Roadbump on the Road to Recovery

[Molly Quincannon] Speaking of people who couldn't dress up if their lives depended on it (though she might surprise you, some days), Molly's wandering the Mile today - black jeans, black wife-beater, black zip-up hoodie and black stompy boots to match the hair and the still-not-fading dark circles under her eyes. She's really not paying that much attention to the people around her - she's out for coffee. Though it's a little difficult to miss Lara most days, and Nat ... well, she still doesn't know what to say to Nat.

It's not in her not to stop and say hello, though she spares the coffee shop not two stores down a wistful look before she stops with an unusual timidity and says, "Um ... hi, Nat, Lara. New person who I have not met yet. How's everyone?" This last query (if at least one sentence in five doesn't end in a question mark, it's probably not Molly speaking) includes Vito, and is as friendly as she can manage at the moment - that is to say, tired and strained, but making the effort.

[Lara Wrathburn] Lara laughs as Vito talks about dressing up Natyana and seems to relish the idea more then most might. "I could see her in a nice suit before a dress...but I think that will be fun."

But there is a moment of pride when the man speaks of her dressing well, of taking pride in herself, so few people nowadays commented in such a way and she nodded to the man, giving herself a bit of a pose, for herself and for him perhaps. "Thank you Vito, its nice to have such things noticed.

Then Molly arrives on scene and Lara raises a hand to wave to the woman, a smile upon her face. "Molly, its been a while. How are you doing?"

[Natyana Wapanee] The odd face is still there. Nose wiggling at Vito. "I have socks. And I think I might have a pair of jeans that don't have holes in them. That good enough? Cuz I mean seriously. That's stretching it on the scale of me dressing up for a damn thing. I don't need my wardrobe expanded. I don't have anywhere to put it and probably wouldn't wear it anyways."

And there's a Molly voice. She perks, turning to look at the uber leet geek and give her a smile. A worried smile, but a smile. "Heeeeeeeeeey Chica. You get my messages?" She doesn't comment on the dark circles, but the worried look that creeps into her eye has been the norm lately when she sees Molly. That is... when she's not cussing, screaming, and punching doors.

She spares an attempt of a glare at Lara though, as soons as the word dress falls from her lips. Lip curling up and shuddering. "You are gonna be in for a fight, woman. Slacks, maybe. Dress? Say that filthy word again and you ain't getting no more pies."

[Vito Moretti] ”I think if you let Lara show you, you will be fine. Life is about fucking sacrifices. You want to look nice for Lara, don’t you? Look at how she fucking kits up for a morning walk.”
He reaches into his jacket, pulling out a small card and a pen. He writes quickly on the back of it then holds it out for Lara. It is a business card (Vito’s) with the address and a name written on the back.)
“That’s Benny’s place. Swing by it tonight. He will get your girl fucking setup. Tell him Vito sent you.”

Then he is looking to Molly. Vito focuses those hard blue eyes on the woman and there is something terrifyingly frightening about the man. A dark charm that threatens to overpower and suck you in and never let you go, and you just know that giving in will cost you everything and more.
“New fucking person? That would be you, not me. Name’s Vito, who the fuck are you?”

[Lara Wrathburn] Lara takes the card and nods to Vito. "Thanks, I'll get her there...one way or another." She looks over at Natyana with a foreboding look, the kind that says 'its happening one way or another...come on! it will be fun .'

Then Vito responds to Molly and she laughs lightly as she shakes her head, for a roughly charming man he has a bad way of introducing himself to people.

[Molly Quincannon] When Vito turns his attention on Molly, she stiffens and goes even paler than she had been. It's certainly not quite the same sort of thing as a few weeks ago, but that particular sense - of how much giving into a certain overpowering dark, charming or not, will cost - gets her back up like nothing else on this planet right now. The instinct is fight-or-flight, and it costs her everything she has not to deck this man in the face, grab both her friends and run like hell. Or just set him on fire where he sits. But she stifles it, and there's no direct sense of that sort of intention. There's just the pallor, the sudden ragged breathing, and the hand balled into a fist so tight that her nails cut into her palms. She might draw blood if she keeps that up, but she doesn't notice, and probably wouldn't care if she did. Eventually, though, she manages, "I'm Molly. I think you left your manners in your other jacket, man. Who're you?"

Then she looks over at Nat, trying to smile, trying to recapture that one minor spark of carefree that had existed before that man started up. "I think you're fighting a losing battle, Nat. Give up gracefully, and expect a package in a couple of days." She doesn't address the matter of the messages. She's not in the mood right now.

For Lara, there's a shrug. "Yeah, I've been ... kinda busy. Home improvements. House pets. Work. Saving-the-world shit. You know how it goes."

[Natyana Wapanee] She glares between Vito and Lara. "Fucking conspiracy, I swear. Fine, I'll go, but just to shut the three of you up about it, ok?" Wait... wut? Wtf? Did she just... agree?? Molly might want to start looking for the pod.

