xp_logs | Shiro & Clarice

Set last Tuesday after Clarice *finally* gets her phonecall to become an EMT. She and Shiro celebrate - and discuss the bigotry she might face

As soon as Clarice hung up the phone she teleported to Shiro's room to see if he was there. If she could have made her teleportation disks bounce with her enthusiasm, she would have as she almost tumbled out of her own disk and onto his floor. "Shiro!" she squealed, trying to catch herself before she landed on her head, "I...meant to do that!"

They needed a rule: no teleporting in the room during and immediately after showertime. Shiro was in the middle of getting dressed, and had just zipped the jeans' fly as Clarice tumbled inside. His first instinctive reaction was to go nuclear on the intruder, until he realized who it was. Then his next reaction was to grab the t-shirt on his bed and try to regain some semblance of modesty. At least he had pants on. "You need to not do that!"

"What?" she asked, looking up at him. Mmmm, no shirt. "It's not like I've never seen your shirtless!" okay, at least not since they'd started dating. "Besides, this is more important than what you aren't wearing!"

She had a point, and they'd been together long enough that they should have been throwing modesty out the window. Putting his shirt back down on the bed, he raised an eyebrow questioningly. "What is so important that you have made me lose at least ten years of life?"

"I got a job!" she blurted out, jumping up to hug him in one fluid motion. "I got a REAL job!"

"Wonderful!" he said, wrapping his arms around her and offering her a deep and slow kiss. "That means that you will be able to start buying me pretty things, ne?"

"Of course!" she agreed, returning the kiss, "I need a bathing suit. Not that black one I made either."

"If you require any help carrying bags as you try on different suits, I offer my services," he told her, grinning. "Tell me about this job. What is it and when do you start?"

"You can always carry bags, oh gallant Ronin," Clarice giggled at the midieval and Japanese mixed references, "I'm gonna be an EMT," at his slightly befuddled look she explained, "Emergency Medical Technition. So I get to race around in an ambulance doing medical things!"

"You should be your own ambulance, since you can get people to and fro much more quickly than an automobile can." Shiro paused, and then frowned. "Wait. Is this the position you were rejected from last week?"

"Uh...yeah," Clarice looked slightly embarassed.

He blinked, confused. "What happened? Did someone who was accepted decide to decline the invitation, so they extended it to you instead?" That was only logical explanation he could come up with.

"They found they had two positions open," Clarice explained, blushing magenta, "And Dr. Bartlet found out they didn't hire me because I'm a mutant. Yay affirmative action?"

"Affirmative action, indeed," Shiro snorted. "They did not hire you at first because you are a mutant? That is ridiculous. At this point, I cannot fathom why you would even want to work for those idiots."

Clarice shrugged, confused. She hadn't even thought about not working for them, even after they had told her that she didn't have the job, "Because, it's like, the best medical job I can get. And because it's a real non-Xavier's job. I don't see you going and working at McDonald's!"

Shiro held up his hands and offered Clarice an apologetic look. "I did not mean to offend. It is just that if they had rejected you because they are bigots, I cannot imagine the work environment being tolerable."

"I'll deal. It's not like it won't happen again, right?" Clarice asked, calming down. "I mean, I gotta learn to deal with it if I'm gonna go to college and med school and do a residency or whatever. Even if I come back to Xavier's when I'm done, that's like....more than 10 years from now!"

"Just do not let them walk all over you," Shiro warned her, putting his hands back on her waist. "Mutant or no, you know what you are doing and no one should get in your way. Stand up when someone disparagingly comments on the color of your skin."

"I'll kick their asses," Clarice said, annoyed at the thought, "And I won't make them glitter signs until they earn it!"

"That's my girl." Pulling Clarice closer, he kissed her again. She tasted like Fruit Loops, he noticed. "When do you start?"

Pausing mid-kiss, Clarice realized she wasn't sure, "Um...Soon? I have to go in this weekend for paperwork and orientation or whatever, so I guess I start after that. You think I should wear my scrubs?" the scrubs had seen better glitter pens and Clarice had outlined half of the rainbow fish on them in glitter, but hadn't finished the other half yet.

"The ones that shine brighter than the sun?" he asked, snickering. "It is a sure way to get all eyes to fall on you."

"As they should," she replied primly, holding him firmly by a belt loop, "Everyone should bask in my radiance," she paused, trying to stifle a giggle, "Or your radiation!"

"I can give them all cancer, you can treat them, and then you will be a hero. No one would dare think poorly of you then." Why had he never noticed before how Clarice's eyes wrinkle just so when she giggles?

"Until the catch you!" she said, laughing, "I gotta go and see if the docs 4 have any advice! Or warnings! I gotta do something!"

Shiro glanced over at the discarded shirt on his bed and raised an eyebrow. "There are one or two things we could do," he muttered.

As quickly as Clarice's hyperactivity started, it stopped. "Oh really?" she asked, kissing him on the tip of his nose, "Like study anatomy?"