Hope and Topaz: food delivery (backdated)

[xp_trance]

Hope brings Topaz some food to aid her recovery after her adventures.  

"I heard you needed a bit of strength back." Hope carefully put down the bag. "Now I am no nurse, nor a great cook, but I can order something. Some Thai carrot-paprika soup with sourdough toast from that little place you like so much." She headed for the kitchenette, digging around for a bowl and a spoon.  

Topaz gave Hope a small smile, rubbing her eyes. She'd been napping, kind of, but company that wasn't her cat was great. "Sounds brilliant. Thanks."

"Did you have a good nap?" Hope quickly ran some hot water around the bowl to warm up a little before pouring in the still steaming soup and arranging the toast on a plate. "There you go. It should still be nice and hot."

 

"Too much nap." Topaz pushed herself up, displacing Midnight, who hopped off to find her own food. "I'm tired of sleeping."

 

"Well, I could probably channel Dr. Grey and tell you that you are healing and need the rest, but I would say that you have been through enough scrapes to know what you need." Hope handed Topaz a spoon and butter knife before taking a seat next to her. "I would not be surprised if you are also getting a touch of cabin fever?" She raised her eyebrow questioningly. 

 

She laughed wryly in return, grabbing a piece of toast. "I can see walls. It's practically a miracle. That's all I need right now."

 

"There is no rush." Hope easily let go of the suggestion. "So I also brought this, but considering the doctor's orders.... it might be a tad too early for that?" From the bag she dug up a small bottle of wine and held it up. "I can put it in the fridge though for when you are ready?" 

 

"Yeah, definitely not on the list of approved things for a healthy recovery. But maybe to celebrate later."

 

"That sounds like a valid plan." Hope tucked the bottle away before refocusing on her friend: "I hope you have been settling in otherwise? From what I have picked up you had some interesting times. And I mean that in the way the saying was intended."  

 

Topaz raised an eyebrow, frowning slightly. "Interesting time lying around? Not really."

 

Hope gently nudged Midnight away when she playfully batted at a button of her blouse.: "You can sit here, Midnight. but only as long as your little claws stay put. Otherwise you will have to trouble your mom." Midnight batted at her button again and Hope quickly lifted the cat to drop her in Topaz' lap. "I was thinking more of your time in the abyss or whatever it is you call it? I've heard you are not speaking about it much.."

 

She shrugged, focusing a little much on her soup. "It was dark. Kind of cold. Not much to say about it, really."

 

 "Just one more notch on the 'crazy adventures at Xavier's' belt?" Hope smiled sympathetically. "I realized this week... in a few months it's been ten years since we've come here. Sometimes I look back and think... how did this become my life? And mine is far less crazy then yours."  

 

"What, is getting trapped in the void not a normal part of our lives now?" Topaz asked dryly. "At this point it's no weirder than anything else."

 

"If it falls under threat, fight or blow up... that I would categorize as a fairly normal part of our lives." Hope replied, just as dry. "I would say that getting trapped in the void is up there with our adventure with the Slender man or... I do not know... maybe getting chased around by dinosaurs? So still quite weird."

 

"Sometimes I think I need a vacation from this place. And then a vacation from the first vacation when that inevitably goes wrong."

 

"I freely admit it is probably safer not to take a vacation at all." Hope smiled wryly. "Even if only because when you truly take a vacation, one where nothing goes wrong, we will probably realize how strange this life is and we might run screaming into the night."  

 

"I dunno," Topaz said thoughtfully. "We've been here ten years. I think we're stuck forever now."

 

"In a way we are, I think... I know several of us have left and gone to find lives in the outside world, but somehow they often seem to come back as a boomerang." Hope shifted a little, almost wrapping her arms around herself. "Even if only because those who have lived here for some time can truly understand what we feel is normal and what is not. And that is with the two of us coming from relatively unusual backgrounds already." 

 

"There are worse places to keep going back to, I suppose."