Coffee With Serpents

[Seiji Lockard]

Faye LaBeau had agreed to come over to his place to have coffee and talk with Seiji about things, she said the word personal. What where the things they were going to talk about? He had forgotten! He asked Akiko for help but since the Scarlet Kingsnake never got that complement and pet that she wanted she was not saying anything. Nope, Akiko did not like Faye and she told all the other snakes about it, not that they really cared about Akiko’s personal opinion of someone. Faye didn’t hurt Seiji so therefore she was alright in their books. The place was not even fully all of Seiji’s. He lived in the staff dorm and had roommates, but he figured they would not mind if he had a guest over. If they did he would feel bad and apologize to them later and find a way to make it better. He didn’t want his roommates of all people to not like him.

Having kept the place pretty much clean at all times there was not much to be done. He owned a special coffee maker, one he shared with his roommates so when Faye arrived she could pick her own custom coffee that she desired and it would be ready within a matter of moments. He did love that technology was advancing. He was dressed up, wearing a pair business pants and a button up long sleeve black. He had a red tie on earlier but he had taken that off. Not he was not dressed up for this meeting. It was not a date. The idea of a date made him a chuckle a little, because he never expected to really get a date and he accepted that. Plus Faye was one of those really beautiful girls that you had to be really wealthy, smart, and handsome to land with. Well so that was the stereotypical belief, and Seiji was in fact all of those… except handsome. He would say he was charming, yes at least charming. “I’m not putting myself down, I’m being logical.” Seiji said to the thought he had gotten from Ghost, who somehow managed to slip its way into Seiji’s tie (looking pretty snazzy) and was lying sort of sprawled out on the couch.

“Ghost! You can’t lay there. Quick, get back into the room.” Seiji said in a slight panic. Faye freaked out at seeing Akiko who was his smallest snake. Ghost was his four foot white boa; she might faint if she saw him. Ghost just rolled over so that his belly was exposed, just the end up his tail gave something of a wag. “Alright, alright. A quick belly rub and then into the room with you.” Seiji said with a sigh as he started at the top just under Ghost’s jaw and worked his way down the four foot snake, forgetting that he had left the door unlocked and told Faye that she could just walk right in when she arrived.

[Faye LaBeau]

Jesus that'd been a rough day. Two new students, and an entire new section to start in classic literature that the kids could hardly get through causing frustration all around. She couldn't be too upset though, she remembered the first time she'd tried to read canterbury tales, hell she was still recovering from it. Had the stories not been required she no doubt would have skipped the segment all together in favor of something more contemporary that all of them could enjoy, but alas, it needed to be done so the kids were going home with heaps of homework in the hopes to speed along as quickly and painlessly as possible. 

She checked her phone on her way out to make sure that Seiji hadn't decided to cancel on her. It was odd that they were about to hang out. If this was high school she probably would have laughed in his face. Of course Faye had been dating Ethan in high school too which hand't helped things. Her blood boiled just at the thought of Ethan and how that ended up. She probably should have spent her time with guys like Seiji in high school... probably would have been more constructive and maybe she wouldn't have thrown herself at the first man she met in college as a result. She'd been too dependent on Ethan when she was younger, then she was fully dependent on Dean and now that she was alone... well she was still learning how to boil an egg. 

She knocked on the wood door hoping she was at the right apartment. She'd never been to the staff dorms and it was... weird. Like summer camp or something. 

[Seiji Lockard]

Seiji had just managed to give the snake a fully body belly rub, since his belly was basically his underside of his four foot body. Having no legs or anything, he was kind of like a worm. A deadly strong, heavy, dog like worm. One that had fallen asleep while Seiji was giving his said belly rubs. There was a knock at the door. Oh no. Slight panic set in because huge snake on the couch and it be rude to keep a lady waiting. "Come on Ghost, wake up. She is here." Seiji gave the order and the snake did in fact wake up, however, since Seiji didn’t tell him to go back to the room in the form of an order that snake just made his way off the couch and over to the door, wanting to greet this woman he had heard so much about from Akiko.

"Wait, no!" Seiji called out grabbing the snake but the end of its body, working on lifting Ghost up, who was more than happy to be picked up, going limp and just adding to his body weight. "Sorry Faye, you can come in, it’s open. Just...close your eyes." Seiji said as he was making some progress, and already had managed to pull ghost halfway into his room. He could have gave the order for the snake to go in there yes, but panic caused his brain to rapid fire to many thought and not focus enough to actually give a command. He just hoped Faye didn’t see Ghost at all as he finally manage to get the boa in his room and closed the door, taking a moment to catch his breath.

