2982/Never alone in the City

Never alone in the City
Date of Scene:	18 August 2020
Location:	Bryant Park
Synopsis:	Out of millions, Malcolm manages to find the needle in the haystack, after following his own network of leads.
Cast of Characters:	Thea Queen, Malcolm Merlyn

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Thea Queen has posed:
It's been days since Thea's left Starling City. Days that she's not answered her phone. It's off now, the charge on it having died at least two days ago. The moment all was revealed to her, was when there just didn't seem to be any reason to remain. Everything was a lie, whether it was outright or just some deliberate omission.

A reasonable response?

Probably not.

For her? It's not as if she hasn't done it before, just to cool off before returning. But this time? The young woman sitting on a bench in Bryant Park, feet up on the bench next to her with her backpack behind her doesn't look like she's about to go anywhere. She's in jeans, converse sneakers and a bare-midriff short sleeved shirt, but they're looking.. a little rough.

She watches the others in the park as they enjoy the out-of-doors, enjoying the last bits of sun as it fades and the lights begin to flicker on to illuminate the walkways. She doesn't move, doesn't react to the change, instead, her fixed, blue-eyed stare has some moving around her in order to give her something of a distance.

Not everyone, though.. with the sunset, other sorts come out and they have their own bits of territory. Lowest on the totem pole, as it were.. the ones that are only trusted enough to carry a few bags, a few pills before payday comes to their watchers.

Welcome to NYC after dark?

Malcolm Merlyn has posed:
    New York City is a ways away from Starling. But, that does not matter much to Malcolm Merlyn.

    For one, New York City is almost like a second home, with Merlyn's association with the Hellfire Club. Which has more of a reach than just within the walls of the building. Yes, Malcolm knew of the tussle between daughter and 'professional acquaintance' from the message Mr. Wilson had thoughtfully sent via HFC network channels. And yes, Merlyn did not visit Thea afterwards, although he did get as close as outside the warehouse she is renovating for her nightclub. He was there....but he did not enter.

    A courtesy, perhaps? After all, it isn't exactly a secret how Thea feels about her biological father.

    But, the HFC also is a rather effective information source. Someone mentioned seeing someone looking like Thea Queen over towards Bryant Park. It wasn't much....the person thought it was a look-alike, if anything else. But, the rumour reached Merlyn's ears. And..it doesn't hurt to go for a walk in the park. At least, not for Malcolm Merlyn.

    And so, a figure approaches from behind the bench. Malcolm stands there, hands in his jacket pockets as he watches Thea stare off into the horizon. He watches quietly, for a few minutes, before he breaks the silence, his voice drifting over Thea's shoulder.

    "If you would have told me you were coming, I would have prepared a proper reception..."

Thea Queen has posed:
The pair that looked as if the were going to approach caaaaasually stroll past as they see Malcolm approach the same bench with the same spaced-looking chick sitting there. They were going to .. uh .. check on her. Yes, check to see if she was okay, if she needed anything...

Yeah.

Thea doesn't move, doesn't even follow the pair that is departing with her glassy-eyed stare. If there was ever a day when she'd take notice of someone approaching, that doesn't seem to register with her either. Sitting here, as the night begins, makes her a decided target.

It's after Malcolm speaks, it takes a good thirty or so seconds to sink in that someone is actually talking //to// her. It takes her a few heartbeats after that to figure out who it is without looking, because she simply .. doesn't. Thea's response, the words are deliberate and slow with a heavy sounding hoarseness quality, with a touch of slurring, "I don't care why anymore." She's not caring about a whole lot right now. "I want to be left alone."

Malcolm Merlyn has posed:
    "If you wanted to be left alone, then you came to the wrong city for that." The voice grows louder, until it is besides Thea. Malcolm doesn't sit. No...that would be too presumptuous. But, he doesn't leave either. "There is literally no place in New York City where a person can be truly alone." The couple serve to only prove his point, as they offer a singular nod then continue on their way.

