"...This goes out to all the women getting it in
Get on your grind
To the other men that respect what I do
Please accept my shine

Boy I know you love it
How we're smart enough to make these millions
Strong enough to bear the children
Then get back to business..."


Tulla sang underneath her breath as she recorded the Mrs. Lucas' health history and information into the database. Her lavender eyes glanced down at the clock that was on the computer and sighed. She had been working there since 2:00 am that morning and wouldn't be getting off until 10 that night. Thankfully it was now 9:43. Just a few more minutes and she would be able to leave and possibly have a drink or two. Dressed in gray scrubs and white sensible shoes, Tulla's fingers quickened over the keyboard. Believe it or not, this was one of her favorite things to do; her first having one on one discussions with patients and diagnosing them. 

The Native American mutant flipped her two braids over her shoulder and continued typing until she was finished. "Finally," she sighed, closing the folder with the patient's hard copy information and saving the data on the computer. Tulla looked at her watch again to see that time had only moved forward three minutes. She could survive for fourteen more minutes.

Juliette ran a slightly clenched hand through her ponytail as she walked briskly down the hallway. She was annoyed. She was coming up on the last twenty minutes of her shift, and someone had decided that she was the best person to run a bunch of histories through a computer. Wonderful.

It had been a horrible shift already, since she’d had to suffer through working with her least favourite doctor - the one with the especially nasal voice and tendency to yell at nurses for no real reason. That, coupled with the fact that she had found Bijou running through the stairways and sand in some of the vents had made for an angry Nurse Reyes.

Her black sneakers squeaked ever so slightly as she walked and pivoted into a little room down a side hallway, her eyes facing forward. She was going to get it done and she was going to do it before her shift ended, dammit.

Unfortunately, the computer in that little back room was already in use. A woman with two dark braids sat facing away from Juliette, occupying the one seat that Juliette needed. The nurse’s fists clenched as she stared her down, willing her to get out of the chair.

”Are you almost finished?” Juliette asked after a second. She had barely given her time to get out of the chair, but she was getting impatient. It was clear from the slight sharp tone of her voice that she was in a rush.

Tulla was in the middle of logging out of her account when she heard a woman's voice behind her.

"Are you almost finished?”

"Hm?" Tulla slowly tore her face away to look at the screen to look over her shoulder at the woman who asked her if she was finished. Her iris-less eyes looked at the woman behind her and nodded her head, "yep," she turned around and finished logging out of her account, "logging out now." And...there! Now Nurse McRush could have her time with the computer. She couldn't really blame her since Tulla was sure that she was ready to get the hell out of Mount Sinai and into Sodom and Gomorrah. And no, that wasn't a gay bar.

Tulla sniffed and moved out of the way for the nurse to do what she had to do. "There you are, nurse. All yours." Then she remembered that she had to add something to Mrs. Lucas' health history. Dammit! Tulla knew that this nurse wasn't about to give up her seat until she was finished so instead she waited.

"...logging in health history, too?" Tulla asked as she glanced down at her wrist watch. 9:49.

Juliette muttered a thanks under her breath as the P.A. logged off the computer. At least she was willing to work with her and not make her even later. She didn’t like her job enough to want to stay longer than required. There was far too much going on in that hospital.

She typed as quickly as she could, using the barely filled out page that the doctor had given her as a reference. She silently cursed the all-too-true fact that doctors could not print legibly. It was not going to be an especially quick or easy thing to convert it to text on the computer. It was stupid that they hadn’t yet converted the whole hospital to using tablets and she was stuck doing grunt work like that.

>>"...logging in health history, too?"

Juliette eyed the P.A. and gave her a once over. If she was finished, why was she just standing there? It was a little distracting and, frankly, a little creepy. Her typing slowed as she turned her head to face the woman.

”Yes,” she said, as if that fact were obvious from her forms and the page that she was typing in. ”Is there something that I can help you with, or are you just going to stand there watching?”

Tulla could tell that the Nurse was giving her the side eye. Of course she was. In Tulla's opinion, she looked like one of those b**** nurses who hated their job.

>> "Yes...Is there something that I can help you with, or are you just going to stand there watching?”

"Forgot I have someone else to log in the history for." Tulla answered as politely as she could. "Trust me, I would have something better to do than grump at the computer screen."He answered, folding her arms over her chest. Her eyes glowed a bit with psi-energy before going back to "normal". Tulla smirked, checking her watch again. Only five more minutes.

"Name's Tulla."

Juliette did her best to be understanding about mutations. She covered for the X-Men when feathers and sand got in the air vents, and she let them do their thing. She hadn’t commented on the giant cockroach that was on their team. Still, there were things that freaked her out. Like when the PA woman’s eyes flashed with some sort of energy. It was eerie to see them as pure white.

The brunette rolled her shoulders and typed a little faster so that she could give up the computer faster than before. ”Juliette,” she supplied a moment later, her eyes still locked on the screen. ”Sorry… it’s been a long day. Long week, actually.”

She wasn’t always that grouchy. Well, okay, it was a common occurrence, but it wasn’t something that she tried for. It just happened to be her resting state. Still, if she could try to correct it, then she would do her best, even if it didn’t always work out.

With one last key stroke, Juliette sent her file to the proper location and stood up from the seat. She stepped backwards and gestured to the chair, ”all yours.” She was doing her very best to be a bit more amicable as they played a game of musical chairs. Maybe, just maybe, they could both get out of there on time.

Tulla nodded her head once. She could understand that. There were days where she wished she could simply throw in the towel and go to her nice apartment, but unfortunately, she couldn't do that if she wanted to keep her well-paying job. The twenty-six-year-old PA tilted her side to the side a bit as she studied Juliette. She could tell that she wasn't always like this -- which was a good thing.

