Participants:
| Scene Title | Setting the Knife Down |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Feng approaches Odessa about her next assignment. |
| Date | April 11, 2010 |
Old Lucy's - Upstairs
Though one might remember when a certain fiery woman lived here… Now the living area above Old Lucy's has changed hands. The open living room and kitchen are homey, a commingling of two people's tastes. The leather couch sits kitty corner to a one of red suede and a bit smaller. A large bird cage for it's budgie inhabitant takes up it's own corner beside dark paneled walls. Bookshelves with literary pieces of a variety both academic and not take up another small section.
The kitchen is large, with a rolling wood and black marble island to give more counter space to work on. Pots and pans hang from the roof and track lighting keeps it not gloomy. A proper oak dining table has been set up with matching chairs instead of the 70's castoff that the residents have been known to own and a bowl of fresh fruit sits in the center.
Down a hall lay's multiple doors. A master bedroom occupied by the oldest resident and occasionally have a pervading smell of whiskey and smoke coming from it when the door is open. A second door with a cross above it, a third with no marking that is occupied by the third resident of the premises. Two other doors lead to a linen closet and bathroom - Decorated in a very strong pirate theme - respectively. A black cat with a red velvet collar and a little Swarovski charm dangling from it can be found meandering at will.
"O-genki desu ka?" the stereo asks.
"O— genki desu… ka!" Odessa repeats haltingly, trying not to look down at the book in her lap where the pages will help remind her of the words. Knowing how they're spelt helps her pronounce them, rather than simple repetition. She's trying her best anyway.
"Genki desu," says the stereo.
"Genki desu." This time, Odessa's response is much easier.
Given that she's been promised an Abby-Free evening, Odessa's lounged out in what passes as pajamas for her. With no one else around, that means a blue camisole top that may just be emblemised with a glossy red S encased over a diamond-cut yellow background, and a pair of red panties with a yellow belt screened on. With the blonde hair, all she's missing is the cape.
The stereo continues the lesson. "Namae wa nan desu ka?"
Odessa hits the pause button and sets her book aside, heading for the kitchen. She stops to pet Schroedinger, who looks up as if to ask why have you moved, Mistress? "Cobbler break," Odessa explains in a murmur. Sure enough, there is cherry cobbler on the counter, just waiting to be popped into the microwave for fifteen or twenty seconds to make it extra gooey.
Somewhere, what's left of James Woods is rolling in his grave.
The microwave comes on with a beep and a whirr, a little yellow light inside showing that crimson and brown dessert spinning slowly on the microwave's turntable. The timer on the microwave is counting down, and when it reaches 0:13 Odessa's turning in an impatient fidget around from the microwave; all the power in the world to stop time but none of the power to speed it up. When she turns, however, the darkly-dressed silhouette standing in the doorway into the kitchen all but stops her heart in her chest.
Short, black hair is scruffy looking, the black leather jacket is wears is patched on one shoulder with a piece of black canvas with white thread, his arm is in a sling made from scrap cloth that is tattered at the end and there is — for once — no gun pointed at Odessa from this man who is no stranger to her, just furrowed brows, sunken cheeks and the coal-black eyes of a man who left her for dead in an abandoned motel almost a year ago.
"Hello, Odessa." Feng Daiyu is the last man she expected to see here, in Abby's home. Without a weapon.
All the ability to stop time, and Odessa still allows Feng Daiyu to see her throw open the drawer without looking behind her and retrieve a large knife. "How the fuck did you get in here?" she asks with wide eyes. She points toward the door with the tip of the friggin' Santoku knife she pulled out. "There's biometrics and shit I don't even understand that you have to pass by before you can get in here. How in the fuck."
Letting out a heavy breath, Odessa leans back against the counter top behind her and finally cracks a grin, lowering the knife as her tension seems to dissipate. "Who are you," she asks with a chuckle, "Harry Houdini?" Her nose crinkles at her own little joke, the humour even seeming to reach her eyes.
"Do you think Kazimir Volken hired me for my good looks?" There's a crease of Feng's brows as he steps thorugh the doorway towards Odessa. "If you think some high end civillian security system is going to be enough to keep me out, you'd best start sleeping with one eye open, because there's monsters worse than the ones in this room who do it better than I do." Looking down to his arm in the sling, Feng's lips downturn to a scowl and his dark eyes lift back up to Odessa. "Put that knife down, I'm here because I have orders from Sasha."
Oh.
