What's your Poison? (Open)

[Yulia Sokolov]

Yulia was caught between two urges when it came to the house right now. Part of her wanted to stay there and take care of Ben, sick as he was with the flu already. However as she tried to do this she found that she didn’t really have an instinct for it. She got the dosing wrong for the cough syrup, brought home the wrong medicine, and generally failed at caretaking. She had even burned the soup that she had tried to make him, she hadn’t even known that soup could burn. In the wake of that came the other urge, the urge for her to be anywhere else right now.

She was tired of the mistakes she was making, and honestly she was no one’s nurse. She tended to inflict damage, not heal others. She could go to visit those she had met since she had moved to Hammel, but she wasn’t sure if she knew anyone well enough to stop by unannounced.

Yulia pulled her coat on and stepped outside. There were still a few snow flakes falling but they were few and far between. The ground was brown and yellow, matted with damp dead grass. Despite all of that there was a faint earthy smell, one that signalled the very slow coming of spring. She liked it better than Russia, it got warmer here so much sooner than it ever did there.

Yulia sat down on the steps outside of the house, leaning on the handrail on the right. She pulled her pack of cigarettes and a liter out of one of the coat pockets. She didn’t bother putting away the pack, just placing it down next to her instead. She lit up and took a long drag on the cigarette. She breathed out a plume of smoke. She leaned back a little, already deciding that if Ben wasn’t feeling up to cooking tonight that she was definitely ordering out.

[Rhys Rockwood]

The chill air was sharp to inhale, but it was only the smallest sign that he was alive. His feet slapped against the pavement, the thin rubber soles of his Vibrams offering little protection from the hard impacts. His runs were mostly to keep in shape, but sometimes he'd just run out of things to do and go for a run to take the edge of his boredom. Right now was one of those times.

Rhys had finished up with the things he had to finish for the day, not that there was much on that list to begin with, so he'd gone home and changed into clothes for his run. Black shorts and a white t-shirt were his normal, and he pulled on a gray jacket and black toboggan to deal with the cooler air outside than in the gym. For a change of scenery, Rhys stayed in the city rather than heading out for the hiking paths in the forest a bit outside of town.

His jog took him through downtown and some commercial areas before he reentered the quiet of a residential zone, slowly heading away from the denser areas of the city. The sidewalk was leading him toward a house with a woman sitting on the front porch, apparently taking a smoke break. From his distance, he thought she was cute but couldn't really be sure. 'Hmm...I guess if she notices me, I can take a break and go talk with her for a bit. Couldn't hurt,' he thought as he came closer and closer to passing her house.

[Yulia Sokolov]

Yulia took another puff on the cigarette. She wasn’t sure what else she was going to do today, probably go back in eventually and attempt to continue to take care of Ben. Of course that depended on the fact that he let her. It was very possible that he would not, given the recent soup incident. Well, it wasn’t like he was an invalid, he could move and mostly care for himself, she was just trying to take the opportunity to pay him back a little for what he had done for her. Instead she had nearly set the house on fire.

At least her work was going on well. She was a pusher to be fair. She didn’t take no for an answer. These kids were progressing well though, and this training was a lot more fun than the sort she had been put through. She didn’t have to drive them physically as much, unless their powers exhausted them that way. Yulia’s eye scanned the street, sliding slowly from right to left. Once they reached hat left she caught sight of a figure.

Yulia’s heart almost stopped, and she stared at the figure jogging. She stood up as he came closer. Her hands were trembling, and she didn’t even notice that she had dropped the cigarette on the cold steps. Then, in a moment, she was off. She sprinted as best she could. “Evgeny? Evgeny!!” Yulia shouted to him. She blinked rapidly, feeling as if she might tear up and cry. He was back, and he was alive. Oh thank God he was alive! Then as she drew closer she slowed down, he looked so much like Evgeny, but it wasn’t him. She simply managed to slow and freeze, feeling crushed once again and thoroughly embarrassed. “I am sorry, I thought that you were someone else,” she said quietly and haltingly to the man who looked so much like the dead Evgeny.

[Rhys Rockwood]

Rhys slowed down when she dropped her cigarette like that. It was almost as if something was wrong. 'Maybe I should go check and see if she's okay?' he thought as he neared the path to her steps. Now he could see she was watching him too, and he was startled when she jumped up and ran toward him, shouting something he couldn't quite make out.

He came to a stop as she ran up to him. He could almost see the embarrassment come on to her face. "I am sorry, I thought you were someone else." Ah, she'd mistaken him for this Evgeny person whoever he or she had been. "No, don't worry about it. This kind of thing happens," he said, smiling a bit as he controlled his breathing. He wasn't tired; his body was just complaining for oxygen.

