2007-05-24: The Girl In The Chicken Suit

Starring:

Elena_icon.gif Heidi_icon.gif Cass_icon.gif Peter_icon.gif Randall_icon.gif

Summary: Heidi, after a day of shopping, comes across Elena….wearing a chicken suit. Meanwhile, Cass witnesses the entire thing and drags Peter along for the ride. Chaos ensues. Later, Elena gives Cass one of the two doses of the Haitian Pills in her possession.

Date It Happened: May 24, 2007

The Girl In The Chicken Suit


East Village, New York City

Heidi's sitting on a bench just off the street, a bag sitting next to her on one side. On her knee in front of her is a small bear with a familiar red heart -shaped tag stuck in its ear. It's blue, with little streaks of coloured sparkles all over it, and Heidi seems to be studying it intently. On closer look, though, she's not really focused on anything. The bear just happens to be where her eyes are sort of looking.

It hasn't been a particularly good week, or two weeks, or… Month? It started with her kidnapping, it's ending with her attempting to get over an affair. She's made the first steps, but she's still almost completely empty, and so tired she can't even remember what it's like to be awake. Though she's at home again, though the boys have no clue why their mother was so upset, everything is just /wrong./

So she's out buying things for people - and herself, but she's using the excuse that she's shopping for others to make herself feel a little better. Money can't buy happiness, but sometimes it can help a little. Seems there are more similarly heart-tag-wearing critters in the Hallmark bag sitting next to her, too.

"….Heidi?"

The voice seems to come from behind her, and whenever she turns around, it is Elena……….

In a chicken suit.

Why would she be in a chicken suit? Yet another business venture by her friend's mother, Sam. Apparently she's in the thing, handing out flyers. Part of her just wants THIS TO BE OVER, but she can't say no to Sam, who gave her the wibbly eyes and asked Elena please, pretty please, don the chicken suit for GREAT JUSTICE because she didn't want to be the only one in one of the things parading around handing out flyers to this new takeout joint in town. Just HOW MANY BUSINESS does the woman need anyway?!

She pauses. Yes. She knows she looks ridiculous.

"………don't ask," she tells Heidi, with an expression that looks a lot like a -_-. "I can't wait for it to be one o'clock. I just wanted to know how you were doing before I tossed this thing in the closet of this building." She jabs her thumb over her shoulder. "And pretend this day NEVER HAPPENED."

Unfortunately for Elena, people forgetting her working in a chicken suit just /cannot/ happen. Cass is, lucky for her, coming back from a food run for herself and Peter when she stops in her tracks. Right down the street, she notices the chicken and can't help but shake her head. Poor person. She wouldn't do that job for a million dollars. But, then, as she gets closer she slows to a complete stop. She's far enough away that they might not notice her, but /she/ certainly notices /them/. Though she has no idea who Heidi is, she /certainly/ knows Elena. And that's who she's just recognized in that chicken suit. Suddenly, she's got a huge, goofy grin on her face and she takes off running for Enlightenment Books. It's only a few doors down, so it takes her no time at all to throw open the door and stand in the door, barely holding back laughter. "Peter. Peter. Peter!" She starts calling out, not caring about customers. "You /have/ to come here. Right now. You will /not/ regret it I promise." Wildly, she starts gesturing for him to join her so that they can peer around the corner of the store and remember and enjoy the sight of Elena as a Chicken.

On the list of Heidi's 'things to expect to see in every day life' are things like 'squirrels.' And maybe 'clouds.' And 'Simon and Monty.' There are also things on her list of 'Things I MIGHT see in every day life,' like clowns and purple volkswagons and awesome movies. There is also a list of 'things I will never ever see,' and somewhere near the top of that list is 'Elena in a Chicken Suit.'

Heidi stares for a while before she laughs at the poor girl's expense, but it's the first time she's ever felt the /need/ to laugh, and so she doesn't even attempt to cover it up. By the time she's finished, she's almost crying.

"I'm— Really sorry," she says between chuckles as the laughter abates. It's /Elena/. In a /CHICKEN. SUIT./ "Won't ask, though. I just…" Pressing her lips together, she looks away so as not to start another round of 'poke fun at Elena.' before remembering something that she has in her bag. Yes. /YES./ After digging around, she pulls out a ty-dyed (Yes, ty-dyed, (tm)) rooster, which she hands over to Elena with that smile still on her face. "I would give you a different one, but this is just too appropriate." The rooster was for Simon, really, but he'll live. Its tag just says 'ROOSTER' and gives the zodiac years that the Rooster represents.

The day before he'd taken off for the date, and then the shooting, and then— other things. But this is wrapping up the first week of his time in Enlightenment Books. Peter's had a pretty good experience so far. Since he helped with the shelving he can tell people where to find stuff, and he takes the time to skim some of the books every so often, read the chapter titles and the first and final paragraphs, so he can have an idea of the quality of the content. It helps when he tells someone 'no, this other book is easier to understand, but this one seems more thorough' and know what he's talking about. Really…

And then his boss storms back in.

"What…?" he says, looking up from a book that he's thumbing through near the shelves. Normally he would not just abandon his job, unless it's an emergency, but when it's /your boss/ running in and telling you to come quick… it must be okay, right? Setting down the book and leaving someone else to handle the remaining customers, he steps over to follow her with a bewildered expression. "I thought you were getting lunch?" She might have to grab his hand to get him to run, but he's more than willing to go along with that if she does.

