Lumi Theiss (visionarydreams) wrote in light_of_may, @ 2010-10-05 12:37:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | 2009-07-29 |
Save your number for a rainy day
Who: Lumi and Ulysses
Where: UoM hospital
When: Waaaay too early in the morning
Circe worked here. Ulysses hadn't even understood his wife's preoccupation with medicine and healing with what she was. He'd teased her about it at first when they were involved and he was intent on wooing her, and later he'd openly mocked it whenever he had the chance. She wasn't even doing anything that he could view as remotely useful since she'd focused in on her own race instead of something beneficial to more than a tiny portion of the population. Who cared what happened to them? Ulysses was so fascinated with her because there weren't that many of them and if there were more then where was the fun in his trophy? Better to just leave them to their own devices. Circe mattered not because of what she did but because of what she was and if her value went away then he'd just let Antonin have her. Less hassle for him. As things stood, though, she was a pretty thing to put on his pedestal and he hadn't ever found someone to replace her.
Pasting on the charming smile that always worked so well, Ulysses approached a young woman in what he thought was a nursing uniform. It was probably far past visiting hours (he'd never paid good attention to that sort of thing) but he didn't care. Hopefully this Nurse Theiss wouldn't either. "Excuse me miss, but I was wondering if you could help me find a woman who works here." A nice tone even, kill them with kindness and if that didn't work then it was time to turn and beat them into submission. Ulysses was a fan of both, though the latter only really worked in private since people could be so nosy these days and he didn't want to end up spending the night in prison.
There was only so much time that you were supposed to go before you slept because the human body was simply not made to go all that long without it. People who went longer usually ended up something like the walking dead, complete with drooling and an insatiable need for caffeine instead of brains. Lumi? Was getting pretty close to that point. Her shift had been meant to end at midnight but one of the other interns had had the nerve to call off and she, as always, had volunteered to take his place. Everyone knew that she would never say no if someone needed her to do something and even better, she would never dream of accusing them of not actually being sick or having an emergency and just taking advantage of her good nature instead. She would never dream of skipping out on work so why should someone else?
Yawning and considering whether or not she could grab a quick - and dreamless - nap in the intern room on her next break or just go get some more coffee from that twenty-four hour cafe up the block, Lumi was distracted by someone's voice. And since there was no one else she had to assume that whoever it was was talking to her. Oh the joys of a night shift and random people. Making sure to smile, even if it was a little tired, before she turned Lumi tilted her head up at the dark-haired man who had addressed her. Oooh, pretty eyes. "I'll do my best, though no promises if they work here after all. What's their name?" Was she supposed to give out any sort of personal information? Probably not, but really she could see nothing wrong with letting a friend know that someone did work there.
Nurse Theiss looked like she probably needed to get more sleep. Bet she's an intern too, they always look tired. Wasn't that what Circe was too? Only not a nurse, she was trying to be a doctor or something. Still smiling, Ulysses shoved his hands into his pockets. "Alexandria Gibbon." He left Wilkes off. He always left Wilkes off. Her keeping that little name had been some sort of motion of defiance he was sure of it and he hated it, but couldn't well change it himself. As it was he just ignored it at every turn. "I think she's an intern here and I promised I'd drop by and say hello if I was ever in town." Oh such a lie, Circe wouldn't want him within a hundred miles of this hospital or her. And he didn't give a damn. She'd been running for long enough and it was time to remind her that she had a husband to consider.
Gibbon? Lumi bit at her bottom lip while she tried to think of all the other interns that she had met. This was a pretty big hospital and there was a lot of them so she could not be expected to remember every single one. But Gibbon tickled at her memory because... because... oh, right, she was a little strange and unnerving and she always glared at Lumi if she hummed or sang a hymnal when she was working. Lumi could not see what was so wrong with it and kept on but she had a feeling that if she ever got struck in the back by an object when she was then it was going to be because of her. "You mean Alexandria Wilkes-Gibborn," she said at last, nodding because she was pleased to tell him that who he wanted was there. She did so love making people happy. "She works here, yeah, but I think she's out until later in the morning." And then, because despite her sweet nature she did have a little bit of a head for gossip, she added, "can I ask how you know her? So that if I see her before you I can let her know." Did Alexandria have a boyfriend? Lumi did not talk with the other blonde all that often so she could not remember if it had ever come up. Probably not. Lumi did not have a boyfriend so it was not a topic that she ever felt the need to bring up.
