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Summary: While Nick is visiting Ahmed in the medbay, Hosea demands answers.
Date: February 27, 2012
Log Title: Panic on the Streets of Xavier's.
Rating: PG-13
Xavier Mansion - Medical Bay
The Medical Bay contains the latest medical equipment to patch up students and X-Men with the smallest and worst injuries. Six beds line the walls for injured patients. Equipment lines the walls, medicine in the cabinets, and more serious medical supplies locked in cabinets. One this about this room it screams sterilization.
It's lunchtime on Monday, and while others might be settling in for enchiladas and tacos in the cafeteria, Ahmed is still in the infirmary, with a bowl of soup and some hospital jello. Dr. Reyes has left him with a 24 hour monitoring notice for the nurses, and he just stares at the stuff… lifting his spoon and dropping it a couple times.
Nicholas hasn't had much of an appitite over the last two days and instead of eatting lunch he's headed down to the medical bay. He hasn't been in here since he first got to the school. He walks in through the door and freezes for a few moments before walking over to Ahmed. He gives his roomate a very awkward, and obviously forced, quick smile before speaking. "So…you feeling better?"
Hosea has received word about Sophie's kidnapping, and thus began the quest to find out what is happening. Normally the friendly giant on campus, his usual smile is non-existent. He has been looking for someone named Nicholas, though he doesn't know the teen himself. He passes through the wall into the medbay, using the closest wall available to shorten his trip throught he underground of the mansion. He wears his school uniform, which shows the presence of several of the scars that cover the Nigerian's body. He glances between Ahmed and Nicholas. "Do eitha of you know who Nick Gerhardt is?" The question is with command behind it, though not necessarily rude in tone, he seems unconcerned with interrupting any current conversation that is underway.
Ahmed replies to Nick in a slightly raspy voice, his throat still sore from the wolf's bite, and the bandage around his neck still plainly present, "Yeah, but I'm gonna sound like Christian Bale's batman for a couple weeks… hey man… long time no see. Please tell me you snuck in lunch?" Picking up and dropping the spoon once more, in time for Hosea's question to come as an interruption. Looking at the other student for a long moment, he replies, "Sure, we know Nick." Despite the seeming good cheer, there's a look in his eyes that speaks volumes of self-deprecation and teen angst.
Nicholas shakes his head. "I..haven't eatten much lately, I'll sneak you down dinner though." He says looking around for a chair. "I've been really worri-" His sentence is cut short by the entrence of Hosea. He turns and glares at him, folding his arms over his chest. "What do you want him for." He says in an irritated tone to Hosea not really wanting to deal with any sort of crap at the moment.
Hosea closes the distance between himself and the other two teens quickly, passing straight through an IV stand to get to them. "It is vedy important," his deep voice insists. "I have learned dat Sophie has been kidnapped, and it is important dat I talk to him so dat I can find her. I have heard dat he was present when it happened. We cannot let anything happen to her."
Almost immediately, Ahmed's skin takes a plasticy sheen to it, and something starts to soak the bandage, causing him to wince as the pores in his sore neck ache from where the bite is still felt. The sheets begin to darken as well from the goop as the faint ash-scent of it rises up into the air. Shying away from Mister intensity a bit, he then coughs a couple times before saying, "Dude, Nick's like… a total horse nerd… he hangs out in the stables every second he can. Even has his own horse." Then looking at Nick, he waves for help, "What's it's name… Apollo… ummm…"
Nicholas is beyond grateful to Ahmed and he looks down at his roommate and nods. "It's okay Ahmed, I don't really want to deal with Mr Tall, Dark and Douchebag but, he'll find me either way." He says not caring that Hosea hears him insulting him. He turns to the taller student and crosses his arms. "Yeah, I was there and I told everything to Ms. Frost and I don't really care to talk about it again, got it? So if you want to know anything about what happened, talk to her."