My fault really. I spoiled him. Seiji thought to himself as he fixed his hair a little. He had gotten Ghost as a little boy when he first came to the school, back when Ghost was a lot smaller and able to be carried around all over the place. Most of the people he went to the academy with would have seen Ghost. Possibly Leevi towards the end when he was going to graduate. "How are you today?" Seiji would follow up as soon as he would see Faye, friendly smile on his face and acting like he did not just struggle with a four foot boa just seconds ago.

[Faye LaBeau]

The commotion inside the apartment earned a raised brow from the blonde as she waited for the door to open. Hell, it sounded like kids when their parents got home and they were caught doing something they weren't supposed to. She chuckled shaking her head wondering if he was struggling with his roommates or the giant worm things. She shuddered. 

"If you say so." She called as she opened the door, shielding her eyes with one hand. She could still see the bottom half of Seiji's body as he struggled to carry something into his room. She paled as she saw the tail of the giant snake, limp in his arms like a tired child. Uhg. Maybe she should have had him meet at her house. Loki was far more appealing to look at. 

She carefully set down her bag and papers on a table as she made her way to the now empty couch, making herself comfortable as she pulled her blonde tresses into a pony tale. "I'm good. Really happy that today's over with and upset that it's still only monday." She sighed. She didn't think she could get through four more days of teaching.

"What about you?" She asked, craning her neck a bit to look at the bedroom door where the beast was residing. Could it get under there? 

[Seiji Lockard]

Seiji was relieved that Faye was not freaking out or anything. Maybe she had not seen or if she did she was doing a good job at keeping herself calm and collected. Making sure to lock his door for good measure, forgetting to check the room first and it was too late really to quickly grab Saphira who was taking a nap under said couch. Saphira was his more or less snake that liked to keep to herself and didn’t like men other than Seiji. So it was a good thing that Faye was in fact female and that the likelihood of Saphira moving out from where she was hidden was very slim. So long as Faye didn’t go searching under the couch she should not end up getting scared. Not that Saphira would bite Faye anyways, because again Faye was a girl; this was even better since Saphira was indeed a poisonous snake, being a Cottonmouth Viper at a length of two feet, but she was contently curled up.

"Stressful day I take it then?" Seiji asked, pretty sure he could infer on her choice of words and tone alone, but it would be rude to assume. He moved over to the coffee maker and turned it on and setting a mug underneath the nozzle. "I could give you a massage if you like. To help relieve you of any knots that may be in your back." Seiji offered, not meaning to be pervy or anything like that. No, he was simply offering up a skill he hand, knowing about the human body and as well that stress was bad on a person’s back. He was pretty good at giving massages even, having done it for a job for a little during his time of trying things out after he had left that academy. Grabbing the box of different coffee flavors he walked over towards Faye and held the box out to her so she could have a look and pick what flavor coffee, hot chocolate, or tea she would like to drink. He already knew what he wanted, but ladies first.

"Pick whatever you like and feel free to have more if you like." Seiji offered and thought for a moment as he waited. "I am well. Classes are going well at the college and work has been going smoothly, but I mostly have been doing lab work." Seiji said with a chuckle, not having actually helped out any students yet, he more so was doing research and running test on samples he was given.

{cute kitty! ^-^}

[Faye LaBeau]

"Not any more stressful than any time i start a new segment." She sighed sinking into the couch. It felt so nice to be off her aching feet. Granted, that was her own damn fault for insisting on wearing six inch pumps to class every day. There was just something about how it made her legs and bum look that she couldn't be without. She was too spoiled and vain to let that go even to save her own feet. Luckily, her power had certain benefits, and as she sat there she sent waves of cold and ice into her shoes for some relief. By the morning she'd be good as new. 

A small smirk stretched across her face when he offered to rub her back. Maybe this encounter wasn't just business after all. Normally, a massage came from someone a little more than friends given the sometimes rather intimate contact. "I don't think you're ready for that." She winked and chuckled as she picked out a french roast coffee from the impressive box. 

"Lab work." She said with a firm nod. If she remembered correctly he was maybe two years younger than her meaning he must have been a senior or close to it. "Are you going to stay around here once you're done with school?" She asked, a tinge of nervousness in her voice. If she was going to invest in someone she wanted it to be for more than a few months and May was graduation season and just around the corner. 