Ulysses couldn't help but notice how cute that lip bite was, or how pretty Nurse Theiss actually was. It wasn't like he was dead and he knew how to appreciate pretty when he saw it. The fact that it was close to five in the morning probably helped a lot with it. "We're just friends," he replied, same smile still in place. Why he felt the need to lie was obvious. It was more fun. Plus telling someone that you were looking for your wife, well, it looked bad. One shouldn't need to go looking for the person that they were married to. It was fundamentally wrong and he didn't need to be getting looks in this little town already because he'd been cuckolded by his unfaithful little snake of a wife. "Oh where are my manners... my name's Ulysses." He held out his right hand. "And you're Nurse Theiss though I imagine your first name must be very pretty, to match the face." Flattery had never hurt anyone.
Lumi was a little too naive to catch onto the flattery that was being offered to her by Ulysses, though her smile did brighten and she accepted his offered hand. "It's Lumi and it's nice to meet you!" Even if it was an insane hour in the morning and she should have been going on break since her rounds for that hour were finished. "Since Alexandria's not here right now do you want to leave her a message? We have a board that we stick notes on and I can put it there for you before I go on break." Probably not to nap, that coffee was sounding like a much better idea. An hour was long enough to have a dream and she did not need to be shaken for the last part of her shift. Walking away to the counter she pulled out a pad of brightly colored Sticky Notes along with a pen and offered one to Ulysses.
"Lumi's a nice name." And that was a novel concept and Ulysses chuckled at it before accepting what he was offered. Wouldn't that be lovely for Circe to come back and find a little note scribbled out in his handwriting. Let her know that he was there and knew where she worked and could come for her at anytime. Let that little worm of fear wriggle right down inside of her mind and stay there, eating away and interfering with anything she did with that black-blooded bastard. All he wrote was 'Here to say hello -Ulysses'. That should do it. Spotting the board that Lumi had been talking about he decided to show off a little and sent the post-it over there via his telekinetic powers. "Thanks very much for letting me do that, Lumi, sweet of you to help."
Eyes widening at the sight of the note just flying across the air to stick itself to the board, Lumi glanced between it and Ulysses for a moment. "It's no problem really, glad to help. And you're telekinetic!" Being a supernatural herself she had always been fascinated by the other types of psychics. Her own abilities were not that welcome but she thought that if she could do something like make things move instead of getting hurt by her dreams then it would be not so bad. Even if she knew that telekinesis could be used badly because, well, Viuly was one. Lumi had a hard time not attaching negative association to things that her sister did. Just because Viuly was mean to her did not mean that Ulysses was mean, they just had one of the same abilities. That was all. "Which is totally cool, I mean, nothing wrong with being psychic at all. I'm psychic so it'd be pretty hypocritical of me." And hypocrisy was a very bad thing that Lumi tried to avoid at all costs. Effort she might want to think about putting into her lack of babbling next time since that seemed to get out of hand far too often when she was tired.
She was a babbler. Ulysses loved babblers for a very simple reason, they said things that they probably shouldn't. And if they had valuable things then that meant he'd have more information as to how to get them. Not that he was sure someone this young would, though oh, psychic. They were one of the more common supernaturals from all he'd gathered but that didn't mean she couldn't have some ability that was new and interesting. "Oh really? That's interesting." And he meant it. Ulysses collected a lot of things and while trinkets and such made up most of it there were also people. Circe was the prize, but his connection with Zaviar was another and there'd even been a few women before his wife. All interesting, all unique. Lumi seemed like the sort to come right out and say what she was, but Ulysses did prefer a slightly less obvious path and he remembered her saying something about a break. "Do you know of anywhere nearby that sells coffee? I think I need a cup before I head home."
Not really, my abilities are nothing fun and leave me a mess who messes things up more often than they help. All directed inward so that Lumi could keep smiling and reply with, "it is! I'm an oneiropath and a clairvoyant, it's fun." Thou shalt not lie. "Sometimes. And yeah, there's this twenty-four hour cafe about a block down... actually..." She paused and glanced around, face crinkled in thought. Multiple times during her life she had been told that she was not supposed to go anywhere with strangers but that was when she was younger and unable to take care of herself, right? Now she was... well, not much better equipped to take care of herself now than when she was younger since white magic was not really made for anything offensive unless evil was involved and someone with eyes that pretty could not be evil. "I'm about to go on break so I could show you where it is. I hate having coffee alone." Completely true. "If you don't mind the company, maybe you can show off a little." And then maybe she could hit her head on something and realize that Light of May or not, bragging about her abilities was probably not one of her brighter ideas.