Rolling his tongue across the front of his teeth like he had a bitter taste in his mouth, Feng squints at the blonde and tilts his head to the side. "You can see I had a little bit of an— altercation thanks to what happened at Eagle Electric. I'm here because I need your help on an assignment, nothing difficult, I just need you to do what it is you do. Nothing more, nothing less."
Odessa's eyes rest on the sling Feng's arm is in. Her broken fingers twitch once, causing an uncomfortable twinge that doesn't show in her face. "I should probably take a look at that," she muses. "Might need to amputate." She smirks. See? It's a joke. We're not quite even yet.
Setting the knife down on the counter, she then hoists herself up to sit there as well. "Go ahead, then. I'm listening."
"No, we're going to see a doctor about this arm together," Feng notes with a crooked smile, looking Odessa up and down once before turning his attention towards the doorway behind himself. Stepping to the side, Feng moves to put the kitchen wall at his back, standing just beside the doorway, then levels a look to Odessa again. "There's a doctor on Staten Island, named Mu-Quian. She's like you, fixes people… heals them." Dark brows furrow and Feng's stare moves to the microwave, listening to it beep noisily, then back to Odessa.
"I'm going to go to her to get this arm of mine fixed, and while I'm there I need you to kidnap her son; Bai-Chan." There's a squint of Feng's brows as his head quirks to the side, dark eyes assessing Odessa and the knife on the counter. "It's as simple as that. I distract her with business and you steal the child so that she can't possibly expect my involvement. The boy won't be hurt, I just need him to leverage a few people…"
Odessa narrows her eyes faintly, sparing only the briefest shift of her eyes toward the microwave when it chimes to tell her that her dessert is ready for her consumption. It can wait. "So what you're saying is you get to have your injuries healed, and I get to steal the kid without letting this woman see me." As a surgeon, Odessa would very much like to have the use of her fingers back, but she gives a long-suffering sigh and shakes her head.
"Fine." Odessa scowls for the space of two heartbeats before banishing the expression. "The kid stays here with me, though." Before he can rebuke her, she fixes him with a look, "Like you want to look after a child? If my assessment is correct, Dreyfus is the only one of us with any experience in that department, and I doubt he wants the job."
"If the child's here I won't be able to leverage the proper people. I have a safe place lined up for him, he's going to stay with Sasha." Because that tickles Feng pink, perhaps. "After you get the boy, there's no reason saying you can't just go back and see the healer yourself, maybe offer her a shoulder to cry on about her lost child and she won't even charge you." There's no sign of emotion on Feng's face, just pragmatism.
Looking at the microwave once, Feng's dark eyes settle back up on Odessa. "You screw this up, and there's a lot hanging over your head, Knutson. All I need you to do is deliver the boy to a warehouse out by Fresh Kills Harbor, I'll meet with you there to pick him up and then you're free to do whatever it is you want. But the boy— the boy stays with me until I can drop him off. Too many faces around here, too many eyes."
The look Odessa levels Feng with is dubious at best. "Last time I saw Sasha, he looked like death. How is he supposed to look after a boy?" She rubs her forehead between her brows and lets out something like a muffled groan. "Whatever." Doctor Knutson's at least smart enough to recognise an argument she's not going to win. "What kind of threat is that anyway? There's a lot hanging over my head. I already know I'm the wild card factor in this equation. Dreyfus chose to bring me in for a reason, same as any of the rest of you. Just keep that in mind before you pass judgement on me."
Lowering her hand to her lap, the scowl returns to Odessa's face, but this time isn't directed at Feng. "We've all been fucked sideways by these sons of bitches one way or another." The contempt in her tone isn't fake, which would be disconcerting perhaps to anyone on the side of Team Charlie. "I don't know why Dreyfus didn't let me just kill Beauchamp in the first place. Fucking disgusting." The blonde sets her jaw and sweeps Daiyu up and down once more. "Any news from your end on Holden?"
"No." It's an answer to absolutely everything Odessa has said, and Feng's leaning off of the kitchen wall after having delivered it. "Don't think too hard on it…" Feng adds as an afterthought, though it's more of a warning of the oblique kind, the type that will make sense when it;s too late and make this meeting all the more frustrating to Odessa. Feng turns his back to her, stepping through the doorway and out of the kitchen, shoes barely making a sound as he treads across the floor and seems content on leaving it at that with Odessa, because despite his intentions on this, her knowing too much about this plan might kill it before it has a chance to blossom.
After all, he's asking her to kidnap Zhang Wu-Long's son.
That takes balls.
"Next time, Feng," Odessa calls after the Chinese man's retreating form, "fucking knock."