ArchivedLogs:Time to Wake

Time to Wake
Dramatis Personae Mallory, Aloke
In Absentia	2013-09-08 Aloke comes out of the coma, and Mallory comes down to see him.
Location <XS> Medical Lab - B1
Gleaming and sterile, the school's medical facility is all cool science in contrast to the mansion's old-world old-fashion. All stainless steel and antiseptic tinge, the room is filled with the quiet whir-click of the various implements that comprise its medical equipment -- all state-of the art. The hospital beds are curtained off for privacy when they have patients, and in one of the alcoves there is a small operating theatre visible. More heavy-duty equipment is visible in the lab in the back, where the securely locked cabinets keep sensitive equipment out of the reach of teenage fingers. An email went out to faculty Sunday afternoon announcing that Aloke has woken from his coma and is showing initial signs of recovery. Hank would be allowing adult visitors at first, and students when Aloke seems more fit. At this moment, Aloke is alone in the medlab. He's propped up in the hospital bed, watching something on the tablet computer in his lap. Aside from wearing a hospital gown, Aloke is physically looking much better than when he was comatose. However, he is still much older looking than when this all began. White hair at his temples, and a few wrinkles on his face. Physically, the handsome bastard just makes getting old look /good/. He looks like the elder statesman, maybe just in the hospital for a physical before going off to negotiate peace in the middle east. Looking into his eyes is another story entirely though. In spite of his physical health he looks haunted, as if he's in a nightmare that he can't wake up from. The light that always shines there is gone, making his brown eyes seem dull by comparison. The email announcement had actually caught Mallory by surprise, as though she had been expecting him to wake up on a normal work basis, during the 9 to 5 so to speak. There isn't really a reasoning behind it. It takes her some time to finally make her way back down to the medlab, somewhat unexplained guilt making her drag her feet now that Aloke was actually awake. Despite her best efforts to approach quietly, her hooves make a sharp click-clack against the flooring, announcing her presence before she approaches the medlab, cautiously peeking through the doorway before entering. She wears a sedate, drapey, wrap dress in a charcoal gray, the hemline falling just below her knees, her long black hair pulled back into a messy bun that softens the severe appearance of her horned, reddened features. Even though she had made her way down here at least once each day since the incident in the Danger Room, she now felt slightly hesitant to step the rest of the way into the medical lab, pausing instead by the doorway and glancing around. For someone with two degrees in English and Literature, Mallory's greeting is rather unimpressive, and hesitantly quiet, "Hi." Yup. Eloquent as always. Aloke taps the screen in his lap and looks up, his face slightly slack. He peers for a moment and his eyes finally focus properly on Mallory. "Oh, it's you," he says, with almost no inflection. There's no accusation just pure recognition. His face pulls up from being slack but doesn't really go towards smile or frown. It just lands in neutral. "Hello, Mallory." Not sure exactly what she was expecting, Mallory doesn't actually go much further into the lab - just far enough to not need to go above standard conversational tones. "I... I didn't mean to interrupt. Sorry, you're probably in the middle of something," she says, looking a bit sheepish and shifting her weight slightly between her hooves. "Just wanted to see how you were doing, and see if you needed anything, or..." she trails off, running a hand along one horn nervously, "Sorry. I... I'm glad you're awake, and." The sentance drops off as she sees the expression on his face, the lack of light in his eyes, and stops just short of saying 'ok' since it is pretty obvious he isn't ok. "I'm not busy," Aloke says quietly. Flat. He blinks, and looks down at the tablet in his lap, which he turns to show Mallory. It's a paused video taken by the Danger Room's cameras during the incident a few days ago. He must have been watching it. This frame shows young Aloke diving away from Thomas as they're both doused in fire suppressant. He seems to focus a little when she asks if he needs anything. "Oh, is there any hot water left?" He asks in a near-monotone. "Hank left some assam out..." He trails off, maybe not sure where