Genius is a Step Away from Madness - OTA

[a_soul_awake]

There were some things Hope did not understand. People were one of them. The camp was just… suffocating lately. There was so much tension, so much fear and upset feelings she felt as though she had been dumped back in High School. Yes, admittedly, it was a bit more serious than that. Victor had sexually assaulted two women and she suspected someone

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(( sorry for tagging in so late! ))

[verysinister]

Sinister didn't make it a point to go outside to enjoy the Russian scenery--not due to the cold or because he'd spent a good few long years traveling Russian ground in his past already, but because everything that interested him was inside the compound's walls. Few things took him into the snow and away from his samples and charts but today there were other things that needed doing. So boots and a jacket had been donned and Sinister let himself out into the cold without wasting breath on complaints

((oh don't worry about it. i don't mind. ))

[a_soul_awake]

Hope was a scientist and skeptical by nature. When she spotted Dr. Milbury coming towards her, looking a bit contrite she didn't quite believe it. He hadn't seemed contrite when they were working on Victor nor immediately after.

"Dr. Milbury," she said politely if clipped. "Do you need something?"

[verysinister]

If there was one thing that Sinister made the effort to hate, it was apologizing. A man who was right as often as he was gained little by lowering himself only in order to make someone else feel better.

His mask was perfect, however, when he nodded to Chandler. "I want to apologize for my behavior the other day." Sinister wouldn't have bothered except that he would have had to have been deaf, dumb and blind not to notice that Chandler's attitude toward him had considerably shifted since the Victor incident--even if she had taken pains to remain professional at all times.

"It was wrong to take advantage of," the feral's, "Victor's healing factor the way that I did." Victor had deserved everything and more. "I let my personal opinion of the patient impair my judgment."

[a_soul_awake]

She hadn't quite been expecting that. The apology seemed genuine and manners demanded that she accept his apology but... it all seemed so convenient to her.

Their working relationship had become tense and strictly professional. She worked with him because she had to, not because she wanted to no matter how brilliant he was. She believed heat of the moment situations like the one with Victor revealed more of a person's true nature than anything else.

Still, it would be rude to not accept his apology. "Yes, it was. No matter what we think of a person or feel towards them we have a job to do. Apology accepted."

[verysinister]

The reminder, no matter how softly couched, was an upbraiding. Sinister swallowed back his anger before it surfaced and simply nodded like a properly cowed man. His fingers laced together behind his back; another situation, another woman, and he might have just smacked her for impertinence. Chandler was not his superior. No one was his superior.

But, ah. There were appearances to upkeep here. It had been a long time since he'd had to wear a proverbial mask all day, every day.

It was becoming tiring.

"I have never been around anyone quite like Victor," Sinister said, wetting his lips. He stopped himself from making up a lie such as he upsets me or some other such tripe because he was sure that it would be overplaying. Chandler wasn't a stupid woman, for all that she was a nuisance. It was a problem. "I knew that he wouldn't die, but that is no excuse for my behavior."

[a_soul_awake]

"No one in the right mind actively seeks out company like Victor's," Hope said dryly. She felt the same about the feral as Milbury did, but it was still no excuse to treat Victor like he was less than human.

"There is no proof Victor can't die," she mused. "We assume that his healing powers will overcome any injury but really we don't know what he can take. Letting him die would anger Stryker and I would rather avoid that, wouldn't you?"

It was simple logic and she didn't like taking out the human element that came with medicine but if Milbury couldn't be human towards Victor, he would probably appreciate the logic.

[verysinister]

Sinister snorted quietly. "I believe that we would all rather avoid that." He refrained from saying that he would love to find out exactly what Victor could take--besides, now it seemed that the feral might make himself useful for more than stock parts. Time would tell.

"We are both geneticists," he said, glancing out toward the trees. "And even as an Em-Dee I am a surgeon. I fear that working with genomes and anesthetized patients had taken a toll on my bedside manner. Or perhaps my bedside manner is the reason I picked what I did." Sinister looked back at Chandler. "I will try to do better." When she wasn't around.

[a_soul_awake]

Well, he certainly seemed genuine and insistent. She should allow him a second chance. One mistake, no matter how big, really shouldn't taint her opinion of him forever. She'd keep a close eye on him though.

"Lab work can make us forget how to deal with people," she agreed. It was why she worked in the lab more than with people. She was out here right now to avoid people. Perhaps they had a bit more in common than she thought. "We should all try to do better."

[verysinister]

Chandler was given a quiet smile that was short-lived only so it wouldn't become wan. "I think you do very well, yourself," Sinister said. In another tone of voice it would have not been a compliment but for now he was on the straight and narrow. Taking action with Victor had helped him regain his fraying control and while he did not like scraping to and complimenting Chandler, Sinister was more than able. "You kept a very level head."

[a_soul_awake]

She waved a hand, waving away his flattery. "I was raised in high society and had to learn how to deal with people. It's learned behavior."

She was happiest with a quiet little corner to work on science and not be bothered. There were very few people she could actually stand for prolonged periods of time.

[verysinister]

Sinister gave a very small laugh. "Somehow I doubt that there was anyone like Victor Creed in your societal circles," he said, mostly a murmur and not particularly intended to prolong the conversation. It was easy to see that Chandler preferred specimens to people and Sinister had no intention of abusing her of the notion that he wasn't the same way.

He was, in fact. Only his specimens tended towards screaming.

[a_soul_awake]

"You'd be surprised just what sort of boorish brutes show up in high society," she said dryly.

People were just frustrating and confusing. She rarely understood why they did the things they did. She already thought he felt the same, if a bit less guilty about ignoring humanity.

[verysinister]

Ignoring humanity would have been a very good way to put it. Ignoring, but not ignorant. Sinister had been too much time living not to have become something of an expert when it came to human psychology. Freud would roll in his grave had he known half the things that Sinister did now--of course, dear Siggy had always been a puffed up poppinjay about his own theories.

"I suppose that they must seem all the worse for the company that they keep," Sinister said, shifting his hands so that they could be pushed into his pockets.

[a_soul_awake]

She didn't get people. Even the people she liked. People didn't work like science did, within set laws and rules. After awhile she just couldn't take it. She was rather annoyed he had interrupted her solitude but at least they were getting along.

"They can keep whatever company they wish," she said with a small shrug. "I am here and they are wherever they are. I don't have to deal with them and their company."

[verysinister]

"No, but you have to deal with Victor." And me. Sinister smiled quietly and inclined his head to the woman. "I'm glad that we spoke, Dr Chandler."

[a_soul_awake]

She shrugged and echoed the incline of his head. "Have a nice day, Dr. Milbury."