Once in the room, Marda takes a chair off the stack, hops onto it and passes the time by finishing a good part of the bag of candy. Once she has her fill, she begins to work off the sugar rush (and the anxiety building from Teddy's absence) by taking the other chairs and setting them in precarious rows much as an oversized set of dominos.
Ariel walks over to the little girl, her brow furrowing in puzzlement. She crouches down to talk to her, "Hi, honey... are you alone here?"
Marda takes a quick look around her surroundings. "Yes, I guess I am. Have you seen Teddy?" She stops for a moment and takes a few sniffs in Ariel's general direction then gives her a very confused look.
Ariel is taken aback temporarily. "I... I... No. Where's your mommy?"
Marda just shrugs. "In Vatra Dornei," she comments as one would talk about the weather as she continues setting up the chairs in precarious rows, "I guess."
A door suddenly opens and Marda and Ariel spot the large-shoed, brightly suspendered form of Leo come into the Waiting Room.
Leo sees Marda and Ariel, and notices that someone has brought in a pile of chairs. Marda seems to be missing her bear.
Leo's somewhat dazed expression brightens when at the sight of Ariel. He waves. "Glad to see you made it out too!" he greets her. "I hope your interview went better than mine; what with sleep deprivation and the joys of travel, I nearly got myself thrown off the island or worse..." He takes a look at the six-year old, then looks back at Ariel. "Is she all right, do you think?" he asks hesitantly. "Doesn't she have any parents with her?"
Ariel runs up to Leo and hugs him. "God, Leo, my guy was so creepy!" She kisses him on the cheek. "I'm glad to see you." Glancing over her shoulder at Marda, she whispers in his ear. "I don't know what's with that little girl, but she freaks me out a little."
Leo raises his eyebrows at Ariel and shyly returns her hug, as careful as if he thought she was made of paper tissue. He then approaches the little girl, stopping a few paces from her and sitting on his heels to compensate for the considerable difference in height. "Hi," he says in a gentle voice. "Are you all right? Who are you traveling with?"
Marda looks at Leo carefully. In response to "Are you all right?" she merely nods. In response to the second question, she answers, "I came with Teddy. Have you seen him?"
Leo now remembers the grimy toy the little girl arrived with. "No," he answers, "I'm afraid I haven't seen him since I left earlier. When the C&I gentleman arrives, we can ask him. Or maybe your parents can get Teddy for you?"
Marda looks back at Leo in an apparent state of moderate confusion. "But why would my parents know where Teddy is? Maybe Tata saw him."
Leo looks back at Ariel in confusion. "Tata? Do you know who she is talking about? Maybe an aunt? This child must be with someone!"
Ariel, clearly not paying attention, smiles at Leo and nods.
Leo takes a closer look at Ariel. "Er... Is something the matter, Ariel?" he asks. "You look... a bit distracted."
Ariel smiles at Leo, her face pale. "No. Not at all, Leo. I just wasn't paying attention, that's all." She turns away and gets two chairs down from the stack.
Leo considers trying to fold his length into one of the chairs, but
they don't look particularly comfortable. "What with the flight followed
by the long wait, I figure it must be close to dawn outside," he comments.
"I feel like I've been tumbling in a dryer for three days!"
With that, he starts to unlimber by doing stretchind and bending exercises.
Clearly, this is akin to what tai chi ch'in is for other people, but it
tends to make most people's grit their teeth as it appears extremely painful
for normally constructed human bodies. Leo doesn't mind.
The little girl first attempts to speak with the long-earlobed woman, but the doors close just as she gets through "Did you...?" Therefore, Marda repeats the question to the man who has just entered. "Hello, Mister. Have you seen Teddy?" Her English is strongly accented with some Eastern European intonation.
Powers comes face to face with a young girl (6-8 years old), a rather attractive young woman, and a guy in clown shoes and rainbow suspenders currently folded up into some sort of uncomfortable-looking contortionist pose.
"You know, I bet if you didn't dress so funny people wouldn't have the urge to tie you up into knots like that," is the large young man's reaction upon seeing the colorful character in the clown-like suit. "It was that woman with the earlobes wasn't it? She's a mean one alright!" Without wating for a reply the big man walks up to the young woman and says, "Name that tune!"