he was going with that. When the tablet is shown to her, Mallory winces visibly, a look of guilt flashing over her features, as she regards the freeze frame with unreadable dark eyes. Her breath catches at the sight, and her shoulders slump in a defeated posture, "I am so, so sorry, Aloke. I... I should have waited for you to get out of the way. Or warned you, or checked to see if you had allergies to it. God, I shouldn't have even suggested that you talk to Thomas to do testing." Her voice is quiet, and she can't even bring herself to look at the tablet again, let alone look into his eyes, a heavy sigh escaping her dark lips, "I am so sorry for all of this." The request for tea, even though only half finished, brings her back from her self flagellating apology, and she glances up at him briefly. The librarian glances around for a moment, before locating the mentioned tea and hot water, preparing the tea with the practiced ease of a Brit. Carefully, she brings the steaming teacup over to Aloke, carefully balanced in one hand, the other holding a handful of sugar packets, "Wasn't sure how you take your tea. But, well, I'm British, tea makes a lot of things better - so," her accented voice trails off again, carefully setting the tea cup down on the table beside his bed, along with the sugar, before stepping back, afraid to crowd him. Aloke doesn't seem to react to Mallory's concern about the fire extinguisher. He just turns the tablet over, face down on the bed next to him, and watches her move about, making the tea. "Mmm," he starts, when the water first hits the bags. "That smell..." He doesn't fidget, or sigh, or glance around. He just watches. Totally focused. On one. Thing. At a time. Maybe as if he's being careful with something. "Oh that's right. I forgot you and Thomas were Brits. I for-" When he starts to mention something else he forgot, he just comes to a halt for a second, like an unwound clockspring. His lip quivers, and the new crow's feet at the corner of his eye twitch slightly, before a single tear rolls out, and down his cheek. He blinks, apparently not having noticed, and looks at the tea service. "Oh, just black usually. But, I'm supposed to have sugar. Hank said." Mallory offers a slight smile at Aloke's response to the tea, "I wasn't aware you were a tea drinker, actually. If you want, I can bring some of my collection by for you. Well, I can raid Thomas's tea collection, if you enjoy assam. Not my cup of tea, as it were. Most of my tea is Earl Gray, or some variety of that." She chatters on briefly, pulling up one of the rolling stools present in every doctor's office or medical area, settling herself down delicately, curling her tail around one of her ankles as she does to stay out of the way. The look of concern returns to her face at the faltering, dismay evident at the tear. "Oh. I don't actually know if we ever mentioned it, really. And accents are sort of fiddly, hard to pin down things, too," she says quietly, watching him for a moment, "Oh, if you are supposed to have sugar, could always see if the cook has some pastries. If nothing else, they have a well stocked selection of ice cream. Though, ah, I don't think I would be a good one to send on an ice cream run. It sort of becomes sugary soup far faster in my presence." Aloke's face remains passive, except for the tiniest of responses. Once, at Earl Gray. Again at pastries, and ice cream. He turns to look up the cup and picks up four or five sugar packets like a robot. He tears them each open, one at a time, and pours them into his cup, which he then stirs with the plastic spoon. When it's ready, he picks it up, sips, and an almost-expression crosses his face. /Something/ almost surfaced there, but it's hard to tell what. "Do you like." Aloke pauses. "Ice cream?" Mallory is quiet for a few moments, watching Aloke stirring the numerous sugars into the tea with a neutral look on her face. A few times, she looks like she wants to add something, or possibly say something else, most likely another apology. The question gets a slight smirk in response, and a thoughtful look, "Ice cream? Oh, yes, actually. I developed a taste for it at university. Ice cream sundaes - strawberry, with chocolate sauce, and marshmallow cream sauce. As long as I don't old the bowl too much, it stays frozen long enough to be eaten while still called ice cream." She tilts her horned head slightly to the side, dark eyes watch Aloke for a moment, "Do you like ice cream?" Aloke closes his eyes when asked about ice cream, and his head twitches just an inch or so, before his eyes