Participants:
| Scene Title | Things Are Heating Up |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | After Abby drops by Mel's place for a visit, the conversation gets heated. And so does Abby. |
| Date | July 16, 2010 |
Though it's been a while since Abby was last at the little green house on Staten Island, not much has changed. It's fuller, yes, but it doesn't look much different. There's little to show of those other people outside of their rooms - and the attic which is now full of tools and a few supplies to fix it up. And the smell of food in the kitchen. Someone has cooked in there, and not burned it horribly, so it couldn't have been Melissa.
At the moment, Mel is sitting on the couch, her laptop on one side of her, headphones running from it to her ears. Jerry lays on the other side, his head resting on her leg, Mr. Muggles curled up on the floor in front of them. Mel's head is tilted back, her eyes closed, and every few moments, she speaks. It sounds like…Chinese? Just a word or two at a time. The front door is unlocked, though, so Abby need not wait for Mel to hear someone arriving before she comes on in.
Gone is pink. Pink was so yesterday, back in blonde and loving it. Changed out of uniform into blue cotton twill shorts, layered tank tops with her bra straps showing, and a wide black strap that unerringly juts like a shoulder strap from under it all, over her shoulder and back down. Sandals, hair loose, she's come bearing a pink bakery box, filled with cake of some variety. "Mel! Mel! Your door is unlocked! If you're being like, robbed, please tell me so I can call 9-1-1 Mel!"
Melissa blinks and glances towards the door, then hits a key on the laptop. "I'm not being robbed, so c'mon in, Abby! There's just not much point in locking the door during the day," she calls out, tugging the headphones off, closing the laptop, and setting it on the table.
"You never know these days" She points out, easing the box down onto the coffee table near the laptop before flopping down on the couch with little to no ceremony, dropping the back of her head into Mels lap while feet and legs go up over the arm of the couch and she looks up at the other woman.
She's taking up nearly most of the couch now and using Mel as a pillow.
"I'm becoming too paranoid"
"Why do you say that? Or rather, what's been happening to make you that paranoid?" Melissa asks, absently playing with Abby's hair. It's there, after all. "But yeah, got a full house, so during the day there's always someone coming and going. If I'm here, I just leave the door unlocked."
"Just… things, in the Ferry, that have been happening. Just little things that aren't adding up is all. Things that have been said. I think someones been… watching my apartment and who comes and goes. I mean, maybe it's par for the course what with being nominated to the council but… I don't know. I never used to be this paranoid, but then again, I used to trust everyone too" Now she didn't just automatically trust and strangers who approached her, got seconds looks.
That brings a frown to Melissa's face. "Someone's watching your place? Abby, are you afraid to be at home? Because if you are, you're more than welcome to stay here. I don't want you being in danger and this is…well…it's pretty damn safe at the moment. As for the rest…wanna talk about it? You're more than welcome to vent, you know."
"No, not afraid to be at my place. There's a cop who lives down the hall. Colette's dad actually. I think Ivanov lives somewhere in the place too. When I rented it, they told me a lot of cops lived there because of how close to the precinct it was."
She needed this. In some ways, it's what her own mother would do, the playing with her hair, vice versa. "Delilah and I overheard Susan couple weeks ago. We were over at a queens safe house, sorting out supplies and Susan and the two operators, they were talking in the alley. We heard them. They talked about Kaylee and not wanting her to find out stuff. She handed something over to the two guys, wrapped in white. There was talk about central park. Bunch of things"
Abigail wrinkles her nose, eyes closed and blonde lashes flush against it's lower lid counterparts. She's warm, slightly so and Mel could likely account why but not dangerously so. "Something happened in Central park not long after Mel. The two guys? They're supposedly out on a run to drop some folks off. Hana went and talked to her, sent me a message that all was okay. Things were being taken care of" She cracks open an eye. "Did I mention that Susan's a persuader?"
Melissa shakes her head. "I don't know who Susan is. Never met her. But a persuader huh? I think in some ways they're the most dangerous evolved out there. Worse than anyone who can just do violence with their ability. Does she have to touch someone to persuade them, or is her voice or eye contact enough?" She continues absently playing with Abby's hair. Despite the conversation, it seems to relax her. Physical human contact isn't something she gets often, and even something as simple as this is welcome.
