Would You Do It?

Participants:

abby_icon.gif melissa_icon.gif

Scene Title Would You Do It?
Synopsis Abby and Melissa discuss Darren, stress, and play a what-if game involving abilities.
Date April 6, 2010

Le Rivage - Abby's Apartment.


It's a near zombie that greets Melissa at the door Abigail's still waking up at noon, little red pinpricks along one side of her face that is telltale of getting slapped. A cut on her forehead from the night before that is held with butterfly bandages and bruising. Flannel bottoms and tank top, fuzzy slippers, purple chenille bathrobe, blonde hair loose, she stares out at Melissa for a few moments while her brain chugs along to function before turning to let her in and close the door behind her with a yawn. "Morning"

Melissa doesn't look that much better than Abby. Bags under her eyes and there's still a lack of make-up. Poor girl. She smiles faintly as she steps inside. "That…is becoming an evil, evil word. So I'll stick with just a simple 'hi'." She unwraps her scarf and studies Abby's face for a moment. "What happened to you?"

"Steve and the ambulance. peter and I got called onto duty last night and all the snow, we crashed it into a snowbank on the way to a call. Be fine, nothing a week won't cure" For either thing. "Head hurts, but that could be the lack of sleep. You?" Size 7 feet plod towards the kitchen and for the coffee maker. Button pressed, button pressed, a multitude of beeping from the space aged machine that made it's transfer to the temporary lodgings. "Coffee? I think I've given up not drinking it."

Melissa frowns a little and follows Abby. "What do you mean Steve? What the hell did he do to you? I swear, if he's hurting the people at Grand Central, I'll kick his ass to the curb. He has no right to kick the gift horse in the mouth."

"The gift horse kicked back first. He's holing himself up in a ticket booth down there. My fault. I've been having temper issues lately and just going off on people. I went off on him and he gave it to me back. He just wants to be left alone" Supposedly. "I have speckles on my cheek and wrist now, to match yours" Cups are drug from a counter, followed by gathering fruits and vegetables from the cabinet and a motion to the knives for Mel to help. "He did it though. Something to do with his power. I couldn't get much out of him other than he's responsible for a few deaths in the city, he's like Anti-evolved but congratulations, he's evolved and… he wants to turn back time so none of it happened or someone erase his memories"

Melissa stops dead in her tracks and stares. "Are you fucking kidding me? He used his power on you? And he hates the evolved? Then why the fuck would he accept help from an evolved? Why does he hate us anyway?" There's a pause where she stares blankly at the knife for a moment, then she steps forward to start chopping, each movement short and hard. Oh yes, she's ticked, but has a hold on her power…for the moment.

"Because he doesn't have control Melissa. He gets angry, it turns on. I think that's why he sparked on you. High emotional state and…" Abilities activate. "He didn't actively use it on me but he .. it turned on and it's scary. You can see his bones, and his hands glow, glows out of his mouth and his eyes, all green. I nearly peed my pants"

"He's not my first anti-evolved new evolved. Aaron is an empath, guy who plays in the bar or used to. He sucks all bad emotions out, leaves only good. Human Prozac and anti-anxiety medication without the sleeping. Took weeks to get him to accept that he was evolved and to stop hating himself. Think he does still hate himself"

Abigail shrugs, getting out the blender and tossing the fruit and vegetable in. Hellooooo spirulina. "He accepted help because he's desperate. I don't know, I sorta shook him around and slapped him and he slapped me and I left. He's still down there and I can lend you my snowshoes to get to the tunnels."

Melissa's brow furrows and she goes still for a moment, then she nods. "Yeah…I can sorta get that," she murmurs. "This kid…Kendall? He's still learning to use his ability, and he wants nothing more than to be un-evolved." She glances to Abby. "His parents kicked him out when they found out he was evolved. Can you believe that?" she says, shaking her head and leaning against the counter.

"I didn't see what you did. Just a green like…spark or flash or something. But still, not having control…That's no reason to hate all evolved." A pause, then she nods. "Yeah, snow shoes would be awesome. I need to go talk to him. Hell, I've got a lot of people I need to talk to. You included, which is actually why I came here. Didn't mean to get side-tracked," she says with a weak smile.

"Just things he said made me thing he is.. maybe was Anti-evolved. He said some pretty cruel things at the end" Likely what prompted the shaking and smacking. But she's diverging off that. "What did you need to talk about. Wait, just a second" She takes what Melissa's finished chopping, throwing that in with the rest and the lid goes on the blender. Green smoothies. A sickly bright green. "Swamp sludge. Doesn't taste like swamp sludge. A doctor I once knew, made this recipe for me. Help with healing and getting back to… how I should be" There's an offer of a spoon for the other woman to try it. 'It's fruity. I swear"

Melissa eyes the mixture in the blender warily, but she slowly takes the spoon and scoops out a little. "It looks…like radioactive swamp sludge," she mutters, before she hesitantly tastes it. A pause, then a shrug. "It's not horrible. And there was a meet last night. Ferry people. Very hush hush for anyone who wasn't there, but you were one of a couple of people we needed to talk to."

