[visual] An insincere friend is more to be feared than a wild beast...
The video clearly showed Mohinder lying on the floor of his room in Dr. Magnus' Sanctuary. He was wrapped up in fabric- at first it looked like it may be a blanket, but the material was far too coarse, and the buckles gave it away. A straight jacket. The paper-thin blue hospital pants and cheap white keds completed the outfit
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Leila has no idea what she's seeing here. As far as she knows, this man could legitimately be psychotic (insisting he's not is not actually evidence), but given Taxon thus far, she's willing to take the risk of initiating communication. She doesn't think that he can see her, but her voice is clear, as reassuring as she can make it, and that's actually not too bad.
"Sir? My name is Dr. Leila Yilmaz. You're in a city called Taxon. I need you to try and focus on my voice. You said your name is Mohinder Suresh?"
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"Taxon...? Oh, that's...it's wonderful, so long as I'm out. Doctor, are you...what sort of doctor are you?" He's much more coherent when he's not heavily drugged, Leila, promise.
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She's imagining as much, and wonders exactly what circumstances led to his being locked in that jacket--Leila doesn't let herself dwell on it for long, adjusting the tablet in her hands. "I'm in bioengineering. Supposed to be at the Institute in Singapore by now, actually, but--Taxon."
Technically she doesn't have her official doctorate in terms of the mundane world, but Etherites have an equivalent education and honorary doctorate, anyway, so even though she's twenty-five, she apparently sees no reason not to insist she's deserving of the title in Taxon. "I can't tell where you are, but I could try and track it--do you need someone to come and get you?"
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"I don't know..." He looks around around again, then shakes his head. "Bedroom? I think someone's coming...Max. Do you know a Max?" He winces again, then shakes his head, trying to clear the drugs from his system. It feels like he's fighting his way out of a heavy current.
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"So I see," she notes, sympathetic. Leila would ordinarily ask what happened, but she thinks that maybe simple conversation is best until he handles the effects of whatever he was given (sedatives, anti-psychotics, she can only guess).
"I don't know a Max, no--I can stay on the line until they arrive, though. You should probably be checked by an actual physician at some point--I can offer my help, something to counteract whatever you've been given, but medicine is only tangentially related to what I do."
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He sighs with frustration after trailing off again. However, afterward he manages to find the tablet again and vaguely shrug at Leila. "Not the best first impression, I realize," he says, by way of apology.
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"Believe it or not, I've seen worse. And I get the impression you aren't exactly in that of your own accord." That's a little bit wry, as Leila often is, and the sympathy hasn't waned now that she's pretty sure he's actually just a sane person who has had some seriously bad luck. (Someone named 'Hiro' was mentioned, she recalls.)
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He hopes he has enough luck that Samuel wasn't pulled into Taxon, as well. The results of that many specials in close proximity could be disastrous.
He begins to struggle with the straight jacket as he talks. Once his strength comes back, he should be able to rip it apart.
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Leila contemplates telling him to be careful with that, but honestly she'd probably be reacting in much the same way. (Actually, knowing her, she'd be bloody from pointlessly fighting the restraints, so.) She shakes her head in response to the question, even though he can't see it, frowning.
"No, never. I've only been here for less than two weeks, I'm sure I don't know everyone."
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He realizes that his ability still hasn't kicked in, with the buckles that won't budge. Or perhaps he's just still too out of it to use it. Either way, nothing was happening, so he gives up for the moment.
"You said you're into bioengineering...?" he asks, looking toward the device. "What's you're specialty, if...if it's all right to ask?" Talking about something other than his incarceration inside a mental institution might be good for him, he realizes.
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"If he does--I'm curious as to what kind of parasite," but Leila figures that might be somewhat agitating subject material, so she switches tacks, neatly.
"I don't mind--I can go on about it at length, actually," she says, well-aware this is sort of a tendency of Etherites everywhere, "Specifically I focus on genetic engineering, otherwise known as the field that causes certain religious sects to clutch their pearls in horror--programming living cells as part of synthetic biology, streamlining the human instrument. So it seems we have related fields, don't we?"
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He was a little ashamed to mention his own problems, but it sounds as if Leila hasn't had any problems at all. Besides, focusing on the subject seemed to be allowing him to focus in the first place.
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If they'd been in her world, she realizes, he'd probably be a candidate for Etherite Awakening--that's something of a reassuring thought, frankly. Leila is used to feeling like people who haven't dedicated their lives to academia and gene sequencing look at her a bit oddly. (Which they do, sometimes, and...rightfully.)
"Some, yes, but--I've had more difficult a time convincing my superiors I deserve the room to work," Leila concedes, with a shrug of her shoulders, "I'm the youngest in my organization, and one of only two women--"
She pauses and just halts that train of thought entirely. "Irrelevant, I'm sorry. But I've had some very interesting results in germline engineering with mice."
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"Regardless," he adds, after it seems like he's long finished speaking. "You should have plenty of room to work here....if you so wish."
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"Yes, I'm hoping that's very soon--but I'm sure the Max you mentioned will arrive shortly." She's not sure how much good she's doing all the way over here, but honestly, it's probably best she stay put. Too many 'rescue' situations are all messed up by everyone trying to get involved at once.
"I'd very much like to see what you've done, certainly. There's only one person from my world here, as far as I know, and he's a lawyer, God help him, so it'd be nice to discuss." If Leila's sense of humor were just a touch blacker she might be entertained by the circumstances in which this tentative scientific planning is occurring, but as it is it just strikes her as a little bizarre. "I've already got a lab set up, I won't pretend--most of what I've done has more to do with trying to figure out this city--physics and technology."
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The confirmation of a scientific talk in the future makes Mohinder smile. Things were certainly looking up. "The technology is quite interesting, isn't it? Makes it easy to set up a lab..." Of course, he's mostly been using Dr. Magnus' facilities. But even if he wasn't, he'd be able to set up a much better lab than even Primatech could provide.
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