Participants:
| Scene Title | Sing a Song of Six Pence |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Eve sings at the Orchid lounge while Mohinder and Nalani listen and make small talk with her afterwards. |
| Date | December 28, 2008 |
The Orchid Lounge, owned by the mother of Senator Nathan Petrelli, is an Asian-inspired martini bar lit by candlelight and the soft glow of wall sconces spaced evenly throughout the room. Although there aren't any employees at the door to check for identification, it's unusual to find anyone in the college-aged crowd at the Lounge, which caters to young professionals with plenty of extra money to burn. During the day, the plush burgundy drapes affixed to the windows are used to filter out the sounds of traffic and at night are drawn back to allow passersby a glimpse inside.
Seating is simple: clusters of rectangular tables fashioned from white marble, each with two leather benches parallel to the longest sides. Silk pillows in varying shades of red, brown, yellow and orange lend a splash of colour to the Lounge, vivid against the pale walls and black-painted cement floor. On one wall is a giant mirror with an intricately carved frame that reflects almost everything in the room and makes the space appear twice as large as it really is. Clearly, the proprietor of this establishment wanted to get her money's worth - real estate in this part of town isn't cheap!
Late evening, past regular dinner time. Nalani's relaxing in a corner of the lounge, her gaze set to 'pleasently entertained' watching the stage and the entertainment for the night. Hair done up in a meticulous chignon, white dress, shoes, a black fur wrap tossed onto the seat alongside her. A martini glass before her. She's enjoying the night, occasionally making nice and playing people with a smile, but eventually they all leave her alone at some point, only to be replaced by another. Her companion for the evening should hopefully be coming soon.
Mohinder enters the club. He wasn't really told where he was going, wasn't really told what was going to be happening. All he was told was to try to dress with the times, and maybe ditch the nerd look a little bit. So…he did a bit of quick shopping. Now decked out in a shimmery silver shirt that he actually left unbuttoned two past the collar, and a snug pair of corduroys with some swanky looking black loafer, he gets whisked into the club as he's a guest of the socially high ranking Miss Hollingwood. He looks around for a little bit, running a hand through his gelled-back hair, and then smiles when he sees her in the corner of the lounge and heads in her direction.
Nalani raises a hand, perfectly manicured nails giving a wave to Mohinder when she spots him. One of the many circulating employees is flagged down to escort the scientist over. "Mohinder. I wasn't sure whether you'd come. You look well. Come. Sit. Ignore the stares. The singer here is quite good. Though i'm sure you've been here a time or two" Mohinder's given the faux kiss kiss to either cheek. 'How's my brother?"
Mohinder smiles, and shrugs a little bit. "What can I say? Whenever you call and request my presence, I'm not sure what is going to happen - and that's in a good way for once." he returns the kiss-kiss routine and takes the opportunity to smell. She's one of those women who always smells good no matter what, and he likes that. He takes a seat next to her, and looks around. Answering her question he chuckles, "He is doing as I am doing - we've both agreed to make sure that we work as little as possible before the start of the new year. So he's only working when it is only of dire importance, as am I. I think right now he said he was spending the evening with Charles Dickens. I called to see if he'd come out, but he declined. He laughed when I made the offer, so I think he's up to something."
"It's Rami, he's off being secretive something or other. I've given up truly trying to find out what he's doing. I just know that he always returns. What truths did you find out today Mohinder, in your little petrie dishes?" She reaches over after returning to her lounging position in the leather benches for her apple martini, taking a sip. "How's the rest of your Christmas turn out?"
Mohinder smiles, "Well, I only went in to document a couple of samples' progresses, and start another series of sample cultures. Aside from that? I have made good the promise I made to your brother. So all in all, my Christmas was..restful." he says with a smile. He looks around, "I'm not sure what to order.." he says, a little daunted by the choices.
