Starring:
Summary: Nathan brings Rianna to meet Peter and Elle and try and find out exactly what happened to her, and point fingers at those who might be responsible.
Date It Happened: April 25th, 2007
Found Elle a Telepath
Peter Petrelli's Apartment
It's been several hours since Nathan Petrelli's call, and it's made for a somewhat tense waiting period. Elle Bishop has been pacing the floor, though she changed back from the towel into some of the outfits that, conveniently enough, were already HERE. She's been watching Jane much like a snake watches a mongoose…predator watching potential predator, on guard. Beyond that, she's been mostly quiet, although a number of her floor-pacings have taken her into the room where Peter lies sleeping after the night before. Nathan's been there most of the day as well, keeping an eye on his brother, though he's stepped out of the apartment a few times to make or take a phone call. In fact, that's what he's doing at the moment. The blonde keeps pacing, waiting. She's bad at that. Waiting either for Peter to wake, Nathan's telepath to arrive, or SOMETHING to happen.
The brunette object of such intense watchfulness seems fairly calm under the scrutiny. She leans against a wall behind her where she's seated and holds the guitar in hand. Fingers occasionally run across the strings and frets without making much sound, she refrains from playing outright, remembering the blonde was critical of her skills. As time goes by, however, Jane quietly asks "Do you really think I was that bad?"
It's been a rather eventful couple of days for Rianna, and when Nathan called to ask her for a favor, she agreed to meet him at the address that he specified. A Black Lexus pulls up to the apartment building and Rianna steps out of it, wearing clothes unlike what she would normally work in professional setting, her hair tied in a tight bun on her head.
She's dressed in a pair of blue jeans and a long-sleeved t-shirt as she comes up to the apartment building and enters. She pulls out of her cell phone and sends Nathan a text message stating that she's outside the door to the apartment.
After a long sleep, Peter's still looking a little winded by the time he sturs in the bed, still looking and pale, but no longer quite as bad. The heat of his skin has faded, fever gone, and when his eyes flutter open towards the ceiling, he gives a mild cough to indicate he's awake. And in some he'd really like to change, most likely. Starting to sit up in the bed, the covers fall away to reveal that he'd at least gotten his shirt removed. That's helpful. Putting a hand up to his forehead, he draws a sharp breath in through his nose, then coughs once. And his eyes settle on the pacing blonde first.
Nathan is pacing out in the hallway. Really, he's had enough waiting around inside, so when he gets that text message, he heads from hallway to where Rianna's arrived. He's abandoned his tie a few hours ago, and despite the tiredness, he's otherwise unruffled. "Rianna," he says by way of greeting, gesturing towards the door. "Thanks for coming. Again, short notice." So is life. He moves to lead her into the apartment.
Elle looks over to Jane. "You're kidding, right? Here I was ready to par-broil you, and the thing you're worried about is whether I thought your singing was bad?" she says, disbelievingly. And then she hears the cough. She looks over to where Peter lies in bed, and walks over that way. She keeps her expression as neutral as she can as she reaches out a hand, of the general "helping you up" variety.
"I take music seriously," Jane replies deadpan, "but it's more about whether or not you thought I was so bad as to object if I started playing again now." Her fingers remain unmoving on the instrument, ready to play if there's a sense it won't anger Elle. "I do wonder, though, if you really meant that. Bad reviews are rare for me. But I can admit the lyrics were a little lame. I'm not always so good with composing on the fly." She trails off, not expecting an answer as Pete coughs and Elle goes to check on him. She might think to look in herself, but for unspoken reasons leaves that to the Electric Woman.
"Hello, Nathan.", Rianna says, stepping through the threshold and following him inside. "I didn't have anything this afternoon that I couldn't do tomorrow, so it's not a problem to meet you here. Though, I am wondering about the specific location.", she says, looking around the apartment curiously.