    The hands are still in the pockets of the suit jacket. Blue eyes flicker over to take in Thea's condition. Slurring words, apathy, a little worse for wear. "Oliver doesn't know you are here." It is said as a statement of fact, no questioning involved. "And...I can only assume that is because you don't want him to know."

    A softening of the voice is the only indication for Thea that Malcolm is actually concerned for her well-being. He doesn't change his expression otherwise. "Do you want to tell me about it? Perhaps take you to get something to eat?" Or a little less of whatever it is causing that slurred speech...

Thea Queen has posed:
Thea continues to look straight ahead, though there's a hint that she's actually listening, hearing the words. The twitch of her cheek, a shift of her jaw is the tell. She'd chosen the City because it's easy to hide in a population of millions. She could become one of the nameless throng and no one would be able to find her.

Except, of course, her father.

It's more of a deliberate move, albeit a little slowly, that she shakes her head in answer to a throng of things; questions asked, answered, and perhaps responses to the unbidden thoughts that come creeping back up. "No." It's a quick answer, and one that Malcolm undoubtedly knew would come.

"Not hungry," is murmured. The longer she sits there, the more it looks like she fights with her thoughts. The sights, sounds, smells.. and ultimately, the words spoken to her.

"He told me the truth."

Malcolm Merlyn has posed:
    "He?"

    It is a simple one-word question. And yet, it speaks volumes. "I assume you do not mean your brother. He does like to hold onto his secrets, whatever they may be." Of course, Malcolm has his secrets, too, but that is neither here or there, at this particular moment in time. "What truth did this mysterious benefactor bestow upon you? It must have been dramatic, for you to come here in such a state."

    Does Malcolm truly not know who told Thea, or what was told? It is certainly possible. Or, perhaps it is just a way to get her to continue talking.

Thea Queen has posed:
Whatever it is that Thea's taking, it's.. preventing any real highs or lows. For anyone who lives and works in businesses? It appears to be a whole //lot// of Xanax. Ativan. Benzodiazapine. The glass-eyes, the slurred.. the lethargy without her actually sleeping. Not yet, anyway. She may make it to a hostel, she may not. Now that Malcolm is here, though?

"Slade." She's not even sure of his last name. They'd exchanged first names, but the last? If he had, it's buried deep and she simply doesn't recall.

Her blue eyed gaze lifts to his, and she twitches slightly, "He told me about Robert." Dad. "Ollie." There's a pause before she swallows to push down what could be a hint of nausea before, "Him.. and you."

And out of everyone? Malcolm actually comes out the cleanest of the bunch.

Malcolm Merlyn has posed:
    Ah yes.....Slade. It comes back to him. "I see. Our mutual acquaintance. And what did he say?" The tone is conversational. Casual, even. But, there is an underlying purpose. For...Thea said Robert, Oliver and Malcolm himself. And....that piqued Merlyn's interest, even if he didn't come right out and say it.

    It also means that either Malcolm is double-checking to make sure stories are straight...or that he truly doesn't know what was said.

    "I did not know that Slade knew of Robert." Interesting....he did not say 'your father.' Probably to avoid stirring emotions....if any could be summoned from the quagmire of mood inhibitors Thea has taken.

Thea Queen has posed:
See, those words right there are the most damning thing that was told her about the man in front of her, and spoken by Malcolm so easily with no little attempt at hiding it, or downplaying it goes... a very, very long way with her.

The fact that she'd called the man she knew as her father by his given name is a pretty good indication of the confusion playing in her head. Trying to differentiate, trying to nail down such wildly changing things. Things she knew, things she thought she knew, things .. and her gaze shifts more towards that middle distance as she recalls, and the words forming aren't easily put out there, but she tries. There's no reason that she can think of why not. "He killed him." She shakes her head, and she gets a look on her face that surfaces through the benzo haze, "He killed.." everyone in that restaurant that night.

"Ollie never told me."

