Lunch, Interrupted

Participants:

delia_icon.gif ryans3_icon.gif

Scene Title Lunch, Interrupted
Synopsis Breaking a wall built much too long ago, Delia reaches out to her father to let him know she's alright.
Date March 25, 2011

Eltingville Blocks and A Delicatessen


Phones are few and far between in Eltingville Blocks, at least with the residents that are there now. Delia hasn't managed to get up the nerve to try to leave the gates, not without Logan as an escort but she has squirreled away a single throw away phone for emergencies. This one. A long college career has sharpened her skills for memorization and in that regard, she dials the last number that she has for her father.

One denim covered knee bounces furiously as she waits for the click of connection and the ring on his end. Currently, she's hunched on a chair at the kitchen table, feeling alternately sick to her stomach and elated to be finally making the call. It rings… and rings…

Perhaps in the near future, she'll use Logan's credit card to invest in a ring back tone for Benjamin. Something wholly inappropriate but catchy… Like Sexy Back.

When his phone rings — chirping out some lame ring tone that came with the cheap plastic throw away — Benjamin is in line at a small mom and pop sandwich shop. After an evening with Lynette — one of her — he decided to go out and get them some lunch. The phone is retrieve, the number unfamiliar, but so few know he has this phone, that he answers anyhow. Flipping it open, he presses it to his ear.

"Hello?" The familiar gruff voice of her father comes out over the line between them, his blue eyes on the menu, thoughtfully looking over choices. He had Lynette's order, but he isn't so sure what he wants. Maybe something with Italian meats and pickles.

"H-hi.." Delia's familiar stammer on the other end rings tinny through two cheap phones. A quick glance is given toward the kitchen door to make sure she's all alone and then she closes her eyes. "S-sorry I didn't come back. You sound good." She doesn't say his name or hers, not even a syllable slips from her lips to indicate who it might be.

Initial contact made has her easing a little more to relaxation and she slinks down in the kitchen chair, stretching her long legs out in front of her. "I think I met a clairvoyant," she says quietly, "He told me that I was going to die."

Brows lift and he turns a little towards the phone as if making sure he heard her right. She doesn't have to say any names to know who it is. A sigh goes over the phone, relief. "There you are. I've been asking around, but no one has seemed to know where you went to." Hence the worried tone. "At least tell me your alright. And who told you that you were going to die?"

And more importantly. "Where are you, sweetie?" Her father would of course want to come see her. Something has his gut twisting, that inner instinct that says… something isn't right.

"I'm okay, safe. This guy, said his name is Calvin, he told me that if I went back home I was going to die. I wouldn't have believed it, you know? Except.. there's some pretty crazy stuff that happens." A little huff of sardonic laughter sounds out from Delia's end but is cut off when she swallows hard. "I just don't want to die, I mean— I just turned twenty one.

Where she is, that's not something she really wants to provide in case her father decides on a daring but wholly unnecessary rescue. "I'm a little out of reach right now, but you don't have to worry. I'm safe and back in the hands you left me." Shuffling her socked feet on the floor, she polishes a lovely spot in the lino in front of where she sits.

Stepping out of the line, Ryans' features are stoney, he's already not liking what he's hearing. People give him an odd look, but he ignores them. "What do you mean out of reach?" His tone is calm and neutral, but it shouldn't be hard for her to imagine that he's unhappy about what she's saying.

"Delia,Where are you?" Benjamin's voice rises just a little, getting more glances, but no one really seems interested. It's not like he's the only one on the phone. He doesn't like her being cryptic with him either.

She winces at the sharp question, as though slapped across the face. "Eltingville," she says quietly, "I have something I need to do." Namely, keep the price of a favor off his head. Her socked feet push out and extend the circle of shine as far as she can reach. Perhaps later in the day she'll give the floor a proper cleaning.

"Everything is getting fixed, you don't have to worry. I might be able to go back to school if it all works out." One registration card opens an entirely new world of possibilities to the redhead and she can't help the minute smile that touches the corners of her lips. "I just— this is going to be the last time I can call. I just wanted to hear your voice."

His stomach sinks and hits the floor, the old man glances to the side, spotting a chair and moving to set in it. "Last time you can call…" Ryans is a touch flabbergasted. "Wait." He's just realized something, brows furrowing. His voice lowers into a soft whisper. "Why are you on Staten Island? That's the reclaimed zone."

Lunch is forgotten, Benjamin's appetite having flown the coup with that small realization. "You need to get out of that area… that place isn't safe for you Delia. You get captured…" Of course, he doesn't know her situation. His face drains of color at the thought of his little girl getting snatched up.