"let me. Though really, it's hard to believe that you don't know such" There's a pause, then she smiles "But then again, you do have your petrie dishes" Nalani raises her hand, summoning someone. "The good doctor will have the 83 Chateau Climens Barsac, thank you" She take sa moment to wave just a little, to someone across the room before she settles again to regard Mohinder. "Tell me about Chennes was it?"
The lights in the Orchid dim down and a few of the patrons in the lounge clap, those that know who is up next. A guitar player sits on a barstool not to far from the microphone stand. Onto the stage walks Eve, dressed in a long dark green dress with her long midnight hair spilling over her shoulders.
"One day, you will see me for me." She starts and sings a song of someone finally seeing Eve for the person she truly is. It starts slow and dark, and Eve's eerie colored eyes shine in the spotlight. Her voice a nice and soothing soprano.
Mohinder shrugs, "I've never been out all that much..the formal dinner, the occasional scientific conference, that kind of thing. I usually never had the time to come out to a bar or a club…" he pauses and looks around, when she orders for him he can't help but ask, "Is that a kind of wine? I can never tell.." he says apologetically. When the lights dim, he quiets down. The woman begins to sing, and Mohinder smiles. He leans in towards Nalani, "oooh," he says quietly. "She is very good." he says.
"Isn't she? I keep thinking of asking her to sit, and to interview her for the magazine. Bit something else always comes up" Murmurs Nalani. "Wine. A sweet red from Bordeaux. I think you might like it, if not, you can always order something else" her attention though, goes back to Eve on the stage. "She sings here, regularly. I hope they pay her an indecent amount of money to stay, i'm sure she could be recording and making pretty penny off her voice.
The song continues and soon builds up towards a powerful crescendo of the guitar and Eve's voice intertwining. "When you, see me." She finishes and throws her head back as people in the Lounge begin to clap and a few even cheer.
"Thank you." She says in a soft voice and hugs the guitarist before walking off of the stage, then coming out a side door and walking towards the bar, just about to pass Nalani and Mohinder's table.
Mohinder hmms, "I'll have to come here more often. I'm very surprised she doesn't have a recording career as well." and it's just about then the song ends and the wine arrives. He does applaud before taking the glass. "Thank you very much." he says to the person who brought it. He offers his glass up for a toast, "To you, of course, Nalani." he says quietly.
"And to you Mohinder. She's coming by, I should stop her" Nalani rises nonchalantly, or well it looks like it, though to some it make look like a shark scenting the water. "Eve, pardon me, Nalani Hollingwood. Would you come share a drink with me?"
The singer stops and turns to look at Nalani, "Hello Nalani. Of course I can." She says in her soft voice. If Eve is getting a free drink out of it, then of course she will! As Eve follows the woman to her table she immediately recognizes Mohinder, though he wouldn't know her because she only knows Mohinder because of Sylar who impersonated him. Her eyes widen momentarily but she quickly recovers.
Mohinder rises as well, when Nalani rises with his glass of wine in hand. He waits for the opportunity to introduce himself, being polite and all. He does stand near Nalani, but he doesn't register that the woman recognizes him.
"Eve, Dr. Mohinder Suresh. Dr Suresh, this is Eve Mas. Join us, I had a few questions for you that I've been meaning to ask for quite some time since I discovered that you work here and heard you voice. Please. It would benefit you and me both greatly" It's spoken to eve, with just a bit of weight, an certain invisible enticement. Nalani gestures towards the seating around their table and the bottle of red that Mohinder's glass came with.
"Nice to meet you Dr. Suresh." Eve holds out her hand for him to shake and she then takes a seat at the table. "Ok Nalani, how exactly is talking to you going to be to both of ours advantage?" she doesn't ask this in a rude way, just curious mostly.
Mohinder takes the hand, nodding and smiling brightly. "The pleasure is all mine, I assure you, Miss Mas. Your performance was just wonderful." he says, settling in. He quiets though, as he knows Nalani has business to discuss and far be it from him to get in the way of that.
