Participants:
Scene Title | Welcome Help |
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Synopsis | Phoenix is popular. |
Date | December 27, 2008 |
The Hangar
It's been quite some time since she and Anne talked about the Ferrymen — just over a week, in fact. But what with everything else Phoenix has been doing lately, it seemed like giving them breathing space was in order. Thus, the meeting was arranged for this morning. The pallid light seeping through an overcast sky does little to illuminate the Hangar's kitchen, where Grace is again busying herself with things like leftover Christmas ham, eggs, peppers, and onions. There's a bowl of fruit salad on the counter, along with empty dishes meant to hold personal servings of the breakfast fare, handfuls of utensils, and empty glasses. Helena has been informed she can just walk in the front door, like any other visitor. Anne will hopefully not be quite as precipitous as last time, but she is expected.
Helena's been a bit in absentia around Christmas Day, though reachable through her phone, so no one was set ot panic. What she's done and where she's been is a mystery, but suffice to say, she shows up as requested, and besides, there's eggs and ham and onions, and the lure of food for skinny blondes. However, she does understand there's a more serious effort to be had, and her little blonde frame appears in the doorway of the kitchen, clasping a pink and white bakery box by its strings. "Hey, Grace," she greets. "I brought something, for the holiday. Merry Belated Christmas."
Perhaps just teleporting in where someone is bound to get a heartattack is generally a bad idea. Anne's education didn't include so many sneaky lessons or ones including how to handle paranoid people, but she's learning. Little by little. So, instead of just arriving in the doorway, this time, she ports to a spot high up in the hallway, hanging horisontally for the tiniest of moments, checking if there's anyone below her, and then she pops down to the floor like a normal person. There we go. Shuffling her feet and making a bit of noise she starts looking about in the Hangar, then. "Hello? Anybody here?" See? No sneaking up on Grace this time. Hopefully this works better. That there's two of them in the kitchen doesn't really stall greetin's.
Turning at the familiar voice, Grace offers a small but most sincere smile. "Thanks, Helena," she replies. "The same to you. Set it over there?" she prompts, indicating the counter with a glance. "Help yo—" Then there's another new arrival calling from the hallway, and a subtle grin tugs at the woman's lips. She lifts her chin slightly, calling in return, "Kitchen, Anne!" So much a summons as her rasping voice allows, that is.
Helena calmly pops the string and pulls up the box's top, a set of a dozen eclairs inside. "This is who Hana sent me the brief on, right?" she asks softly as she waits for Anne to come in.
Anne steps into the kitchen and pulls her fingers through her hair, somewhat nervously. This isn't exactly like her regular auditions, after all. Rather a different line of work, most likely. "Hey Grace, nice to see you. Hope your holidays are treating you well." Her voice is melodic and soft, especially compared to Grace's, though that is perhaps not such a difficult task. "You must be Helena then?" Probably, given that she was the only other person in the room, and Grace had used the name. She reaches out a hand in offered greeting. "Nice to meet you. I'm Anne."
"She is," Grace confirms, as she turns off the burner and transfers the skillet to a trisket on the counter. "Thank you," she says as Anne enters. "They're going rather well, I think." One hand is waved idly at the breakfast offerings. "As I was about to say, help yourselves. There's plenty." Suiting actions to words, she gets a plate of her own and begins to fill it.
"I am." Helena says affably. "I'm glad the Ferryman could help you and your family, Anne." She shakes the hand easily and tilts her head toward the food. "Excuse me a minute. Grace will tell you we sometimes get a bit lean at Phoenix, so we take the opportunities to eat like little piggies when we can." She heads over to grab a plate and load up. "Is your family worried about you coming back?" She doesn't ask where they were sent. What she doesn't know won't hurt Anne or her family.
"No. They're not." Anne answers, quite truthfully. Grace will know that it's because Anne never left herself, but. It's really a rather painful topic all around, that. She nods her head in thanks to Grace, then, and starts filling up her plate with some food. "I got something for you, by the way." Is said to Grace. "I don't actually know if you like that sort of thing, but.. it's a little hard to get ahold of around here." She puts a small white plastic bag on the table, and inside it, if one peeks, is some pretty fancy chocolate. Something you need to share if you can.
