| Details for The Spy Who Wanted to Date Me |
| Summary: | After noticing some odd behavior from Ranjali, Cooper tries to gauge just how strange her friend is acting, and what could be causing it. |
| Date: | October 11, 1937 |
| Location: | St Mungo's Hospital |
| Related: | Did You Ever See a Dream Walking? |
| Characters |
  |
---—===================(\|/)==================---—
St. Mungo's Hospital London
Thu Oct 11, 1937 ((Thu Oct 11 04:30:08 2012)) (F,3 NE)
What appears to Muggles as an old abandoned store, to the Wizarding Eye it is actually St. Mungo's Hospital. In the middle of the room, behind a busy and paperwork filled desk sits the receptionist. Next to her is a little sign, painted on a cheerful little yellow board, that says, "Questions? Can't Talk? Can't remember why you're here? Never fear, the Welcome Witch is here." Behind her is a large sign that lists the various departments of the hospital with little arrows pointing people in the correct directions. The rest of the room is filled with comfortable looking waiting room chairs and little tables with magazines and newspapers both Muggle and Wizardly.
---—===================(\|/)==================---—
As their last lunch had come to a close, Ranjali had suggested that Cooper come and visit her again soon. And then last week she'd sent the woman an owl asking her to come today, as they were scheduled to have more help than they usually needed. However, when the time comes for Cooper to arrive, shes not in the small break room where she said she'd be. She's downstairs, an armful of scrolls in her hands, talking quietly to the Welcome Witch. Seems she's not been able to get free yet after all.
This week, Jewish cuisine! Or that's maybe what Cooper might call it. She really just brought in a bag of two rather large sandwiches from the deli around the corner and two bottles of coke just as she had the last time. These lunches were starting to become something she sincerely looked forward to and for once she was actually taking them just to eat with Ranjali. Unlike before where she's simply plow through them with papers in one hand and a bagel in the other. The bright smile that she flashes appears on her face as soon as she sees her friend at the entrance, but she hmms and eyes the scrolls in her hands. "Are those edible? Or perhaps they wash down nicely with cola?" she steps up to next to Ranjali.
The Welcome Witch cuts off the conversation first, smiling benevolently at Cooper. It takes a moment for Ranjali to realize the conversation has ended, and to also look up. She offers Cooper a wide smile, her eyebrows lifting in question as she realizes the question was directed at her. "I'm sorry? Oh, these. Yes, well, my morning turned out rather different than I thought, I've been a bit behind today." The Welcome Witch, glancing between the two, chuckles and takes pity on Ranjali, "Here dear, let me take those. I know just the person to handle them for you." She then swiftly frees the healer of her burden and sends her off, waving to Cooper. Ranjali just keeps up that same blissful smile, and steps out from behind the counter toward Cooper. "Well, that's lucky. Why don't we head up? I just have one quick stop to make on our way."
Cooper pauses and gives the Welcome Witch a sheepish grin. How rude of her to interrupt the conversation! She must be hungry and on a mission to stuff her face. "Oh I apologize! I should've seen that from when I walked. I could probably just leave the-ermm…," she's ready to drop the food off and let Ranjali get back to work until the welcome witch relieves her of her scroll burden. "Well thanks," she grins at the savior of their lunch date and then turns back to her friend. "Well I suppose that all worked out well. If you're ever swamped you can always just turn me right around, you know. It's not that hard to get back to the ministry." She gives the healer a friendly smile and nods, "Don't mind a stop, sounds good to me. Lead the way Healer Winterthorne!" And Cooper waves her hands in the air to let Ranjali do the guiding.
Ranjali giggles. "Not at all, Miss Cooper. Though really, you should call me Ranjali at this point, should you not? Its so much easier to say." She leads the way to the staff stairs, pushing the door open with just enough force to leave it open for Cooper as well once she passes through, "its nice to take a break, anyway. I've been so behind this morning, after all the tests."
