Participants:
| Scene Title | Terrorist Support Group |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Melissa gathers fellow Messiah newcomers to discuss themselves, their powers… and their difficulties. |
| Date | July 5, 2010 |
It was late afternoon when Perry got a phone call from Melissa, one helped out by Rebel, since Mel doesn't really have too many actual phone numbers. The phone call was short and sweet. She wants to get to know him a bit better, since they'll be working together in some fashion.
When Perry arrives at the Howland Hook Facility, Mel is already there, since she just lives a few blocks away. She's in black cargo pants and a thin long-sleeved black tee-shirt. Her hair, however, is back to its normal blonde, and without the black streaks. And right now she's perched on one of the cranes, hands on the metal in front of her, legs swinging lightly back and forth, headphones running from her pocket to her ears. Jamming, it seems, while she waits for company. Luckily for Perry and Harrison, she's just listening, not singing.
Perry is… confused. He's not so much with the socializing casually with people not in is class at school… which he isn't in anymore so, thus, socializing at all. He feels good about this. And nervous. And strange. He's getting social support from a group of… terrorists? That he had joined? Because someone said maybe he should?
It has been a very weird month for Perry. To say the least. He's dressed in slate grey jeans and a t-shirt that's not particularly baggy - he's trying to be more fashionable, at least by a bit, but his imagination in that area is wonting for lack of practice. He putters around the facility, until he finally spots Melissa. A hand goes up, in a wave that becomes more confident after the first two swings. "Hey!" he calls, "Can you hear me?"
"I wouldn't sneak up on her like that." Harrison is leaning against the entrance frame with his big arms crossed over his chest. He is dressed in a pair of simple jeans, t-shirt, and sneakers. His red scarf wrapped around his backside of his jean loops.
Headphones or not, there's nothing keeping Melissa from seeing Perry, and she spots him not too long after he enters. She nods as a hand slips in her pocket, shutting off the music before the headphones are tugged off and slid into the pocket as well. "Yeah, I can hear you. You Perry?" she asks, though it's less a question and more a comment, and her legs continuing to lightly swing. Maybe it's comfortable up there?
Harrison's words have her head tilting, one brow arching as she glances over to him. "What makes you say that?" she asks, tensing up, just a little. Harrison, after all, was there in Montana, witness to what she did.
"Yeah, Pericles Jones," Perry says, under the impression it's just polite to introduce yourself by your full name, though only applying the standard to himself, "But Perry's good. Less, uh," he smiles, "Greek. Um… hm?" He turns to look at Harrison in surprise, eyes cutting to Mel when she reacts… tensely? "She an unforgiving revenge puncher, or something?" he offers, trying to defuse the situation the nature of which he doesn't fully understand.
The young man looks at Melissa and cocks his head to the side at her reaction and then looks at Perry and begins to walk towards him. "My mother told me to just never do it. Something about women kicking a man's ass or something. I don't remember." He looks up at Melissa and gives her a slow nod.
"Pericles? Really?" Melissa asks, giving Perry a slightly disbelieving look. But then she shrugs. "I'll stick with Perry. I'm Melissa, though any variation works for me. Not picky. And Harrison, that makes…well, whatever. Perry, Harrison. Harrison, Perry. Everyone's met and all that, yeah?"
She looks to Harrison. "You doin' okay?" she asks, studying him curiously, before giving Perry the same look. Like she's trying to figure something out about both of them.
"Very well," Perry says, his chin held a little higher, to demonstrate his wellness, "Considering I… very likely killed a number of people. That was… well, I'm just not sure how to feel about it. But that means I'm not particularly, you know, caught up in any feeling. So well. For now. And for a while, I hope." A pause, "There's likely a lot more we have to do."
Harrison looks at Melissa with a shrug and says softly, "I am fine." He turns his eyes back towards Perry looking at him curiously. He cocks his head to the side and says, "So…" It is clear that young man has no idea what to say just says, "So how about the weather."
Melissa nods understandingly to Perry. "Yeah, you're not alone there. What sorta place did you take out?" she asks, leaning forward so she's almost laying on her stomach on the crane, then swinging her legs over so she can drop down to the floor. "And thanks for coming. Seems to me that if we're gonna be workin' together, shooting for the same goals, that we should all get to know each other a little better, don't you think?"
