Participants:
| Scene Title | Maybe a Smoothie |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Old friends meet, and new friends have a little fight. |
| Date | November 19, 2010 |
Elle's been healing for a little under two weeks now, sticking to her apartment in Redbird. Today, however, she's gotten a bit of cabin fever, and has decided to go out to the mall. She might be in crutches, but she can certainly enjoy herself, window shopping. It's difficult, being so injured, but she's managing fairly well today, at least. Thankfully, Redbird is nicely stocked with pain medication.
She definitely looks like she's seen better days. Her right arm is held in a black cast, and her right knee is held immobile in a brace. She wears simple, comfortable clothes, with a dark purple long-sleeved shirt and a pair of jeans, complete with tennis shoes. Currently, she's taking a break in the food court. Her crutches are propped up against the table, and before her is a rather large smoothie, which she sips at contentedly as she watches the people pass. At least the riots didn't really touch this place.
The Riots had put big dents in midtown, and only a few places outside of the war zone were touched - a Best Buy and some other higher-end appliance and electronics stores, hit by opportunistic looters just because, hey, looting is fun. But the mall, with it's gates, doors, and other heavy 'stay the hell out' things was relatively untouched.
Walking through the mall with a bag from Abercrombie & Fitch over his shoulder is a rather simple-looking guy, wearing jeans and a T-shirt and soft-soled leather shoes that give him good grip as he walks, even in the worst of weather. He's on his way to the food court, apparently, since his card is still good there. Something sweet, he thinks. Maybe Cinnabon. Maybe a smoothie.
The simple-looking guy goes relatively unnoticed, at first; Elle is peering quietly at a young couple walking past the Chick-Fil-A holding hands, a frown on her face. Happy couples always piss her off when she's single. Then, however, her eyes catch on the young man who passes the couple. A moment is taken as she registers his face, her brow furrowing. She knows him. She knows him better than she knows most people.
Then, her eyes widen slightly. No way. That can't be him. He disappeared years ago. Testingly, she calls out to him as he nears her. "Dax? Is that you?!" She leans toward him a bit in her chair, brows raising high on her forehead.
Walking through the mall, the occasional call out doesn't really faze him. Kids calling for mommy, friends calling for each other, sassy women arguing that they can't find the right panties to make their backside look smaller…it's all said, shouted, and passes in one ear and out the other. But when your name…when a relatively obscure name is shouted, one may get his attention. He stops and cranes his neck around, looking for who called him, stopped in front of the Panda Cafe.
It is him. There can be no mistake about it! Elle raises her casted arm toward Dax, waving it about. "Dax! Over here!" Her other hand goes to the table, leaning against it heavily as she raises to her feet…well, to her foot. She puts no weight on her braced knee. Once to her feet, she takes her crutches, clicking toward the man. She really wasn't expecting to see this blast from her past today.
Yep. It's him. It's always been him, and as far as Dax is concerned, he's not been anyone else for quite a while. He turns, slipping his bag from his shoulder, holding it in both hands while the incapacitated woman hobbles over on her crutches. He looks a little….well, a lot confused. Perhaps apprehensive too, because someone knowing him out of the blue is not something that he's used to. "Um…hello?"
It has been a busy past few days for Harmony, between cleaning up after the riots, finding Richard Cardinal's hiding place, moving her stuff from one apartment to the next, getting shot at in a dark alley with a troublesome Irishman, smuggling children back off the island to rescue them back to their parents, down to semi-adopting one of them who lost their family in tragic events of the 8th…. Harmony hasn't had a chance to relax. Well, she took a chance for the day, checking with her new roommate to see if he would perhaps accompany her shopping for some things. Towels, bathroom stuff.. things that they could keep separate with those bordering room-matey things.
It is a normal activity, and hopefully doesn't require gunfire. Harmony enters the double doors, leading the way with a relaxed pace, her lower half clad in her signature tight pants, while the curly haired blond sports a leather jacket over her shoulders, her boots knocking against the ground as she goes, a bit of a smirk crossing her lips. One might consider Harmony to be trouble just looking at her, and they are perhaps a bit right in some circumstances. But today? She's just a girl.. hanging out with a friend.
