Melissa's Room - You Need A Good Girl To Read Your Mind

[Melissa Castro]

Melissa collapsed onto a plush bean bag in her dorm room, not even bothering to close her door. She turned her phone on and frowned at a series of text messages on it. She looked like she was about to respond to them, but she turned the phone off and flung it onto her bed.

((Open))

[Ryan Gabriel]

Ryan stopped by Melissa's room on his way back from classes. He'd tried to bide his time, but... well, he was a bit anxious about the issue. Seeing the scene through the open door, he stopped outside it and knocked on the doorway. "Rough day?"

[Melissa Castro]

"Mother," she said, as if that one word explained it all. "Sorry, I was supposed to get you those letters. I've got them on my desk."

[Ryan Gabriel]

"It's no big deal," he said. 'You're the one doing me the favor. I'm just over-anxious over the 'weird thing in my head' bit. I mean, if it is in my head. The whole thing's weird."

"So what's her flavor of frustration?" he asked, his tone conveying that he was, indeed, familiar with the subject.

[Melissa Castro]

"You have my entire lifetime to listen?" She said, getting up and going to the desk. She scooted a lockbox out of a cubby area on her desk. "I'm the perennial disappointment."

[Ryan Gabriel]

Ryan winced at that one. "'I must live vicariously through you, so you have to do all the things as I would have done them if I hadn't stopped doing them to raise a kid'?" he guessed.

[Melissa Castro]

"Sort of. And it irks her that my powers are sort of the same, but not," she said. "Stupid parental shit." She entered a complex code into the box, popping it open. She fished through a couple of important looking documents before pulling out a handwritten piece of paper. "Didn't think this was the sort of thing I should just leave laying around."

[Ryan Gabriel]

"Yeah, my mom was kind of the same about our energy powers until my dad made her knock it off," he said sympathetically. "And no, it probably isn't. Definitely not until we know what this is."

[Melissa Castro]

She offered the paper to him with a rough approximation of the letters she'd seen. "Never had a dad to make Mom knock it off."

[Ryan Gabriel]

"Well, do what I did. Just get a second phone number and stop answering that one," he said, taking the picture. "I wish this made sense to me. You'd think that since it's in my freaking head, it would, you know?" He sighed, folding it putting it in a notebook in his backpack. "And... if you need to talk, I kind of know how it goes, you know?"

[Melissa Castro]

"I've just resigned myself to it, but I appreciate the offer. I may take you up on it some day."

[Ryan Gabriel]

"Whenever. Boiling point has to hit sometime, might as well let off some of the pressure before you explode."

He hesitated, then added, "Oh, and sorry if I sounded like a dick yesterday. Thought about it afterward and kind of winced at how it came out."

[Melissa Castro]

"I understand the good intentions, believe me. But the sort of games they play are so rigged they make Vegas jealous."

[Ryan Gabriel]

"Oh, believe me, I know. Anything they do, they're going to be two steps ahead of us with caltrops along the path."

[Melissa Castro]

"I know there's no talking you out of it, so just step carefully."

[Ryan Gabriel]

"Well, it's not like I'm going in thinking that this is going to be an amazing opportunity where they're going to present these great ideas we can totally take advantage of. Someone needs to find out what the hell they're up to, though. And that's kind of my job."

[Melissa Castro]

"I'm more the swoop in and beat them up type," she said, managing a half-smile.

[Ryan Gabriel]

"Yeah, I like that a lot better," he admitted. "But sometimes you just have to have drinks and keep your ears open."

"...Besides, the last time I skipped a shady high-profile invite, I had to deal with a lot of accusations that I was opposed to whatever charity was being used to front the con. I hate dealing with smear campaigns."

[Melissa Castro]

"I'm not concerned that anyone will confuse the Hellfire Club for a charity organization."

[Ryan Gabriel]

"Yeah, I'm more worried that they'll make it sound like I'm snubbing whatever MPs they have attending. No clue how public this deal is going to be, though, it's not like they made any effort to pretty this up."

[Melissa Castro]

"I'll put myself on call the night of the party, just in case things go down."

[Ryan Gabriel]

"I'd say that I doubt that anything will really happen, but that'd jinx it," he said. "I don't think they're going to try anything yet, though."

[Melissa Castro]

"Better safe than sorry." Then she lightened the conversation, "And just imagine the press when Bastion saves Seraph's ass."

[Ryan Gabriel]

"I might let that one fly, if you need the press," he joked.

[Melissa Castro]

"More likely half the female population of your followers would publicly decry me for making an obvious move on you."

[Ryan Gabriel]

"Jealousy is a vicious, vicious adversary," he agreed.

[Melissa Castro]

"Of course, it would be balanced out by the guys following me leveling threats at you should you come near me, so it might all be good." She chuckled.

[Ryan Gabriel]

"Yeah, been there. Usually when they pull that, I just tweet out where I'm going to be having dinner the next day. Fun times, fun times."

[Melissa Castro]

"You play dirty."

[Ryan Gabriel]

"We can't get away from the outcry, might as well have fun with it."

[Melissa Castro]

"I'm going to have to confirm my location sooner or later, because I can't avoid going to Maldon forever. You do realize people are going to link us as soon as that happens, right?"

[Ryan Gabriel]

"Oh, of course. Just have fun with it. Keeping them guessing can only help."