Vanessa & Haven | Friday morning

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Vanessa shows up in her new body to meet Haven who clearly isn't all she appears to be.

Vanessa wasn't wearing her own body when she walked into the holistic clinic in District X. The blue skin and red eyes were too obvious and she did not want to tempt this woman into snatching away Vanessa's mutation in retaliation. Instead she wore her newly acquired body that looked as typically human as any other baseline human did. The dark hair was pulled back into Vanessa's usual ponytail and she wore slacks and a suit jacket along with a plain white tee shirt. At the desk she found a girl with scaly orange skin who smiled but looked a little nervous. "Hi, I don't have an appointment but I was wondering if Haven had some time to see me today?"

"Um. Lemme check." The girl typed into a computer and it seemed to take longer than Vanessa would have expected to get an answer. "Um, she has an opening in an hour? I could schedule you in. That person canceled. Um, what's your name?"

"Vanessa Carlysle."

"Okay, okay, I'll...just..." She paused, chewing on her lip and looked up apologetically. "Can you spell your last name?" Vanessa did, then reported she was here about headaches, which wasn't entirely wrong. After she was scheduled Vanessa simply had a seat and flipped through magazines.

An hour later the scaly girl at the desk, whose name turned out to be Melissa, led Vanessa into a room filled with plants and some of those little zen waterfalls and rock gardens. She took a seat on the cloth covered exam table, which she assumed was just like any other medical exam table underneath, and waited.

Moments later, Haven appeared, the soft smile and the steel gaze set in place as she stopped to take in the surroundings; if Vanessa would have asked, Haven liked to sit there from time to time to cool her head. "Welcome", said as she closed the distance between them, eyes already taking in every detail of the woman sitting on the exam table. "I hope Melissa didn't present any issue; she hasn't been working here for too long, but the girl needed the money so..." She let the sentence trail off; Melissa was very enthusiastic, and while a little shy, she hadn't gotten complaints yet.

Stopping in front of Vanessa, the woman gave her a more intense look, hands resting on her sides. "So, headaches. May I?" It wasn't really a question, as Haven lifted her hands, the right one's fingertips pressing not too strongly on her temple, the other one just gravitating around. "Anything else you can tell me about them?"

"They come up when I work on frustrating work assignments so I guess they might be stress induced? Sort of a throbbing right here," Vanessa pointed to a spot just above the bridge of her nose. There was no harm in seeing how Haven treated a patient before she started to ask about the missing people, right?

It was a matter of pressing and sensing, at least for the moment. Haven would hum, but that wasn't a good idea when your patient had headaches. "Stress inducing headaches are more normal than people think. Here?", asked as she put a finger on the same spot Vanessa had pointed. She then started to feel the surrounding area. "Nowadays everyone thinks it's just easier to get the medication someone with a chronic issue would, and just shrug the real causes of the pain." She flashed a brief smile as her fingers ran over Vanessa's forehead. "There are a number of medication-free ways to keep the headaches at bay, if you are interested on trying something along those lines. Yoga isn't popular without good reason, and breathing exercises, healthy diets, and stress coping sessions are available for everyone." Giving a step back, she gave another overall look at the woman. "We can get you some mild pain killers for the time being, if you can't manage to the time to try these solutions, of course."

"I wanted to veer away from normal pills and stuff. I was looking more for herbal supplements or something of that nature. I came to a holistic clinic on purpose." Vanessa wondered if some people came in just because the location was convenient without a preference for holistic or homeopathic medicine. Haven didn't seem half as creepy as Vanessa had been expecting either. She generally came off as your average doctor, compassionate and kind. Honestly, with Crystal's warning she'd been expecting more of a subtle malevolence.

Haven stared at Vanessa for a moment before...chuckling. "Oh, dear, you make this so easy", said as she turned to open a cabinet. First she took a couple of blisters with orange-colored pills. "These are Ibuprofen; this is the moment when I tell my patient than while the pills seem to make miracles..." She turned to take out a small package with what seemed to be herbs tangled together. "...these over here can do the same thing, and calm your nerves and relieve the stress just by putting them on boiling water and inhaling the air; they work faster, even, and if you follow the instructions printed on the back you can make these last longer than the pills. There are a large assortment of stress-relief items, too", said as she proceeded to show Vanessa candles, other herbs, and even what looked like candies. "The regular patients really don't have the time to sit and rest, so they go with what I call the pill solution, but if you are interested on actually putting an end to the cause of the headaches..." She let the phrase hang, a small smile on her face, her eyes fixed on the other woman. There was something with the way Haven looked at Vanessa -or everyone, really- a cold calculative calm that made her both very good with patients and with troublemakers; you didn't get a business on District X with only a winning smile, after all.