The hand is looked at carefully, before Peter reaches out to take it, sliding his feet out of the bed and standing up. "You're— how long was I out?" The small blue eyed Eskie has been laying down near the double glass doors between the bedroom and the living area of the small apartment. Snowy's been quiet, and needing a few walks every so often, but most likely they'll just end up with a mess they had to clean up. The puppy hasn't been trained yet, after all… Should be able to release the helping up hand at this point, but he doesn't right away, the gentle hold of his hand lingering.
"Circumstances kind of dictated the location," Nathan says, shutting the door behind Rianna, heading towards the bedroom when he doesn't immediately see everyone. He's about to say something else, maybe explain what he means, but his attention is caught by the faint sound of Peter's voice. "Jesus, finally," he mutters, attention rather rudely diverting from their new guest, moving quicker towards the door way of the bedroom. He pauses, gaze landing on Peter and Elle, before switching to Jane. "Rianna's here," he explains, no doubt he's shared the woman's name by now.
Elle, for her part, is rather on the young side to know Rianna from the Company, given their age discrepancy and the fact that the other woman left it more than 10 years ago. She's generally given information that relates to her mission, and Rianna hasn't. On the other hand, Rianna is probably a lot more likely, given her connections, to recognize Bob Bishop's daughter. She looks over at the new entry, and nods. "Hello there."
Standing up when Nathan and the telepath enter, Jane unslings the guitar from her torso and sets it to lean against a wall. Two steps forward are taken. She's in dark shorts, running shoes, and an Aerosmith concert t-shirt. Her right hand extends in greeting. "Jane Forrest," she offers simply. There's no sign of recogntion about her of any sort.
When Rianna walks into the bedroom and is greeted by Elle, there is an uncomfortable lack of vocal response on Rianna's part. Her desire for revenge against Bob Bishop and the Company in general is very strong, and it is only Jane's introduction that disturbs Rianna out of her thoughts as she looks at Elle. She turns towards Jane, "Ms. Forrest.", she says politely, extending her hand and shaking briefly. She turns back to Elle and takes a step forward. "Robert Bishop's daughter.", she muses. "You've certainly grown up into a lovely-looking young woman."
The touch lingers a bit longer, before Peter lets his hand drop away upon seeing his brother and a woman he does not know in his apartment. "Rianna?" Whoever this woman is, though, they seem to all be introducing themselves. Glancing around, he pulls a button up shirt off of something near the bed and throws the sleeves on, trying to make himself more presentable to a woman who he doesn't know. "Peter Petrelli," he adds in introduction, looking towards his brother with a questioning glance, and another glance towards Elle, curious and vaguely confused.
"Welcome back," Nathan says to Peter, raising an eyebrow at him. Okay great, introductions, he has been /waiting for a long time/ so he's more than happy to be the one to move this along. "Elle was looking for a telepath. Here one is." A glance to Rianna - it's almost apologetic. He knows /he'd/ be pissed if someone dragged him into a weird situation to play cargo jet or similar, but then, his attitude towards these talents is a little different. "And we can get this all sorted out."
Elle is a bit surprised by the introduction. There aren't a great deal of people who know her, given she's spent more than half her life in a Company facility. "…Thank you." she manages, though her wariness has gone up. Surely Nathan wouldn't have called in a Company contact on this.
"Doctor Forrest," she replies simply while shaking the hand once and releasing. Her skin is smooth, but with calluses near the fingertips from playing guitar a lot. "Or just Jane, please," she adds with a quiet smile. From that point she remains silent unless spoken to for a while, content to listen and observe. Her recognition of Elle and the way she speaks about her draw a mildly raised eyebrow, as if they're something interesting to her. And on to Pete, looking him over for basic appearance of health now that he's awake.
Rianna's eyes turn to regard Peter Petrelli for a moment before she re-focuses on Elle. "I'm surprised you are looking for a telepath, Miss Bishop.", Rianna says quite coldly, Jane's comment either disregarded or put to the side for the moment. "Your father has talented telepaths at this disposal. Why didn't you just go to /him/ for help. At this point, I'm more inclined to leave you in a writhing mass on the floor than to HELP you.", she finishes, taking a step back and crossing her arms.