"I own and run Pause magazine. Many of the people here have read it, and do read it. For some it's their bible, next to vogue and Harper's Bazaar. Has anyone ever interviewed you before or approached you for something more than six lines in the new york times?" A waiter appears with a new glass, pouring it half full with the red wine. "Because in all my times here I don't think I've heard about you beyond these four walls or on the lips of my social equals. Gentlemen and ladies like the good Doctor here should know about you"
"You are to kind Doctor." she says with a smile and then she begins to unconsciously draw invisible symbols on the top of the table as she listens and looks at Nalani. Eve blushes just a bit and shakes her head, "I haven't ever had a real interview before." Eve admits and takes a small sip from the glass. "I've heard of your magazine, it is pretty popular around here." The singer takes another sip and places the glass on the table.
Mohinder nods in agreement with Nalani says, "Indeed. It's almost criminal that you aren't headlining large venues." he sips from his wine glass as well. He keeps his comments to the minimum.
"It's circulation is fairly well established within the east coast, and some in the west coast pick it up" Nalani picks up her black clutch, pulling from it a business card, sliding across the table to Eve. "Business later, I'd be interested in doing a piece on you, and why your not signed on to some place and becoming the next it thing. For now, I thought I'd invite you to sit and talk. The Doctor here is taking a break from his logs and petrie dish's"
"I would love to do that." Eve says and takes the business card before adding, "Thank you so much." She says to Nalani and Mohinder. "I didn't know people liked my music that much." She admits and sips from the wineglass. "Medical doctor or something else?" it is directed to Mohinder.
Mohinder hmms, as he sips from his wine glass. "Research Scientist, hence the logs and petrie dishes." he smirks over at Nalani. "It's all really rather boring unless you like to spend a lot of time squinting into microscopes." he jokes a little. "To be honest, I only heard you for the first time just now. I would definitely buy a CD." he says, setting his glass on the table.
"He hunts for the truth in his bunsen burner and his petrie dishes. I think it's delightful and a change from the slavering masses that hand around trying to get a scrap of attention. I should do a piece on you as well Mohinder" Nalani's grinning at that thought. "Do you just work here Ms. Mas, or are there any other place that you work?"
Eve nods her head at Mohinder, "I'm sure it isn't all that boring. Especially with all the stuff you can learn through science." Eve says and grins at Nalani. "Oh please, just Eve. No, this is my only place of work. I haven't been contacted by any agents or record labels, I try to not get my hopes up. You know with the biz and all."
Mohinder smiles shyly, and shrugs a little bit. He sips at his wine. "Well, all I know is that every day is exciting when the next discovery is always around the next corner." he says, humbly.
"who knows what doors might open after this?" Nalani lifts her martini glass out to the other two. "We'll not keep you, I'm sure there's other who wish to compliment you on your singing Eve. So I shall let you go with a toast. To hopefully, an even more successful Eve Mas in the future yes?"
Eve toasts along with the other two and smiles at them. "I will call you." She says to Nalani, "Thank you both again." Before she gets up she drinks the rest of the wine and then gets from her chair. "See you soon." And with that the singer has gone on her way, back to one of the backrooms of the Lounge.
Mohinder raises his glass in agreement, "Indeed. Much success to you in the future, hopefully the world discovers just how talented you are." he says "Have a great rest of the evening." before sipping his wine and looking to Nalani with a smile.
"Happy Holiday Eve" Nalani calls to the retreating figure, another little wave with just her fingers to others who have entered that she knows. Social graces that tare required lest someone think they are in her bad book. She catch the smile from Mohinder. 'What is that grin for?"
Eve has left.
Mohinder shrugs, "Watching you in your element, doing what you do.." he says, "It's something to see if you're not used to it."
