3357/The Queen And The Stealthy Sandwich

The Queen And The Stealthy Sandwich
Date of Scene:	13 September 2020
Location:	Queen Mansion
Synopsis:	Thea sneaks a visit to the family home. A talk with Vanessa includes the revelation of Vanessa's recently discovered mutant ability.
Cast of Characters:	Thea Queen, Vanessa Carlysle

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Thea Queen has posed:
It's been a few days since Thea made her brief appearance to the Queen mansion once word was sent regarding LianYu. Like a moth to a flame, or better yet, a Queen to a roast beef sandwich, the younger sibling slides down the massive staircase quickly, searching one hallway, then the other before turning to make her way into the kitchen.

Stealthy Thea is stealthy?

She's dressed down but still fashionable, this time with a delicate necklace 'round her throat, her backpack cast onto her shoulder, once again looking filled, but not to overstuffing. She's come home for a few more changes of clothes, and before she's back out? Some... uh... protein. Roast beef. Without too much bread. Wrapped in cheese.

Vanessa Carlysle has posed:
An SUV pulls up and parks over in the garage, Vanessa climbing out and making her way over to the house. There's a small bag from the grocery in hand, the young woman having gone out to pick up a few things that Oliver and Thea's mother had wanted, rather than using a shopping service for delivery.

It was a chance to get out and enjoy Starling, supplanting Oliver's memories of the place with some of her own experiences. Talking to people in the store and getting to know better the city that was becoming her home like no other place ever had.

The door opens and she walks in, not having made much noise to give warning of her approach. She heads for the kitchen to put the few items away. Her footfalls are probably noticeable just as she's entering the kitchen.

Thea Queen has posed:
It's Sunday. So... either Mother is out doing a philanthropy thing, or off.. or..

Thea pads into the kitchen, and as she's setting her 'pack down on a chair, ready to get at the refrigerator, she catches the sound of the garage, blue eyes rising in a 'oh good lord' supplication. She can either head out the way she'd come, or she can stay and look as if absolutely //nothing// is out of the ordinary.

They always buy such good roast beef, too...

Decision made, Thea is pretty good with soft noises that are different in an environment, and when Vanessa walks in, brows rise and her bobbed head cants to the side. A lopsided smile rises, and there's a //look//, "You know, Mother pays for grocery delivery, right? It's like, one of the perks she's always talked about." Still, she first checks to see if Vanessa needs any help before raiding the refrigerator.

"'Course, we also used to have a cook, too." Thus is the life of the idle rich?

Vanessa Carlysle has posed:
Vanessa's back is a small enough one, though there's a few things that one could help with putting away. "Yes, but it was an excuse to get out of the house," Vanessa says as she sets the plastic bag down, opening it so the contents are visible. "And I kind of don't want to get out of the habit of doing things like this for myself. If that makes sense?" Vanessa says, her expression showing just a tiny amount of concern whether Thea will understand her there.

"Living here is just... like a dream, sometimes," Vanessa says with a glance around the kitchen that is nearly as large as her whole apartment combined. "A great one. And I guess I don't want to start taking things for granted and... and lose too much of who I am. Was? I don't know. It's probably silly," she says with a self-deprecating grin.

Vanessa picks up a box that from the picture on it looks like some kind of dessert. Serradura, it says on the label, among some writing that looks Spanish or Portuguese. Vanessa sets that aside rather than put it in a cabinet, but starts putting a few other things away. "Just picked up a few things. And a surprise for Oliver," she says as she glances at the boxed dessert." Vanessa stops and leans back against the counter for a bit. "How about you? I've been hoping to spend a lot more time together than we've been able to," she says with a sigh of regret.

Thea Queen has posed:
Thea does help set a bag on a chair of the smaller dinner table in order to reach the contents (short!). Nothing in there she hasn't had before, and she starts pulling things out to set them on said table.

