Jun 06 13:18:10 106 PA - Maya 'fesses up to Vixen
From Chronicles
The laboratory is mostly high technology and shiny. Around the walls, machines of various types lurk, including a large double fronted cooler and something that looks as if it will hold small vials of liquid and then spin them. In the centre of the room, a large metal table stands, without a spot of dirt on it. To one side, a couple of computer screens and a keyboard, clearly connected to the computer on the floor beneath them. The door and windows to the corridor outside have blinds for privacy, and the only natural light comes from the high windows in the wall. The walls themselves are painted pure, clean white, the floor is tiled with white tiles. Overall the room is clinical looking, and a peg behind the door holds several white coats.
Lunchtime and the hospital is still buzzing, always a busy place at all times of day. Inside the laboratory, Maya's music is blaring out, lights are on brightly and the petite scientist is working. Her white coat covers her clothes, buttoned tightly for once and even covered with an apron, her hands are gloved and she has a pair of goggles on to cover her eyes. The bunches look odd with that outfit but most things would. She is bent over what appears to be a corpse of an adult male, burnt and very dead, a scalpel in her hand, her expression intense.
Vixen waves off the armored guy that has escorted her in this far. "Back off, man. You got my gun, I'm not going to break nothing," A bit grumpy with him, but it lacks bite. This is said as she moves into the lab, turned with her back to the interior itself as she faces off with the Vigilante member. She's dressed as usual and does seem a bit.. less down than she has been as of late.
Maya is in the process of removing organs, it seems, with a small metal scale beside her and a collection of jars. This gruesome task is accompanied by the rather appropriate song, "Don't fear the reaper", and she hums along as she drops what might be a kidney into a dish. The movement turns her, and her gaze picks up Vixen's arrival. She pauses, lifting a bloody hand in greeting. "It's fine, I'm expecting her." She informs the Vigilante member cheerfully, her grin showing despite all the protective clothing.
Vixen sees the man off with a firm look before she turns and approaches Maya. Then makes a face, pulling up short as she sees what the woman is working on . "Ugh.. this the kind of stuff you do all day?" The young woman skirting a bit to the side to move to a near wall without getting to close to the ick. "Expecting me, huh? I guess you got up be fore we did.."
Maya carefully takes a moment to weigh the kidney, speaking into a small recorder to note its weight down before she clicks it off and replies, "Not all day, sometimes I get them alive." The comment is almost dry and she offers a grin as she begins to cover the corpse up. "I thought you'd come down and talk to me, yes." The corpse covered, she peels off the gloves and apron, putting them to one side and lifting the goggles from her eyes.
"Yeah.. we do gotta talk," Vixen confirms, the humor left to slide by for now. Though she seems to be at a loss for a start for a few moments. "I think.. me and Leo might be getting back together." The core of things. "I might be being stupid again, but I gotta hope, you know?"
Maya's grin fades and she gives Vixen a brief nod, dropping the goggles into the same container as the gloves and apron before she moves to wash her hands. Each movement is methodical, and the handwashing takes a time. st Broke
Maya's grin fades and she gives Vixen a brief nod, dropping the goggles into the same container as the gloves and apron before she moves to wash her hands. Each movement is methodical, and the handwashing takes a time. "I thought that might be the case. Will you be moving out?" She pulls a towel out of the holder, rubbing her hands dry as she turns to face Vixen, the table between them.
"Yeah.. and I feel bad about just having this suddenly happen," Vixen replies, her tone earnest. "I mean, I doubt you would' want Leo moving in. And.. he needs me. Being apart was what started this whole thing. I'm waiting cause he has to clear up some things first. But soon.. yeah, I'll probably be moving. I'm not sure if you can cover the place yourself.. I could still help with the rent if you can't," she offers.
Maya tilts her head before she shakes it steadily. "No, I can afford it." Despite her gruesome job, she moves across to her desk, pulling out a bag with lunch inside it. "Want some?" Lunch seems to be a large sandwich from the deli, and a smoothie. She settles herself at the desk, glancing up. "Some things being the girls he has been sleeping with, then?"
