ArchivedLogs:Someone to Talk To

Someone to Talk To
Dramatis Personae Micah, Melinda, Tola	2 December 2014 '
Location <NYC> Harbor Commons - Sunroom - Lower East Side
Bright and warm, this room is set up to enjoy a little bit of the outdoors even year-round. Tall glass panes make up most of its wall in between wood supports, providing a wide three-sided view of the garden and yard outside. As well as the inner doors leading back into the kitchens and dining room, an outer door leads out to the outdoor gardens, as well. Inside, the room is airy and green -- a plethora of potted herbs and plants hang from the ceiling, as well as ring the room in a series of narrow wooden raised-beds that provide growing space for a selection of herbs year-round. Outside of the herb beds that ring the room, this place is designed simply to come and relax; quiet and simple, with clean stone floors and neutral-toned wicker furniture adorned with comfortable cushioning. Some of the chairs ring stone-and-glass tables for eating or conversing; a few more solitary seats come in the form of rocking chairs or netted hammock-chairs hanging from the ceiling. The sunroom isn't sunny, but at this hour that isn't surprising. It would be dark even if the snow-slush-sleet clouds hadn't been trying to block out the light all day. It is still a cheery room, however, herb scented and well lit with lamps. It is also +1 Micah, armed with a small tote bag of indoor gardening tools and a silver-grey plastic watering can in the shape of an elephant with a raised trunk-spout. The redhead is busily pinching aromatic purple flowers off of the pots of basil all clustered together. He is dressed simply: Batsignal hoodie, Flutterbat tee kind of on a theme, flannel-lined jeans. Pinch-pinch. The pretty little flowers are not long for this world. Melinda comes wandering in, still sporting her work clothes, but armed with a hot packed lunch and a small green baby strapped to her front. She shucks off her coat in the warmth of the indoors and drapes it over the back of a chair, setting her food down before untying the wrap that is keeping Tola out of her hands. The pair sit down before Mel takes a moment to look around. A deep sigh ruffles Tola's petals as she situates the child sitting in her lap. Finally, she raises her voice to the other person in the room. "Hey, Micah." Micah deposits his squish-flowers into the growing pile of plant scrap on a table, freeing his hand up to wave at Mel and Tola as they arrive. "There's a flower that ain't sappin' all the resources outta no herbs. Hi, pretty girl." He abandons his plant-tending and wanders over to the pair, tickling at baby toes in greeting. "Also pretty lady," is added with a nod and smile to Mel. "How's things?" "Eh. You know, hanging in there." Melinda inhales deeply and gives a little smile, one that is more effort than emotion. Tola, on the other hand, is more than thrilled to wave those spindly little arms at Micah when he waves at her. She then turns and pats her mother's face with a half cupped hand. Mel closes one eye to avoid fingers in that sensitive organ. "How about you?" "That good, huh?" Micah answers with a little shrug of his shoulders and scrunch of his nose. He can't help but chuckle at the baby manhandling, however. "Y'need a minute t'get some food in you?" His hands are already reaching out toward the flailing flower, ready to lift her up to give Mel a little space if needed. His teeth meet with his lower lip at the return question, gnawing at it gently. "S'been. Complicated lately." "I don't know if I need a minute. Eating is overrated. Been hard to want to lately. I'm not sleeping much either. When I do get to sleep, the dreams seem to suck more than anything." Mel shakes her head and peels off the top of the tupperware on the table with her free hand. Vegetarian lasagna rests in the plastic bowl, still issuing hot steam despite the walk from her apartment. "How are things complicated?" With that answer, Micah plunks down on the floor by Mel's chair, facing them and providing wiggling fingers and silly faces to entertain the baby instead. "Yeah," the syllable is heavy in agreement at Mel's assessment of the dreams, brow furrowing with more than baby-face-making. "Dreams're bad. People're missin'. Apparently I'm makin' life harder by thinkin' things too hard. Just the usual." "People are missing?" Mel's brow furrows as she uses a plastic (though reusable) fork to cut into her lasagna and break it down into bite sized pieces. "Shit. Yeah, everything is crappy. How do you actually stop thinking about that? Is someone giving you a hard time about thinking too much?" Her lips purse in annoyance, stabbing the noodles with her fork. Tola, on the other hand, is far too fascinated by the head that suddenly so near her mother's knee. She leans forward, supported by her mother, and starts to mess around in Micah's messy hair. "Y'remember Maya? She had that Holi party right b'fore..." Micah's shoulders shudder a little, yet another thought not to dwell on. "She's apparently been missin' since June. I was so wrapped up in things, didn't even get in touch t'/know/ 'til now. Got leads, once they play out, at least. If not that, gonna see if maybe Jim can help." Micah shakes his head at the question, then just tips it forward to let Tola fuss with his hair. Apparently he doesn't have too much worry about little fingers pulling. "Not...a hard time s'much. Just. Kinda