Josh and Noriko - Friday afternoon
Jan. 25th, 2013 02:44 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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om_mainNoriko goes and gets her new and legal pills from Moira; Josh is there, and curious; plans are made.
Noriko still wasn't sure how she felt about getting legally prescribed drugs - or really, about the hundred questions the doc asked her before deciding which pills to give her. Noriko could feel it beginning to build up inside her, that particular kind of electricity-charged antsiness that would soon make her words trip all over themselves, if she didn't take something. And that was just the first stage.
But finally, MacTaggart gave her the pills, and Noriko took them with a word of thanks, if not a smile. She wasn't used to taking them in front of anyone, too used to hiding it, so she had to resist the very real urge, deep inside her, to power-speed out of the office. She walked out normally, instead, and was almost shaking with the effort not to let her power lash out when she found herself in the lab right outside the doctor's office. It took her three attempts before she managed to open the bottle with trembling hands, and she grabbed a pill, swallowing it immediately.
She closed her eyes as she waited for it to take effect, her body very visibly relaxing as it did.
When she opened her eyes, she found herself looking at a... well, golden boy, really, just like his pictures in the journal. She pushed off the wall she was leaning against, frowning. "What?"
Let's be real here, Josh had a bad tendency to be nosy even on his good days, so when the new girl (with the eccentrically kick-ass hair, might he add) decided to wander on down to his domain in the lab to visit with Moira, Josh got curious. Sure, he was supposed to know better about the whole doctor-patient confidentiality thing by now, but if Moira wasn't going to drag him out by the ear (yet) then he was going to push his luck.
"Whoa there. I come in peace!" Josh assured with a big grin on his face, holding his hands in the air. "Curious peace. I know it's not my place to ask what you're taking, but I did wanna let you know that if you're in, like, pain or not feeling well or something..."
He wiggled his slightly glowing, golden fingers in the air for emphasis.
"...I do have a quick fix well within arm's reach."
Noriko had to stare at him for a moment, then ask, flatly, "Does that line ever actually work?"
Had to. It was the kind of snark that had become habit over the past two years, but it didn't mean that it was quite as hostile as it might sound, if you weren't used to it. But she went on, less flatly, shaking her head as she shoved the bottle of pills into the pocket of her denim vest. "I don't think you can help with my issue, golden boy."
She knew he'd answered her journal post, but she couldn't remember his name, so yeah, he was getting saddled with a nickname for now.
It would not be the first nickname Josh had earned here and it probably would not be the last, so Josh was hardly put off by it; at least it was better than 'tool' which was what Kevin preferred to call him (he was a serious asswipe sometimes). In fact, Nori would probably note that Josh looked completely unperturbed, and he actually carried on.
"Don't flatter yourself, it wasn't a line." A laugh came with that, implying that there was no malice behind the comment. "I manipulate biological material, which means I can heal people too. Or is that still not-so-useful?"
Subtly being nosy still? Pretty much.
"Still not so useful," Noriko confirmed, pushing a hand back through her hair and glad to find that it was no longer trembling. MacTaggart knew her shit; the pills had acted pretty damn quickly, and she could feel her brain unknotting. It was the best image she had come up with, for the best drugs she'd found, and these definitely did their thing. It even felt like she could breathe more easily.
"So you stay down here 'cause you help the doc out with her patients?" she asked, since it was her turn to be curious, apparently, and she leaned back against the wall, with the sole of one foot against it, thumbs hooked on her jeans pockets.
"Sometimes." Which mostly consisted of hangovers and random coughs and colds, but he'd seen some interesting things so far. Girls whose powers were killing them and guys coming in with gunshot wounds. Mostly Moira just liked to make sure that Josh was practicing and expanding his scope of power, and Josh theorized it was because she worried about his powers. Or maybe it was his potential she worried about. Whatever it was, it kept her busy trying to find things for him to do, and mostly that consisted of articles, text books, and practicing on lab rats.
Six months in and he was a hell of a lot better than he'd been when he first manifested; working with a doctor day in and day out did have its advantages! "Well, mostly, actually. Different kinds of patients." He pointed over to the side door, from which he came. "The other labs have all sorts of specimens and studies going on. I get to work all over here, I guess.