Making her way around the counter and claiming a seat at the table, Grace chuckles, and points at Anne with her fork. "Don't let her fool you," she instructs the older woman, a grin evident. "Phoenix might get 'lean', but they're not desperate enough to take Alistair up on the zillion MRE's he's been sitting on for months." One dark eyebrow arches as the other guest evidences that she also has brought a gift. "Fortunately, I'm not into self-recriminations, or else the fact that I didn't get either of you anything might pose me a difficulty. Thank you," she concludes, nodding to Anne.
Helena's mouth makes a little 'o' at the sight of the chocolate and says, "Our current site doesn't have much in the way of a kitchen. Fortunately, we're going to be having a bit of change of scene, soon." She sits down at the kitchen table, and begins forking up her food. She doesn't press Anne, but offers, "You understand I've got a limited amount of information I can share with you, but if you have questions, I'll answer them as much as I can. Grace has mentioned you might be interested in us."
"I understand." Anne replies with a bit of a nod to her head, though Grace's statement earns her a grin. "No worries. You can always look at it like this: You're providing the food here." Which makes for an ample gift, in her mind. Then she turns back her attention to Helena again and nods. "As for questions.. I realize that unless one is actually involved, it's better if the secrets aren't so widely spread." Just knowing Helena's face could potentially be a bad thing, and all. "But yes. I am interested in you folk, though, I'd like to know as much as you can tell me about what you actually do. And, if you're interested in getting a bit more help."
"Help," Grace points out, "is always welcome. Especially good help." Other than that statement, however, she settles in to listen and eat.
Helena nods in agreement with Grace. "Very true. I try not to look gift anythings in the mouth. Which makes some people question my sense of discretion." Helena's self-targetted joking is made lightly. "Phoenix is a wing of the Ferrymen, pardon the pun. While the focus of the Ferrymem is helping Evolved and their families get out of bad situations, we tend to run towards them, screaming and holding banners." A pause. "Okay, that's not quite accurate, but we focus our efforts in countering the threats placed against Evolved that we feel are wrong or dangerous to us and people in general."
That's a statement Anne thinks can mean pretty much anything, but. Then again, the number of possible dangers are probably rather widespread as well. It wasn't like there was only one kind of problem, so. She just nods to that. "Is it more a military sort of thing, or focused towards promoting thoughts and ideas?" For all she knew it could be both, but there was a distinct difference, and importance, to the answer.
"Yeah, that was a day of wonders." Anne replies with a bit of a smile. "And if possible, that's the kind of things I'd like to be involved in, but.. I'm kind of guessing there are a couple of things you need to know about me as well." And as those things go, well. The ball is kind of in Helena's court. "I don't know how much Grace here has told you about me."
"I'll be honest, it's not necessarily pick and choose." Helena says frankly. "We may not be military, but we are in our own way, soldiers." She looks briefly to Grace and then back to Anne. "Just the basics. Was it you or a family member who is Evolved? If it's you, what do you do? What was your situation before all this?" She makes a vague gesture with her fork.
"It was, and is, myself." Anne replies quite simply. "And I'm a teleporter." Those are the easy parts to answer, aren't they? As for the rest, though, she just nods. Soldiers in their own way. It was a lot to think on, but she could understand being in for the penny and the pound. Anything else probably wouldn't work in an organisation like that. She reaches up to brush her thumb over a slight bulge in her shirt, though she doesn't take her eyes off Helena, meanwhile. "As for my situation, I was and am a musician."
Helena smiles a little at that. "We've a couple of musicians. Artists don't tend to go for the whole violation of civil rights thing." Absently, she muses on how Anne and Cat would get on. "When you say you're a teleporter — only yourself? Or others? There's lots of variables in teleporting and what exactly people do with it." She thinks of Teo's brother. "Believe me, I've seen some really weird sort of teleporting."
"I'm faster when it's just me, but.. I can take up to four people with me." Anne offers, smiling a bit while she does. "Don't think I'll be trying more'n that for a while, though, unless there's a real emergency." And it'd really have to be that, for everyone's safety. "I can also make myself real difficult to get ahold of, or hit, if it comes to that." She pauses slightly, putting her fork back down on the plate. "Haven't actually met a teleporter aside from myself, though, that I know of."
Helena nods to that. "Do you have things going on in your life that might be hard to let go of? I don't mean music. There's always room for music." Just not on top of the roof. "Some people don't really understand just how much of their lives this can take up and are surprised when they do finally read the memo."
Anne's face drops a bit at that, and she closes her eyes for a moment. Just focusing on breathing. "No." She says after a while in silence. "The things I couldn't give up… aren't here anymore." Lost already, as it were. She opens her eyes again and returns a firm look to Helena's face. The details, as it were, aren't being shared. But then they're not that important either. To others than Anne.
