Reach Out

Participants:

colette3_icon.gif helena_icon.gif

Scene Title Reach Out
Synopsis Helena finally catches up with Colette a month after the Pinehearst incident.
Date September 2, 2009

West Side Sushi


The phone call was brief but in good spirits, a request from Helena for Colette to meet her somewhere so they could chat. Colette was given fair warning to look for short dark locks instead of the usual length of blonde, and as it happens, Helena's wearing her sassy black wig tonight. She's already seated when Colette arrives, but apparently hasn't ordered anything but a plum wine for herself. When Colette arrives, Hel lifts a hand and waves to her.

She's looking better than she did the last time Helena saw her, huddled in an elevator falling through a dark shaft into the basement of the Pinehearst building. When Colette rounds the corner from the doorway and catches that wave, there's an uncertain tug on her lower lip as she eyes Helena in the wig, one hand self-consciously moving to mat down some of her own messy, dark locks.

On her way over to the table, Colette unshoulderes the ratty old olive-drab messenger bag she wears over her shoulder, settling it down on top of the table before sliding in to the seat. "Hey I— sorry I'm kinda' late, it was like, uh— I got a cab out here but he dropped me off on the wrong street. I got a little lost." Unzipping the front of her carnation red hoodie, Colette settles back against the chair, eyes shrouded by the dark lens of sunglasses. "M'kinda' glad you came, actually. I was thinkin' about asking you something, so— yeah, it's good timing."

"Good." says Helena pleasantly, and notes, "I'm really, really sorry this took so long, but I wanted to do this in person, and you know how things can get. But the main thing here is, I wanted to thank you for all that you did. Buying you sushi isn't nowhere near enough in the way of thanks, but it's sort of all I've got available to mind at the moment, but nonetheless, thank you." Her expression turns solemn. "Conrad would be very proud."

"I— I've been busy too," Colette admits with a furrowed brow, swallowing awkwardly as she shifts her focus to Helena, then down to the table. Resting her hands on that messenger bag, she nods her head quietly at the mention of Conrad, the look half hidden by her sunglasses showing hints of uncertainty and nervousness in mention of his name.

Swallowing noisily, Colette finally looks up with chalk white eyes over the frames of her sunglasses. "Were… were you there, last week? There were so many people I— all of the different trucks— " it's not clear what she's talking about at first, as her brows crease tigether, fingers wring on the canvas fabric of that bag. "Were you on Staten Island? With— with Joseph and everyone? I— I'm— I don't really know if you're even a part of that group. I just— I wasn't sure if everyone got out okay."

She was at the evacuated Ferrymen safehouse? That's news to Helena.

Helena shakes her head. "I wasn't." she confesses. "I was on Staten a couple of weeks ago, but not during that particular…incident." There's a pause as a waiter arrives, and Helena takes the time to order herself a few rolls. She seems partial to unagi. "Have you taken up carrying an oar, then?" she asks once the waiter's finished and walked away.

Subtleties are lost on Colette, and it's only once the waitress comes over that she realizes the whole bag ont he table thing isn't really appropriate. Sliding it down and with a jerk of her shoulders once it starts to fall to the floor, Colette grimaces upwards at the young woman and looks awkwardly at Helena, then up towards the waitres again. "I— uh— wh— whatever she's having?" There's no familiarity in her voice at all, two fingers pushing up her sunglasses across the bridge of her nose as the waitress nods and moves away, causing Colette to crane her head towards Helena.

"I— an oar?" Her lips part in a dumbfounded expression. "I'm— I'm not really, uh— I've only been on a couple of boats before. There's one from Brooklyn to Staten Island I take to get to the Lighthouse, but— I'm— " her brows furrow, and then finally and too late to really cover herself she gets it.

"Oh! Oh — I— it's— " her brows crease, and Colette leans forward, voice lowered despite not really needing to. "I'm… not really sure. I helped out because— because I got a phone call and there was trouble. But— but I don't really think what we did there— what you had me help you do— I don't think it's what I want to do with my life. I— I want to go back to school and…" her voice trails off, guilt crossing her face, "I don't know."

"This isn't exactly what I want to do with my life either," Helena says ruefully, "But if you're worried that I'd be angry or upset or something, please don't be." Her expression turns warmly concerned and she says gently, "If you've got the means, Colette - then I'm really happy for you. It's just as well that I can see someone who can remind me what I'm doing this for."

"Well, I mean— I don't know if it's not what I want. I just— " Colette's brows furrow, but she cuts herself off, thinking more on what Helena said. Folding her hands on the table top, the young teen raises her brows and watches the only slightly older girl for a moment. Despite the lack of age difference between the two, they both act a decade apart. "Well, my friend Joseph gave me some good advice when I talked to him about it. He— he said that sometimes you just have to do what feels right, basically. You gotta' do right by yourself, because otherwise you won't ever be able to live with the choices you make."