Cooper slips through the doorway into the staff stair case, bag crinkling as she swings it back and forth happily. Fear not, centripetal force will keep the sandwiches in tact. It seems like she really is glad to have a lunch buddy. "Alright then, alright then," she snickers and says, "So long as you call me Cooper. Genevieve is fine too, but I feel like hardly anyone these days even knows me by my first name anymore." And she follows along behind Ranjali trudging up, down, or whatever the direction the healer will bring her. She tilts her head curiously though and asks, "Tests?"
"As you like." Ranjali replies agreeably. She heads up a couple flights as she answers Cooper's question, very mild annoyance touching her otherwise quite blissfully happy tone. "Oh, Audrey seems convinced there's something wrong with me. She made me get tested this morning for any magical influences before she'd leave me alone. But she let me sleep at her house!" Stopping at the top of one flight, she turns to beam at Cooper, "Oh, you should have seen it, so bright and colorful! Just lovely." Sighing happily, she turns and pushes through the doors and out into a hallway.
"Audrey? As in…Audrey Taylor?" Cooper's brows raise with interest. "Oh so you two are dating now? Oh I'm so jealous that you got to see her place. Was it full of records and her posters and awards she's won?" One foot raises, then the other to climb up the stairs with her and suddenly she pauses and rewinds the situation in her head a bit while Ranjali seems to almost float with happiness ahead of her. "Wait a minute…magical influences…," her words trail off but then she double times it to catch back up with the healer. "That's a rather unusual test isn't it? What does she think's wrong with you?" She's not in interrogation mode yet. Just trying to fill in the gaps of her natural curiosity, all the while she peeks into the bag to get a whiff of the food.
"Oh, no, no not dating." Ranjali giggles again. "She'll never like me that way, I'm certain." She blinks as she hears the question, tilting her head in thought, "Hmmm, unusual? I suppose not that unusual. But they didn't find anything, of course. As I'm completely fine." She stops outside a door simply labeled 'Samples' and shakes her head, "I don't know what she thought it was. She did ask if I'd had any potions lately. Which is silly, I hardly /ever/ take potions. Now, I need to step in here for a moment. Would you like to wait for me just down there? There's a room like the one we had lunch in just beyond that third door. On the left." She reaches out to point to one of the doors down the hall.
<FS3> Cooper rolls Awareness: Good Success.
Cooper hmms at the details of both her relationship and the test. Moreso at the relationship stuff. This is all very TMI for a Ranjali conversation. Perhaps she's starting to break into the healer a bit more. Maybe she's becoming more comfortable with their friendship. So she pushes the boundaries a little bit. "You sure? I really thought you two had some sort of interesting chemistry. I could have sworn that you were ready to snog her the moment she stepped into our company at the park," she says. There ya go, 100 percent normal, lewd Cooper conversation topic. Let's take this new friendship out for a test drive. "I suppose if all the tests came back negative … I don't know though Ranjali from my experience sometimes someone's hunch can lead to so much more. Maybe you should undergo more intensive tests. I don't know if such things exist, since I'm not a healer." Cooper grins but those blue eyes peer at the door sign through her thick glasses and then back at her friend. "Maybe it's a better idea if I just wait out here. I'm certain to break something if I wander off on my own," she gives Ranjali a sheepish grin.
A blush blooms on Ranjali's cheeks as Cooper goes on. "Oh well yes, there is… I would give nearly anything for that. But she's unlikely to return my affections, I'm sure." She sighs. "I've taken nearly every test we have, really. I'm fine. You and Audrey." Chuckling and shaking her head, she steps into the 'Sample's room. She's gone for perhaps ten minutes, after which she returns and beams at Cooper as though this is the first time she's seen the woman in weeks, "Thank you for waiting. Shall we?"
