Logs:CPS (Complicated Paperwork Services)

CPS (Complicated Paperwork Services)
Dramatis Personae Daiki, Deuce, Joshua
In Absentia	2025-01-22 "Are you here to take me there... now? Or is there some sort of... process?"
Location <NYC> Mount Sinai Hospital - Upper East Side
On the cutting edge of many medical technologies, Mount Sinai Hospital is often ranked as one of the nation's best hospitals. The medical school attached is one of the best in the world, meaning that even your med students know what they are doing. Chin up, then -- when you come in here badly mutilated after the latest terrible catastrophe in Times Square, you're in good hands. The room is white, everything is white. Why do they make hospitals white if white is the easiest color to dirty? Deuce may never know. Maybe it's supposed to make the room feel more cheery, but Deuce is certainly far from cheery. They took his IV out this morning, arguably the only positive thing that has happened so far. They made sure to keep far away from his disgusting "mutant" hands, as the nurse called them. Deuce wonders if he would bleed a different color from his hands than the rest of his body, but finding out seems like much more effort than its worth. His hair is excessively long, and laying on it in the hospital bed is tugging at his scalp, a feeling he doesn't exactly enjoy. He sits up on the bed, the hospital gown surprisingly comfortable, or maybe he doesn't know what comfort feels like. He supposes it doesn't matter. What does matter is getting out of here before the nurses and doctors keep asking questions about the odd bruises he sports. It's not that he's afraid of repercussions, he just doesn't like adults all that much, not anymore. When he woke up yesterday, they seemed very pressed to tell him two things: "your parents are dead" and "you're an abomination". The latter he supposes that he knew already, the former was not too much of a surprise, given what he managed to gather from his fragmented memories of the previous day. He stands from the hospital bed, brown eyes catching the sunlight as he walks towards the window, gazing out at the afternoon traffic. Daiki is almost as monochromatic as the hospital itself, though in the other direction with glossy black hair, black thin-framed glasses, a sleek black suit, and black oxford shoes polished to a shine, relieved only by his white dress shirt and sapphire blue tie. He sweeps into this wing of the hospital very much as though he belongs here, and stops to double check the room number before knocking on the inside of the open door. "Are you Micah?" His voice is soft and his smile is small, and he is carrying himself a bit smaller perhaps than his full six feet should look. Maybe it's the contrast of his amiable bearing with his sharp dress, but there is something very compelling about him. "Can we come in?" The man who is accompanying Daiki is also not dressed at all like hospital staff, but in quite the opposite direction from Daiki's polish -- jeans, an old sweatshirt reading FDNY across the chest, a heavy black parka folded over one arm, tough workboots, a thick fleece cap pulled down around his ears. His face is a lined and jowly thing that gives a bit of a basset-hound feel in its mournful droop -- in glum countenance he seems very well like he could be here to deliver more Bad News. He doesn't, though, he just lifts his chin in a small nod, grunting something that might or might not be a greeting as he waits for his companion to take point in this interaction. Deuce hears the approaching footsteps and assumes it's a nurse, only to be mildly surprised when he spots the duo. He winces almost imperceptibly at the use of his legal name, one he only really associates with bad memories. He feels the urge to hide his hands, with their clawed nails and charcoal hue, but unfortunately the windowsill provides little space to hide anything. Daiki's polished appearance would've normally put Deuce off a little, but he felt a faint hint of trust, something he hadn't felt often. He makes eye contact with Daiki and Joshua before looking away nervously. He nods silently, assuming the two are going to come in regardless of what he says. Daiki waits for the nod before slipping inside. He only crosses the room half-way and shuffles aside to give the boy space -- and a path out of the room. "I'm Daiki." He bows, and somehow imbues this with a note of apology that is absent when he introduces the other man. "This is Joshua. We're here to help, but we're not with the government, and you don't have to listen to us." He dips his head again, not quite a bow. "I know you've been through a lot, but how are you holding up?" Joshua very eloquently clears his throat, and proceeds to say nothing. He is glancing around the room, turning his vaguely mournful look on the too-white walls before looking back to Deuce. Silent and invisible, he's reaching out with his healing-power sense, taking a quiet stock of what if any the boy's injuries -- whether from the car crash or earlier -- might be. Deuce can see a clear path to the exit, if he were to want to take it. But he can also see Joshua's air of quiet strength and knows he doesn't stand a chance if the man decides to give chase. The way Daiki says "we're not with the government" makes him worry. Based on the limited research he'd done at school, he thought it would take longer for the doctors to contact CPS, but what if these are the people coming to take him away? He doesn't want to answer any more questions about... her. He