Ariel's eyes light up with unholy, feral joy as she moves to Powers. "What tune?" she murmurs.
Leo gives an upside-down look to the newcomer, without responding. He slowly moves from his tangled contorsion to a handstand, then to an elbow stands, and just stays there unmoving and upside-down.
With an almost relieved look on his face, the newcomer gently places a large hand on the young woman's delicate shoulder. Smiling down on the attractive woman, he nods his head in the direction of the contortionist and says, "Well, sweetie. It ain't 'Send In The Clowns', thats for sure! It's more of a CLASSICAL number. you know what I mean, daahling???"
Leo sniffs at Powers' words. "'Classical Gas', no doubt..." he mutters, not too discreetly.
Ariel pushes Powers into a corner of the room, away from Leo and Marda, her blue eyes glowing.
"Two's company but three-and-a-half is a crowd, eh sweetie?" is Powers' response as he willingly allows himself to be guided into a corner by the attractive young woman. "I like the idea of a private dance, daahling, but they're not exactly playing my favorite number..." Hesitating, Powers adds "You know what I"m talkin' about?" He looks deeply into the woman's irresistible blue eyes. "Stay focused, big man," is his own mental admonition to himself.
Ariel's eyes seem to have some sort of unholy fire behind them as she bends down and sniffs his shirt. "Where is it?" After waiting for the startled Powers' answer for a few seconds, she resumes dragging him towards a corner of the room and starts murmuring to him with animation. To the onlookers, Powers seems clearly disturbed.
Ariel sniffs Powers shirt with eager eyes. Trying to resist the urge to do the same, David Powers blurts out "Look, daahling, if you want to play some doggie style games maybe we can do that later but..." Gently holding her by both her shoulders and looking down into her eyes once again he asks, "Do you hear the music?" Then suddenly he adds, "Wait a minute! Do you SMELL something?!"
Ariel grins ferally, rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet and laughs, a loud, demented cackling. "The body. Where's the body?"
Powers, utterly confused now, holds the woman at arm's length. "Sweetie, if your refering to MY bod' , take a good look! I'm sure you can see it rippling underneath these soaking wet clothes." Then shaking the woman firmly but gently, he adds "Now what are you talking about?" Looking into the woman's wild gaze David Powers can't help but wonder why she reminds him so much of a cat or other small beast of prey.
Meanwhile, yet another door opens into the waiting room, and a wet, but pretty young woman steps out. Both Ariel and Leo recognize her as Kitty. Marda, now more visibly agitated than when everyone else entered the room, walks straight up to Kaila and asks her point blank, "Have you seen Teddy?"
"Oh, hi, Kitty!" Leo exclains. "Glad to see you made it back!" Then he turns to Marda, his face showing concern, and bends down abit to talk to her. "I'm sorry, Marda, but unless Kitty just saw him, no one knows where Teddy is. The next time a C&I officer comes in, we'll be sure to ask, all right?"
Kitty walks into the room glancing at her paperwork as if she was looking for something. She is stopped short by the child asking if she knows where Teddy is. Kitty kneels down to talk to the child. "Where did you last see Teddy, little one?... and try to speak slowly I do not speak your language." After a few words it seems as if she becomes tense and begins to smell the child.
In the corner, the murmured discussion between Ariel and David Powers reaches an abrupt stop. Ariel's eyes narrow into tiny, hard slits, and she laughs her braying laugh again, her eyes wild in the light of the room. "Fine. Just fine." She stalks away from Powers and sits against the wall on the far side of the room.
Kitty ignores the child for a second, looks over to Mr. Powers and raises her eyebrow.
Powers is just left standing there utterly confused by the woman he has just spent the last several moments speaking to. Watching her walk away, he thinks "...Cackles like a chicken, brays like a donkey, sniffs like a hound, and most especially MOVES like a cat! That woman is Old McDonald's Farm all wrapped up into one!" Noticing the second young woman's gesture in his direction, Powers raises both his eyebrows while turning the palms of his and faced up and shrugging his shoulders as if to say, "What? Your looking at me? I don't get it either." Walking towards this same woman, who is now speaking to the child, Powers thinks to himself, "Well, this big boy is tired of playing with kittens." Then he addresses the woman with "Hi, Sugar. What's your name?"
