16836/Bad Day at Work

Bad Day at Work
Date of Scene:	08 January 2024
Location:	Pezzini House
Synopsis:	Joshua comes home to Sara. There's a discussion of their days, some righteous justice and discussion of Aunt Ruth's ziti.
Cast of Characters:	Joshua Foley, Sara Pezzini

---

Joshua Foley has posed:
The decorations from Christmas have long since come down, Joshua and Sara having a relatively peaceful holiday. But, with the holiday over, it was time to return to duties and work. Joshua had a shift at Xavier's, and when he comes home, it's with a quiet unlocking of the door and opening as he moves inside, hanging up his coat. His shirt is covered in blood (not his) as he aims to make a beeline to their bedroom to shower and chance before Sara realizes he's home.

At least, that was the plan, as he paused at the kitchen. The heavy use of his powers had him starving, and there was still cookies that Sara's aunt left. He could get one before a shower. The lifting of the glass cover, a snagging of a chocolate chip cookie to snack on as he closes his eyes to savor the taste.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Aunt Ruth had increased her drop off of baked goods in the past several months, leaving cakes, cookies, and even pies in the kitchen when she came for her weakly visit. She'd also become prone to leaving completely finished meals in the freezer, but pop them in the microwave or reheat in the oven and they were ready to go. Women as too observant it seemed, and had picked up on the fact that someone... Joshua... needed extra calories.

The golden skinned man managed to get into the house without being noticed, or to be more precise without Sara seeing him. She did in fact hear him enter from where she was in the bedroom, having just taken her after work shower and dressed. Her hears followed his foot steps through the house to the kitchen as she brushed out her hair and for once, left it out of the ponytail.

If he followed his usual pattern, he would be coming up to the bedroom next for his shower, so she settled herself on the end of the bed and waited.

Joshua Foley has posed:
Cookie finished, Joshua makes his way up the stairs. Maybe Sara wasn't home? He didn't check the garage to see if the bike was there. His footfalls are quick as he makes his way up to their bedroom. Opening the door, he is already starting to reach for his shirt to remove it when he gets a sight that any man, anywhere that liked women would flip over.

He drinks in the sight of Sara, and smiles. "Hi, honey." he greets her, only having to half-force the smile onto his face as he looks her over. And then realizes his shirt, and the condition it's in. "Not mine." It's said quickly to ausage her concern as he moves to take it off.

He looks tired. She's seen it before, when he burns through his powers. "Let me get a shower, and I'll be good to go." he promises with a wink.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Both of Sara's brows raise as she sees Joshua covered in blood, but at the assurance it isn't his she relaxes just a bit. Blood meant someone was hurt, and that meant that something had happened. To the trained cop, this was reason for concern, but thankfully not concern for her boyfriend.

"You shower," she says as she stands up, giving him a kiss on the cheek as he goes by toward the bathroom. "I'll go down and warm up Aunt Ruth's ziti, and get you some water. We'll meet for dinner in bed."

Joshua Foley has posed:
The kiss on the cheek is returned affectionately, before Joshua nods, breathing in his girlfriend's scent and letting out a sigh. So much better than the antiseptic smells of Xavier's medical bay. "Sounds like a date." he comments warmly, before he moves towards the bathroom to undress and shower. He's in there more than long enough for Sara to prepare their meals.

As he comoes out of the shower, he slips into a warm robe as he returns to their bed, rifling a towel through his blonde hair to finish drying it and rubbing his tongue over freshly brushed teeth, having done his bedtime routine. Just in case.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Ziti is one of Ruth's favorite things to make, and these massive bad boys are stuffed with sausage and cheese. Sara usually heats them up in the oven, but this time it was a microwave job.

Loading up the tray with the large container, two plates, silverware, napkins, several bottles of cold water and of course a couple of glasses, she carries it back up stairs.

By the time Joshua emerges, she has set the tray on the end of the bed and arranged all the pillows (and there are in fact way too many of them) so that they can lean back into them like the back of a chair.

"I keep telling my Aunt she should start a restaurant and bakery," she states as she serves up one of the overly large stuffed ziti. "Cause these are fan-fucking-tastic, better than you'll get anywhere else in New York."

Joshua Foley has posed:
"She's totally spoiling us, you realize. And probably trying to convince me to stay around. Not that she needs to. I got pretty much every reason to right in front of me." Joshua admits with a grin as he sets the towel in the hamper and moves to get into the bed and get as close to Sara as he possibly can, without disturbing their meal.

Settled in, his back to the pillows, he brushes his hand over her arm for a moment before he tucks into the meal. And he knows she's waiting. There is a story, she wants the explanation. And after a few bites and a closing of his eyes to savor the taste, he starts.

"I help out with mutant trauma sometimes, you know that. Guy came in today. We went to school together. He was a horrible bully to me. He knew of my anti-mutant feelings and made sure I knew how he felt every chance he got." he sighs. "He lost his hands recently. And while I was healing his wounds from a lizard attack, I thought I could heal his hands."