figures that speaking should lessen their suspicions, so he nods with a hesitant smile tugging at his lips, looking Daiki in the eyes before glancing away again, "I'm alright, Mister Daiki." Despite his misgivings, he can't help but feel an urge to place his trust in the well-dressed man. Daiki does not argue with the not particularly convincing reply nor look to his companion, but his brow pinches ever so slightly with concern. "I don't know exactly what happened, but we think that you are a mutant, like us." He pauses briefly, and imbues that somehow with a silent note of apology. "We know some people who may be able to help you learn to control your power, and a place you can go to learn how." Joshua, in response to alright, is sweeping his gaze again around the hospital room. He folds his hands underneath the coat he's holding, pulling it against his chest. "S'a school," is what he says when he speaks up for the first time -- his voice sounds about exactly what might be expected given his face, low and gruff and a little weighed down by the immense and ponderous effort of speaking. "Mutant kids." When Daiki says "mutant, like us", Deuce's gaze snaps to him, as if gauging the truthfulness of his words. But he can feel, deep in his bones, that Daiki is telling the truth. Deuce nods slightly in understanding when Joshua speaks. The boy comes to a few quick conclusions within this time. One, these people are not CPS, nor are they affiliated with CPS. Two, they're both mutants, <<monsters, just like you>> his brain supplies unhelpfully before he reprimands himself for thinking so badly of other people. Three, there are other children out there like him who are learning to control their abilities. He looks down at his hands, clenching and unclenching his fist as he thinks about it. Learning control... does he want that? Does he even want to know what he can do, at all? Would it make him even more of a monster if he does want to know about his power? He doesn't lift his gaze this time, "Is there any way to make it go away?" he asks quietly, gazing at his hand as if it were a foreign object. Daiki nods at Joshua's addition, and waits patiently for Deuce to chew it over. His pleasant smile does not really change significantly with the question, but it does change. "You will always be a mutant, but there are medications you can take to suppress your abilities. We can also connect you with a clinic that can go over the options with you and your guardians." Joshua is looking, at this question, to the boy's dark and clawed hands. His mouth twists to the side, a small pinch between his brows as he considers Daiki's answer, and eventually lifts a shoulder. "S'complicated." He's still hanging back some distance from the bed, just a little bit behind Daiki. "Not a decision you need to make right now. Lotta us been through this. Can help you figure it out." Deuce nods slowly, still looking down at his hands. Medications to suppress his abilities? He tries to think that through, but his mind starts to run a bit too fast and he shakes his head, snapping himself out of it. Slightly overwhelmed with the large amount of information he's receiving, he tries to clear his mind. He figures Joshua is right, and he really doesn't need to make this decision right now. Evidently his only options right now are an orphanage, running away and living on the streets, or this... school that the men mentioned. "What's... what's the school like?" he asks, looking up at Daiki. Daiki seems even more interesting now than before. "I graduated from there myself, a few years ago." He says this so casually it's not likely to clock as stalling to most, but Joshua knows him too well to be fooled. "It's a very fancy boarding school, but you won't have to pay tuition. You can learn how to deal with your powers there -- I did -- and other people's powers, too. Things get pretty weird there on the regular." He resettles his glasses with the tip of one slender finger, even though they had not really slipped down all that much. "It's far from perfect, but for a lot of mutant kids it's safer than the alternatives." Joshua is studying Deuce with a brief small frown, then looking away toward the window. "Real good food," is what he deems important enough to add to this list. Deuce nods contemplatively. Boarding school means he won't be in an orphanage, or on the streets. The lack of tuition however... sounds far too good to be true, despite the strange trust he feels towards Daiki. Deuce looks the polished mutant school graduate over quickly, trying to gauge how they treat him, since he evidently works for them in some way. Daiki is hard to read, but he exudes an aura of trust that forces Deuce's misgivings to the back of his mind. Joshua's comment nearly makes him smile, but he forces it down. Showing weakness in front of strangers is the worst mistake he could make in this situation. Good food though... he hasn't had that in a long time. He pushes the other questions he has about the school and why they would ever teach a monster like him into a little box in his brain labelled "useless, will overthink later". He pauses, "Are you here to take me there... now? Or is there some sort of... process?" He flushes in nervous embarrassment, "Ah, sorry for all the questions umm Mister Daiki and Mister Joshua." He ducks his head nervously. Daiki smiles a little wider with Joshua's addition, and nods his tacit agreement. "There's a whole process, but we can take you there, if you're well enough to be discharged and don't have