And as Heidi laughs, a flat expression falls on Elena's face, her eyebrow ticking a little bit upwards. Yes. Yes. SHE KNOWS she looks ridiculous. She also knows that after today was over, she was going to -kill- Samantha for asking her. This is what she gets for being so dependable. But considering she knows just how bad Heidi's month has been, she can't help but grin somewhat sheepishly, though there's a blush of embarassment on her cheeks. "Alright, alright," she says. "Just for that, you get one of these." She passes the flyer over to Heidi. "Come to the Chicken Bucket. Squawk." This last one is delivered as flatly as one of the squirrels her father runs over at a daily basis.

When Heidi passes over a rooster beanie baby, she stares at it. She almost falls over, but she can't help it herself - she laughs, and picks it up. "It's actually quite cute," she tells, giving Heidi a small smile. "Thanks…I….uh…." She looks down at herself, and around to her tailfeathers. No pockets. She's going to have to wing this one back into her purse by the time she gets inside the building.

She is, of course, unaware that Cass is BEING EVIL and dragging people over on the street to see a GIANT FUSCHIA CHICKEN talking to Heidi.

"So…….shopping?" Not exactly the smoothest segue ever, but she needed to distract Heidi from the suit. Yes, this is the first, last, and ONLY TIME Elena will stoop to being a furry of any kind.

It's good that Peter is okay with Cass practically dragging him along, because as soon as he's in reach, that's what she does. Running the short distance over to him, she snags his hand and then starts to dash off back for the door. "I was. But this is so much better." Peering around the corner of the doorway, she points in the direction of Elena and Heidi. "Now. I want you to look /very closely/ at the chicken. Does that happen to look like a young Latina girl we both know and love?"

She won't feel bad later either, unfortunately. Poor Elena. Because Heidi really needed the laugh. She does take the flyer, though, looking at it and attempting not to die laughing again at the line.

She fails.

Raising one hand, she wipes it across her eyes. At least the bandage makes a good tissue for circumstances such as these. "Yeah, I just… Yeah." The reason she's out does kind of sober her a little bit, because the answer is 'because I needed to get away from the house.' At least she'll go /back/ there now, though Nathan still isn't out of the dog house. Of course, when he answered the door, he sure did look great, and she kind of wanted to… you know. Which was really weird, because she /knows/ she still wasn't ready to see him, and—

Those steel blue eyes focus on Elena. They narrow, just a little.

No. No, she couldn't have. "Did… Did you…?" She starts, but this is a question that should not be asked in public. Or /EVER,/ really, so she drops it entirely. "Ah, yeah, shopping a little. I can't resist these things." Poking the bag, she smiles. It looks like there must be a million Beanie Babies in it.

Someone that they both know and… What? Peter squints out of the doorway, looking towards the two and— first he recognizes Heidi, which he knows and loves, but Cass does not, and she's not a young Latina girl, and she's mentioning the chicken and… that takes a little extra time. But he does have clues. Young Latina girl narrows it down pretty far. And something else rings to mind. A conversation over breakfast a month and a half ago. The first sound is a surprised inhale, a half laugh, and then a few more follow. Sorry Elena, won't take long for you to make Peter laugh today.

He's so amused, he can't concentrate enough to do what he wants to do, so instead he pulls his hand out of Cass' and says, "I'll be right back." With that he dashes through the store and into the room marked Employees only and grabs something out of a carrier bag and hurries back, barely remembering to lock it before he's back at her side… holding a video camera. "I— wonder if this thing can record if I'm invisible," he suddenly muses, a lopsided smile sending lines across his face. "Want to find out?" Of course he'll have to duck somewhere he can 'disappear' but… that won't take too long.

By now, sharing in this little private viewing of Elena as Chicken, Cass has broken down into a fit of giggles. It's just…too funny. She may feel bad la— oh, who are we kidding? She's still going to find this hilarious weeks from now. When Peter runs to grab something, she just nods, still too amused and focused on the pair of women to wonder what he's being right back for. When he holds up the camera, a rakish grin appears on her face. "Peter. That is incredibly evil and you know I would never allow you to make such embarrassing footage of my dear friend, Elena. So, hurry up and get invisible so I can't stop you." That would be a very enthusiastic yes.

"….did I what?" Elena says, blinking. While she was willing for Heidi and Nathan to reconcile, she wasn't…..really aware of the fact that her wishing that they would just kiss and make up would translate into something else with her powers. One day, one day, an even more embarassing event will cause her to be aware of it for sure. But that will come later. Perhaps during Epic Karaoke, which may or may not be tragic or epic or both at the same time.

She is still unaware, and rather blissfully, of the dastardly plan brewing across the street and around the corner. And when Heidi pulls open the bag, she looks at the beanie babies. She can't help but smile and look over at the blue-eyed woman. "Do you collect them? I think it's cute that you do, if you do," she says. "I think we can afford to have little indulgences like these on occasion."

She doesn't really want to ask how her meeting with Nathan went. It wasn't really her business, so she grins. "Your sons are a riot," she tells Heidi, folding her hands….wings….on the back of the bench and hunches over a bit. Which means the bulky costume's plumed buttocks is sticking -right up the air- when she does, and sadly she's not even aware of it. "You weren't kidding when you said they liked robots."

