The best of intentions
I did not mean to visit Sabitha Melcross and bitch about my life, my failed job search, my brush with the Brotherhood of Mutants, or my sad peripheral history with St. John Allerdyce.
Is that what happened, though? Yes.
The Percy guy seemed nice, though. I'll leave her to him. Best keep myself shut away from people for a while and do what I said I would: sit down and write. About whatever comes into my head, and considering what's been in the news lately, and my own life (thank you, Padraig!) . . . yeah, I think I've got a few things to say. You bet I do.
9/16/2005
Logfile from Leah.
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Lennox Hill Hospital - Hospital Ward
This ward is used to keep recovering, and non emergency surgery patients. The ward is split into private, semi-private, and shared rooms, 1 bed, 2 bed, and 4 bed rooms respectively. The same white walled, and black and white checkered tile pattern carries on from the waiting room, giving the whole area a cold, sterile feeling to it. Long, flourescent lights line the hallway, that runs between rooms, set along either side of the hallway. Near the entrance to the Emergency room, there is a nurse station, with several nurses always on call behind the desks.
--
"--supposed to be here," comes Leah Canto's voice outside the door, patiently arguing with whatever nurse stopped her on her mission of mercy before she could complete it. "She invited me herself. Is there a list? Well, maybe you can go check it because I'm going in. Yes. All right. Thank you," and in she goes, as promised, peeking and then sidling 'round the door in jeans and tank top and baseball jersey over all to keep warm, with rustling plastic bags of takeout containers swinging aromatic ballast from one hand. "Sabby?"
Sabitha is alone again, having sent Percy off to do things like shower and sleep in a proper bed instead of curled in uncomfortable chairs next to hers. She's currently tucked up in the raised hospital bed in slippers and robe, with Percy's copy of The Three Musketeers balanced in her lap. At the sound of Leah's voice, she looks up, marking with a finger and a smile. "Leah?" And then her eyes drop to the plastic bags. "Good grief. What'd you bring?"
Leah, grinning smug triumph (with perhaps a flash of relief in tired eyes that everything /looks/ okay and sounds okay and might /be/ okay), hoists the bags onto the nearest flat surface. "Thai. Is that okay? We had Vietnamese that one night at your place, with the guys, but there was a place on the way in, so I went for it. Got enough for both of us 'cause Christ, I'm starving. Are you? Are they feeding you hospital Jell-O until you puke?"
Sabitha's eyes widen in broad gratitude, and she sets her book aside on the try next to her bed. "Leah Canto," she declares. "You are my hero. /Thai/." A pause, to doublecheck. "Vegetarian?"
Oh, that gets a scornful look, a hurt sniff, and no verbal answer at all while Leah starts divvying up the goods. Finger-deep in boxes and napkins and utensils, she says instead, "I wasn't sure where you stood on curry, and I figured going easy on it would be good for your heart, anyway. Hope that's okay."
Sabitha ponders this with quiet thought. "I dunno," she answers. "They haven't said anything about curry. I /like/ curry." Her eyes light excitedly on the divied boxes, smiling. "But /anything/ is better than hospital food. I hear they cafeteria's not bad, but the stuff they cart up here..."
"I believe it. Okay, you can have some of my curry, then, and we'll just risk it." Leah says it lightly, but her manner is weightier, dragged down by worry and experience both. She carries over Sabitha's share of the Thai prize, newly re-curried, and then scuttles back to get her own, for dining in the bedside chair with a leg casually coiled under her. "Curry's spicy, right? Spicy can be bad for hearts. Well, sick ones. I think. But yours is healthy; it just went out from stress and exhaustion, right? So we're good. /You're/ good. Eat up," she encourages as only a born and bred Italian can. Comfort time!
"I think so," Sabby answers in what's meant to be confirmation, distracted. She leans forward to sort through the various options. She pulls a box toward her and settles back against the bed. "Mmm. Friends who bring me take-out. Doesn't get better than this. I haven't had to eat hospital food all day," she reveals, and the nods, fork in hand, toward a box tucked on the table in the corner. "Chris brought me mousse. And a tiara."
Leah nearly chokes on a forkful of saucy noodles. "You're kidding. A tiara? Well, that's Rossi for you. Always been better about gifts than half the guys I know." She chews a fresh bite, avian-quick, and turns up the heat on a curious look. "Did you want a tiara?"
