xp_logs | Jess and Sooraya

Immovable object, meet unstoppable force. Aka Jess has no idea how to respond to tea and cookies.

Jessica was regretting trying to get a better lay of the land in the mansion. It wasn't just that staying upright and breathing both still hurt like a bitch, though that was true; it was a struggle not to lean forward when she walked. Ironically, the pain was actually a welcome distraction from the real problem, which was the nauseating sense of déjå vu that seemed to invade her entire body every time she turned a corner. Fragments of sense-memories - sounds, smells, even tastes - flashed with every room, stronger in some.

She'd stopped in the lounge on the main floor, leaning on her forearms against the back of a tall, luxuriously upholstered chair. She was just going to catch her breath, try to stop shaking, God, and then she was going to go back to the nice, empty room they'd given her and not come out unless an angel appeared with a bottle of whiskey.

Sooraya glanced up from the budgets she was digesting. Usually she worked from her office, but the walls had been coming at her today and she'd never liked numbers. Her eyes narrowed when she spotted a pale woman with dark messy hair and a leather jacket leaning on the chair as if her life depended on it. She didn't immediately recognize her, but with the report David has shared it could only be one person.

Slowly she rose from the chair, making sure to make some noise, and gently asked: "Jessica, right? Are you okay?"

Jessica had still started at the noise, the sudden hitch in her breath making her wince unmistakably. "Uh - fuck, sorry." She shook her head, taking in the shorter hijabi woman. “I didn’t mean to - “ She paused to take a breath, still winded. “Didn’t mean to interrupt you. I’ll go, uh, just. In a minute.”

"It might be good to sit for a bit first... before you head back?" Sooraya suggested, simply holding out her hand as she approached.

Jess shied away awkwardly from the touch, but, taking stock of how she was doing, nodded reluctantly. "I guess - that might not be a bad idea," she admitted, a little grudgingly, standing up and away from the chair with obvious effort. "You don't, um. That's okay?"

"Let me help you... I'm worried you'll fall over and then we have to bring in more people. I'm getting the feeling that's something you're not a fan of." Without waiting for a reply, Sooraya slipped a hand under Jess' elbow, resting the other gently against her back. "Now, I wasn't quite following you there. What's okay?"

Jessica managed not to fully flinch at the touch, but it did help, letting Sooraya gently guide her to a chair. Sitting was, as always, the worst (other than standing up, sneezing, turning abruptly, or lying in bed completely still). "Sorry. I just meant - you're working, I don't want to take you away from it."

"Oh, those are just budgets. I can do with a break." Sooraya made sure Jessica was settled safely. "Is there anything else I can do for you? Someone you'd like me to call or someone from the medlab to come up?"

"No," Jessica said too quickly, shaking her head. "I'll be fine. I just, maybe, overdid it, I guess." She ran a hand through her hair, not so much smoothing it as mussing it in a different direction. She frowned, taking a second look at Sooraya's face. "Did I, uh, know you? When I was here before?"

"Only in passing. Saying hi to each other in the kitchen and that kind of stuff." Sooraya glanced at the small kitchenette. "Now, when was the last time you had something to drink? I was having some fresh ginger tea with lemon and orange, but there is still some left."

Jess shifted uncomfortably, watching Sooraya with a complicated expression - unused to people asking after her, and wondering why someone would. "I had . . . coffee," she ventured finally, not offering a time.

"Only some coffee?" Sooraya headed over to the kitchenette, frowning as she glanced back over her shoulder. "How about joining me for some tea and cookies? Ginger can be great if your stomach is feeling a little iffy and cookies never hurt. I have some homemade chocolate chip or just some simple biscuits."

Brow creasing, Jess moved as though she was going to stand, and realized immediately that she was absolutely not standing for at least a few more minutes, let alone fleeing this social interaction with all due haste. "Uh," she said, alarmed, with the same expression as a cat trapped on a table at the vet's office with no prospect of escape. "It's fine, I'll just - I can just sit for a few minutes."