Perry goes at once to offer Melissa a hand to shake. Another programmed form of manners. It's not insincere so much as just a little clumsily executed. "Yeah," he agrees, "Heh. Shooting. Good choice of words." Harrison gets the next handshake when he's able. "I helped do Chicago. The CDC facility. Viruses, meant to kill Evolved." This last is offered with some force. A assertion of some essential justice… or justification.
Harrison takes Perry's hand and shakes it. "Well…welcome to the party. Who knows what will happen." He releases the man hand and sighs looking down at his feet.
The offered hand is taken, shook, before Melissa pulls her hand back and nods. "Like the 510. Nasty little virus that was. I ran a safehouse during that, one that turned into a sort of hospital for those who got sick. I saw what it did," she says, face void of emotions regarding that time of her life.
Mel glances to Harrison, frowning a little. "What's wrong, Harrison? You weren't hurt, yeah? Has something else happened since then?"
Mel's reminder of the 510, and thus with it the reminder of the culprits, is exactly the reinforcement for his own justification needs. He feels better already. A lot better. And resolved. He looks to Harrison in turn, though Melissa has asked the only relevant question. She sounds like she knows more, too.
A soft sigh escapes his lips as he looks at Perry and then back at Melissa. He does not know Perry and has no idea about the character of the man….yet. Harrison opens his mouth and then closes it slowly and says, "No I am fine. I am still sore. I had some serious bruising on my legs and back from the bomb. The impact of the steel against me was intense."
Melissa sighs and shakes her head. "Why didn't you say something, Harrison? I'm no doctor, and if it's just bruising I can't do much, but there's no reason to be stoic." Like she's one to talk. She pulls out a bottle of pills, taps one out, and hands it out to Harrison. "Take this, it'll help. Trust me, I know," she says with sympathetic eyes.
Her gaze flicks back to Perry then, her head canting slightly. "So what is it you do? Harry here is titanium boy, I'm pain girl…What's your super power?" Clearly she's been hanging around Kendall entirely too much.
Perry doesn't play video games - wrong type of geek. If he did, though, he might say he felt, for the moment, like the boy without a fairy. "Uh…" he says, "I… don't know, actually. I've never noticed it. I don't know if I've ever used it even." He tries to steer the conversation elsewhere, none to subtly, "Pain girl? What does that mean? Are you… immune to pain? Can you cause pain?"
As he takes the pill he nods and says softly, "Thanks." He slides the pill between his lips and looks over at Perry. He throws his head back and swallows the pill. "Dancing around subjects is my talent Perry. She told you something very personal about us. Don't change the subject. Do you not know what you can do?"
Melissa's brows lift. "You don't know what your ability is? Are you sure you have one? Little test turn the wrong color or something?" she asks, surprised. She shrugs. "Not immune to pain, believe me. But I can…let's just say I control the pain of others. It's simpler than the long explanation, if only by definition."
Harrison gets a bit of a frown, though not like she necessarily disagrees with him. "Don't forget though, we're on the same side," she murmurs to him. "However, Harrison is right. It is a personal thing. Mine is registered, but still not something I share with just everyone. Messiah is…different. If we're to work together, we have to trust each other. And knowing each other's talents only helps. And by that I don't just mean abilities, they're just the top of the list."
Perry looks a little taken aback by Harrison's words. There's something between fear and anger for a moment. A bully-sufferer's reflex. But Harrison has a point. And he made it sound like he was trying to hide his power, rather than his shame over not having one he knew of. "Would I be here if I wasn't Evolved?" he inquires, and as he makes this point, his gain in confidence is almost visible, "And even if I weren't, which the test proves that I am, my willingness to kill and die for the rights and freedoms of Evolved… that's really the spirit of this group, isn't it? To protect Evolved. Not to be Evolved. That's not a spirit. That's a genetic fact."
"Yeah I guess your right. I was just saying…" He moves to stand closer to Melissa and then plops down on the ground in an Indian style manner. Harrison runs a hand through his tossled hair and says, "Welcome to the party like I said." He sighs.
Melissa watches Perry as he goes on his little rant. "You're right, as far as it goes, Perry. But you missed the rest of what I said," she says, smiling. "Trust between us is necessary. We have to know that we can trust each other with our backs. And knowing the strengths and weaknesses of the others makes it easier to plan for all of us to come out of a mission safely. And I'll be damned if anyone gets hurt when I could have prevented it."
Mel is standing near Harrison, who is sitting cross-legged, and Perry is nearby. All three are wearing scarves. The pretty red scarves of Messiah. Let's show some terrorist spirit!