Sabitha laughs shortly. "Not in the least," she reveals. "But I like it, anyway. It's funny." She levers her fork through curry for a bite. After a moment's chewing, she grins. "Maybe I'll make a display case, and I can put Chris's tiara and Percy's genie lamp in, just as conversation pieces."
"A genie lamp?" Leah shifts forward on her tucked-under leg. "Oh, /man,/ Sabby. You know all the best guys, don't you? Can I have one? Just for borrowing. I'd return him in very good condition. You could stick him back in the case, even, with the goodies."
"He brought me a belly-dancing costume, too. Full harem get up," Sabby reveals with a bright smile. "Absolutely ridiculous, you know?" A gesture of her fork makes that a positive thing, and Sabby inclines her head toward Leah's seat. "If you'd been here a bit earlier, you could've met him. Or he might come back before you leave." A pause, for a bite, and she adds, "Hope not, though. He needs a shower and sleep in the worst way."
Leah settles back with a smile and starts forking around for the good bits in her noodles. "You /are/ spoiled, God bless you. I'll hang out a bit to see if I can catch up with him, but just say hi for me if I don't? How long has he been keeping you company here?"
"I think he has too much money and not enough friends," Sabby reveals, dismissive, and pauses to enjoy another bite. "Oh. Um. Since I came in. I think he rode over with me." Her brows knit as she ponders this, and there's a mental note to ask Percy for the details of that night, now that her brain seems to be functioning properly again.
Leah blinks. "Was he working out with you? Or did he find you at the gym or whatever?"
"No, I was home," Sabby answers, and then squints down at her meal, frowning. "I should ask him what happened. I don't really remember."
Contented, Leah nods and loops up more noodles for dipping carefully into a little plastic cup of extra sauce balanced just as carefully on her knee. Takeout-dining master, she is. "Well, maybe it'll come back," she tries, a little awkward but game in the attempt and the concern beneath it. "But if it doesn't ... eh. Sometimes your brain blocks out stuff you don't need."
"Yeah," Sabby answers, and she seems fairly unconcerned herself. "Percy will remember, I think. I'll ask him." Another few bites, and she levels a forkful at Leah. "This is really good. What's the name of the place, do you remember?"
"Golden Cock Kitchen," Leah promptly reports and then grins. "Distinctive, anyway. I'm sure they get all kinds of /great/ phone calls, especially on lonely Friday nights." Her mouth twitches and stills at that; she turns to reach for the bags again, rooting around for more food.
Sabitha blinks in surprise. "It /is/ Friday, isn't it? Huh." Another bite, and then she shoots a sideways glance at Leah. "So how'd your phone call go? Did it come through?"
Leah bites off, "No," and retreats to her chair in a grimly satisfied huddle: she has fetched forth egg rolls and more dipping sauce. Offering over a couple rolls, she elaborates, "Hell, no, it did not come through. I had to show up at the News's offices in person, since the guy wasn't answering his phone, and what do I find when I get there? A rejection letter. Handed to me by the receptionist. Christ." She blinks rapidly against angry tears, gnawing on a roll.
Sabitha stares at Leah with shocked concern, and her fork pauses. "Hell," she answers, and then tentatively, "Are you ok?"
"What do you think?" Leah laughs bitterly. "Just one more body-blow, my friend. Let me tell you about this jerk I met in a bar the other night. You'll love it: I think it's the same guy they're talking about on the news, from the latest Brotherhood attack." She bares her teeth in a grin viciously, defiantly proud. "Flirted with me, kissed me, shocked me with his fucking powers. And then blew up a few city blocks with my old protege, John Allerdyce. Next to that, what's another failed job interview?"
Sabitha blinks at Leah, uncertain and quiet. "You kissed someone from the Brotherhood?" she finally asks, and then finishes, again, with "Hell. Protege?"
Leah waves her half-gnaws eggroll in quick emphasis of her quick explanation. "I didn't /know/ he was a mutant, believe you me. Never would've gotten that far if I had. He was just this hot guy at the pub, y'know? Talked a good line, looked good, so what the hell? And he shot me down for being a genetic antique and throwback. Whee. Fucking wanker," she says with satisfaction. "I hope they catch him and tear his balls off before seeing how he does against the electric chair's powers. I'd watch. Is he the one who dragged poor John out there? John -- St. John, sorry -- Allerdyce. I knew him, was helping him with his writing career, knew his girlfriend, too ... and off he goes to the Brotherhood. What is /wrong/ with this world? I ask you."
