Starring:
Summary:
Elle goes to Claudine asking for some help on the downlow. Claudine, through a mixture of survival instinct and goodwill agrees, but in the end isnt sure what to do.
April 24th, 2007:
Photoshopping
Kirby Plaza
Take one Company facility. Add one sociopathic blonde. Add lots of bad mood…said blonde looks like she -might- have been crying and is in a foul, foul mood, as she's stalking through the facility.
Uh oh. That's never good, right?
Oh well, it seems someone had a decent day and is in a chipper mood. Once such young woman is Claudine who's running on one of the treadmills while dressed in a pair of Columbia bootie shorts and a grey tanktop. She's working up a sweat as she checks her pulse, completely oblivious of the bad news blonde.
Elle looks over at Claudine, and sees her there. "You're in sciences, right?" she says, annoyed.
Looking on over to Elle as she continues to jog, Claudine simply nods. "Um..yes?" she says, not quite sure what she's done to the other woman.
The blonde says "I need some information, and some things tested." Her apparent intention is RIGHT NOW.
"Um..okay?" CLaudine says, swallowing a little as she shuts off the treadmill, letting it slow down for a bit until she's at a slow walking pace before hopping off. She grabs her towel that was hanging on the treadmill and wipes away her sweat as she asks, "What can I help you with?"
Elle replies "I need to know if a set of photographs is real, and I need to have my blood tested to make sure there's nothing there that shouldn't be."
"I can take some samples if you like, but we should head over to one of the labs. And as for photographs? I'll see what I can do, but I'll pass it on to some of the other scientific staff for confirmation if you'd like.." Claudine offers as she really wants to take a shower first, but doing so when Elle sounds angry probably isnt a good idea.
Elle shakes her head. "No." she says. "I don't want anyone else involved in this. Minimal people. Her voice is tight. Something is clearly bothering her. "Lead on."
Wrapping the towel around her shoulders, Claudine nods and knows better than to ask questions as shejust heads towards the lab that she now has access to. She's moved on up afterall. Hooray! First thing she does is wash her hands of course and motions towards one of the chairs as she starts collecting a few vials, a tourniquet and a needle. "Is..something wrong? Are you okay?" she asks, genuinely concerned.
Elle shakes her head. "No." she says, looking bothered. She follows Claudine to the lab, and bares her arm for the scientist.
Correction: scientist in training. Fortunately, her time helping patients, taking blood samples and all that other bitch work no one wants to do has paid off as when it comes to taking samples, Claudine knows what she's doing. She ties the rubber tourniquet around Elle's upper arm and then puts on some sterile gloves. It's then that she feels around for a vein, and once she finds it, she cleans it off with some alcohol and warns, "This might pinch a little.." and she puts the needle into the vein. Hopefully she doesnt get shocked.
The blonde nods. She hisses a little when the needle goes in, but only for a moment, as she waits, letting the blood fill the vial. "No one sees this but you." she stresses.
Claudine looks a little bit weary about that, wondering if she's being tested. Of course, she just nods, "Of course, of course. I wont let anyone else know, but if you dont mind me asking..what is all this for? What do you want me to test for?" she asks curiously as she fills up one, two, and then three vials. Once the last vial is filled, she takes a cotton ball, presses it on the wound as she pulls the needle out, being ever so gentle. "And press there while I get you a bandaid, please.." she says while shaking the vials to bring over to one of the lab benches.
Once she takes off her gloves, she waits for Elle to move her hand so she can place the band aid on.
The blonde woman replies "Any drugs or chemicals that shouldn't be there." She frowns. "There's something weird going on here."
Claudine wrinkles her nose as she doesnt seem pleased with that little statement, but she nods once more. "I'll do my best. Do you have any leads on what you think might be in there? And do you mind if I ask what you think is wierd?" she asks while looking over to Elle. Of course, she's writing a few notes down to make sure to test for various compounds.
The blonde frowns…but then from her pocket pulls a strip of photos, the kind that you get from the little photo booths. It's a series of her and Peter Petrelli, being all cute and relationshippy.
Her eyes widen at the photos. She knows who that is, quite well actually, considering she had to pretend to be him. "The tool.." Claudine says barely audibly as she takes the photos and looks at them a bit. "Were you on some sort of..mission?"
Elle frowns. "I have no clue. I don't remember these pictures being taken." Her voice is quiet and bothered. "Which means either the pictures are faked, or I have something that's prevented me from remembering it." Which could be drugs, or a friend from Haiti.
"I'm not an expert in photography, but with photoshopping being so common, I can see what I can do.." Claudine says softly as raises her brows at Elle. "Mind if I keep one or two of these? Just so I have something to work with?"
Elle answers "You can keep the strip while you're testing it. After that, I need them back." She hugs herself, looking troubled.
Claudine purses her lips for a few moments, thinking of what can be done to the photos to see if they're real or faked. She'd need to find some technological guru or something. The chemistry, she can do, it'll be just like her laboratory experiments in class though. "All right. I'll see what I can do. And I'll let you know when I'm finished?"
The blonde woman nods. "All right. Thank you." She seems a little brusque, and a little distracted. But, understandably so.
"You're quite welcome.." Claudine says with a warm smile as she puts a few of the vials into the freezer to keep them safe should she need some more blood. "I can get started tonight, but after I take a shower.." she says, considering she was asked to do this while she was working out. "It might take a while though, a couple of weeks for the testing. I want to be thorough. I hope you dont mind?"
Elle looks bothered by that. "The sooner, the better. I need to know. I'm getting lots of informtion that doesn't make any sense."
Claudine hrmms for a few moments, trying to find a compromise. "How about, if I find something unusual, I'll let you know right away, even if it isnt completely conclusive yet?" Hopefully that should appease Elle as she offers a reassuring smile. "And what sorts of information are you getting that doesnt make sense?"
Elle nods to the pictures, with a somewhat sarcastic look. "That I've either been mind controlled or drugged?" Be nice, Elle. Do not fry the scientist doing the tests.
"Well, no, just other things that you think is wierd. Other than the pictures.." Claudine says softly while chewing on her bottom lip. She's slightly skittish around Elle, but hey, Elle is intimidating afterall. "If you dont want to tell me, that's fine. Just, ya know..sometimes talking about ithelps.."
Elle looks back. "I'm not sure. Everything seems fuzzy recently. Not current stuff, I mean. But…" She doesn't want to admit the obvious answer to herself.
Claudine frowns a little as she just nods, trying to be sympathetic to Elle. "Well, I'll do my best and I'll let you know. How do you want me to contact you? If you want it to be discrete, maybe our Company cells shouldnt be used.."
Elle nods. "I picked up an outside one today." She rattles off the number for Claudine. "And…thanks again. For doing this, and keeping it quiet." Of course, whether that's good will or survival instinct is debateable.
It's probably a mixture of the two. Claudine is genuinely a nice person afterall, and so she jots down the number and nods. "I'll call from a payphone then, assuming I can find one. If not, I'll use my roommate's cell, okay?" she offers in the end.
The blonde nods. "All right." she says. "I'll talk to you soon…there's a couple other people I still need to talk to."