Well clairvoyants could be found scattered all over the place and plenty of people claimed to be who actually weren't, but Ulysses was unable to deny the flicker of intrigue that lit up when Lumi said she was an oneiropath. He didn't know that word and he'd made it a bit of a hobby of his to learn the different supernatural types. Now coffee was a must and he had to work to keep from smirking when she actually went and suggested it herself. "I'd love that, thank you very much for the invite. And I'll show off but only if you tell me more about this oneiropath ability that you mentioned. I'm sorry to say that I've never heard of it before." And, for Lumi, that was likely a bad thing. If he had not heard of it then it was rare and if it was rare then he had to have some sort of a hold on it. "Lead the way, Ms. Theiss."
Lumi's cheeks flushed slightly, not used to having someone so interested in her abilities, and she just nodded before starting for the front door. On the way she waved at the head nurse and called, "taking my hour!" When she was nodded at she pushed the door open and made sure that Ulysses was still there. A block was nowhere near too far to walk and she saw no point in moving her car just for that. Besides, it was a nice evening. "What is that you're interested in? It's just a thing... deals with dreams, other people's mostly." Because I hate my own that much. Lumi thought that everyone would if they had to wake up with cuts, bruises and bloody noses. She shoved her hands into her pockets because she never knew what to do with them when she was walking, hating them just swinging at her side like she was some sort of a monkey, and took a deep breath because the fresh air was so wonderful after being cooped up in the hospital for so long.
Oh so it dealt with dreams. Ulysses had heard about vampires who could walk into and out of dreams and a fictional race of beings who could feed off of them, but he hadn't quite been sure whether or not psychics were capable. Apparently they were. Lumi seemed like too sweet of a girl to lie about something like that and there were even flickers of emotion lapping at the edges of his shield, ones that belayed a dislike of something. Him? No, he hadn't done anything, maybe herself. Girls like that were always so easy to manipulate in this or that way. Usually if you found a way to tell them that they were special and make them believe it, in some way then they were like clay in your hands. Circe'd been hard but this girl, Ulysses had a feeling that Lumi Theiss would come easily enough. "That actually sounds like a really useful thing. Do you just see the dreams or do you actually..." He made a little motion with his hand and a few blades of grass from nearby flew up, twisting themselves into a little star in front of Lumi. "Manipulate them?"
Giggling at the grass-star, Lumi reached up to catch it, amazed at how the grass had actually knotted so that it was not going to just fall apart. "This is cool, can I keep this?" It was a really simple thing but she liked it for some reason. "And both, I can change things around so that it's nicer." Lumi would have never thought to make a dream bad, not even her sister's. Shrugging even the idea of that off she nodded towards the only lit up shop on the street, stepping up to grab the door handle and slip inside. "Hey!" she said to the tired-looking woman behind the counter. Lumi almost always came here when she was pulling a double shift. "How's it going, Kelly? I'll have my usual cappuccino please. What about you, Uly- Mr. Gibbon?"
"Ulysses is alright," Ulysses said with a smile, glancing at the menu. She'd taken the little star like it was something valuable. "Just a decaf coffee for me, I actually plan on getting to sleep in the next few hours." And before Lumi could say anything he motioned at her and pulled out his credit card. "Both of them. And before you object it's because you're being nice and let me leave a note for Circe and now showing me this place. Least I could do." He was relaxed right now, practically in his element, accepting his coffee and slipping into a booth before motioning for Lumi to join him. "You said you were clairvoyant too?"
Blinking when Ulysses just paid for her drink, Lumi murmured an acceptance and took her drink before joining him in the booth. Sipping at the still too-hot drink she nodded, fidgeting with the cup and glancing around at the only other person in the shop besides Kelly. Some old man with the newspaper and a cup of coffee. He was almost always in here too, now that she thought about it. "Mmhmm, but it's nothing major, my visions come in dreams." And I don't like talking about it either. Especially not with people I don't even know. What was easier than being a psychic? Being a witch, no ill had ever come out of that on her side. Being a witch had not gotten her into a mess where Cael left her or where she had seen her sister trying to curse her. "Really, the psychic is a sort of side-benefit, I focus more on being a witch. White magic! Nothing dangerous." That was important. Lumi hated it when people automatically assumed that magic was out to get them.
