Participants:
| Scene Title | Surprise Homecoming |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Melissa returns home after her brief incarceration to give some semi-good news to two of her roommates. |
| Date | October 4, 2010 |
Kendall has been unhappy lately, ever since he (finally) found out that Melissa was in jail. He's sprawled out listlessly on the couch, playing his DS, and a half-eaten bag of chips is on the floor next to him, and a half-empty can of soda is on the nearest flat surface. The house is, well… not spotless anymore. No one's dusted, Edgar gave himself a haircut in the bathroom sink, dishes are in the kitchen sink, and there's an open box of cereal on the table, to mention a few.
The sound of a car pulling up heralds Melissa's arrival home, though she brought a friend! Which is good since she doesn't look like she was in any condition to drive. Her pants are rumbled and her face is pale, small lines of pain around her eyes. And oddly, she's not wearing entirely black. Namely, she's wearing a gray Harvard tee-shirt that's too large for her. But! She's home!
She leads Brad up to the door, stepping inside. "Honey, I'm….home. Oh my god what have they done to the house?!" she asks, sounding a lot more pained than she did even a minute ago in the vehicle. "Kendall? Do you guys not know how to clean?" she asks, looking like her puppy just died.
Brad follows behind Melissa only a few steps between them, but he lingers in the door, leaning against the frame with his arms crossed over his chest and a lopsided grin playing on his lips. He's somewhat put together as he sucks on the inside of his cheek and glances at Kendall, issuing him a low-pitched male greeting, a little bit gruff in sound and pitch, "Hey."
His chin drops to his chest as his eyes scan the house, already aware of Melissa's propensity to clean. His lips purse slightly at her words as he clucks his tongue. "It's not… so bad?" it's more a question than a statement as he shrugs slightly, content enough as mess never bothers him.
Kendall blinks up when the door opens and Melissa comes in, and the game is dumped on the couch as he leaps to his feet, running to the door. He doesn't hug her or anything, but he looks happier. "They let you out! I thought they were going to send you off to that Moab place again!" glance at the room. "Er… I cleaned my messes?" he tells her.
It's not so bad? That has Melissa glancing back at Brad, horrified. "Not so bad? Did you see the house last time you were here? It was spotless! Dust bunnies feared me!" She looks back to Kendall, and has to soften a bit. And though he's not giving her a hug, she gives him one. Hah! "Yeah, they let me out. My uncle was rootin' for me, and I got off with probation and a fine. It sucks, but better than another Moab. The first one disappeared."
"It could be worse," Brad murmurs back in response with a cluck of his tongue and slight shake of his head. "They could like have a layer of dirt rather than just dust or something…" He continues to lean against the doorframe, glancing at the pair only to look away moments later, those butterflies in his stomach making him feel that slight awkwardness that he so feared.
Kendall glances at Russo, then looks back at Melissa, stepping away from the hug after it's done. "I had to work." Kendall tells her, as if that'd justify his actions and lack of cleaning.
The house would be cleaner, had Ling not been so busy over the days since Melissa had been taken into Homeland custody. Only the upstairs was any semblance of it's usual cleanliness, and even that had been fleeting over the last few days - Ling had been fighting a losing battle against the men. It's the sound of familiar voices downstairs, however, that has her plodding down the stairs, a tired expression on her face as her gaze settles on Melissa and Russo. She remains silent for a moment, eyes narrowed, before she lets out a sigh. "I'm glad to see you are well, Melissa."
"Oh don't give me that. I work at Tartarus and volunteer at the Center," Melissa says, though she softens her words with a ruffling of the teen's hair. She reaches back then, to take Brad's hand to try and draw him further into the house. When Ling speaks, Mel glances over and smiles at the woman. "Hey Ling. And I wouldn't say I'm well, but I'm free and alive, which is good enough for now."
She releases Russo's hand to go give Ling a hug as well, then glances between Kendall and Ling. "Be nice now. I've gotta go raid my migraine meds. I'll explain everything. I promise." Then she's disappearing into the kitchen to go for her drug stash. The legal kind!
The tug draws Brad into the house and prompts him to ease at least a little, although he doesn't exactly exude all charm and delight. He salutes at Ling in greeting — two fingers that linger almost like a wave. With a broader grin, he sits in one of the room's chairs and relaxes in it. "Hi," he finally issues towards the woman, his tone lighter than the way he greeted Kendall.
Kendall wrinkles his nose at the hair ruffle, swatting her hand away like usual. Then he walks back to the couch, reclaims his DS, and flops himself down, reaching again for the bag of chips to add more crumbs to the couch in Melissa's temporary absence. Hey, she won't notice a few more crumbs, right?
The hug is received rather awkwardly, Ling not entirely sure how to respond at first. Her expression remains somewhat stoic, even as hands slowly rise up to Melissa's back, rendering her only able to give a nod of acknowledgement in Russo's direction. "I trust that, at the very least, everything is in order if you are here? I got the message your lawyer left for me, though I had little chance to make sure those who worked at your club knew. I did speak to someone else, though, so I hope that was able to help."
