ArchivedLogs:Vignette - Shorook

Vignette - Shorook
Dramatis Personae Khalida, NPC-Mariam
In Absentia	2013-08-09 Isra's physician and mother have a tête-à-tête.
Location <NYC> Khalida Sa'eed residence - Morningside Heights
At 6AM, one of the two mobile phones on Khalida’s nightstand starts blaring the bombastic finale to the 1812 Overture. She starts to roll over, but finds her right side pinned down. Her left hand cannot quite reach the offending device. "Mariam." She shakes the woman curled against her, head tucked in the crook of her shoulder. "Habibti, it's time to get up. Or at least turn off that noise." Mariam Hayek stirs, groans, and finally rises onto her elbows. "You did /not/ just refer to Tschaikovsky as 'noise'." She climbs over her bedfellow to dismiss the alarm and then just collapses on top of her. "Sorry, love." Khalida chuckles, stroking Mariam's thick, glossy hair. In the darkness before dawn, it is hard to discern the threads of gray in the wavy black cascade. “It uses /artillery/; I feel somewhat justified in calling it 'noise'. My adhan alarm never wakes you..." "Philistine," Mariam snorts. One of her hands disappears beneath the sheet. "The appropriate term is 'Arab American', by way of--" She gasps, head rolling back on her pillow. "Mm... When is your flight?" "Eight, but I’ve already checked in and I only have carry-ons." Mariam nuzzles Khalida’s neck. "Omar will pick me up at seven." "We should eat." Khalida does not sound very determined to see this suggestion through. "Yes, we /should/..." Mariam grins, and begins to duck under the sheet. Khalida swats at her and sits up. “We should eat /food/. Seriously, one of these days you /are/ going to miss your flight.” Mariam affects a pout, then slinks out of bed and pads to the bathroom. Khalida pulls on a green satin robe and activates her monitor when she passes it on the way to make coffee. Returning to the workstation, she fires up Thunderbird and ignores a dozen other new emails in favor of one brief missive from Isra, sent only a few hours ago. She heaves a long sigh when she reaches the end. Mariam emerges from the bathroom, having donned bra and panties, and rests her hands on Khalida’s shoulders. “News?” There is a fearful note in Mariam’s voice. “Student Affairs has rejected her appeal, as well as her request for another hearing.” Mariam squints at the monitor. “It took her a whole paragraph to say /that/?” “Well, you know how she is...” Khalida did not need to look up to know she had been fixed with a judgmental glare. “Ugh. Someone broke in her front window and vandalized her door. Again.” “It isn’t safe there. I wish she would let us put her up in a building with /security/, at least.” Khalida closes the email and rises, folding Mariam into her arms. “Oh, habibti. I worry, too, but she is not a child anymore.” “I know.” Mariam leans on her, suddenly weary and frail. “I know, but the way the City is right now, and the way she looks... She said she would sue Columbia if Student Affairs stonewalled her. That is just going to make her a target.” Khalida says nothing. She just holds Mariam closer and watches first light fade in over the cityscape through the gap between her curtains.