"Mostly Ema," Vixen replies. "Me and him, we talked that night. I might be setting myself up again, but I think he's starting to understand where I'm coming from. About something more real than just.. doing whatever. And he thinks he's going crazy. Probably cause he's got people tugging at him from all different sides. He needs someone who ain't out for something. And the only thing I'm out for is him." She eases towards the desk pointedly ignoring the body.
Maya pushes half the deli sandwich across the desk to Vixen, listening to the other woman thoughtfully. "Well, he is safe from me tugging at him." She observes softly, before she takes a mouthful of the sandwich, cheerfully enjoying the food despite the poor corpse on the table. "When are you moving out?" She glances up as she reaches for her drink, her smile in place, cheerful and chipper.
Vixen shakes her head a little, a touch heartened by the tone that Maya gives. "I dunno.. I suppose we'll talk about it after he's talked to Ema." Though she does glance towards the door when she mentions that. "I'd like to be there with him when he does it, but I know that if I was, it would screw things up. I kinda don't understand that chick.. dunno what she might do. But I gotta trust Leo." She looks back to Maya, then the sandwich. Shaking her head slightly as she leaves it be for now. "I feel kinda bad that we never really got to christen the place.. but even if I do move, I wouldn't mind doing that with you. Have a night in and do whatever." A soft smile given along with that.
Maya finishes her half of the sandwich, leaving the other for later, and she leans back in the chair. The smoothie rests between her hands, the glass sitting on her stomach. "You sure about this? You were cut up. If he hurts you again, Vix..." The soft words hold a world of pain for Leonard, the hazel eyes narrowing slightly. "The place doesn't matter. Rooms come and go."
"I'll take the risk," Vixen responds softly. "Because he does need me. I saw him at the Deli, when you left. He was just.. miserable. And I made a fool of myself pouring stuff out at him. And after you went to bed.. he wasn't being mean or snotty. He was being the Leo I first met. I mean, not that I want him to be meek like he was back then. I want him to be strong too, but not.. bad strong. Like the guy that came in with those refugees. Adon. He's strong, but he's not bad. At least, I don't think he is. I want to help Leo be like that."
Maya, bought up to say nothing if she can't say anything nice, contents herself by scrumpling up the bag her food came in and tossing it in the trash as she listens. She leans forward, taking sips of the smoothie, regarding Vixen over its brim, her eyes narrowed slightly. "I hope you aren't making a mistake. That spare room will be there if it goes wrong."
"I kinda assumed," Vixen replies, smiling just a little. She moves nearer to Maya as she says, "You've always had an eye out for me, even though we don't know each other that well. It means a lot, especially after I snipped at you that one time. It's good to know that someone has your back." And she'll be the hug initiator this time, one that is firm and lingering before she eases back again.
Maya accepts and returns the hug, her face hidden from Vixen as she did that, hiding the worry in her face. But she grins as she sits back, glancing at the sandwich. "It isn't tainted by my work, eat it." She comments softly, as she rises up to move back to her work. She begins the gradual clothing process, gloves, apron, goggles and then turns back to the body.
"The way it smells in here, I don't think I should be eating," Vixen replies after the hug is done. Keeping near to the desk for now and away from the body. "I'm too nervous too. I don't think I'll settle until I know Leo's ok.. but I could go on about that for a while. What we got, its mutual, chick. If you ever need something, you let me know. I got ways to get things.. might take time, but I know how to find some stuff. Just not something I try doing every day because it can get messy if you get in too deep."
Maya gives Vixen a considering look before she resumes working on the hapless corpse. She sniffs, frowning as she shakes her head, "Can't smell anything." Immunity comes from being here a lot, perhaps, "Don't worry, Vix, I'm generally fine. I just roll along." She uncovers him, chatting as she dismantles him slowly, methodically. "I don't even know how long I'll stay here. I move on a lot." A small frown of concentration and out pops the heart.