"Uh… right, of course," Perry says, as quick to lose steam as he is to gain it. "But no, really… I am Evolved. And I don't know what my power is. It may not have manifested… or… I don't know, maybe it's subtle?"
Harrison looks up at Melissa and says, "Did Kendall tell you I stopped by to see how you were doing?" The young man leans back on his hands before looking over towards Perry again watching him. At least he is not the newest recruit any more…yet far from being a terrorist.
This is the place. Faron marched towards the warhouse, still very much in a funk. Having just left his home, he didn't feel comfortable at all in this city. Actually, it was more, what's left of it. But when a Messiah member calls you, a person you don't even know, well, he thought it best to come. Being new to the city, he had to find the area by foot. He looked very blatantly out of place, yet still he was determined to reach his destination.
Slowly, he entered the warehouse, it's emptiness astounding him. "…Hello? Anyone here?" Ron, even now, looked annoyingly meek.
Almost forgetting who he was dealing with, Faron pulled out the scarf from his backpack, filled with his stuff. After all, he didn't have a place to stay.
Melissa nods to Perry. "See how easy that was?" she asks, smiling. "I didn't know what was mine was either at first. When you don't have a flashy ability, it can be hard." She shakes her head to Harrison. "Nope. When was this? Yesterday or Saturday?" But then, there's another person, and not a face she recognizes. So she glances over, studying Faron for a moment. "Yeah, we're here. Who're you?" It's said pleasantly enough, since he's got that scarf off, but he's still an unknown, and she is paranoid!
Harrison stands up in a fluid motion looking over in Faron's direction. He cocks his head to the side shoving his hands into his pockets he takes a few steps forward in case he needs to get in front of Melissa.
Ar first, Faron blinks at the group. Perry is the first one who is noticable to him, and he regards him with a little anger; it was him who got Ron into this whole mess. He then regards the two new people with a bit of shyness and fear. "I-I'm…uh, Faron. I'm Faron Mathers. I came because I was called here and I…I uh, have nowhere else to go." He looks ashamed at his statement, appalled at himself for having to admit such a thing.
Perry doesn't know where that look comes from. It doesn't occur to him that he could be blamed for getting someone into the mess of a Just Cause. As long as he thinks he should be here, he feels like it's okay that he's brought any others. So he's hurt, and a little confused, but he gives Faron a somewhat faltering smile and a wave anyways. "Nowhere to go? What, uh, what do you mean by that, Faron?"
Melissa looks first surprised, then a little amused at Harrison's actions, but then she's looking at Faron with a little frown. "I know that name…Oh! Mechanic. Heard you mentioned." She nods at Perry's question to Faron, looking mildly concerned with the answer herself. "Oh, and I'm Melissa. This is Perry, and Harrison," she says, motioning to each as she gives their name.
Harrison is a meat shield if nothing else. He relaxes a little and plops on the ground in that same Indian style manner and gives Faron a wave. He leans back on his hands again and says softly, "Welcome to the party."
Faron nodded at Perry. "I know Pericles. He's the one who…who commisioned me into Messiah." He looked about, seeming to focus a bit on Melissa. "…Um…I, uh…I had to leave my family. I…I can't resk them getting involved in this. We almost got pulled in when Dere—…my father pulled himself into PARIAH. I can't…" He looked like he was on the verge of tears.
The tears threatening to surface has Melissa frowning a little, and she motions for Faron to move closer to the trio. "Hey, it's all good, Faron. I can understand not wanting to get your family involved. You need a place to stay while you get on your feet, no worries. You've got one. I've got a spare room in my house not too far from here. Several actually." Ahh, loyalty amongst terrorists. Hope it's better than honor amongst thieves.
Harrison looks over at Faron and can relate to how the guy is feeling. Harrison took part in killing people for the first time not too long ago. He is dealing with it the best he can as he adds softly, "She has an awesome pooch."
Faron nodded, wiping away a tear that escaped his eye. "I'm…I'm sorry, I know we have to be adamant about our mission. I gave up everything for this, and I just hope it pays off in the end." He smiled at Mel, giving her a genuine, if a bit teary, smile. "I don't want to bother you, Melissa, but I know I need to have someplace to board up. I'll help you in any way I can, shopping or whatever you need."