"Nothing, I was just…" Heidi shakes her head. Not going to even ask that. Ever. Because she wouldn't want to know if Elena did, plus she isn't going to ask something like that in public where everyone can potentially hear it. Yeah, that's her excuse. Totally. Anyway.

Also unaware of the fact that her brother-in-law and Cass - who she doesn't know at ALL - are planning to embarrass Elena further (And Heidi might just approve if she did know) she settles back against the bench, looking up into Elena's eyes. Or is it the chicken's eyes? She's not sure, they're both so lifelike. She has to chuckle again before she's able to bring about a little bit of seriousness. One friend to another, yes. Where one friend is a giant chicken. "Have you ever heard of Chicken Boo?" she asks randomly.

Okay, not so serious.

"Yeah, I used to. Got 'em all boxed up now. These are for other people, though. Don't really know who yet but… Makes me feel better." Okay, okay. "Well. Some of them are for me." Yeah, see? Not the rooster, though. That's for Elena.

"They really like you," Heidi says of her sons. "They want to know when they're going to see you again. Did you tell them to call you 'Auntie Elena?' Or did Simon come up with that on his own?" Heidi told them that all adults should be treated with respect, which meant tagging 'Aunt' or 'Uncle' onto the front of the names of non-relatives at times.

"Of course," Peter sats, grinning a bit. "By the way— the woman she's with is my sister-in-law. The one I told you about. Feel free to go introduce yourself." With that, he disappears to the shelves. There's so few of costumers that they may not notice him slipping out behind a bookshelf before returning— or at least he might be returning. Cass'll feel a light brush on her shoulder, a touch that doesn't extend the invisibility around her, and then he's hurrying over to his sister-in-law and the chicken suit— who is sticking her tail feathers up in the air. Wow… yes, he's getting that, from a pretty good angle too. Nothing inappropriate, really. But— they're talking.

That might be inappropriate. As long as the conversation remains casual and harmless, he won't be too worried about it. But he catches a bit about.. Aunt. …Aunt? What's that? Luckily, the noise in the street makes it more difficult to catch him, but oh man, he's trying his best to keep from laughing. A snicker or two might escape, and the shuffling of feet. And the camera… that's shaking a bit.

At first, Elena beams at Heidi. "Yeah, I've heard of Chicken Boo!" the young woman replies brightly. "Wasn't he the— " And then, she pauses. "….hey!" She can't help but laugh. "Alright, I suppose I should lay the ground rules now from friend to friend." A friend who's a giant chicken. "This never happened." She winks at Heidi. "I don't know what I would do if Peter or Cass saw me in this thing. And Jack. Oh god. Don't get me started with Jack, he's got an ENTIRE LIST of things he can give me crap on. I don't know why this stuff always keeps happening to me."

She nods, and she smiles over at Heidi. "That's good, hobbies are important. Besides, those things can be pretty valuable one day. At least that's what I heard. I tend to spend money on accessories," she admits. "Bracelets, earrings, bangles. Not the …you know, Tiffany kind. Just cute stuff I could wear that I won't cry over if anything happens to them. It's my one shopping vice….I've learned to be really careful with money though, considering I don't have much of it."

At the last, she grins at Heidi. "Well if you need a sitter…" Someone Heidi can trust. "I don't mind lending a hand on occasion. Simon's sweet, and Monty's a riot, he won this little….one of those prizes-in-plastic-ball things in the little machine I took them to and there was this little decoder ring in it which he tried to give to me. I think your son just tried to propose," she teases. About the 'aunt' thing, she pauses, and she laughs. "I have NO IDEA where that came from," she confesses to Heidi. "Simon just started calling me it. So I was like: 'But….but…I'm -not that old-!' and I honestly shouldn't have said anything because now that he's embarassed me he's going to -stick calling me that- every chance he gets."

The light touch and Cass gives a smile in Peter's general direction. Because she can't, obviously, see where he is exactly. Then, she waits a couple of moments before stepping out onto the sidewalk and heading toward the pair. Already planning something mischievous, the woman schools her features into a neutral expression. Hard, but she manages quite well. Determined strides take her in Elena's direction and she says, "Hey, so, if you're in a chicken suit does that mean you do the chicken dance if I ask you to?" That's about when the grin breaks out on her face. She can't help it. This is just too good. "I promise I'll get some good music for it, too. And an audience. And maybe a spot for you on David Letterman." See, she's helping to make her friend famous. Winking, she turns to Heidi. "Hi, sorry, I don't know you yet. I'm Cass." There we go! Introductions.

When Cass strides up to them, Elena blinks at her…….and turns a bright red to match the horrid fuschia costume. "C…c…..c….Cass!" she blurts out. She forgets about the painting for a moment, her ABJECT HUMILIATION is more important here. While she doesn't mind making Heidi laugh, now CASS IS HERE. Cass threatening to send her to David Letterman in the thing! "Wh…what are you….oh my god!" Oh god. Oh god. Oh well. At least it wasn't Jack, Eric, or Peter. Or….Lachlan….or….everyone else in their acquaintance. Cass is okay. Heidi and Cass are okay. BUT NO ONE ELSE.

"Oh…um…..Cass, this is Heidi Petrelli, Peter's sister-in-law. Heidi, this is Cass Aldric, his boss at Enlightenment Books." See? Someone was -nice enough to do this for you while you're being mean and heartless-, Peter!

