Marius & Cecilia || Late Wednesday night

[x-barrier.livejournal.com]

Marius and Cecilia literally run into each other in the halls, but instead of adorable, it's awkward and terrible. Because powers.

The irregular shuff of his footsteps was further proof he was running short of excuses. Even he wouldn't pretend the answer was anything but a foregone conclusion -- in fact it was likely one of the factors in his increasingly scarce sleep. He was simply dragging his figurative feet to mirror the literal ones.

In short, Marius was not in a good mood.

At some point in the last few days, Cecilia had stopped bothering to bring a pillow to the medlab with her. Sleep came when it came, regardless of whether she'd slumped down in a chair or hopped onto an exam table. Comfort wasn't really the point.

The X-Men were healing, but there was still a lot to keep an eye on, and both Cecilia and Amelia wanted to give Jean the break they felt she needed. Which was nice in theory, but it led to days like these, where an exhausted Cecilia slinked around the medlab like a zombie trying to remember where she'd intended to be going before getting caught in thought traps like this one.

She stopped suddenly in her tracks and glanced around, trying to remember whether she was going to a patient's room or coming.

Film and television had developed a particular phrase known as "meet cute". It referred to the meeting of the male and female lead through a sudden and comical clash, often due to a literal collision. In this respect, a distracted Marius rounding a corner directly into an exhausted Cecilia met the criteria perfectly.

Of course, this was Xavier's. At Xavier's such an encounter would never cause a simple flurry of spilled papers when there was any chance of provoking a stress-driven attack.

There was no thought involved. The sudden shock of an unexpected presence coupled with an unfamiliar aura bypassed Marius' higher brain functions completely and hit him right in the adrenaline. Rather than running, he automatically stepped into the woman with both hands extended in anticipation of pulling her into an immobilizing arm-lock.

Not that it mattered much, but Cecilia looked in time to see him coming toward her. Marius. She raised her arm instinctively in self-defense just as a translucent shell enveloped her and tried to rebuff Marius' impact. As her forcefield absorbed the blow, she groaned and winced, preparing to fall to the floor.

That did not quite happen.

His hands never reached her arm, but nor did he slide off. A momentary sense of resistance transformed into painful pressure. The same invisible pressure skidded him back almost two feet, and there he stood, unable to move either forward or back.

At this point Marius' brain finally put in an appearance, bringing with it the psychological equivalent of vague apologies and a half-eaten cheese platter. Finally it flagged the "attacker".

"Dr. Reyes," he said with an inward wince, partly because he and his less than presentable appearance had successfully managed to avoid her thus far and partly because it was difficult not to feel uncomfortable when a conversation was occurring whilst frozen in a posture of imminent attack.

"Marius." She eyed him coolly, not bothering to smile. The last time she'd seen him, he'd been clad in a tuxedo with a cocky swing in his step. Now he looked, for lack of a better word, like hell. She decided she liked that Marius better.

Cecilia tried to step aside, but whatever reaction her mutation had to his was proving a little tricky to handle and wasn't letting her maneuver easily. And whatever holding pattern they were in was uncomfortable. The pressure she felt was made all the more worse by its unfamiliarity.

She looked him a little stupidly for a second, wondering if this was what it was like to be in a Temple Grandin hugging machine. "So," she said a little curtly, "you want to maybe..."

"Desperately." An understatement; he'd only had passing contact with Cecilia, and he'd far preferred it when they'd both been dressed tot he nines. Marius gave an experimental tug with one arm and was rewarded with a bizarre sensation of stress he saw echoed in the doctor's own expression. Movement wasn't impossible, but it was severely restricted. "Er," he said, "your power's some manner of force-field, right? Only it feels as if I've hung up on something."

"Yeah, that's—" Cecilia scratched her head. "This has never happened before. Hold on." She tilted her head for a second, trying to figure out how their shields were interlocking. That she had no idea was one more reason she really ought to get back to powers training. "Does your gift usually do things like this?" She tried taking a step backwards to break them apart.

"Couldn't say. Never encountered pure shielding before. Either way it's your power we're workin' with here -- I only mirror or absorb." The only thing Cecilia's backward step caused was a corresponding pull against Marius' opposite leg. The Australian wished is arm wasn't locked so he could manage a face-palm. This was just getting embarrassing. Instead he settled for a sigh. "Right, okay. I'm strictly reactive. So if you turn it off mine'll go as well." He paused, recalling some of the other residents' mutations. "Er, it does turn off, right?"