GAME: Rianna has rolled CONNECT and got a result of GREAT.
Well, now he knows that everything wasn't miraculously fixed while he was asleep… oh well, he'd hoped. Physically, he looks better, not wobbling where he stands, nor are his hands shaking against the buttons on his shirt. Still pale, eyes still rimmed with red, he's not completely better it would seem, but enough that he can stand up, walk around, which was more than before. There's a frown, at what the woman says, and Peter actually moves as if to try and put himself between Elle and the newcomer. Might be difficult, because he has to get around her first. "Don't threaten her." he says first to her, before shooting his brother a /look/. "Who is this woman?"
Nathan isn't quite surprised with Rianna's reaction, though he does wince very slightly, turning towards her. "Bob is— he's likely the one that caused this problem," he says, quietly, almost as if talking just to Rianna rather than to all four other people in the room. "It's a matter of remedying the damage he did." To Peter, that /look/ is met with a passive one. "Rianna is— was agreeing to help with this little situation of yours, Peter." A glance to said 'little situation', the blonde just past Peter's shoulder.
Elle looks back, her eyes widening a little. Her hands go out a little at her sides, and lightning balls appear in each. "Look, I don't even -know- you." she says, angry and defensive. "And my dad doesn't need to know anything about this." Peter puts himself in the way, and Elle steps to the side one step…a telepath isn't going to be deterred by Pete being there, and she wants a clean line of fire to return fire if she needs to.
Watching and listenng, Jane takes mental notes regarding the telepath and her manner. First of them is how she disregarded the spoken preferences. Second: the coldness with which she speaks to Elle. Company issues, anyone? Third, the various reactions and Nathan's action to defuse things. A sigh of relief may be picked up from her with that. Until Elle displays electric current. She speaks, her voice calm and clear. "The situation is Miss Bishop's memories have been tampered with, and she doesn't know who to trust. She'd like assurances that Pete and I are truthful with her, and haven't been involved with altering her memories. I believe she wants your help in that regard, ma'am. The issue has her very much distraught, as we can all see. Will you help us resolve this, please?"
Rianna takes a few steps back, wearing frustration on her face. "Look, I'm just… it doesn't matter.", she concludes. "So you want to know if your friends are the ones mucking about with your memories? Fine. Your memories are your memories though, and I can't be sure I will find out what happened, especially if you had a visit from our Haitian friend.", she says.
At the sound of electricity crackling, Peter glances back towards Elle, looking down at the ball of lightning in her hand. Not in his apartment, please. But he doesn't say that. Instead he tries to reach towards her, but stops a little bit from touching her arm, hesitating, before he looks back towards Rianna and his brother, and Jane as well. "The memories that were taken of her include us. She doesn't even remember who we are. Or who we were to her…" He's trying to think of the best way to say what he wants to say, looking at the "telepath" who seems to know enough of what's going on to mention the person who'd done this. "Can this be fixed at all?"
The electrical threat doesn't escape Nathan's notice, or anyone's, really. A very sharp, almost stern look is sent Elle's way, although he maybe, just maybe, backs a step /away/ from Rianna. Just in case. As for what's about to happen… well, it seems the situation is moderately diffused as Rianna agrees, and Nathan knows next to nil about telepathy. So. He stays quiet here for now, watchful.
Elle's electricity flickers and fades, as she lets out a little gasp and puts one hand to her head. The other reaches out to the closest thing to steady herself, which happens to be Peter. She sways a little, trying to maintain her balance in the face of the mental presence.
If people are silent within the room, it would be at least ten minutes of silence once Rianna closed her eyes and focused on Elle's mind. Touching it with her telepathy, the first thing that she can see is the fact that Elle's overall life in general is not much different in nature to swiss cheese in what the girl remembers and what she doesn't. "Damn you, Bob…", Rianna murmurs under her breath, and with that, the telepathic connection would become more gentle as Rianna would come to the undeniable conclusion that Elle was a victim of Bob's lies, even moreso than Rianna herself once was.