Wait, wait, back up. Lumi was a psychic and a witch? Ulysses felt a little twitch and realized that he was actually excited. It'd been who knew how long since he'd come across someone that caught his interest like this and sure they were just having coffee but for Ulysess that was a pretty big deal. Because he was interested and, for the first time since arriving in Scarlet Oak, he wasn't worrying at all about Circe. "Altogether I have to say that makes you a pretty fascinating person, Ms. Theiss. Are you actually from here or just a student?" She looked young enough to still be in school.
Fascinating? Her? Lumi found herself blushing again and looked down at her drink so that she did not have to acknowledge that Ulysses was fully capable of seeing what color he was making her turn. She blushed all of the time, her friends thought it was funny, and more around guys but normally they had at least known her for more than an hour. "Not here, but really close - do you know Scarlet Oak? Born and raised." Everyone in the area knew Scarlet Oak, if only because of Heme, but if Ulysses was new then maybe he had yet to realize that it existed. "But I'm a graduate student so it's kind of both, I guess." A lot of people seemed to want to go as far away as they could for college but Lumi had been happy to stay close to home. All the interesting things were here.
Better and better since Scarlet Oak was where Ulysses's hotel was because that was where Circe and Zaviar lived. Now it looked like his new fascination would be close by. "That's actually where I'm staying," Ulysses informed her, making no remark on the fact that she was blushing. Girls didn't always like having that brought to attention. "Maybe sometime you can show me the interesting things around town? If Circe's as busy as I think then she won't have the time and I have a feeling she's a little caught up with a boyfriend." Black-blooded corpse in the making. Zaviar really could go and find himself another necromancer and telepaths were practically a dime a dozen.
"Sure!" Lumi beamed and brushed back a piece of her hair. "I'd love to do that sometime when I'm not working or volunteering, everyone should know all the little secrets of our town." Were there many of those? Not really, but Lumi wanted to show Ulysses around and telling him that he could get all of the information he wanted out of a brochure would not help that happen at all. Probably the opposite and, while part of her said that it would be better if she did not see the oddly charming man again, the rest of her was insisting on it because his eyes were really pretty. Fumbling in her pockets for the pen she always had, Lumi tore off a corner of her napkin and scribbled her number down. "There, you can call in a few days if you're still around and we'll set something up."
Score. Chuckling to himself, Ulysses pocketed the piece of napkin. Looked like he still knew how to go about getting a number from someone fascinating. Probably because she had that self-confidence issue or something. He'd have to figure out the cause of that, made it easier to play off. "And am I going to have to pay for this tour?" he asked teasingly, hiding a yawn because he was starting to feel a little tired. Looked like the long day was finally going to catch up to him.
Lumi never once considered that this may ever be any sort of date, or that Ulysses was flirting or interested in her for anything but her knowledge about Scarlet Oak. Things like that always had and always would shoot right over her head unless someone grabbed her by the shoulders and informed her that was exactly what was, or had, happened. Then she might freak out a little bit because she had not gone on what she considered to be dates since, well that mess with Cael and Leon. Which is not to be thought about. This is a good thing and I don't need a negative association. "Maybe dinner and we'll call it good," she returned with a giggle before stretching out. She had seen that yawn and knew that, unlike her, Ulysses did not have a reason to be up for however many more hours. He had said himself he needed to sleep. "So I'll talk to you then? I'm going to head back to the hospital." Standing, half her drink still in the cup, she flashed another smile. "It was very nice to meet you, Ulysses."
"Dinner and a tour, sounds wonderful," Ulysses agreed, also standing. He needed to get some sleep too, never knowing what the day would bring. "It was my pleasure." Quite thoroughly. He'd not met someone so interesting in awhile and he was going to need to research her type of psychic so he'd be more fully versed. Then see what he could learn about Miss. Lumi Theiss so that he knew how best to go about everything. Ulysses was nothing if not thorough when it came to acquisitions he wanted to make.