"I don't think she has to touch. I dissolves some negation drugs in some tea when I went to meet her. She knew I put something in it because she made a comment about not doing that ever again. Either she saw me put the powder in… or she tried to use her ability on me and it didn't work. She talked a lot about how, one should trust their fellow council and ferry members"
She opens both eyes now, looking up. "That incident at Central Park, that can't be a co-incidence Mel. But I don't know how to go about even checking. I mean.. the Fitzpatricks aren't back yet, they've been gone two weeks, and.. she's killed, to keep the ferry quiet and she's a a federal employee"
Melissa grimaces and gives her head another shake. "Sounds like she's someone you shouldn't trust, if she's using her ability on other Ferry members. Even I didn't do that." There's a pause and a sheepish look. "Not on purpose anyway. But I think you're right. It's not coincidence. Where'd she come from anyway? Like I said, never met her, so guessing she came in after I left. And have you talked to the other council members about her? Your suspicions and this not a coincidence?"
"She's been there since before I even started healing for them. Mel.. what if she's the informant? What if she's the one who's the institute plant? Damon said he'd been in MOAB but that he wasn't … I would think the way he said it, that he wasn't evolved" Is it a possibility. Abby's forehead wrinkles with though.
Melissa pales a little and nods slowly. "It…would make sense. If she's mind fucking other Ferry members, it's definitely a possibility. Definitely worth checking into," she murmurs thoughtfully. "Who's Damon though? And why in the hell would a non-evolved be in Moab? We were all evolved in there. That was the point."
"Why wouldn't you. Look at who all was in there. Members of PARIAH, members of phoenix, other evolved people. They won't talk in front of guards. You don't trust the guards, but look who's in with you. Other members of your groups, other evolveds, people you will trust because they're Just. Like. You. You would have trusted another in mate, or if not trusted, at least spoken a little more freely around"
Abigail sits up, feet connecting with the floor gently before standing up, hair time over and done with. "The really important people, they locked them up, shoved them down in like solitary, but all the others"
She looks over to Melissa. "I can't go to Hana, Hana talked with her, which means that if it is Susan, Hana's compromised. Who all knows who's compromised. I never talked with Susan until the day I spiked the tea. So in a way, I made sure she couldn't use her ability. I don't even know where to start looking into this. I don't have much time, council nominations are going to be voted on soon, she's one of them. If she is responsible for something, responsible for whatever went down in central park, or whatever she might do to Kaylee, it needs to be done before that time. Because once she gets voted in, everything that Eileen and others have done to try and make the Ferry better, will be for naught"
A horrible thought enters Melissa's mind. "Abby? What if you have spoken to Susan, and you just don't remember?" she asks quietly. "And when are the nominations? I think I might be able to help, but I need a deadline." She smiles faintly, sadly. "And I'm not sure I can tell you about it, because what if she catches you without negation pills and gets the plan out of you? It would make it pointless."
Abby says, "Nominations are soon and no, she hasn't talked to me before Mel, I seriously haven't, before being nominated, hung out with folks like her in the Ferry. Grace and Scott, the Garden, I was a runner and mainly interacted with others"
But Mel has a plan. A plan that Abigail doesn't really know if she wants to not know about it. "I dunno Mel… I mean.." She does run with Messiah."
"I'm not talking about killing her or anything, Abby. Not unless she tries to kill me first," Melissa assures her. "I just want you safe and…well…I may not be Ferry anymore, but I'm hardly an enemy. You guys do good work, and I don't want anyone to mess that up."
"This involve Rebel?" A worried look on Abby's face. "Mel, I can't agree to anything unless I know what it is I'm agreeing to, because then I'm responsible for whatever happens. You understand this right?" One arm wrapped across her torso, the other bent, elbow resting in the crook of her arm as her palm cradles her chin. She doesn't like this, doesn't like any of it and from her pocket, her iPhone bleats/
Melissa shakes her head. "No, it doesn't involve Rebel," she says, glancing at the ringing pocket. "Never talked to Rebel, and don't see that I'll have any reason to."
