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xp_logs2004-10-23 09:51 pm
x-dazzler.livejournal.com) wrote in xp_logs2004-10-23 09:51 pm
Log [Alison & Madelyn] The mechanics thereof...
Alison & Madelyn, Monday evening. Alison decides to edumacate herself about some things and after a spot of teasing, Madelyn is more than happy to oblige.
Heart attacks are bad! You're a doctor, I shouldn't have to explain these things to you!
This was... embarrassing. Very much so. Frowning, Alison turned away from the medlab (again) and headed towards the stairs leading back upstairs (again). And stopped with one hand on the railing, chewing on her lower lip. Again. But it couldn't hurt to ask, even if she was misreading everything and being plain stupid and it made sense to know. And understand. Right? She turned around (again) and headed back in the direction of the medlab (again) only to pause in the doorway, looking confused. Again.
It possibly wasn't very polite to stand quietly in the shadows and watch Alison dither, but Madelyn couldn't help herself. She'd been putting away from of their recently delivered supplies when she'd caught sight of Alison. Dithering. There was definitely dithering going on.
"Need something in particular, or just getting your exercise in a new and amusing way?" she asked at last.
"Eep!" Jumping nearly a foot in the air and making a very creditable attempt at levitation, Alison tried not to have a heart attack. She leaned in the doorway of the medlab once her feet were solidly planted on the ground again, one hand pressed over her heart. "What is it with people and startling me like that, lately? Huh?"
"You're not paying attention?" Madelyn suggested, coming out of the storeroom shadows and closing the door behind her. "Besides, it always pays to include a variety of exercise in your daily workout."
"Heart attacks are bad! You're a doctor, I shouldn't have to explain these things to you," Alison muttered indignantly. "Meanie." Oh yes, that was a sulky tone of voice and the pout only re-enforced things. She followed Madelyn as she headed deeper into the medlab however, trailing after her with a slight frown and an absent expression.
"You were the one explaining to me that you were so fit you were all muscle and that's why the tranq dart hurt," Madelyn pointed out. "A little scare isn't going to kill you, in that case." She was acting on automatic pilot - had been, since the blood drive, and found herself heading for the stack of reports on Illyana Rasputin that needed updating following her release. Then she realised Alison was still following her. "Um, Ali? Any reason you've decided to become my shadow? I slept last night, I swear. Cross my heart and hope to d..." With a barely perceptible wince, she amended that to: "... Hope to be shot with my own tranq gun." The D word was one she was going to be avoiding for another day or two. At least until Doug was released.
The hesitation was noticed but it wasn't as though Alison could blame her so instead she just stopped short of walking straight into Madelyn, looking at her after a moment with a strangely intense gaze. "Haroun and I had something of a talk this morning. Nothing big, he's just grounded himself since what happened with the sniper and I wasn't hearing him in the soundscape anymore and-" she stopped shaking her head. "I'm rambling. Sorry. He told me more - well, everything really. About the cybernetics?" Alison chewed on her lower lip for a moment, back ramrod straight, arms crossed. "Without breaking confidentiality of course, could you - explain that to me in depth a bit more?"
"Ah." Madelyn thought for a moment, and suddenly the dithering made sense. "Ah-hah," she added, a little triumphantly. Then she caught the expression on Alison's face and decided to draw this out, just a little. If only for the making her beg for waffles most pathetically. "Hmm."
"I understand if you'd rather not," Alison said lowly, looking down for a moment. She should be asking him of course, only he already had enough to think on and he'd been calm by the time they'd gone back to the mansion and she hadn't had the heart to bring up the subject again. Also, she admitted to herself, she'd still been rather dazed. Still was even. And it was stupid to ask it probably was only her imagination but she... needed to make sure, somehow. That she understood all of this clearly. Just because.
"When you say he told you 'everything', how much of everything was it?" Madelyn asked, noting the confusion. And the worry. But mostly the confusion. It looked like Haroun's cause wasn't lost entirely, for whatever it was worth. Madelyn could predict she would be spending a lot more time on the blood filter than usual once the two of them stopped being so dense and actually talked about it. "Just so I know what bounds I'm stepping."
Alison's focus turned inwards as she recalled the exact words Haroun had said. "That he's fifty percent artificial, no genitals though he still has an implant to take care of normal hormone production there. And the blood filtering." Alison looked briefly guilty for a moment as she glanced at the table she'd been leaning on when taunting Haroun with the Synthsilk not so long ago. "And it's one thing to have that mentioned to you by someone who knows what they're talking about and don't need to explain when, well... you don't know all the mechanics?"
"Ah," Madelyn said again, but this time with a lot more sympathy. "Well, I can pretty much confirm all of that. And give you the non-engineer's guide. It's all pretty complicated, 'though - was there anything in particular you wanted explained?" Okay, some sympathy, but she wasn't entirely letting Alison off the hook here. And it was true - Haroun's cybernetics were insanely complicated if you weren't Hank McCoy, and she doubted Alison wanted a detailed description of his digestive systems.
Something, Alison knew, she should have done quite a while ago. "What do in case of an emergency on a mission. First and foremost." Her tone had gone not quite businesslike but close. "Everyone on the team knows first aid at the very least, but I'm not sure that'd be much good for Haroun with certain types of injuries. I'd trust you to cover what you think is important with the rest."
"I can do that - want to step into my office for a bit? I promise the coffee isn't spiked this time." Madelyn headed that way, Alison following. "Was there anything else you wanted to know?"