"I feel you there, Juliette." Tulla moved her twin braids so that they were in front of her instead of over her shoulders. She honestly couldn't wait to take them down and just have her luscious hair free flowing.

>> ”all yours."

"Thank you," Tulla quickly took the seat and went to work. Her lavender eyes looked down at her watch, then back ahead at the screen. "One more minute left and I can finally go home. This is the last time I'm going to work overtime." She mumbled the last bit to herself. A lot happened to her today: a patient requested to have another PA look after her because Tulla's eyes looked "Weird and creepy". She scoffed at the memory and went back to filling in the information that the doctor had chicken-scratched in.

A few more keystrokes more and she was finished. With a sigh of relief, Tulla logged out of her online account and stood up from the chair. "Done and only two minutes over." She said out loud. "I think a couple of drinks are needed."

Honestly, drinks sounded good to Juliette. It had been a long time since she’d let herself be open enough to actually go out with people and enjoy herself. She spent so much time making sure that everyone around her wasn’t dying that often she left her own needs until last. It could get taxing, and it often made her grumpy.

Still, she wasn’t completely heartless and cold. Tulla seemed nice enough, and honestly, she didn’t mind the idea of going for drinks with a fellow mutant in the healthcare profession that might understand what she was feeling. Surely their lives were very different, but at least they could make the most of what they had in common.

”Do you… want some company for those drinks?” she asked as casually as she could muster. She felt like she was back in kindergarten, asking someone if they wanted to be her friend. She just wasn’t equipped enough to be able to know how to sound on top of things and suave. The awkwardness would just have to do. Or not do, in the case that Tulla totally hated the idea of spending any more time with the grumpy nurse that she just so happened to run into. "I know a pretty good place nearby."

Tulla was already thinking of drinks that she would order when Juliette spoke. She stopped in her tracks and slowly turned around to look at the nurse. She wanted to come along? Huh, that was a twist. Tulla blinked a couple of times before nodding her head.

"Sure. Yeah, you can come along," Tulla gave the nurse a small smile before turning back ahead and continuing her walk. She headed to the nearest nurse's desk so that she could punch out. She gave herself a mental note to schedule an hour of back massage at the spa she sometimes went to.

"What do you usually get at the bar that you said was good?" She asked, looking beside her at the nurse. Once they made it to the nurse's station, she punched out and immediately her body language changed to a more relaxed form. She made herself wait until she was outside to let her hair down.

Thankfully, her willingness to step out of her box a bit had not gone unrewarded. Tulla had certainly seemed rather surprised by her offer, but she’d accepted it easily. They were on their way to getting drinks together, strange as that may have been, considering their last interaction. It was always tricky navigating stressful situations and knowing who exactly would understand what Juliette was going through.

She felt like she’d made a safe bet with Tulla, though. She was a fellow medical professional that was bossed around by doctors and patients, and she was also a mutant, judging from her eyes. It was just a shame that she’d initially been so guarded with her. It seemed like they would have a fair amount in common.

”Thanks,” she began as they stepped out of the room and moved toward the nurse’s station. ”For understanding, I mean. It’s been… a stressful day. Year, really.” It felt good to be able to punch out for the night after the other woman and know that they would be done for the night. She wouldn’t have to worry about it for another day and a half, when her next shift was scheduled.

She cocked her head and thought for a moment when Tulla asked what she usually got at her favourite bar. That was a good question. Usually, Impact would just give her something on the house, so she never really spent much time reading over the menu. She didn’t argue with her (hard earned) free food and drinks.

”The beers on tap are good,” she shrugged, ”and the wings are pretty good. I’m… friends with the owner, so I tend to go there a lot.” Her and Impact’s relationship was strained. They likely would have been fairly good friends if the circumstances had been different. Maybe in another life.

>> ”Thanks...For understanding, I mean. It’s been… a stressful day. Year, really.”[/i]

Tulla smirked, shaking her head. "No need to apologize. I know about stressful days. Like yesterday, two of my patients asked for a human one. Said that my eyes were 'creepy' and how I might 'read their minds'." Tulla rolled her eyes. "The ignorance of some people. I shouldn't be amazed, but I am on a day to day basis." Tulla mumbled the last part underneath his breath.

>> ”The beers on tap are good...and the wings are pretty good. I’m… friends with the owner, so I tend to go there a lot."

Tulla made her way back to Juliette and started to head toward the exit. "I could go for some wings right now...and an entire bottle of wine." She chuckled and started to take her braids out. "Maybe two."

The life of a mutant was hardly an easy one. With SUPER running around, the X-Men ruining their public image so frequently, and the stories that were constantly in the news, people were rarely excited to see a mutant out in public. It really made Juliette’s stomach churn when she thought of the ways that people with physical mutations were treated. It kept her up at night when she thought of how Mallory might be discovered by her peers one day.

”The nerve of some people,” Juliette muttered in agreement. It was sick. She had a hard enough time with her own mutation, and that wasn’t even visible in most cases. She couldn’t even think of what it must be like for Tulla with her eyes.

As they walked out of the door, Juliette took her hair from its ponytail and let it hang loose around her shoulders. She nodded at Tulla as she watched her do the same. Then, she chuckled when the other woman stated what she wanted from the bar. It seemed like a good combo. ”The wings go best with one of the tap beers, I have to say,” she explained.

After a second or so, she cleared her throat. What Tulla had said earlier about her mutation had actually made her curious. It maybe wasn’t the politest thing to bring up, but between two mutants, it was generally an okay topic. ”So what actually is your mutation, then?” she asked as they walked. The bar wasn’t far at all.