Though when Cass mentions doing the chicken dance, Elena gives her a huffy look. She pushes off the bench, and then? Does the chicken dance, the wings flapping around, and the tail feathers waving around spastically as those big, costumed feet move it on the concrete. "-Happy- Cass? Are you -happy- now? God only knows why I humor you people." She's trying to look serious and stern while she's doing the dance, but with the movements, and the fact that it's a sort of windy day…………the head of her costume suddenly blows OFF her head, sailing down the street.

"Crap! Um. Bee-Arr-Bee." Yes. She JUST SAID BRB. DEAL WITH IT. And with that, she turns around, and takes off running. After her head. Like a chicken with its head cut off. Hah hah hah.

This also means……that if Peter doesn't move out of the way, there's going to be one GIANT PINK CHICKEN barreling towards him.

See, Heidi is hilarious. Actually, she can be fairly funny when she wants to be, and subtle humour is a lot easier, hence asking about Chicken Boo. She also loved the Animaniacs. Sure, she was in /college/ at the time, but who didn't like the Animaniacs? You'd have to be crazy! "Never happend, okay," Heidi says, and she seems sincere enough, except for the fact that there's no /way/ she's going to forget this. Ever.

Peter she knows. Cass, she's heard of. Jack is an unknown, at least at this point. It's a common name… Maybe she's heard it in passing and forgotten it. Oops! Heidi just chuckles and shakes her head. "Well, you have to admit, it's pretty funny. I have this story about Peter when he was a lot younger. What was it, a cow?" Pause. "Female cow. You know— I— Don't know what he was thinking, so you can't get much worse than that." Poor Peter. Little does she know that he is THERE AND INVISIBLE.

"Oh, these? They used to be, but they're not at the moment. Maybe in a few years, they will be again. Weird how that works, huh?" The comment about not having a lot of money does make Heidi just slightly uncomfortable, since Nathan /does/ have a lot of it, but that's not why she married him. "I guess I can relate," she says. "I used to work in a hardware store so I could afford to fill up my gas tank so I could drive to school." …At least she can empathise a little?

Ah, Elena the Baby-Sitter! "I'll call you first." Or maybe second, after Peter, though Heidi doesn't like to intrude too much. "Monty's usually pretty quiet around people he doesn't know. He must have liked you," she says with a smile after the bit about 'propsing.' Which… strikes a sore spot considering she's still not even wearing her wedding ring, but Heidi doesn't miss a beat. "Yeah, you'll probably be Aunt Elena for the rest of your lif—"

She doesn't finish that, because that's about the time Cass arrives! Poor, Poor Elena. Heidi laughs again, holding out her left hand to the newcomer, because the right is still sore. She recognises the girl, but only because she's seen her in a rather awful painting, and Heidi is /just/ able to keep from staring. "Nice to meet you," she says. "I've heard about you before. From Peter." And that's about as far as the introduction gets, because Elena's head suddenly FLIES OFF and Heidi is caught in the thrall of hysterics again, and there's nothing that can be done about it. She's cracking up. SORRY ELENA.

Sorry Elena, Peter and Cass already know. Holding the camera as well as he can while he tries his best to find an angle where it's very clear that he's shooting Elena in a chicken suit. The audience— which doesn't exist— must be able to tell this or there's no point in doing it. The talk so far is okay— but wait… She baby sat the boys? And— Poor Elena. Young or not, she acts old enough that he's not surprised the boys are calling her aunt. He's smiling at her, while— Cass arrives. He can't help but muffle a laugh. Oh man.

Here he is, invisible camera man. And THEN… Heidi makes him the butt of the joke. What the— How can she know about that!? He destroyed those pictures! …okay, no he didn't, but he locked them away forever. He never had utters. Honest. Damnit. This is what's wrong with big sisters. At least she didn't hear about the time Angela dressed him up for Halloween as a…. nevermind that! NEVER MIND THAT.

Okay, maybe he shouldn't keep listening in. He's already embarassed enough right now. Geez, people. And then… Elena loses her head. Following it with his eyes, as it sails right past his shoulder, he doesn't quite comprehend everything because he's looking behind him. This is unfortunate. Un Fortunate.

Because there comes Elena, following the same path her head did. Unforutnate… because PETER is in that path. Invisible. Unseen. A glass wall. That she gets to run right into. There'll be a loud sound at the impact, not just from the impact itself, but also from the young man she hits calling out in surprise… and threatening to fall back onto the pavement. Invisibility? No longer working. With all the pandemonium of heads falling off… hopefully no one will notice this. But he's still holding the camera. Caught camera-handed.

Unaware that Heidi may have seen her in any capacity before, Cass spreads the grin her way and holds out the corresponding hand to shake Heidi's. "I've heard about you, too. From the same source," she laughs. Because in this situation, it's really hard not to. Grinning, laughing and generally /alive/, she looks nothing like the broken woman in the painting. Or, at least, her head is facing the right way. "I'm…well, I can't think of better circumstances to meet you under. There's no way I'll be able to forget who you are next time we meet." Especially when Elena starts doing the chicken dance. "Yes. Yes, Elena, I am /very/ happy." This is managed between laughter because this might be the most hilarious thing she's seen. Elena's chicken head antics earn her a surprised stare and then more laughter. Still unable to see Peter, she has no idea that the other girl is running right in his direction. Otherwise, she'd yell out for him to watch out.

