1/23 Instance: Friendly Talk

[Slarti]

Timelined after Bald Truths.

Tessa: Tessa sat with her chin on her knees on one of the formed iron patio chairs. She was staring at a spot on the table, next to her drinking glass. To anyone else, she might have been deep in thought, or asleep with her eyes closed.

Bobby: Well, so much for that idea. Bobby walked slowly from the woods around the side of the house, looking up when he saw something hot on the patio. Not something, someone. He blinked, forcing himself to see properly. Tessa.

Bobby: He had heard something had happened to her the day of the first rescue. Seizure? Yeah. He didn't want to think about that, so he stepped heavily onto the patio pavers to let her know he was there.

Tessa: Tessa's head jerked up at the noise and swiveled towards Bobby, digesting the mutation code. "Hello...Bobby." She almost sighed at the insistant tug of information, rubbing her temples. "How are you doing?"

Bobby: "Hey, Tess. Mind company?" Bobby put on a smile, shoving his hands into his jean pockets. "Oh, you know. Same old, same old. You? I heard you... ah..."

Tessa: She picked up the cup and looked into it before drinking. "I can't remember a whole lot that happened. Don't remember some people at all." She put it back down and swirled the liquid, listening to the ice cubes clink.

Bobby: Bobby shrugged one shoulder to himself and spun one of the metal chairs around to sit. "That sucks." He couldn't help watching the ice bob in the cup. "Guess I must be memorable enough for you to remember my name at least."

Tessa: "Your mutation code is the same. DNA changed, but..." She lifted a shoulder and managed to make it look careless and elegant at once. "You still think I'm crazy? Because of Rahne?"

Bobby: Bobby's eyebrows shot up. "Changed?" Shit, knew McCoy was wrong... He started to ask what she meant.

Bobby: "Oh. Well... you do remember me." He smirked a little. And what would she think of him now if she knew the truth? "Right to the point about that, aren't ya?"

Tessa: "Changed. Not the same." She looked at him balefully. "What would be the point of dodging around things like that? Least this way I'm not dissapointed later." She ran her fingertips around the rim of the glass lazily.

Tessa: "You're still you, obviously, but you're not the same you. Your DNA has different markers. Different eyes. Different skin. Little changes." Her eyebrows moved minutely with her head, in an 'oh well' gesture.

Bobby: "Not disappointed? I didn't figure my opinion mattered that much." He crossed his arms on the back of the chair to look at her. "Yeah, still me, but I think now crazy's kind of relative."

Tessa: "I imagine it is after that." She shifted around, finding a more comfortable spot where her toes weren't going numb. "People tend to underestimate the effect their words have. And how people come out of comas."

Bobby: After that? "Why, what effect did my words have?" Bobby parked his chin on his forearm, lips quirking up. "If you remember that conversation so well, you gotta remember the yelling went both ways."

Tessa: "Of course." She opened her mouth to say something else, but closed it again, thinking. "I don't remember xactly what you said to me. Or I to you." I don't think it's possible to understand this lapse. "You're wondering why I can remember that but nothing else."

Bobby: "Er... I don't either." Bobby rubbed his chin against his arm, reminding himself he needed to shave. Why were these things so hard to remember? "I remember you didn't think it was fair she could come back from the dead... but she was never really dead."

Bobby: "You know that, right?" He stared at her glass again, not wanting to look at her. "Nobody comes back from really dead."

Tessa: She looked at him, but didn't quite see him. "You don't think I know that?" She changed focus again and shook her head. "Nobody's been particularly forthcoming about anything. Like what happened on that first mission. Can't remember it at all."

Bobby: Let's get Japh back on the line and get the fuck out. "The shit hit the fan, pure and simple. That's all that happened." Bobby sighed, blowing his hair out of his eyes. "I dunno. You're a smart girl, I figured you know that... but you also have to know yelling about something like that... it can give people the wrong impression."

Tessa: The shook her head again, sadly. "I'm really not crazy. I may be irrational, and certainly odd to everyone, but I am sane. Last I checked." She flicked a lose lock of hair out from in her face. "I suppose it comes with the abilities."

Bobby: "Hey, like I said, it's relative. I really have no room to talk some of the shit I spouted off lately." He snorted. Yeah. Time to lighten this up. "You have a point there. I don't think I've ever met a telepath who wasn't a little bit special."

Tessa: "Actually I didn't mean the telepathy. I was more referring to the mutation codes. It's not easy to know all of them." Though, she did chuckle at the mention of the nursery rhymes. "Your American nursery rhymes sound odd and morbid. At least, sung at night they do." The side of her mouth rose in something that might have resembled a smirk in a former life.

