Brian and Faiza - Backdated to July 29th

[om_panacea]

Faiza and Brian practically run into each other downstairs outside the labs. Good thing Faiza talks enough for the both of them!



Even though there was a perfectly fine lift going downstairs, Faiza preferred the stairs. Mostly because not everybody else used them. After the way that things had gone at lunch the day before, she was all for avoiding most people.

Of course, being used to being alone in the stairwell didn't count for much once she reached the infirmary floor, slipping out the doorway and turning. Only to just about run directly into somebody coming the other direction. She stepped back, wide-eyed. "Oh! Sorry. I didn't mean...I mean, of course I didn't mean..."

Brian had been so engrossed in what he was doing - in this case, pacing the whole of the sub-basement as he worked on an equation - that he'd nearly not seen the girl until she spoke. He blinked, and finally tore his eyes from the page. "No need for apologies. It is I who should be sorry, Miss...?"

"Hussain. Erm. Faiza Hussain. Fairly new, just arrived in June." And still learning who all the people were, but at least the accent was somewhat familiar and welcome. "And still learning when to keep my head up and watch where I'm going, apparently."

"Well, it is a pleasure to meet you, Miss Hussain. And as I said, you were hardly the only one guilty of such behavior, in this instance." He offered her his hand to shake, "I am Brian Braddock."

She paused, considering that and the fact that his accent was so familiar. "Wait. I know that surname. You're from Essex, aren't you?" She'd vaguely heard of Braddocks. They ended up in the local papers on a fairly regular basis, after all.

His eyebrows went up a bit. "I am indeed."

She grinned up at him. "Chelmsford. I mean, I am from Chelmsford. Born and raised there."

"Ah." Brian's lips tipped up in a polite sort of smile. "Nearly neighbors, then. At home, and here, as well."

"I'm just glad to hear a familiar accent, honestly." Sure, a few Brits around, but nobody else from Essex, that she'd heard. "The closest I've come before now is some of the cricket coverage I can get over here."

"You follow cricket?" Thank goodness. There were a number of others here who watched football, but cricket was rare even amongst Xavier's student body.

She nodded once, decisively. "I do. I can't seem to actually find a way to watch it, but Tony Stark was at least able to set up an easier way for me to listen. Sometimes I get together with John and have a listen." She sighed. "Too bad we're doing so piss poorly this year."

Brian nodded, looking a bit disheartened to think on it. "A pity, to be true. How are you liking the States, then? Did you come here before you moved to Xavier's, or is this your first experience on this side of the pond?"

"First time over here," she replied with a shrug. "Was a bit whirlwind, really. I'm afraid I manifested pretty publicly." While she'd posted about it, she doubted everybody read the posts. "To be honest, I'm still not entirely certain I'm over here legally."

"And what is it that you do?" Brian queried. "If you do not mind my asking."

Faiza gave him a half smile. "The way I understand it, that's usually about the second question out of anybody's mouth around here. Or first if you've introduced yourself already." She shook her head. "I'm a healer. Which is useful as I always wanted to be a doctor."

"Quite beneficial, then," he agreed.

"It really is. I manifested when a friend was hit by a car. Made a bit of a splash in the papers. I'm not sure if the Sun and the Mail have stopped writing awful things about me yet." They were definitely two papers that she'd never read before and wasn't likely to start any time soon.

Brian gave her a look of commiseration and understanding. "I've a personal policy of not reading them, myself."

"Oh, believe me, neither do I. Though before, it was always because I was of about three demographics that they liked to lambast." She reached up, tugging lightly on her hijab. "Now I'm of four."

"Journalism is rarely, it would seem, about fair consideration."

Faiza laughed softly and grinned at him. "I think you might be giving them too much credit, calling them journalists."

"Perhaps. I fear they would hear me if I should say anything of the sort, and goodness knows what that might become." Brian may not appreciate their pseudo-journalistic intrusions on his life, but he'd also done a bit to invite them. The goal had to be, now, to keep them on his side, to the extent that they ever were.

Whereas they'd never been on Faiza's side, even before they knew about her. "I guess I'm lucky. I don't really need to care what they think of me."

Brian shrugged his massive shoulders. "It is, at least of recent, an obligation which I chose to take on. I can hardly grow angry at them over it." Their tales of him and his family when he'd been a child had, of course, been utterly unwanted, but were the price he paid for the privileges he had.

"I suppose it must be different when your family has some sort of title." Even if it was as small as a knighthood.

"I do not know. Perhaps. I've little to compare it to." He smoothly, in his opinion, changed the subject, "So do you like it here, then?"

Possibly not so smoothly, but it was still a better topic. One that made Faiza smile again. "Oh, yes. I mean, I miss my parents terribly. First time I've really been away for more than a weekend for a school trip. But I have a lot of opportunities here that I wouldn't in Chelmsford, either." She motioned toward the infirmary. "I'm working in the infirmary. A bit. I have a lot of learning to do with this power of mine."

Brian nodded. "I imagine most students here do. It is quite fortunate that Professor Xavier chose to open his home to such an institute."

"I don't doubt that at all. I'm pretty sure there's none of us who are born knowing how to deal with our powers." Some seemed to have it a bit easier, but not much.

"Your mentor is Dr. McTaggart, I imagine?"

"Professor Xavier and Dr. McTaggart," Faiza replied with a nod. "The professor because part of the healing power is somewhat mentally directed. And Dr. McTaggart because I need to know more about the human body, even though my powers seem to handle that all right on their own."

Brian eyed her with scientific interest. "Fascinating."

She blinked up at him, then looked down at her shirt. "I'm wearing entirely the wrong shirt to be Bones, Spock."

He blinked right back. "Sorry?"

"Not a fan of Star Trek, I take it?"

Brian shook his head. "I fear I watch very little TV." And even then, only sporting events. "It tends to distract from my work."

"The original Star Trek is from the sixties. I honestly didn't think you even had to watch it to get a reference to it." She hummed slightly. "Well. I suppose I'll have to see what's in the DVD collection upstairs. A little TV isn't going to distract you that much. And you have to relax sometimes, right?"

"Working relaxes me," Brian promised her. "Though I very much appreciate the offer."

"All work and no play..." She didn't finish it but shook her head. "Let me know if you ever change your mind. I'm sure I can dig something up." She looked at her watch and straightened. "I really should get going, though. I seem to be running a little late for my time in the infirmary."

"Of course." Brian moved out of her way. "I apologize for keeping you."

Faiza smiled at him. "Nothing to worry about. And I apologize for nearly running into you."

"No apologies needed. Have a pleasant day."

"And you too, Brian." She stepped past him with another nod before heading for the Infirmary. Hopefully, 'meeting new people' in the school counted as good reason to be late.