"Alright, so.. where do we start?" she asks.
Elle comes to a stop a few feet from Dax, a large smile on her face. "Oh my gosh, Dax, I was definitely not expecting to run into you!" She offers a charming smile up to the man— but then, she realizes that he doesn't look like he recognizes her, at all. He looks confused, and maybe nervous. The smile drops from her face as she peers at him. "Oh— you don't know who I am, do you? That would explain a lot of things, if that's the case."
Then, Elle is offering her left hand out to Dax, smiling again. "Daniel Arcenaux, my name is Elle Bishop. I'm someone from your past." She offers a charming smile up to him once more.
Oh…Oh!" That seems to relax him, just slightly. "Before the car accident. Oh, hi there, Miss Elle, it's nice to meet you." Then, as an afterthought, he adds "again." to that. His left hand goes out to shake hers a bit lightly. There's strength in that grip, but a gentleness too. "I'd be happy to see you again, but I don't have much memory past 2006."
"Uhhh…"
Jason's mind goes blank at the sight of so many people scurrying around what could very well be the last mall on earth. But the sudden contrast of jovial consumer spirit within, as opposed to the crap-filled, riot-swelling nights a week ago, is far less jarring than Harmony's question.
Where to first? Who knows. Who cares.
With an air of unease Jason shoves his hands into the single pocket of his black hoodie and cracks his knuckles. Pop. Pop! And pausing just long enough for a breath to fill his lungs, he sighs, offering a meek shrug in the blonde's direction.
"This sort of thing isn't really my forte," he says, looking past the entry way, through the wide spacing of the first floor, and up an elevator - lifting his gaze as high as the third floor. "Just get whatever you want. You're a big girl - you can afford it."
Shoulders lift to shrug again, an attempt to dismiss the edge from his last comment. "Towels, spoons, oven mitts. You know, just whatever."
"Don't do that.." Harmony pulls an arm out to swing and tag Jason in his arm with the back of her fingers as he cracks his knuckles. There is the twist of a mixed expression of disgust, as if she had just sucked on a lemon. "That's gross. I had an ex that used to do that.. gawd! He'd just sit there and crack crack crack his knuckles over and over and over.." Harmony rolls her blue eyes back and forth to accent her point. She has always been the physical type, so it is only natural that she feels comfortable enough to pop him in the arm.
Reaching to push a bit of her blond hair out of her face, Harmony furthers the gesture by using her hip to check into Jason's side, "Shopping isn't your forte?" she arches a brow, "Huh.. I guess that means you're one of the butch types then. Sports, fixing cars and stuff like that? Do you.. fight your feminine side? Or just not know how to get in touch with it? I've always been confused with those kinds of guys." Harmony probably has a notion in her head that she is sorta not outwardly saying. But it comes out neutral enough, and she doesn't seem to have any malice in her words.
Blue eyes scanning ahead, searching for a shop to start in, she catches sight of a familiar blond with a not so familiar guy standing in front of her. "Is that.. Elle?" she peers with narrowed eyes, "Oh! It is.. Hah! Alright, c'mon. I want you to meet my friend!" With that, Harmony decides to take it upon herself to snag Jason's arm, hooking hers to his and dragging him to participate.
Elle is all but swooning. She always did like Dax. "Before the car accident?" Elle blinks a few times. Oh, they would fill his head with some bull like that. Company agents don't up and disappear from the Company for four years. Especially not agents with his ability. What is nothing but blank space in Dax's memory is very vivid in Elle's, and she remembers working with him in the past.
She smiles down at his hand for a moment, then back up to Dax, squeezing his hand. "Nice to see you again, Dax. I'm sorry to hear about your accident. I— I didn't know you as well as I would have liked back before 2006, but I know things about your life prior to 2006. At least…I know stuff that could help, if you want to figure things out." That was a fumbling attempt to say that she'll tell him what he used to do if he wants to know.
She is still far too captivated by her discovery of Dax to notice the oncoming radioactive blonde.