hold some unpopular opinions an'. Ain't good enough at not showin' what I'm thinkin'." Well, that was cryptic. His second headshake is smaller so as not to disturb the baby. "S'nothin' I can really do anythin' about." "Did you know her well?" Melinda carefully puts a little bit of food on her fork, eyes shifting between the dish and Micah's face. "You know you can ask Jim to look into it before the leads play out. It's what he does, and he's good at it." She lifts the fork and blows lightly on mound of cheesy vegetation. "I'm s... sympathetic that things are going so shittily for you. It's not fun to feel like your thoughts are unpopular and unwelcome. Have you tried venting... to someone else, just so you have an outlet, but not someone who will judge?" "We was friends, but only just met roundabout last March. An' she went missin' in June. So...not very long. She's just one of those...really /good/ people. Magnetic, y'know?" Micah nods at the mention of Jim. "Might well, dependin' how long it takes t'get hold of this guy. S'a chance that her bein' missin' is all X-gene power related. So I don't wanna send 'im on a wild goose chase if that's the case. I dunno how...busy he is." His shoulders hunch a little at Mel's stutter. It's lucky there /isn't/ a telepath around to hear how hard he's trying not to think of what's going on with Hive. "I'd like to, I'm just not...sure what all's someone else's private information they mightn't want shared out, so. Can't really talk about it t'folks as ain't in the middle of it already. S'likely part of the trouble." He extends an arm to play with Tola's toes since they are dangling so easily within reach. "Almost squeezed the stuffin' outta Jax after that dream." Strangely, this is the /safer/ topic to broach. "Didn't like...with how destroyed everythin' was. Weren't one of 'em there. Jax or the pups or Spence. Felt like prob'ly they weren't...there." "Hon," Mel purses her lips again, quiet for a little while. Tola squirms when her toes are tickled, her hands pap against Micah's head more, then the giggling starts. It's a small noise, quiet and amused. Mel takes another breath and then wets her lips. "You know that there are professionals who swear confidentiality. You have a huge amount on your plate and if you don't get some of this off your chest, it's not going to get any better. I don't know if you need advice, but just a listening ear might help you." She eats a bite and lays down her fork. "As for that dream..." she pauses and thinks, her gaze distant. "It was so... horrible. I don't know what to say. Everything felt hopeless. I'm sorry you felt the loss of your family. I'm afraid I have no idea. I didn't think about them at all, just then." "I know, sugar. I been seein' someone at the Clinic once a week for...a good minute. S'just with stuff like this... They back offa real ethical dilemmas an' such. Always get very 'hmm' an' talk less on it. I know they're trained t'respect clients' points of view an' cultures an' whatever...but it turns into not really. Talkin' 'bout those things when they're the problem. Talkin' to an impassive wall of 'hmm' ain't really the helpfullest of things t'me." Micah manages a sincere smile at Tola's little giggle, continuing to tickle at her feet. "We're gonna stop that happenin', Mel. Been that guy in the dreams, Doctor Strange? Talkin' war prophesies. He's a real guy an' he's been around. I wanna take Flicker 'cause it sounds like he's had more dreams with this guy in 'em than anybody. But maybe...he'll finally be someone who knows what's goin' on." "Ah. Well." Melinda has no response to that. "I'm glad you're talking to someone." She gives little wince and then goes back to dinner. She isn't all that hungry though and puts her fork down again. "Can we? I... I couldn't sleep the rest of the night and last night. I just keep..." She shakes her head. "Yeah. Please. Let me know if there's anything I can do." Tola is not entirely ignorant of the mood in the room, and while giggling at the attention paid to her feet, she is still quiet and not as enthusiastic as she usually is. "I think so. If everythin's what I think it is? This guy's been workin' t'send messages t'the past t'stop this war from happenin'. I think it's why they been slowly progressin' forward. Givin' us time t'see 'em for what they are an' t'take 'em serious. I'm just...hopin' against hope that he'll know somethin' when we get to 'im." Micah nods firmly at this, eyes resting on Tola. Giggly, green, happy-flower Tola. "I'll let y'know. We're gonna do everythin' in our power t'stop it." Melinda nods and turns her attention to her daughter for a while, trying to pick up some of her joy. "Yeah. I'll... I'll ask Jim to look into this Dr. Strange, too, along with Maya. Just... Gotta hope, right?" “I got contact info. for Maya's roommate I'll text you. She's a good place t'start if he wants to. She seems t'know a fair amount of what's been goin' on.” Micah nods again. “S'what keeps things goin'.” Melinda nods, moving her free hand to rub her daughter's belly. "Okay. We'll start with her roommate. Thanks, Micah. Apologies for not really being a good conversation partner." “No apologies needed, sugar. It don't help all the...depressin' an' secrets an' confusin' goin' 'round. Don't always make for the best chats.” Micah steals Tola's little hand to kiss the back of it. “'Sides, I got me some Tola Time. Which is always good time.”