[Seiji Lockard]

"Understandable, just don’t over work yourself or you will end up sick." Seiji said in a honest and caring tone. He really was a nice guy and even if a stranger had been in need he probably would help them in what ways he could. People he knew personally got more help of course because he had even more trust with them then he would with a stranger. Saphira however was stirring awake, feeling some cold air near the ground, making her curl up tighter in her spot for the moment. She knew Faye was there and that the woman had some sort of cold power because of what Akiko told her, but she still didn’t care. So long as it didn’t get too cold she would not do anything about it and even if she did it would most likely be her moving out from under the couch to find somewhere else that was warmer.

Seiji blinked in confusion at her words of him not being ready for something and gave him a wink. Is she flirting with me? No, no. Not possible. Seiji pushed that thought of his head, it was not logical. She must have just been being friendly, teasing of sorts. Heating to something that he would need a moment before he fully understood. "I did it as a job before. It does not even have to be your back, I'm good at massage the whole body." Seiji said, again meaning it in the purest of terms, since he really could. He was tempted to specifically offer to rub her feet for her since he noticed what shoes she was wearing and there was no way that they were comfortable. He took the French Roast then and went back over to his coffee maker and popped it in, pressed a few buttons and bam, coffee being made.

"I planned on it. I only started college last year so I'm a Sophomore. I spent some time doing different jobs and traveling a bit before deciding I want to further my education and help out here." Seiji informed her, talking a bit on the fast side since his brain was thinking faster than he could speak. "Even still, I plan to work here so long as they will have me." Seiji concluded with a smile as he carried her French Roast coffee over to her, making sure to be careful because it was hot. The mug it was in however did a good job and preventing the holder of the drink from being burned due to thermal heat. "How about you? Do you plan to stay here long?" Seiji asked as he went back over to the coffee pop and popped in a Caramel Vanilla Cream Coffee into the machine and pressed a few buttons to make his drink now.

[Faye LaBeau]

She couldn't help but chuckle not sure if he knew what he was saying or not. If he did, he was a master flirter because he came off so easy but she doubted that was the case. He was a genuine good guy and she probably needed that in her life. Of course now that she acknowledged it it would ruin any potential interest she had in him. She tended to do that, self sabotage, mostly because she believed she didn't deserve good people in her life. She'd messed up enough, been a bitch to enough people to ruin her karma forever. 

"I'm alright." She said, deciding to avoid any awkwardness that would likely come from him touching her. 

"I"m sure they won't let you go. Your research is really interesting and what better place to study side effects than here?" She asked gesturing to the entire space. "

Her brows furrowed when he threw the conversation back to her, and her desires and wants. "I'm not sure. I don't know." She shook her head as her eyes diverted to the ground. The simple question managed to stir up more in Faye than she'd expected. "It's complicated."

[Seiji Lockard]

"Well let me know if you change your mind." Seiji said sweetly to her saying that she was alright. If she didn’t want one then he was not going to force it on her or anything, he was just being nice and offering his services. He waited a moment for his coffee to be done, grabbing the mug, and then going to sit down right next to her on the couch. Seiji was not very good at realizing someone’s personal space until they would point it out to him. So in other words Seiji was going to remain sitting right next to her unless she said something or made it clear what she was not alright with him being so close. It was nothing to come off as creepy or anything, he just would not mind anyone in his personal space so he often would do the same to others what he was okay with.

"I hope they don't. I have not had much work yet, but I hope that I will be able to help the students understand their bodies and mutations better. Its one thing to be a teenager and your body going through changes. Then having to deal with going through those same changes while your body is coming into strange abilities have to be a bit stressful." Seiji said speaking pretty fast and going on a slight ramble, only stopped because he went to take a sip of his coffee. It was delicious, he loved the vanilla flavor and often would get that or things close to it whenever he would order his coffee. He was still busy taking a pretty large sip of his coffee so only managed to nod his head to her question. He burned his mouth a little, but he didn’t mind it too much. However he was starting to wonder why he was drinking so fast. Am I nervous? What for? No, I can’t be.