"You know..." Sooraya stated rather matter of fact as filled the kettle. "Something to eat and drink might just help you to feel a little more steady on your feet. So I have plain black tea here as well and if you aren't quick, I think I might just go for the chocolate chip ones. What is it gonna be?"

Jess didn't always know when she was beat, but this time she had a pretty clear idea, even if Sooraya made her - distinctly uncomfortable, in a way that she didn't understand. "That sounds, um, good," she said finally and a little awkwardly, keeping her eyes on the other woman. Her breathing did seem to be steadying, a little, now.

"Black tea and chocolate chip cookies it is." Sooraya organized the cookies and got out a cup and tea bag while the kettle slowly came to a boil. It was also a good excuse to give Jessica the chance to settle a little... even if it would only be a tiny bit.

Jessica didn't quite know what to do with herself, though something about this seemed to be grounding her; the nausea she'd felt earlier, and indeed the double-vision sensation overlaid over everything she saw, was fading, bringing her pounding heart rate down with it. She watched Sooraya preparing things almost surreptitiously, glancing away anytime she thought she might be caught staring.

Luckily water boiled quickly enough and she poured it in the cup, finally bringing over the tray with some of her own tea and Jessica's black tea, along with the plate of cookies. "Here we go. Probably still a little hot though." Sooraya took her own seat again and held out the plate with cookies with a smile. "I put on a few of each. Go on, grab one. Both are pretty good."

"Uh - thanks." Jess took a cookie awkwardly, ill-at-ease. "So do you live here? Or just work here?" She paused. "Shit. I didn't even ask your name."

Sooraya took a cookie of her own and settled back in her chair. "No worries, I also totally forgot about that... stupidly enough. I am Sooraya. And I both live and partially work here. My suite is on the third floor and my office is about..." She counted mentally in her head, a small smile playing around her lips. "... four doors and two hallways away."

Jess had taken the opportunity to break off a corner of her cookie and eat it; she wrapped a hand around her mug, just absorbing some of the heat. "What do you, uh, do here? Are you an - " Okay, this felt so incredibly stupid to ask - "An X-Man?"

"It's one of the things I do. Been that for about eleven years now or so. That's not really what I use the office for though... I am active in District X and the Underground, mostly making sure the kids there get an education as much as possible. And various other small bits and pieces." Sooraya explained, nibbling from her own cookie.

"District X is down on the lower east side, right? Mu - uh, the mutant neighborhood." Jess only barely managed not to call it mutie town. "What's the Underground? Like the subway or something?"

So the Underground was something she didn't remember. "Oh, I will explain about the Underground sometime later then." Sooraya quickly waved it away. "But yeah, the mutant neighborhood sounds about right. Not an area of town where you usually come?"

Even in her current state, it occurred to Jess that admitting that she'd avoided it religiously in the same way she avoided gang territory and department stores was not going to go over great. She turned the teacup in her hands. "Uh - not really. My work never really took me over there." She frowned suddenly. "You work there? And it's - uh, safe?" Jess's memory of the place was abandoned buildings and rotting infrastructure, a place even she felt ill-at-ease in.

"It's reasonably safe, though not complete. There is even a community center now." Sooraya's smiled hardened just a little. "I do know how to take care of myself if needed. Luckily I haven't had to do that a lot."

That was - not exactly what Jess had expected from Sooraya, but of course they were in the bougie version of mutie town out here anyway. Who knew what anyone could do? Even the sarcastic dork could set people on fire with his mind. Well, one of him could. "A community center? That's new," she said, searching the deepest recesses of her brain for 'conversations that you can have with a nice person' and coming up pitifully blank. "So what do you, um, do? Over there?"

"It's kinda like a home base in DX for the stuff I do. I'll show you around sometimes if you'd like that." Sooraya reached for another cookie, her voice gentling as she asked: "So what about you?"