Bleating, not ringing. Not that Mel would know the difference really, some people have strange ring tones. Abigail scowls at phone, pulling it out, wrinkling her nose. "Running warm. Lord I hate this stress. Peter being Peter, work, my dah, Kasha and Huruma, Ferry. I dunno if I can do this part of the council thing with the Ferry. This is just bay work I'm doing right now Mel, I haven't been in the ambulance since before Peter moved out" She presses the screen, sitting down on the floor crosses legged and works at calming herself down, getting back down to normal at least. Heat wasn't helping her at all either. "Applied to go back to school too, I've done my six months and now can do the next step"
There's a slow blink. "Peter moved out? When did that happen?" Melissa asks, frowning. No one told her that. She studies Abby for a long moment, then heads into the kitchen. A minute later she comes back with a ziplock bag full of ice, offering it to the other blonde. "I sympathize though, hon. Got Tartarus, the Suresh Center, four people staying here, getting the attic and basement remodeled, Peter being Peter and…other stuff." No, she will not talk about Messiah to Abby.
"Officially? A few days ago. He came to ask me about Darren. He disappeared not long after we had the fight, then I had to go home cause of my Dah, and he wasn't there, he'd come in once or twice to sleep and that was it. I told him he didn't have to stay if he didn't want to. I have the monitor now, it'll beep at me if I get too warm and wake me up" So she can do what Mel is doing right now, the baggie of Ice which she puts on the back of her neck in the hopes of it being another added method of cooling down.
"What are you going to do Mel?
"I don't know yet, Abby," Melissa admits. "But I know that I can't just watch the Ferrymen sink because of a leak like Susan. But like I said, I don't want to kill her. I don't want to kill anyone."
"I don't know if she's the leak Mel. But she's sure acting suspicious" Abigail points out.
"I know," Melissa says, nodding. "But when people act that suspicious, when they're mindfucking people like she seems to be, they're doing something wrong."
"I don't know that she's doing that either. Maybe she saw me put the stuff in the tea. It's not exactly like I'm super spy ninja like Mister Bennet. Who by the way, I told him that you found Mr. Muggles and Mrs Bennet will be beside herself with joy. I got asked to drop him off at the Hangar for the family. I can collect the reward there for you if you like. I thought I might take Mister Muggles to get groomed, before I did that. Or you know, you can drop him off"
"I don't care about the reward," Melissa says, shaking her head. "And I could take him, but does the Ferry really want me going to safehouses now? I mean, I know where that one is and all, but I don't want to make anyone uncomfortable."
"Yeah, no, probably not. I don't really know. I don't think frankly, they'd care Mel, if you came to drop off Sandra's dog. She'd drag you in and stuff you full of cake" She points out, looking away from the woman and down to the iPhone and watching the numbers creeping down.
Melissa nods. "I'll drop him off then. You've got enough on your plate as it is." A pause, a glance to the phone, then back to Abby. "Feeling any cooler than you were? I can change out the bag with fresh ice. Just feel lucky that Faron fixed the AC in here, so it's not a sweat box anymore."
"Yeah, it's working. Just let myself get all worked up. I need to stop worrying about taking the negation pills and just take them. I worry that I'm putting this huge dent in the supply, but Cat still passes them over when I come asking. I used em the whole time I was home and just… I need help. But Peter afraid to help me and Gabriel is just… No answer. Eileen doesn't think he'll help anymore. Says he's having issues of his own" She doesn't know that she already met him and ti was really him, not Eileen that she talked to. "I should get going, there's cake for you all. Who's Faron?"
"Hey, my offer still stands. I'm getting pretty good at helping people learn to control their abilities, what with the work I'm doing at the Center," Melissa says with a smile. "And Faron's another one of my fosterlings. Awkward little guy, but kinda adorable, in that pinch his cheeks sorta way."
"Chink pinching cute?" There's a laugh at that, levering herself up from the floor with a flexibility that Teo probably envies and probably has. "Bought the bar. It's done, all mine plus the one floor above that has rooms. Now to go find out what the heck to change in it. What needs fixing. Soho, Home of The Abbey"
"Yeah, face cheeks though, not ass cheeks," Melissa says, nodding. "And that's awesome, Abby. I can't wait to be able to come sit in your bar again and harass you and your employees," she says with an impish grin.
"You'll be one of the first to know Mel. Go eat cake, finish your Chinese or whatever. When you're done, maybe I'll borrow that program from you" Her bag picked up, ice in bag still kept at hand, Mel's heading for the door. 'Tell Sandra I say hello. I'm gonna see what I can dig up first… with regards to Susan before.. I let you do anything"
Melissa sighs softly and nods. "Alright Abby. Take it easy. Good luck with figuring out the bar," she says, giving Abby a quick hug.