Participants:
| Scene Title | Red Heels and Rose Petals |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Helena meets up with Cat to talk about the Sylar meeting and other matters. |
| Date | September 30, 2008 |
Dorchester Towers: Cat's Apartment
The entry hall has room for anyone carrying larger objects to move without much trouble and five doorways. First, on the left, is a kitchen with the usual appliances, microwave, toaster, blender, coffeemaker, and George Foreman grill. Cherry cabinets with brass handles above and below the marbled counter fill the spaces. In the center is a table of dark cherry wood with comfortable wooden chairs for six people on a waxed cedar floor.
The living area, second on the left, has a peach colored couch with cherry wood end and coffee tables along the far wall. On either side of those is a recliner chair. Atop one of the end tables is a caller ID phone with NYC phone books. Electronics line the left wall: a 60" thin plasma HDTV, cable box with DVR, stereo equalizer, radio tuner, twelve disc CD player, iPod dock, home theater system, and speakers. One of the other walls has a piano placed against it and a wide window overlooking Nuked York. Pale wine colored pull curtains, normally kept closed, hang before it. The fourth wall has a line of electric and acoustic guitars, a few amps of varying sizes, and a cello.
The first door on the right opens to the smaller of two bedrooms. The second right hand door leads to the main bedroom.
At the entry hall's far end is a bathroom with standard fixtures, a white tile floor, and products a woman would have. Bright and warm glows from overhead track lighting bathe the place. Deep wine colored plush carpet covers the floor, stopping only at the kitchen and bathroom.
She's at home, mid-morning, studying a wall a short time after Dani left for her day's work. Cat's adrift in thought, to cook up something for the occasion and have it ready before the return that evening, but she also has her mind on other business. The email had been sent to Helena in the timely fashion requested, but she has yet to get a reply.
She picks up the iPhone, preparing to make a call about arranging something, while eying her guitar from across the main room and entering a slightly musical mood.
There's been too much to think about since the meeting with Sylar. Perhaps it's a little inconsiderate, but Helena's starting to feel like she's juggling too many balls, and it's simply easier to show up at Cat's door, ring the bell, and hope that she's home.
Her fingers pause in the act of tapping numbers to make that call, and she slips it back into place on her right hip. Cat is curious, not so much expecting anyone at this hour, but moves toward the door just the same. She opens it, standing there in a blue tank top, dark green shorts, and bare feet. She likes the feel of carpet under them. "Helena," she greets, standing aside to admit the visitor. "Good to see you." Her features show a slight smile.
Helena steps inside, her hands shrugged into the kangaroo pocket at the front of her pullover. "I got your email. You said you had questions. I didn't really have time to answer them at the time. Claire and I were meeting Sylar." Then, somewhat apologetically for her brusqueness, "It's good to see you too."
"I do," Cat replies, closing the door behind Helena. "You and Claire already met with him again, then. How'd that go?" A speculative expression settles into place as her feet start toward the kitchen, she glances back and makes a one word offer. "Coffee?"
"Well, we're both alive." says Helena wryly. "But now we know what he wants, and what we have to do to get Peter back. Something cold, if you have it?"
A nod, as Cat enters the kitchen and heads for the refrigerator. Out comes a carton of orange juice and a two liter bottle of Pepsi, each held up so Helena can pick between them. "Do tell," she invites. "I'm sure the story will be most intriguing."
Helena points to the OJ, with a murmured thank you. "The level 5 escapees included a man named Adam Monroe. He's got regenerative abilities which is why Sylar wants him in particular. But apparently Monroe and his people have a Company agent named Elle Bishop. We've agreed to exchange Elle for Peter, but that involves locating Adam. And once we've located him, we need to figure out how to get Elle from him and his buddies."
She places both on the counter and gets out two glasses, one of which is filled with the orange juice and the other with cola, before putting both containers away. Cat seems in thought while doing so, and while on her way to sit at the table. One foot hooks out a chair for Helena to sit in, with her requested liquid placed before it, and she takes another across from it. "So," she eventually replies, "it isn't actually necessary to hand Mr. Monroe over to death. All we really need is to secure Miss Bishop and make the trade, yes?"
"Effectively." Helena says. "But first thing's first, we have to find Monroe and arrange a meeting. I'm trying not to think about what it means that Sylar might aquire that power."
"That's probably the trickiest part of all," Cat agrees. "Are there assurances he isn't playing you again, as was done before?" She is, by her calculating expression, bringing the analyticality of her mind to bear here. During the silence of waiting for Helena's reply, a swig of the cola is taken.
"What sort of assurances would you expect?" asks Helena, echoing the motion. "It's not like any of us can read Sylar's mind. But there's the fact that he didn't kill me or Claire, though he claims he doesn't need her anymore."
"He won't, if he has access to Mr. Monroe, from whom he can steal the same thing. So at least in that angle we can presume he's been honest. As to why your brain is still in place, well, he may simply believe he needs you still walking and talking for now. Or he may be thinking he can catch you at any time he chooses. He is, after all, able to adopt other faces. And confidence doesn't seem to be in any short supply with him."
Helena nods her silent agreement with this. "Claire and I will do anything to get Peter back." She's made this statement to more than one person, now. "If I start thinking about this too much like a chess game, I'm going to get so stuck I can't do anything. One step at a time. So first, find Adam Monroe." There's a pause. "I was wondering if your reporter friend might be able to dig up any information."
"I'll ask her," Cat replies quietly. "I'm interested in meeting the source of information on where inside the Company people were held, to ask them what they might know of the habits and identities of those who escaped, as well as Mr. Bennet." Her glass is lifted, she takes a long drink, after which she asks quietly "You've fallen in love with him, Helena?"
