xp_logs | Doug and Marie-Ange: Snow Day (backdated)

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During the day X-Force spends snowed in, Marie-Ange comes to check on Doug, and trades him getting to chatter about one of his interests in exchange for seeing how he's handling the changes in his life and physiology.

Being snowed in was a lot more tolerable since the internet had become a thing. Doug had fond memories of snow days in Colorado, to be certain, but it was nice to have things to do inside when it got too blustery outside. And being cold was reminding him of the blood curse, so even though he was a comfortable temperature, his arms were still somewhat hunched up inside his sleeves as he poked at his laptop.

The shelves in Doug's server room slash office were full of weird little statues and figures. Marie-Ange recognized a few of them - a pokemon she knew he liked, a bobble head of a favourite baseball player. Marie-Ange had long since stopped trying to keep track, he changed them out based on some intricate and precise system by date and mood. Lately, he'd had a display of figures all with the same squarish head carefully placed on the shelf closest to his desk and monitor stands. Today, he had them nested in pile of artificial vines and leaves, with twinkling lights along the shelf.

Marie-Ange watched Doug type, and then one of his monitors flickered up with a video player, and the opening sequence to an animated show. "Oh. Oh, it is the...are we having a watching party, these are the same as your desk figures this week."

"The Legend of Vox Machina." Doug grinned as he placed an armored bear festooned with pink ribbons as the finishing touch on his display of Funkos. "The first three episodes technically release on Friday, but they're out earlier for the people who backed the campaign." Which he had, naturally - he'd been a regular viewer of Critical Role for some time before the crowdfunding of the animated show. "They wound up with a ridiculously packed cast, too."

"Most of those are words I know." Marie-Ange's nose wrinkled up with amusement. "I like the bear. The bear is very cute. Would you like to make a very practical bargain and get to explain the bear to me. Also the purple hand."

Doug looked very assessingly at Marie-Ange as he finished the tableau of figures. "If I know you - and I do - your side of the practical bargain will probably happen at some point in the future, even if I were to decline the actual bargain right now." He waved a hand in a 'come and sit down' motion. "Which is to say yes, I will answer questions in exchange for answering yours about Vox Machina."

He pointed at the bear. "This is Trinket. Trinket is Vex's animal companion." He indicated the half-elf wearing a white cloak and carrying a bow. "He is a perfect cinnamon roll."

"I am going to need at least one card of that bear. Possibly more. I want a bear companion." Marie-Ange picked up the figure of Trinket, and turned it over in her hands a few times. "We put off your field readiness questions when you had the allergic reaction. Has Topaz sparred with you yet?"

Doug nodded. He had suspected that this was the line of questioning Marie-Ange intended, so it wasn't exactly a surprise. "She has, and it went okay, no adverse reactions." Teaching the nanites the differences between ambient and overtly hostile magicks was a definite ongoing process, but they seemed to be learning. "They don't just freak out at all magic anymore, so that's good."

A low voice on Doug's phone announced "More work!" as Marie-Ange swiped her finger across the screen of her phone. "Medical checklist for you to fill out. Endurance, sleep needs, that sort of thing. Plus you have to have it signed off by Doctor Grim."

"I've had a few long sessions with him," Doug admitted. None of the requirements had really startled him. "You may have noticed I have..." He stared up toward the ceiling, having difficulty making eye contact. "...abandonment issues." Which had definitely gotten pushed hard with Darcy fleeing and Laurie being the absolute worst.

"I know, you have been very good about putting it into the meeting calendar. Doug Ramsey, noodles and trauma." Another file share notification went off on Doug's phone. "This one is internal medicine? No, that is not the right term. This is... Doctor Grey has to sign off. But I want you back in the field, if you want to be back in the field."

"Yes. I do want to be back in the field." Doug was aware that Marie-Ange probably knew that, but it was still good to say it out loud. "Any more checkups you need me to get while we're in full poke-and-prod mode?" he asked a bit cheekily.

"Do you want a list? I have a list." The paper Marie-Ange took out of her jeans pocket was actually the receipt from her snack run earlier. "Talk about cinnamon roll bear. Tell Doug there is garlic ramen hidden in my desk if he does not eat the last cinnamon roll. Check up on field status. Ask nosy questions about image inducers."