"I…I appreciate it, Miss Elle, but I've kind of pieced together my past thanks to the photo albums and the like. Wasn't much to write home about." Dax shrugs, giving an apologetic grin before crouching slightly to pluck his bag off the ground. "What happened to you? Did you get stuck in those riots in Manhattan, or just get in an accident like me?"
A thin hand snags hold of Jason's arm and pulls him through the mall. And as Harmony's voice calls out to people he's never even met, he feels compelled to lifelessly follow her lead and his obvious turn of misfortune. Just what has he gotten into, he wonders. One moment he's selling dime a bag in Battery Park - you know, the evening job that pays the bills for his swanky new pad - and the next moment he's bumping into a newly acquired blonde buyer again. Only this time she's answering a NYC Craigslist ad and a real Odd Couple situation unfolds.
Yeah, that's right - Crime does pay, but at Jason's level it doesn't pay well enough to afford a Dorchester Towers Apartment suite. Hence, the reasons he finds himself at the mall with Harmony today.
Hooray for roommates… he thinks sarcastically.
"Err, friend? I didn't know you were so active in the daytime." Two pairs of feet skid across the linoleum lined floors of the shopping center as the dashing couple draw closer to Dax and Elle. "I figured you'd be a little more laid back considering that /stuff/ you're into. Whaooo!"
Jason feels them slow as they come within a meter of another blonde and her man-friend. But that doesn't matter. What matters is Harmony's willingness to break the script he'd prewritten in his head. A silent film where money is quietly exchanged and each others private business stays private. "This is a little outside of the box," he says lightly. "Already introducing me t your friends. What's next? Your mother?"
Elle tilts her head to the side, peering thoughtfully at Dax. "Well, we'll have to get together and talk, then. I'm sure I can help you clarify a few things." She smiles faintly, leaning toward the man on her crutches. She'll save the revelation that he used to be Company for a later time, when they're not in the middle of a crowded mall. Elle may not be the best at subtlety or tact, but she at least knows when a conversation should be private.
His question of what happened to her prompts a few blinks from the woman, who raises her brows a bit. "It was kind of an accident, I guess." If you could call being stabbed and kicked in the knee an accident. "I was in the hospital that got burnt down during the riots, high as a kite on morphine. I think there was an ice monster there, but I was kind of high." She says this in such a matter-of-fact way.
"Yanno.. I keep hoping that eventually? You'll grow out of this 'dick' thing you seem to exude. Can't you at least pretend to be nice? In public that is. You were a little bit of a sweetheart when we were moving my stuff in. Now? You're back to this.. It's really not cute. You should totally loosen up." Harmony tosses a sidelong look at Jason out of the corner of her eye. "There are a lot of things you don't know about me.." Like.. who gave her those hickeys on her neck. That's right, it should be mentioned that Harmony has what looks to be a rather large 'battle scar' right on one side of her neck. Whoever did that does pretty nice work, and it's a clear indication as to Harmony's wild streak.
"My mother is dead by the way—Hi Elle!" Harmony ties in the initial mutter to Jason, and ends it in an elevated greeting to the other blonde, keeping Jason tightly to her side by the arm. She even gives him a hard squeeze there, tightening her arms to almost a discomforting constriction, offering the girl ahead of her one of her bright smiles, "I see your injuries haven't deterred you from shopping. That's the sign of a true dedicated shopper. Elle? I'd like you to meet my roommate, Jason. Jason, this is my friend Elle. Jason and I are here to buy some things for the apartment."
Elle tilts her head to the side, peering thoughtfully at Dax. "Well, we'll have to get together and talk, then. I'm sure I can help you clarify a few things." She smiles faintly, leaning toward the man on her crutches. She'll save the revelation that he used to be Company for a later time, when they're not in the middle of a crowded mall. Elle may not be the best at subtlety or tact, but she at least knows when a conversation should be private.
