You Are Cordially Invited: Sooraya, Yvette and Nathan - Monday afternoon

[x-penance.livejournal.com]

Backdated to Monday: Nathan extends an invitation to the two youngest Elpis folks.




Nathan walked in and paused, smiling at the sight of two familiar heads - one headscarf-clad, the other adorned with spiky hair - bent together over a laptop and stack of papers on the long table. They get stuck in 'Jurassic Park', but does that stop them from coming in to volunteer? Apparently not.

"Ladies," he said with a smile. "How goes the reading?"

Sooraya glanced up with a smile at the familiar sound of Nathan's voice, resting a finger on the sentence where she had stopped reading. "It is good, I think," she said, glancing at Yvette for a moment to make sure she spoke for them both in that assessment. "We are using the dictionary much. It's helpful."

"Yes, it is be... it is good," Yvette replied, catching herself. Her voice was a little more subdued than usual, and she was carefully sitting away from Sooraya on account of the added spikiness caused by the field trip, but her eyes glowed brightly as she looked up at Nathan. "Juliette is showing us how to be reading the pho-ne-tics, to be saying the new words right, too."

Nathan glanced at his office administrator, actually cracking a smile. She just raised an eyebrow at him. "Well, I'm glad it's going well," he said, sitting down across from them. "And Sooraya, don't think I missed the contraction - that's great, your English is getting so much easier for you in conversation."

All but beaming now, Sooraya nodded and straightened up eagerly. Maybe they would be having a discussion about the things they had been reading - as informative as the articles were, they were nothing compared to the first-hand experience Nathan shared with them. "We are not done with the papers but I am happy if we are to talk about them now..."

"Actually, I wanted to talk to you both about something else," Nathan said more seriously, although part of him wondered if this was really the best time, given their most recent field trip. He decided to temporize. "You two both remember Minister Barath?"

"He is being from Hungary, yes?" Yvette asked, tilting her head a little curiously. Facial expressions were slow coming back, but there was an implication there. "He is the man to be speaking at the United Nations, after Smichov and the bombings."

Nathan nodded. "He's the minister of mutant affairs in Hungary. You could say he's ultimately responsible for how much progress Hungary's made in integrating mutants successfully into society. His country's a model for the rest of us, really, which is one of the reasons it was so upsetting to see them targetted in the bombings." Nathan paused, rubbing at his jaw. "Now, what I wanted to talk to you about is that Elpis has been invited to send representatives to Budapest this coming weekend, for a memorial service. And I wanted to know if the two of you would like to come - not specifically for the memorial, although of course you're both welcome there. You're both a part of this operation." He smiled a bit whimsically. "But I thought both of you would like to see a little of Hungary, too."

Them? Travel to another country with the other Elpis employees? Whether it was for official business or not Sooraya couldn't believe her ears, and she nodded emphatically even before she was able to put a voice to her thoughts. "Yes, I will like that very much, please. Thank you for asking!"

Yvette was a little more cautious. Which was to be fair, considering the last trip she'd taken had involved her being eaten by a dinosaur. "Mr. Dayspring, you are being there with us?" she asked, to make sure. Ice climbing had been fine. Maybe the field trip curse only applied to the other teachers.

"Absolutely," Nathan said, detecting the anxiety. "And the invitation comes right from Minister Barath. He's known the Professor for a long time, and he'll be delighted to have some of Charles's students there to see his city, I think."

"We will be safe," Sooraya said, turning to Yvette and giving her a reassuring look. "There will be no dinosaurs in Hungary, I think."

Yvette managed a tiny smile, not much more than a slight movement of her lips. "Then, I am thinking I would like to being to go." She looked up at Nathan. "If you are not minding the... how you say? Shadow, Mr. Dayspring? I am feeling safer when I am being with the teachers."

"There should be at least a few of us there," Nathan said reassuringly, smiling again. "None of whom are going to mind a shadow." He rose, the smile turning into a crooked grin. "So I'll take that as a yes from both of you, and go make arrangements for two more people. You two don't mind rooming together in the hotel?"

"We will not mind - it is like Teen Girl Suite, but a hotel," Sooraya said with a tiny laugh. Nerves warred with excitement inside; she was wary, yes, but also extremely grateful for the opportunity to visit another country, and with such an invitation, too.

"It is being okay for me too." Yvette's eyes flared brightly. "Thank you for to be inviting us, Mr. Dayspring."

"Here's to a good trip, then," Nathan said over his shoulder, wryly. "And no dinosaurs."