"A lot of times the other students just come to me voluntarily and skip the Doc altogether; good way to get people to say they owe me one," he joked with a laugh.
"Well, you're not making a very strong case for coming to see you," Noriko pointed out with a wry quirk of her lips, although that was just her regular brand of abrupt, dry humor instead of something more hostile. Who wanted to owe some random guy one?
"Hey, what's your name again?" she asked, one of her fingers mindlessly rubbing over the denim of her jeans. It was a nice texture, and these drugs were good, okay? "Way too many 'hi there, I'm whatever's to remember them all." She didn't say sorry, and didn't sound sorry - well, not unless you knew her, because this was her equivalent.
"Josh," he answered her, not looking too sore about the fact that she forgot. Hey, he'd been a new kid here once, too! "I'd say sorry for thinking that I'm not going to be much help for your little problem, but you never really said what the problem was."
"You noticed," Noriko wryly stated. Come on, Nori, she told herself, be a big girl. You can actually open up here, nobody's gonna look at you weird.
She made a face, then explained, "My powers get out of control. I need to take pills to regulate them, so I don't end up harming someone." Or, you know, frying my own brain.
And one more quick question. "And the pills actually work?" Interesting. It was just too bad that a similar thing wouldn't work for Inara or Kevin.
"Nah, they're freaking placebos," Noriko deadpanned, less harshly than she would have if she hadn't just taken one. "It was touch and go, figuring out what I should take and getting my hands on it all the time, but the doc here knows her shit. What she gave me's working just fine."
"That's amazing," Josh said honestly, rubbing at his chin now as he thought that over. "There's some students in this school who aren't so lucky; I've been trying to help them out, but I haven't had much luck."
But, hey, whatever worked worked, right? It was better to have a solution, no matter how sketchy it could be argued as, then have another name to add to the list of students who were suffering from their powers. Not being able to help at all sucked a whole lot of balls, Josh had learned. "Sorry...I didn't mean it was a good thing that you have to but, you know...uh. You know what I meant, right?"
Work on your wording, Foley.
Come on, Nori, put the guy out of his misery. "It's cool," she told him with a small quirk of her lips. "I know what you mean. I really don't have it as bad as others, and at least I can control it." But that was enough about her, and she jerked her chin in his direction. "So what's with the golden skin? You always looked like that?"
Blinking now, Josh glanced down at his arms before shrugging a little. "To be honest, I haven't figured that out 'what's up' yet. I got my powers before I turned gold, like a couple weeks before, then I had to heal myself from a lot of injuries and it just happened. Simon, the other guy who works down here, thinks it might be like a conduit. Signal booster, or something."
He dropped his arms and then looked up at Nori. "I have no idea. It's shiny and looks metallic, but it's still the same old skin I always had. Just a different colour."
"Well, it could've been worse," Noriko stated wryly. "It could've been some ugly ass color. So you're stuck inside the school, huh?" Since she didn't need one, nobody had told her about image-inducers.
Image inducers were only so helpful anyway, so Josh made a face and nodded. "Ugh, yeah mostly. We have ways of leaving for, like, a couple of hours at a time, tops, but even that's limited. Holographic tech, or whatever, but it's not foolproof. Me and my not-so-ugly-ass-colour have been going pretty stir crazy here since summer. It blows!"
"I bet," Noriko confirmed, actually sympathetic with that particular plight. The thought of staying here most of the time was enough to make her restless already, so all of the time? Thanks but no thanks. "Holographic tech, though, seriously? I thought we were in a comic book, not in Star Trek."
That got a good laugh out of Josh, and he ended up sitting back down on one of the lab stools as his scrubbed a hand over his face with amusement. "Pretty much? I have no freaking clue where they got that crap, but it works. Long enough to go get some pizza or see a movie, at least." Then another shrug. "This town's so boring compared to New York City, though. That's the other shitty thing."
