xp_logs | LOG: Haroun, Marius, and Madelyn

Haroun's getting a neuroconductivity exam when he finally meets Marius. They hit it off quite nicely, and Madelyn is insulted in langugages she does and does not speak.

Marius wandered towards the public section of the medlab, early for his exam but not overly concerned about it. He was still enjoying the fact that he was no longer confined to isolation, and the ability to leave that boring, boring room -- even for something as minor as a walk -- was a definite improvement.

He arrived in the public area of the lab to find Maddie already there, working with another patient. He was a mutant, a dark-skinned man Marius hadn't met before. No privacy curtain was drawn, and anyway, he was curious, so Marius decided to investigate.

"Is this another of the walking wounded?" Marius asked with a grin.

Haroun blinked and looked over at the newcomer. ~Not quite.~ he said irritably in Arabic. Madelyn had been doing neuroconductivity testing, which so far consisted of hitting his legs with reflex hammers or poking him with needles or applying cold and/or heat-packs and seeing how he reacted. Not exactly his idea of a good time. And it was _cold_ in Medlab again, and he was getting the shivers.

"We're working on the walking part," Madelyn said, straightening from where she'd been tests the response from the arch of his foot. "I'm sorry - I haven't kept you waiting, have I? Haroun tends to make things difficult." There was a grin on her face, though, and her demeanor was relaxed. Friends, these two. She ignored Haroun's glare and waved at a nearby chair. "Have a seat, hon, I should be done in a minute. Haroun, you don't mind if Marius waits here, do you? He's a new student and had a bit of a rough time before he got here so we're keeping an eye on him."

Haroun shrugged. "Depends. Is he easily offended by harsh language? Because if you poke me with that thing one more time, I am going to figure out how to move my leg so that I can kick the fucking thing up into your brainpan." he said with a cheery smile. "Allah save me from doctors."

"What's wrong with your legs?" Marius asked, helping himself to a chair near what he now knew was a captive audience. "Were you in a fight? I haven't been here long, but there seems to be a lot of that."

"Bite me," Madelyn told Haroun cheerfully. "And you have full permission to kick me as much as you like since it means you'll have finally gotten voluntary control." She gave Marius an apologetic look. "Don't mind us - this is pretty much usual for therapy days." She left Haroun to explain - or not - about his legs.

Haroun looked over at Marius. "Short version - I used my power for the first time in a sustained way, and it blew my legs off. Got 'em replaced with machines, but that model was trashed a while back. So this is an all-new system that I'm having to learn how to use from the absolute basics. Like sensation." he said, actually managing to swing a foot menacingly at Madelyn.

Marius raised his eyebrows, seriously impressed. "They built you new legs? This place is definitely better than the last hospital." The grin returned. "Good to know I'm not the only one whose mutant power's a bit dodgy. Being in hospital for three months was bad, but at least my legs weren't blown off."

"There's a few people here in similar situations - it's part of the reason why the Professor developed the school in the first place. To give mutant children a place to learn to use their powers. Although hopefully we won't have to do the full cybernetic refit again. It was a bit more stress than I usually like to deal with." Madelyn finished up her tests and gave Haroun's swinging foot an assessing look. "Getting there. I think you're just about ready for us to step up the physical therapy."

Marius perked up. "You do that? Can I do that?" He grimaced, pulling on the sleeve of his sweatshirt. "Lost most of my muscle-tone. I've dropped at least a size since I last wore these. I need to move again."

"Sure you can, hon. It's on the cards, we're just trying to juggle schedules. It's been a busy couple of months," Madelyn replied. "Once we're sure you're strong enough, we'll work on that."

Haroun grinned. "Well, Maddy, if you're clearing me to start serious physio, Marius and I can work through ours together. As we're both working on rebuilding muscle tone that we've lost, our workouts will be similar." he pointed out. "And I know that accent. Where you from, boy?" he asked Marius.

"Born in Sydney, spent most of my life in Brisbane," Marius replied. He smirked at Maddie. "Where we know what football really is."

"Throwing a ball into a bar brawl isn't football, Marius," she retorted easily. "But I think maybe the two of you working together might be a good a idea. Haroun can get back in practice for teaching again." She snickered and stepped back out of thwapping range.

Haroun's foot twitched again in a most menacing manner. "I'll get you for that one." he said with obvious affection in his voice. "I've heard tales told of a Risky Business pastiche..." he said with a smirk, and left it at that. "Australian, eh?" he said to Marius. "I thought I heard something else in your voice. Guess I'm wrong." he said with a shrug. "I'm from Marrakech." he said by way of explanation. "The good Doctor here is a Philly girl."

Marius cocked his head, studying the other man with renewed interest. "Actually, mum's from Rabat. But she only uses Arabic with her family." He thought for a minute, then amended this. "Or when she's having it out with dad. She says French and English have nothing on Arabic when you're ropeable." He smiled and shrugged. "Either way, the bits I know aren't really useable, if you know what I mean."

~What, like how much I want the dear doctor here to get buggered by a syphilitic camel until her head explodes?~ he said in Arabic with a smile on his face. "But I thought I heard a little bit of home in your voice there." Turning back to Madelyn, he grinned at her, too. "All right, let's start takin' care of business." he said. "What's next on the hit parade?"

Marius, who'd definitely heard a little bit of home in Haroun's voice, felt his face settle in the expression of one who'd caught only one or two words in a sentence that he'd understood enough to know he shouldn't ask for outside confirmation.

"I don't want to know, do I?" Madelyn asked rhetorically, catching the look on Marius' face. "One of these days I'll ask Nathan to give me an Arabic language brain dump, and then where will you be, hmm?" She hummed something under her breath that sounded like the chorus of a notorious Brittney song. "Don't mess with the ex-agent, bucko, we are sneaky and have mysterious information gathering powers."

Haroun scowled at Madelyn, but truth be told, he was enjoying himself enormously. "You'd have to catch Nathan on a day when his brain actually _works_ for that." he said with a smirk. "And it'd be nice to hear a civilized tongue come from your mouth once in a while." ~Tart.~ he added, in French this time. To Marius, he nodded. "As soon as Torquemadette here gives me the green-light, we'll set up a workout schedule. Hope you like to work, because I want to get back up to speed quickly and thoroughly."

Marius brightened again. "Whenever you're ready. I keep telling them I don't need this observation stuff anymore. I've been in a bed for three months -- last thing I need now I'm right is another week." He tapped the back of one of his rugby-gloved hands, grinning. "I don't wear these just for courtesy."

Unfortunately for Haroun, Madelyn's high school level French covered insults, by the time-honoured method of classmates looking up words and sharing them. "~Buffoon,~" she replied, her accent atrocious. "I'm so going to have watch you two, aren't I? You're as bad as each other." She brought Haroun's wheelchair over and lowered the table he was sitting on so he could shuffle over with her help. "When I'm sure neither of you is going to collapse in a heap on me - and not a moment before - we start the conditioning training." Haroun knew that particular tone well. It was the tone that brooked no argument, although he tried any way.