Hosea glances from Ahmed to Nicholas. "I am not Ms. Frost," Hosea says. "I understand dat it must be difficult, but it is important dat I hear it from you. I need to know details dat Ms. Frost may not be able to provide. I ask dat your comfort not be placed before Sophie's safety." He glances to Ahmed. "Were you also involved with da attack?" he asks eagerly. "Da more information dat can be gathered, da better it will be and more likely dat we can bring back those abducted safely."
Sarcasm drips as Ahmed says, "No, thanks… I'm fine, thank you for asking. Really… it's no trouble. It was just my throat nearly crushed by a wolf the size of an SUV. But hey… " forced to stop by a fit of coughing, and then a sip of his water from his tray, "What's my problems, right? Who died and made you…" Then another fit of coughing, and the feline-faced boy just lays back, raw frustration written on his face as he just shakes his head.
"My….my comfort?!" Nicholas says to Hosea starting to shake just a bit from anger. "My comfort was taken away from me months ago you moron! You're not the only one whose trying to deal with what happened but then maybe it's easy for you because you didn't have a knife to your throat while watching someone get kidnapped, or maybe it's easy cause you didn't get your throat bitten by a wolf, or maybe it's even that your best friend isn't missing on top of eveything else! But, that's…" He stops to take a few gasps of air as he seems like he's starting to get short of breath. "that's just me not wanting to be uncomfortable. You're….you're right. You're not Ms. Frost." Once he's done talking he sits down on the adjecent bed to Ahmed, visibly shaking.
Hosea purses his lips for a long moment, opens his mouth, then closes it again as he consideres how he wants to proceed. "My best friend is missing," he says softly. "I apologize, I do not mean to belittle your situations," he adds. "Just as you desire for dem to be found and safe, so do I. You say there was a giant wolf?" he repeats. "I am sorry dat you were attacked. I do not know if we have properly met befo. I am Hosea Ikbuku."
Ahmed doesn't really say anything or respond, instead he focuses on his breathing, and eventually the slop around him begins to steam off of him, sending more of that stale ash-scent in the air around him.
Nicholas continues to take a few deep breaths, almost gasping. "But…but..you do…belittle us." He says to Hosea. "I told..Ms Frost everything…that…that happened. That's who needs to know." He says trying to control his shaking, but doesn't seem to be having luck as his eyes start to glow blue and things around him start to shake. "You now want to introduce yourself and talk about properly meeting? After that, there is no properly met."
Hosea flexes his jaw, and his stance becomes slightly wider upon Nicholas' eyes start to glow. "Would you like to see our friends rescued?" Hosea asks. "Because I am da one dat can make dat happen. I know dat you are angry, but we must keep our heads straight if we are to rescue dem. Did dese wolves seem to be intelligent?" he asks, trying to keep the topic moving so that the issues of manners will be moved to the back burner.
Ahmed snarks back before he really checks himself, "Lessee… ummm…" And another cough, "How about we go back to the part where I told the guy with the white hair and the shiny metal arm the part about the wolf telling the student she took it was her faul-…" More coughing, his voice beginning to sound dry, "her fault he was going to crush my THROAT." The last word coming out with a feral growl, "I was kinda too busy praying to the Lord not to die to really take in the small details." The feline-looking student's face is pained, angry, and almost hurt, "I'm sorry your girlfriend got taken, but really… we're scared. And you're not helping. And you act like one of those cops from Law and Order."
Things continue to shake as Nicholas sits there, moving a hand to his chest as he tries to breath. "Get….out…" He says slowly to Hosea inbetween breaths. "Leave us….leave….alone." He says trying to force himself to calm down but he can't seem to. The shaking becomes more and more intesnse, a cup falling over, things rolling off the table and things like that.
Hosea lets out a breath. "I am sorry," he says to Ahmed. I sometimes forget dat I am more adjusted to these types of situations den others. I do not mean to further worry you." He walks around the bed to the other side of Ahmed. "I am scared as well, you see?" he comments. "I am glad dat da Lord answered your prayer." The African's eyes shift back to Nicholas, and back to Ahmed. "I think dat for now I shall leave you," he says, deciding against talking to Nicholas further. He looks hardly intimidated, though frustrated to be certain. He still has much work to do to find Sophie and the others. With a deep breath, he lets out a sigh and walks back through the door, off to find more clues.