"Yeah, well.. grew up with this. I know it sounds stupid, but right now?" She sets some seasonings on the table and looks squarely at Vanessa, "Not a dream. I wonder at times what it would have been like to grow up with a normal family. Not.." and she gestures around the room, ".. this."

But! Thea shrugs quickly soon after, and turns to lean on both chair and table. "If you're going to spend time with Ollie, get used to it. And, once you start taking things for granted? People will see your expectations and respond to them. Respond to you differently. If you're always in a position of hesitating or looking surprised at something? They're gonna eat you alive out there because they're going to think you don't belong there." She offers up a tight-lipped smile after and exhales with something of a sigh. "Been to many, maaaany parties and business dinners to know that."

Thea crosses the smallish divide towards the refrigerator and opens it, ready to receive anything that needs to be put away. "I'm sorry and not really sorry I'm not around. I just.. needed some space. Still trying to work out where I am in the grand scheme of things, but I have help now." She shakes her head quickly and chuckles, "And I think it bothers Ollie that it's not him. Not this time." There's a pause before she finishes up with,

"I'm glad he has you, though. To... to make him dessert."

Vanessa Carlysle has posed:
Vanessa puts some fresh fruit away. Some kiwis and limes, and one fruit she'd never heard of but the grocer at the place Moira had mentioned knew what she was looking for. "I don't think I can say I had a normal family life either," Vanessa says. She pauses for a moment, looking thoughtful. "God I hope not. That would be a really depressing revelation if so," she says, shaking her head.

The fruit gets put away and she turns back to Thea, eyes studying the other woman. "There's definitely a lot of history there, too," she says of Thea's help, trying to be diplomatic. Trying to not talk for Oliver which it is so easy to do with his memories and even personality there in Vanessa's head ready to slip into place.

"I know how much he loves you though," Vanessa says, looking down for a moment. "It's a pretty beautiful thing." She falls silent for a moment. Vanessa also knows how much Oliver loves her. Also a very beautiful thing. "No matter if the moment is strained, I don't think that could ever change."

Thea Queen has posed:
r"The Queens have amassed a pretty impressively sized group of people who want to take us down," Thea offers flatly. "Mother's dealings aren't always.. above board." Lies. Deceptions. Thing is? The younger sibling doesn't sound angry when recounting it anymore. Resigned, perhaps. A point of fact, most likely. "Just, be careful. You're coming into a family with a lot of skeletons. I'm only just learning how many of those closets have them."

She looks at the fruit set out and grins, "Star fruit. Don't have to peel the waxy skin. Let it soften and it gets really sweet. Best in a salad because it's sort of delicate. Don't want the flavor to get lost." At least the grocer wasn't playing tricks on Vanessa. That's happened in the past, too! 'Oh hey, she'll love this!' only to find the opposite reaction.

"Yeah.. all history no one ever told me about." Blue eyes land on the other woman for a lingering moment before she offers a tighter smile, and she shakes her head. "Until he did. Because he thought I deserved to know." She takes a deep breath and releases it slowly, returning to the refrigerator in order to dig through the food to reach her prize.

"So, right now? It's best for me."

Pulling out some wrapped meat, Thea checks it all over before making something of a victorious noise. The refrigerator door is closed, and she sets the wrapped meat onto the counter, ready to open it and pull it apart.

"I still love him. There are times when I don't like him, though. But, he'll never stop being my brother." There's a pause before, "I'd do anything for him." Beat. "Almost anything." She won't stop training with Slade. Even if he asks.

"You're settling in well?"

Vanessa Carlysle has posed:
Vanessa listens, and watches as Thea finds the roast beef she was looking for. They do get the best roast beef, Vanessa remembers. She looks thoughtful for a moment, looking down at her hands where her fingers are fidgeting, clasping and unclasping in a nervous gesture. Finally she lets out the softest of sighs, finding an clear space of kitchen counter and sliding up onto it for a seat, her lets dangling.