Sabitha's uncertainty edges into shock, which is quickly blinked away under the pretense of shoveling up more Thai. "I don't know," she answers quietly. "I haven't seen the news. Was it bad?"
Leah sighs and shakes her head. "No one died. No serious injuries, I think, but I don't know. I've kinda been in shock, y'know, from the last few days." She bends a tired, sad smile. "And here I am, venting it all on you, like you didn't have a heart attack during a workout and get stuck in the hospital. I'm sorry, Sabby. Really."
Sabitha waves a hand and slides her gaze away. Food, yes. "It's ok," she answers. "You're stressed, too. World sucks like hell." There's a quiet undertone of bitterness. "But they didn't catch them? The Brotherhooders?"
"No. Do they ever?" Oh, bitter Leah, too. Bitter, angry, caustic, like biting on an old, rusted penny. "Even Magneto didn't stick around for long, did he? We suck at doing anything about those guys. Just /suck./ And the likes of poor Vincent, getting hung out to dry in MA, normals handling mutant crimes like that. Things should be different. Should change. Be /better./ Somehow," she sighs and broods upon a second eggroll. "Wish I knew how."
A full-energy Sabby might have a diatribe on the MRA and hope for the future, but today she simply blinks owlishly at Leah, and nods quietly. "Vincent looked tired, when he was here," she notes. "Do you think it's work? I mean... there've been a lot lately, haven't there?"
Leah frowns and nods. "Maybe there's something gearing up. Some big plan? The jailbreak, the filibuster attack, John and this Padraig dicking around in the city ... well, sucks to be a cop right now, huh? Or just a poor ordinary human being." Mocking humor surfaces, nocked aimed squarely at herself on mouth's crooked bow. "Or an unemployed freelancer. I think I could write a lot of things right now if I just had the forum. Maybe I'll sit down and bang some stuff out, see who'll take it."
"Probably sucks to be a poor ordinary mutant, too, for most of them," Sabby reminds quietly, with her eyes still fixed on Thai, and then glances up with an encouraging smile. "You should. You might get something good out. It'll keep you in practice anyway, right?"
Percy steps out of a swirling silver portal that appears in midair, and closes just as suddenly behind him.
Percy has become quite a regular apparition at Lennox Hill, to the point where he's barely glanced as he saunters through familiar halls to the ward containing one Sabrina White. Fresh clothes, clean hair, clean shaven, freshly cologned, and recently cigaretted; tucked under one arm, a decent-sized bakery box; and back to the room again to open the door and breeze inside.
"Oh, yeah, I didn't mean to leave them out. Not every mutant out there is one of Magneto's freaks," Leah mutters and bites off more eggroll. She's perched in a bedside chair, patently tired and anxious and covering it with talk and, well, food. (Little prickles of pheromonal output: health, exhaustion, aggression.) "I'm just bitchy tonight. Obviously. Anyway."
And from Sabby, mild distress, edged over with a careful control as the conversation spirals tighter, toward testy topics of conversation. "It's ok," she assures Leah again, and picks through a few more bites of Thai. "It's been a bad week. I mean... hell. Things build up, right?" Her head twists as the door opens, to ascertain identity.
Percy, hefting his bakery box, slips through the door and kicks it shut behind him with a certain exuberance. "Evening," he announces, ever effervescent. Amber eyes sweep the room, sliding over Sabitha to take in the unfamiliar - a measuring glance. "Looks like you already have food and I am superfluous," he adds, shamming mournful, "but I come bearing cake, anyway."
--
Percy
Not ordinarily swayed by a pretty face? Well, this is an extraordinary face, framed by wavy deep brown hair, so dark it flirts with black. The sensual mouth ever bears a trace of its habitual smirk, the fine straight nose, the cream of blemishless skin touched by the sun but not harassed by it; the best part, or at least, his admitted favorite: amber eyes gleaming like sin, framed by a luxuriant darkness of lashes. His body is lean and agile, wirily muscled but not bulkily so.