"The memories. It is undeniable that the Haitian is responsible. Your recent memory modifications are similar in nature to every single one you've had for nearly as long as you have been alive.", she says quietly, her eyes opening.
As soon as she reaches out for support, Peter gives it, putting his arm around her and holding onto her for as long as he needs to. He looks concerned, glancing at her, and then at the telepath. But— he's had a telepath probe his mind and cause pain before, mostly due to feedback, so he doesn't take it as a threat, looking back at her and waiting for any sign of pain. It isn't until Rianna speaks that he looks back towards the telepath… and looks ill. There's a tightening of his hand on Elle, as if to keep her from pulling away, or trying to comfort her, but he doesn't look pleased. "So what now?" he has to ask softly, frustrated and sick.
Well that confirms it. Talk of this stuff seems to make Nathan uneasy - his memories drift back to his own brief stay at the Company, and it's a mercy on principle he didn't receive the same treatment most seem to get. Even their own agents. At Peter's questions, Nathan looks to Rianna. "Now, well, I think Elle wanted convincing that Peter and Jane remember her as a friend," he says, uncertain, and glances towards the three. "They got memories of her Elle doesn't. Maybe you can enlighten her."
Elle nods a bit to Rianna's statement. "That confirms what I already suspected. If you would check them…" she nods to Peter and Jane "And tell me what my relationship, if any, is to them."
The guitarist says nothing at all while the process of looking into Elle's mind goes on, her expression grim but calm. Her eyes shift on occasion between the two of them, and settle on Pete as he reaches to support her when she seems unsteady. There the expression shifts toward compassion and concern, and finally to dark and stormy as Rianna gives her spoken conclusion. Fists clench, she turns away and closes her eyes. Those familiar with this in her might well conclude Jane's wrestling with something, chaining it back. Anger, frustration, with the confirmation this has been done to her more than once. If she lets loose, glass is in danger. She doesn't seem to be one who takes news of people she considers friends being messed with like that lightly. Slowly, however, she gets the handle clamped down and forces back the urge as she turns to face the telepath. She's not using any strategy to attempt resistance.
Rianna's eyes slowly close again as her telepathic power wanders about the room, first looking through the mind of Jane. "M. Jane Forrest.", she murmurs. "Lawyer, musician. Loyal friend. She cares about you genuinely… her mind has been altered by the Haitian, as well. A block of time from earlier this year… you have something in common.", she finishes.
"Nathan Petrelli. Neither for nor against you. Concerned for his brother when it comes to you… a rather poignant memory of overhe…", she says, pausing in mid-sentence. "Some things are best left unsaid. And the young man, Peter Petrelli, his love for you does not need my power to be made evident. Loyal to you… he…", she pauses again, her eyes flying open as she stares at Peter.
"My god, boy, do you have any idea how powerful you are?"
While the telepath scans and speaks up on the thoughts of his friend and his brother, Peter listens carefully, keeping his hand against Elle as long as she'll allow him to. Though his eyes suddenly downcast when she gets to 'things better left unsaid' and he looks rather embarassed. An embarassment that remains even when he looks up to regard the telepath. He can almost feel what she's doing to him, and he doesn't like it. But it has to be done, doesn't it? Couldn't stop it now if he tried. Until her eyes fly open and she looks at him. A slow breath later and he just nods slowly, "Have an idea, yeah." From the sound of things, he's not too thrilled.
Nathan wasn't quite expecting Rianna to scan his mind as well, but in hindsight, it makes sense. Though he's not exactly a friend to Elle and vice versa, it can only confirm what they wish Elle to accept. At Rianna's sum up of his memories towards Elle, Nathan finds the ceiling rather interesting to look at. But then, when she talks about Peter, he looks towards his brother, not so thrilled either. He offers the younger Petrelli a sort of smile, before his attention goes to Elle, shrugging at her like 'well there you go'.