Malcolm Merlyn has posed:
    "Slade killed Robert." The fact is repeated, only with the names associated with the two. "I did not know...." Of that, truth rings. Malcolm did not know that ultimately it was by Slade Wilson's hand that Robert Queen met his fate. There isn't any outward expression of change. Only, a couple of steps as Malcolm shifts to sit down next to Thea. "I do not know Slade Wilson to be anything short of an honorable man. If he took the life of Robert Queen, then he had a reason for such. He does not take such actions lightly."

    Well, truth be told, Slade does not take such actions unless there is a benefit to him. At least, as far as Malcolm is aware. But....the fact that Malcolm takes away is that Oliver...did not tell Thea. And that is something rather telling, indeed.

    "I can understand why Oliver did not tell you. I don't agree with it, but I understand why. Perhaps he felt he was protecting you. Perhaps...he felt you couldn't handle the information." The drugged, flat expression seems to provide fuel for that theory. "But, he doesn't realize how much harm secrets can be."

Thea Queen has posed:
The clarification gets a nod from Thea. It's ever so slight but discernable in the growing darkness of the night. The lights have come on around them, but it's still dim. It gives her a few more shadows to go with the hint of a drawn expression. She rocks a little in her spot, and as Malcolm moves to sit down, she follows with her gaze but doesn't say anything about it, doesn't move to make room.

"I didn't know."

Thea finally turns her head to look at the now seated Malcolm, and there's that glimmer of her in those blue eyes that she shares with her father, lost in the sea of self-medication. It's a known problem, and one that she'd been beating, one day at a time. "What else is there?"

There's a moment when the snowed Queen just.. leans towards Malcolm. A first for her, really.

"I don't wanna go home."

Malcolm Merlyn has posed:
    Malcolm takes the leaning Thea in stride. There isn't an arm around her shoulders. No...that might be too familiar...too much of an encroachment upon Thea's space. But, there is a hand that rests, momentarily, upon her thigh, just above the knee. Only for a moment, as if giving reassurance, albeit somewhat awkwardly. It is the next words that Malcolm speaks, though, that may offer some comfort.

    "You don't have to go home."

    There is a pause. A moment of silence before Malcolm continues. "As a member of the Hellfire Club, there are certain commodities afforded to you, should you need it. In addition, as you know, I am on the board of directors. I do have an apartment at the Club that is free for you to stay at, should you desire." An offer to stay in New York, away from Oliver? In Malcolm's own apartment? "I can even find an alternate place to stay, should you wish to have the place to yourself."

    Surely the offer is too good to be true, but yet, there it is. Of course, as Malcolm said earlier....there really is no place to truly be alone in New York City. That...is certainly the case at the Hellfire Club. But, will Thea take the offer?

Thea Queen has posed:
The words are.. blinked through, and the processing of them is a touch on the slow side, but eventually it gets to where it needs to be. Thea shakes her head regarding the first, the Hellfire Club. Why?

"Oliver goes there. He'll find out that I'm there."

There's only so much quiet that she can be assured of, and there are the occasional loose tongues, for a price. Even there, because, well, Ollie's a VIP and as such, is accorded some courtesy.

"I've been staying on 42nd." She'll be moving her haunts should any of this be too good to be true, but even as she says that, she looks hopeful, but her words are tinged with a disbelieving wariness. "I don't want anything big." Trust is coming hard, but he offered?

"Anywhere in the city."

Malcolm Merlyn has posed:
    "Ah, yes. Oliver. He does go there. So the Club will not do."

    Malcolm sits back to listen. Of course, there is some trust in Thea telling him where she has been staying. But....to foster that trust more. To have her feel comfortable around him.

    Ah, yes. That's it. As Thea says she will take anything in the city, Malcolm replies back with a single word.

    "Done."

    Then, with the first smile, albeit slight, Malcolm elaborates. "You pick where. I will make sure you have it. And whatever else you might need in your sojourn away from your brother. You just need to say the word and I will see to it."

    Then, and only then, does the arm tentatively slide around the shoulders, embracing Thea for a few seconds.

    It isn't much. But, for just a second there, the two looked close. Like a father and daughter ought to be. It was for only a moment.

    But...it is a start.