His ears are pierced: small gold hoops glitter in either lobe. An expert hand has added just a touch of eyeliner to intensify the amber eyes. Tight black undershirt accentuates his male form, cranberry silk hanging open and unbuttoned over it, fitted dark blue jeans: casual wear, but all designer labels, and the sleek loafers on his feet are of Italian make and probably cost at least a couple hundred. He's wearing a silver chain around his neck whose pendant disappears beneath his shirt and a slim gold-and-crystal watch gleams at his wrist.
--
Leah is also twitchy tonight, to go with "bitchy," because the entrance jerks her around in startled reaction. She has to lunge to save her dipping cup of sauce from splatting in heroic death on the bed, in fact, and that requires a resettling in her chair and tugging at her yanked-out tank top. So all she can summon for the newcomer is a weak and discomfited, "Hi. Are you the Percy I've heard so much about?"
Sabitha smiles with a certain amount of relief at the appearance of Percival in her doorway, and gives him a weighing once-over - showered, shaved, rather more rested - before glancing at the box. "Five kinds of chocolate?" she questions with a twitchy smile, and then glances back toward Leah. "Leah brought me Thai for dinner. Yeah, this is Percy. He lives upstairs."
"That's me, wholly notorious," is the easy response, Percy dipping his head to Leah. To Sabby, he grins. "Anything else would be a letdown, wouldn't it? Anyway, the desert swallowed me before I could have my last piece of the other one. Where do you want it?"
"Pleased to meet you." Leah climbs out of the chair and edges away -- awkward again, so very -- and dips the last of her roll in the last of the sauce to clear that out of their way, too. She smiles a bit. "Cake sounds lovely."
Sabitha waves a hand dismissively at Percy, and drops her box into her lap. "I don't think I can eat any, right now," she shares. "But make Leah eat a piece. Is it the same as last time? Leah, you have to taste this. It'll perk your week right up. Percy has excellent taste in gifts."
Percy sets down his cake-box on the nearest bare surface, the better to offer Leah his hand to shake. "Charmed, I'm certain," he beams at her. "It is positively sinful. The dessert shop is not far from my manicurist's, and when I was walking by it seemed I couldn't not go inside. Their eclairs are also, I might note, /clearly/ the work of Satan's personal chef." He grins, amber eyes flicking to Sabitha in a sidelong glance. "I like giving presents," he breezes cheerfully. "Especially when they're funny or delicious, like me."
Leah wipes her hand on her jeans and then shakes Percy's. "You and Detective Rossi are spoiling her rotten," she tells him with the lingering traces of her little, tired smile. "--Okay, Sabby, I'll have a bite, but then I should probably get back home. I've been over half the boroughs today, and there's work...."
"I told her about the tiara," Sabby reveals brightly, and then sidelongs a glance at Leah and her tired smile with a flash of quiet worry and then disappointment. "Oh... yeah, sure. I forget that not everyone has a sudden doctor-enforced vacation, huh?" she offers with a smile of her own.
"Stroke of genius, I thought. Fun guy, Rossi," opines Percy. He reaches over to open his box to reveal the glories within, a slight smirk curving his mouth as though he were the inventor of chocolate cake, or even ever the baker of one. "I'm sorry about work," intones a man, in tones of earnest sympathy, who can without fear of especial repercussions wander out of his office in the middle of the day.
"It's all right," Leah says quietly to both of them and leans over to have that promised bite. "...Oh. That /is/ good. Chocolate's not really my thing, but mmmm." She gives Percy a nod of approval, pats Sabby's leg, and straightens up and away from the bed. "--Just some private work that needs doing, no big deal. I've been on vacation, myself, really; time to get back on the horse. It /was/ nice to meet you, Percy. Take care of our Sabitha, now, huh?"
Sabitha nods after Leah, and offers toward her, "Thanks for coming. And calling Chris and Vincent and stuff for me." There's a bit of edgy uncomfortableness, the uncertainty of how two different worlds of friends will interact, and she looks between Percy and Leah with a small smile.
"It was nice meeting you, too," Percy says swiftly, with a slight smile and a nod. "I will do my meager best." Amber eyes settle on Leah's face, oddly thoughtful, for the briefest of flashes, before he paces forward towards one of the chairs.