Bobby: Bobby decided he wasn't in the mood to think more about her comments. Changed. He had changed. It confirmed all his suspicions.

Bobby: Instead, he ramped up a grin, sitting up. "Hey, we're proud of our odd and morbid traditions."

Tessa: "That's Americans. Perfectly happy with oddity, as long as it's American oddity." Not so much when it's foreign oddity. "How's Lorna?"

Bobby: "Hey, there's nothing odder than the good old stars and stripes. It's clearly why we're so very popular." He winked. "She's much better. I was gonna go see her here soon... how's Andy?"

Tessa: "...Bright." She almost smiled. "He's doing well. Not as self-confident as he was, but I'm sure that will return sooner or later."

Tessa: Tessa sighed and set her arms on her knees, fidgeting with the dawstring at the hip of her shirt. "I asked him on a date. Have to figure out where to go now. I guess him being gone for a month kind of moved the priorities around."

Bobby: "Ah, so the Lite Brite effect is permanent too." Bobby frowned a little. "Yeah... I think everybody just needs some time. But, hey - a date. Cool. I really guess I had no idea you guys were that close." Bobby tried not to think of the last time he'd seen Andreas, looking up from the floor after trying to kill Remy.

Tessa: "I didn't either. I get the feeling he's not extraordinarily happy with me at the moment. 'Cause I went to go see Remy and talk." She shrugged. "Just one of those things that has to happen for people to heal." So she supposed.

Bobby: Bobby grunted, freezing the surface of the elaborate chair back to watch the frost patterns. He still didn't know what to think about Remy. "Can't blame him there."

Tessa: Tessa raised an eyebrow at the back of the chair freezing. "Well that speaks volumes." She smiled a little absently. "I'm so glad TJ's not a florist."

Bobby: "Come again?" He looked up at that, puzzled. "Florist?"

Tessa: "Gave Remy flowers. They're ceramic for Johnny's safety." She quirked up a corner of her mouth. "Because if they were real they'd be deadly. Poisonous."

Bobby: He had to laugh at that. "Nice. Yeah, she probably wouldn't appreciate that much. I would think Andy would approve of a sneaky death threat though." You did more than threaten, Drake.

Tessa: "WE do that in greece. Give gifts to our family members when they're sick." She moved around on the chair and picked up her drink. "I just haven't figured out what to get you and Lorna yet."

Bobby: "Nothing poisonous, I hope." This conversation was starting to confuse him. Greeks gave family members death threats as gifts? Sounded shady. "I think we've had enough of that. Um... thanks for the thought. I gave her flowers... real ones... non-poisonous. Roses."

Tessa: She laughed. "I gavbe them because they meant something, not because they're poisonous. I was thinking sending you two to a concert. You both like music."

Bobby: "Fair enough." Bobby nodded slowly. "Heh. Concert. We were supposed to go to a concert the weekend after we... yeah. We didn't make it." He chewed the corner of his lip. "She had her 21st birthday in there, you know... I need to come up with like, the best birthday ever to make that shit up to her."

Tessa: A slow smile crossed Tessa's face. "There's a really great restaurant in town you two should check out. The waiters are in tuxedoes and everything. My brother says it's great."

Bobby: "Tuxedoes, eh? Prime material for penguin jokes." Bobby grinned, surprised he wasn't faking it. "Sounds like a good start."

Tessa: "It does. Call and see about reservations if you like. You two would have a good time there." Tessa fumbled in her pocket for her cell phone and ran her fingers over the keys. "I'd give it to you as a gift."

Bobby: He wasn't sure about having her pay for his girlfriend's birthday date, but then, it didn't have to be for that. "Thanks, Tess. How about I take you up on that when McCoy lets her out of the Medlab?"

Tessa: She nodded. "Deal. Let me know when he does that."

Bobby: "Deal. You sound like Eve now." He stood up to go inside. "You coming in? It's gotta still be a little chilly out here."

Tessa: "You have me well and truly Americanized now." She smiled benignly and shook her head. "It's alright. I'll stay out a bit longer. Might find some of you later. Bring the X-Box down to the medlab so you're not all bored to tears."

Bobby: "Okay, deal back at'cha then, American Woman." He squeezed her shoulder for a moment before going back inside. "Sounds fun. I'll see you later."

[fourpawsonthefloor]

American Woman...get away from meeee.

Very cute guys.

Paws

[Esynthia]

aww very cute.

wingy, mad props on being able to bring tessa back to her previous self... before she warmed up to us, I mean. that's gotta be difficult.

[Feuerstein]

That was incredibly beautiful...

*hugs* all around