"Well, kinda. I mean, it's always there. I can usually shut it down, but the thing has a mind of its own, and when it senses an active threat, it's not always super receptive." Cecilia would have been mortified by how readily she'd just admitted her lack of control over her mutation, but now she was just annoyed with Marius for causing this entire situation. "Considering you sort of came at me so suddenly, it might be a little tricky." She closed her eyes, hoping it would help her focus on calming down, and then turning off her shields.

Marius continued to dangle in awkward silence for just long enough to wonder if they were going to have to call an adult when the sensation of pressure abruptly ceased. Unfortunately both mutants had been locked in very unbalanced positions. Cecilia had been stepping backwards, Marius in mid-lunge. Once the force-field no longer held them in place gravity gleefully took its course.

The inevitable crash was followed by a very long pause.

"I know you will never believe this," said a voice from the vicinity of Cecilia's stomach, "but I legitimately cannot get up."

"Gee," she said dryly, looking down toward her lap, "it's a shame neither of us have powers that could have prevented this situation." For a second, she considered summoning her field to return and shove him away, but the fear that they'd get stuck like this was enough to make her pause. Much as she'd have loved to see Amelia's face to stumble upon that scene, Cecilia decided to pass.

So, unsure whether she could touch Marius without triggering another weird mutant incident, she started to shift backwards in the hope of getting him off her lap. Had she not been inches away from the wall, that plan might have worked. "Can I—" she sighed. "If I lift you, am I going to..." She wasn't sure how to ask the question without being offensive.

"As I said, I'm strictly reactive," came the slightly muffled reply from Marius, who was really wishing he was in a position to enjoy this more. "Just give us a shove. She'll be right as long as your powers don't engage." He hoped. He'd done so well avoiding most of the residents. The last thing he wanted was to be found nuzzling the newest medical staffer because his right side had become so heavy with deformity he couldn't even get his arm and leg under him.

"Great." Cecilia didn't hesitate. She started to shove him lightly off of her, grunting when she realized how heavy he'd apparently become. "Here we go." She put a little more force behind her hands and rolled him off her, away from her body and the precarious situation they'd just been in. "All right, then." She realized a bit too late, after it dropped onto the floor, that she should have protected his head a little better. Whoops.

"Cheers." Marius' head bounced off the floor in a resigned sort of way. It was only once they'd been safely disengaged that he realised he'd been clenching his fists; now that he was no longer in contact with her the churning of the mouths on his palms finally stopped.

"I do apologise," he continued, managing to pull himself into a sitting position now that he was in the slightly more manageable supine position. The fact this involved inching back until he hit the support of the wall was an unavoidable indignity. "Obviously I have yet to fully decompress from the last mission. Whilst I imagine you've had your fair share of men falling all over themselves in your presence I do not make a habit to knowingly invade personal space."

"It happens." It didn't, not like that, but Cecilia didn't want to make Marius feel any more horrified than she imagined he already did. She scooted against the wall, studying him for a moment. "So, yeah," she said in an awkward attempt to make things less awkward. "How are you feeling?"

"As well as I look, I imagine. Useful as it was I can't say I'd take this power again." The grey of Yvette's mutation had since faded, but he still bore the characteristic atavistic traits of Kyle's -- somewhat. The strange skeletal deformities of Jefferies' power made all subsequent mutations less obvious, especially when one was already disinclined to self-examine. He'd spent the last three days studiously avoiding his left hand after his pinky had split at the second joint, each half tipped with its own claw.

"I bet," Cecilia nodded. She'd never spent time looking at Marius, especially not up close, but she couldn't imagine he'd ever looked so worn and malformed before. "Good that you did, though." She shrugged. "I mean, I know this isn't ideal," she traced a circle around him with her hand, "but everyone got home alive, mostly thanks to you."

Marius shrugged the best-functioning shoulder. "To an extent. Restoration, yes. Credit for the actual reconstruction goes to Jean. Results would have been rather less impressive had an actual medical professional not been on hand." The Australian turned his yellow eyes to a point past the floor tiles. "It was pure luck, you know. We came with two medics and that thing took down both. And the plane. There was no one around to help. No one still alive." He shook his head to disguise the shudder, but he couldn't keep it from his voice. "I've never been on a mission like that."

