2022-06-13 - Surprises

Now that she's allowed out and about again, it's time to visit Joe so that they can come up with a plan to tackle the roots. Not only that, but just to thank him again for all he's done. There really isn't enough ways to say thank you for helping save someone from themselves, is there? The apartment complex isn't where she's used to finding him, but it isn't tough to find. She steps out of the elevator, dressed simply in a white sundress and flats.

There's a gentle knocking on the front door. "Hey Joe, it's Ava," she calls out softly, trying not to disturb the other neighbors.

Apparently Javier the Closemouthed hasn't passed on that little tidbit. Assuming that he knows that Joe still isn't quite himself these days. There's no verbal reply from inside, but she can hear soft footsteps, and then the sound of the locks turning.

What greets her isn't Joe as she knew him. The changes wrought by the fruit, for whatever reason, aren't subtle. No, the figure that pulls the door open is a tall woman with blonde curls that tumble nearly to her shoulders. She's dressed in loose drawstring pants and a white tanktop, both a bit large, but enough for modesty's sake. It's only the ink and the scars that have stayed the same, with more of the former exposed. One deltoid bears the image of a shuttle orbiter's dorsal view, while the other has an old-fashioned sailing ship in an oval frame of what looks like twisted cable.

Her features are even more haughty in this version, with those high cheekbones, thin mouth, and heavy-lidded blue eyes. She regards Ava for a long moment, before ushering her in with a wave of one long hand. Not speaking, as if afraid the neighbors might hear them.

If there's one thing Javier is great with, it's secrets. It's safe to say that Joe's was kept if Ava's face is any indication when the door is opened. At first she just assumes that Joe has someone over. But the tattoos and the familiar features of the face click in, alone with the familiar Shine, it takes a moment but she gets there. A hand presses over Ava's mouth as she gets ushered inside.

"Joe?!" In she goes, waiting until the door is fully closed before she says anything else. Once it is, "What the hell happened?"

That sardonic little half-grin makes an appearance, curling her lip, tugging that one scar out of shape. "The pastry I took from the ball happened," Still that slow drawl, voice rougher and lighter in this shape. "Been a few days. I asked Javier to keep it quiet, for a bit, in hopes it'd fade on its own. Hasn't yet." She's apparently endured it long enough to be calm about it, rather than upset or panicked.

But she tilts her head, eyeing Ava. "I s'pose you're over your problem with the fruit, then?" A hopeful note lifts that slow voice, as Jo contemplates her.

Horror touches Ava's features as he mentions that it was one of the fruit pastries that did this. "Oh no. Oh shit, Joe, I'm so sorry." She slumps slightly. Even though he knew the effects it could have, he still couldn't resist. She really can't go home yet. "No wonder I haven't seen you around." Her hand rakes through her hair.

"Uh, yeah. I'm feeling okay. No cravings or anything. Still avoiding the house because I know the greenhouse is there. I was actually coming over to talk to you about destroying the roots, but." Her hand gestures over him. Her.

She spreads those long-fingered hands, turns them palm up. "Yeah," she drawls. "I didn't feel like spending money on clothes for a condition that probably wouldn't last long at all. Just been hangin' out at home, waitin' on it to fade."

But then she's remembering her manners, turning towards the kitchen area that bounds one end of the open living space. Beyond the counter, there's a dining table of dark wood, modern and sleek. To the right of it, couch and love seat, gray upholstered and angular, sit before a flat screen TV mounted on the wall. "You want somethin' to drink?" Jo wonders, already getting glasses from the kitchen cabinet, leaning up. Still as tall now as she was.

"Well, I'm not as tall as you are, but I probably have a few things that will still fit you if you'd like to actually get out of the apartment. I can bring them over. We can get you all dolled up. I mean..." Ava watches as Jo wanders off towards the rest of the apartment, following after. "I bet Javi wouldn't mind showing you off just as much like this as he does otherwise. You're equally hot either gender."

Finding a spot to lean against the counter, she bobs her head. "Just some water would be great, thanks."

Jo slants a look over her shoulder, as ice clatters into the glass from the fridge's dispenser. "That's kind of you, but no, thank you," That perpetual languor turns nearly every statement into a sigh. "And he's seen me like this. He doesn't like it. It makes him uncomfortable." No judgement in her voice, as she fills the glass and sets it before her guest. Still merely neutral, as she fills her own glass. "I'll just wait it out, if I can. If it lasts longer'n a few days, then it's time to worry about clothing."

Ava tilts her head, looking surprised. "Really? That's a shame. I suppose he's used to knowing you one way, so this throws up him for a loop, huh? Or, that's my guess, anyway." Fingers wrap around her glass, just settling there instead of actually drinking from it. For now at least.

"For what it's worth, as far as I have seen, nothing so far has lasted more than a couple of days. A week at the most, and that was Jules and I. I'd be honestly surprised if it goes on longer than that for you." A breath is let out. "This is the most intense one I have seen so far. To effect not just the mind but the whole body."