Noriko grabbed a nearby desk chair and rolled it closer, straddling it to rest her arms on its back. "Yeah, that's what I've been told." Not that she had really needed the confirmation; how could Westchester be anything but boring compared to NYC. "You also from New York?"
"Born and raised! I'm from Queens," Josh informed her, a sense of pride filling his voice. Though, the accent had probably given him away from the get go. "Have you ever been to the city?"
"I just spent the past two years there," Noriko answered with a small nod. Her own accent was less obvious than Josh's, but still recognizable. She'd taken to it surprisingly easily; she liked to think it was a sink or swim kind of situation. "Moving around," she added, before he could ask her where exactly. "I love the city."
That was true, never mind some of the things she'd lived there. She liked to look past those things, and she honestly hadn't had a bad life there.
There were all kinds of people doing all kinds of things in New York City, with everything from questionable survival means from the street people to living large and glamourous in high end jobs on Wall Street defining the lifestyles. Josh's neighbourhood in Flushing, in particular, was home to all sorts of classes, races and cultures, political affiliates--you name it. It was rich in diversity, so he knew right well that everyone came from the city with their own neat story to tell.
"Well if you ever wanna go back to visit, let me know; I can charge my batteries up and at least get a couple hours use out of it and keep you company." Josh hadn't been back since he made an attempt to reconcile with his parents back on his birthday. Not a good experience to say the least, but he thought that maybe if he went back without any expectations or thoughts of his (former) family in mind, he would enjoy a visit much more.
"Shinobi offered to give me a ride whenever," Noriko answered, thoughtfully and, given the look in her eyes, somewhat mischievously. "I'm pretty sure he'd hate for me to invite some random guy along, so I'll totally give you a heads-up and you can join us."
Like Shinobi couldn't use some of that. She'd only just met the guy and she could already tell.
Josh hadn't had the pleasure(?) of meeting Shinobi just yet, but from the look on Nori's face he gathered that it was an experience in its own right. The look also made him laugh, yet again; man, he liked this girl's attitude. "Sounds like a deal; who am I to turn down tossing some wrench in people's plans?"
"You're on," Noriko confirmed, pleased with herself in advance. Poor little rich boy was just begging for it.
Noriko still wasn't sure how she felt about getting legally prescribed drugs - or really, about the hundred questions the doc asked her before deciding which pills to give her. Noriko could feel it beginning to build up inside her, that particular kind of electricity-charged antsiness that would soon make her words trip all over themselves, if she didn't take something. And that was just the first stage.
But finally, MacTaggart gave her the pills, and Noriko took them with a word of thanks, if not a smile. She wasn't used to taking them in front of anyone, too used to hiding it, so she had to resist the very real urge, deep inside her, to power-speed out of the office. She walked out normally, instead, and was almost shaking with the effort not to let her power lash out when she found herself in the lab right outside the doctor's office. It took her three attempts before she managed to open the bottle with trembling hands, and she grabbed a pill, swallowing it immediately.
She closed her eyes as she waited for it to take effect, her body very visibly relaxing as it did.
When she opened her eyes, she found herself looking at a... well, golden boy, really, just like his pictures in the journal. She pushed off the wall she was leaning against, frowning. "What?"
Let's be real here, Josh had a bad tendency to be nosy even on his good days, so when the new girl (with the eccentrically kick-ass hair, might he add) decided to wander on down to his domain in the lab to visit with Moira, Josh got curious. Sure, he was supposed to know better about the whole doctor-patient confidentiality thing by now, but if Moira wasn't going to drag him out by the ear (yet) then he was going to push his luck.
"Whoa there. I come in peace!" Josh assured with a big grin on his face, holding his hands in the air. "Curious peace. I know it's not my place to ask what you're taking, but I did wanna let you know that if you're in, like, pain or not feeling well or something..."
He wiggled his slightly glowing, golden fingers in the air for emphasis.
"...I do have a quick fix well within arm's reach."
Noriko had to stare at him for a moment, then ask, flatly, "Does that line ever actually work?"
