2007-03-14: Passing Messages

Starring:

Niki_icon.gif Micah_icon.gif Angel_icon.gif Benjamin_icon.gif Claudine_icon.gif

Summary: While people visit the sandwich shop, various messages are passed around the sandwich shop, some obvious and some less so.

Date It Happened: March 14, 2007

Passing Messages


Noodle Heaven, New York

Noodle Heaven, the Lower East Side shop that serves sandwiches. Okay. It's not crowded, being well past the supper rush. It's a nice little getaway, really. Seated at one of the booths at the back, Niki is leaning over the table on one elbow with a giant plastic cup in one hand and a newspaper in the other. She's not reading any articles, just the classifieds, but she's only skimming; her search isn't in-depth right now. Stressful though the hunt for a job and place to /live/ is, there's a smile on her face because her son is nearby. "How's your sandwich? You know, it looks bigger than you are!"

"It's good. I love grilled cheese." Micah says with a broad smile on his face as he stuffs another bite into his mouth, chewing thoughtfully for a few moments. His legs swing back, and forth beneath the table as he ponders for a few moments. "I'm gonna eat it all though, dad says that I can't waste food, and that he'd ground me." He looks amused, rolling his eyes upwards into the dangling curls of hair that drips over his face. "You find anything, mom?" He asks, trying to peer around to spy at the paper. "You could always be a bouncer." He teases a bit.

Angel Yawns as she comes in she orders her regular a tea and a bacon chicken sandwich with one leaf of lettuce. She shuffles over to a table and flumps into it she's still wearing her lab coat and badge showing her to be a Scientist at the University of New York.

"Is it better than the ones /I/ make for you?" Niki asks Micah with a teasing smile. The classifieds page isn't very telling, even as she casually lays the paper flat to the table for easier spying. Nothing is circled or highlighted yet. "A few maybes." The boy's suggestion garners a shake of her head and a laugh. "Mm-hmm-hmm, I don't think I'm cut out for that," the slender blonde, who does not typically a bouncer make, replies with a joking tone. "Besides. I'm looking for something a little safer."

"Uh…" Micah says, choosing his words wisely. "Of course not. You make the /best/ grilled cheese sandwiches in the world. You cut the crusts off. Dad just burns the whole thing." He says, giving her a promising smile as he leans in to butt his shoulder against hers, before plucking a fry up from the plate and examining it. "You can still do that typing job for my friend's dad." He says, offering up a smile.

Angel Sips her tea and sighs then she looks down taking out a marble she puts it on the table then grabs a glass and starts to spin it then twists her wrists now the marble is in the glass and she never touched it just spun it .

"You dad just needs me to show him how to do it right. Under supervision," Niki jokes good-naturedly. …Only it's probably true. She taps her pointer finger on the newspaper a few times, idly, at no ad in particular. She glances over at some of the other customers, clueless to anything out of the ordinary, then leans into Micah's shoulder for a moment. She fixes him with a curious look. "I'm glad you're making friends so fast. I know how you don't like public school," she says. On that note, her easygoing mood starts to fade a little. "Unless you mean your friend back home in Vegas…" In which case, she definitely can't take that job.

"No, no. I'm talking 'bout a friend here. He's in my math class." Micah can't really say calculus out loud. He doesn't want to be seen as a nerd, and it's bad enough there's only four kids enrolled in the special class. After finishing his sandwich, he catches sight of Angel out of the corner of his eye, then shifts himself around, kneeling on the chair to try and get a better look. In a soft whisper, he says. ".. you see that?"

Angel Smiles a little bit and takes out her Palm pilot and starts to do some calculations on them rather quickly writing some rather extremely complex numbers. Her wrist keeps spinning the marble in the glass twisting it around so the marble is still spinning in the glass without the marble falling out .

"Typing, huh. Like a secretary?" Maybe the universe is trying to tell her something. That's the second suggestion of the kind she's gotten during her job hunt. Lifting her cup and twining a few fingers around the straw, she's in the middle of taking a sip when she glances over in the general direction of the young woman in the lab coat. "See what, Micah?" She straightens back against the booth seat, leaning her neck back to look around.

".. She's doing stuff.." Micah says in a soft whisper as he keeps his eyes trained on the girl, watching with rapt attention. ".. she's.. doing stuff with that marble. Making it move on it's own." He thinks for a moment, before whispering once more. ".. Mom, gimmie yer phone for a moment, OK? Please?" He asks, giving her a 'look' with his big, brown eyes.

True to his word of this morning to his daughter, Benjamin is picking up dinner on the way home from work. He's running a little late, which is okay, Rose is a teenager, this means he's either on time, or early on her clock. Not really wanting much in the way of takeout, he goes into the sandwich shop and immediately heads to look at the menu.