"No." She hesitated though, as they entered the office and the door closed behind them. "Actually... maybe there is, at that. About..."
Heart attacks are bad! You're a doctor, I shouldn't have to explain these things to you!
This was... embarrassing. Very much so. Frowning, Alison turned away from the medlab (again) and headed towards the stairs leading back upstairs (again). And stopped with one hand on the railing, chewing on her lower lip. Again. But it couldn't hurt to ask, even if she was misreading everything and being plain stupid and it made sense to know. And understand. Right? She turned around (again) and headed back in the direction of the medlab (again) only to pause in the doorway, looking confused. Again.
It possibly wasn't very polite to stand quietly in the shadows and watch Alison dither, but Madelyn couldn't help herself. She'd been putting away from of their recently delivered supplies when she'd caught sight of Alison. Dithering. There was definitely dithering going on.
"Need something in particular, or just getting your exercise in a new and amusing way?" she asked at last.
"Eep!" Jumping nearly a foot in the air and making a very creditable attempt at levitation, Alison tried not to have a heart attack. She leaned in the doorway of the medlab once her feet were solidly planted on the ground again, one hand pressed over her heart. "What is it with people and startling me like that, lately? Huh?"
"You're not paying attention?" Madelyn suggested, coming out of the storeroom shadows and closing the door behind her. "Besides, it always pays to include a variety of exercise in your daily workout."
"Heart attacks are bad! You're a doctor, I shouldn't have to explain these things to you," Alison muttered indignantly. "Meanie." Oh yes, that was a sulky tone of voice and the pout only re-enforced things. She followed Madelyn as she headed deeper into the medlab however, trailing after her with a slight frown and an absent expression.
"You were the one explaining to me that you were so fit you were all muscle and that's why the tranq dart hurt," Madelyn pointed out. "A little scare isn't going to kill you, in that case." She was acting on automatic pilot - had been, since the blood drive, and found herself heading for the stack of reports on Illyana Rasputin that needed updating following her release. Then she realised Alison was still following her. "Um, Ali? Any reason you've decided to become my shadow? I slept last night, I swear. Cross my heart and hope to d..." With a barely perceptible wince, she amended that to: "... Hope to be shot with my own tranq gun." The D word was one she was going to be avoiding for another day or two. At least until Doug was released.
The hesitation was noticed but it wasn't as though Alison could blame her so instead she just stopped short of walking straight into Madelyn, looking at her after a moment with a strangely intense gaze. "Haroun and I had something of a talk this morning. Nothing big, he's just grounded himself since what happened with the sniper and I wasn't hearing him in the soundscape anymore and-" she stopped shaking her head. "I'm rambling. Sorry. He told me more - well, everything really. About the cybernetics?" Alison chewed on her lower lip for a moment, back ramrod straight, arms crossed. "Without breaking confidentiality of course, could you - explain that to me in depth a bit more?"
"Ah." Madelyn thought for a moment, and suddenly the dithering made sense. "Ah-hah," she added, a little triumphantly. Then she caught the expression on Alison's face and decided to draw this out, just a little. If only for the making her beg for waffles most pathetically. "Hmm."
"I understand if you'd rather not," Alison said lowly, looking down for a moment. She should be asking him of course, only he already had enough to think on and he'd been calm by the time they'd gone back to the mansion and she hadn't had the heart to bring up the subject again. Also, she admitted to herself, she'd still been rather dazed. Still was even. And it was stupid to ask it probably was only her imagination but she... needed to make sure, somehow. That she understood all of this clearly. Just because.
"When you say he told you 'everything', how much of everything was it?" Madelyn asked, noting the confusion. And the worry. But mostly the confusion. It looked like Haroun's cause wasn't lost entirely, for whatever it was worth. Madelyn could predict she would be spending a lot more time on the blood filter than usual once the two of them stopped being so dense and actually talked about it. "Just so I know what bounds I'm stepping."
Alison's focus turned inwards as she recalled the exact words Haroun had said. "That he's fifty percent artificial, no genitals though he still has an implant to take care of normal hormone production there. And the blood filtering." Alison looked briefly guilty for a moment as she glanced at the table she'd been leaning on when taunting Haroun with the Synthsilk not so long ago. "And it's one thing to have that mentioned to you by someone who knows what they're talking about and don't need to explain when, well... you don't know all the mechanics?"
"Ah," Madelyn said again, but this time with a lot more sympathy. "Well, I can pretty much confirm all of that. And give you the non-engineer's guide. It's all pretty complicated, 'though - was there anything in particular you wanted explained?" Okay, some sympathy, but she wasn't entirely letting Alison off the hook here. And it was true - Haroun's cybernetics were insanely complicated if you weren't Hank McCoy, and she doubted Alison wanted a detailed description of his digestive systems.
Something, Alison knew, she should have done quite a while ago. "What do in case of an emergency on a mission. First and foremost." Her tone had gone not quite businesslike but close. "Everyone on the team knows first aid at the very least, but I'm not sure that'd be much good for Haroun with certain types of injuries. I'd trust you to cover what you think is important with the rest."
"I can do that - want to step into my office for a bit? I promise the coffee isn't spiked this time." Madelyn headed that way, Alison following. "Was there anything else you wanted to know?"
"No." She hesitated though, as they entered the office and the door closed behind them. "Actually... maybe there is, at that. About..."