy feet in her head all day. If she ever makes it back to 'Pop' there might be a scientist who will be gnashing his teeth at the ability instead of celebrating it's accession into Liette's mosaic DNA. Brennan just leans back in his chair, shifting his feet in the water a bit before realizing the water is cooling again and moves about to freshen Liette's and his.
"It's called panmnesia," Cat replies. "It's exhilarating, really, when it first starts. I was nineteen when it began for me, at Yale. I was studying music, but father insisted I do something pre-law or he'd cut me off. So I tried to handle two course loads. I'm stubborn," she admits with a bit of spreading grin, "and wanted to make both myself and him happy. It wasn't working out too well, as you can imagine. Ivy League, and two full course loads. But I suddenly found I could remember everything I perceived. No more needing to study, or even take notes in class. Complete recall."
When she's back to looking at and speaking with Liette, it's with a forming smile, the joy and understanding of something shared between them. "Temporal… maybe. I remember all I perceive and experience, so I can remember the moments they happened. I don't know the statistics on it, really, haven't thought to look it up or research, but I think eidetic memory can and does happen without the SLC. With the SLC, it becomes an order of magnitude and more stronger." Her brow furrows here, Cat seeking to perhaps nudge back to other topics without causing alarm or disquiet. Even though it might come anyway. "You talk about your pop doing tests," she muses, "does he do tests on other people too? You said there's people sleeping in tanks."
"Can't say." Liette notes rather quickly with a nod of her head, "M'not supposed to talk about anything Pop does really, 'cause it's secret." Looking down at the plate of crumbs and a couple of spots of now cooled cheese where there was once a hot sandwich, Liette offers a warm smile to Brennan and lifts her brows as if to say more as if she were some sort of bottomless pit for grilled cheese. "The only people who'd know where to take me are my helpers, and one of them got hurt by a car and the other one was supposed to meet us, so he's probably looking for me now," and as she says that, Liette offers an apologetic look to Cat, "and I can't tell you his name either." But apparently she can imply gender.
"Pop will find me eventually, I— I'm pretty sure." To Brennan, there's a certain lacking certainty now in Liette's tone of voice that he notices the discrepancy of, perhaps she's less sure now that her father will ever find her.
We'll get you home Liette. Brennan assures her when he notices the look and the tone, having spent more than enough time around her to start reading her moods like a book. "That's enough questions for today Doctor Chesterfield. We've had a very long day and the Blizzard was tiring to walk through and get here. We don't intend to be moving for a while unless Rebel opts to take a run at us here so you'll have more chance to try and pry at Liette" He offers a friendly smile to the woman, as friendly as he would offer her as he dries off his feet and then starts to take care of Liette's. "And you, young lady. Get to try making your own sandwich now. If you think you can remember how"
"Of course, Doctor Brennan," Cat replies with a brief look his way. As her head turns back toward Liette, she tells the girl "We can talk more another time, okay? I'll maybe bring some books along and let you read them. What do you like? Mysteries? Science? Adventure? Or a little of everything." She stands and starts to put her winter gear back on for the trip home.
"See you soon, Liette, Doctor."
Looking up from the table, Liette slidly rises to her feet, offering a smile to Cat as she moves to depart. "I never get to read many books, so… bring all of them!" Because there can't be that many books right? Then, far more interestedly, Liette turns her head towards Brennan and offers a chipper smile. "C'mon, Doctor Brennan, show me again so I'll have it recorded!" She reaches out, grabbing the older man's hand and practically tugging him towards the gas stove, backpedaling as she walks, smile bright and eyes just as much.
Liette probably wouldn't be smiling so much if she knew what some people out there had planned for her.
She'll find out soon enough.