Kitty looks up at the tall man in suprise after taking inventory of the child and smiles. "My name is Kitty." She then turns back to the child. "Don't be frightened... I just smelled something funny." She turns her face up to the gentleman. "By the way I think Customs is looking for you." She turns back to the child. "Did you ask everyone in the room? Did you look all around the room, hon?" Kitty gets up and stumbles into Powers slightly. "Oh dear, I'm sorry... floor is wet."
As Kitty starts sniffing around, just like Ariel did earlier, Leo frowns. Is there some smell he missed? He sniffs around too, hoping he's not the source... Certainly they could all use a shower by now!
At the pretty young woman's response to his questioning her in regards to her name, David Powers throws up his hands in frustration and shouts "Oh, That's it! I quit! I suppose the kid is a kitten too, huh? What's the matter muffin, you lose your mittens?" he asks the child. Turning away, Powers begins to think of that old poem "Three Little Kittens Lost Their Mittens", when he notices the other man's sniffing. Could it be that only the WOMEN are smelling something in the air? He wonders. But before he can question the man in the colorful outfit, he suddenly finds his arms full of a very soft but firm body needlessly apologizing for this mishap.
Seeing how Powers seems to take advantage of Kitty's stumble, Leo tenses. He looks for Kitty's reaction, frowning - perhaps she doesn't mind the behaviour? He waits for a cue from her before saying anything...
With a quickness only seen in supersonic air superiority aircraft and young children on sugar rushes, the obvious example of the latter turns and faces the Lothario who has returned from his corner. Powers probably stands at two and half times Marda's height and six to eight times her body mass, but from the girl's tone of voice - that delicate midpoint between screams and sobs which reminds one of a test of the Emergency Broadcast System - she apparently doesn't care too much.
"EXCUSE ME! I am TRYING to ask this NICE LADY if she knows what HAPPENED to my BEST FRIEND in all the WORLD! DO YOU MIND?"
After that had been settled, at least by the dictates of logic as interpreted
through the six year old mind, she turns back to Kaila, starting slowly
as requested. "He was in an interview room. But all those interview
people are reallyscary and Teddy's a strongsilenttype and itsbeensuchalongtimeandthey'recreepyandbadpeopleandIdontlikethemandhesnotusedtothiskindof
treatmentandnooneknowswhereheisandI'mscaredand," and needless
to say at about this point her speech changes from intelligible conversation
to those piteous animal cries which remind everyone why they are so careful
about using birth control in the first place.
Kitty again raises her eyes at the gentleman. "Thank you, sir, I would have been on my arse if not for your kindness." She smiles politely and as if flirting. "I hope we will be able to talk again but," looking down at the teddyless child, "I did say I would help her find her bear, plus she's without parents." She then picks the child up as if she was taking care of her own. "Shhh Shhh I can't even understand what you are saying," saying softly, "here here we will find your strong teddy. Where are your parents by the way?" Kitty then turns to the wall where she just came from and knocks on it as if to say, let me in now! She is seen brushing off her clothes as she walks over to the wall with the child. "When are we going to get to shower change and shave? I've gotten more sleep on a 24 hour watch detail!"
As the pretty young woman walks away with her tiny companion, David Powers can't help but admire that cute little part of her anatomy that he's just recently saved from damage. While taking in this visual delight, Powers notices the other man's tensing at the events that have just passed. Smiling a "what-did-you-think-you-were-going-to-do-anyway?" sort of smile, the large man takes note that, although the colorful character may only be about half a foot shorter than he is, Powers has a good 250 pounds of weight over the man. Most of which is muscle, he laughs to himself while smirking at the man.
There appears to be no response to Kitty's knocking. She put the child down, sits down on the floor pulling her knees up to her chest. "Sorry, honey, they're not answering. I'm sure that when they find it, they will bring it out to you."
Marda immediately responds, "But I want Teddy to come back NOW," with
that peculiar emphasis on the last word which always accompanies the traditional
whine. "And why does everyone keep asking about my parents?"
As soon as Ariel sees Leo move for the door, she springs to her feet
and tries to follow... but too late.