Helena simply nods to this. "I'm sorry if I'm being a blunt edge." she says quietly. "I have to ask these things. The people in Phoenix — we're all effectively in each other's hands. As much as we need people to take up the cause, every new person is someone that can take the whole operation down." Quieter, "We've lost people. There's always a chance that if the wrong people get ahold of you, you could be hurt very badly or killed."
"I know." Anne replies, with equal softness. It wasn't exactly a simple thing, which was one of the reasons she'd waited so many months with making the decision. She was, essentially, a musician. A lover rather than a fighter. But some things… some things were worth fighting for, even so. Like a child that was now almost a year old, hiding somewhere in the world with her father. A little child that might well grow up to be like her mother was. "Not that I intend to go looking for my death, mind you. But. Yeah." She shakes her head a bit. "Might I ask why you're doing this yourself?"
Anna is now subject to one of Helena's formerly characteristic long silences. She looks down, as if reviewing the question in her mind, ticking off a mental list, carefully deciding what needs to be said - not out of any inherent manipulation, but a need to make sure she is understood. "Because it's the right thing to do." she says at last. "Because I've lost loved ones. Because someone important to me charged me with this purpose." And then, "Because if someone doesn't, we're all going to die."
Anne nods a bit to this, leaning back in her chair. That was really what it came down to. Not only them, but.. everyone would die. Everyone with the slightest trace of an ability, or even the suspicion of it. That was enough even now, wasn't it? So, she just nods, and waits. She told her part, and answered the questions as best she could, but. In the end the choice isn't hers to make.
But it kind of is. "You understand what you're getting into? Or at least have an idea?" Helena presses.
"Yes." Anne replies. "Not fully, of course. I couldn't, and pretending that I did would be stupid and a lie, rolled into one." Neither of which was very effective, really. "But. I've made my choice." That's what she means, you see. She made hers. But Helena hasn't actually said 'yes', in reply.
"Okay, then." Helena says calmly. "Grace? Do you keep any stock of Phoenix disposable cells around here?"
Disposable cell phones. Yeah, Anne is very sure about one thing. "..I seem to have a lot to learn about the ways of being sneaky. Transportation aside." That part she could do, but. As for the rest? She'd need to pay SERIOUS ATTENTION in class.
Having finished eating a while ago but remained seated so as not to interrupt the conversation, Grace chuckles when Helena addresses her. "Phoenix cells? No. But we go through a lot of those ourselves." Standing up, she jabs a thumb at the ceiling as if to indicate the upper floors before picking up her plate — as well as any others that may have been cleared. "This is Ali's home base. We have probably almost everything you could want."
Helena grins. "I can program one of yours if you don't mind us swiping from your supply. I just need to get Anne on the network."
"If you don't mind," Anne says, sounding somewhat careful now. "I'd like to hear a bit on the why one needs to have a special cellphone for this. I'm afraid I'm horrible at.. well. Spy-stuff, and such." And this wasn't a good time to fail on these things.
Taking the plates over to the sink, Grace peers across the counter at Helena. "As opposed to just having Wireless set it up?" She shrugs. "Hey, whatever works. And, hell, Helena, how many times do we have to tell people there is no 'our' and 'your', at least as far as we're concerned?" The woman shakes her head, if with a lopsided, exasperated smile, and heads off in the direction of the stairs.
Helena gives Grace a sheepish smile and turns her attention to Anne. "Most people have their own cellphones. In addition to being accessible to every Tom, Dick, and G-Man to trace if they want, they usually have GPS devices. So it makes using them for communication when you're part of an underground resistance effort somewhat difficult. The disposables here are set up on a network created by one of the top people in the organization. It gives a way to communicate with less risk, most often through calls and texts. And if you think you might be compromised, all you need to do is wipe it and toss it. We also use them in one of our recruitment protocols."
"Well, um. That makes sense then, I suppose." Anne says with a bit of a sheepish smile. She's definitely going to be studying things like GPS and things, though it'll have to wait until after today. You can't do it all in one afternoon, after all. "Is there anything else I need to know right off the bat?"
"I'll need to get you aqauinted with our meet and greet protcols…but we can do that in a bit. The smell of the chocolate is making me nutters. So let's dig in, shall we?" Helena says with a faint smile, and for now, the topic is put to the side for a little something called life.
December 26th: The Beaten Path |
December 27th: Anonymous Call |