A reflexive amused snort came from Doug at the list. "I'd ask why you like making lists so much, but I know how much you enjoy crossing things off them, so." He was briefly distracted by the mention of garlic ramen before coming to the other actual question that had been hidden in their joking banter. "I've got an inducer for emergencies, but I'm trying not to rely on it too hard," he admitted. "Long sleeves, gloves, that sort of thing." Obviously that wouldn't be as useful come summertime, but it was at least working for the moment.

"Has Artie made any impolite comments on how you've lost your ability to pass?" Marie-Ange asked. "Or polite comments, he mostly gets along with you."

Whatever quip Doug had been about to make was left unsaid, as he looked down at his hand and considered the implication of what Marie-Ange had said. "Well." The single word communicated that he definitely had not come to grips with that particular change. "Ugh, now I have to Khaled meme myself, gross," he said as he rolled his head back to stare at the ceiling. He'd gotten so used to thinking of himself as a social chameleon, and now he was catching up mentally to all the changes that had happened.

"I suppose it can be seen as a very advanced prosthetic, but given your manual dexterity with it.." Marie-Ange's face broke into an amused smile as Doug raised his middle finger. "I was giving a compliment!" She paused. "Is that you or the nanites doing that gesture?"

"Either way, it was demonstrating my manual dexterity," Doug replied with a bland expression and refusal to admit responsibility for the crude gesture. When the wadded up receipt hit him in the nose, he just grinned widely. "Ideally, I'd like to have some kind of covering that looks like skin, for times when I might not be able to have the inducer on me, but I'm not sure if that's possible."

Marie-Ange opened her mouth to reply, and then watched as a curious expression went over Doug's face, and then he shook himself a little, with a mild expression of disgust. "I take it the nanites have just informed you of what is and is not possible?"

Doug grunted, expression souring even more. "And plucked out the memory of ensuring that a certain Arabic gentleman's parts were...fully functional and realistic." Not that he had borne Haroun al-Rashid any ill will about it, but despite now being a member of the Hellfire Club and more blase about other peoples' genitals, it had been intensely awkward at the time.

"Well, you were seventeen at the time." Marie-Ange offered. "So. Doctor's note, psychiatrist note, schedule time for your mental breakdown about no longer being a passer..." She ticked off items on her fingers. "Put yourself back on the regular sparring and Danger Room rotation. Speak to Clinton about perhaps any engineering you need to do for a prosthetic cover? Have I forgotten anything besides the thirty minutes of cartoon watching you probably are going to make me do?"

"I dunno, maybe some reassurance?" The banter and teasing came easily to Doug, but he didn't have to guard his reactions with Marie-Ange, and some of his anxiety and stress about all the changes that had happened to him peeked through. He was sure she'd already known.

Marie-Ange pushed one of the extra desk chairs over next to where Doug was sitting and put an arm around his shoulder. "Reassurance and bribery. I also have knock off Cookie Mercenary Cookies in my desk." She patted Doug's upper arm, and then plucked a card from the air. One of her weird animated imps popped into existence a moment later, and scampered off to the hallway. "The peanut butter ones. You can show me your cartoon, and take screenshots so I can draw the bear, and eat cookies with me, and I will tell you that you can handle this. You have done remarkable things over and over in your life. You regrew your own entire whole body, you socialized tiny robots, you can reevaluate your self-image another time without breaking down."

Doug blew out a long breath, and his shoulders relaxed fractionally. He hadn't expected anything less from Marie-Ange, but hearing it all from someone else still made a difference. "The cookie mercenaries keep updating their tactics - the ones outside the Starbucks had turned empty boxes into bookmarks with a QR code on them so you could order more online." It had been highly effective, especially being able to use the website to order from troops in other states that he'd heard good things about. "And I also got a whole case of the new brownie flavor sent to me." He didn't have to tell her who had sent them, there was only one person who sent that volume of cookies and seasonal Reese's treats. "They are absurdly decadent."

"I have a half case of Samoas, and a half case of the lemon ones." Marie-Ange said. "Mostly in the art studio, I cannot eat so many cookies before they get stale." She rested her head on Doug's shoulder. "Show me the cartoon bear please. I have interrogated you, and now you get to show me a pop culture."

The imp returned, carrying a box over its head like a well-earned trophy. It vanished after depositing the box in Doug's lap, and he pressed a button to cast the video from his computer to the larger screen on the wall. A boisterous tavern scene began to play, and Doug quietly pointed out all the important characters and their backgrounds.