Had to. It was the kind of snark that had become habit over the past two years, but it didn't mean that it was quite as hostile as it might sound, if you weren't used to it. But she went on, less flatly, shaking her head as she shoved the bottle of pills into the pocket of her denim vest. "I don't think you can help with my issue, golden boy."
She knew he'd answered her journal post, but she couldn't remember his name, so yeah, he was getting saddled with a nickname for now.
It would not be the first nickname Josh had earned here and it probably would not be the last, so Josh was hardly put off by it; at least it was better than 'tool' which was what Kevin preferred to call him (he was a serious asswipe sometimes). In fact, Nori would probably note that Josh looked completely unperturbed, and he actually carried on.
"Don't flatter yourself, it wasn't a line." A laugh came with that, implying that there was no malice behind the comment. "I manipulate biological material, which means I can heal people too. Or is that still not-so-useful?"
Subtly being nosy still? Pretty much.
"Still not so useful," Noriko confirmed, pushing a hand back through her hair and glad to find that it was no longer trembling. MacTaggart knew her shit; the pills had acted pretty damn quickly, and she could feel her brain unknotting. It was the best image she had come up with, for the best drugs she'd found, and these definitely did their thing. It even felt like she could breathe more easily.
"So you stay down here 'cause you help the doc out with her patients?" she asked, since it was her turn to be curious, apparently, and she leaned back against the wall, with the sole of one foot against it, thumbs hooked on her jeans pockets.
"Sometimes." Which mostly consisted of hangovers and random coughs and colds, but he'd seen some interesting things so far. Girls whose powers were killing them and guys coming in with gunshot wounds. Mostly Moira just liked to make sure that Josh was practicing and expanding his scope of power, and Josh theorized it was because she worried about his powers. Or maybe it was his potential she worried about. Whatever it was, it kept her busy trying to find things for him to do, and mostly that consisted of articles, text books, and practicing on lab rats.
Six months in and he was a hell of a lot better than he'd been when he first manifested; working with a doctor day in and day out did have its advantages! "Well, mostly, actually. Different kinds of patients." He pointed over to the side door, from which he came. "The other labs have all sorts of specimens and studies going on. I get to work all over here, I guess.
"A lot of times the other students just come to me voluntarily and skip the Doc altogether; good way to get people to say they owe me one," he joked with a laugh.
"Well, you're not making a very strong case for coming to see you," Noriko pointed out with a wry quirk of her lips, although that was just her regular brand of abrupt, dry humor instead of something more hostile. Who wanted to owe some random guy one?
"Hey, what's your name again?" she asked, one of her fingers mindlessly rubbing over the denim of her jeans. It was a nice texture, and these drugs were good, okay? "Way too many 'hi there, I'm whatever's to remember them all." She didn't say sorry, and didn't sound sorry - well, not unless you knew her, because this was her equivalent.
"Josh," he answered her, not looking too sore about the fact that she forgot. Hey, he'd been a new kid here once, too! "I'd say sorry for thinking that I'm not going to be much help for your little problem, but you never really said what the problem was."
"You noticed," Noriko wryly stated. Come on, Nori, she told herself, be a big girl. You can actually open up here, nobody's gonna look at you weird.
She made a face, then explained, "My powers get out of control. I need to take pills to regulate them, so I don't end up harming someone." Or, you know, frying my own brain.
And one more quick question. "And the pills actually work?" Interesting. It was just too bad that a similar thing wouldn't work for Inara or Kevin.
"Nah, they're freaking placebos," Noriko deadpanned, less harshly than she would have if she hadn't just taken one. "It was touch and go, figuring out what I should take and getting my hands on it all the time, but the doc here knows her shit. What she gave me's working just fine."
"That's amazing," Josh said honestly, rubbing at his chin now as he thought that over. "There's some students in this school who aren't so lucky; I've been trying to help them out, but I haven't had much luck."
But, hey, whatever worked worked, right? It was better to have a solution, no matter how sketchy it could be argued as, then have another name to add to the list of students who were suffering from their powers. Not being able to help at all sucked a whole lot of balls, Josh had learned. "Sorry...I didn't mean it was a good thing that you have to but, you know...uh. You know what I meant, right?"