Not wanting things to get too awkward now that he'd suddenly been thrust into something of a social situation, he figured he should at least introduce himself to the woman. Even before she ran up to him, he had been thinking about stopping to talk to her. Now he had no reason to not talk with her. "I'm Rhys, though. I work at one of the schools in the area," glossing over the fact that he worked at the Institute. He had the feeling that might upset some of the people he ran in to.

[Yulia Sokolov]

Yulia stood for a moment in shock as she tried to get past the adrenaline rush that had hit her upon seeing the man who looked so much like Evgeny. It was honestly scary how much like her dead partner, heart breaking if she were being totally honest about the situation at hand. Immediately she went into her recovery reactions. Her slightly embarrassed expression was replaced with a neutral one, her facial muscles pulling into the familiar setting from her military years. She also pulled herself into better posture once she got her breath back. That made her feel much better.

Yulia then pulled out her box, taking out a cigarette and a lighter and lighting up. She took a long drag on it to calm herself down. She dropped her head for a moment and blew the smoke out. She hadn’t seen too many people smoking around Pilot Ridge, and she knew that people were more sensitive about it here. As a result she tried never to blow smoke at people. She raised her head afterwards though and made somewhat wary eye contact with the doppelganger. Similar, not Evgeny, but similar.

Yulia took another puff on the cigarette as she stood there. She wasn’t sure what to say to him, but luckily he started to speak to her first. Her expression didn’t change all that much. “Yulia,” She said in return. “I work at one of the schools as well.” There was an old technique she knew arising. Never say more than the other person until they became forthcoming, and if they question you then disclose as little as possible. “Public school or private school?”

[Rhys Rockwood]

Rhys could more or less see the shift in her demeanor as she pulled herself together and walled up. She looked more comfortable, but at the same time, she seemed to be very out of sorts. Whoever she'd mistaken him for must have been someone quite important to her for her to have that kind of reaction. She was doing an excellent job at keeping her feelings hidden though; Rhys couldn't blame her for that. It's an odd situation whenever it happens.

His own expression flickered for a moment when she chose to light another cigarette. He still found the number of people smoking to be over the top. 'And it's always the pretty girls...why is it always the pretty girls?' he wondered as she took a moment to smoke. The smell alone was more than enough to turn him away from smoking, but the damage it caused was a huge deterrent. He liked running to much to essentially kill his lungs.

That was interesting; they had a connection in their professions. Even though she probably taught at a school compared to collecting students, they still both worked AT a school. Maybe she was an administrator? "The school I work at is pretty private," he admitted. "We search out and select our students more often than get applications to attend. That's my job, actually. Looking for prospective students."

[Yulia Sokolov]

Yulia was glad that she had a cigarette at least right now. It was what kept her calm, her destressor. Well, that was true to a point. Looking at the boxes here they were littered with warnings about death and lung cancer, which was also all over the news. Yulia wasn’t sure if she bought it, given that it seemed like everything gave you lung cancer nowadays. There was a fair share back in Norilsk too, but they said that was from the mining. She flicked the ashy tip off, almost agitatedly.

She took another drag, burning down more of the cigarette. Still she listened to Rhys as she let out the smoke. What he said caused her to instantly quirk an eyebrow. “Ah, I see,: she said pensively. Then she managed a slight smile. “You work at Hammel then I suspect. I work there as well but I do not recruit, I am a trainer.” She didn’t have to say any more than that, he should know what it meant.

So he was a co-worker of hers of sorts. She didn’t know all of the trainers as yet, she was still learning names. This did raise a question in her mind that she did not voice. If he work for Hammel then what was his special skill? Ability was probably a better word for it. She knew better than to ask, it just didn’t seem like a polite thing to do. “Are you new in town? I have not seen you before.” She tossed the cigarette stump and put it out with the heel of her shoe.

[Rhys Rockwood]

Rhys was a bit surprised at her intuitive guess, though it made a bit more sense once she said that she worked there too. It was much less bizarre with that in mind. "Yeah, I do. I don't get to work with many people outside of my department; we're pretty self-contained for the most part. Not a wonder we haven't met yet." He shrugged, not committing himself to caring one way or the other about the issue of recruiters and trainers mingling. It didn't seem to matter too much.

She asked if he was new in town. "Nah, I've lived here since I attended Hammel as a kid. Hung around after graduation and eventually nabbed a spot as a recruiter. It's a nice gig, particularly since I get to hang around other metas. Good company and all." He smiled, though accidentally showing a little of his preference for metas. It wasn't some intentional bias; he was actually unaware of it for the most part.

"So as a trainer, do you specialize in a type of power or do you just train whoever gets sent your way?" he asked, carefully trying to get a grasp of what her power might be if he could. She seemed smart enough to see through that and would likely answer in a way that wouldn't give him a single clue. He'd likely have to give her more information about himself first.