"A /cow/?" Cass asks incredulously about Peter. She /is/ aware that he's here, but that's not going to stop her from getting the full story. Or it would not stop her until Elena runs right smack into Peter. "Uh oh." Not only did that look like it hurt, but now the gig is up!

If this were a movie of her life and the invisible close friend is filming this, when Peter turns around it may very well be one of those slow motion action sequences where the protagonist slowly turns around, and sees something LARGE AND WEIRD gunning for him. In this case, it's a giant pink chicken. Cue deep, slow-motion sound effect: 'N- O - O - O - O - O….'

Elena, of course, is running in real time, her wings extended in front of her to try and catch the flying chicken head like a football. She'll laugh at the idea of PETER WEARING COW TEATS later, because right now she, herself, is embarassed enough. And the halloween costume tale will have to wait. She'll also fistshake (wingshake?) at Heidi and Cass later for laughing at her expense, but first thing's first. She HAS to retrieve the head. This thing is a RENTAL! And then……….the wind is knocked out of her, barreling right into Peter and toppling with him in a pile of arms, wings, giant feet, and a camera. And for comedic effect, a swirl of dust and a puff of pink feathers accompanies this rather disastrous enterprise into pretending to be a giant, unnaturally colored animal. What the— where did THAT come from? Did she hit somebody?!

Elena groans, and pulls herself up, a look of embarassment and agitation on her face as she looks down on the person she just knocked over. "Oh my god! Oh my god! I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry!" she says in a rush, breathless. "Are you okay? I didn't see you— " Pause. "…………………………………………..Peter?"

Oh. My god.

Her eyes flick to the camera.

Oh. MY GOD!

She scrambles away from him, pointing. "You— you— " Her eyes swivel to Cass. "YOU!" OH YEAH RIGHT CASS. Like you'd go prancing over here while she's wearing a suit ON ACCIDENT! CONSPIRACY! CONSPIRACY!

Pause. She turns to Peter again, everything else sinking in. She can't help it.

"….moo?"

Elena's never going to live this down. And to think, she could have just walked past Heidi, and none of this would have ever happened. Heidi certainly wouldn't have seen her! In any case, the painting is quickly forgotten in favor of the fact that Cass seems to be very not dead, and therefore is nothing like the woman she saw in the painting. And that is how Heidi's mind works.

"I have to agree," Heidi says dryly as she turns to watch Elena attempt to catch up with her head. "I'm completely serious. He was a cow for Halloween. It was amazing. I think Nathan kept at least a dozen copies of that picture." He also has copies of her lisence when she was under a different name, so this does NOT SURPRISE HEIDI AT ALL." Back to Elena, though.

Heidi should help, really… In fact, she's getting to her feet to do just that when the chicken-girl crashes right into /nothing,/ which kind of wipes the smile off her face. What the /hell!?/ "…Peter?" she says. She hasn't seen /him/ since… Well, what's it been now? A week? Since she ran out of his apartment in tears. Yeah, she's kind of afraid he's going to be angry about the whole hitting him across the face with a closed fist thing, but that can come later. There's a pile of people to pick off the pavement. "Elena?" Heidi adds, before hurrying toward them both to help the girl up. She's actually trying not to laugh, and doing a /wonderful/ job of it, but she'd /REALLY LIKE TO./ Of course, she sees the camera, too, shakes her head, and holds out a hand to help Peter off the ground. Hopefully he's not broken, because being broken by a chicken is just embarrassing.

Most rational people would be embarrassed by the fact that they were caught getting footage of their friend in a chicken suit. However, Cass is not one of those people. She has no apologies for this. "Me!" she replies quite gleefully. "Are you two okay?" When Heidi moves forward to help them, up, she does so as well. Whoever wants to take her hand can take it, she's not offering it to any one person in particular. "Now /that/ is something we're going to have to meet and discuss more. I have a board in the backroom of my shop. I think one of those /might/ just have to make an appearance there." She's an equal opportunity embarrasser.

HE NEVER HAD UDDERS SERIOUSLY. UGH.

That's it. Peter wants another sister. Seriously. But right now he has other problems. That involves a definite NOT slow motion impact of a chicken suited Elena. In the pile of wings and limbs, he lays on the bottom, trapped under her, wind knocked out of him, sore in more than a few areas, but his head isn't busted in, at the very least. Thank God for small favors, right?

As she scrambles away to point, he's still groaning slightly where he lays, but at least the camera is intact— as she points at it. At least she realizes that Cass was in on it.

Moo?

"…Cluckcluck," would be his quiet response, before he accepts the hand of his sister-in-law, who can't keep her mouth shut, and gets to his feet. From the sound of things, he might have bruises— but those will go away any moment, as he looks down and turns off the camera. Now— one thing he's going to have to talk to Jack about. A /reverse/ use of his power would be really helpful at a time like this. How's he going to keep her from stealing the tape?

"I'll— go get your head." That's smooth, Petrelli, smooth. And he actually does turn around and start moving very quickly after the head that's blowing away down the street.

"….I'll….go get your head."