She affords Helena a hesitant smile. "You— you should talk to him some time. His name's Joseph Sumpter, Cat knows 'em. He's a really nice guy, works at the Guiding Light church but he's not like— preachy?"

Helena pauses a moment. "I don't know, I - my family, we used to be kind of C&E, you know? I'm not really big on churches." She looks apologetic, but God hasn't really done much for Helena Dean lately. With a faint smile, "I'll think about it." Because she really doesn't want to get into a conflict over the prospect.

"He's really a good guy, it doesn't matter that you're Jewish!" There's a big, kind of dense smile on Colette's lips because she clearly didn't interpret what Helena was trying to say clearly at all. She's just all hopeful smiles and clasped hands. "He's a real nice guy, might help you clear your head. I hear he's got a really neat ability too, s'like, shows the future n'stuff. I haven't seen it yet, though."

Tilting her head to the side, Colette considers that, and it seems to spur her on to what she had originally wanted to talk about. "Uh, on— about something like that, actually. I— wanted to ask you if you knew somebody who could help me? I um, my— my eyes've been all sort'sa screwed up since something happened at the Lighthouse, and I was— I was hoping you might know who Abby was talking about when— when she said someone else was doing healing for her now?"

Helena laughs. "No, no, I'm not Jewish. C&E…you know, Christmas and Easter?" She shakes her head and then oh's. "I guess I could…well, uh. Decker's got her ability now." Helena explains. "I could pass on a message that you're looking for him if you'd like, but you might want to try Mrs. Hadley first." Their food arrives, and Helena cracks her chopsticks, selecting a slice of roll and popping it in her mouth.

One eye squinting behind the lenses of her sunglasses at Deckard has her ability, Colette assumes she's just misinterpreting it embarassingly like she did the Christmas and Easter thing, brows rising up slowly before the foods brought. Confusion is evidenced in her face as she gives the rice-wrapped rolls a confused look, darting her focus up to Helena's hands, watching her split the chopsticks before reaching down and sliding her own out of the little paper sheathe. Her fingers work at them, tugging, pulling and — snap — one is shorter than the other and one has a piece of broken wood at the top. There's a bit of a grimace on Colette's lips as she looks down to her plate, then up to Helena, fingers trying awkwardly to hold the chopsticks.

Once she gets them in a semblance of the correct order, her fingers seem to have no control over how they fumble and click together, unable to pick up the salmon roll for more than three seconds before dropping it back to her plate. "S— so— " she tries to distract herself with conversation. "This Deckard guy and uh— Hadley? Do you get in touch with them and they just… call me when they have time? Or— I'm— I'm sorry if I'm kind've retarded, I've never done this before." It's hard to tell at the end there if she's talking about dialing for a healer or making an ass of herself eating sushi.

"Use the fork, if it's easier." Helena suggests casually, so as not to bring too much attention to the issue. "Deckard is…I can send a message to him if you'd like, but I think you might like Mrs. Hadley a lot better. She owns a bakery called A Piece of Cake, and she's very kind. Let me give you her number, and if she's not available, I'll reach out to Deckard. I uh…don't like to bother him unless there's no other option." Helena pops another piece of roll in her mouth.

Grimacing awkwardly, Colette reaches down for the fork with a sheepush smile. "S— sorry," she adds in a small voice, considering the explanations of the two with furrowed brows. "Yeah I mean, if it's easier for this Hadley lady to help me out, that's really cool. I uh— how— much does it cost?" Her nose wrinkles slightly as her eyes divert down to the salmon roll on the end of the fork. "M'not really sure like— you know— how all that sort've thing works. I uh, I just want to make sure m'not going to get there and get all, you know, confused when she asks me for money or something."

Seemingly at least familiar with the taste of sushi, likely thanks to her sister, Colette starts eating distractedly, pausing to consider her bag down at her feet. "Actually, I've got my phone with me— yeah," she leans to one side, fumbling thorugh her back before coming up with a small phone, the kind that slide out a keyboard from inside. It's pushed across the table towards Helena. "Just go and program both their numbers in."

"Mrs. Hadley won't mind." Helena assures, "But… Deckard… I don't know how he'd feel if I passed his number around. Would you be offended if I referred you to Abby on that? From what I understand she'd be a better gauge." Helena looks apologetic as she types in the phone number for A Piece of Cake. "Mrs. Hadley doesn't charge, but it's generally polite to buy something from the bakery if you do go to her."

Rolling her tongue over the inside of her cheek, Colette dips her head down into a nod. "Oh I— okay. Abby, huh? Yeah I think we're squared away now, I don't think she'd mind me coming over and asking about him. She— still lives at Cat's place, right?" One dark brow kicks up, and Colette forks another piece of sushi on her plate, bringing it up to her mouth before hesitating as she adds, "I actually haven't seen her there in a while— I was wondering if she moved."