<FS3> Opposed Roll — Ranjali=persuasion-1 Vs Cooper=Awareness
< Ranjali: Success Cooper: Good Success
< Net Result: Cooper wins - Marginal Victory
Cooper's eyes narrow slightly in deep though as she analyzes what just took place while Ranjali shuffles about in the sample room. Okay so the appropriate blush was there. But that was still a lot of personal information for her friend to divulge. This sighing. This giggling. So Cooper plots her next steps carefully, and by the time Ranjali's back out she can be found casually checking for dirt under her nails. Even that smile throws Cooper off a little bit. "Sounds good," she simply gives the woman a bright smile back. Nope. No suspicious Aurors here. "The magical influences test. They don't have you take a normal muggle drug test also, do they?" She peer at the door and takes note of its location in the building before she begins heading down the hall with the woman.
Ranjali eyes Cooper amusedly, "They didn't, no. Audrey told me to take a test on magical influences. So that's what I did. There isn't even a possibility that I'd be taking some sort of drug. The closest thing I've had is the whiskey Miss Malfoy told me to drink. And that was two /days/ ago." She shakes her head as she leads the way to the door she pointed out earlier. It leads to a room not unlike the one where the two last had lunch. Only the chairs and a few of the potted plants sitting in one corner are any different.
Cooper sheepishly grins again in that 'silly me' fashion. But her ears perk up a little bit at the mention of a Miss Malfoy. "Oh Edwarlinda? You ran into her recently then. Where were you folks drinking? And without me never-the-less!" Cooper snickers and begins to get them situated on the table by pulling the sandwhiches out and the cokes. Peering about the room she hmms with interest. "Say this is exactly like the other one. There must be one on every floor," she says serving a portion for Ranjali and then for her. "I never could really ever get used to hospitals, even after the many times I've been in one. There's too many things going on in too many places. A room for everything I tell you. One for isolating you. One for cutting you open. I mean what was that room you just stepped into before? The one that said 'samples.' In my head, I sort of joked around and thought it was a room for food samples! I wouldn't be surprised if it really were that!" She snickers trying best to blend in her questions with her small talk.
"There is, yes." Ranjali answers, taking a seat. "A few of the floors have two, depending on the staff needed to keep them running." She nods, accepting Cooper's description of the hospital rooms, and giggles at the question about the samples room. "Well that /would/ be lovely. But no, its just samples of various things we need to keep on hand. Antidotes, vaccines, that sort of thing. As for Edwarlinda, she's a regular patient, and I invited her to tea. She just told me to put whiskey in one of my cups, so I did."
<FS3> Opposed Roll — Cooper=Deception Vs Ranjali=Awareness -1
< Cooper: Great Success Ranjali: Good Success
< Net Result: Cooper wins - Solid Victory
Cooper is a natural at this, smoothly setting the table as if nothing were wrong or different. After popping the coke bottle tops open with a flick of her wand she seats herself down. "Interesting. See I told you, a room for everything!" she grins. "What other sorts of samples are in there? Cheers by the way. To no whiskey in our coke." She clinks her glass bottle against Ranjali's and takes a sip. "Oh yes that's only natural since since hitwizards and us aurors get our own beds here," she nods understandingly. "And you drank the whiskey. My goodness Ranjali, you're so bold! Did she bring the whiskey or was it a part of your own collection?"
Once more Ranjali giggles. She lifts her coke to meet Cooper's, "Mine? No, I don't keep anything like that. She brought a flask." The first question she finds harder to answer. As she takes a sip, she thinks, frowning faintly. "Hmmm, all sorts, really. There's potions, diseases, whole /cartloads/ of Bezoars. You know, that sort of thing. We keep quite a bit of dittany in stock as well of course."
<FS3> Opposed Roll — Cooper=Deception Vs Ranjali=Awareness -1
< Cooper: Good Success Ranjali: Good Success
< Net Result: Cooper wins - Marginal Victory
Cooper snickers and begins digging into her food in the same atrocious fashion that she did with the Italian dishes last time. "Mmm, Edwarlinda would, wouldn't she?" The words come out half muffled, but eventually she chews it down and swallows. "My god that's a whole lot in one room! Understandable to have the Becoars and the dittany and the potions," she says, pushes her glasses up her nose again and takes a bit of the sandwhich before saying, "But did I hear you correctly when you said there were diseases in there too? Mungo's keeps diseases?"