Seiji saw how Faye's brows furrowed. Did he ask something too personal? He figured since she had asked him that it was alright if he asked in return. He was now feeling a bad if he had made an assumption and had now upset her, which cause a small frown to appear on his face. She was not sure and it was complicated. That meant there had to be some emotional experience that had happened here that she was not pleased with. Or that she was still trying to figure out what she really wanted to do in her life. She was still in her twenties so she had time, granted it was ideal for her to have figured out what she wanted to do with her life but now. "Do you want to talk about it?" Seiji asked followed by another sip, this one shorter and not burning himself. "Or we can talk about other things. Like...do you like other animals?" Seiji then followed up with his next question. She didn’t like snakes, but was there any kind of animal she was alright with?

[Faye LaBeau]

Saiji was sweet. His genuine care for the students and metas was almost inspiring to the blonde who'd become a teacher largely out of not knowing what else to do with her life. That was the weird thing about Bellefonte and being a meta, the whole career thing was largely not a focus while in school but rather learning how to not set off an eternal winter or impale someone with an icicle just because you are having a bad day. She imagined it was why many of them ended back in the area too... she hadn't expected it for her or Ethan who she'd now run into... That was an entire other mess though.

The offer to talk about what was going on with her was tempting. Not because she particularly wanted to talk about herself or her issues but rather she was genuinely interested to know why certain things may have happened and he was the only one who may have had answers to her questions.

"I do like other animals." She smiled, "I love my cat... he's... he's an asshole but he's fantastic." SHe told him as her head found its place, resting in her hand, her eyes on him. "I think this might be something I wan't to share with you... my question... but I don't want to make you uncomfortable seeing as it's personal." IF she didn't put it out there, she'd never have the potential for answers and she'd be angry forever. It was worth the shot.

[Seiji Lockard]

Seiji was more so doing it a bit for his own sake since he had a drive to learn more about people and understand mutations. What cause them and the side effects to each mutant power? To help them and himself in a way. Either way Seiji want to make those around him happy and to enjoy life. If he could help with that then he would do what he could. He carefully sipped as his coffee as he got comfortable, still sitting pretty close to Faye since he was not thinking about the distance between them at the moment. He felt comply comfortable sipping on his coffee and being here to talk with her. Seiji tilted his head a little as he looked at Faye, picking up the look in her eyes that she wanted to talk about something. I wonder what’s up.

He was about to ask but then she was talking about animals and how she loved her cat, despite it being an asshole casually. That made Seiji chuckle a little. "I'm not too big of a fan of cat, they come off too snooty for my taste, but I would like to meet this cat of yours. Even more so if you love him, then he must be a good cat at heart." Seiji said, not seeing Faye keeping something around that would hurt her or upset her. Then again he didn’t really know her outside that they went to the academy together and her name. Well he knew what she did now and that she was currently in the common area of his room on the campus and looking like she wanted to talk about something. He blinked a few times when she said that she had a question but that it might be personal. "Oh, ask away. If you feel comfortable enough to ask it with me." Seiji said not too bothered by the fact that what she was going to ask might be personal. He asked a lot of questions so was fine with being asked them in return.

[Faye LaBeau]

Once she got his blessing she nodded, nervously running her hands through her hair unsure if this was the right choice. The incident had been what ultimately broke her marriage... it had been something that had weighed on her heart for months and it was something that haunted her nightmares. The fact that she was so comfortable talking to Seiji about it, or the idea of talking to Seiji about it was terrifying. She wasn't used to being this comfortable with anything, but there was such kindness in his eyes and for the first time in a long time she didn't feel like she had to hide from someone. She felt like she was talking to someone who was actually seeing her.

"Ok.." She began, picking her coffee up from the table, the feeling of holding something feeling comforting. "Well... I..." The words were proving to be as difficult as she'd suspected to fork out. She took a breath to begin again. "I... lost a child." She told him, her eyes staying glued to her cup, "I was pregnant and miscarried for what doctors said was unknown reasons, the only symptoms was the baby... well she was petrified was what they said." She swallowed hard feeling the lump in her throat growing. SHe wasn't going to cry though, not here, not now, not when she was searching for answers. "Did... Did i do that?" She asked, her voice growing small. "I'm just so worried that... that I got mad or upset at some point in it and I... froze her." She shook her head "that it was my fault... that i lost control and... but i don't know." She bit the inside of her cheek. She wasn't going to cry.