The spoon is put down and Mel's hands slide into her pockets. "We need someone who can do some checking on the vaccine at St. Luke's. See if they can find out anything about delivery schedules and that sorta thing. And since you're an EMT, no one will think twice about you being in the hospital." Lips curve a bit. "But we need Peter kept in the dark. Apparently the powers that be think that he'd rat us out or something."

"Peter will tell his mother who will tell the company who will…" Do all sorts of things. Mel's not a swamp sludge kinda girl. Where's Francois when you want to share. "I can try, I can't promise I’ll get anything really" She looks over at Melissa. "They're gonna try lifting some Vaccine aren't they?" There’s a roll of her eyes and she pours out swamp sludge for herself, shoving the rest in the fridge to be reblended later. Maybe with some ice cream.

Melissa's eyes narrow at the mention of Angela Petrelli. "I really don't like his mom. Manipulative bitch," she mutters, before she adopts a falsetto. "Oh sure, you helped to chase off a guy who attacked my son in my home, but I'm gonna leave you to the authorities unless you do exactly as I say." Something else is muttered, but it isn't quite loud enough or clear enough to be made out. She draws in a deep breath then nods. "Yeah, they are. They want to protect people. And since only the Registered can get the vaccine, it leaves a lot of people shit outta luck."

Abby wrinkles her nose at the thought. "I'll keep an eye out for it, stick my nose in" She would be someone SOL soon enough too. maybe. All depending. "Who's organizing the thing or should I just drop you a line if I find out anything?"

"You can drop me a line, or get a hold of Eileen. Either way," Melissa says, shrugging. "And thanks, Abby. I know some people aren't gonna be happy about it, but if we can help these people, we gotta try, right?"

"Eileen" Abigail nods and coffee bleats that it's done, not that they couldn't smell it and she gestures to the machine and for Melissa to help herself. "Hey Mel. If someone could give you a power. you wouldn't know what you'd get, could end up totally something you're not expecting.. would you do it?"

Melissa looks blank for a moment, then she frowns a little. "Never really thought about it. I mean, I got my ability before the evolved came out, and since, in general, you can't have more than one ability, it really hasn't been high on my list of ponderings." She pokes around until she finds a mug, then she pours a cup. "If I lost my ability though? I very well might. It's become a part of me. It'd be like going bald now, or losing a limb. Just not using it feels weird to me. Like I'm forgetting to breathe or eat or something."

"What if you didn't get the pain augmentation back? What if… it was something else? something not so.. benign" Not that what Melissa had was benign. It got her thrown into Moab. Abby collects coffee and smoothie, heading out into the makeshift living room and sitting down on the crappy couch to turn on the noon news.

Melissa looks a tad amused as she follows Abby out of the kitchen. "Benign? I don't think that I can get too much less benign than dropping people in pain. But I don't know." She sits down and sips at the coffee. "I guess it might be sorta the same. The same sorta feeling. I mean, I think that regardless of what my ability was it would feel right to use it, even if it was a bad ability."

There's a pause, then she softly continues, as if confessing some dark secret. "Did you hear about the riot at the Queensboro bridge? The party that the police tried to break up? I was there. People were going to attack the cops, and a couple of people had already died. So I let loose. I dropped everyone in range. They were in pain. Serious pain. The rational part of me? It knew that it was a necessary evil. I had to stop them before more people died, and before the evolved got a worse rep than they already had…but the primal part of me? It loved it. It felt so good not to reign myself in like I tend to do. It was like a feast after fasting for a month. Or sex after years of abstinence. Part of me wants to let loose right now. Not because I wanna hurt you, but because it would feel right."

Melissa smiles faintly. "So I guess yes, I would do it. Because I couldn't handle missing such a vital part of me. I'm not sure how you cope now. So if you have a chance to get it back? I say go for it. I'll even go with you, if you want."

"Please don't talk about sex after abstinence" Because she's got a hankering for Robert. Or flint. God, anyone with whiskey smell on them.

Feet up on the coffee table, she draws the coffee near first. "A friend needs help. He's hoping.. that I'll get healing back, forcibly. Mel, you can't tell anyone. Lord I'm not even telling Teodoro or… anyone else. Maybe Joseph. I'm going to visit Pastor Sumter and see if he'll play conduit to a vision from the lord. But.. he's in need of healing and I don't think even Steve could do it. But I used to. I guess, we're playing roulette and hope that.. what I had comes back"

Melissa laughs softly. "Believe me, I don't want to think about sex until I start getting some. Abstinence is killing me." Then she sobers and nods. "I won't say a word, Abby. Just between you and me. But I meant it. If you want me to go with, just say the word, I'm there. But how could you possibly get an ability forcibly? Is this like the Kazimir thing?"