"I'll have to come see you in your element, what of it that you can show. Your microscopes and your little beakers. But your right, this is part of what I do. I have to be seen, it's part of the job. Keep my fingers on the pulse of society" She drains the last of her apple martini that she'd been coddling. "What does it look like to you, sitting in this room and watching us all wave to one another, yet not actually approaching tables"
Mohinder shrugs, and looks around. "To be honest, it all looks to me like the way animals communicate. No offense, I mean. They communicate with gestures, facial expressions, and eye contact. I would guess that there's dozens of conversations taking place all through this place, with nary a word said." he says, draining his glass of wine. "Across the club, from table to table, people who are on different sides of the room having full conversations."
"And what is it that I am saying to say… Mrs. Warners over at the opposite side, third booth down?" Nalani raises an arm again,a c areless smile on her face as she only bend her fingers to the first knuckles repeatedly to the woman in a hello gesture. Four times then down she brings her arm, all casually semi-reclining and glancing to Mohinder then.
Mohinder shakes his head. "The language? No..I could never decipher that unless I had the years of experience that you have. The speech is there..I can tell that much, but translating it is far different." he pauses, "So what did you say to her, anyway?" he asks.
"She's not high enough to warrant a full wave, she's just below my social order. I waved first, there for I'm acknowledging her, therefore she's allowed to wave to me. Her husbands a banker, one of the big ones. It was a casual greeting, but it will have further implications down the road. Further impact. Now, if I had added a very wide and toothy smile, that reached my ears. Well. it has a completely different connotation and not in a good way" She demonstrates the smile to him, waving to another person, little half wave, but the insincere smile. "Mr. Arbus. Opted to remove his advertisements from my magazine. He didn't much care for the amount of articles I did on those who were instrumental in the aftermath of the bomb"
Mohinder nods, "I see." he pauses, then laughs, "I still wouldn't understand it even after two years of learning from you…" he takes a deep breath. "Umm. I had something I wanted to ask you."
Nalani shifts toward him, leaning on her arm, her brown eyes catching up with his. "And what would that be Mohinder? The stories about my brother that little sisters get to tell?" Her eyelids are half mast, watching him.
Mohinder shakes his head, "Nothing so scandalous, I'm sure." he says with a soft chuckle. "I was wondering if we could have dinner together…or do something together..privately. I'd like to spend some time with you where you yourself can be at least as well, if you'd be okay with that."
Nalani softly taps two fingers on the leather in thought. "I'll have to think on that Mohinder. Much like my brother It's hard to make plans ahead of time when even ones made a few hours from now might be delayed. Send me your Schedule and I'll see about Stephanie slipping you in somewhere. Does that sound amenable? Maybe you can take me on a tour of your laboratory and can wear one of those horrid white polyester lab coats?"
Mohinder nods, "To be honest..I'd take whatever time with you I could get." he says gently. He's trying to be at least a little romantic here. "I like you. I know you could tell that, but I feel it should be said."
'There's some form of like there. yes. But right now, there's also my assistant standing at the door and looking like she's ready to burst a blood vessel which means that I am late, for a function. Will you excuse me Mohinder? I'm going to have to pull a Rami and depart" She leans forward, the cheek kisses again before she gathers her things strewn around her.
Mohinder nods quietly and returns them. There's a very zen, understanding look on his face. "Until the next time, then. Hopefully we'll talk again soon."
"You have my number Mohinder, you also have my brother. I doubt that we will be falling out of touch. Happy holidays Doctor. Enjoy the wine" The fur wrapped about her, she rises from the bench, starting to make her way towards the door, pausing here and there to bid adieu to all and sundry lest they think she's, once again, ignoring them or they her.
Mohinder watches the woman leave, once again both entranced and made curious by that entrancement. She's something, though. That's for sure. He waves as she goes, even if she doesn't see him. He sits back down and pours another glass of wine. Definitely better than he should be drinking.
 December 28th: It Would Be Easier... |
Previously in this storyline… Next in this storyline… |
 December 28th: Touch the Sky |