Melissa nods at Harrison's comment. "Yeah, I do. Jerry. I also have a kid living with me. Kendall. He doesn't know anything about Messiah or my part in it, and I wanna keep it that way," she says, looking back to Faron. "Don't suppose you can cook, can you?" she asks hopefully.
"Well," Faron says with an embarassed smile, "I've had to help raise foster kids. When you od that, you kind of have to know how to cook. It's not much, but I can whip up a mean meal, if you'd like." He scratched the back of his head. "I don't mind dogs, either. And I'll make sure Kendall knows nothing. I can be…I dunno, just a friend who has to stay for a bit."
Harrison looks at Melissa and then at Faron. He opens his mouth and snaps his shut and allows the two to speak as he listens intently.
"I can't cook. I burn water when I boil it. It leads to a lot of take out and TV dinners. I could use some real food every once in a while," Melissa says, shrugging. "As for Kendall…He knows I used to be Ferry. That's how he came to live with me, actually. Just gotta tell him that you need a place to stay, and he'll understand. He's evolved, so you won't have to hide that from him. In fact, I encourage discussion about it."
Faron grinned again sheepishly. "Ah, actually…my powers are only just surfacing. I'm sure he doesn't have much to help me with, or you, for that matter. No offense intended," he added honestly. He seemed a bit out of place. Honestly, he didn't seem like a killer. What would be his motivation?
Oh. So that's why Faron's not so pleased with him. Perry is startled but he understands. He wants to be encouraging. He wants to speak up about the worthiness of the Cause but… even he can tell that this would be bad timing. He wants to offer Faron a place, but he knows that's also bad timing. So he settles for something in between: "I think all our doors are open to one another. We're members of a common cause. We're an elect. We should turn away any of members away. That's part of what distinguishes us from them."
Melissa cocks her head. "Oh? What power is it that you have?" she asks curiously. "But still, you can talk about being evolved if you want. He won't go running in fear or anything. I mean hell, he lives with me," she says shrugging. Perry gets a nod. "Perry's right. Like I was saying earlier, we've gotta be able to trust one another. If someone needs backup, we give it, whether it's to shoot, to plan, or to give a room to crash in. Besides, I'm on this whole wanting to get to know the rest of Messiah kick, and you stayin' with me only helps that," she says with a faint smile.
Harrison stands up slowly as he stretches and says, "I am gonna go for a run. I will talk to you later Melissa. Call me if you need me. Tell Kendall I said hi." He looks between Perry and Faron and says with a slightly nod, "Welcome again." The young man begins to walk out of the warehouse shoving his hands into his pockets his head down looking at the ground.
Faron smiles at her, this time loosing its sheepishness. "Yeah…yeah of course. Thank you. At the very least, we can be somewhat friends, right?" He shrugs, a bit hopeful. "My ability? Um…It's like…like I can see into machines, but it's far more than that…the machines become…they become a part of me. Like they are an extension of my own hand, and I know it just as intimately." He shakes his head with a smile. "I'm sorry, it's confusing to understand."
"Uh… technopathy, I think it's called," Perry pipes up, trying to be helpful, "I did some research online, and I think that's the accepted term. I don't know what you'd specifically call yours. Intuitive technopathy, maybe? Sympathetic technopathy? But the general label is technopathy." Yup. "That I do know."
Melissa smiles and nods to Harrison as he heads out, then she lifts her brows as she glances back to Faron. "You can understand how they work? Handy talent. You're welcome to understand anything in my house that isn't in my bedroom, so long as you don't break any of it," she says with another faint smile. "Oooh, nifty word to go with it too. I'm almost jealous."
She leans up against the crane she was perched on earlier, pulling out a pack of cigarettes and lighting one up. "So Faron's good with machines and in the kitchen, Harrison's got the protector thing down pat…what are you good with or at, Perry?"
Faron gave Perry another look. "Technopathy has more to do with software and electronics. Mine has more to do with actual machinary and mechanics. I guess the most appropriate would be mechanical intuition, but that might not even be enough either." It was clear that he held Perry in a bit of contempt and it was clear to see why. "…What is your power, Perry?"
Ah! This question again! This'll be the third time he's answered, and each time the same. God knows, he wishes he knew this badly too. But now these voices are external, harder to ignore. "I… just don't know! Honestly! I tested positive, is all I know!"