"Different. Long story short? A bunch of folks got tossed to the future. There? People could just sign up and get a shot and just like that, you were evolved. Teodoro, Teo, in the future I guess that's how he became evolved" Not that he has his ability anymore, just the genetic marker. "A couple vials I guess came back. Was how Peter got his own back after Kazimir. This friend. He thinks it's his only chance to stay alive, he's dying. And I can't say no. Someone once asked me if I'd do anything to save a dying man."

Melissa's expression softens and she nods. "Yeah, I can get that. And if Peter got his ability old ability back, then it makes sense that you'd get yours back, rather than a new one."

"Can pray" Abigail murmurs, "That that is how it comes out" Some small part of her worries that it won't, if afraid that it won't and Cardinal will be in even more dire straits.

"I'm not.. pretentious am I?"

Melissa blinks and cants her head slightly. "Pretentious? Uh…not that I've noticed? You could loosen up a lil', and maybe expand your wardrobe to include corsets, but you're not pretentious."

"Melissa, I will never be you and a corset is what you wear under a dress when you need to make things not look so.. straight. It works for you, but I, I do not wear corsets" It's spoken in a placating tone as if she's really trying to not incite anger or the wrath of Melissa in case the woman decides to make her headache actually worthy of taking drugs.

Melissa looks amused. "Yeah, yeah. I know. But my answer is still the same. Not pretentious."

So Darren was just being a prick. Jealous bastard. There's a wrinkle of Abigail's nose as she looks towards the news and the amazing difference in the weather overnight. No snow or blowing wind. Still cold as hell though. "Glad I don't live in Brooklyn." She murmurs. "God, I hope they don't call us in again today. I just want to take my drugs and just… hibernate" Not happening, she'll head down to the bar, see how removing snow will be around it and do that. Maybe crack the bar open for a few hours and see how it goes, whether they'd get some pedestrians at least.

Melissa's brow furrows lightly. "Your drugs? What are you on drugs for?" she asks, sounding concerned. "And I just hope the snow melts a little. I could seriously use a night out, just getting trashed and dancing. I haven't been sleeping, I've got a full grown kid, a dog, too many responsibilities, and no one to con into rubbing my shoulders."

"Anti-depressants, Anti-Anxiety. One drink feels like ten" Which might explain why Abigail doesn't really drink. A little of it to do with her upbringing. "I'm picking too many fights and the like, it's not me. Just stress. Lots of stress and need a foothold to try and deal with it"

Drinks are put down and she motions for the other woman to turn around, present her back to Abby. "I used to do this, before I was registered and was hiding what I could do. Folks with hurts would come into the diner and I'd massage their hand or their shoulders and heal them. They'd think it was just them feeling better. I was going to go to massage school but.. then I lost my gift and so I decided to become an EMT and in another 5 months I can start evening school again to get my paramedic's training”

"Are you serious? Oh man, Abby, I think I love you," Melissa says, setting her coffee down and turning around, trying to relax. "And I totally sympathize with the pills. I could use some anti-anxiety shit right now too. I love the city and all that, but…there are things I miss about home. And everything really does move so much faster in the Big Apple than down south."

Mel will find a bottle of said things tucked into her pocket on the way out, but Abigail set about to fulfilling at least one of Mel's desires even if she can't fill the others. She'll give a shoulder rub that time forgot to the blonde and commiserate about the speed of New York compared to the slow south and all the things that are different. Oh yes she will.

And so she will quickly become Melissa's best friend, even before the drugs are found. "Does it ever slow down here? I figured that a blizzard would slow things a little, but it seems like the opposite."

'Sometimes. For a week, two. I had like a month before things got all crazy again" The blonde murmurs as her fingers dig in, not too hard, to work at muscles and otherwise play nice and help to ease away some of the stress.

"I'd be happy with a day at this point," Melissa says with a faint smile. "And you know what the one thing I hate about my power is? I can't use it on myself. That seriously sucks and is totally not fair."

"A lot of people can't. I could use my healing on myself, but I knew a few others, they just couldn't. Tends to be a trend I think in the whole evolved thing. Not being able to use something on yourself, only on others" There's news about the snow, oh all that snow, SNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW! The stupid weather caster is at it again. "Thank god for no more snow"

Melissa smiles a little. "I'll believe that when I see it. I swear, when I first came here, I was thrilled. I'd never seen more than a couple inches. So I'd never made a real snowman, or went ice skating or anything like that. Was like a kid again. But now I'm sick of the damn stuff."

"It'll go away. Helena's an atmo. She'll fix it, whatever it is" Abigail mumbles. "Should see her call down lightening. That woman can be scary, now. Hush up and enjoy your ten minutes of peace and calm and then we can watch a movie until I have to go see to the bar"


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