1965-04-27 - Healers Alliance
Summary: Thea and Josh meet and work out a deal to expand the community center.
Related: None
Theme Song: None
thea josh 


The community center is not run by Josh, but it might as well be. He spends so much time there, helping out Ethel in the kitchen, stocking things, sweeping up. But what he is most famous for is the 'clinic', which is really nothing more then a side room with first aid supplies. He has trained several of the regulars on first aid and his contact information is known by all; the hope being they can keep someone alive until he gets here. He doesn't charge for healing, but accepts donations. Some donate money. More often then not its a sandwich, cookies or coffee, all of which he accepts happily.

At the moment, Josh is in the clinic, holding a little girl's hand with his eyes closed, a worried mom standing nearby. His skin is the color of pure gold, his hair looks like spun gold, and at the moment, a golden light radiates out of his hand and is pouring into the girl. She has just a bit of blood on her lips.


After her.. incident that brought her back to the harsh reality after a dreamy time spent with family in Greece (Dreamy after she took care of her sick uncle, anyway), Thea's been spending time hunting through Mutant Town. Whispered confessions have brought her here, stepping inside the community center, looking around curiously.

She likely doesn't terribly blend in. Despite the casual green dress with the lighter green spring jacket over the top, matching flats in a deep emerald.. she's just not from this part of town. If the upswept hair and sparkle of colorless stones in her ears get added in, she may as well be alien. But she saunters deeper into the center, her curiousity turned onto a high flame as she passes the side room that's the clinic. She pauses, staring.

There's a moment that has her stepping closer, a hand on the doorjamb, brown eyes wide and slightly unfocused, even as her breath catches. "Need a hand, healer?" She'll ask, thinking with a flicker of Chance's calling her that.


Josh shakes his head slowly without opening his eyes, his attention focused on senses that are harder to describe. Soon enough, he lets go of the girls hand and leans back in the chair, looking weary. A golden hand runs through his hair and he looks to the mother, "It was cancer of the stomach, but its gone now. It won't reoccur. Take her down the hall to Ethel and tell her I said she should make your daughter a special treat."

The woman grabs him in a hug, which he returns lightly, and presses a brown paper bag into his hands, "I'm sorry, its all I have…"

Josh shakes his head, used to this, "It's fine, thank you." And with that, the woman lifts her daughter up and hurries out, glancing at Thea as she goes.

For his part, Josh looks to Thea as well, even as he pulls open the bag and pulls out a simple balonga sandwich. He winces slightly upon seeing it, though he takes a bite anyways. "Cancer's actually pretty easy to take care of, just takes care to get it all. I'm Josh, though around here lately they've been calling me Doc Gold, which I hate." He laughs softly, "I prefer Elixir if someone isn't going to go with Josh."


"She's young for cancer." Thea says, her voice holding a slightly clinical edge as she watches from the doorway as the little girl walks away with her mother. "I don't have a lot experience with eradicating cancer, I admit. I just had a fun time with some congestive heart failure while I was on vacation."

She'll step in more fully, a hand offered. "Thea. I heard Doc Gold on the street. I thought it was an actual last name." She shrugs. "So you run your little unregistered mutant friendly clinic. You're the healer. " She will move to take a seat, setting her bag down. "Seems like you've beaten me to the punch."


"Yeah, it was an anomaly. Cancer's easy because you just have to locate the abnormal growths and kill them. Killing is trivial compared to healing." Josh explains, before he realizes the implications of what she said, "Oh, you're a healer too?" He takes the hand and shake it. Despite looking like metal, his skin is warm and soft just like regular skin. "Yeah. Lots of these people can't afford to go to a hospital, let alone can't be treated by a hospital due to obvious mutation. They keep me fed and manage to pay my rent in return, which I consider more then fair." He chuckles softly, "…which is odd, I used to be so bitter about losing my job, my manhatten condo and my life. Now I'm content with a tiny hovel and being paid in gross sandwiches." He tilts his head, "Beaten you to the punch?"