Leah bobs nod and smile to them both and slides on out. Home again, home again...
[Log ends.]
Is that what happened, though? Yes.
The Percy guy seemed nice, though. I'll leave her to him. Best keep myself shut away from people for a while and do what I said I would: sit down and write. About whatever comes into my head, and considering what's been in the news lately, and my own life (thank you, Padraig!) . . . yeah, I think I've got a few things to say. You bet I do.
9/16/2005
Logfile from Leah.
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Lennox Hill Hospital - Hospital Ward
This ward is used to keep recovering, and non emergency surgery patients. The ward is split into private, semi-private, and shared rooms, 1 bed, 2 bed, and 4 bed rooms respectively. The same white walled, and black and white checkered tile pattern carries on from the waiting room, giving the whole area a cold, sterile feeling to it. Long, flourescent lights line the hallway, that runs between rooms, set along either side of the hallway. Near the entrance to the Emergency room, there is a nurse station, with several nurses always on call behind the desks.
--
"--supposed to be here," comes Leah Canto's voice outside the door, patiently arguing with whatever nurse stopped her on her mission of mercy before she could complete it. "She invited me herself. Is there a list? Well, maybe you can go check it because I'm going in. Yes. All right. Thank you," and in she goes, as promised, peeking and then sidling 'round the door in jeans and tank top and baseball jersey over all to keep warm, with rustling plastic bags of takeout containers swinging aromatic ballast from one hand. "Sabby?"
Sabitha is alone again, having sent Percy off to do things like shower and sleep in a proper bed instead of curled in uncomfortable chairs next to hers. She's currently tucked up in the raised hospital bed in slippers and robe, with Percy's copy of The Three Musketeers balanced in her lap. At the sound of Leah's voice, she looks up, marking with a finger and a smile. "Leah?" And then her eyes drop to the plastic bags. "Good grief. What'd you bring?"
Leah, grinning smug triumph (with perhaps a flash of relief in tired eyes that everything /looks/ okay and sounds okay and might /be/ okay), hoists the bags onto the nearest flat surface. "Thai. Is that okay? We had Vietnamese that one night at your place, with the guys, but there was a place on the way in, so I went for it. Got enough for both of us 'cause Christ, I'm starving. Are you? Are they feeding you hospital Jell-O until you puke?"
Sabitha's eyes widen in broad gratitude, and she sets her book aside on the try next to her bed. "Leah Canto," she declares. "You are my hero. /Thai/." A pause, to doublecheck. "Vegetarian?"
Oh, that gets a scornful look, a hurt sniff, and no verbal answer at all while Leah starts divvying up the goods. Finger-deep in boxes and napkins and utensils, she says instead, "I wasn't sure where you stood on curry, and I figured going easy on it would be good for your heart, anyway. Hope that's okay."
Sabitha ponders this with quiet thought. "I dunno," she answers. "They haven't said anything about curry. I /like/ curry." Her eyes light excitedly on the divied boxes, smiling. "But /anything/ is better than hospital food. I hear they cafeteria's not bad, but the stuff they cart up here..."
"I believe it. Okay, you can have some of my curry, then, and we'll just risk it." Leah says it lightly, but her manner is weightier, dragged down by worry and experience both. She carries over Sabitha's share of the Thai prize, newly re-curried, and then scuttles back to get her own, for dining in the bedside chair with a leg casually coiled under her. "Curry's spicy, right? Spicy can be bad for hearts. Well, sick ones. I think. But yours is healthy; it just went out from stress and exhaustion, right? So we're good. /You're/ good. Eat up," she encourages as only a born and bred Italian can. Comfort time!
"I think so," Sabby answers in what's meant to be confirmation, distracted. She leans forward to sort through the various options. She pulls a box toward her and settles back against the bed. "Mmm. Friends who bring me take-out. Doesn't get better than this. I haven't had to eat hospital food all day," she reveals, and the nods, fork in hand, toward a box tucked on the table in the corner. "Chris brought me mousse. And a tiara."
Leah nearly chokes on a forkful of saucy noodles. "You're kidding. A tiara? Well, that's Rossi for you. Always been better about gifts than half the guys I know." She chews a fresh bite, avian-quick, and turns up the heat on a curious look. "Did you want a tiara?"
