Welcome to the Psych Ward
Michael
When Viv and Andy finally got free of the clutches of Westercon '73 ("see you at Worldcon in Toronto!" the goodbyes echo through the St. Francis lobby), Andy is feeling flush and expansive and awfully excited to attend Mr. Ransom's garden party. He clutches his BBQ invite as Viv and he make their way to the front door of the St. Francis and the valet area.
"Say," Andy says to Viv, slinging his satchel over his shoulder, "what if I sprung for a cab? I know it's a nice day and we could just walk to Pacific Heights, but, hell, let's spoil ourselves." Andy is happy and beaming, finally feeling like he has a Purpose In Life after the weekend; he is uncharacteristically positive.
Andy is wearing a pretty unobtrusive white button-down shirt and khakis. Certainly nothing flashy. Viv and Andy stopped at a liquor store to pick up booze; he's got a pair of six-packs of Coors Banquet.
So as Viv and Andy pop out of the cab at Archie's house, they arrive, serendipitously, at the same time that Dave Rocco pulls up in Marshall's non-Rolls street ride (the Cadillac). Andy gets out of the cab with a smile on his face, but as he sees Marshall it falls … ever so slightly. He gives Marshall an ever-so-perfunctory nod and wave and takes his pair of Coors six-packs into the house, leaving Viv out on the front steps with Marshall.
Mandy
Viv doesn't have any booze and she didn't have time to make anything but there is a small box of fancy chocolates that she got as a hostess gift from the hotel gift shop (which I very much assume they had) tucked under her arm. She watches Andy's awkward shuffle with a bemused look before turning to Marshall with a friendly smile.
"Doctor Redgrave, it's so good to see you again!" Her attitude is really different from when she pretended not to recognize him as a power play back in her office a few days earlier. "How are you this glorious day?"
Brant
Marshall smiles. Dave stands reasonably nearby, holding a bouquet of decorative wild flowers and a bottle of Dom Perignon ‘68. “Ms. Abeille! Glad you survived your first trip abroad, as we say in the biz. I’m doing well, and you?”
Mandy
"No need to be so formal! Professionally I go by Genevieve but all of your friends have gotten to know me by Viv" she chuckles "usually only Andy and my husband and the kids I work with call me that, but here we are. I think it stuck."
"And I'm doing wonderfully, actually. Feeling a lot of clarity, a lot of connection, a sense of purpose. It's thrilling." She's so sincere.
Brant
Marshall nods.
Mandy
"Actually, I'm glad I ran into you this way I had wanted to talk to you privately before we're in this mixer with all the neighborhood and I won't get a chance … I met your kids from the mission, Ethan and all of them, at the Con. A lovely crew. Really devoted to you … But also carrying a lot of unhealed trauma. From their pasts, I'm sure you're aware … Anyway, I had struck up a rapport with them before my trip out of town and I think the methods I practice could help them, profoundly, and I wanted to offer my services if you're amenable to having me come up."
Brant
Marshall extends his hands for Viv to take and smiles.
Mandy
Viv takes his hand.
Brant
“It would be my privilege. Come up next week, anytime. We’ll be thrilled to have you.” He squeezes her hands, smiles warmly, and makes a polite “after you” gesture with his hand, toward the front door.
Mandy
"Fantastic, I'll be looking forward to it."
Brant
As Viv walks by, Marshall walks up next to her. Leaning into her ear, he whispers in a rakish, inside-jokey kind of tone, “Alright! Ready to mingle with the patients?”
Mandy
Viv gives a little wink and a chuckle in response to that as you enter into the Ransom's house together. I'm not going to do the back and forth of a psychology roll because she's not trying to hide it: she's not laughing politely at the joke, she is charmed by the meta of you pulling her into an ingroup dyad before entering the space. Aware there's another unspoken ingroup/outgroup dynamic evoked in the background.