Log: It's a start (Doug/Laurie)
Jul. 25th, 2020 10:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsLaurie tracks down Doug for an overdue conversation
Laurie had spent much of the day attempting to track down Doug in all his usual haunts, and some of the places she remembered from her time with him that were his unusual haunts. She'd finally managed to track him down to one of the recreation rooms on the third floor.
It wasn't a usual, or unusual place for him, so she could only assume he'd been asked to take a look at one of the entertainment systems.
She'd always been surprised at just how much those of them that ended up at the mansion also seemed to be of two camps when it came to technology. Those who could blow something up merely by being in the vicinity of a piece of technology, and those who were true children of the Internet age.
She mostly considered herself to fall somewhere in the middle, not particularly interested in anything but medical technology but at least competent in her area of expertise.
"You know, I'm pretty sure sleeping on a controller is not good for your face."
Doug's breathing was heavy, just barely shy of snoring, and he came awake groggily at Laurie's voice. The indentation of a joystick had left a noticeable red mark on his cheek "Look, I sleep like all the damn time, basically," he told her as he rubbed his eyes. "This is definitely not the strangest place someone has found me being all Narcolepsy Lad."
It was either Legion of Superheroes jokes or a crack about Disney movies, and things were still too raw for him to be talking about 'true love's kiss' with Laurie.
“I heard Amanda and the other magicals were looking into that for you.”
Laurie, while not incredibly comfortable with magic was not the sort of scientist who found it offensive. As far as she was concerned, it was merely a set of natural laws that hadn’t been effectively tested and recorded yet. At least, not by peer review. She didn’t think that little old grannies and teenagers with a bent for punk rock and odd clothing were the best recorders of great knowledge.
She could almost imagine the look Amanda would give her if she started asking her questions on how and why magic worked however. She’d stick to her own track, thank you very much.
“I’m told a bed is much more comfortable for napping than a couch of dubious cleanness however.”
"I didn't choose the nap life, the nap life chose me," Doug quipped, still stretching and getting the kinks out from his impromptu rest. "I've been trying my best to listen to my body and all that, so if I'm tired, I rest." He shrugged. "And yeah, lots of people looking into it, and finding essentially zero answers or solutions, so."
"If I mentioned how awkward this feels to talk to you, would it make it more or less awkward, do you think?" Laurie mused as she moved further into the room. No sense in lingering by the door, if Doug was going to throw something at her, he'd have done it a lot earlier than this. "I was measuring it in my head, you see and I'm not sure whether I'd call this 'Being caught inflagrante delicto by Professor Xavier' levels of awkward, or 'First day in a new school' levels of awkward."
Doug snorted, despite himself. "I don't think anything would be nearly as awkward as getting caught in the act by the Professor," he decided. "This is probably closer to that than 'first day of school', though." He didn't have much energy to smooth things over, so his words were rather uncharacteristically blunt.
"You know, someone told me recently that I use my damage as an excuse not to take responsibility for the things I do."
Laurie brushed the fingers of her artificial hand over the tops of one of the chairs with an almost dedicated air of casualness. She rubbed her fingertips together and noted that Spring Cleaning madness appeared to have hit this room as well, not a dash of dust in sight.
"I suspect you'd agree with that, if I were to ask."
"Well, you wouldn't be the only one." Doug certainly wasn't disagreeing with her. Maybe softening the blow ever so slightly, but that was all. He wasn't entirely sure where Laurie was going with this whole line of discussion. It sounded like a long-winded route to an apology, but then again it might not be.
“I’m sorry.”
Laurie glanced at him from beneath a fall of her hair, unable to quite meet his gaze. She was, had always been really, somewhat of a coward. It was hard to push past the urge to run.
The urge wasn't any lessened on Doug's part, to be honest. Having an open conversation about this wasn't what he'd prefer to be doing either. But the apology did help. "Thank you," he said quietly. "I appreciate that." He didn't know where that put things, but it was a step in the right direction, at least.
“I should probably go. They always need someone puttering around the Medlab and I’ve got a few things to get ready before I head to a hospital shift in New York.”
