InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "You love me so much!"

Chris Morgan (sensing) wrote in haunted_roads,
@ 2008-06-28 12:51:00

Current mood:	indescribable
Entry tags:	chris, hesper

Week Ten: Friday
Who: Chris and Hesper (with a brief appearance by Chris' nemesis, Vernon Johnson)
Where: beginning outside UW Medical Center, then a nearby diner
When: early morning, just after dawn
What: breakfast

It was peculiar enough to be standing outside the hospital after work instead of heading home to sleep after a long night spent restocking supplies and filing and attempting to avoid people. It was also very unusual why he was standing out there. He was waiting for Hesper Alekos, who'd pushed a note beneath his door the day before telling him she was taking him to breakfast today in thanks for the sketch he'd left for her, and that she'd pick him up outside the hospital. There'd been no option for declining, and at this point he probably wouldn't have, anyway. After the rocky start to their last encounter where she'd found him up in the enclosed gardens, she'd seemed to go out of her way to be nice to him, charming even. That had possibly been one of the reasons he'd matted that sketch and left it for her, since it had seemed to bother her so much that he'd drawn it. One of the reasons. Any others, he wouldn't let himself examine. It was too confusing to him.

Chris wasn't even nervous about seeing her again right now because he was too busy being annoyed. The drawback to having to wait out here was the fact that Vernon Johnson, who seemed to have nothing better to do during his shifts at work than to hunt down Chris and taunt him, had spotted him through the glass doors outside which he stood in the brisk morning air. Chris had changed out of the scrubs he'd worn to work in, something he usually didn't do, since normally he was just going home and who cared what he had on? Despite the fact that he and Hesper would undoubtedly go to the Diner several blocks away, which, though it had excellent breakfasts, was nothing fancy, he'd felt compelled to put something else on, anyway. He was dressed in black jeans and a fisherman's sweater in a deep blue with a white t-shirt beneath it that just barely peeked out from beneath the sweater's crew neck. The color intensified the shade of his eyes, and maybe he'd noticed the effect when he'd looked in the mirror, although that sort of thing wasn't anything Chris generally considered.

He'd been standing still, minding his own business as he usually did, when Vernon burst out of the doors like a demented jack-in-the-box to stand beside him. The burly black man was still dressed in his work scrubs, bulging out of them actually, and he'd tossed a nearly threadbare coat on over them against the chill. "Yo," he said, his big white teeth showing as he smiled joyously. "Whatchoo doin' out here, Morgan? Ain't it time for mice to get back in their holes?" He poked Chris on the arm, having already figured out long ago how much Chris hated to be touched.

Anger flared instantly, and Chris turned his head to glare at the guy, deliberately stepping a foot to one side. He wished for Hesper's claws; though he hadn't seen them anywhere but in his mind's eye, he knew they were there. He was reaching the point with Vernon where he'd love to fight back, but there wasn't a lot he could do. The other man was bigger than him and brasher, loud and obnoxious. He'd likely been the sort of little kid who'd pulled the wings off of butterflies. He seemed to have no human kindness or sense of appropriateness. Chris said nothing, but his jaw tightened as he hoped the other man would give up and go away.

"You lookin' fiiiiiine, baby," Vernon said. "Got a date? Or you takin' up pros-ti-tu-tion?" Every syllable of the last word was spoken as if it had been a separate word, with a definite mocking flavor. He closed the space between them and started to rub Chris' arm, as if assessing the quality of the wool on his sweater. Chris' cheeks were blazing red, though he was more angry than embarrassed at the moment, as little as he liked another man touching him like that here in public. He wouldn't have liked it anywhere, but here was worse, outside his workplace. His dark brows drawn down in a glower, he yanked his arm out of Vernon's grasp and then elbowed the man as hard as he could, as little as he liked to stoop to his level. He just couldn't tolerate it anymore.

Ads by Project Wonderful! Your ad here, right now: $0

(Post a new comment)

shadows_prism
2008-06-29 11:18 pm UTC (link)

Thank yous were not normally in Hesper's bag of tricks. When they were, often times they were not of the gift basket variety. Though she was a fan of gift baskets, especially if she was the one getting one. Still she had to find some way to thank Chris for the lovely picture that she now had to keep hidden from her brother. Lucky for her Nox never really went in her drawers, but there was still always a chance of him unearthing something that he should not and that was definitely something that was best left out of his sight. Though even with the picture, it was not something she normally thanked people for. Why should she thank them? It was not like she asked for it.

But there was another motivation. His power could have infinite benefits to someone such as herself. Think about it, she would know intimate details that no one else could possibly know. But in order to tap into his power, she needed him to trust her. Eventually she hoped to bring him almost to the level of assistant or something like that. It was something that would be unavoidable really. With his power she could learn an awful lot, but only if he was willing to tell her. It would take a lot of work, but she wanted him at that level where he would tell her willingly, knowing and understanding why he was telling her. A situation like that was a long ways off right now though.

Walking down to the hospital, she shivered a bit. Was it even not too cold for her liking in Seattle? Still, she thought she looked rather nice in her jacket and jeans. While her style was no where near that of the prissy girls that seemed to propagate in the mud of the city, she was still rather attractive. Plus, practical shoes went well with jeans, and when one was trying to get some place as quick as possible, practical always worked best. She made it to the hospital soon enough, only to be very surprised at what she saw. Well look at that, little Chris was fighting back. And didn't his odds just look terrible?

Slipping up as fast as she could upon seeing that, she managed to pull Chris away and slide between the two of them. Neither of them would have a chance if she really wanted a fight, and Chris was easily light enough to probably bench press, so pulling was no big feat. Despite his dislike of touch, Hesper felt it was needed to make a point. Sliding an arm around his, she kissed his cheek lightly. "Babe, you been waiting long? Sorry I took so long." she said sweetly, looking over at Vernon with a raised, cynical eyebrow. "Though, looks like your friend was nice enough to keep you busy."

(Reply to this) (Thread)

sensing
2008-06-30 12:05 pm UTC (link)

Normally, Chris thought out all the possibilities before he engaged in any given action. Sometimes he was too careful, because none of the potential consequences seemed to be good. There were a few people in life who seemed to short-circuit that response, and one of them was Vernon Johnson. When he'd elbowed the man, he fully expected to be punched or have his arm twisted nearly out of socket, or something else equally heinous. In this case, though, he didn't care. Any amount of pain would have been worth stopping the big jerk from pawing him about here on the sidewalk, just to be obnoxious.

Hesper's appearance was almost like divine intervention. Well, intervention anyway. Chris was a bit surprised how glad he was to see her. If nothing else, he didn't think Vernon would try to pound him with a lady present. A woman. Under the circumstances, he was fine with her drawing him away from the other man and even kissing his cheek, though normally it would have made him flush ten different shades of red and twitch. Right now, it was just perfect.

"Not long," he said to her, his own arm sliding around her; the sleeve of the sweater had fallen over his hand, and he surreptitiously closed his fingers around it to keep his skin from touching her jacket. Last thing he needed right now was a psychometric spell. "It's okay." He looked at her because he didn't want to look at Vernon, and it was only then that he flushed very slightly, probably the effects of meeting her gaze. Her sharp eyes missed nothing, and he was sure she'd realized that Vernon the musclebound lunkhead was no friend of his.

"It wadn't nothin'," Vernon said, insinuating himself into the conversation again. There was confusion on his face; the sight of a woman coming to pick up Chris had completely thrown him off. He'd figured the kid was gay, because he was damned pretty, wasn't he?