Melissa shoots Faron a look at that contempt. "What's your deal with ol' Perry here? And Perry? I wasn't asking about your ability. I was just asking what you were good at. Like me? I'm good at managing things, but my ability isn't managing. Well, not technically." Managing pain doesn't count, clearly. "I meant it when I said I wanted to get to know you guys. Can't do that without…yanno…talking to you guys."
Faron grimices slightly at Mel's look. "Sorry…must be a bit more tired than I thought I was. I've been traveling all day." He shook his head. "I'm sorry." He apology was genuine. "Um, so, what else do you want to know about me, Mel? I want to know what exactly is your power, Mel?"
"No… no, it's okay. You can, uh, you can express your anger. I'll take it. We're all part of this. We, uh, need our outlets," Perry says, trying to use his power, perhaps, to convince himself - no dice. "I'm an electrical engineer and, uh… I study political philosophy a bit. Some of the more applied Heidegger. Neitzsche. Uh… stuff like that."
"I was just curious about what your beef with him was," Melissa says, shrugging. "And I'm a pain manipulator. I give and take it from others. And yeah, outlets are good." When they don't result in a beat down from Humanis First idiots. "And philosophy, huh? Weird. Neitzsche though, huh? He the guy who said that it's better to be loved by your people, but if you can't be loved, be feared? Or was that the other guy?"
Faron blinks at the sudden turn to the philosophical. Honestly, Faron didn't give a flying shit about philosophy, but these two apparently did. He found a wall to recline on, leaning back onto it to relax, setting his weighty pack down on teh ground.
"That was Machiavelli," Perry says, very quick to inform, not correct. He's super happy to be talking about this. "He was a pragmatist. Neitzsche's an existentialist. He believed that human beings were meant to… well… basically to be as brilliant and mighty as we could. That power… really having a will to power over yourself, would remove the desire to harm others. That weak power, fallen power, is cruel, because it doubted itself, and so it reassured itself of its potency by hurting the weak."
"Oh." Melissa's quiet for a moment before she shrugs. "I don't read any of 'em, just remembered that one bit. What sorta quotes did Neitzsche have?" Another glance to Faron. "And you about ready to go see your new home? Your room doesn't have much in it, but you can add whatever you want."
Faron perked up. "Oh, I don't have much. Only what's in this sack." He lifts his backpack. "I didn't know how long I'd be on the road for, so I didn't bring much." He grinned back at her. "Um, but yeah, I'm ready when you are. You don't have to leave for me or anything, just take your time.
Oh, there's one people like, I have a t-shirt of it," Perry says. In fact, he wore it that night when he bloodied his hands. He doesn't let himself think too hard about that though. "Ahem… 'No price is too great for the privilege of owning oneself'. He was a huge believer in the will of the individual. But he has a lot of funnier quotes, too." He glances to Faron, frowning at first, but clearing his features as fast as he can. "I'm glad you found a place," he says, "I'm sorry. I would have offered if I knew but… I'm sure M- Melissa?" he checks with her, "That she'll be a better housekeeper. I'm, uh, I'm what my mother called the bachelor amongst bachelors."
"I'm not leaving just for you, Faron," Melissa says, shrugging. "Just a busy girl. My day is hours away from being finished." She smiles at Perry, nodding. "I'll bet I am. I'm sort of a clean freak. Only room in the house that isn't always spotless is Kendall's room, and that's 'cause I just don't go in there. It's his space, not mine. Anyway! Was awesome meeting you, Perry. Anytime you wanna drop by, go for it." And she gives the address for a house a short walk from where they are now. "C'mon, Faron," she says, starting to head towards the exit. "Or you can drop by later if you wanna hang out with Perry. Either way."
Without hesitating, Faron grabs his bad and follows Melissa out. He waves to Perry a bit nonchalantly, losing the hostility he had before. "I'll head there now. I've got nowhere else to be right now. And besides, might as well get acquainted with Kendall so at least he approves of me actually being there." He smiled at Melissa. "I really appreciate you bringing me in like this…"
Perry tosses out an awkward salute. "I can… I can bring my Portable Neitzsche over!" he suggests, like it's wowfuntimes. He winces innerly. Shouldn't have said that. Oh well. Too late. "Take care!" His hands slip into his pockets, "Good to be with you."
Melissa glances back at Perry, looking mildly amused. "Maybe you could. See ya later, Perry. Keep yourself out of too much trouble." She nods to Faron as she walks out with him. "No problem. And Kendall won't mind so long as you don't steal his games or anything." Then out she goes, for the short trip home.