Laurie nodded to Doug like he’d answered a question he hadn’t asked and left without further words.
Laurie had spent much of the day attempting to track down Doug in all his usual haunts, and some of the places she remembered from her time with him that were his unusual haunts. She'd finally managed to track him down to one of the recreation rooms on the third floor.
It wasn't a usual, or unusual place for him, so she could only assume he'd been asked to take a look at one of the entertainment systems.
She'd always been surprised at just how much those of them that ended up at the mansion also seemed to be of two camps when it came to technology. Those who could blow something up merely by being in the vicinity of a piece of technology, and those who were true children of the Internet age.
She mostly considered herself to fall somewhere in the middle, not particularly interested in anything but medical technology but at least competent in her area of expertise.
"You know, I'm pretty sure sleeping on a controller is not good for your face."
Doug's breathing was heavy, just barely shy of snoring, and he came awake groggily at Laurie's voice. The indentation of a joystick had left a noticeable red mark on his cheek "Look, I sleep like all the damn time, basically," he told her as he rubbed his eyes. "This is definitely not the strangest place someone has found me being all Narcolepsy Lad."
It was either Legion of Superheroes jokes or a crack about Disney movies, and things were still too raw for him to be talking about 'true love's kiss' with Laurie.
“I heard Amanda and the other magicals were looking into that for you.”
Laurie, while not incredibly comfortable with magic was not the sort of scientist who found it offensive. As far as she was concerned, it was merely a set of natural laws that hadn’t been effectively tested and recorded yet. At least, not by peer review. She didn’t think that little old grannies and teenagers with a bent for punk rock and odd clothing were the best recorders of great knowledge.
She could almost imagine the look Amanda would give her if she started asking her questions on how and why magic worked however. She’d stick to her own track, thank you very much.
“I’m told a bed is much more comfortable for napping than a couch of dubious cleanness however.”
"I didn't choose the nap life, the nap life chose me," Doug quipped, still stretching and getting the kinks out from his impromptu rest. "I've been trying my best to listen to my body and all that, so if I'm tired, I rest." He shrugged. "And yeah, lots of people looking into it, and finding essentially zero answers or solutions, so."
"If I mentioned how awkward this feels to talk to you, would it make it more or less awkward, do you think?" Laurie mused as she moved further into the room. No sense in lingering by the door, if Doug was going to throw something at her, he'd have done it a lot earlier than this. "I was measuring it in my head, you see and I'm not sure whether I'd call this 'Being caught inflagrante delicto by Professor Xavier' levels of awkward, or 'First day in a new school' levels of awkward."
Doug snorted, despite himself. "I don't think anything would be nearly as awkward as getting caught in the act by the Professor," he decided. "This is probably closer to that than 'first day of school', though." He didn't have much energy to smooth things over, so his words were rather uncharacteristically blunt.
"You know, someone told me recently that I use my damage as an excuse not to take responsibility for the things I do."
Laurie brushed the fingers of her artificial hand over the tops of one of the chairs with an almost dedicated air of casualness. She rubbed her fingertips together and noted that Spring Cleaning madness appeared to have hit this room as well, not a dash of dust in sight.
"I suspect you'd agree with that, if I were to ask."
"Well, you wouldn't be the only one." Doug certainly wasn't disagreeing with her. Maybe softening the blow ever so slightly, but that was all. He wasn't entirely sure where Laurie was going with this whole line of discussion. It sounded like a long-winded route to an apology, but then again it might not be.
“I’m sorry.”
Laurie glanced at him from beneath a fall of her hair, unable to quite meet his gaze. She was, had always been really, somewhat of a coward. It was hard to push past the urge to run.
The urge wasn't any lessened on Doug's part, to be honest. Having an open conversation about this wasn't what he'd prefer to be doing either. But the apology did help. "Thank you," he said quietly. "I appreciate that." He didn't know where that put things, but it was a step in the right direction, at least.
“I should probably go. They always need someone puttering around the Medlab and I’ve got a few things to get ready before I head to a hospital shift in New York.”
Laurie nodded to Doug like he’d answered a question he hadn’t asked and left without further words.
