Participants:
| Scene Title | Safe Is A Priority |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Joseph visits Michelle brennan to try and get her help in rounding up Brennan. |
| Date | March 17, 2010 |
Brennan Household, Brooklyn
The Brennan household is not suffering for noise what with Brennan gone. The children still run around and play, giggling seeming to come from all corners of the household though he's heard Genevieve ask where her father is. Joseph was invited for dinner when he called, the meal divided up between polite conversation, translation of what Marlena was asking, herding the twins and enjoying the meal. Of the three adults at the table, two of them knew that Joseph wasn't there for just dinner and polite conversation. But eventually dinner ends, the Nanny takes the girls upstairs to get the youngest ready for bed and Marlena heads off to her room to do homework while Michelle takes Joseph downstairs for tea and the inevitable conversation.
The office is upstairs, and downstairs seems to be a rec room, toys strewn here and there sometimes, a television that isn't near the same price as the one upstairs and more worn and old furniture. But Michelle gestures to a the couch, arm chairs and loveseat, encouraging Joseph to take a seat while she sets down the tea tray. "watch out, the girls stuff Barbies under the cushions. I suppose I should be thankful that it's not stepping on lego. But sometimes, I think that Barbies heels are more worse than a yellow piece of brick" The door behind them is closed so that they can talk privately.
And so it is where Joseph lands, comfortable in his armchair after excavating a Barbie doll from beneath a cushion, absently straightening the doll's summery dress in the name of modesty and setting her aside. "It was all buildin' blocks in my home, when I was a kid. The one girl outta us three, she wasn't so much the doll type. Lego and, uh, trucks, mainly. Thanks," he adds, reaching out to pick up a cup of tea, cradling it in his hands as if the late-winter outside's managed to go ahead and settle its chill this deep, although Joseph hasn't noticed it ever since taking off his coat in the Brennans' foyer.
"How's everything with Harve?" he asks, first time he's touched on the man's current status for the evening.
"Melissa came to the house, the young girl that he runs that house with?" She's only ever met Melissa this once. "She brought me a letter from Herve. He is… He is well Joseph. He misses us, but he is well. I am sure that he would be glad in the heart to see how well you are doing" Michelle sets about to making sure there's cream and sugar and lemon if Joseph wants it before getting her own cup. "Should I presume that this is why you have descended upon my home?"
A lemon slice is set adrift on murky tea, tapped around with a teaspoon as Joseph sets his elbows against his knees. "I wish I could say that this is just a social visit," Joseph agrees, with a rueful smile. "Heck, I wish I could say that such a thing would occur to me lately, but, 'm gettin' there. You're right, though, I wanted to talk to you 'bout your husband. Volunteered to do because he helped me, once. And I was thinkin' I could help him out too. It's about the girl he's lookin' after."
Up goes the chin and then back down in some lazy acknowledging nod of her head as Michelle lifts and tucks her feet under her, teacup and saucer held in her lap. "Liette" The proper french intonation applied to the name. "Everyone wants to talk about the girl. Well then Joseph" Michelle's lips moue out a bit and there's another lazy nod.
"What do you wish to know. I do not know how much I can tell you, but I will do what I can"
"Actually," Joseph says, setting down his tea after he's taken a sip. "I don't honestly know how much you can tell me either. I guess what I wanted to do was extend somethin' of an invitation. You know what you're husband's got a stake in — you've seen the Terminal. The Den, too, I imagine, or at least you know about it. It's a network of people more'n willing to help Harve and his ward out — and we're worried that he'll get in trouble if he goes at it alone. Basically, we wanna help keep her safe, no more and no less."
Hands clasped, Joseph shrugs his shoulders beneath the button-down he'd thrown on for the occasion — tonight, he's dressed very much like the pastor he was, minus a wedding ring. Clean, put together, and healthy. The imploring look he holds for Michelle matches that demeanor, too. "Harve's concerned that he'd be putting us in danger if the girl is brought into the network, but if you don't mind me saying so, he's got it backwards. We're very capable of lookin' out for both Liette and Harve — you, too, if you need a place to go. But simple fact is, we hide people. Maybe you could help me get that message across to 'im."