There's a frown. "I couldn't. And he got pissed about it. So, yeah. My powers ain't there yet." he admits with a shake of his head. "And I just... wanted to get out of there, and back home to you."

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Pulling another tray from under the bed, Sara stand one up for his plate and the other she stands up for her own. Once they're in place, there is no knocking food anywhere, so she settles back into the pillows as well.

Making certain to get in nice and close to Joshua, she sets silverware on the tray table for him as he explains his day. He witnesses a pause in her movements, a tensing of her muscles at the mention of this bully, and then she looks over at him.

"Let me see if I'm understanding you correctly," she says calmly. "This person who bullied you, insulted you, treated you like shit is also a mutant. Further more, he lost his hands and because you, whom he treated like shit, couldn't give them back him... he once again treated you like shit, and some how... you feel badly about this?"

Joshua Foley has posed:
"I didn't realize he had lost his hands when I wasn't around. And I thought maybe, I could fix them. Not his fault." Joshua glances aside to Sara, he knows that look, all too well by now. She has protected him so hard, so he is trying to make sure there is no misunderstanding. "The wounds were too old, I can't heal those." he admits quietly.

"It's fine. I may not ever see him again." he points out as he takes another bite. "Besides. In that time apart? I won. I found a family. I found warmth. I found understanding and acceptance." And a glance directly into her eyes.

"And I found you." And Julian Keller can eat his damn heart out.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
"His reaction to you not being able to heal them?" She asks, canting her head, not quite appeased by his words. "Anger. I get that this bastard may have gotten his hopes up when you said you'd try, I even get that having that hope dashed can be incredibly painful. I'm not heartless, I get it, but getting pissed at the person trying? Nope. Not acceptable, that bastard can go fuck himself... oh dear, no he can't... no hands and he deserves it."

For one milisecond her eyes flashed red as she spoke, possibly so quick as to be unseen, though Joshua was usually keen eyed when it came to her. Witchblade was apparently not at all pleased in this moment either, backing the angry fire in her voice with a little 'umph' of his own.

Picking up a bottle of water she offers it to him with a snort, not at all sorry how cruel her words might sound. Joshua believed himself to be the winner, but too many times she'd seen his reaction to his past, to how people treat him, to the pain of it all... he's won the battle, but the war still raged on.

"No, I'm not sorry I said it," she then adds, cutting a piece of the ziti off with her fork before looking back at him. "You consider yourself the lucky one in having found me, whereas I consider myself the lucky one in having found you. We can have an argument about that if you'd like, or just accept that we're both lucky."

Joshua Foley has posed:
Joshua watches her, and understands her compassion and feelings on the matter. It's not just about protecting him or his rights, or some sense of justice. It's taken a little while, but he's realized that she feels as strongly about him as he does about her. They just haven't put words to that yet.

"Nope, nothing to fight over." he offers, taking another bite from his ziti. "You're right, I'm right, and hopefully, after this meal, we'll both get lucky tonight." he suggests, because he is trying to make sure she knows. He's okay.

There is still a war to fight. And he'll find his battles. But he's got Sara. And nothing is going to change that as he opens the water to drink from it. "Now, are you going to tell me about your day?"

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Taking a couple more moments to let the anger settle, and to force Witchblade's anger back into the box, Sara finally takes a bite of ziti to enjoy. Her Aunt was spoiling them, she knew that, but then the woman always had and enjoyed doing so.

"After a meal like this you want to get lucky," she snorts at him once she's swallowed, but something of a smile has returned to her face. "I don't know, this sausage is heavy. I might be too tired..." she trails off there to put another bite in her mouth.

While chewing and swallowing, she opens a bottle of water for herself, and a small sip is enjoyed before she continues speaking. "Today was one of the singular most boring days... unless you count three calls from a woman who was convinced her neighbors were pagans and needed to be arrested."

Joshua Foley has posed:
"You mean pagans are real?" Joshua asks, a mock look of shock. But no, there's another battle here. She is claiming the sausage is too heavy. "Oh, that sausage is too heavy, hmm?" And she can see it in his eyes. He has a remark. She can anticipate it, taste it, know it's going to happen.

But he stands down from it, instead he takes another bite. "That tired, hmm?" he asks, an amused look on his face, as he finishes his meal, getting out of bed to set his tray aside. He'll just bide for her to finish her meal.

"Never heard you complain about that before~."

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Sara snerks at him, waiting for the comment, feeling it build up and then he changes gears from what he was going to say to something else. The snerk was still the correct response, but a snort gets added to it.

"The weight of /that/ sausage doesn't apply," she retorts, taking another drink of water. "That's all about length and girth my dear."

Joshua Foley has posed:
"Hmm, then I may have a different faire for you to sample." Joshua points out with a smirk as he looks up at her. Fine, he was going to wait for her to finish eating, but nope, not anymore.

He leans in and presses a kiss directly to her mouth, eager, wanton, and just grabbing a hold of her, full of youthful exhuberance. They should probably move the ziti out of the way.