Lunch Meeting - Jay and Marius

[xp_icarus]

Marius and Jay have a lunch meeting about the clinic being built in District X, and Jay finds out re really really dislikes Marius.


Being professional was hard when he was this angry still, but Jay was getting good at it. And this Marius Laverne, who Jay had found out lived at the mansion and was a mutant himself which did calm a few of his worries, was punctual at the very least.

So Jay had a tight smile while he introduced himself and tried to keep his mind open. Then Laverne had to go and keep opening his mouth.

"Keep" was the operative word. Marius often fell back on letting his mouth run in the face of complex concepts like Emotions -- for example, the bizarre sensation which accompanied sitting across from a doppelganger of one's former flatmate. Holding space with his mouth whilst his brain had time to acclimate to new situations like a man slowly lowering himself into a scalding bath had always served Marius in good stead. His conversational partners, perhaps, less so. The only thing that could be said was that Marius would get back to them eventually.

"-do apologise again regarding the misunderstanding," said the Australian once he felt sufficiently settled enough to contend with Jay as an active participant in this encounter. "I hadn't intended to catch you by surprise, and of course I am grateful you are willing to share the results of labours conducted on behalf of Warren Cares. It would be a tragedy to let such hard work go to waste simply because the project has been discontinued."

Jay wasn't sure he'd ever been successfully condescended to as quickly and effectively as he was with Marius's prattling on. Who spoke like that? And the worst part is that it was harder to shake off the feeling of being dumb white trash when he couldn't get a word in edgewise- just talked at. Talked at and left to stew in the embarrassment of having to figure out just what the hell was being said, especially when Jay had always been good with language. Maybe it was just the cadence of how he talked.

Marius'd also picked a restaurant with a menu Jay couldn't even begin to read, not knowing a lick of French.

"Well, it wasn't your fault I didn't know," Jay said, consciously picking his words so he didn't seem uneducated. He didn't care much when talking to the other people who worked for Warren, but this was someone Warren liked and well. He didn't want Marius to think he was any stupider than he already seemed to. "I brought the plans for the buildings we've been looking at," Jay started, wanting to keep this all business, but the waiter interrupted them.

"Êtes-vous prêt à ordonner?"

Marius gave the menu a brief glance. "Oui, merci. Les moules farcies et le truite amandine, avec une bouteille de Château Lascombes Margaux, s'il vous plaît."

The waiter scribbled this down and turned to Jay. "Et pour vous, monsieur?" He asked.

It was one thing for Marius to speak more than one language. Good on him. It was another for him to be showy with it to the point where the waiter was expecting Jay to be able to speak it too. Thankfully, the (very scant) descriptions under the food was in English. "Er, the salad and the trout'll be fine for me, thanks," Jay said to the waiter.

What kinda place had he been dragged too? Did Laverne expect him to be able to speak French too? (Did Warren speak French? Was he the only one of him, Warren, and Illyana who could only speak one language?)

"Excellent choice," Marius remarked as the waiter withdrew, happily oblivious as only the chronically privileged could be. "I took the liberty of ordering a bottle of red to split" only a middle of the list Bordeaux, really, but some people experienced vicarious sticker shock, and he didn't want to put the younger man off on the off chance anything over $400 seemed excessive, "should you be so inclined. How long had you been toiling away at this project before its ignoble termination?"

"I don't drink," Jay said, not even sure why he was lying, even if it had a hint of truth. (He'd have a beer occasionally, but didn't particularly drink often. He'd always keep his nose out of the hard stuff, not wanting to squander himself like so many of his friends did to make pain go away).

He started to pull out his plans, hoping to get this done as fast as he could. "I've been working on it since March. I'd gotten the city to sign off on it," he added with a slight sense of bitterness that he had waded through all that legal jargon just to pass it off to someone else. "Had it narrowed down to three buildings."

"February, on my part. Had a bit of personal incentive to do something additive, and Dr. Grey expressed a need. I'd already done quite a bit of community canvassing and discussion, as well as engaged a few promising prospects for leadership positions. A majority need to be local to the centre, you know. Needs assessment was sorted a bit ago. My own board approval for funding already secured, of course. I was Executive Director of the Foundation before a recent sabbatical. Medical aid for mutants is our raison d'etre." Marius accepted the offered binders and began to page through them with a quick, professional eye. "The property assessments are quite useful. Site B I'd think we could rule out; it's a bit small, and I've engaged at least three providers on a rotating basis. General practice is two or three exam rooms per provider, and we'll need separate space for dental and behavioural health counseling. Site C is more favourably situated, but A is larger and poses fewer accessibility challenges. Interesting."

"Site C is more accessible by public transit," Jay pointed out, agreeing, letting himself skip all the chatter and bragging from Marius. Executive Director, sure. That probably meant Marius had others doin' all the detailed work for him, if Jay'd seen anything from how Warren worked. He seethed a little at the dismissal of site B, which while he's known was small, had been the one he'd been leaning towards since it was in the poorer section of DX where people were less likely to be able to go out of the district for medical care even if they weren't mutants. And it seemed big enough for him. Four exam rooms had seemed plenty enough. "And I've been seein' if'n we could expand into a few more floors above on site C with the right permits." He was terse when he spoke, all business, and looking at his own hand written notes on the community needs around the buildings.

Marius paused as the waiter returned with the Bordeaux, only realising as the drink was being poured for him that he'd been so deep in his old role he'd ordered it automatically. It was simply what one did at one of these lunches. However, his current disinclination towards the level of vulnerability created by inebriating substances notwithstanding, a glass with lunch would have hardly any effect. He accepted the drink and called it Growth.

"Access to transit is critical, particularly as we've a few partnerships arranged with other facilities amenable to the cause as well. Whilst direct transport can be arranged multiple options are never amiss." The Australian looked up from the binder to flash Jay a smile. "Well-spotted. Do you have experience in this area? Urban planning, perhaps?"

Jay gritted his teeth at what he perceived as patronizing or maybe just that insidious type of ignorance that made it seem like Marius was taking a joke out on him. Urban planning, him? Jay hadn't hardly even been anywhere urban until January of this year. This was just sheer common sense. Didn't need anything fancy to be sensical, though he doubted someone like Marius would be able to see that. "No," he said simply.

He looked over his own notes again, water next to him untouched so he wouldn't have to look at Marius's blindingly perfect smile.

"Alas, natural talent is a criminally underprized resource. I hope Mr. Worthington compensates yours accordingly." Marius closed the binder and set safely to one side; appetizers were imminent. If the tone of that syllable had registered at all, the reading wasn't strong enough to dim the smile by even a single watt. "I don't suppose you would be so kind as to accommodate me with a tour of the sites?"

Jay put on what he had once heard referred to as his "bless your heart" smile, face stiff in the effort. It felt like he was being talked about like a show dog. Jay did not, at all, care for the tone of how Marius spoke about others. He didn't think it was a good sign for someone in healthcare. "I certainly can do that," Jay said because he was a professional and had been doing things for his jobs he hated since he had first started working. He was grateful when the appetizers came and gave them an excuse not to speak.

Damn him, though. Marius Laverne could pick a good restaurant.

Comments

[xp_cannonball]

This was endlessly entertaining. I loved it.