As soon as Cooper starts eating, Ranjali takes a bite of her own sandwich. She eats slowly, even more so than usual, savoring each bite with closed eyes and a tiny sigh of happiness. "Certainly." She mumbles around a bite, in answer to the question about diseases. Swallowing, she takes a sip of coke and goes on more clearly, "If you're going to do a test on one its better to use a sample than someone who has it, you know? But its quite safe, we keep them in a sealed case." She smiles reassuringly.
<FS3> Opposed Roll — Cooper=Deception Vs Ranjali=Awareness-1
< Cooper: Great Success Ranjali: Good Success
< Net Result: Cooper wins - Marginal Victory
Cooper narrows her eyes again as she watches Ranjali eat like she's in heaven. "Oh I see…that makes sense now…," she chews as she normally chews but now she's suspicious. This woman's definitely on something. And Cooper thinks perhaps the healer's swiping whatever it is from the sample room. "I imagine Mugno's must keep such a good stock of medicines and such then. It's rather surprising how easily accessible that room is. I imagine it's easy to take things from there, isn't it? It's like the office supply closet at the MLE," she grins, covering her suspicious questioning in a casual tone, punctuated with a joke at the end. And of course she takes another bit of her sandwich to continue on with the act.
Ranjali tilts her head to one side, considering briefly how to answer. "Well, it depends on what it is you want. Some things are kept in cases, some are locked, some magically sealed. Some things are only acessible through someone who works on the proper floor. For example only Clover and her colleagures have access to the more dangerous potions and ingredients. But things like the bezoars are readily available, as they are rarely dangerous and sometimes needed in a hurry."
<FS3> Opposed Roll — Cooper=Deception Vs Ranjali=Awareness-1
< Cooper: Good Success Ranjali: Failure
< Net Result: Cooper wins - Solid Victory
"Forgive me that's nothing like the MLE supply closet at all!" Cooper snickers and grins, "Unless you count the blue ink pots. For some reason Ogden really likes writing with those those and keeps them stashed in the back so that no one gets to them. I always find a way though. I don't even use them I just like to take them out of the closet and watch him squirm when we run out." She takes a swig of her cola and sits casually back in her chair. "What sort of things do you have access to?"
Ranjali giggles again, imaginging Cooper snitching blue ink pots and cackling madly over her victories. And once more, she has to take time to think, from the look on her face just to gather enough thoughts together to put together a worthwile responce, "Oh, mostly just the basics. Spell damage is largely about wandwork so I rarely need any samples. Though they've trusted me with a few other things over the years. I can get to the keys for some of the locked cases, if I need to. I've worked with the diseases a few times, and I've helped transport some of the more dangerous potion ingredients when they needed an extra hand."
<FS3> Cooper rolls Awareness: Good Success.
Cooper hmms again, the gears turning in her brain. There's still something wrong with all this. It's all too easy. Cooper's had a harder time getting information out of children. As Ranjali talks, Cooper continues to think until another light seems to go off in her head. However, she devises a different direction to go on instead. "That's very big responsibility Ranjali, but it's quite impressive," she smiles sweetly at her friend. "I really admire what you do here. Helping people and all. It's great. I mean Aurors do the same but we have to resort to violence sometimes. But being a healer, well I feel like that fits in with your kind nature." Crossing her legs she glances over to Ranjali and asks, "I really enjoy these lunches too. I look forward to them all the time. It's been a while since I felt this warmly about any sort of person…"
Ranjali chuckles, "Sometimes. But you did see how I was with… " Her eyes glaze over briefly, and she blinks, then shakes her head, "Sorry, with Mr. Troy. I have been quite severe with my… Cooper?" Belatedly noticing the woman's last words, she looks up from her sandwich with a curious frown. "What are you saying?"