"Lia.. Honey…" His voice is a soft rumble as he tries not to be overheard in the voices and sounds of the shop. "There is a bad man working for the government and That place is heavily patrolled. He already killed one of our patrols… infected people with the evo flu." His voice turns desperate, strained as he continues. "You need to get as far away from there as you can, I don't even want to know what would happen if he got his hands on you." The thought of Delia lined up against a wall has his eyes shutting to escape the image it invokes.

"I can't just leave, I made a promise." Like father, like daughter, Benjamin knows that Delia won't break her word if she can help it. Especially since her promise guarantees her father's safety. Through the phone, he can hear the sound of a kitchen chair scraping across the floor as it's set back into its position. "I'll be okay. As soon as I'm done I'll be gone but I have to do this." A glance up at the ceiling has her imagining what the occupant of the room above her would do. Perhaps not call at all. He doesn't seem to share ties.

"Just tell me who I need to avoid, I promise I'll be just as careful as you are." There's the catch, considering the redhead feels her father is quite reckless and has no misgivings about voicing her opinion. "Don't worry about me so much, I have people looking out for me." At least one.

"I don't like this." Ryans growls out, rising to his feet and moving for the door of the shop. He's sure Lynette will understand when he comes back empty handed. "You keep your head down and stay away from anyone official. Government or likewise and don't identify yourself as my daughter." That will just open up one hell of a bag of worms.

"If you catch wind of a man named Heller… steer clear. He's nasty business." He feels nauseous as he moves down the city sidewalk at a hurried pace.

Oops.

"H-heller, a-alright, got it." There's a pause while the only sound Ryans can hear from her end is breathing, the single indication that she hasn't hung up yet. "I'm sorry, I wish I could have talked to you before all this happened. I had to make a decision and I think I made the right one. At least for our family." In the redhead's mind, he's a lot more useful and important than she is but she lets the subject drop.

"Someone told me you had a dream about the future. Why didn't you tell me? Or try to tell me?" With so much going on between them, she understands the lack of verbal communication but… it's her ability.

Dream? Oh! Right that. "Honestly…" Ryans starts, standing on a street corner watching the lights, waiting to cross, his fedora shading his eyes. "I had more important things to think about then some dream. You were still so weak from your coma and I was under pressure to get you someplace safe… once the dome trapped me I had other things to think about."

In other words, "It slipped my mind. I had forgotten about it til you mentioned it really." Not the total truth but… "Have you talked to Hokuto lately? Has she said anything about them?" He's still pissed at the dream walker for not visiting him when his daughter was stuck in the dream world… but she's more the expert and his daughters teacher.

"I've talked to Hokuto, she pointed me to Jasmine, I didn't get too far with her, she was.. uhm… tired… and I might have hurt her feelings. I haven't talked to the Bogeyman yet either, I was going to visit him after I got settled in." Delia's uncertain if her father knows all of the dreamwalkers that touch her life, the handful or so that make things a little more interesting.

"Hokuto said something about memories where they don't belong. I think she means that you're remembering things you're not supposed to know yet. Like seeing the future." Something a little more dangerous than what she's dealing with right now, Mister Logan and Colonel Heller helping fix her registration problem. "I'd like to visit, if I could." Not in the normal method, he would know that much.

"We'll…" Ryans hesitates, lips pressing firmly together for a moment. "We'll have to see what we can work out. Steer clear of Heller, but keep your ear out on things you might hear about him. Bastard killed a lot of good people, would be nice to get Intel on him."

What Benjamin says next hurts him more then anything, "Til I have a better idea of what's going on… as co-lead for the Ferrymen's Special Activities… I must ask you to keep clear of Ferry interests." He presses a hand to his chest, rubbing it a little. It hurts to have to tell his daughter to stay away. "You have my number, we'll work out a visit well away from things." It's not a when or a how… it's a maybe.

She coughs loudly as he starts to speak his position and the name of the organization over the phone, trying to mask it. "Sorry, I got it," is all the acknowledgment he receives for the time being. Shooting an uncertain glance at the ceiling, the young woman's face contorts into a grimace of fear. "I can manage a visit on my own," she says in regards to his maybe. "You don't have to worry, I won't call again." With that, she pushes the end button, disconnecting the call.

In the palm of her hand the little phone seems like nothing, but just a few words into it might very well have marked her execution. Breathing out a long sigh, she tosses the device into the dishwater and begins to handwash the dishes leftover from breakfast.

The phone stays at the bottom of the sink until well after the water is drained and the bubbles have cleared.

When the call goes dead, Ryans pulls the phone away from his ear and narrows his eyes dangerously. The cellphone is flipped shut and then a second later opened again. His daughter might not give him answers, but he has hope the man 'he left her in the hands of' before might shed some light. Thumbs move over the phone slower them most texters.

Logan, why is Delia out in the reclaimed zone?

The fact that she's there willingly… that scares him worst of all.

Hurts even more.


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