Did he just say that? And did he just…CLUCK at her? Elena stares at him, and then? She buries her face in her hands. Wings. Whatever. Her shoulders are shaking. Is she…crying? Is this latest embarassing escapade in the Secret World of Elena Gomez enough to break her mind, body, and soul? But when she pulls the wings away from her face, a feather stuck on her hair, she's just….just LAUGHING helplessly. Oh god. Oh god. Why does this always happen to her? But Elena's as quick to laugh as she is to get mad. And be somewhat excitable, so she just looks at the two older women as Peter retrieves the chicken head that's rolling down the sidewalk - he'll manage to retrieve it. "Alright, that's it. Shift's -officially- over. I'm totally -never- doing this again and I'm -stealing that tape, Petrelli!" she calls out from where she is. Because she will. Her attempts of course are doomed to failure because she doesn't have Jack's powers.

She grins over at Cass and Heidi, despite the embarassed flush on her cheeks, and her eyes bright with mirth (and a few tears). "I'm getting out of this thing, you guys have enough blackmail material on me to last the next two decades of my life," she says. And with that, she turns around to dart into the building where she was 'working' for the day. Time to change. Thank god. She's NEVER wearing a costume again. Not even for Halloween. Never ever? NEVER EVER.

………..this is a gigantic lie.

He totally had udders. It was the most glorious picture ever taken of Peter. Ever.

We'll just all hope that no one walking on the street noticed that Elena ran into an invisible wall, and now suddenly there's a guy with a camera there. No one seems to notice, though, which is very good.

So, now what? At least she has humour, which can fill up a good deal of the somewhat uncomfortable situation in which Heidi has found herself. At least she has time to think as her brother goes off to fetch the chicken head… Should she apologise to Peter? She's certainly not going to hit him again, because she learned her lesson quite well the /first/ time. Also, she doesn't know her own strength. "How's the— " She motions around the region of her jaw when he returns. Sure, he heals, but it's still important to her to ask.

Looking over her shoulder as Elena runs the hell away, she can't help another grin, another chuckle. Yes, the damage has already been done, and she is thusly doomed to the mockery of her friends for the rest of eternity. Whether or not she dons the costume again, it will always exist inside the minds of others. And… Heidi doesn't seem very sorry about this at all.

"She can /try/ to steal the tape." Cass giggles under her breath at Heidi. "Peter, Peter." She gestures at the man again to join them. "I'll totally lock it in the store's safe until she's gone and it's safe. /Everyone/ has to see this." Because it would be just selfish to keep such a gem to themselves, right? Cass is totally a selfless woman. The exchange between Heidi and Peter she doesn't understand, so she doesn't respond to it. Instead, she gestures toward Enlightenment again. "Maybe we should head inside after Elena has de-chickened herself. Better than standing out in the middle of the sidewalk and getting in people's way."

No pictures will be seen EVER. Peter doesn't say anything when she threatens his tape, because honestly he /knew/ she would… but there's more than just this video on it, so he's not about to let her steal it. As long as he has a good idea where she has it, he can get it back, though. There's some laughing as he walks back, holding the chicken head… with the camera still held in his other hand. First thing's first…

"I was /seven/ when I wore the cow costume. I thought it was cute. And she made Monty wear one once already too." So there. Anyone who has bad judgment when it comes to costumes has no right to make fun of him. Besides, he has most the family photographs. And now that he KNOWS Nathan has copies… he's going to find them and destroy them.

While Elena's gone to change, sans chicken head, he nods towards the other two women. "Well— now you two've met…" With his sister-in-law gesturing at his face he gives a small nod, a smile, "It's fine. That healed up before you even left." His jaw was just broken. No biggy!

There's a pause, and he turns towards Cass, "There's a few things on this tape that— I'll make a copy of it. She won't steal it." He trusts that she won't do that to him, not if he explains that there ARE other important things on the tale. Very important things. Right— back inside. "Yeah, we should probably make sure the costumers haven't ran off with the books…" Not that they didn't have someone to watch them… With that, he'll head that way, chicken head and camera both.

"Monty was a /bull,/" Heidi points out with a wry smile. "He didn't have udders." So there TIMES TWO. Take that! It's totally true, at least a little bit. Okay, so it's not, but it was /adorable,/ and he's going to hate her when he gets to be Peter's age and someone brings out the pictures. OH NO.

Returning to her bench, Heidi grabs her bag of Beanie Babies and digs through it. Most of them aren't for anyone in particular, but there's definitely one specifically meant for Peter… Namely a camo-clad bear named 'Hero.' And for Cass, a cat that's a whole patchwork of colours, mostly because it's cute and seems to fit the womans smiling personality. Fittingly, its name is Kaleidoscope. And it's not just because it looks like a painting, honest!

Looping the bag around her arm, she looks back toward Cass and smiles. It's good to see that she's still okay. Makes it harder to believe that Peter's paintings actually show the future. You never expect people to die, even though everyone does. After making sure there's no one else around, Heidi says, "Peter says you're normal." That sounds weird, so she adds, "Like me," onto the end of it. "Then again, anyone's normal compared to Piglet." He's so weird. He's so… /Himself./ Also, random farm animals for the win.

Cass, you are a CALLOUS BASTARD and you should burn in hell. Only not really. Honestly she can't believe her 15 minutes of fame would be in a home video dressed as a chicken.

