Madelyn, Rahne - Sunday afternoon

[x-madelyn.livejournal.com]

Boiler Beach is getting quite the large amount of traffic... Madelyn and Rahne catch up and touch base, which is as much as Madelyn checking up on Rahne as it is small talk. There's much effort to not let certain cats out of certain bags when the topic of Catseye comes up.



Boiler Beach didn't smell like ocean, but this really wasn't a serious problem. Anyway, there were any number of shorelines where one could go and smell ocean but not necessarily have a nice lie-down in hot sand under warm (if simulated) sunlight. Rahne had looked in for a bit in human form, then gone to her room and changed to fur, which allowed her to sprawl in the sand all she liked as a wolf without worrying about sunscreen or swimsuits. And most of the sand would fall out of her fur when she shifted back.

She heard the door open and swiveled her head over her shoulder toward Dr. Bartlett, who entered under an enormous and floppy hat and made a beeline for the nearest deck chair. Rahne got up and trotted over with a small woof.

"Hello, Rahne." Madelyn got herself settled in the chair before reaching over to scratch behind the wolf's ears - the way she was panting, fur-stroking would not have been appreciated. "Good to see you somewhere other than medlab."

Rahne nudged her head into the scratching hand for a bit, then shifted to a transitional form in which she could actually answer, ending up crouched on the sand. "Aye, same to ye. This is nice."

"Jamie is nothing short of a genius. I haven't seen everyone in such a good mood since... well, since ever." Madelyn chuckled wryly, but she was taking stock of the young wolf-girl from under the brim of the hat - Moira's, actually. The large brim was good for hiding under, from more than just sun. "It's been a long few months, without the usual winter blues."

"Has it really?" Rahne asked a little vaguely. "I'm never quite sure how t'compare anymore."

"Sad, but true," Madelyn agreed. "Still, winter break coming up, Christmas and all... do you have any plans?"

"Er." Rahne had to stop and think about that. She and Reverend Craig had written lately, but neither of them had mentioned it. She should probably ask. She was on her eighth attempt to draw, as a gift, a wolf lying down with a lamb (well, sort of -- it was a rather large lamb, as the wolf was supposed to be looking up at it, and she was having trouble not having it remind her alarmingly of Hrimhari, which was not even remotely the right effect -- not to mention getting the lines right in general). "Not exactly. I think I need to try a different pose."

Madelyn blinked. "Different pose?" she asked, a little confused, not being a telepath and privy to all of that.

"Och, sorry, was thinking -- I'm trying to draw something, for Reverend Craig, and I canna get it to come out right so far. But no, no plans exactly yet."

"Plenty of time for something to turn up," Madelyn assured her, mentally making a note to invite Rahne home with her if the girl didn't make her own plans earlier. Although Carlie might be a tad on the bouncy side for her. "I think Moira and Nathan are planning some kind of New Year's party at Muir, so no doubt you'll be invited to that."

"Didna realize that...." Rahne frowned to herself. She should pay more attention. "Well. I should write home again anyway."

"They haven't exactly announced it yet - with Nathan having to rush off to Vegas like that, they didn't really have time to plan." And _that_ could cover any number of things... Damn it was hard keeping happy secrets. Reminding herself of patient confidentiality, Madelyn went on. "How are things going with you and home?"

"All right, I suppose." Granted, she wondered whether she should tell Reverend Craig more than she did about what happened at the school and what she thought of it, and whether he shouldn't be taking her home again just from what she *did* say -- of course, if she said what she really thought of most of it, everyone would be just as glad to see her go. "Ye'll be going home too, I imagine?"

Madelyn nodded. "It's not worth my life to miss Christmas at home. My mother is a scary woman when she's riled. Although horribly polite about it." Madelyn laughed, not at all serious. "I'll have to fend off pleas from my kid sister to visit here before semester starts again - hopefully the fact no-one will be here will be enough of a dampener for her."

"A bit too mad for her if we were?"

"No, she'd be horribly disappointed if you weren't. She's desperate to meet you all, even moreso after the stories Jubilee told her over Thanksgiving. So if you're not all here, she won't want to come." Madelyn rolled her eyes. "It's not that I don't want her to, it's just I have this image of one of our disasters happening and having to explain to our parents why I let my kid sister get hurt."