"After some of the riots, I decided that being a nurse in a rotten part of town wasn't enough. I live in Hell's Kitchen, and I heal a lot of the people there, that also can't afford a hospital or a doctor, for whatever reason. But they're human. I.. there's a bit of a guilt for me, I suppose. I don't have to live anywhere I don't want. I.. I was a nurse. Roosevelt. I quit, because I wanted to do.. well this." A hand gestures. "The riots made me realize that while mutants are still human, humans don't always get it. I need to be helping people like myself."

She shrugs, sitting back a bit after shaking his hand. "I've never met another healer. I don't.. change colors, though." There's no delicate way to put that, is there. "You lost your job? Were you..found out?"


"Well, if you want to help people like yourself, I'd be completely good with us setting up some sort of schedule to trade shifts. I have… other obligations that make it so I divide my time." Josh nods his head slowly, and then he grins slightly, "The gold goes away after about a day from when I heal, I have no idea why it does that. Its.. inconvenient." He then purses his lips, "I am— was— a doctor. I was a surgical resident, general surgery. My mutation manifested late in life. Well, not exactly. The passive ability to read biology manifested early, but I always thought it was just.. instinct. But I didn't heal anyone until about two years ago. I was in the hospital. Healed a man, turned gold, got fired, lost my license, my fiance, my family."


"I'd be amenable to helping with shifts, but I.. still have another job. Obligations, as well. They are not always.. predictable." Fingers lift and pull the pins out of her hair, letting it drop and curl around her shoulders. There is a scrunching upwards of her shoulders, as if her bare neck had made her feel vulnerable, a shake of her head.

She reaches for her bag on the floor, slipping her pins inside as she looks at him. "A doctor. Man." She's silent a long moment. "I didn't think I could deal with the sort of innate sexism a lot of doctors have, so I went the nurse route. Mine came on all at once, it was.. disorientating, but nothing horrible. I now feel more and more like an entitled rich bitch." There's a smile, a quirk of humor as she looks at Josh. "Because I've got almost a.. blessed life." She shrugs again.

"No real tragedy, other than the mess that is my love life. My parents.. don't know. But my brother and my grandfather do, and some other relatives know something is different, but.. no one's come at me for it." She bites the inner edge of her bottom lip. "I'm not trying to be crass, Josh, but I don't think I'd be wrong if I said I thought this place could use more funding for supplies. Would I be?"


Josh nods his head in understanding on the subject of obligations, "I'm sure we can work something out; we don't need the clinic staffed all the time. I've trained a lot of the regulars in first-aid, so if there's an emergency they can keep someone alive and reach out to me. If they had your contact info too, chances are hopefully one of us could get here in time. Even if you were around a few hours a couple days a week it'd be a great help." He inclines his head once more, "It sounds like you had a good run of it, that's good. I'd have been jealous once, but I'm content now." Then he chuckles softly, "No, you'd not be wrong at all. We serve one meal a day, plus breakfast for children before they go to school, but that's always very, very tight. Clinic supplies are low, heck, all the supplies are low. Plus, there's some other programs I'd like to do but don't have the resources presently to devote to them."


"I'm jealous. I want that. Contentedness. I want to feel like what I'm doing is the right thing, that I'm in the right place, you know? I've come close, but never quite…" She shrugs. "I can do several full shifts a week. My contact info isn't a problem, though I'm considering moving." There's a faintly distracted moment, her eyes casting to the floor, a line between her brows.

She shakes her head, lifting her chin again. "So food, medical supplies, and some decent furniture are things we need?" There's a hint of a smile. "I can get some stuff shipped in, that's not a problem. The question is, will it draw unwanted attention? I don't want to endanger anything."


"Working here helps a lot, at least it helps me. It might help you, too." Josh then blinks a moment, surprised by the offer, "That.. would be amazing." He flashes a smile, "And no, I don't think it will. No one pays attention to us and we're actually decently defended here. Mutants with useful abilities to defend are on shifts to keep things safe." He continues eating the balogna sandwich, the weariness he showed slowly diminishing the more of the sandwich he eats.