She'll have to get the head back, and they probably went to Enlightenment Books already. She has to lag behind at the Chicken Bucket to try and explain to them that some Italian guy who had been a cow in his childhood has her head and she'll have to get it. So when she steps out of the fledgling business, Elena's clad in an off-one-shoulder shirt that hangs against her midriff, a pair of boot-cut jeans, and sneakers. The jeans look a touch too long for her given the fact that the hems are frayed. The slight hint of the navel ring that she got in high school glints underneath the hem of the shirt, which proudly displays the words 'ROCK YOU' on it. She checks the heart-shaped Casio (wait, did Casios come in shapes like that?) watch on her wrist, furrowing her brows. She's got time to stop by the bookstore to chat before heading off. Besides, she needs to get the head back.

And off she goes, a few minutes after everyone else has stepped inside, Elena ventures inside, the little bell ringing on top of the doorframe signalling her entrance and raking her hand through her loose hair. "Helloooo?" she calls out, stepping inside and closing the door behind her. She's got her own bag with her, slung across her shoulder and diagonally on her chest, stepping around a harried-looking customer and furrowing her brows a little bit as he goes. He was lauging a little maniacally. Maybe he found a book he liked, or…you know. There must be a FULL MOON TONIGHT because everyone else seems a little crazy today.

"That's fine," Cass grins at Peter. And there is no way that any picture she gets a hold of is getting destroyed. It is definitely going up in Enlightenment Books so that every customer and employee and glory in the adorableness of Peter dressed as a cow. WITH UDDERS. Yes. "And that makes it /that much/ cuter, Peter." There is no way he is making it out of this one with his dignity intact.

"Now we've met!" She nods at Peter and then laughs at Heidi's statement. "Well. That's a loaded statement. I don't know about /normal/, but I can't do what he can do." Then, all of the sudden, she's given a beanie baby. A very vibrant one! "Oh! What's…this?" She knows what beanie babies are, but she's not sure as to why she's being given one. By this time, they've pushed back into the store, which is still intact and without merchandise missing. Her customers are mostly upstanding like that.

You— UGH. "You could at least use my prom picture or something. Now that was cute," Peter murmurs, accepting the bear— though since his hands are full the only way he can really accept it is to hold out the chicken head and make her put it in there. "Thank you, Heidi. It's adorable." Once they're back inside the store, he removes the tape and puts it into his pants pocket, safest place he can think to hide it, and then puts the camera away into his carrier bag. The bear as well. The chicken head… he sets next to the register. This kind of store, people will not necessarily ask as many questions. But it's in plain sight for her to see.

Yes, everyone was a little bit crazy today. But don't worry, CluckCluck… He'll not share your humiliation with others if you promise to help him keep the whole udder incident under wraps.

Heidi will make sure to get a copy of that picture to Cass if she so asks. At least there's not a copy on the Internet. YET.

Poor Peter. But he deserves it for filming Elena while she was in a chicken costume. Of course, there's the fact that Heidi's going to feel the need to pay Peter back /for the rest of her life/ now, but that can wait until after she delivers the cow picture. "I went shopping," she says to Cass, holding up the bag that's still /FULL OF BEANIE BABIES./ Too bad she couldn't find a cow, or she'd give that one to Peter, too. Haha.

Of course, she's not going to tell Cass /why/ she's on a buying binge, but Elena and Peter will definitely know - at least considering recent circumstances. Leaning on the counter, she waves Elena over, and takes a look around Cass' store. It's certainly a little different than bookstores she's used to.

Walking over to the register, Elena takes the chicken head off the counter and stows it to the side along with her bag. She also puts the rooster beanie baby carefully inside it and rests a hand on the counter, glowering at -all three of them-. No one is safe. She waits, though, until another customer leaves, the bookstore emptying out for the time being. Finally she exhales. "Ugh. I'm never doing that again. It was so hot in that thing," she says with a frown, sliding her hands in her pockets and rocking back a bit on her heels. To Cass, she looks over at her. "Speaking of things, I got something for you, Cass. Just….hangonasec." It's not a present sort of thing, by her tone. Peter probably already knows what she means, so she hunches over, crouching a bit on the floor where she put her bag to the side to start digging through things. "Oh. And while you guys are here….apparently I am now a walking GPS unit."

Right now, Peter's glad he kept all the family pictures. Of course, everyone in his family has the keys to his apartment. Everyone + one other. Since he's getting glowered at, he gives a cowered glance towards his feet, before he moves towards the bookshelves, with the recorded image safely stored in his pants. He doubts anyone will reach into his pocket to get it right now. Yeah, he knows what Elena's talking about, but he does look towards her anyway, before he suddenly says, "Cass, I'm going to see Heidi home, if that's okay." So he can stash the tape! And… he needs to talk to his sister in law. He waits for an okay, before slipping into the back room for his bag, and returning to retrieve the older woman.

A GPS unit? What? Heidi cranes her neck to see what Elena's looking for, idly rubbing the bandage over her hand. It's irritating; she should have Peter take a look at it. Would suggest it if she didn't feel so guilty about backhanding him across the /face./ Of all the people to get hurt out of that whole situation, he deserved it the /least./

After a moment's consideration, and while everyone else is distracted, she reaches into her purse for her wallet. People keep pictures of their loved ones in there, right? Yes. And while there are many of Simon and Monty, a few of Nathan, and a couple of Peter, there is now cow picture to be had. In fact, she knew there wasn't one in there, she just wanted Peter's blood to run cold for a moment, because she is a terrible person. Only to him, though. She loves her brother-in-law.