"'Twould be hard. I'd say I'd try to help look out for her, but I canna say I'd be much use, depending."

"You could always sit on her to make her stay put and out of trouble," Madelyn said with a fond grin. "And calm heads are a priority around here, so no saying you're not useful in a crisis. I don't know what we would have done without you in the medlab."

"Ye'd have a different third assistant, likely. If we're ever attacked by mad deer, though, I'm your lass."

"No-one else has shown the inclination." Madelyn leaned back in her deckchair, sighing a little at the warmth. "And people with an honest interest in medicine are rare, so we need to look after the ones we have as much as we can."

"They might just think there's no more place. I might have, if I hadna started before Amanda and Clarice did."

"With the regular cries of 'we're horribly overworked, gah'? I don't think so. And I keep an eye out amongst the anatomy and field medicine classes - so far, no-one's willing to give up their social time."

"Well, ye'd ken better than I, of course. Only, when I started, it wasna quite as busy -- or at least, it didna seem quite so bad from the outside -- and Marie-Ange was being taught to help with Manuel, so I knew Dr. McCoy felt he could take time to teach at least one."

"Believe me, it's not that much of a time suck, really. In fact, having you three down here saves us more time than you realise. I just hope we're not leaning on you too hard - yes, medlab's important, but so is having time to do other things. Like your shelter work?"

Rahne grinned a little at that. "There was a puppy I half wanted to bring back with me not so long ago -- the puppies go quicker, though, and he's off with quite a nice family. I think Tony and Karen will be just as happy if Catseye goes on being the hardest they've had to deal with, though!"

"I think Kyle and Forge would agree with them there," Madelyn said with a grin, remembering the exchange on the journals concerning 'bits'. "Still, she seems to be settling in well."

"*She* seems quite comfortable, aye," Rahne said drily. "I think, though, I willna ask Tony whether he'd prefer the clawed-up arms or her stalking him in the shower."

The doctor snickered. "Tough choice for any man, I think." She enjoyed Rahne's dry humour, when the girl relaxed enough to let it show. "Does she actually sleep in your room at all?"

"Sometimes, but I'm not too sure about at night?" Rahne shrugged a bit. "Then again, part of the time I wouldna be able to tell -- I spend some time out too. In the woods," she added rather hastily, "not in the lads' bedrooms!"

"I would never have thought you would," Madelyn reassured her. "And the stock of venison in the freezer is a pretty good indication of what you've been getting up to of a night. The deer getting any smarter?"

"Perhaps a bit, some of them. Still nothing like the ones in Asgard." There was, perhaps, a hint of wistfulness there, though the humor came back a little too as she continued, "I might have to borrow Kyle from Catseye a few times -- I think he'd like to have a try at them."

"If you explain to her it's for hunting, I'm sure she'll understand. Hunting's a sacred thing for cats." Madelyn remembered the mice on Moira's pillow and snickered.

"I'm fairly sure she doesna have sole claim on him anyway," Rahne said lightly. "She might come with us, though I'm not quite sure how a cat would go after a deer. We caught a rabbit together earlier. --Though I'm still not quite sure *why* Lady Moira was to have a rabbit."

"Maybe she needs feeding up?" Madelyn suggested innocently, lips twitching. This was so hard to keep bottled up.

Rahne gave her a sidelong and faintly suspicious look. "Maybe ye both do, for all Lorna's efforts. At least the rabbit seemed like it might be a wee bit tastier for her than the juicy mice."

"Oh, definitely. Mice casserole has never been one of my favourites..." Madelyn caught the suspicious look, and made an effort to control herself.

"Too much fur for that amount of meat, unless that's the best ye can get." Rahne said, straight-faced. "I'll have to try again if Catseye will explain her sudden urge to give presents. At least she didna object to the idea of wanting to cook the rabbit -- Hrimhari always thought that was a wee bit *odd*, if nothing else."

"Catseye I think, accepts a lot of weirdness from us humans because we don't know any better. And maybe she's just trying to show she's glad to be here?"

"I wouldna think she'd have been quite so coy if that were all, but then, cats are odd."

"Indeed they are," Madelyn agreed.