2262/A Flight to Remember

A Flight to Remember
Date of Scene:	31 August 2017
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Vector, Dragonfly (Arazello)

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Vector has posed:
There's silence in the hotel room for the moment. This is largely owing to the fact that Liz is stretched across nancy in the bed, completely nude, her head on her lover's shoulder. She's listening to the woman's heartbeat; she has been for hours now. Lizdoes nto often sleep through the night but despite her insnae speed she does not get out of bed much before Nancy. There are priorities at work. The sun is rising in the background, though the light is barely hitting the mostly shaded windows. It's a sign it's time to wake in, oh, three hours for most people. On the other hand room service will no longer be ticked if one orders breakfast. There are upsides. For now Liz traces Nancy's form with her fingers as gently as she is able.

Dragonfly (Arazello) has posed:
    For her part, Nancy sleeps in late when she's not jolted to wakefulness by her alarm shoving her headlong into her mechanical morning routine. She especially sleeps in late when she's with Liz's relaxing presence. And when she's abroad with her lover, in a place with Rio's reputation for the lazy, slow life, undeserved as it may be, she's especially prone to sleeping in late.
    Or faking it. Which she totally is just because she enjoys the feeling.
    Finally she stirs.
    "You're very patient," she comments languidly. "You've been lying on top of me for years here."

Vector has posed:
    Liz nods slowly at that, taking a sloe breaht. "I have to be incredibly patient," she admits then, whispering slightly as shedoes. "But I can think of worse things to dedicate entire lifetimes to than your heartbeat, and your body. You've been awake for awhile, right?"
    Liz knows better. She was listening to Nancy's heart rate anyway, with its telltale spikes. Ones which are incredibly obvious when the distance between you and another person can be measured in picometers.
    "I like touching you and I have another million years to go," the woman finishes simply. "But we should probably get up still."

Dragonfly (Arazello) has posed:
    Nancy groans in feeble protest, and starts to get up. "I'll get washed up and ready as quickly as I can," she says. An impish grin. "Give me a hundred thousand years or so, OK?"
    True to her word she rushes through her routine, brushing her teeth hastily, splashing some water on her face and then slipping into her swimsuit.
    "Breakfast?" she asks. "Outside or in here?"

Vector has posed:
    Liz tkaes her time getting ready as well. it takes a whole minute for her to manage the task properly. Then she is standing beside her fiancee` in a swimsuit of her own and smiling quietly at the woman beside her as she takes a deep breath ."Outside, I guess. If we stay in here we might not get out of here until tomorrow. We keep doing that."
    Liz shrugs at this and then briefly waggles a brow as if to say 'not that I mind'. Which probably helps explain why it keeps happening. "What do you want to eat today?" the smaller woman asks quietly. "If we hit the beach we can probably get a couple of poor desperate losers to buy us anything we want."

Dragonfly (Arazello) has posed:
    "I think Booster is out ogling, so we're probably stuck paying ourselves," Nancy quips with a giggle. "I think, though, that you and I should start maybe looking into tracking down your old man?"
    She starts to drag Liz out the door.
    "There's this shack over down that way," she adds, pointing down the street, "that had something really delicious-smelling pouring out of it the other morning. I'm not sure what it was; I'm just not down with the food here yet. But whatever it is, I suddenly have a hankering for it."
    Wrapping her arm around Liz, she leans against her and saunters down the road, flip-flops making that weird half-sucking, half-clacking sound they're known for.

Vector has posed:
"I was smelling pao de queijo. Little cheese buns with jam?" Liz offers, leaning into Nancy as they walk along the side of the road. She studiously doesn't address th e other question.
    When the two women come lose to th shack Liz starts to fidget. Wiggling fingers, weight hsifting from foot to foot.Finally she murmurs, "We can start loking," agreeing quielty, "Kind of have to, I guess. We don't have infinaite vacation days. But, um. My question is where to start, I guess."