"I'm settling in. In some ways it's like I've been here all my life, too," she says. Good segue, Vanessa. "Thea, there's something I'd like to tell you. About me,," she says. More of the fidgeting. "I'm worried part might trigger some of your other frustrations. Though just, because of the rest of your situation, not that it's... ok this isn't making sense yet, I need to just tell you and... hope it won't bother you," she says.

She looks up at Thea, expression hesitant as she looks to Thea's reaction before she says more.

Thea Queen has posed:
Thea begins to roll the meat up into little meat-straws, and takes a couple of bites of it first before she cants her head, looking at Vanessa, brows rising. One, two, three fingers are licked before she locates a towel to wipe her fingers off before she reaches back to the roast beef. (Come on, who //hasn't// done that?) Another piece is rolled, but there, she stops.

"That.. makes close to no sense at all. Here all your life?" Thea scoffs softly, though it's not derisive, "Kind of wish you were, and glad you missed some of the fun at the same time." Obviously, the word 'fun' has a completely opposite meaning in her statement. "Things might have been different."

One more is rolled up, making two.. and a third is crafted before she sets the meat back into the refrigerator.

"Now.." and there's a quick shake of her head in gesture, "What? I promise.. well, okay, I can't promise it won't bother me, but I'm learning how to handle things."

Vanessa Carlysle has posed:
Thea showing interest in hearing what it is Vanessa wants to say at least seems enough to help prod the brunette forward with the tale. "I suppose, maybe best to tell you from the start and... yeah. So," Vanessa says slowly, a hand going to brush through her hair for a moment.

"There were these little things, so minor I just dismissed them at first. I was at a bank your family uses, and I knew the manager's name. I figured, you know, Ollie must have mentioned it. And I always seemed to guess the right kitchen drawer to find things. And your mother's china. I knew where it was from in Japan, how rare it was and how the story of how they make it," Vanessa says. A story that Oliver and Thea have heard so many times they could probably recite it. Moira loves that china.

Vanessa looks down at her hands. Less fidgeting now she's committed. "I figured, you know, I probably saw it on the History Channel. Or Oliver told me the story. Knowing so much about her china, actually, was what seemed to favorably dispose her towards me," Vanessa says.

She clears her throat and says, "So I really didn't think about it. Ah, I hit a bullseye the only time I'd shot an arrow with Oliver. I didn't know he was Green Arrow. But, beginner's luck, right?" Vanessa says. She sits up straighter. "Well, Oliver and I got jumped by men working for the drug smuggler who I was testifying against." The reason she was there at the mansion in the first place, as Oliver protected her from him. His raid on the man's penthouse as Green Arrow was what had gotten Vanessa in trouble in the first place. "So... his men jumped us. Oliver knocked a staff away from one of them. And I picked it up. And I fought with it like I'd grown up with it. Not just that. I mean, I fought like Oliver would. His style, his moves. Everything."

Thea Queen has posed:
Thea is listening, honestly she is. She's also eating her roast beef slowly and deliberately as she does so. Her brows crease at some of the telling, and there are moments when her lips press a little more tightly than others, but she's doing a pretty good job at simply.. listening.

At the pause, regarding his fighting and such, Thea looks as if she's trying to set everything up in her head; the timeline, the actions, and finally, "You can do all of that. Without trying." It's a statement rather than a question as the younger Queen studies the other woman. "Do you have any control over something like that? I mean, if you fight like Ollie, can you decide //not// to?" But, taking a step back mentally, while licking her fingers when done once more and drying it on a towel (Yes, it'll go into the laundry!), she considers her other words. She just.. knew things.

"What other things do you just.. know?"

Vanessa Carlysle has posed:
Vanessa gives a little nod to answer Thea's question. "I can control it. For the most part. It's a bit more than just that though. Well, to keep the story short, I realized I had Oliver's memories. And I had his skills. Not all of them at first, but the number of them kept growing. The water fight you two had on that really hot day in July when you got that new bike? His memories of prom. His skill with the bow, knowledge of Queen Consolidated."