any family you'd rather check in with first." Now he does glance aside at Joshua with the barest lift of brows as if hoping his partner will declare the boy discharged on the spot. "We'll have to talk to your legal guardians no matter what, but those situations can be complicated, and I'm not sure yours is sorted out just yet." He smiles again, gentle but encouraging. "We've got people who are very good at navigating complicated paperwork." "We can go -- uh." Joshua considers this for a moment -- silent and invisible, there's a slow flush working through Deuce that is not fixing his injuries but speeding some of their healing along, alleviating their affect just a touch, barely noticeable in feel but significant in the impacts of Ongoing Concussion. "Know people here. I can talk to the hospital." He tips his chin up to the boy. "You want to come now, you can come. You want to think it over, we can leave a card. Totally up to you." Deuce nods again. He flinches almost imperceptibly at the mention of family, but Daiki's kind smile manages to calm him before he begins to spiral. The more he listens to Joshua speak, he realizes that the man is not angry, nor is he an active threat, he's just Like That™️. Deuce nods at the propositions that Joshua offers. He's already done a fair amount of research on what would happen on the off chance his parents decided to give him up for adoption, so he knows that if he sticks around for much longer, he may well be sent to live with grandparents he's never met or foster care. And who knows how a monster like him would be treated in those situations. He bites his lip nervously, his fingertips digging into the windowsill to ground himself, "My parents are dead," he says after a moment, looking hesitantly at Daiki, "umm... so I don't know how the legal guardian thing would work, sorry." He ducks his head, as if apologizing for his parents deaths making things inconvenient for the duo. "It's okay," Daiki assures Deuce calmly. "I'm sorry for your loss, and you don't need to know how that works. Most adults don't, either." He lowers his eyes, and there's a weight of understanding in his words. "You'll most likely be sent to another member of your family, and if you want to wait and talk to them first, that's totally fine. We can leave you some information to discuss with them, and send someone to talk to them if you and they are interested." He pauses glancing to Deuce's hands and then not very hastily glancing away. "If you're worried they might treat you poorly, you can come with us and we will contact them for you, or even go with you to see them. I know that's a lot to think about, that's why we're not hurrying you. But if you want to come with us now, you can." "You're good," Joshua replies. "Complicated is our specialty." He glances to Daiki, and then to Deuce. "... gonna go say some medical jargon to your nurses." He lifts his chin up in a quick tip of a nod, and then -- vanishes. Deuce stiffens at the thought of going to see any other member of his family, even if just to speak with them. His voice raises slightly in pitch, "Could I... not go speak with them? ...Please?" He crosses his arms, self-consciously hiding his hands, "I... I'd rather go with you now. I mean- if you want," he adds quickly, not wanting to inconvenience the kind man. He nods when Joshua speaks and blinks in mild surprise and interest as the man vanishes into thin air. Daiki raises an appeasing hand but does not shush Deuce or cut him off. He gives a little tug of a smile at Joshua's disappearance. "He does that sometimes. He'll be back." He studies the floor between himself and the teenager. "You can come with us. If you want to talk to them later, you still can, but you don't have to do that alone. The world is dangerous for people like us." His lips compress, then relax, and his voice softens. "And sometimes, we are dangerous, too. That doesn't make you a bad person." Deuce's eyes widen slightly. Not... a bad person. That's... interesting. He doesn't know how to feel about that, but he feels something warm blossoming in his chest and he smiles shyly, "Thank you," he murmurs. He steps hesitantly away from the windowsill and towards Daiki, "do you umm... teleport too?" The incline of Daiki's head to the thanks is almost a bow again. "I don't teleport. What I do is..." He sucks in a deep breath. "It's hard to explain. It can be dangerous to explain. There isn't really a name for it, but a lot of powers are like that." He shrugs. "They do something intensely specific that nobody else has ever heard of. Or something so abstract and broad it's hard to pin a name on it." Deuce nods in understanding. He's not too sure what he can do, nor is he sure if he wants to know, but he doubt the explanation will be nice and simple. He fidgets with his hospital gown, "The school, it is... close by? Or am I moving to Europe?" he attempts to joke with a slightly strained smile which fades quickly. "Sorry, I... never really learned much about boarding school... or mutant schools... or mutants." "The school's just up in Westchester County," Daiki says, "it's really not far at all, even if you don't teleport." He seems more relaxed now, and though he's still indefinably interesting, there's less of an edge to the interest. "You probably will meet some kids from Europe, though -- from many parts of the world, actually. Teachers, too. You're probably going to feel out of your depth for a while, but that's okay." He smiles again, easy and knowing. "You'll be somewhere you can learn."