snap open again. "I think so?" Aloke blurts out, not sure at all, a little above normal conversation volume. He actually has an expression, for a second, and it's one of panic. "I- I..." Aloke takes a deep breath, and sips at his tea again. He sags back into the propped up bed, placid once again. "I don't... remember." A flash of confusion comes across Mallory's face as Aloke suddenly blurts out his answer, though the expression quickly melts into something more akin to understanding, or possibly concern. For a brief moment, Mallory starts to reach out, possibly to touch Aloke's hand in some gesture of comfort, but pulls up short, hesitant to intrude, and concerned over what has previously happened from physical contact. Wordlessly, she folds her hands back onto her lap, looking at Aloke. "Well, perhaps once you get the all clear from Hank, you'll be able to raid the freezer in the kitchens and confirm if you like ice cream or not. Never know - maybe you prefer sorbet. Or even frozen yogurt," she offers with a slight smile, concern still showing on her features. The fingers on Aloke's free hand twitch individually for a moment, as if he's nervous, but it doesn't show on his face. His face to stoically blank, until Mallory started to reach out. It looked like he might do the same, but he didn't get far enough to make an obvious gesture. He sips at the tea, swallows and looks at Mallory. The hand with the tea is remarkably still. "Was it. Really. Just minutes?" Each bit seems to take a lot of effort and focus. Mallory doesn't seem to notice Aloke's motions, her dark eyes having fixed momentarily on some point along the hem of her dress, fidgeting idly with one of the bangle bracelets she wears on her wrist. She opens her mouth to say something else, quite possibly another apology, but Aloke's question catches her off guard, and she shuts her mouth again, with the slightest -snap- sound of teeth against teeth. Dark eyes look up at Aloke's face, serarching for a long moment before she answers, her voice quiet, "It, well, Hank and Thomas said it was something like ten minutes or so. They said the exact number, but..." Her voice trails off again, and she frowns slightly, not sure how to continue with answering that, "It... I... I'm sorry," she falters a few times as she speaks, barely whispering the apology instead of continuing. "What?" Aloke's asks when Mallory apologizes again. His brow actually furrows, as he finally focuses on something. "Why?" This time it is Mallory who takes a deep breath, closing her eyes, "Because I suggested the damn thing? Because I hosed you down with chemicals without even thinking of how they'd react or effect you?" She shakes her head, running a hand along her left horn, tracing the curling path with her fingertips, "Because there wasn't anything I could do? I'm a librarian. It was only ten minutes, but there wasn't anything I could do to help, or stop you, or even contribute." Her hand flops back into her lap as she looks at Aloke, not able to meet his gaze, "I feel like I should have done something. And then once Hank was able to stop you, you were just, unconscious, on my lap." She blushes ever so faintly at this, "And there was still not a damn thing I could do. So I'm sorry. Because I feel like somehow I was part of what caused this." "That's not what Hank said." Aloke's brow remains deeply furrowed as he tries to stay on topic, stay focused. "It was... " He lets out a frustrated breath, and clenches his free hand. He grits his teeth and almost growls with the effort of remembering. "He said." Breath. "Cascading..." Two breaths. "Molec-" Aloke takes another deep breath and just goes quiet. He takes a sip of tea and seems to have completely lost track of the conversation. He's blank again. A soft, but familiar voice comes from the other end of the lab. "Did I hear my name? I don't mean to intrude." Hank steps out of his office and walks towards Aloke and Mallory. "Ah, hello Mallory. Can we chat for a moment?" Mallory's eyes go wide as Aloke speaks, carefully pushing her rolling stool just the furthest little distance away from him, delicate fangs snagging hold of her bottom lip in a look of nervousness. "Oh, I... it's..." she glances around desperately, not sure what she did wrong, or what she said that set him off, amidst that rambling guilt ridden stream of consciousness of an explanation. When Hank's voice suddenly cuts through the quiet, Mallory all but jumps out of her seat, stumbling momentarily to regain balance - an awkward fight between the pristine tile floor and her cloven hooves, especially