His question of what happened to her prompts a few blinks from the woman, who raises her brows a bit. "It was kind of an accident, I guess." If you could call being stabbed and kicked in the knee an accident. "I was in the hospital that got burnt down during the riots, high as a kite on morphine. I think there was an ice monster there, but I was kind of high." She says this in such a matter-of-fact way.
Then, Harmony and Jason make their way up, and Elle's attention is finally drawn away from Dax, though that silly grin inspired by cute guy who she always had a little crush on growing up remains on her features. "Harmony! Hey!" She's practically glowing. "I am indeed a dedicated shopper, though I lack someone to carry my bags around for me. Actually, I was just getting sick of Redbird. Richard hasn't been around."
Jason is offered a small nod and a faint smile. "Nice to meet you." Then, Elle gestures toward Dax with that casted right arm of hers. "Harmony, this is Dax. I only just ran into him five minutes ago, after he went missing for four years. He doesn't remember, but we've known each other since we were kids." She offers a charming smile in Dax's direction. And he's hot.
It's not often that a hideously wounded blonde on crutches offers to 'get together' with him, but she says she knows him and does know his name, even without him introducing himself, but the fact that she's introducing him to these other two people gets Dax on his best behavior. Nice to meet you both. Daniel Jackson Arceneaux…Or Dax, as I'm called." He bobs his head and smiles a greeting before glancing down at his waist, pulling a phone from his pocket, and grimacing at the number.
"Well hell, as much as I'd love to stay and chat, I have to go…" he holds up the phone, showing a call from Designs Plus on the screen. "Network is down and with the riots, they don't want to be out for very long." His attention turns to Elle as he digs in his pocket to produce a card with his business number on it. "It was good to see you, Miss Elle. Would be nice to fill in a few blanks on my past if you know them. Give me a call if you have a chance."
Jason nods Dax off before taking the time to look Elle over. He could have sworn he heard the word 'high' falling out of her mouth. But he could've been mistaken, as his thoughts were split sporting Harmony's insults from the thought of her dead mother. What a fucking girl - they don't make them as crazy as this anymore.
"Looks like we scared him off," he says, lifting his gaze off Elle and tossing it a passing Daniel Jackson Arcen- arcen - arcensomething. "I don't know if it was this one" - he points to Harmony - "or if it was your startling true-to-life rendition of As The World Turns."
He leans back, chuckling. "Amnesia?" Shit. "All he's missing is a twin brother, a coma-case mother, and a deranged ex that mysteriously appears after a four year absence." At this he fully takes both hands out of his to rub together just under his nose. And with another laugh, he blows warm breath against his knuckles. "Spooky enough to scare me away too."
"Ahh.. Richard.." Harmony comments with a raise of her eye brows. It seems she is reminded of something when that name is mention, and all of a sudden, there is a hit of sheepishness that comes in the form of a purse of Harmony's lips. "He's uh.. He'll be alright. He just needs a little space and relaxation for a while." Harmony knows where he is, but she was told not to tell. After all, the man did help her sneak back onto the island for a favor. Mirthfully, Harmony's eyes bounce a little back and forth, and eventually she settles them politely upon Dax, "Ohhh! A friend from the past. Those are always nice." One brow raises as she gives Elle a 'look'. Her tone extends the last sentence out with a sultry undertone, to go along with the impish grin on her face. "Hey there, Dax.. Nice to meet you." she offers, friendly enough.
"Aw. Gotta go so soon? Yeah.. don't mind Jason at first? His bark is much less worse than his bite. I'm sure this whole bravado thing he has going on?" Harmony takes a hand and waves it in a circle gesture at Jason, "Is just him trying to show off. Or something that guys do. Anyway.. it was nice meeting you, and you should totally keep up with Elle, and catch up or something. I promise, she doesn't have weird friends or anything so.. don't lose her number." Harmony settles into a relaxed smile, almost winking at Elle as Dax departs. She finally mouths to her once Dax is out of visual range of seeing her, 'He's cute!'.
She is finally secure that Jason isn't going to flee, now that she has pulled him into the conversation, so she lets him go. "So anyway.. Elle? I uh.. take it you kicked Warren to the curb? He still wants me to help him clean up the radiation in Midtown.. even after.. well.. you know what happened." Dra-ma!