"I'm hoping. I get tired of searching for that spot, that piece that will fill in." She watches him, face calm and neutral. "I wasn't kidding about the rich bitch part. Though really, the money isn't mine. It's just going to come through me. I have a very indulgent grandfather who thinks that me giving back to those who need it most is a very worthwhile endeavor. I was thinking I was going to have to find a building, set it up, the whole nine. I had no idea you existed."

A hand runs through blonde hair, loosening the curl. "Of course, we're always a last line of defense." There's a twitch of lips. "But truthfully, some better chairs, an actual exam table, better lights.. how do you run this? I mean.. I need a list. Even if you decide you can't stand me, this.. this is what I wanted. You just started it, so now I have to do what I can."


"Well, I don't officially run this place— its a group effort— I just help out everywhere I can. I can tell you I, Ethel, and the community would be very appreciative of anything you can do for us. I want the Center to be a place where we can come together and help eachother, to be more then just outcasts, but a real community that cares for its own." Josh nods his head slowly, grinning, "You're welcome to be part of that. Personality doesn't come into the equation, only willingness to help." He nods his head then, "I'll get a list going."


"I can see some things off hand, to get started, at least. The medical stuff may be harder to come by. Antibiotics, that sort of thing, but I'll get it figured out. Thankfully, I have some interesting connections." Thea opens her purse, and takes out a little notepad and pen, scribbling down numbers. "There are two numbers you can reach me by. The second is emergency, and you can't tell who answers WHY you're calling." She'll rip it free to hand to Josh, before she's digging a little deeper. There's a small roll of bills, bound by rubber bands, held out. "It's not much, but I was coming here looking to have to rent a place, and put down a deposit and things. So.. at least maybe you can stock some more treats for Ethel for the kids."


Josh nods, taking the paper, and he goes over to get a notepad of his own to write down a pair of numbers. "The first one is my apartment, if someone else answers, that's Daire. He'll probably know where to find me, and you'll see him around here if you're here very often. He has horns, so you'll recognize him easily. Anyways, the second is… I'm not at liberty to say, but I split my time between these two places. Whoever answers, you can leave a message with them." She might recognize the second number as Xavier's common phone line. He blinks when money comes out, but he's not shy enough to not accept donations, "This is amazing, thank you. I'm going to send someone right out to the market to buy fresh fruit, starting monday the kids will all have an apple or a banana with their sandwiches. That's not just going to help them in health but it'll make a lot of kids happy. Some of them almost don't eat except what we provide."


She nods, committing the name Daire to her memory. "Horns seem to be somewhat common. More common than healing, it seems." She looks down at the paper, staring at it a moment. "You spend time at Xavier's?" She'll just blurt it out, staring at him. Then there's a faint little laugh, shaking her head. "I used to date an.. alumni. I spent some time there." There's a faint smile. "Well then, I need to start getting more food in here. They can't learn, can't control things when they manifest, if they're hungry all the time." She'll close her bag, looking at Josh.


"Oh, yeah. I have a room there; I'm here half the time, there half the time. I teach some classes on first aid and biology, and every once in awhile, they need healing too." Josh nods his head at that, "True, there's others with horns. Dai also has green eyes that… stand out. So you see the combination of impossibly green eyes and horns, that's him. He's one of the defenders." But he nods quickly, "Yeah, I started the childrens meal program even though we were stretched with the dinner because the only way they'll grow and learn is if they aren't thinking of only being hungry."


"Lucky for me, there's family in the shipping business. We can even get some out of season stuff." There's a hint of a smile. "You've got a soft spot for children. It makes me a little more sure about trusting you." She'll get to her feet, slinging her bag over her head to rest cross body. "Think we can make it work?" She'll offer him her hand.


Josh rises, and takes Thea's hand and shakes it with a smile, "I think it'd be practically criminal not to try; we do our best and others will come and do theirs. I gotta hope it can work."


"If we didn't have hope, we wouldn't be here. We would both be quietly working in other fields, pretending." Thea says softly, a faint smile. "I'll see you soon, Josh."


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