[Seiji Lockard]

Seiji picked up that she was nervous; she was showing all the signs. Running her hands through her hair, her breathing changed up which meant that her heart rate probably picked up. He moved to set his coffee on the table because when he wanted to full focus on someone he didn’t want anything in his hands. Shifting to full face her on the couch as he draped one of his arms over the side of the couch. He was wondering what kind of question she was going to ask him. It was personal but was it about her, someone else, or about Seiji himself. He had no idea but was soon finding out as Faye seemed to be gathering her thoughts and figuring out if she wanted to tell him or not. He made sure to keep his concerned, friendly, and caring facial expression on the whole time, however his eyes did widen just a tad for a small moment when she dropped the whole 'I lost a child bomb'. That was super personal, extremely personal, most woman that he knew...well studies shown that woman that had miscarries did not like to talk about them, even with family.

So here Faye was, talking to someone who sure they went to school together, but they were not friends back then. Even now they just started to form this friendship and she was so open to just tell him this? Was it bothering her so much that she just needed someone to lay it out so she could sleep at night? That was a possibility, along with many others. He listened closely as she spoke. He was no doctor and didn’t really know that much about babies. Yes he understood the process of how children developed and around there, but not the full details outside the genetic makeup of the child. She wanted to know if she was the one that had cut her child’s life short. How was he supposed to answer that? There were so many factors, and even if he made a guess, how could he tell her? He didn’t want to upset her, but she clearly wanted him to be honest with her. He ran a hand through his hair for a moment, scratching it as his brain worked out a solution; thinking of what was possible, taking into account her powers and how to say everything to her.

"I can't really answer that one Faye. I could make a guess as to it being possible, but there are so many factors. Yes your power is ice but I don’t know if it cool you internal system, which is possible but not very likely since a bit of you is always warm since you don’t turn full ice woman. There is just...way too many factors. Having a child was clearly possible so it could have been something else. Possibly some side effect from your partner even." Seiji spoke, making sure to speak at a slower rate, looking at her and kind of reached hand out to take hers to give her some sort of support. He just wanted to hug her. She looked like she needed a good cry. Crying was important and healthy and holding it in was not good. "I would have to run test and have samples to get down to a real answer. So for now, I really...just don't know. I'm so sorry." Seiji felt bad for his response, it could not have helped all that much with him not really having a full clue as to what could have been the cause.

[Faye LaBeau]

Faye's heart sunk further into her chest as Seiji spoke. She knew that this would most likely be the response, that he wouldn't know much about her particular situation or about the reproduction of metas and their statistics. It was impossible. In all the years of meta's being in existence it was still only a couple centuries and within that there were only a handful of people with Faye's specific powers, even then each of them were unique. Had meta's reproduced? Yes. Was there any specific doctor out there specializing in it? No... She knew that. She knew that this was part of the cruel reality of being metahuman. Yes they were advanced, but they lacked the knowledge they needed to really survive.

"it's ok." She whispered, squeezing his hand. "I knew that you wouldn't know... and I mean..." She sighed. "Honestly besides my ex husband and doctor you're one of the few people I've talked to about it.... My mom and sister wouldn't understand and quite frankly it's been one of the hardest things I've dealt with in my life..." She bit her lower lip still shocked she was saying so much, "I think.... I think one day I'd like to have a child though... I think... I know I do." She nodded "But I'm too afraid to go through that again."

[Seiji Lockard]

Seiji could find out for her, it just required some test, studying, and research. That was his job after all, to find out side-effect on mutants. Having a child come out basically froze could have been a side effect of her ability. He was intrigued, but at the same time very saddened by the thought. He wanted to be able to help her, to give her some kind of closure. Let he know that even if it was because of her power that there was still hope for her having a child. There were ways around things. He just would not say until he could at least get to know about her power a little more. He didn’t want to give her false hope, but he was pretty sure she would be able to have a child again and this child would live.

He squeezed her hand back when she squeezed his; he still wanted to pull her into a hug and just make any of her pain and sadness to go away. He wanted to see her beautiful smile and to hear her laugh, but it was important that she got this out of her system as well. "I'm really sorry Faye, if you allow me I could start to research the matter and see what I could fine. Thank you for trusting me with such information, I'll take it to my grave." Seiji offered and basically pledged, giving her hand another squeeze. He could not hold himself back as he moved to put his arms around her and give her a hug. "I understand. I'm sure you will be a wonderful mother and there has to be some way for you to have a child. There have been a few mutant born children from families it’s just rare and not a lot of information is none about it." Seiji tried to explain, people still didn’t fully know all the information behind the mutation themselves.