Sabitha laughs shortly. "Not in the least," she reveals. "But I like it, anyway. It's funny." She levers her fork through curry for a bite. After a moment's chewing, she grins. "Maybe I'll make a display case, and I can put Chris's tiara and Percy's genie lamp in, just as conversation pieces."
"A genie lamp?" Leah shifts forward on her tucked-under leg. "Oh, /man,/ Sabby. You know all the best guys, don't you? Can I have one? Just for borrowing. I'd return him in very good condition. You could stick him back in the case, even, with the goodies."
"He brought me a belly-dancing costume, too. Full harem get up," Sabby reveals with a bright smile. "Absolutely ridiculous, you know?" A gesture of her fork makes that a positive thing, and Sabby inclines her head toward Leah's seat. "If you'd been here a bit earlier, you could've met him. Or he might come back before you leave." A pause, for a bite, and she adds, "Hope not, though. He needs a shower and sleep in the worst way."
Leah settles back with a smile and starts forking around for the good bits in her noodles. "You /are/ spoiled, God bless you. I'll hang out a bit to see if I can catch up with him, but just say hi for me if I don't? How long has he been keeping you company here?"
"I think he has too much money and not enough friends," Sabby reveals, dismissive, and pauses to enjoy another bite. "Oh. Um. Since I came in. I think he rode over with me." Her brows knit as she ponders this, and there's a mental note to ask Percy for the details of that night, now that her brain seems to be functioning properly again.
Leah blinks. "Was he working out with you? Or did he find you at the gym or whatever?"
"No, I was home," Sabby answers, and then squints down at her meal, frowning. "I should ask him what happened. I don't really remember."
Contented, Leah nods and loops up more noodles for dipping carefully into a little plastic cup of extra sauce balanced just as carefully on her knee. Takeout-dining master, she is. "Well, maybe it'll come back," she tries, a little awkward but game in the attempt and the concern beneath it. "But if it doesn't ... eh. Sometimes your brain blocks out stuff you don't need."
"Yeah," Sabby answers, and she seems fairly unconcerned herself. "Percy will remember, I think. I'll ask him." Another few bites, and she levels a forkful at Leah. "This is really good. What's the name of the place, do you remember?"
"Golden Cock Kitchen," Leah promptly reports and then grins. "Distinctive, anyway. I'm sure they get all kinds of /great/ phone calls, especially on lonely Friday nights." Her mouth twitches and stills at that; she turns to reach for the bags again, rooting around for more food.
Sabitha blinks in surprise. "It /is/ Friday, isn't it? Huh." Another bite, and then she shoots a sideways glance at Leah. "So how'd your phone call go? Did it come through?"
Leah bites off, "No," and retreats to her chair in a grimly satisfied huddle: she has fetched forth egg rolls and more dipping sauce. Offering over a couple rolls, she elaborates, "Hell, no, it did not come through. I had to show up at the News's offices in person, since the guy wasn't answering his phone, and what do I find when I get there? A rejection letter. Handed to me by the receptionist. Christ." She blinks rapidly against angry tears, gnawing on a roll.
Sabitha stares at Leah with shocked concern, and her fork pauses. "Hell," she answers, and then tentatively, "Are you ok?"
"What do you think?" Leah laughs bitterly. "Just one more body-blow, my friend. Let me tell you about this jerk I met in a bar the other night. You'll love it: I think it's the same guy they're talking about on the news, from the latest Brotherhood attack." She bares her teeth in a grin viciously, defiantly proud. "Flirted with me, kissed me, shocked me with his fucking powers. And then blew up a few city blocks with my old protege, John Allerdyce. Next to that, what's another failed job interview?"
Sabitha blinks at Leah, uncertain and quiet. "You kissed someone from the Brotherhood?" she finally asks, and then finishes, again, with "Hell. Protege?"
Leah waves her half-gnaws eggroll in quick emphasis of her quick explanation. "I didn't /know/ he was a mutant, believe you me. Never would've gotten that far if I had. He was just this hot guy at the pub, y'know? Talked a good line, looked good, so what the hell? And he shot me down for being a genetic antique and throwback. Whee. Fucking wanker," she says with satisfaction. "I hope they catch him and tear his balls off before seeing how he does against the electric chair's powers. I'd watch. Is he the one who dragged poor John out there? John -- St. John, sorry -- Allerdyce. I knew him, was helping him with his writing career, knew his girlfriend, too ... and off he goes to the Brotherhood. What is /wrong/ with this world? I ask you."