The new arrival's appearance and demeanor leave David Powers with the
impression that this is a man of considerable academic intellect.
Striding over to the newest member of the "Waiting Room Bunch", Powers
greets him with the curious inquiry of "Hey, Charlie. What do you know
about psychic powers?"
Kitty looks at Levine and frowns. "Not only do we have a child's teddy-bear lost in there, but now a complete human..."
Levine nods, seemingly a bit distracted by something or other. "He'll be okay. There's plenty of people around who will get him where he needs to go," he says cryptically. American accent, by the way. Possibly California.
Powers, witnessing Ariel's attempt to follow the clown-like character out the door, briefly chuckles and says, "Chasing a ball of yaahn, Kitten?" Those familiar with the type of accent which is native to most Bostonians realize that Powers is ATTEMPTING to say "yarn." Also, for those who may have been curious enough to question Powers attitude, it seems that the big man is attempting to create a somewhat playful enviroment among the travelers. But, as the most observant may have noticed, these attempts seem to be delivered with a somewhat "troubling" air about them. Never the less, the big man stands there waiting for a reply from the well-dressed man he has just spoken to, all the while trying to resist engaging the pretty young woman in another round of peculiar conversation as they once did when he himself first entered the room.
Levine finally turns to him and says "I don't watch TV," as if this answers the question.
"Well," Kitty chimes in, "I'm sure if your interviewer gave you a form to fill out and a place to go to... I'm sure that organization will tell you all about so-called powers." She sits quietly for a moment. "I wonder what it would be like... being tested."
Powers, upon receiving Levine's response to his earlier inquiry, gets a sudden flashback to his previous discussion with Ariel and thinks. "Oh-oh... If I'm gonna have ANOTHER ONE of these strange conversations, I'll stick to 'Catwoman'. She's more my type." Moving over to where Kitty is sitting, Powers crouches down beside her and says softly, "Hey, Sugar. I've got a question for you if you don't mind." It is spoken with a sincerity that has, as of yet, not been publicly displayed by Mr. Powers.
Kitty opens her eyes from resting and looks at Mr. Powers and looks at him quizzically as if to say "Yes, and your question is?".
Powers looks around as if too be sure that no one else will overhear what he is about to say to the young woman. He appears aprehensive, as if his next action will be a very rare and uncommon one for him. Turning back to the woman he has now apparently decided to confide in, he opens his mouth to speak and then, just as quickly, looks away. After a quick moment of what appears to be an introspective analysis of what he is about to ask, he suddenly changes his mind. Looking back into the woman's eyes, he says, "Hey, did you know that your eyes change colors?" and moves to walk away.
Kitty gives Powers a once over and then comically sniffs the air, rolls her eyes, folds her arms and closes her eyes again to rest them. "Yes, I get that a lot about my eyes among oth... er... anyways."
With an inquisitive stare, Marda asks, "But why is the funny clown person's being gone any more bad than Teddy's? I mean it's very brave going back in that scary place there and really nice, but Teddy's a nice guy too, and those people in there could..." Finishing the sentence in her head more or less determines that she can't finish it out loud and so instead begins wailing again.
Kitty opens one eye and looks at the child "Marda... Marda... that is not what I meant... I just meant that both your Teddy and the gentleman should be out here with us, so that we may leave, eat and get some rest. I for one need a nap and an extremely hot shower." Kitty feels her conversation is fruitless and non calming, so she closes the one eye and sits there.
Powers, who has thought of about a dozen flirtatious responses to Kitty's ALMOST slip of the tongue, decides to bite HIS and just sits down next to the woman. Powers then quickly looks back to Kitty, as if to say something, then shuts himself up again. Passing up on an opportunity to have some fun (with her last statement) is not something that he often does easily. Nevertheless, looking about the room he can't help but wonder why it is that the women seem to be picking up on a scent that no one else can. "If it were pheremones, I wouldn't be complaining," he says to himself. Probably louder than he would have cared to.