"You're welcome," she responds to Cass, practically beaming as the cat earns a prominant place on the counter. It's not much, but it makes her feel better in little degrees. She bounces back from Crazy Things pretty readily, actually, and while she might not be so happy later, at least she can enjoy her day for the moment, in good company.

At any rate, it'd probably be just as awkward for Heidi to say 'hey, weren't you that girl in the painting?' So it's probably better that they're keeping silent about what they know about each other. Eventually provided with an excuse to have a much-needed conversation with Peter, she nods, turning to Cass as Peter runs to get his things. "It was really nice meeting you. Maybe it won't be so egg-citing next time and we'll get a chance to talk."

Heidi is hilarious.

With a smile for Elena, she follows Peter out of the store. She's not looking forward to going back to the mansion, but… She can deal.

It's a mock-glower, she's not really mad! When Peter emerges from the back room, Elena gives him a small smile, but then she drags out the small thing from her bag and palms it. She doesn't want to make it look like she's passing drugs to Cass or anything like that. She'll wait for the older women to get further acquainted, so she doesn't interrupt Cass and Heidi for now. She'll wait and explain the GPS comment to Cass once the Petrellis are gone from the store. She props her chin on one hand, casting her eyes to the window in an absent look as she waits, and lets her mind drift. When Heidi says her goodbyes though, she looks up. "Bye Heidi, Peter," she says, giving them both a smile and settling against the counter as if she belongs there. Then again, this was Elena. She looks like she could adapt to any place she was in and look part of it seamlessly.

Chicken head gone, kitty up on the counter, Cass is ready for whatever Elena may have to give her. Peter is given a smile and a nod. "Of course. Take your time. I still didn't get lunch for you, yet. So, pick something up for yourself." It's not like she can deny him the chance to walk her home. After all, she's going to get her an incriminating picture of Peter! And she gave her a beanie baby!

"I really enjoyed meeting you, Heidi. Come back in the store soon and we can talk some more." Cass laughs at the pun. It doesn't take much for her to be amused. "When things aren't quite as hectic." Since nothing is being passed quite yet, she waves to the pair. "Bye!" Once they're out the door, she turns to Elena with a smile. "She's nice. I like her." Even if she just met her.

Randall is heading into the store just as the others are heading out, giving Peter a wave of recognition from their previous run-in here. Overhearing Cass's last words, he reflexively asks "Like who?", glancing back at Heidi and then forward to Cass and Elena. And the corners of his mouth promptly turn up: "Hey, long time no see! Lemme guess, ancient Chinese curse in action, am I right?"

"Heidi's awesome. She's ….had a rough week. I'm glad I was able to make her laugh, even just a little bit," Elena confesses. She sets down the plastic baggie on the counter and slides it towards Cass. She doesn't remove her fingers from it until Cass takes it herself. "As requested," she says, giving her a significant look. "I received two doses, initially. But I'm keeping one dose, so I have one, and you have one. What I have is backup - plus….there's something I want to test." She doesn't say what it is, but there's a plan brewing in that crafty head of hers. "I think if we break this down, if we can translate this to— "

She is cut off as Randall enters, and when she glances over at him, she smiles. "Hi Randall," she says, sliding her fingers away from the pack once Cass has got a grip on the package. "And no, not really. Just finals. I just got out for summer vacation a week ago or so." She props her chin on one hand, leaning heavily against the counter.

"I heard," Cass sighs. "I met Nathan at a bar the night Lachlan and I got into a fight about his, uh, plans. Alcohol apparently makes people more talkative. Who knew?" And then it leads to people sleeping on floors and Lachlan beating them up. But that is a subject for a later date. No stranger to covert motions now, the bookstore owner puts her hand over Elena's and then comes away with the bag. It's quickly tucked into her front pocket, where it'll be safer. She doesn't even give it a close look. But, she can feel it and she can guess what they are if they're being secretive about it. "I'll get started on it immediately. I've already started researching some…" and she trails off, too when Randall comes in. But, she has a smile on her face for the man. "No Chinese Curses just yet. Like the city needs any more weirdness."

Randall inclines his head to Elena. "Believe me, I know the feeling. So you're probably still decompressing, huh?" Cass receives a nod as well, as he steps away from the entrance so that anyone else coming in won't immediately plow right into him. "Hmm, I don't know… I think part of it is just that the weirdness gets noticed more often, because it's all happening in the same little area." He doesn't react to the other line of conversation, the one quickly dropped; either it was too quick for him to catch, or he's clever enough to know that prying wouldn't get him anywhere. Or maybe he's just written it off as some piece of normal female gossip or other.

"Pretty much," Elena tells Randall with a broad grin. She picks up her chicken head, and her bag. Looking over at Cass, she smiles. "I'll see you later, Cass," she says, taking a step down and away from the counter. "I have to get going but I'll come by later tonight when you're closing up." So she can talk to her in quieter environs. "It's good seeing you again, Randall. Nice to see you're still sticking around though."

With a grin, Cass nods at Randall. "I can see that. All of the sudden the weird starts to seem normal." She knows from experience. As Randall doesn't seem to notice the pass off, she doesn't comment on it or even check to make sure the pills are still there. That would call more attention to it. "Alright, see you later, Elena. Good luck with all the chicken stuff." Because she can't help but rub that in /just/ a little bit more. Innocent smile. "Have a good day."

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