Elle looks thoughtful. And while she suspects she knows the answer, she's at least going to ask. "Is there anything you can do to restore the missing memories?" she asks Rianna. She's quieter, more reserved than Elle usually is.
When she's scanned, Jane focuses on a point across the room and lets memories flow free. Some of the images she calls up in herself are of recent events, a phone call ending and letting out one of her potent screams, followed by a hail of shattered glass and going into action, feeling rage. She connects strongly to the experience she'd learned of in that conversation. After Rianna gives report on her, Jane's expression darkens. "That's me," she simply states. "The M is Michelle." Then she's going for her guitar to take it up, stopped from starting to play only by the question Elle asks, about fixing things.
"There is nothing left.", Rianna says, opening her eyes and taking another step back. She immediately looks for the nearest convenient place to sit down. "It is as though it never happened. Your friends may fill in certain pieces for you. But that is the terrible price of the Haitian's ability."
The words the telepath says makes Peter's hand twitch where he's touching Elle, visibly upset by this. The tension shows in his jaw and around his eyes, as if he's fighting a certain reaction, glancing down and off to the side as he does. "Thank you," is murmured hoarsely, voice tight. Even with the words, he doesn't sound grateful.
Nathan casts a glance of concern to Rianna when she moves to sit down. Times like these, he can't see powers as anything but destructive - even to oneself, and having watched over a comatose brother for a few hours, he wouldn't be surprised if Rianna had similar set backs. But when she seems fine, he looks to Peter, unreadably, then to Elle. "Your move here, Bishop," he says, actually rather mildly and without snark. "Got what you came for?"
Elle blinks a couple times. Those who know her well enough will know it for what it is; one of the rare few times tears threaten her. But she keeps it back well enough, and nods. "You came through on your promise." she answers Nathan. "Always good to find a politician that'll do that." Looking to Rianna, she nods once. "Thank you, too. I owe you one." And then, with a step back, she says "If…if no one minds, I think Peter and I have a few things we should discuss." It's the first time she's actually used his name in his presence since this started.
Rianna doesn't say much after word, her eyes shifting from Peter Petrelli to Elle and vice versa for the next couple of minutes as she works to regain her composure. As Nathan speaks to Elle, she makes a little addition of her own once Nathan is through speaking. "You don't have to go back.", she says quietly, her eyes closed. "Robert Bishop does not look upon you as a daughter, but as a weapon. You have friends. A man who loves you, despite his naivete.", she says.
Jane stands slowly, guitar still in hand, and faces Elle as she speaks. Her eyes traveled from one to the other around the room as each of them spoke, landing on the blonde as she makes her request. She unslings the instrument. "Elle," she asks quietly, "have you still got my number in your phone? I live at Apartment 108, High Rise Building, in Greenwich Village. You'll find me there or by phone when or if you want." After saying that, she turns to address Nathan next. "Thank you," are her somberly offered words. Then on to the telepath, a quiet study of the woman. "Rianna, was it? Thank you also." She pauses briefly, as if something came to her. "City councilwoman." And to the younger Petrelli. "See you, Pete." From there she goes about packing up her gear to leave.
And dismissed. Nathan's pretty much happy to leave. Elle's comment to him almost gets a smile, and Jane gets a nod. "Need to change it up sometimes," he mutters, before backing out of the room and leaving Peter to his… to his Elle, only pausing to wait for Rianna to walk with.
Nathan would not have to pause long, Rianna standing up to accompany him out of the apartment.
Elle looks back to Jane. "I'll call." she says. She's fairly quiet, and rightly so…she has a lot on her mind!
Out goes the guitarist after that, to wander the streets and chase out her disturbed demons the way she does, by playing guitar and singing. Then there's glass to replace, electronics too, and making amends with Cass.