Dragonfly (Arazello) has posed:
    "That could be it, yes. Probably the cheese I smelled. You know about me and cheese."
    With all the Italian--real Italian, not New York--she cooks, it's pretty much "would you like some cheese with your cheese" at the household most meals.
    The pair enter the shack, causing a brief lull as they get stared at. Trust Nancy to find the place that caters to locals mostly... They get a wolf whistle too, though, so there's that. Whether this is flattering or threatening is a question of intent and demeanour.
    Breakfast served--it was the pao de queijo--Nancy talks between mouthfuls. Mouthfuls that are going to cost her a lot of weight if she keeps this up all vacation.
    "Well, do you have a name? That would help. If not, we'd have to go by your mother's. And I'm going to guess this is the kind of place where women aren't kept track of as much as men in the public eye."

Vector has posed:
    Liz passes for a local rather handily, of course. That leaves Nancy, however, and... Well.
    The woman engages immediately with one of hte people workingat the shack in swift and fluent Portuguese. It greases a lot of squeaky wheels and the cheese bread is quickly flowing.
    The wolf whistles are largely flattering by intent, even if they might be considered jarring. It's actually a friendly place. Of course. They're right by a major tourist hotel - they're used to the interruptions, even if they aren't common.
    "My mother's married name was... Julia Santos Almeida," the Brazilian girl begins quietly. "BUt I don't know if she took my father's surname or not... But we could see about, um." Liz frowns for a second. "1326 Santo Paulo Avenue. I think that was the adddress when I was little. I just wish I knew for sure."

Dragonfly (Arazello) has posed:
    "Well," Nancy says, after swallowing a big chew, "between your speed and my smarts and your smarts and my strength we shouldn't have any problems cracking this case wide open!"
    She eyes the stack of buns. Wavers. Then plunges in and grabs another.
    "Why didn't you tell me about Brazilian food!?" she says through a full mouth. "This stuff is incredible!"
    Chewed. Washed down with coffee.
    "Even the coffee is spectacular!" she ejaculates. "Wanna move here for good?"
    She laughs and eyes the plate again, this time resisting temptation.
    "So let's start with the name and the address together. Find where this place is and ask if anybody nkows about the Almeida family."

Vector has posed:
    "You don't even speak the language," Liz replies, laughing as she shakes her head. "Let's not move for the food just yet. I mean... I'll dcook it for you if you want. I mean, I need to read a couple cookbook sbut..." She gives a srug of her shoulders now.
    "Right. Almeidas. Okay..." There's a pause while Liz considers htis for a moment, nodding as she does. "If we can't find much that way we can ask about local newspaper archives, maybe...?"

Dragonfly (Arazello) has posed:
    "I can learn the language. I mean how hard can Spanish be?"
    Yeah, Nancy'd blend right in here...
    "But I don't now. It's somehow not the same when you transplant food. I man that Tuscanny stuff I make? It's OK, but it's not like eating it in the old country. At least that's what Grandma always said."
    Nancy goes silent--well, non-vocal--for a bit as she crams more of the buns down her throat. "Oh, man, I'm going to have to go fl... running for hours to make up for this!" she says. It sounds like she's complaining, but the grin on her face says otherwise.
    "So yeah, let's start in the old neighbourhood and ask about Almeida. If that doesn't work we can look for marriage notices in about the right time frame featuring that name. Brazil is intensely Catholic like Italy, right? Church records would be another place to look."

Vector has posed:
    "...It's still not Spanish," Liz replies, wincing as she does so. THen she sighs and nods her hea a couple o times.
    "I don't know, I can make some pretty good cheese buns all on my own..." Then she shrugs, shifting her weight from left to right as she does.
    "Yeah, well. Run for hours. SOundsl ike a good time to me. We can race." The grin is returned nad then Liz nods her hea a couple of times, shifting her weight from left to right. "Oh, right. Marriage notices would be a greatp lace to start," Liz agrees. "Almeida and Oliveira," she continues then. "You - don't take your spouse's name here. That's half the problem really. But we should be able to get a certificate. I wouldn't have thought of he church, either. Hm." She nods once.
    "Okay, sounds good. I'll let you finish the buns before we go."

Dragonfly (Arazello) has posed:
    "Are you *trying* to fatten me up?" Nancy asks, feigned hurt in her voice, not that this stops her from hastily polishing off the rest of the buns, washing it down with the strong, slightly gritty coffee served with them. "And yes, the church is a good place for this kind of stuff, though we may want to hold off on ... well ... this *IS* a Catholic place, right?"
    She looks Liz in the eyes in deadly earnest.
    "Just while we're getting what we're looking for, you understand. I'm not trying to hide us. Just ... misdirect a bit until we have the records we need."