Her eyes settle back on Molly, and she stiffens. Boomer perks up, watching her too, and whimpers, moving over to snuffle at her boots and push into her legs.

[Vito Moretti] ”My fucking manners?”
The tone of his voice drops a few levels as he focuses his attention on Molly, eyes narrowing slightly.
“At least I have fucking manners enough to listen to Introductions Molly, so I suggest you back the fuck up. We aren’t nothing but fucking friendly here.”
He levels a stare at her that few things in the known verse can stand for long. There is something primal and frightening about the man. Luckily, he doesn’t look at Molly for long, instead he looks to Lara and Nat with a shrug.

“Benny will see you straight Nat, take my fucking word for it. Now, I am going to get a new fucking cup of coffee, cause I hate this cold shit.”
Said as he flicks his wrist, sending the cold coffee into the gutter.

[Molly Quincannon] She doesn't speak. Her fists tighten that bit more, and she looks at him rather like a deer in headlights. For a second, it looks rather a lot like she might pass out. She can't stay here. She cannot stay here and listen to this, nor can she deal with the resonance or the look and oh does she hate herself right now. Primal and frightening ... no, she cannot deal with this right now. It's too close to Before, profanity notwithstanding. Too close to Riveira.

To her credit, she doesn't scream. She doesn't move, either, however. Between that, the hyperventilation and the glassy-eyed stare that's not directed at Vito or indeed aimed at anyone or anything in the 'now'? It's clear that Molly's in the throes of a very serious ... 'episode' of some kind.

[Lara Wrathburn] Lara saw how things degraded so quickly and she sighed. "Vito...please stop." She says as she looks over to Natyana, she had words, words forming on her mouth, but then her cell rang, and the woman pulled it out of a fold in the asymetrical dress and checks it. "Shit...Tyana, I'm sorry but theres something I've gotta deal with."

She apologizes before looking to the others. "Molly, its ok, hes really not that much of an asshole." She then smiled slightly to Vito and nodded. "See you thursday Vito." She steps over to Natyana and smiles knowingly to the woman. "Take care...I'll see you in a few hours."

And at that....Lara leaves the scene quickly, but gracefully. [Sorry folks time to get ready for work, i will catch you all later.]

[Natyana Wapanee] "Vito, tone it. Please." She swings her legs around to the back of the bench and hops down, going to Molly. To her credit, she doesn't start jumping up and down infront of her. Or grab her. She does, however, nudge at her softly.

She nods to Lara, but at the moment is very much distracted with Molly going into a fit. Everything else is melting away except for dealing with that. It's not anything on Lara, she'd know that by the sudden flood of worry written all over her face when she watches Molly. "Molly. Hey. C'mon girl, come back to me here."

[Vito Moretti] ”Yeah yeah, I fucking get it.” HE glances at Molly, but he doesn’t seem to understand what she is doing, instead just shakes his head and turns, heading away.
“Like I fucking said, getting some coffee. I will see you around Nat.”

And with that, Vito leaves Nat to deal with the geek chick. Vito shrugs and moves towards Laila’s for a refill on that coffee before he gets to work for the day.

[Molly Quincannon] [[Dex + Brawl - don't nudge the girl having the massive flashback!]]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 5, 7, 8 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[Natyana Wapanee] [dex+dodge - we've done this dance, cept you were usually sleeping and had to be woken up from the screaming fits]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 4, 4, 5, 6, 9, 9, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6) Re-rolls: 1

[Molly Quincannon] On being nudged, Molly shrieks and lashes out with a fist, which would have connected were Nat not such a speedy individual. As it is, Nat manages to dodge out of the way and Molly staggers backwards, possibly making to run. She hadn't counted on the bench, though, which catches her in the backs of the knees. She lands in a sitting position, then braces her hands on either side of her on the bench and tries to get a hold of herself while passers-by stare at her in a combination of perplexity, buzzard-like interest and disgust, perhaps thinking she's a junkie.

[Natyana Wapanee] She knew the look that came over Molly. Knew to be ready when those eyes glassed over like they did. And there's absolutely no exasperation or hesitation in dealing with her. She ducks when the arm comes around, and lets Molly fall on her ass. She stays low and moves in close enough to pin her down if she has to. The gawkers are ignored for now. Her concern is Molly.

"Molly, snap the fuck out of it. Look at me."

[Molly Quincannon] Getting a hold of herself proves more or less impossible, at least in part because of the side effects of hyperventilation. Namely, Molly tries to raise her head - maybe to look at Nat, maybe not - but her eyes widen and then roll back in her head. Then they close and she slumps; Molly, in short, passes out.

[Natyana Wapanee] She sighs, relaxing and straightening up. Molly passing out wasn't the greatest means, but at least she wasn't still taking swings. Finally she looks at the gawkers and sneers. "Move on. This ain't daytime tv."