Ahmed blows out a breath as he watches Hosea depart, and grumbles out, "Man, I never thought anyone'd make me miss Q-ball." His eyes then shift back towards Nick, and seeing the seething rage… he does the only thing he can think of. He focuses on his hand until a ball of mostly clear gel forms there, and he lobs it at the back of Nick's head, "DUDE." He rasps out.
The ball of goo hits Nick in the back of the head and looks at Ahmed, with a scared look on his face. "Can't…..breath." He says to him in gasping breaths, the goo dripping down the back of his head and down his shirt mostly ignored. Things continue to shake it's more for fear than anger at this point.
Pushing out of the bed, Ahmed gets himself to a standing position, and then takes a couple shaky steps towards his roomie. Then… he just wraps his arms around him, and begins to make a raspy rumble in in chest, saying between breaths, "Everything's allright man…" Followed by a couple more coughs, and a groan, "I got your back. You're cool. See?"
Nicholas leans against Ahmed and just nods. It helps him to calm down and after a few minutes his breating starts to return to normal. "You getting hurt, Jill going missing, seeing that girl kidnapped, how do people deal with this stuff." He asks in a quiet voice. "I'm sorry Ahmed, you…you are the one whose hurt."
Ahmed lets go, and falls back onto his butt on the bed, before giving a shrug, and rubbing at his throat, "None of it's your fault… and dude… you hurt too. Just not where anyone can see. So… do I at least sound cool?"
At least everything has stopped shaking and Nicholas stands up to start placing things back where they belong, though he's not the most steady at the moment as his hands keep shaking. "I haven't lost control of my powers since I was thirteen." He says to Ahmed before turning to look at him. "You, Jill, Shane and Taylor are the only people I have anymore, and you got hurt and Jill is missing…." Then at Ahmed's question Nick just looks at him before there's a small grin on his face and the exhale of a chuckle. "Yeah, yeah you do. You sound like Batman."
Rubbing at his throat, Ahmed nods once, and then shifts himself to lay back down on the bed, "Wish I was as cool as Batman. I totally got punked by that wolf… he was like… a truck with fangs. I thought… y'know… since I could be a big cat, I could fight like one… so much for that. I couldn't even protect anyone either." The depression seeping into his voice as he continues to touch the spot where he'd felt the life nearly crushed from him, "You're like family too… so I'll get better for you, allright?"
"I couldn't either, again." Nicholas says before trying to push it to the back of his head. "Ahmed, you are a big cat, I saw you that day with Quenton. I don't know what to do about this but three people are gone and you and I had to watch it." He doesn't say much more than that. "Don't beat yourself up over what happened." Which are hallow words since Nick has done the same since he got to Xavier's.
"Ummm…" Ahmed makes to ask, but pauses for some coughing again, "I don't suppose you could come back with some food from the real kitchen, and maybe a laptop we could watch something on?" Picking at the cold, dead, and otherwise tasteless corpse of his soup once more, "I could really use some company today. It's been lonely, with all the stuff going on. You can even pick the movie or show."
Nicholas nods to Ahmed. "Actually that sounds like a great idea. I promise I won't cook." He says knowing that his food isn't exactly 'comfort food' unless you like burnt food. "I could use some company too, and I don't really care what we watch just need to relax. I do have to spend some time with Orion later but I'll come right back down here after."
Ahmed can't help but ask with a grin, "So… is that like right back down after in real time, or in Nick time?" Letting his smile spread a little bit more genuinely this time, and getting for a moment that same old feline mischevious spark in his eye.
"Depends on how much attention Orion needs." Nicholas says giving a small smile back. "Sorry for…whatever that was back there. It was like my chest just tightened up and I couldn't breath and all I felt was scared." He looks towards the door. "Though if Kirsten was in trouble…I can't entirely blame him for being worried." He stands up and pats Ahmed on the shoulder. "I'll be back with real food and a laptop, and then once we've had lunch I can disappear for a bit for horse time. See ya in about fifteen." He says as he heads out of the medbay.