Vector has posed:
    "Yeah, we shouldn't really say anything about it when we're at the church anyway. To be honest, though - I kin of want to get married here. In Brazil. I still have my birth certificate, it would be binding in the States, and it's been legal here for twelve years now." Liz shifts her weight slightly from left to right before shrugging. "i don't think we'll have a huge problem - but you never know, I guess."
    After a second Liz takes a deep breath and then adds, "And yep, fattening you up. You caught me. The witch from Hansel and Gretel had the right idea, you know." Liz grins at this before moving to collect the dishes.
    "Anyway, we can get started tonight... Time for some records diving. Look for the certificate marriage first, I guess? Might not even need to go to the church."

Dragonfly (Arazello) has posed:
    "Yeah, just at the church is what I meant. Or in its vicinity. Don't care about the rest. And if you want to be married here that's fine by me too! I can't think of a lovelier place to be for it!"
    Nancy makes a wry face.
    "I mean it's not like I'd have a lot of people to organize coming here, right? I've got a sister who won't talk to me; who moved and changed phone numbers without telling me. I've got parents ... well, my sister and I both really don't communicate with them much. We'll drop by sometime, but after we're married. I don't want them to spoil the day proper. And I guess some of the Superbuddies should be there for it or something. As long as they don't do anything embarrassing."
    She gets up and helps out with the dishes, trying her very best Spanish with the proprietor: "Gracias, Senor."
    Well, at least the second one kinda/sorta sounds Portuguese, right? It's to the proprietor's credit that he smiles in response.
    "So, let's hit the records. Time to be sleuths as well as damned heroes!"

Vector has posed:
    "SOunds good." Then they're off. To the rental car, then the road. Nancy is forced to drive while Liz psyches herself up and goes over everything they already know in the back of her mind. She is frowning as she considers her words thoughts carefully. The organizational process involved is almost visible behind her eyes, like she's playing table tennis with herself.
    "Okay, so... We could drop right in at the house we looked up or we can head over to the courthouse. They should have the records, right?" Liz is squinting at her cellphone now, eyeing the GPSwith its multitudinous Portuguese labels and big blue moving dot.

Dragonfly (Arazello) has posed:
    "I think we're the blue dot," Nancy helpfully says with a giggle as she struggles with driving through Rio's infamous roads and traffic. And with driving standard. She's an aeronautical engineer and pilot, not a demolition derby driver it turns out.
    "Let's start with the home. It may shortcut straight past a bunch of red tape; I don't know about you but I generally don't have good experiences with bureaucrats. It's usually best to deal with real people."
    Well, on the one hand linguistically Nancy simply doesn't fit in, with her constant confusion of Spanish and Portuguese (neither of which she speaks). In terms of hand gestures at other drivers, though, as she gets cut off, along with the colourful language paired with it (in a mix of English and Italian) she's a perfect match. There *is* some old-country hot blood under that brownstone house skin.
    "So which way do I go to get there with as little attempted murder as possible?" she asks.

Vector has posed:
    "With as little attemptedm urder as possible? I think we 'd need to fly and land directly on top of hte place. Otherwise some asshole will cut us off somewhere anddemand satisfaction for himself, his family, the wife he hasn't met yet, and his children who haven't been born." Liz shakes her head and then squints at the GPS a bit more intently.
    "Okay, okay... Turn left here. Straight for awhile.... Left. Okay. Right at the next turn..." SOon enough they are racing through the streets in a circuitous pattern that would give a professional driver heart palpitations. At least they seem to be making good time to what is apparently a rather ordinary whitewashed house. The most unsuual thing about it is that it isn't crowded on to a block stuffed so full of residences it can barely stand. "You think so? I mean, I doubt my dad still lives here. He might? Or we could be bugging a total strasnger, right?" Liz blinks a ocuple of times. "Mmm."