"I can't imagine." She looked down at her hands. After seeing what that thing (she had to consider it in the abstract, which didn't make it any less frightening) had done to Fred, she'd been horrified. Cecilia couldn't fathom what it would be like to see the apparent horrors something like that caused, let alone to fight it. But both then and now, she'd felt a little twinge of guilt that she hadn't been there to help, even if she wasn't necessarily on board with the X-Men and what they seemed to stand for. She pulled her legs toward her chest. "Missions like that are one of a kind. I hope."

"Myself as well, obviously." He levelled out his tone and gave another stiff shrug. "Ah well. It seems I'll not have the opportunity to find out otherwise for a while. Typically when I take a power it's out of my system within a week or two. This one is lingering a bit, though alas, only the bit that creates these exceedingly attractive lumps. The godlike healing powers appear to have left me, proving quite a blow to my dreams of becoming a wealthy faith healer."

"A shame, since I'm sure you would have become excellent at demanding tribute." Cecilia smiled at him as she leaned her head back against the wall and closed her eyes. She wasn't all that familiar with Marius' mutation and hadn't had much cause to read his file, since Jean and Amelia seemed to have this particular resident handled. After this exchange, she wouldn't be able to say she learned much more about him, other than that she should probably consider herself lucky her gift was what it was. "Weirdly, the Hippocratic oath prevents me from extortion."

"An equal shame. I could have used a co-conspirator with functional medical knowledge to better sell the ruse. I would have been a generous benefactor. A split of 70/30 at least, and that is with myself shouldering the brunt of the risk." The X-Man sighed. "Well, you've business to attend to, I'm sure. And I myself should retire. I hate to ask one more favour, but could you assist me? I find myself slightly top-heavy." He gave her a yellow side-eye. "Unless it risks another inexplicable body-lock, that is, in which case I would just as soon text Kyle to bring a hand truck."

"Yeah, sure." Cecilia rose to her feet, brushing her pants off. She certainly did have business to attend to, though she was still so tired she had no idea what it was. Despite being fairly sure her bio-security system was off, she was slow to extend her hand to Marius. When it became clear they weren't going to be forced together again, some of the tension left her shoulders. "Come on, curandero. Up and at 'em."

"I understand and accept that I will never know if you have just called me something unspeakable." Marius almost took her hand, then stopped. Once again he closed his fingers around the gauze-wrapped mouth on his palm.

"By the wrist, if you please," he said, feigning lightness as he slid his other hand to the wall behind him for leverage. "I'll push, you pull. Direct contact isn't the only mechanism by which I absorb powers, and the other's a bit less comfortable. Better safe than sorry, eh?" With his hands wrapped this was not entirely true, but less personally awkward than admitting he didn't want her feeling his teeth scratching at her palm. It had been a long time since he'd had to worry about biting someone during a handshake. Besides, despite her use of the sort of unimpressed tone Marius had long since grown accustomed to he had not failed to notice Cecilia's lack of visible revulsion. This indicated more sensitivity than her demeanor would have led him to believe; professionalism at the very least. He found himself preferring she not be in a position to discover his palms drooled.

"Not even gonna ask." Cecilia moved her hand toward his wrist. Her eyes widened with surprise a bit as she touched him - she had assumed his deformities were more superficial. Not that she hadn't seen similar things before. "Ready?" She didn't bother waiting for his answer and began to pull him up.

Marius lurched to his feet, relieved she was stronger than she looked. "Ah, Xavier's. Where would I be without the indulgence of your striking yet universally uninterested female staff?" After taking a moment to steady himself he gave her a nod. "Merci, docteur. I apologise again. I propose this entire encounter be stricken from memory and never again spoken of."

"No problem." She suppressed the urge to wipe her hand on her jeans, sensing that it might offend him. This now-upright Marius was closer to the one she'd encountered previously, that was for sure. "Can't promise anything, but I doubt I'll be talking about it to anyone, so... secret's safe with me." She shrugged. "Get some sleep, mon ami."

"Yourself as well," Marius replied, giving her an over-the-shoulder wave.

Not that either of them would, but manners were manners.