"I'm saying that, I enjoy being around you Ranjali," Cooper puts down her food and her soda and leans forward against the table. Her blue eyes focus right on the woman, looking at her in a gentle yet serious manner. "And I want to get to know you more. So have dinner with me. We don't even have to call it a date if you don't want. We can consider it a time to really just get to know more of each other. And if you don't like it, it doesn't have to go any further. And we can continue being friends having lunch together just as we are now." She rests her chin on her hand and gives the healer a smile as she awaits her answer.
Ranjali blinks. "Oh. Really?" Her eyebrows lift in mild surprise, but she slowly nods. "Well, if you want to, we can have dinner sure. But we will have to stay friends. Audrey told me not to be the other woman with you, so it can't be a real relationship." She replies earnestly, despite the blush reappearing on her cheeks. And then, almost to herself, she adds, "Goodness, but I have been popular these last few days."
The answer disturbs Cooper on so many different levels. She didn't manage to knock the verbal abilities out of Ranjali, like such a line would have been able to do. Not to mention, she's revealing a lot more about her relationship with Audrey than she anticipated. But most of all, do the two of them talk about her? She really wants to find out more about that last part, but that would make her digress from her current goal. "The other woman? Do you mean my involvement with Magnus? I assure you, it's nothing. He means nothing to me," Cooper scoots in a bit closer to the table so that Ranjali can see how 'honest' she's being. "If I knew I had a chance with you, I'd forget about him completely. In fact, if you go on this dinner with me and promise to really try and consider me as possibly something more, I will not see him until you've rejected me." Biting her lip she looks at the woman with wide-eyed sincerity.
Ranjali, now, looks worried. Mildly worried. "But… Audrey told me not to… " She bites her lip, thinking as hard as she possibly can about it. "I suppose, though, if you aren't seeing him… then I'm not the other woman while we have dinner? So then I'm still doing what Audrey said?" Right? She watches Cooper, hopeful.
Cooper hmms again with interest. And being compassionate as possible, "Does Audrey not want you to date me specifically? Or just other women in general? What specifically did she say?" Okay so Cooper can't help but snoop to see if they're chatting about her in particular. With a small reassuring smile she nods, "You wouldn't be the other woman. I'd never want to disrespect you that way. I like you too much to do that, and I'd like to go about this in any manner you choose."
Nodding thoughtfully, Ranjali replies, "Alright. Lets see, I'm pretty sure she said 'don't be the other woman, Ranji' or something like that. I guess… she didn't specifically mention you at that moment? But, well." She sighs, "I do think she gets jelous when I look at other girls?"
Cooper nods understandingly and says, "Well…it could be that she has feelings for you that she doesn't realize. But Ranjali, I do have feelings for you. Feelings I'd like to know more about in hope that maybe you'll be able to return them as well. And as I said to you before, if you're not interested we'll continue it no further." Licking her lips once more before she asks, "So what do you say. A date then? One where you're not the other woman."
Ranjali listens, nods a bit, then beams at Cooper. "Alright then. A date." And once that is done, she sighs, looking rather immensely relieved, and picks up her sandwich for another bite.
<FS3> Cooper rolls Awareness: Good Success.
Cooper's signature wide and bright smile spreads on her face, "Wonderful." Though internally her mind is racing with various thoughts, drawing up theories and conjuring possible solutions. And if her face were to actually express what she was thinking, she's be in a full out panic at the moment. But for now, she simply eats her lunch like the cave man she is and continues conversation as always.
<FS3> Cooper rolls Dark Defense: Success.
Ranjali simply eats her sandwich in aparent bliss, enjoying each bite as she had before, like it is a whole new experience to be savored, closing her eyes and looking as though she has never, ever, tasted anything quite as wonderful as this sandwich.