Dragonfly (Arazello) has posed:
    "The neighbours usually have tales," Nancy says. "You'd be amazed at how far back memories go in cityscapes. There'll be someone at least, like an old lady sitting in a wicker chair in front of some shop somewhere who'll remember every person who ever walked past her in her life time."
    A brief grin flies its way toward Liz as they approach the home.
    "I plan to be that old lady someday," she adds. "The one who remembers everything bad everybody ever did. And who'll keep quiet if the price is right."

Vector has posed:
    "Where will I be then?" Liz asks curiously, thoguh she nods as Nancy relats this plan. "Sounds solid, though. Are you sure you actually still age or anything?" Liz turns her gaze on the door leading into the home and nods once. "Well, it's a pretty big house for Rio. Dad musth ave been loaded. Which, um. Makes sense..."
    Finally Liz takes a deep breath and walks up to the door, lifting her left hand and forming a fist like she is going to knock. Then she hesitates. "Nancy. I don't know if this such a good idea. What if-"
    The door swings open and a little white haired man is looking up at the two women, blinking. A beat. "...Isabel?" A beat. It is quickly followed by a furious spate of Portuguese phrases.
    Liz is nodding her head quickly. The two are soon conversing rapid fire. The gist is, at the very least - yes, she's Isabel. Something about a 'padre'...
    Priest? Father? It's terribly confusing, really. Nancy should probably learn Portuguese.

Dragonfly (Arazello) has posed:
    "Well, I'm not actually sure if I..." the thought is cut off as the door swings open. Liz's instant recognition is heartening, if a bit spooky. Nancy tries to look intelligent, pretending she's following along, but it's increasingly obvious from body language and facial expression that she's lost. Very lost. "Time to head off to classes to learn Portuguese enough to recognize even basic words...or the language, for that matter" lost.
    The inner dialogue can be read from her very bad poker face.
    "I need to be supportive. This is very hard for Liz."
    "What are they saying?"
    "Priest? Her father's a priest? How does that work?"
    "Looks pretty lonely, this place. Which is weird because in New York this would be cramped."
    "I wonder what they're saying?"
    "Nice trim work on the door frame. I wonder what kind of floors ... Oh, tile. Nice. Classy."

Vector has posed:
    "Oh! Nancy. This is- um. This is Gabriel. Gabriel, this is Nancy. She doesn't speak Portuguese so, um..." Liz flashes a quick smile and then the elderly man blinks and turns in orde to look nancy over slowly,f rom head to toe.
    "You look confused," the man offers in a thick local accent. "Come in. Have some tea. Isobel says you came all the way from new York City?" The man turns and gestures for the womn to follow him into the neatly kept house.
    "I knew Isobel when she was very small, before she left for the States. She looks just like her mother, you know..." He starts to ramble was he walks, snatching up a cane from beside the door as he walks.

Dragonfly (Arazello) has posed:
    "Oh, yes," Nancy says, "we flew in from New York together." She laughs a little too loudly, clearly unnerved and feeling out of place. "And boy are my arms tir... you know what? Never mind. It was never a funny joke and it doesn't improve with age."
    She follows the pair into the house, peering around curiously, trying not to be nosy. It doesn't work.
    "So, Mr. Gabriel, Liz... I mean Isobel's family does come from here after all?" she asks. "We weren't certain we'd find anybody from her past when she'd been away so long. It's nice to not have to search courthouse records and such for clues."

Vector has posed:
    "Gabriel is fine. ANd yes, Isobel's pasrents stayed with me for a time when she was very small. I'm a friend of her father's. Or I was, I suppose..." The man sighs and shakes his head slowly, walking through the living room toward the nearby kitchen. "Please, have a seat. Would you like some coffee?"
    Liz follows quietly, looking between nancy and Gabriel, eyes dariting back and forht. She nods once and then moves to sit down on the couch. "So, uh," the petite Brazilian woman begins slowly. "We came down to Rio to try and find my father. I don't - really remember him..."
    There's a pause as the man moves to fill his coffee machine. "I'm not sure how much I can offer you, I'm afraid. I haven't really heard from Victor since he was arrested but anything I can offer is yours."