"Don't be silly. Bennet's old enough to be my dad." Ha ha, Helena. "Whatever she can find on Adam Monroe, I'd be grateful for. It was Sylar who suggested Level Five, when he was masquerading as Mohinder. He told us there was another prisoner in there that we were specifically hoping to liberate, who if we did so would put a serious crimp in Company efforts. But he was really using us to Monroe."
Her eyes close for a moment, and her head shakes. "Not Bennet, Helena. Rock. You've fallen in love with Peter Petrelli?" Cat studies the face while she continues.
Helena is silent for a long time. Peter had become accustomed to these silences before she would speak, thinking about all the things she could say before actually letting words escape from her mouth. Finally, for all that wait, Cat only gets one word, half-hoarse. "Yes."
A quiet smile lights her face, and two small words are spoken in reply to Helena's admission. "Red heels." Cat drinks again from her glass, letting a silence linger, before adding "I hope you'll make each other happy. Both deserve it."
Helena blinks. "Red heels?" she echoes uncertainly. "Are you filling me in on his kinks?"
"He has a taste for red heels," Cat replies, with that quiet smile still in place. "I'm simply saying he'll not be wherever he is forever, and when he returns they could be something he appreciates being surprised with, Helena." The smile shifts to calm sincerity as she adds "We were never together. Could have been, but at the moment of truth he made a different choice, and since then life has taken us along different paths."
She segues then. "It's Dani's birthday. Her twenty-sixth."
Helena blinks a little bit, absorbing that info. "Peter's cursed with an interesting life." she says, and then adds furtively, "Is it? Happy birthday to her. Are you going to do something?"
"We've all been cursed with interesting lives, Helena. Most not so much as his, yet, but it could be argued we've all been touched with that Chinese blessing/curse. And I am," Cat replies with a chuckle. "Planning, that is. I'm going to have things laid out here and there in sets of twenty-six when she gets home from work.
"Sets of twenty-six what?" Helena asks, and oh's. "Do you need me to leave? I didn't mean to take up all your time."
"I've got time, Helena," Cat answers. "I do want to meet with Bennet and Wireless, to see what can be learned from them, for general purposes. I think I'm a good candidate for that, given my talent for not forgetting anything. I could pass it on to whoever else we need word for word, move for move."
And she takes some moments to think, before quietly remarking "twenty-six pink rose petals to make a path, a cake with twenty-six of something on it…"
"Rose petals?" Helena's mouth turns up at the corners, her brows lifting expressively. "You weren't kidding about different directions."
"I wasn't," she confirms quietly, making eye contact. "And I thought it good to tell you as much, also pass on that other thing, as a kindness, to both be open about where things were between him and I, give you something to surprise him with, and let it be clear we aren't in competition." Cat watches the blonde's face to gauge if what she says is understood and accepted."
Helena nods to that. It seems that it is. "One of the things I'd like to do with PARIAH is start influencing people through the media." she says. "Press. Viral videos. Registration is wrong. I want people to see that. I read about how in the 60's and 70's people would burn their draft cards. If we could start a movement like that, it would be powerful."
Her eyes take on that speculative expression again, Cat is calculating. "I'd already been thinking along those lines, to be truthful. It wasn't certain how the group would react to me, and if you'd not been accepting I'd have begun to act along my own path. Propaganda is key, any organization which achieved success had a medium or media to spread its message, a political arm. Violence doesn't much serve us, not in a climate where fear has caused our situation. Stoking more fear risks more agressive efforts to find and lock away Evolved persons, a turn toward a Final Solution." Cat drops into silence there, not certain about the quality of Helena's education, but hoping… believing she'll understand the phrase.
"Burning registration cards is a solid idea. But I don't advocate anyone who isn't already registered to become so. Persons without registration documents can instead burn copies of the Linderman Act itself."
"Peter and I had a huge argument about the value of propaganda." Helena says, nodding. "He didn't think the graffiti tagging was of any use. But I disagreed. There are other ways to reach out, though." She cocks her head, looks at Cat. "I want to work the propaganda angle. But I don't know if it's something I can head up for the group by myself."
"I've found at least one other person to bounce ideas off of," Cat replies with a grin. "She doesn't know of my associations with you, and it'll stay that way unless you and she want it otherwise. She's quite the Debater." The statement, it seems, is something along the lines of volunteering.
"You obviously don't mean Danielle." Helena says. "Can you tell me who she is? I guess what I'm saying is that I'd like you to be a member of PARIAH and be in charge of the propaganda machine. Cameron's sort of been letting leadership fall to me and Claire these days. You've got the mind for it. But if you're all up in the Greta Garbo about it, I understand."
"You've probably met her," Cat replies with a chuckle. "But I can't give away an identity without her consent. I'll tell her someone wants to meet her, though, if you like and arrange it. And I'll handle your P. R. department." She drinks more of her cola before stating "You've not commented on me meeting with Bennet and Wireless."
You say, "If you're accepting membership into PARIAH and you are interested in lessons from them, you'll get to meet them." Helena says. "But I want to convince Bennet to talk to me about the details of the Company, and I think it would be a good idea to have you there for archival purposes."
"Excellent," Cat replies. She lifts her cola glass to touch with Helena's juice in a toast, sans alcohol.
Helena clinks her glass with Cat's, takes a sip. Then, "So how exactly did you discover the red heels thing?"
 September 30th: The Sailing Club |
Previously in this storyline… Next in this storyline… |
 September 30th: Desperately Seeking Adam |