Angel Puts the glass down and taps the top of the glass the marble eventually stops she moves the glass again so the marble is again in the middle and starts to spin it again making the marble lift into the glass with a flick of her wrists without touching it . She continues to looks down sipping her tea and writing her equations .

Niki does catch sight of the weird little trick with the marble; she narrows her eyes, but she's nowhere nearly as intrigued over it as Micah. She looks vaguely concerned more than anything. "Why do you want my phone?" she queries with confusion, but even as the words are leaving her mouth, she's setting her drink down to rummage one-handedly in the purse that's pinned between her hip and the wall. As she hands over her new red cell phone over to Micah with a questioning look, a face catches her eye. Was that…? She finds herself watching Benjamin as he heads to the counter, twisting about in her seat.

Taking the cell phone, Micah puts it on the table, then slides his hand over the top of it. It only takes a moment of concentration, for him to synchronize with the small device, sending a curious signal over towards the palm pilot that Angel is using. On the screen, a message pops up, one that is firewalled, untraceable. « How are you doing that? » The message is simple, with a cursor blinking slowly off, and on in wait. "Who's that?" He asks casually as he notices his mother starting to stare at the man who just came in.

Benjamin rubs a hand against the back of his neck as he peruses the menu. He knows what he likes on a sandwich.. and should he surprise his kid? Frowning some, he steps away from the line and pulls out his cellphone to dial Rose. Before he even gets the number pulled up, he notices Niki from the corner of his eye. "Hey there," he greets, and walks right up to the woman and her son. There's little trace of the man's usual reserved manner, and not because he's used to random encounters with Niki. "We have to stop meeting like this," he quips.

Angel Blinks then smiles brightly she doesn't stop spinning her wrists and enters a quick reply. "Physics if you want to know more just ask I'd be happy to show and teach you ". That's what she replies with. Putting the glass back down and tapping the top of it so the marble stops moving dead in the center. She looks up trying to find who sent her the message looking over ben for a moment.

It /is/ him. Again. Before Niki can reply to Micah, she's spotted by Benjamin. "Hey," the woman calls out, a congenial smile spreading across her face. There's no surprise in her voice this time. "Is it so bad?" she quips back. "Micah," she wraps an arm around the eleven-year-old, eyeing his antics with the phone before she does friendly introductions. "I want you to meet Benjamin. He's someone I met when I came to New York. He helped me out a few times," she explains.

« That is not physics. » Another message comes across the device as Micah offers up a smile to Benjamin, a bit warily. "Hi there. You know my mom?" He asks, using his free hand to run it back through his dark curls. « You are special. » His eyes subtly glance over towards Angel in a mischievous manner, as if he was enjoying this bit of Cloak and Dagger, then curls up a bit into his mother's arm. "You're a helper, huh? How'd you do that?" That smile widens a bit more, relaxing visibly.

Benjamin grins a little widely at Niki, "Nope, not at all. Just surprising, but it really shouldn't be. I ought to just give you my phone number and address. Have your family over for dinner and all." He looks from Niki to the eleven year old boy and blinks, "Oh hey! Your mom talked a lot about you. I'm glad to finally get to meet you." His smile is warm and friendly for both Niki and her son. "Uhm, well she had a little car trouble, and.." He'll leave out the Gina episode in front of tiny ears, "I helped her call home from the hospital."

Angel laughs as something on her palm and types it in « Yes it is dear trusts me I have a phd it's all physics » Then she pauses as he asks the other question « Define special? ». She's moving on her palm now doing something else mainly trying to find out who's sending her these messages.

Niki quirks a sideways smile as she watches Micah multitask with texting and talking - she can't help but glance Angel's way again and note the palm pilot. She says nothing, only gives her son a subtly warning look. "Yeah. That would be nice," she says to Benjamin, ducking her head down in a nod. "…I met Rose on the subway," she comments, but doesn't add to the statement. Niki innately trusts Benjamin not to explain the exact circumstances of how he helped her the /second/ time - she offers him a subtle, thankful smile for that when she's rewarded.

Oblivious of Angel trying to work her way through his firewall, Micah, on a rare miss, sends another message through. « Special. Magic. » He's not texting, really. He is just laying his hand on the phone, and the screen happens to be blinking off, and on. Though, he isn't making a show of it, he's just smiling, nodding his head to the conversation, pretending like he's following along. "Hospital?"

Benjamin pulls out a notepad from his coat pocket and blinks, "You did? She didn't say a word about it to me, then again she's been pretty grossed out by me lately.. Angie said she met her.." Oh dear, did his ears go faintly red there? Yes they did. He drops the volume of his voice some so that it won't carry far. "I nearly had a heart attack. Anders moved in upstairs, then Angie knows about Rose. I just knew I was going to find her missing." About to start writing on the paper, he looks down and notices.. Micah's not really tapping at the keys on the phone. He blinks once, twice, then shakes his head. Ooo-kay! He scribbles down his cell, home number and address before handing the paper to Niki. "Uhm, where she was staying when she got to New York.. I didn't just put my foot in it, did I?"