Dragonfly (Arazello) has posed:
    Arrested? That catches Nancy off-guard as she's in the process of seating herself a decorous distance from Liz without appearing too distant; balancing being there for her while not appearing to be TOO there for her. Her sudden glance upward throws her well-practiced, elegant sweeping sit--it was poetry in motion!--into disarray, making it look more, now, like a cow suddenly plopping down to the grass.
    A loud, shocked exhalation is paired with this flopping.
    "..." Nancy seems about to speak, but then shuts her mouth firmly, keeping whatever words of wisdom she was about to worsen the conversation with to herself, satisfying herself with putting an arm around Liz's shoulder instead, wordless in support.

Vector has posed:
    Liz pauses and then slowly glances at Nancy and then back to Gabriel. She nods slowly, then reaches up to draw her fingrs through her hair. The woman wobbles. That is what one calls it when a girl tries to lean on her fiancee for support and suddenly she realizes that that person is no longer standing next to her. Liz recovers quickly.
    "Ah... He went to prison?" the girl responds slowly, eyes wide.
    "I'm sorry, I thought you knew."
    "Actually, I haven't seen my father since before we left the country. I didn't even know his name until recently..."
    Gabriel listens to this, pauses, and then nods slowly. "I see. Well, I'm sure he'll be happy to see you, child. ...Mmm." Gabriel emerges from the kitchen now, frowning as he looks between the two women.
    Liz, on the other hand, looks as if she might burst into tears.

Dragonfly (Arazello) has posed:
    Nancy, worried less now about appearances and more about, well, Liz, helps guide Liz to the final stage of setting on the couch, letting Liz lean properly.
    "It's OK, I'm here," is all she says. "And we knew that there was going to be surprises. We can deal with this, don't worry."
    She looks up at Gabriel. "I think Liz is going to have to adjust a bit here. Could you perhaps give me the information on where to go to arrange for a visit? And are there any other family members we should be looking for?"

Vector has posed:
    "I haven't seen him but I believe he was at... AH...." There's apause an then the man shakes his head. "If you visit the State Department of Penitentiary Administration tehy can probably help you find the correc facility." Gabriel frowns at this and then he turns toproceed back into the kitchen. He watches the two women lean agianst one another but doesn't say a word.
    Liz hugs Nancy tightly for now, her eyes followsing the elderly man as he wlaks away, and then breathes a heavy sigh. "I knew mom left, but I didn't realize -... I don't even know what he did..." Gabriel is either not listening or has chosen not to speak. He works on the drinks instead - and, from the looks of things, cookies as well.

Dragonfly (Arazello) has posed:
    "It's OK, Liz. We'll face it. I mean this can't be worse than mole people, can it?"
    Nancy's attempt at humour falls flat even on her own ears. Her face shows it.
    "Hold yourself together, honey, and after this we can go and get so drunk I can't stand and you'll have a miniscule buzz. She laughs lightly. "Or maybe we can go for a flight over the city and see it from above or something, OK?"
    Pause
    "Uh ... we can rent planes here, can't we Gabriel?" she asks by way of covering her tracks.

Vector has posed:
    "...Rent planes?" Gabriel looks confused for a moment but he nods slowly. "Though I do not think you - are allowed to fly over city airspace."he tilts his head slightly once and sthen shakes his head. Soon hot mugs of cofffee are presented to the two wome n and Gabriel is moving to sit down nearby once more.
    Liz shifts against Nancy andd leans her head back onto her fiancee's shoulder, nodding as she doe.s "Nothing can be worse than the mole people," she mumbles quietly as she settles in. "Okay. I guess that means we need to go records divign after all. Penitentiary Administration? Right."
    Liz takes the coffee and starsi nto her own reflection in the surface of the drinkfor a moment. Normally it would already be gone.

Vector has posed:
"Chug! Chug! Chug! WHOOOO!" The booze is supposed to take the edge of Liz's jitteriness and excitement but it's failed. She's been drinking for hours now but her metabolism is shut that it's hard to even get a buzz for more than about thirty seconds. Periodically she vanishes, only to reapppear an instant later with a pint in hand. The diminutive Brazilian woman then holds it in both of her small hands and downs it in a way that would make any frat boy's eyes pop out of his skull. This is fine. The real problem is that Liz can't slow down. So far no one's noticed her movements but that could change. At this moment she is walking normally into one of the tents in search of yet more alcohol.