recovering from being startled. Her expression is at the same time one of gratitude and guilt, she neatens her dress and starts to head towards Hank. A slight frown creasing her features as she glances one more towards Aloke, before turning her attention towards the good doctor with a slightly confused and preturbed scowl. "Hello, Hank," she says quietly, crossing her arms lightly over her chest as the demonic looking teacher fixes Hank with a slightly unamused expression, but just waits for the 'chat' he mentioned. Aloke seems to register Mallory's exit at peripheral level, but he doesn't react overtly. He just sips at his tea. Hank steps forward and offers his elbow to the woman to help her regain her balance. Once steadies he walks the both of them a little ways away from where Aloke is resting, laying his other hand gently over hers, as if they were making the rounds at Buckingham instead of two extreme, physical mutants in a medical lab. "I'm so sorry, I wasn't meaning to eavesdrop. But I thought it worth butting in to clarify. You and I haven't had a chance to debrief since the accident." Hank clears his throat softly and continues, "I haven't found all of the triggering mechanisms yet, but I /can/ tell you, Aloke's accident was in essence the chain reaction of a cascading, destabilized molecular event. The cause, whatever it was, originated from within Aloke's body. I've been able to rule out any external trigger." Dapper gentleman that he is, Hank makes his point as if mentioning it just off hand, and does not beat the point home that he knows Mallory's concerns. That would be indelicate. Mallory graciously accepts the steadying arm, keeping pace with Hank as they talk, rather appreciating the courtesy - although the combination of her higher than normal temperature and his perpetual fur coat probably do not mix quite so well. She listens quietly, a look of confusion passing over her face as a good portion of the terms seem to go right over her head, until he gets to the part of it not being an external trigger. The look of relief on her face is obvious, implied eavesdropping or no, "Oh, oh thank god, I... I thought... so the chemical spray didn't actually?" Her stuttered response is mirrored in her posture, some of the extreme tension seems to melt from her shoulders, "I'm sorry I upset him. I honestly... well, apparently I have rubbish bedside manner." She wrinkles her nose, sighing slightly, "Thank you for the explanation, Hank. I suppose I should be going, though - done enough damage here, accidental or not." The guilt in her voice is still quite evident. "On the contrary, Mallory." Hank looks over his shoulder at Aloke briefly. And apparently he's heedless of the extra body heat. "He's been barely just one step above comatose since he woke up. I haven't been able to get any kind of reaction from him, which is why I didn't come over right away when you came in." Hank sighs and shakes his head. "It's not your fault he's upset. This is going to take quite some time for him to recover from fully, if a full recovery is even possible. His mind, Mallory..." Hank takes a moment, and finally plows ahead. "By my calculations, by Aloke's reckoning, he was circling us down there for nearly twenty years of his own time. And from his outlines from before, when he first came to work for us, he would have been awake, and aware, that entire time." He shakes his head again, openly sharing his sadness. "Frankly, from what we know about that kind of isolation... Well. All we can do is hope for the best. We have some of the best minds anywhere in the world, right here on campus. And of course, Charles has taken a personal interest in his case." Hank gives Mallory's hand a reassuring squeeze, but doesn't let go unless she makes a move to leave. Mallory nods and listens, glancing back at Aloke with wide eyes, at the mention of the passage of time, "Twenty years? Good lord, that's." She shudders slightly, closing her eyes for a brief moment, before looking at Hank again, "Thank you. For explaining. I can stop by again, if you think it helps him to talk to someone. Although I really can't say I'd blame him if he never wanted to see my ruddy tail again, after 20 years of watching it do nothing." Said appendage twitches in mild agitation, as though it knew it was being insulted. She sighs again, squeezing Hank's arm in response with a gentle smile, "I've got to get back to my office to finish prep for classes this week," gently, she slips her hand from beneath Hanks, nodding, "Let me know if you need anything. Not like I go anywhere."