Vixen is keeping her gaze averted. A little squeamish, she, though with the distracting talk she handles things adequately. "Yeah, I know, but no one is always fine. And everyone eventually wants or needs something. Like.." She pauses and adds, "Maybe some talk about the guy you're interested in." Her brows lift slightly, a sidelong glance sent Maya's way.
Maya drops the heart lightly into a bowl, lifting it to weigh it carefully. When she glances up, her grin is in place, "Which one? There are so many..." The casual comment is spoken with that cheerful grin, hazel eyes warm and friendly beneath the goggles. The heart done, she tips it into a jar, turning back to extract the lungs. "Let's see, there is Sebastien. He is a nice guy."
"But you don't really like him.. I mean the one that had you all flustered.. the guy I accidentally ate up all your alone time with." Vixen smiles a little as she recalls that. "Don't play coy, chick, this one is different to you.. not just another guy to play with like that idiot."
Maya's hands pause in the torso, before she makes a couple of incisions and removes a lung. She takes her time to put it in the weighing bowl, finally glancing up at Vixen. "Shut the door then." She comments quietly, her gaze taking in the opened door to the busy corridor. The other lung is removed, weighed and both are put into separate jars, before Maya speaks again. "He is the Director here. Joachim, a religious pastor, single, committed to the hospital. Utterly disinterested in me. There isn't anything to do about it."
Vixen rises up and moves around slowly to get at the door and close it so Maya can go on. And once she does, she moves along the wall back towards the desk. "There's always something to do about it," she counters, settling herself on the edge of the desk again. "I mean, do you really think he doesn't notice you at all? Unless he's dead from the waist down that seems pretty unlikely. But if he's all professional, maybe he's the sort to not show it, right?"
Maya shakes her head firmly, her mouth twisting as she speaks slowly, resting bloody hands against the table. She speaks slowly, her forehead creasing into a frown, a hint of pain in her eyes. "I mean he notices me. As a doctor. I've tried to engage him in conversation about outside the place and it is just awkward and uncomfortable. He doesn't see me, Vix, and I'm not going to press it." That said, she glances at the corpse and begins to cut again, moving down the body.
"That's part you, I think, babe. You weren't being you when I eased up, but I understand it. I wasn't exactly being me last night.. I don't usually feel at a loss for words, but talking with Leo, I was not so sure of anything, you know? Not wanting to say the right thing.. to fuck everything up and make him h ate me." Vixen leans forward a little and wonders, "Ring a bell or two?"
"I mess up enough for him to see me as a royal pain in the ass as it is. He thinks less of me for something I did last week, and I felt about an inch tall." Maya sighs, shaking her head, "My feelings don't matter, because he doesn't feel the same, nor see me in that way. He is a pastor, if nothing else. I'm not even sure if they are allowed to be with someone." She frowns as she begins to rummage in the man's guts. A glance up to Vixen and a grin, "I'm going to open up his guts, its going to stink." She warns the other woman, flipping a switch to turn on an extractor fan.
"Alright, I'll take your word for it," Vixen replies, hopping off the desk. "But you know.. feelings like that are rare. I know you think you know what he feels and thinks.. but you don't really. Not until he says 'em. Maybe you can't just walk up and pour out your heart, but there ain't nothing that says you can't start casual.. friendly. And see how that goes. If not so well, you still get a closer link to your boss, which ain't bad from a professional view." All said as she moves towards the door out of the lab slowly. Glancing back towards Maya then.
Maya shakes her head, "And if it goes wrong, I get to work with someone who hates me and thinks I'm ... No, I'd rather not know. At least he respects me, or did 'til last week." She bends her head over her work then, cutting into the body and as promised, it does stink. She is absorbed in her work for hours after that, the man's cause of death finally formally recorded and his body sent to the morgue.
Vixen opens the door, though she does toss back, "Slow and careful. Ain't that dangerous." But she believes on the smell part, so as the other woman starts to cut, she clears out, closing the door behind her to leave Maya to her work. And herself to her worry.
