xp_logs | Cecilia and Madelyn (Reply)

Monday, after classes, Cecilia grabs Madelyn by the scruff and drags her off to Harry's, to see if it's where her mind ran off to when she lost it and bugged Sarah into medlab. They talk about Sarah, death, the HeliX benefit, and spend a possibly disturbing amount of time discussing girly things. Like Victoria's Secret.

Madelyn had dug her heels in for all of two seconds, when she realised who it was and what they wanted. Now as they entered the beery atmosphere of Harry's, she raised an eyebrow at Cecilia. "Care to tell me exactly what brought all this on? Apart from a sudden bout of socialbility previously unheard-of in you?"

"Unless the school has two girls named Sarah with bone- and healing-related mutations, I spent fifteen minutes last night digging glass out of my favorite person's hand," Cecilia replied quietly, practically sagging in relief the second she was through the door. She was growing very, very fond of Harry's. "Beer me, Maddie."

"As good as done - a pitcher and two glasses, Harry." Steering Cecilia towards 'their' booth, Madelyn shook her head in bemusement. "I'm not sure what I find scarier, the fact you asked Sarah to let you dig glass out of her hand or the fact she let you."

"I hung around and bothered her until she let me," Cecilia shrugged as she let herself be steered, sliding easily into her side of the booth once they'd arrived. "It worked on Illyana, too." She paused. "Yana didn't have a 'do it in a half hour or I start throwing pointy things at your head' clause, though."

"Sarah must like you - I usually get fifteen minutes." Madelyn looked up as the pitcher arrived. "Thanks, Harry. Medical emergency." "You're welcome, doc." Harry shuffled off behind the bar again and Madelyn started pouring. "Seriously, roomie, you seem to have a knack for our problem patients. Maybe I should let you have Nathan the next time he's brought in?"

"Nathan's not a problem patient, he's just trying to convince us to start a Frequent Fliers program," Cecilia snorted, waiting patiently for the drinks to be poured before reaching out to claim one for her own. "Unless he's changed his tactics, I mean. In which case, I'd be happy to smack him upside the head before fixing him up again. It worked well, last time." Not an experienced beer drinker, she eyed the glass with a small amount of wariness as her head worked on shifting over from 'let's go buy beer' to 'let's drink the beer we bought'. "I don't think I have a knack for problem patients so much as I'm just more stubborn than they are. Happy to be of service, anyway."

"Nathan's... improving. He used to have a real problem with staying put - I had to chew him out for it once, pointing out he was really being a horrible example to that rag-tag bunch of kids he's managed to collect." Madelyn had no reservations when it came to the drinking of beer and started on hers. "I even managed to get him to let me stitch him up and give him a tetanus jab yesterday." At Cecilia's curious look, she explained. "He's taken on Sarah as a sparring partner. Explains her glass as well."

Cecilia arched an eyebrow, blinking once at the new information - she hadn't seen a need to ask who Sarah'd been fighting with to get glass in her hand, because who wouldn't fight with her, really? After a moment considering this, she nodded, scooped up her glass, and had a quick drink. "Nate's a glutton for punishment," she declared solemnly. "This isn't going to do a number on Moira's ulcer, is it?"

"And then some," Madelyn agreed. "Still, he did have a point - someone needs to start working with her, trying to get through that... attitude, brainwashing, whatever the hell you want to call it she got from the Morlocks, and Nathan does have some common ground with her. And she tends to have _some_ respect for those who'll spar with her." She shook her head, had another mouthful of beer. "Why do I get the feeling it's all going to end in tears? And possibly blood?"

"Because that's how life always ends," Cecilia replied reasonably, glancing down at her drink before returning her attention to Madelyn. "One or the other, sometimes with both." Another shrug of a shoulder, and she began to idly trace patterns in the sheen of 'sweat' on her glass with her fingertip. "I'd hope people have been trying to work with her already. How long has it been since all that happened? It was well before I got here, I know that much."

"June," Madelyn replied. She gave a helpless kind of shrug. "And it's not like we abandoned her to that basement and left her to fend for herself. Early on... we learned the hard way, Sarah doesn't react well to being handled. Or told. Or even listened to. Most of us she holds in pretty obvious contempt. And it's hard to achieve anything when someone's fighting you tooth and nail."

"Apparently, nagging her incessantly works wonders," Cecilia mused, grinning wryly across the table. "Though I wouldn't reccomend it, in case you catch her on a bad day. She can't stab me," in theory, "but you and Hank aren't nearly as protected."

"Before June, I doubt even that would've worked..." mused the older doctor, sipping meditatively at her drink. "Not to take the shine off your success, kiddo, but what happened in June... I think it shook her up more than she generally lets on." At least, Madelyn hoped that. The alternative was more disturbing.

"She doesn't strike me as a poster child for honest communication, Maddie. Of course it shook her up more than she lets on, she doesn't let on that it shook her up at all, from what I can gather." Cecilia rolled her eyes, waving a hand in exasperation. "Death doesn't just breeze through and not leave some kind of a taint on a person. Look at me, for God's sake. I'd be a much different person today if we hadn't had a run-in or two before."

"It's the type of taint on her I'm worried about," Madelyn said, squelching a spark of irritation. Of course she knew all this. Oh for some actual ability with words - hers had seemed to have left her recently. "I'd much rather her having some kind of nervous breakdown in the basement than having another try at what she started, regardless of the consequences, and getting more of the team injured, possibly killed." She struggled to get her temper back under control, and went on in a far more reasonable tone. "Sarah... bothers me. So I'm not the most impartial person to speak to. I acknowledge she's a troubled kid and needs help, but for once that help can't come from me, unless it's purely physical. Besides, I'm an ER doctor, not a shrink. I've already established that well and truly."