Once the people start shuffling away, she tugs at the leash tied to the bench. "Here boy. Come wet nose her." She takes Boomer by the collar and pushes him over to Molly, and he proceeds to start snuffling her hands and start licking. Hands, legs, even climbing up onto the bench to try and get at her head.

[Molly Quincannon] There are worse ways to be woken up than by the snuffling of a wet dog nose. Even immediately after a heebie-jeebie fit, there are few things a cold wet dog nose could possibly be mistaken for. So while there is flailing, when Molly starts coming back to consciousness, it's not of the particularly violent kind, but instead... "Ugh. Off. Gah. What--?"

Then she blinks and, while she gets a freaked-out look on her face, it is at least of the more normal variety, emphasised when she asks, "..........Okay, how much of an ass did I just make of myself?"

[Natyana Wapanee] She smirks when Molly starts coming around. "Nothing too bad. Took a swing at me, missed horribly, shrieked like a teenie bopper at a boy-band sighting and passed out. Stay here, I'mma go get us some coffee." She moves for the coffee shop door, leaving Boomer to continue snuffling and checking Molly over with nose and tongue.

[Molly Quincannon] The only reason she's staying is because of the dog. The big dog who is more or less pinning her to the bench and licking her face. Otherwise, she would by now be well on her way home to hide from this abject humiliation. By the time Nat gets back, she is very much not in a talking mood and looks very much like she'd like the ground to open up and swallow her, or at least leave (fat chance, with Boomer on the case). Obviously, she and Nat have very different views on what 'nothing too bad' actually means.

[Natyana Wapanee] She's not gone long. And by now, knows how Molly likes her coffee even. She comes back and sets the cup down on the bench, on the side of her Boomer isn't. She has her own, which gets sipped at, and she makes no moves to pull Boomer back yet. She knows the looks, and doesn't want Molly running off yet.

She doesn't say anything, either. Taking up a piece of the bench seat opposite side of Molly's coffee cup, so that escape route from the dreaded Boomer nose/tongue combo is cut off as well. She sips the coffee and swings her feet.

[Molly Quincannon] There's a lot of silence. Molly really isn't in a talking mood. But there's noplace she can go at this point, so there she is, unable to so much as reach for the coffee because if she tries to drink it, it might be disrupted by Boomer-nose. So eventually, after a long, long moment of silence (two mintues, by Molly's impressive internal clock), she manages, "...Would you mind ... calling off your dog?"

[Natyana Wapanee] "You gonna run? Or sit here and deal with it?" She sips at the coffee in her hand, looking over at Molly, watching her worriedly

[Molly Quincannon] "I freaked out and passed out in public," Molly grumbles. "What do you think I'm gonna do? Go dancing?"

[Natyana Wapanee] "Not dancing, but I would be willing to put money on you wanting to run home and hide. Shit happens, Molly. We all embarrass ourselves in public sometime. You at least have alot of reason for it, not just being anti-social or something."

She reaches up and pushes at Boomer. "Down Boo. Let her have her coffee." Boomer backs off of her, but stays up on the bench. Sitting down and watching her, wanting to keep lavishing on the big slobbery dog love, but managing to contain himself and sit.

[Molly Quincannon] Molly raises an eyebrow, then shakes her head with a sigh. "When I do something stupid in public, I want it to be voluntary. Plus there's a difference between 'doing something stupid' and 'wigging out'. I don't like wigging out. Who the hell was that creepy-feeling asshole? All he was missing was the taint. He reminded me of ... of Riveira." She shudders, but at least doesn't lose it or anything. "And was the stare-down necessary? Fuck, some guy gets in my face with 'who the fuck are you?', just because I point out that he's new to me..."

[Natyana Wapanee] "Remember asshole old fart that made me wanna call Basil?" She pauses, smirking a bit. "Meet Vito."

She shrugs, frowning. "I don't know. He's not that bad once you figure out that yeah, he's creepy and intimidating, but the mouth is foul and he didn't really do anything but look scary. He's old, he's had a long time to work on it, and has a club, has that old-school gangster thing going. But dude! The club I guess has jazz and blues and some kind of fancy high class type thing. So Lara wants to go check it out and he wants to give up a cease-fire dinner."

[Molly Quincannon] So now Nat's defending this creepy fuck who stared her down for no other reason than she matched him word for word. That about tears it. "Cool," she says, clearly not meaning it. "Have a good time. I actually have some shopping to do, so..." She gets up. "I'll talk to you later, okay?"

[Natyana Wapanee] She frowns, but doesn't stop her. Her lips purse, and she shrugs. She's not going to chase her this time. "Ok. Call me if you need anything. I got a few things to pick up at the grocery store before I head back over to Lara's." She reaches down to untie the leash from the bench, then stand up as well.

[Molly Quincannon] She doesn't even demur and say that she's fine; she just walks off without another word, leaving her coffee behind her and doing her best to vanish into the crowd.