Sabitha's uncertainty edges into shock, which is quickly blinked away under the pretense of shoveling up more Thai. "I don't know," she answers quietly. "I haven't seen the news. Was it bad?"
Leah sighs and shakes her head. "No one died. No serious injuries, I think, but I don't know. I've kinda been in shock, y'know, from the last few days." She bends a tired, sad smile. "And here I am, venting it all on you, like you didn't have a heart attack during a workout and get stuck in the hospital. I'm sorry, Sabby. Really."
Sabitha waves a hand and slides her gaze away. Food, yes. "It's ok," she answers. "You're stressed, too. World sucks like hell." There's a quiet undertone of bitterness. "But they didn't catch them? The Brotherhooders?"
"No. Do they ever?" Oh, bitter Leah, too. Bitter, angry, caustic, like biting on an old, rusted penny. "Even Magneto didn't stick around for long, did he? We suck at doing anything about those guys. Just /suck./ And the likes of poor Vincent, getting hung out to dry in MA, normals handling mutant crimes like that. Things should be different. Should change. Be /better./ Somehow," she sighs and broods upon a second eggroll. "Wish I knew how."
A full-energy Sabby might have a diatribe on the MRA and hope for the future, but today she simply blinks owlishly at Leah, and nods quietly. "Vincent looked tired, when he was here," she notes. "Do you think it's work? I mean... there've been a lot lately, haven't there?"
Leah frowns and nods. "Maybe there's something gearing up. Some big plan? The jailbreak, the filibuster attack, John and this Padraig dicking around in the city ... well, sucks to be a cop right now, huh? Or just a poor ordinary human being." Mocking humor surfaces, nocked aimed squarely at herself on mouth's crooked bow. "Or an unemployed freelancer. I think I could write a lot of things right now if I just had the forum. Maybe I'll sit down and bang some stuff out, see who'll take it."
"Probably sucks to be a poor ordinary mutant, too, for most of them," Sabby reminds quietly, with her eyes still fixed on Thai, and then glances up with an encouraging smile. "You should. You might get something good out. It'll keep you in practice anyway, right?"
Percy steps out of a swirling silver portal that appears in midair, and closes just as suddenly behind him.
Percy has become quite a regular apparition at Lennox Hill, to the point where he's barely glanced as he saunters through familiar halls to the ward containing one Sabrina White. Fresh clothes, clean hair, clean shaven, freshly cologned, and recently cigaretted; tucked under one arm, a decent-sized bakery box; and back to the room again to open the door and breeze inside.
"Oh, yeah, I didn't mean to leave them out. Not every mutant out there is one of Magneto's freaks," Leah mutters and bites off more eggroll. She's perched in a bedside chair, patently tired and anxious and covering it with talk and, well, food. (Little prickles of pheromonal output: health, exhaustion, aggression.) "I'm just bitchy tonight. Obviously. Anyway."
And from Sabby, mild distress, edged over with a careful control as the conversation spirals tighter, toward testy topics of conversation. "It's ok," she assures Leah again, and picks through a few more bites of Thai. "It's been a bad week. I mean... hell. Things build up, right?" Her head twists as the door opens, to ascertain identity.
Percy, hefting his bakery box, slips through the door and kicks it shut behind him with a certain exuberance. "Evening," he announces, ever effervescent. Amber eyes sweep the room, sliding over Sabitha to take in the unfamiliar - a measuring glance. "Looks like you already have food and I am superfluous," he adds, shamming mournful, "but I come bearing cake, anyway."
--
Percy
Not ordinarily swayed by a pretty face? Well, this is an extraordinary face, framed by wavy deep brown hair, so dark it flirts with black. The sensual mouth ever bears a trace of its habitual smirk, the fine straight nose, the cream of blemishless skin touched by the sun but not harassed by it; the best part, or at least, his admitted favorite: amber eyes gleaming like sin, framed by a luxuriant darkness of lashes. His body is lean and agile, wirily muscled but not bulkily so.