Blinking slowly, Cecilia eyed the other woman with a faint tilt of her head, lowering her glass back to the table after only making it halfway to her lips. "I'm on your side, Madelyn," she observed gently. "We've spoken about her before. Remember me, with the trying not to panic and the uncomfortableness? This is what we're doing here." She leant back in her seat, drawing in a deep breath. "Let's just change the subject. Discussing it isn't doing much for not thinking about it."

Madelyn ran her hands through her hair, dragging out the hairband holding it back in a rough ponytail in the process. "I'm sorry, Cece," she said, taking a deep breath and striving for a far-more normal tone. "Just... gah. Let's just say I'm batting zero when it comes to actually having any beneficial effect on the people around me, besides putting stitches in them."

With a snort, Cecilia stretched out a leg to give the other woman a (gentle!) kick in the shin. "You're not batting zero, you yutz. You've gotten me to the point where I drag you out. There will be no more moping, nor brooding, nor self-flagellation, or else I'll subject you to just how awful I am at playing pool before we go home. Nobody wants to be exposed to that, Maddie."

"Heaven forbid," Madelyn said with a grin. "Okay, no more. Must be the bloody kids getting to me, I swear..." She shifted, propping her back against the end of the booth and stretching her legs along the seat, out of reach of Cecilia's feet. "Soooo... I couldn't help notice an interesting choice of date at the dinner on Saturday."

Cecilia only suspected foul play involved in Madelyn's change in position after the change in topic - crafty woman, now she didn't have anything to kick. "It wasn't a date," she replied, quirking an eyebrow in amusement. "Shan just didn't see a problem with being a human shield for a friend for a night."

"Of course it wasn't," Madelyn replied, but there was a twinkle in her eyes that showed she wasn't done with the teasing just yet. "You just spent all that time in the bathroom for a friends-only thing."

"It was a damned gala," Cecilia snorted, crossing her arms defensively. Oh, damn that twinkle, it would be haunting her nightmares, she knew it. "You would have prefered if I dragged myself there in jeans and a t-shirt, maybe?"

"No. But for someone who was determined to not go at all, you certainly made an effort. New outfit, jewellery... and were those tags from 'Victoria's Secret' I saw in the trash?" Madelyn timed her last until Cecilia had her beer raised to her mouth.

Good news: Cecilia didn't spit her beer all over Madelyn. Bad news (or possibly more good news): she had to stop coughing before she could say anything at all. "Why Madelyn," she finally croaked, lightly thumping herself in the chest. "Have you taken an interest in my underwear? Do we need to discuss working relationships?"

"No, just being a snoop," Madelyn said cheerfully, handing Cecilia a handful of napkins to clean up the mess. "Besides, I can't kick you."

Cecilia accepted the napkins with a roll of her eyes, waiting to wipe her mouth before she replied. "I'm a nice person, and I won't smother you in your sleep.. or eye you and Haroun sidelong and make suggestive comments once one or both of you are out of earshot. That would be petty and wrong."

"Indeed it would," Madelyn agreed. "Not to mention spark off a prank war the likes of Jamie Madrox has never seen before, not having access to fun things like local anaesthetic."

"Yes, Doctor Twinkletoes," Cecilia chuckled. "I'm just glad I got out of dancing. Not quite ready to do more than be a wallflower in big crowds like that."

"I was glad to see you there," said Madelyn, with a warm smile. "Was it as horrible as you'd anticipated? Teasing aside, you did seem to be enjoying yourself."

"There weren't any mobs with pitchforks," Cecilia admitted grudgingly, propping her chin up in a hand. "Just.. not really my scene. Somewhat phenominally out of my league. Shan was very stubborn about entertaining me so I didn't sneak out early."

"You weren't the only one feeling out of their depth," Madelyn said, remembering the various ill-at-ease expressions on several faces. "The next time there's a party it'll be much less intimidating. That sort of thing only happens... actually, we've never done something like that before. And it's not like we have Prom or anything."

"So there won't be any puppy dog eyes coming from you about going to be fancy-schmancy parties anytime soon?" Cecilia asked hopefully, one corner of her mouth twitching upwards into a teasing grin. "Surely you're just trying to butter me up for something else now."

"No more fancy schmancy parties, even if you did look absolutely gorgeous in that dress." Madelyn held her hand up as she promised. "I can't say I won't nag you into something else, though. Like whatever's planned for Halloween..." That twinkle was back.

"There! See?" Cecilia pointed accusingly across the table - though the effect was softened by the grin on her face. "Flattery and promises, to butter me up, and then you start in on that again! What's planned for Halloween is staying home and reading a freakin' book, thank you."

Madelyn... well, cackled wouldn't be an untrue description. "You sure? Lots of kids hyped up on too much candy, rambunctious teens with powers... Come to think of it, a book sounds like a good idea." She shrugged, grinning. "Too bad Shinobi already bought me leather."

"First a slinky dress, now leather? I should be good and add 'no cradle-robbing jokes' to my list of saint-worthy acts, right?" Cecilia eyed Madelyn amusedly, and finally - finally - got up the bravery to pick up her drink again.

"When his girlfriend could skewer me quite easily and probably would, perhaps that'd be a good idea," Madelyn said dryly. "We aren't all spike-proof."

"I'll be good," Cecilia promised, putting one hand over her heart. "If I let her skewer you, who would I have left to keep out of my underwear drawer? It's good for the ego."