Elle cheerfully takes the business card, peeking it over for a moment, before tucking it into her pocket. Then, she smiles pleasantly to Dax, offering a small wave. "I definitely will give you a call. Maybe we can get some food or something, and I can help you out." She tilts her head, raising her hand to her ear in a phone shape. "I'll call you! Good seeing you again, Dax."
The words that come from Jason's mouth prompt a glare from Elle. She looks like she wants to say something, or perhaps just zap him. But, seeing as she's not exactly feeling up to a fight in the middle of the mall in front of a guy who she really doesn't want to scare off, she instead just scowls at him for a moment. Girl minds work in strange ways, though, so who knows why she's glaring?
After a moment, Jason is forgotten, and Elle turns a grin over to Harmony, glancing once toward Dax, then back to her. It's that look that girls give to each other when they're speculating on the attractiveness level of a potential mate.
As Dax leaves, though, Elle's crutches clack on the floor of the mall, and she moves closer to Harmony. At the same time, that overly charming attitude she was offering for Dax disappears, and she just looks tired. "Yeah, I broke up with him. But you know where Richard is?!" She suddenly looks concerned, as well. And more than a little upset. "Tell me where he is…I need to see him…" She fidgets, frowning.
Jason doesn't need to know the why's of a woman's glare - even though he knows full well that he's made an utterance of over-familiarity to a perfect stranger. The scowl is noticed and deserved. But it's just the kind of grim retort that raises his hackles enough to warrant a hasty retreat.
"Look…uhm…I'll just let you ladies talk amongst yourselves." Backpedaling out of the conversation and away from the blondes, he inches his way toward the nearest escalator. "Harmz, if you need me, I’ll just be checking out some bath towels or… something."
With one last nod to Elle he quietly says, "nice to meet you," and drifts up the automatic stairwell, intent on finding a movie theater and killing time with the biggest bucket of popcorn a roll of twenties wound in a rubber band can afford.
"Wait.. What? Oh! No!.." Harmony blinks, suddenly looking like she had just been caught with her hand in the cookie jar, "No no, nonono.. I totally can't do that. I am /not/ making Richard mad at me." Harmony holds up her hands in her defense, taking a Switzerland stance about this situation, "He's fine. I found him on accident, and he told me not to go around telling people where he is. That being said? I /can/ tell him to contact you. Annnnd.. since you're my friend, I'll make sure to tell him it's imperative that he get in touch with you. Orrrr, better yet? Here.." Harmony holds up a finger to indicate for Elle to hang on, reaching into her pocket to pull out her cellphone. "Here is his number. You can call him yourself, ask him to tell you where he is, so that way, he can't be pissed at me for giving away the location to his Bat cave." she flips and scrolls through her phone, pulling up the number and handing it over to Elle.
Harmony really doesn't want to have Cardinal yelling at her, so his location is an uncomfortable subject. And then.. Jason is leaving. Wait.. he drove, and she is pretty sure he would try to leave her if something else were to come up. Like his business or something. "Whoa! Wait.." Harmony frowns, "Hang on a second.. Jason?" Harmony groans and rolls her eyes, "Elle.. if you don't get in touch with him, give me a call later, I'll call him and tell him to pick up the phone and call you. I better go before he ditches me here, and I don't have a ride back to the apartment.. or he buys something that is totally gonna tick me off. Anyway.. catch up later! Been such a busy week, I totally gotta talk to you about Richard!" she speaks as she starts backing her way towards Jason, "Innnnteresting stories to tell. Call me!" she waves.
Suddenly, Elle looks like she's about to cry when she refuses to tell her where Richard is. "Please, Harm…I'm worried sick about him, and I really need to talk to him…" She frowns. "I'll just tell him that a little bird told me…I won't say a word about you telling me." As the phone number is given to her, she just looks even more like she's going to cry. "I already have his number! He won't answer my calls!!!"
Her crutches clack against the floor as she follows Harmony, frowning. "Don't you dare leave, I need to know where he is!" And…then she is crying. Wounded girl, crying in the middle of the food court! "You have to tell me, I need to find him!"