Michelle's lower lip is pulled in by her upper lip, whetted and released as she takes a deep breath, letting out. "Monsieur Sumter. Joseph" The teacup is lifted to her lips so that she can blow across the surface and then a tentative sip. "I presume that you have not found him if you're coming here. There was someone who sent him a message, said she had hurt herself and needed help. So he went. He comes back with this girl who is not dressed at all for the weather. Says that someone told him to take care of her. And we do. We think that those who are taking care of her will find her. She tells us that she is always found"
Michelle's tone is conversation and she barely moves from the comfortable spot that she's in. "After a few days, we took her to the store so that she can have proper clothes, without needing to wash what she has over and over. But that night Herve gets a message. Take the girl, drop her at a corner with a person in a rouge, pardon, red scarf. Herve, he will not do this. She's a child. The person, they then tell him that they will hurt us, if we do not do what they demand. Herve, my love, he gets her out of the car and he walks home"
Lips purse at this. "He finds us at home safe and he is scared and he is livid, but. But. He packs things for camping as if they will be out in the cold. He gathers all the cash we have and food and says that he will leave a message, that he needs to get her to some place safe where no technopath or hacker can reach him and that he'll make sure to stay in touch. And so, I tell people he has gone to Chicago. Problem with the family"
"There was a kid. An actor. One who manifested an ability that would blow up anythin' electronic in range," Joseph says, starting his own storytime. "Now, abilities, tiers— these things'll go up, the danger level considered higher, if an ability can't be controlled. He got put in Ferry hands and we set him up with the kind of place he needed. Nothing electrical, just— room to be hidden, despite bein' a high-profile kind of man. If Harve's scared o' this technopath, we find a place a technopath can't touch. And he won't be alone doin' it."
Another shrug, picking his tea back up and watching the little raft of lemon knock against the porcelain sides. "Harve Brennan's in trouble for as long as he has this girl, Michelle. Liette is too. He's in over his head at this point — there's a lot of things about Liette we dunno about and can only guess at, and enough things surroundin' her to know that keeping her hidden and safe is the priority. I can leave him a message at— I can leave him a message, but I thought maybe you'd help me out in this."
"I promised, Joseph, that I would stay out of it. That was the deal Brennan struck. That we would be safe while he looks after Liette. What help I can give you is very limited, he is telling me nothing other than he is safe and that she is well. The girls are watched over from afar, and there is someone that makes sure that I go to work safe. I can tell you that he is somewhere down near the midtown for he told me that the technopaths, that they cannot reach down to where there were you and the others. Beyond that.. what would you have me do Joseph. I may be his wife, and I can turn his head now and then, but Herve, he is his own man. And he fears for us and he fears for the young Liette. Her time spent with us… he considers her like family. She is young and unknowing of the world, like the twins upstairs. She is full of the joie de vivre as well. He wants to protect that and get her home"
"Kind of the problem, Michelle. We kind of think that what counts as home for her is what you're tryna protect her from. Here— " Taking a deeper sip of tea to properly deplete it, Joseph sets down the cup. "I'm glad you're keepin' out of it, and if that's the way it is, then you knowin' what I've told you is enough in case— somethin' goes wrong and you hear from him earlier than you think. I don't want to hunt down a man who don't want to be found, but— I'll see if he's up for a conversation, I guess. I have information— "
Minor white lie. He's not the one with the information, exactly. Another rueful shrug. "There are things he should know, is all, even if he's not lookin' for help from us." A beat, then Joseph asks, "What sorta deal do you mean?"
Michelle's silence isn't her being evasive but more the woman thinking how to put it. How to phrase it to the pastor even as she's setting down her own half consumed tea. "He has been in contact with the Monsieur Praeger. Tot he best of my knowledge, the Secretary sent someone to speak with him and requested that he keep her safe as best he could. Beyond that you will have to speak with Herve" Michelle gathers herself, rising from her seat. "I will do this for you Joseph, because I like you and because you have come to my home and are polite and because I know from what little time I have known you, that your heart is good, like Herve's. When he talks to me again, what do you wish me to tell. Is there a place that you would like to speak with him?"
Any reaction to the name Praeger and the deal made doesn't have a visible impact, save for a thoughtful frown down into the dregs of his tea, before Joseph is swept up and distracted into social cues like getting to his feet. "If the Terminal is a good place for 'im, I can drag myself out there," he says, digging a hand into his pocket and picking out a piece of paper, number already written out in neat pen strokes. He offers a smile, holding it out to her. "You can reach me here. Just gimme a time and I'll know how to find him, don't even have to say his name if you're worried. And thank you, for hearin' me out— and for dinner."
"I will at least pass it along to Herve Monsieur Joseph. I will promise to do that at least. The rest is up to him as they say and you are welcome. Always, in my home, you are welcome. Do you want to take some food back with you before you go? How is the young woman uhh.. Else? Colette called and left a message and was panicked about her. Is she doing better?" Even as she's guiding him back up the stairs.
"We're good for food, but thank you kindly. Else is— she could be doin' better," Joseph admits, pushing his hands into his pockets as he moves. "But Colette scares easy — I don't think we got too much to worry about." Not that he knows any better — he's not the doctor, and the doctor is in hiding. But that conversation is left in the comfortable little den, proceeding to follow Michelle up and out.