Angel Taps a few other buttons and pushes one last button making the phone in Micah's hands Ring but she also text's back « Hello there nice to see you » . She looks up when the phone rings and her eye's lock onto Micah since he's the one holding the phone her eyebrow shooting up since she doesn't seem him typing.

As the phone begins to ring beneath Micah's hand, he glances down at it for a moment, before squinting his eyes in thought. The connection on Angel's end drops off instantly, leaving nothing but a dead, black screen. The phone though, keeps on ringing. Picking it up, he says, "Hey dad!" He beams, flopping back into the back of the bench, giving his mother a light nudge in the side. "Daddy says he's gonna be home late from work. He says he wants pizza for dinner." Which of course makes him happy. Whether or not he's really talking to his dad is one thing, then again, he's pulled off some pretty impossible tasks in his life.

"Wait wait wait," Niki's brows raise a /whole bunch/ and she holds up a hand to Benjamin - which she uses to take the phone number with, as an afterthought. "Anders lives in your building now?" Blink. "You've seen Angie…? She was on the subway, too. We all kinda got stuck there. I thought she was gonna…" she trails off with a frown, then shakes her head and turns tracks, smiling reassuringly at Benjamin. "No, it's okay." To Micah, "Benjamin was at the place I went to get healthy. He was getting better, too." And then her phone is ringing, with an uninteresting default ringtone. "What's it say?" she asks of the boy, but she gets her answer quickly, even if it might be a fake one. "Work, huh? Well, you can tell your dad he missed supper at Noodle Heaven so he doesn't get any pizza."

Benjamin grins down at Micah. The kid's just too precocious and it makes the man a little sad to think of what he missed out on with Rose. "Huh? Oh, yeah, he just moved in," he says distractedly as he turns his attention back on Niki. "Yeah.. I've seen Angie." More than he thought he ever would, but he's not saying /that/ aloud.. Verbally. The blush comes back across his ears. Clearing of the throat, kids present. "They really helped me get better. They did so good, that I got to go home early." Sort of.

Angel sighs nope she was wrong wasn't the young man she speaks softly " I was gonna tell him yes " . She moves back to her palm and picks up the marble again and starts to spin it like before twisting her wrist so the marble spins into the glass as she lifts it up the ball not falling out of the upside down glass.

"Dad, mom says you can't have pizza." Micah frowns. ".. He says you can't have any nookie. Is that like a dessert? Is it like a cookie, dad?" He asks, squinting his eyes. This is classic. With a huff, he hangs up the phone, and says, "He says I can't have any either, not until I'm older." He pauses. ".. is nookie like.. beer?" He tilts his chin up to Niki, eyes widening some with a dark, curious manner.

Niki sees that blush this time. Loud and clear, mister. To save the man's propriety (for now), she just smirks a little like she's holding in a secret joke. "Hey, why don't you sit down?" she offers with a nod to the empty booth seat across from her and Micah. Speaking of propriety… "/Micah/!" The mother is caught off-guard, staring down at the kid. "It is, in that /you/ can't have any," she chastises, but there's a good-natured grin fighting its way onto her lips nonetheless. "Your dad is in /trouble/ when we get home."

Benjamin's eyes nearly pop out of his head at Micah. Wow.. just … wow. He's so not touching that with a ten foot pole. He'll let Niki field those questions! "Uhm, no thanks, I'd like to, but I told Rose I'd bring home dinner. It was nice seeing you again, and it was great to finally meet you, Micah." He smiles at both before heading to the counter to place an order. Rose will just have to be surprised and deal with whatever he orders.

Angel For her part is just sitting in her booth spinning a marble inside an upside down glass twisting her wrists a little letting it spin . She continues to write calculations on her palm looking up and around time to time to see if she can spot the person who was texting her before.

With a slump of his shoulders, Micah huffs quietly, then pushes himself up to his feet. "I'm gonna play Pac Man." He says as he nudges his mom on the shoulder, still wanting to know more about this 'nookie' thing. With that, he dashes across the small diner to the lonely, dusty machine against the wall, where he 'pretends' to put a quarter in, then starts to play.

Now that she's off duty, Claudine can actually go to Noodle Heaven without suspecting anyone of being an evolved. Thank goodness for that. She has a few marks on her arms, and there's a band aid on her cheek, much like Nelly back in the day, but it was all part n parcel of letting Hiro go..even if she had nothing to do with it.

She already preordered her meal via phone and beelines straight towards the counter. She's wearing a short sleeve shirt with her hoodie wrapped around her waist as she doesn’t even look at any of the patrons. Le sigh.