As various members of the group in the waiting room sit, stand, wail, comfort, or just observe, the elevator doors once again appear, as if by magic (and damnit, you would swear they were someplace else last time!) and a man emerges. He stands about 5'11", weighs around 180 lbs, and has sandy blonde hair, green eyes, and VERY tanned skin. His lean, muscular frame is marred only by a slight beer gut., and by a rather ugly scar on one forearm. He is sopping wet (who isn't?) and dressed more or less like an escapee from a "Crocodile Dundee" movie.
The man stands where the elevator left him, and removes his tan felt
hat, shaking the water from it, but being careful not to shake it on anyone.
His sandy blond hair is wet in a ring around his head where the hat used
to sit. He smiles and looks around the room quickly while shaking
his hat. "Gidday!" he says to the room in general, and goes back
to trying to brush and shake the water from his leather coat. There
is a faint smell of stale beer coming from him, and it is difficult to
tell whether his slightly bloodshot green eyes are due to the trip or the
beer.
As Leo slowly puts up his hands in accordance with shouted orders from said submachinegun wielding individuals, he notices that C&I seems to be in a bit of turmoil. Several plainclothesed individuals are talking with C&I clerks in low voices and making notes in notebooks, and there seems to be a considerable amount of activity in and out of one of the doors marked "Interview Rooms".
About this time, one of the people with the machineguns asks in a French-accented english "Mr. David Powers?"
His eyes wide open (and at first, his mouth as well) and his hands very visible in the air, Leo freezes for half a second, then gulps and answers: "Er, no, that's the really big man in the waiting room. I'm Leo Barbeau, and as I just said, I was just trying to talk to someone about the little girl abandoned in the waiting room... Euh, je parle français aussi, si vous preferez..."1
"Excusez-moi, monsieur. Parlez anglais, s'il vous plait. Avez-vous votre passeport?"2
Leo proffers the requested document. The Peace Force officer with the French accent takes Leo's passport, examines it, then examines Leo once again. He then walks back to where a plainclothed officer is talking to two C&I employees - one the woman with the long earlobes, and the other a rather small clerk. He points at Leo and both look his way and shake their heads. The Peace Force officer returns and hands Leo back his passport saying, "He checks out." This causes the others to stop pointing their guns directly at Leo and instead point them only in his general direction. The French Peace Force officer leads Leo over to an unused desk, and brings him a cup of coffee. The plainclothed officer comes over and leans on the desk.
"Monsiur Barbeau, could you please tell us the current situation within the waiting room? Is there a Mr. David Powers in there? He would be somewhat taller and much broader than yourself. If he is within, what is he doing? Has he made any sort of statement? Most importantly, is he armed? Are others within in danger?"
Leo frowns, looks hesitantly at the officer. "Well... He is boorish and adversarial, and he ogles the female passengers, but he hasn't done anything worse. I'd love to find something more to complain about since he is so annoying, but in truth he seems only armed with the poorest of wits."
Leo takes a sip of his coffee, thinking hard. "As I said, I haven't seen him do anything dangerous, although I got the impression that he loves to throw his weight around, but if you're worried about him becoming violent, you might want to empty the waiting room. There is a young child in there, as well as two young women, and a man who looks like a businessman. I can give you the names they introduced themselves under, if you want."
The officer also sips coffee. "While he was with you, did he mention anything regarding his C&I interview? Did he say anything regarding anything which might have occured during that interview?"
As the officer speaks, a half-dozen additional officers arrive in the room. These men and women are, if anything, even more heavily armored than those already here. Rather than submachineguns, they carry large-bore automatic shotguns. The lettering on their uniforms says "L.D." rather than "P.F.".
Leo shakes his head again. "No, I don't recall him mentioning the interview. Aside from hitting on the women, the only strange remark he made was to the last traveler to come in, asking whether he knew anything about psychic powers." Leo shrugs.
The Peace Force officers and the Loyal Defenders spend several hurried minutes in consultation, and performing mundane cop activities like radio checks, then begin to sort themselves out. The plainclothes officers start moving the C&I clerks out of the way, and the one speaking to Leo says "Mr. Barbeau, perhaps we should step into another room. If you will follow me please?"
It is reasonably clear that an assault on the waiting room is imminent, as the Loyal Defenders are arraying themselves in front of the door. Leo gets up and follows the plainsclothes officer.
To Be Continued...