Is she crying? Oh god.. she is crying, right in the center of the mall. Harmony does not do well with drama.. or crying. When Elle starts to break down, the curly blonde looks left and then right, blinking at the possibility of a scene starting up. "Elle, calm down.. he's fine, I swear. He's not hurt, he's just… taking a little time off. That's all. Just to clear his head." she holds up her hands in defense again. "All I can tell you is that he is in Midtown if that helps. Apparently he's in a place he's been before? I dunno if that gives you any clues? I can't… outwardly say it? I really, really, really wanna tell you. But you gotta understand, if I hadn't found out where he was totally by accident? Even I wouldn't know. I'm just trying to be respectful of his desire for privacy. I am so sorry." Harmony does want to tell her, but she doesn't know if Richard wants to be hiding from Elle or anyone else. This isn't something they discussed. "Just.. give me some time to ask him, okay? I promise if he says it's okay to tell you, I'll call you first thing. I swear."
Her words do little to help Elle's tears. "No, please. I've been trying to get ahold of him since the eighth, and I really, really need to talk to him. Just give me a general location to look, and it won't come back to you, please." She's getting more and more upset, and breathing a little heavier. "He'll say no, and I need to talk to him, and please, Harmony! I would do the same for you in a second if you were looking for someone and I knew where they were!" She lets out a little sob.
"I don't know what you're talking about…I don't know where he's been before in midtown…" She wipes at her eyes with her good hand. To her credit, she's trying to remain composed.
Well shit. She is making this difficult. Harmony's hand comes up, covering her mouth, disbelieving that this is even happening. "He's.. in the ruins of Midtown. In the area where it's NOT radiated.. or.. well.. That's kinda touchy too.. um.." Harmony's hands come up, rubbing over her face, "Oh my god.." she mutters, "I so shouldn't have even said anything.. Okay, the last thing I can say is.. it's a pretty 'public' place. That's all I can say. I understand that you may need to talk to him and see him, but he told me not to tell. There are apparently people trying to kill Elisabeth.. and maybe him so.. the less people that know, the better. Elle, I just need you to understand how bad it could be for him if I tell you. It could be putting him in danger, which I'm sure you don't want. I promise you, as soon as I talk to Richard and see what he says, I'll call you straight away. Swear to god" Harmony holds up a hand, "I.. really gotta go. Really.." she wrinkles her nose. "I promise, you'll know where he is as soon as I clear it with him."
"If you don't tell me, I'm going to go looking for him by myself." Elle is still in tears. "I would never hurt Liz, or him, and I would die before letting them get hurt, but I can't— I need to find him, Harmony! He's…" She sniffles, wiping at her eyes. "He's one of the only people who has treated me like a real person. He's the first person to tell me not to do anything for him, to find my own way, and I'm really trying, but…I need to find him, Harmony. And if you won't give me a general area, I'll look for him out there until I collapse. Just give me a block to work with. Please, I'm begging you. And if you tell him and he doesn't want anyone to find him…who's to say he won't leave?"
"He's.. not gonna leave. Because if I ask him for permission, and he says no, he'll know I didn't betray his trust. Which.. is kinda the big thing here. I understand that you want to find him, but.." It is difficult for her, because she really does care, but what Elle is asking her to do is something that goes against what Harmony is about, "I promised him I wouldn't.. How does that look on me if I just go against his wishes and tell you. Even if he means as much as you say he does. It.. doesn't really say much about my credibility as being trustworthy. Don't go looking for him, Elle? Okay? You need to worry about you, and you need to get better first. I'm sure once I tell Richard you need to see him, he'll come running to look for you. I'm positive.. Look.. I really gotta go!" Harmony, inching away, "I will let you know something as SOON as I talk to Richard. I promise! I'm sorry.. I promise!" she calls and quickly moves to retreat after Jason. How does she get herself in these situations?
"I'm going to go look for him!" Elle shouts this angrily after Harmony, and turns, storming off with tears in her eyes.