"Okay, well, it was nice seeing you… again," Niki replies to Benjamin, no residual fluster from Micah's comments lingering - because there wasn't any to begin with. She does eye her son, however, lifting a slender eyebrow at him. "Be good," she elbows him lightly, harmlessly, smirking. Does she suspect the call was a fake? Maybe, maybe not. Mom doesn't tell. She watches as he runs off to play the game, then tosses an arm over the top edge of the booth and glances at the time on her phone. She'll give Micah some time to play. In the meantime, she glances around the sandwich shop. That girl… Claudine. Niki suddenly tenses ever-so-slightly.

Claudine hasn’t noticed Niki yet, which is probably a good thing. She forces a smile to her lips, even when the cashier asks her about why she's pulling a Nelly. "Just cut myself shaving.." she says jokingly while retrieving her mahi-mahi po boy with extra chips. They were to make her feel better anyway. Once she has her tray, she turns around and spies the blonde and chews on her bottom lip a little before heading to an empty table. She doesn’t know her and hasn’t seen her before..right? Or atleast that's what they're trying to make it seem like..

That's what the deal is, but Niki can't help but watch Claudine - although she notably glances away when the girl spots her. She tries to focus on the classifieds sitting in front of her, and manages distractedly for a couple of minutes. Eventually, she drums a fingernail restlessly on the newspaper and slides out of the booth. It's not the Filipino girl that she goes for, however; no, she whisks past that table, not even nearing it. Her destination is the dark-haired boy playing an arcade game by the far well. She crouches down to whisper something into Micah's ear, kisses him on the head, and heads back toward the booth. This time, she takes a different route, one that takes her behind Claudine. "You okay?" she says in a low voice, glancing out the window of Noodle Heaven casually.

Well that's a surprise. She didnt think that the woman would want to go anywhere near her and so she chews on her bottom lip, mulling over an answer. "I..I'm all right.." Claudine says, not really sure what to say. She cant exactly say she was suspected of letting Hiro go and thus suffered a little, cause well..that's just not good dinner conversation.

"If I hurt you… I didn't meant to," Niki says quietly from her spot behind Claudine's chair. She tucks some stray hair behind her ear and, after a bout of hesitation, walks around to the side of the table. She clutches the back of an empty chair. The marks of injury the girl is suffering prompt a guarded look of… Curiosity? Concern? It's hard to say. "They know where I am now." There's next to no accusation in her tone. "But it's okay. It doesn't matter if you told them or not."

"No..you didnt hurt me. It's something else.." Claudine says with a dismissive wave, before she pauses a little upon finding out that Niki was found. "I..I swear I didnt tell them. I keep my promises, and as much as I was tempted to, I didnt look you up in the database. They probably could've traced that if I had, so I decided against it.." not really liking that the people she was trying to hide were found. "But..you're okay right? They're not making you go back against your will, are they?" Her own concern mirrors the older woman. She made a promise afterall.

"No, it's not like that." But Niki doesn't explain how it /is/. It's more complicated than she thinks Claudine needs to know. "Thanks for what you did," she tells the girl. Her gratitude is sincere, and because of it, her serious features start to soften. She manages a small smile for Claudine's sake. "You didn't have to."

"Look, you seem like a nice person, and I dont think that you should have to go back, especially if you have a kid.." Claudine says matter of factly while looking over to Micah with a warm smile. she's always liked little kids afterall. "But..just be careful out there." she says softly, not really wanting to talk about Company business at all. But there is something she wants, so she'll ask. "Look, if you see a short little Japanese guy who starts talking about how well..we're evil and stuff and he wants you for help? Think you could punch the crap outta him for me?" Now that's a weird request.

Angel Comes back from the bathroom and sits back down in her chair to finish her sandwich and tea . She looks around and finds nobody so she sighs and munches alone grabbing her glass again to slowly spin the marble into the glass.

"I have to go back. For him," Niki replies simply, but she doesn't explain that, either. Claudine's request prompts a rather odd look from the blonde. "Uhm. I'm not really in the habit of punching the crap out of anyone." Believe it or not. "Anyway, I gotta go." She flashes a slightly strained smile and looks back to the kid at the arcade game. "Micah," Niki calls. It's clearly a mother's voice - in that one word, she conveys the real meaning of 'it's time to leave, stop playing your game'. With Micah (perhaps begrudgingly) in tow, she swipes her things from the table they left and heads for the street, casting one last strange look at the young woman with the marble and the glass, tugging on Micah's shirtsleeve.

Darnit! "Just saying.." Claudine says with a shrug of her shoulders as she nods and wrinkles her nose before going back to just eating her sandwich.

Angel Finishes her sandwich and once again puts the glass down gives it a tap stopping the marble. She grabs the marble and looks at her pda checking some calculations she made.

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