There was something about the way she said the word "cause." If Vanessa wanted to get rid of the cause of the headaches. Could Haven take that away the way she took mutations away? "Herbs can do that? They can kill the cause and I wouldn't get them anymore?" Her voice was carefully hopeful, guarded in the way it would be for most people whose only previous experience had been with western medicine.

Haven hesitated for a moment. "They aren't an instant solution, if you wanted to ask that; it would be the same as taking a pill. There are other ways to remove a headache, but unless we are talking of mind shattering migraines you should try the herbs first." Probably without realizing it, Haven's voice had entered a modulated, calm tone, although she moved and acted as calm as before while she put the things on their places. "And I do not believe yours is an incurable headache, am I right?"

"I don't know, what constitutes incurable? They always come back so it's more a question of whether or not that can be stopped. I suppose that would count as incurable potentially." Vanessa pretended to ponder that as she looked over the herbs and candles. "What can be done if it is incurable? Would I be looking at a daily dose of herb steam or something along those lines?"

Silence, as the dark haired woman pondered, her eyes still set on Vanessa. "There are other ways", repeated. "I think you should try this first, and we can discuss the progress or lack off thereof later this week. No use on rushing when we might be dealing with something minor." And she just needed a second to return to her charm as she looked over the herbs again. "I wouldn't recommend these if they weren't the very best, you know?"

Vanessa nodded. "Did it work for Ben? My friend Ben Johnson came here. He used to get a lot of pain in his legs." She had thrown the name out there casually to see if it got a reaction. Most people weren't good enough liars to cover the surprise when people sprang something on them. Those who were still had tells they couldn't control, like their pupils dilating. Vanessa had worked long and hard to be able to study people and read their body language.

In Haven's case, a raised eyebrow proved she indeed knew how she was talking about. "Ben? Last time I saw him he was healthy and well; he always seemed healthy, actually." There was an edge of caution on her voice, but besides the eyebrow, Haven made a decent job at covering her surprise. She wasn't getting her charm back anytime soon though. "If there isn't anything else I can help you with...?"

At that point Vanessa pulled the list of missing people out of a pocket. She unfolded it and held it out to the supposed doctor. "Actually, I need to know if you know any of these people and the last time you saw them if you did. They've all been reported missing." She didn't specify who they were reported as missing to, but most if not all had been reported to the police first.

That actually made Haven go stiff, her eyes looking at the list. "How...", she stopped herself, grabbing the paper and reading it in silence. "I see." Lowering the sheet, she gave Vanessa a look that had little to do with the kind woman talking about herbs and pills a second before; Haven's gaze was hard and cold now, and the small step she took to a side was more predatory than anything. "Is there anything you wish to add, miss Carlysle?"

Vanessa gave the woman a pleasant little smile. "Not really. But if you could answer the inquiry I'd appreciate it. I'd hate to have to report to the local PD that a woman who may know something about a half dozen disappearances in the neighborhood over the past eight months refuses to cooperate with an investigator. That sort of thing piques their interest, you see. Silver isn't really your color, you'd look terrible in handcuffs." Her smile only broadened.

Have smiled in response. "All these people, as I'm sure you are aware, had very...noticeable mutations. They came to me, some with mundane troubles, others with very specific ones, and all of them had the choice to be relieved of their mutations. I think I don't need to explain myself any more in that area, or do I?" There was a menacing edge on that last question. "If they all have gone missing, it has nothing to do with me; but you could only assume any man or woman would like to start a new life, away from here. As you seem to be more skilled in tracking down individuals, I don't think I can be of more assistance. Now, if that is everything..." And her tone let it be explicit that, on Haven's side, it was everything.

Nodding, Vanessa hopped off the little exam table. "That's everything. And, y'know, you should be careful who you 'help.' People don't always want what they think they want." Then she smiled and there was no kindness in the expression as her eyes went cold. "And don't threaten me lady. Not even subtly. I'm smart enough to read subtext and you don't know if I hit like a girl or a mack truck. Don't try it."

Vanessa's smile was met with an equally cold one from Haven. "If this was the sort of childish confrontation you seem to seek, I would point that you started it. And, Vanessa, don't threaten me." Her eyes flared for a second as she said that, but then the doctor just turned around and set the pack of herbs in front of the other woman. "Consider it a gift", said as she turned and walked the way she had came into, her expression turning a lot grimmer when Vanessa couldn't see her. Too many people asking questions, and she had the nagging feeling she had made a mistake, after all this time.

Let's see who's got the tail and who has the sniper rifle to see who shouldn't be threatening who, Vanessa thought. She looked at the herbs and honestly wasn't sure if she trusted them or not. She pocketed them and planned to have Jean or Hank to test them for anything suspicious. If they were harmful maybe they could bring it to the cops and get the bitch locked up. Vanessa really didn't like that woman.