His ears are pierced: small gold hoops glitter in either lobe. An expert hand has added just a touch of eyeliner to intensify the amber eyes. Tight black undershirt accentuates his male form, cranberry silk hanging open and unbuttoned over it, fitted dark blue jeans: casual wear, but all designer labels, and the sleek loafers on his feet are of Italian make and probably cost at least a couple hundred. He's wearing a silver chain around his neck whose pendant disappears beneath his shirt and a slim gold-and-crystal watch gleams at his wrist.
--
Leah is also twitchy tonight, to go with "bitchy," because the entrance jerks her around in startled reaction. She has to lunge to save her dipping cup of sauce from splatting in heroic death on the bed, in fact, and that requires a resettling in her chair and tugging at her yanked-out tank top. So all she can summon for the newcomer is a weak and discomfited, "Hi. Are you the Percy I've heard so much about?"
Sabitha smiles with a certain amount of relief at the appearance of Percival in her doorway, and gives him a weighing once-over - showered, shaved, rather more rested - before glancing at the box. "Five kinds of chocolate?" she questions with a twitchy smile, and then glances back toward Leah. "Leah brought me Thai for dinner. Yeah, this is Percy. He lives upstairs."
"That's me, wholly notorious," is the easy response, Percy dipping his head to Leah. To Sabby, he grins. "Anything else would be a letdown, wouldn't it? Anyway, the desert swallowed me before I could have my last piece of the other one. Where do you want it?"
"Pleased to meet you." Leah climbs out of the chair and edges away -- awkward again, so very -- and dips the last of her roll in the last of the sauce to clear that out of their way, too. She smiles a bit. "Cake sounds lovely."
Sabitha waves a hand dismissively at Percy, and drops her box into her lap. "I don't think I can eat any, right now," she shares. "But make Leah eat a piece. Is it the same as last time? Leah, you have to taste this. It'll perk your week right up. Percy has excellent taste in gifts."
Percy sets down his cake-box on the nearest bare surface, the better to offer Leah his hand to shake. "Charmed, I'm certain," he beams at her. "It is positively sinful. The dessert shop is not far from my manicurist's, and when I was walking by it seemed I couldn't not go inside. Their eclairs are also, I might note, /clearly/ the work of Satan's personal chef." He grins, amber eyes flicking to Sabitha in a sidelong glance. "I like giving presents," he breezes cheerfully. "Especially when they're funny or delicious, like me."
Leah wipes her hand on her jeans and then shakes Percy's. "You and Detective Rossi are spoiling her rotten," she tells him with the lingering traces of her little, tired smile. "--Okay, Sabby, I'll have a bite, but then I should probably get back home. I've been over half the boroughs today, and there's work...."
"I told her about the tiara," Sabby reveals brightly, and then sidelongs a glance at Leah and her tired smile with a flash of quiet worry and then disappointment. "Oh... yeah, sure. I forget that not everyone has a sudden doctor-enforced vacation, huh?" she offers with a smile of her own.
"Stroke of genius, I thought. Fun guy, Rossi," opines Percy. He reaches over to open his box to reveal the glories within, a slight smirk curving his mouth as though he were the inventor of chocolate cake, or even ever the baker of one. "I'm sorry about work," intones a man, in tones of earnest sympathy, who can without fear of especial repercussions wander out of his office in the middle of the day.
"It's all right," Leah says quietly to both of them and leans over to have that promised bite. "...Oh. That /is/ good. Chocolate's not really my thing, but mmmm." She gives Percy a nod of approval, pats Sabby's leg, and straightens up and away from the bed. "--Just some private work that needs doing, no big deal. I've been on vacation, myself, really; time to get back on the horse. It /was/ nice to meet you, Percy. Take care of our Sabitha, now, huh?"
Sabitha nods after Leah, and offers toward her, "Thanks for coming. And calling Chris and Vincent and stuff for me." There's a bit of edgy uncomfortableness, the uncertainty of how two different worlds of friends will interact, and she looks between Percy and Leah with a small smile.
"It was nice meeting you, too," Percy says swiftly, with a slight smile and a nod. "I will do my meager best." Amber eyes settle on Leah's face, oddly thoughtful, for the briefest of flashes, before he paces forward towards one of the chairs.
Leah bobs nod and smile to them both and slides on out. Home again, home again...
[Log ends.]