"Unfortunately, it's not all in order," Melissa says as she comes out of the kitchen, popping a few pills and swallowing them down with a soda. "The probation was lessened from a year to five months because of time served before. Fine was five hundred, which was easy enough. But…They're also assigning me a permanent address. In Summer Meadows. So…for the next five months, I'll have to live there. I'll be leaving most of my stuff here, and I'll visit you guys and all, but it's gonna suck."
Kendall blinks. "So you're back, but you're not back?" pause. "Forcing you to live somewhere? Sounds like what they did in WWII." his head is lifted over the edge of the couch to regard Melissa quizzically.
"I do not like the sound of this," Ling remarks with a shake of her head. "They are rounding many evolved to Roosevelt Island, from what I've seen and heard. I would tread carefully there, Melissa. We won't be able to visit you there." Or at least, she assume Kendall is unregistered. There's a bit of a sigh as she paces into the living room. "However, this is much better than teh alternatives, to be sure. Are they letting you keep your business?"
"Concentration camps." Kendall shakes his head in disgust and flips his game closed, pausing it. "Eh." he stands up, then goes upstairs. Maybe he'll be sulking again? Or maybe he'll go and pick up his dirty underwear or something.
"Pretty much," Melissa says, nodding to Kendall. "Worse, they made me spend all day Saturday using my ability to hurt, and all day Sunday using it to take pain. So I've got a migraine and I'm pretty sure there's no blood left in my nose after all the nosebleeds." She drops down into a chair, sighing and leaning her head back. "Gonna need you to watch Jerry, if you don't mind, Kendall. And no one goes in my room while I'm gone or I'll hurt whoever dares. But I'll still be around. Just…gotta be on my best behavior for the next five months."
She smiles then. "But on a good note, I won't have to worry about using my real name anymore. I'm not wanted for anything. It's…kinda freeing." She glances at Ling. "And I was told that…incongruities in my subconscious had been found, and deal with," she murmurs to the other woman.
Then she shrugs a little. "It's not my business, I just run the place. But they're not going to restrict my access on or off the island. I don't even have a tracking anklet like some people get. I won't blame you guys if you don't wanna come see me there though. But there's always Tartarus," she says, watching Kendall head upstairs.
Ling raises an eyebrow as Kendall leaves, and Melissa indicates that her mental issues have been handled. "Oh? That is certainly an unexpected occurrence. One to your advantage, I am sure." She paces over to the couch, sitting down slowly. "I spoke with Richard, he had said something about arranging help for you. I hope he was able to come through on this."
"Arranging help for me? What's that mean? Though I doubt he had anything to do with it. That apparently happened…Day after I was taken in. So…Thursday," Melissa says after a moment's thought. "Ended up feeling this weird sorta…paranoia type deal, got a headache and nosebleed. Asked what the hell happened and that's when they mentioned the incongruities. So if nothing else, I gotta be happy about that. Even if I have no idea what Rupe left there."
"Help getting you released, to be specific," Ling replies dryly as she watches Melissa. "Who was it that helped you with your… incongruities?" Because, while she doesn't voice it to Melissa out of a desire to not raise the woman's level of paranoia, she worries that anyone in the government could be connected to the little… problem of Messiah, after what Richard told her.
"No idea," Melissa admits. "And I didn't really need help getting released, but good to know people would try. My uncle went to bat for me too. Either way, I'm just glad I'm out. I hated being in a cell again. Reminded me too much of Moab."
Ling raises an eyebrow at that, a curious look on her face. "Your uncle went to bat to you? It seems there is much that happened in this weekend that I wasn't expecting. Is there anything else I should be particularly surprised by, Melissa?"
Melissa considers for a moment then smiles wryly. "My uncle's the one who took me in in the first place? We were chatting, he was Lissy this, Lissy that, love you, blah, blah, blah, then hit me with the fact that my name was on a list of Moab fugitives and that he knew it. And the rest I've already told you. Well, other than a chat with Matt Parkman. I managed to offend him, he was all Company bad, government good, and we departed unsatisfied with the conversation."
Ling grimaces at the mention of Matt Parkman, actually looking a little nervous. "I remember hearing about him on the news. I believe he's at the top of Homeland Security now? I must admit, I worry what it must take to attract such attention to yourself, Melissa. I am not surprised, however, that it was your uncle who took you in in the first place. I suppose I should have expected that to be the case."
"Well, apparently my uncle's in good with Parkman, and asked him to help or something," Melissa says, shrugging. "They're not buds or anything, but seems Jason's a good little employee or something. I don't know." She sighs softly. "And I really need to go lay down for a bit to try to get rid of this migraine. The testing killed me," she says, pushing herself out of the seat.
Ling gives a nod, remaining settled in her seat as she watches Melissa carefully. "Something does not feel right about this, I have to admit. But for now, all we can do is see how this goes." A Pause. "This week brings the assassination Rupert spoke of. We will have to see how everything turns out after all of that. For now… go rest. We can speak more later, in private."
"Hell, nothing feels right about it," Melissa admits with a faint smile. "But I'm gonna try to see the bright side of things. My name is cleared, I'm gonna go into space, the Ball is this Friday, and I have a date for it. All in all, it's better than it could be."