"Me?" Jessica's brain produced nothing more than an Error: 404 Not Found page, and her hands froze in the action of turning the teacup. What did she do? Did it count when she hadn't been able to do it successfully enough to pay her own rent for months on end? It took her too long to find words. "I - uh, I'm a private investigator. Nothing exciting. A lot of divorce cases, some process serving, stuff like that." She swallowed the uncertainty by taking a sip of tea.

"A private investigator? I know a few of those." Sooraya smiled mischievously. "Are you any good?"

"Uh . . . " The image of the eviction notice on her front door was inescapable, here, even if the non-memory of losing time made her chest hurt; unconsciously, she brought one hand up to her collarbone in response. "I did okay," she said finally. "I guess I've kind of, um, been a little out of it for a while." Just a mild and innocuous understatement.

"Do you hope to get back to it once you've recovered a little?" Jessica seemed so tense... definitely something some was going on here... Sooraya pushed the cookie platter closer. "Don't hesitate to grab one more if you like them."

"Well, yeah," Jess said. She did take another cookie; they were good, and now that her heart rate had calmed and her breathing had evened out, she found she was actually a little bit hungry, even if the conversation itself was uncomfortable. "It's my job, you know? And I'm not exactly qualified to do anything else, anyway. Once I figure out how to pay for - " She cut herself off. Complaining that she was broke, homeless and office less was just lame.

"You have a little time to figure it out." Sooraya leaned forward a little, hoping to reassure. "We're not just going to kick you out and we do have other ways of helping if you need it. Focus on resting and feeling a bit better first." She advised gently.

Rather than looking reassured, Jessica instead looked deeply uncomfortable, her hands awkward on her teacup. "I'll figure it out," she said, avoiding Sooraya's eyes. "People get back on their feet all the time." Did those people have more than $17.21 in a checking account and four identical Xavier's Institute t-shirts? Who could say, really.

"You know... I was born in Afghanistan, but I came here when I was around fourteen, fifteen... we're not entirely sure how old I was. Thing is... I'd been held and rescued... and when I came here I was given food, clothing and shelter without any questions asked. They made sure I got an education and that I had what I needed, so I could stand on my own two feet if needed..." Sooraya had to smile a little. "I know you're gonna say: 'But you were only a kid!' But that's not the point. I needed help and I got it."

Well, she was only a kid; fourteen, Jesus Christ. Jessica felt her chest constrict, though outwardly the tension only appeared around her dark eyes, since she kept her hands on her tea. "I'm . . . " She trailed off, not sure what to say. She finally settled on, "I'm glad they did that for you," not committing herself to wanting or needing that help, or deserving it, either.

"Me too. It has become my home." Sooraya snorted. "I'm not saying all roses and sunshine, but it is a safe place for you to recover. And if you want to pay it forward once you have recovered and found your footing... we'll find a way for that too."

Jess looked dubious. "How's that?" she asked. "I don't think I'm actually qualified to, uh, do anything like this." She gestured around them, at the mansion in general.

"I don't believe that. And like I said, it is not an obligation or something." Sooraya made sure to stress that. "But if you are wondering... there are always clothes to be sorted, books to be stacked and boxes to be carried." She wanted to add something else, but her eyes narrowed when she noticed Jess her eyes drooping a little. "But we can talk about this later, when you've had the chance to think. For now... you should finish your tea and get some rest."

Boxes, Jess could probably carry, but she managed not to blurt that out just because she was feeling increasingly ill-at-ease next to the calm and matter-of-fact woman across from her. "That's . . . probably a good idea," she admitted, taking another sip of tea. Okay, she normally did think tea was just brown water, but this was . . . really nice brown water?

Sooraya retrieved her paperwork from the side table and tucked it away before rising. "Why don't I walk with you to your room? Then I will clean up here."

"I - you don't have to. I'll be okay." Belying this, Jessica levered herself with difficulty to standing, pain creasing her face momentarily before she could get it under control.

"Yeah, let's not argue about that right now." Sooraya ignored the dark look Jessica gave her and slipped a hand under her elbow. "Off to your bed we go."