Vanessa, rests her hands on her thighs as she sits on the kitchen counter. "Thea when I first saw your face, I felt his swelling of brotherly love for you. When I said I know he loves you, I mean, I know exactly how much he loves you," she says.

Her hands rub overtop of her jeans for a moment. "So, keeping it short. We saw a doctor. Turns out I have the mutant gene and it's active. Guess that's my power. I had some healed fractures in my arm," she says, touching her arm. "Oliver's broken bones, not mine. So the doctor thought I can probably even copy people's bodies. Which I can," she says.

Vanessa hesitates a moment, looking to Thea to make sure she's ready. And then her body morphs, like Terminator 2, it just melds into a different shape. Instead of Vanessa sitting there, it's journalist April O'Neil. After a moment for Thea to look, Vanessa-April morphs again. And it's Oliver sitting there. A few more seconds and she changes again, looking like Oliver's personal assistant Ellis. Vanessa then returns to her normal body. "I can change my appearance to whatever. To actually pick up someone's memories and skills, takes being with them for a little while," she says.

Vanessa bites her lip, watching Thea's reaction to all of this.

Thea Queen has posed:
Thea shakes her head for a long moment, and stares as she tries to register everything. It's strange, it's .. not normal? But, rather than the immediate, knee-jerking reaction of backing up a step to give a little distance, she instead says, "Please.. don't do that to me." She doesn't want anyone in her .. head?

It's the body changing that really catches her off guard, and Thea.. stares. She's puzzled, confused, and for the moment, a little weirded out, judging from the expression on her face. "Okay.." she begins softly, but when it's Oliver, she shakes her head, "Please don't do that." Not her brother. Not her. not..

"How do you keep yourself straight? Who you are, not just some.. random memory from someone else? How do you know?"

Not the //worst// reaction.

Vanessa Carlysle has posed:
Vanessa's face shows some worry as some indications of a negative reaction are given. "When it first happened with Oliver, his memories it just happened. I've got it a bit more controlled now though," Vanessa says, watching Thea's face more closely for her reactions after seeing that weirded out look. "I've only copied him, and a friend who gave me permission. Never you or Moira or anyone else," she say quickly.

At the question about keeping herself straight, Vanessa pauses. "It's kind of like two different sets of memory in here. Mine and Oliver's. And, it's just two, when I copied my friend, I lost Oliver's. Then got Oliver back when I saw him again. But lost the friend's."

She makes a hesitant gesture with her hands. "I might see someone I don't know but Oliver does, and feel his reaction towards them. But I also know it's from him," she says. "I can tell the difference between my memories or his. I could probably pull of a pretty perfect likeness if I ever tried though. I can just kind of sink into his side of my head to act like him. I promise I can do the best Oliver serious look," she says with a gentle laugh, but not doing it now.

She shakes her head. "So I can't read thoughts. Just memories and personality. Since Oliver kind of keeps 'refreshing' me I tend to know everything about yesterday and past. It also isn't like... I don't just KNOW everything. The memories there, but it's just like in your own head. I can remember his Netflix password, if I stop to think about it. But if I never have reason to think about it, it's just buried in my head."

Thea Queen has posed:
Thea nods in the information as it comes forward. It's strange; even with things that are 'out there', odd, outlandish or just beyond the immediate imagination, the younger sibling can respect that she's at least being told the truth. And it's apparently not an easy one.

Not a trait, then, the other woman shares with the rest of the family, and it goes some distance with her.

"I don't need the Oliver serious look. One's enough," is given in the face of the quiet laugh. There's a ghost of a smile on Thea's face as she says that, but grows a little more serious after.

"Be careful, okay?" She reaches for her backpack, and hefts it onto her shoulder once more. "I gotta head back. Every time I come out here means more work," she murmurs softly. "Just.. take care of him. As you." Turning around, she begins to make her way out of the kitchen, stopping only at the doorway with, "See you on Lian Yu." before she leaves completely, before mother arrives home.