Helena blinks. "I don't think so? What do you have as her last address? I know she's at Old Lucy's quite a bit - I think she owns it now." Then she nods, "Cat's, that's right." She suddenly seems uncertain, and says quickly, "I'm not trying to be stingy, about Deckard. He's just…I don't know how he'd feel about giving out his information."

"I dunno, last I knew she lived at Cat's place, like, fourth floor I think. S'where she was when I borrowed some stuff from her and went to apologize and— found out she couldn't heal anymore?" Colette still sounds a little confused on that part. "And hey no— it's okay trust me, I understand. I wouldn't want people just gettin' my number without knowing who they were either."

Nudging another piece of sushi around on her plate, Colette abruptly asks a rather awkward question. "U— um," her eyes narrow, "I don't— mean anything bad by this so— so don't think it but— do… do you know any good therapists?"

Helena blinks a little bit. "Why would I take that question as anything bad?" she asks honestly. "Though I can't say that I know any therapist types. You could try getting a referral from the Suresh Center, maybe? I bet they get all kinds of medical referrals."

"Oh!" Colette perks up a bit, girmacing, "I just— you know when— if you ask someone something like that I just— didn't want to imply you needed— " she deflates some, shrinking back with a crooked and awkward smile spread across her face, hdiing her insecurities behind it. "I— take it you think the Suresh Center's safe to go to? I almost attended a class there a couple'a weeks ago but I never know what's okay to go to and what's not. I— I really like the idea of having a place I could go to, and talk about what I do. But— yeah maybe… maybe it'd be good to get a referral there."

Smiling faintly, Colette skewers another piece of sushi, brandishing it around as she talks. "I— used to have a therapist I saw back before the bomb. For— other things. But with everything that's happened I— I think it might be good if I start seeing someone, I mean— the things I had to do— saw— I just…" her voice trails off, occupying herself with chewing rather than blabbering.

"Colette?" Helena can't help herself, she puts down her chopsticks, reaches out, and puts a hand on Colette's. "It's okay. Breathe." Giving it a moment, she withdraws her hand and admits, "I don't know if anywhere is safe with those HF lunatics around, but if you don't feel comfortable walking in there, you could always call."

Biting downon her lower lip, Colette almost jerks her hand away from Helena's reflexively; she can feel the twitch in her fingers, but manages to catch herself before letting old habits take control of her. "I— " she swallows, tightly, "yeah. Yeah maybe I'll just call. I've been having nightmares about what happened in the basement of Pinehearst to Eileen," once more she talks as if she assumes everyone knows everyone else; thankfully in this case she's right.

"I figure maybe seeing someone about it might not be a bad idea. My— my dad'll probably agree, but I haven't talked to him about…" trailing off, Colette glances upt o Helena and offers her a hesitant smile. "Hey ah— I know m'just asking you all sort's of stupid things," and also veering off topic more erratically than a drunken driver veers off the road.

"But um… w— why're you wearing a wig?"

Helena flinches a little at the mention of fathers, but the question makes her smile. "My face is kind of plastered all over the internet." she says with ruefully. "A lot of people know who I am, so sometimes it's a good idea to throw them off a bit. If I'm going someplace where there's a ton of people but not necessarily a direct threat, the wig usually keeps people from making the connection."

Rubbing at the side of her head, Colette's brows furrow slightly. "I spotted you fine," her lips purse to the side, then draw back ad her teeth tug at her bottom lip. "I'm— sure it works fine though I mean, the videos are kinda' weird and it is hard to make you out right on 'em. You haven't really done one of those in a while too, I've been keepin' an eye on your stuff with that computer Jennifer made for me last fall." Furrowing her brows, Colette looks thoughtful for a moment, and right there goes a thought she's overlooked; wondering what ever happened to Jennifer and Ygraine.

Silent for that moment where she considers her missing friends, Colette glances back up to Helena. "Thanks," she doesn't explain at all immediately. "For— for coming to see how I was doing, and, you know— not just brushing me off. It— it means a lot to me, y'know? I also wanted to like, thank you for telling me about what you saw, um…" her lips press together slightly, forcing the words out despite not entirely believing them. "In— In the future? Knowing that, uh, knowing what works out? It— it made a big difference." Red cheeks and an awkward smile are the only other explanation given. Sometimes, things just work out.

Helena can't help but grin. "Some things I saw, I'd be happy to see work out as they did. What I saw for you was one of those things." A pause and then a one shouldered shrug. "The rest, maybe I can't fight." She pops some more sushi in her mouth, making an mmmm sound. "I can't believe you've lived in New York for so long and never had sushi!" This seems to be Helena's lead into more casual topics for the remainder of their meal.


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