Work on your wording, Foley.
Come on, Nori, put the guy out of his misery. "It's cool," she told him with a small quirk of her lips. "I know what you mean. I really don't have it as bad as others, and at least I can control it." But that was enough about her, and she jerked her chin in his direction. "So what's with the golden skin? You always looked like that?"
Blinking now, Josh glanced down at his arms before shrugging a little. "To be honest, I haven't figured that out 'what's up' yet. I got my powers before I turned gold, like a couple weeks before, then I had to heal myself from a lot of injuries and it just happened. Simon, the other guy who works down here, thinks it might be like a conduit. Signal booster, or something."
He dropped his arms and then looked up at Nori. "I have no idea. It's shiny and looks metallic, but it's still the same old skin I always had. Just a different colour."
"Well, it could've been worse," Noriko stated wryly. "It could've been some ugly ass color. So you're stuck inside the school, huh?" Since she didn't need one, nobody had told her about image-inducers.
Image inducers were only so helpful anyway, so Josh made a face and nodded. "Ugh, yeah mostly. We have ways of leaving for, like, a couple of hours at a time, tops, but even that's limited. Holographic tech, or whatever, but it's not foolproof. Me and my not-so-ugly-ass-colour have been going pretty stir crazy here since summer. It blows!"
"I bet," Noriko confirmed, actually sympathetic with that particular plight. The thought of staying here most of the time was enough to make her restless already, so all of the time? Thanks but no thanks. "Holographic tech, though, seriously? I thought we were in a comic book, not in Star Trek."
That got a good laugh out of Josh, and he ended up sitting back down on one of the lab stools as his scrubbed a hand over his face with amusement. "Pretty much? I have no freaking clue where they got that crap, but it works. Long enough to go get some pizza or see a movie, at least." Then another shrug. "This town's so boring compared to New York City, though. That's the other shitty thing."
Noriko grabbed a nearby desk chair and rolled it closer, straddling it to rest her arms on its back. "Yeah, that's what I've been told." Not that she had really needed the confirmation; how could Westchester be anything but boring compared to NYC. "You also from New York?"
"Born and raised! I'm from Queens," Josh informed her, a sense of pride filling his voice. Though, the accent had probably given him away from the get go. "Have you ever been to the city?"
"I just spent the past two years there," Noriko answered with a small nod. Her own accent was less obvious than Josh's, but still recognizable. She'd taken to it surprisingly easily; she liked to think it was a sink or swim kind of situation. "Moving around," she added, before he could ask her where exactly. "I love the city."
That was true, never mind some of the things she'd lived there. She liked to look past those things, and she honestly hadn't had a bad life there.
There were all kinds of people doing all kinds of things in New York City, with everything from questionable survival means from the street people to living large and glamourous in high end jobs on Wall Street defining the lifestyles. Josh's neighbourhood in Flushing, in particular, was home to all sorts of classes, races and cultures, political affiliates--you name it. It was rich in diversity, so he knew right well that everyone came from the city with their own neat story to tell.
"Well if you ever wanna go back to visit, let me know; I can charge my batteries up and at least get a couple hours use out of it and keep you company." Josh hadn't been back since he made an attempt to reconcile with his parents back on his birthday. Not a good experience to say the least, but he thought that maybe if he went back without any expectations or thoughts of his (former) family in mind, he would enjoy a visit much more.
"Shinobi offered to give me a ride whenever," Noriko answered, thoughtfully and, given the look in her eyes, somewhat mischievously. "I'm pretty sure he'd hate for me to invite some random guy along, so I'll totally give you a heads-up and you can join us."
Like Shinobi couldn't use some of that. She'd only just met the guy and she could already tell.
Josh hadn't had the pleasure(?) of meeting Shinobi just yet, but from the look on Nori's face he gathered that it was an experience in its own right. The look also made him laugh, yet again; man, he liked this girl's attitude. "Sounds like a deal; who am I to turn down tossing some wrench in people's plans?"
"You're on," Noriko confirmed, pleased with herself in advance. Poor little rich boy was just begging for it.
