ArchivedLogs:Stubborn

Stubborn
Dramatis Personae Hive, Kate
In Absentia	2015-01-26 '
Location <NYC> {Geekhaus} - Harbor Commons - Lower East Side
There's an open airy feel to the floorplan of this unit. The door opens up into a wide expanse of common space that is not so much divided up into rooms as it is simply multipurposed. Ash-grey resin flooring underfoot runs up against the paler grey of the exposed stone in the walls; between the stone support there are wide floor-to-ceiling windows looking out at the river on one side of the home and the Commons' central yard on the other. Half of the space has a ceiling at one-floor height, though half of the space is left open with a balcony up on the second floor overlooking the living space below. A slatted stairway heads up to the second floor balcony; on the other side of the room, a fireman's pole running straight down to the basement provides a quicker way /down/. The wide open space here is combination living and dining room; near the windows there are a pair of couches and large armchair around a wide coffeetable; further off a steel-and-glass dining table is surrounded by eight tall black chairs. A full bathroom behind the stairway is done up in dark granite; the glass-doored bathtub/shower is rather expansively large. The kitchen is tucked off in back, beneath the half-height ceiling; in here the appliances and cabinets and shelving recessed into the wall are in brushed steel, wide grey sweeps of tempered glass countertops running around the edge of the room and a large central island holding stoves and oven and deep double sink. Adjacent to the kitchen, beneath the ceiling as well, is a sitting area structured largely around the enormous television against one wall, a wealth of video games for a number of consoles held on the shelves around the television. Crates and beanbags and one low futon folded against the floor are arranged in good viewing distance; opposite the television, a sturdy large pen built out of wood shrines a couch amid a sea of brightly colorful playpen balls. A door in one wall opens up to the apartment next door; a door opposite leads down to the basement. Geekhaus smells like tofu panang curry, today, and coffee, and spicy grilled prawns. As Hive's health has improved he's taken to cooking, rather frequently; healing sessions often come, now, with home-cooked meals. There's two empty plates sitting near him on the coffee table in the living room, though Joshua is nowhere to be seen -- /was/ here, at the beginning, but finished his work and his coffee and his meal and dashed off in kind of a hurry to make his shift. Hive is still here, though. He's in jeans and socks, a black t-shirt featuring Link in Eddard Stark pose on an Iron Throne fashioned out of a lot of rather distinctive-famous swords from various video games and fantasy media. He has a Cornell sweatshirt unzipped over the tee, and at the moment is sipping on a coffee where he's tucked into a corner of the couch. "... well." As the healing sessions have progressed on, Kate has been increasingly distant - still always happy to heal and be of assistance, but perhaps not as talkative or bright as she once was. Spreading the work out between two healers has taken some of the pressure off of the young woman, but the dark circles beneath her eyes have become more pronounced over the last week. She is curled up in the beanbag chair that has been her typical perch when not actively healing, dressed in a pair of comfortable old blue jeans and a grey hooded sweatshirt with a faded logo a few sizes too large for her small frame, quite likely belonging to Corey. Her socks actually match today, a pair of wooly grey socks with obnoxiously yellow smiley faces on them. Her empty plate sits on the coffee table in front of her, leaving her hands free to clutch at her massive coffee mug instead. She is currently awake, but has been a bit zoned out for the last several minutes, staring blankly at nothing in particular. Hive's statement startles her slightly, perhaps a bit more than the single word should have. Blinking at him, Kate grins and nods, "Well?" She considers the word, sipping her coffee and nodding, pushing aside her distractions, whatever they might be, "I suppose we'll be done with this, soon. Aside from occasional check up, I think we could finish up today, actually." "Finish up today." Hive echoes this with a furrow of brow, fingers tightening around his coffee cup. "... cool." Though this word sounds hesitant. Kind of uncertain. He stares down into his coffee, head shaking slowly. "I think that's still sinking in. It's -- surreal. To think that..." He trails off here, swallowing his sentence in another pull of coffee. His eyes shift over to Kate, slow, flicking up over her as he lowers his mug to his lap. "You look like shit." There might be a trace of apology in his tone, here. Kate nods slowly in agreement, a tired smile tugging at the corners of her mouth, "Yup." She pauses, sipping at her coffee, "Remission. We'll still need to keep an eye on things, just to be sure. It might take a bit to have that really sink in. But, yeah." Her voice fades off, a somewhat lopsided smile still lighting her features, some of the tiredness seeming to lift from her posture. The assessment of her appearance earns a bemused snort, and Kate looks down at her attire with a heavy sigh. "Yeah, I kinda do. Feel a bit like it, too, but not as bad as I look," she says, fidgeting with the mouth of her coffee cup, "Overslept this morning, and sort of ran out without actually paying attention to what shirt I grabbed." She shifts to look at the jeans, accompanied by a quiet mental reassurance that the pants are indeed actually hers. Rubbing at her eye with the heel of her palm, she sighs again, "I've got a meeting with my shift manager tonight. She called it. Fairly certain it's not going to be about letting me change shifts." Taking a long drink from her coffee cup, she sighs and shakes her head, "'Least I'll be able to get a bit more sleep." "Remission." Hive echoes this soft, frowning like he's still turning the concept over in his mind. Without really thinking about it one of his hands lifts to rub against his head, tracing against the surgical scars now hidden under his hair. He drops his hand back to his lap, eyebrows hiking up and his eyes opening a little wider at this last news from Kate. "Waitwhat?" He sits up straighter, quick enough that some of his coffee sloshes out of his mug in the transition; he has to dip his head to lick it off the backs of his fingers. "Shit, I -- didn't really think about -- are you in trouble over all this? Fff." Now his fingers scrub against his eyes, a deeper frown on his face. "Fuck." Kate smiles sadly and shakes her head, running one hand through her hair, knocking strands loose from the low pony tail. "I knew it was a possibility when I agreed to help. Which I did voluntarily and fully knowing this could happen," Kate says, a stubborn edge to her tone, "My powers take a toll, and no amount of caffeine or sleeping with Corey is going to keep the side effects from hitting me eventually." Scrubbing her hand over her face again, she sighs, mentally berating herself over just how awkward that statement sounded out loud. "Anyway. The night manager has been looking for an excuse to get rid of me, since they won't let me transfer shifts. My calling out sick so often has just been the last straw. So," she shrugs and sighs into her coffee, "Not in trouble over this. I'd do it again, given the chance. Just, my career is moving in a different direction, most likely." Offering another tired smile, Kate shrugs, "Things'll work out. I've got an application in to the Clinic, and a few private practices. So there's that." Despite all this, she seems generally optimistic, if only a little nervous. Hive's cheeks puff out, breath pushed out slowly. His jaw clenches afterwards, but he nods, slow as well, in answer to Kate's statement. "I just --" He stops, shaking his head. "Right. Yeah. It's. Shit." He rubs his knuckles against his eyes again, worrying at his lip and then taking another gulp of coffee. "The Clinic?" He's at least perking at this, looking over at her curiously. "Have you heard anything from them yet? I could -- I mean, you're hella qualified. I just know sometimes sending resumes out can be --" He waves a hand towards his door. "But the head of nursing lives across the -- in Joshua's house, actually. If you want me to poke at her. Make sure it actually /gets/ read." "Heh, yeah, it is sort of crap," Kate says with a quiet chuckle, eyeing her coffee cup sheepishly, "But I don't regret helping any of the people I have that caused me to miss days." Sipping from her mug, she nods, "Yeah, the Clinic. Haven't heard anything back, but I only started shopping my resume around over the last few weeks." She bobs her head in thanks for the offer, "If you'd put in a good word for me, that would be awesome. I swear, I'm far more reliable of an employee when my hours aren't intentionally stacked against me." She laughs nervously, running a hand through her hair. "I'd appreciate the help. And, yeah, the resume is good, but that only does so much if no one reads it," she admits, shaking her head. Drinking her coffee quietly, she chuckles, "I swear I had a dream last year that I'd been working at the Clinic. I felt like it was wishful thinking when I just got to New York. But it's kinda been what has kept me from freaking out the last couple of days." "Thank you." This is softer, when Kate says she doesn't regret the help. Hive closes his eyes, relaxing back against the couch. He's quiet for a time after this, a muscle twitching faintly in the side of his jaw. It's a stretch of a good few minutes before he opens his eyes again, a little bit more vacant than before. "Rachel says she'll talk to HR. Make sure they know she's. Worked with you. Hopefully soon an -- interview." There's a very small crease in his brow, head shaking sharply and his gaze a little bit more focused when he turns it on Kate. "A dream?" His tone has gotten a little bit sharper than would be /normal/ for a casual reference like that, but it mellows back into his default gruff for the following: "... maybe it was prophetic." His lips press together. "Was it a good dream?" Kate smirks, just a faint tug of the corners of her lips upwards, "You're welcome." Sipping her coffee, she stays quite for a few, pondering, flashes of all those she had helped since arriving in New York, "I mean it - I don't regret a single use my powers since arriving here." She takes a long sip of her coffee, watching Hive with some concern when he closes his eyes and falls quiet. The statement about HR earns a surprised blink and a widening smile, "Oh, wow. That's, that's... thank you. That would be amazing." Her nose crinkles up at the further question about the dream, "It was an odd one. Don't know about prophetic. Not my thing, I hope. Just sort of seemed like a normal evening shift, but then it went south. It was a while ago, can't remember any others after that." Shaking her head again, she shrugs, perked up apparently at the prospect of an interview, apparently willing to just assume that the dream was strange coincidence. "Takes its toll, though." Hive gulps down the last of his coffee and leans forward to set the cup down. "Using -- just. Overextending yourself so much. To help --" His brow wrinkles, and he repeats again, softer: "... takes its toll." He nestles down into the corner of the couch, tucking his head against the armrest. "Hm." His eyes drift closed. "Been a lot of odd dreams lately. But maybe this one just means you get the job." "It does. But everything does eventually," Kate says with a soft smile, stretching and starting to uncurl from her spot on the bean bag chair. "I'll bounce back. Have before, will again. I'm stubborn," Kate chuckles and shrugs, reaching to set her mostly empty coffee cup on the coffee table, "And maybe the dream does mean I'll get the job. I'd like that. But we'll see." There is a bit more energy in her movements and posture - apparently the caffeine has kicked in. "Though we should probably get to work on that remission," Kate says, standing and stretching before sitting down carefully on the sofa beside Hive, and holding out her hand to him. "I hope you get the job. Not just because you'd be great at it. Most of the medical staff at the Clinic is human. There's just -- way fewer mutants who /get/ through higher ed, you know? It'd be awesome. To have more of us actually working there in positions /other/ than security." Hive nods, squeezing his eyes shut briefly but then sitting back up. His hand slips into Kate's -- giving a small squeeze before he just settles in comfortably. "We'll see."