"I think you're right," she allows, propping her hip against the counter, before nodding at the seating before the television. "Have a seat, if you like. And that's reassuring. All due respect to women, I liked my old self just fine." Joe lifts a hand, brushes back hair from her brow. "Yeah. I wasn't aware it'd bring on physical changes. Who knows why?" There's an elaborate shrug. "Veil things are always unpredictable."

"Think so? You know him a hell of a lot better than me, so that's reassuring." Ava settles into one of the seats, folding one leg over the other. She takes a sip from the glass, finishing it before laughing softly. "Your old self was fantastic, I don't blame you. I'm not sure how I would handle suddenly swapping forms like that. You seem to be handling it pretty gracefully, however."

She pads over to settle, but it's on the flat arm of the couch, rather than the seat proper. Swallows down a mouthful, ice chiming in the glass, before she taps fingers gently against the rim. "Well, let's just say I was thrown at first," Jo concedes. "It's been a few days - doesn't hurt, got used to changes in my balance. I've been in worse states." That wry curl to her lip reappears. "I just think of all the transwomen who would give their right arm to have the change come so easy, and I feel almost guilty. Like I'm wastin' a gift."

"Having any sudden back pain from the shift in weight? A heating pad will really help with that," Ava advises with a lift of her glass in support. "Just be glad that it's probably going to fade in a couple of days and not a month." There's a shift in her brows as they draw inward. "That's a fair point. That'd be torturous though, for them. Given the body for a week, then having to revert back. That'd be a special kind of cruel."

A shake of her head. "No. No trouble. I was already in pretty decent shape." Jo pulls a face at that. "That's true. I was thinking of it as if it were more a permanent thing. I can't imagine what that's like. Being queer is hard enough, but feeling like the body you were born into is alien...." She sighs. "Yeah. I don't envy women what they have to put up with, even on just the physical level."

"If it were a more permanent thing and I could just grow a magic fruit that'd let them change, it'd save so many people so much heart ache and painful surgeries. It'd just let them be who they are. But the Veil would never give us something as beautiful as all of that. Everything has to come with a consequence attached." Ava sighs. "I can't imagine how hard it is to feel that way."

Her eyes drop into the drink. "Eh, we put up with a lot, but you'd be surprised what you get used to when you grow up that way."

Her expression turns meditative, and she gazes down into the depths of her glass like she might find a fortune written on the bottom. Then glances up keenly, from under bronze lashes. "Yes, it does," she agrees, and her voice has gone dry. "We do need to get rid of those plants without killing you. Hopefully we'll all get out of this situation with no real harm done beyond hurt feelings." By her expression, Jo's not in the least sanguine about that outcome. At least she's not scolding, at the moment.

There's a deep breath taken in. "The plants have to go either way." Ava sounds sure about that. "I'm quite sure we'll figure out a way to do it safely enough. But on the very off chance that it's not possible I've already made it clear to at least one other person that they have to go, regardless. If nothing else, I can take the roots, and Nimue and go get Lost on the other side where they can't hurt anyone here any more. I made the mess, I have to be responsible for cleaning it up." Another long sip is taken before bright eyes flicker upwards again. "Though, I prefer they just be destroyed with only a little muss and fuss, and continue on with my asking for forgiveness tour.

Up goes that brow and for a moment, the other woman's regard turns faintly skeptical. "Why," she asks, "would it need you to take the little one and get Lost? Not like we can't just open a hole in the Veil and chuck 'em through, if need be. They can make shift on their own, I'm sure. Or get eaten by whatever the hell eats Veil potatoes. Hell, I'd go lookin' to figure out what that is, but that strikes me as the kind of solution that'll inevitably end up worse'n the initial problem."

The blonde looks....almost amused. "Might that other person have been Javier?" she guesses. "That at least one?"

"If what happens to them happens to me and that bond continues through the Veil and we can't see what happens to the roots, that leaves a lot of my future way too up in the air. That's living in a kind of limbo and constant fear that I'd rather not have to deal with. They either have to be destroyed, or I have to be with them." Ava swirls the ice around in her water, frowning slightly. "If I could chuck 'em and forget 'em that'd be great. But I don't think that's a luxury that I have."

That amused look gets a quirk of lips from the brunette. "You think you're soooo smart." Well, she is. "Yeah it was. I figure if anyone would be willing to put down the roots either way, he'd do it."

"I'm betting the Veil will cut that thread," Jo suggests. "But yeah, ultimately the most secure way is to destroy 'em. I don't know how much can be sensed back and forth from this world to that." She scratches at one brow with a nail, sighs. "And what did he say to that?"

"I'd put money down that you're right. But my anxiety is also telling me that I should be being as careful as possible about this. So, I'm going with the two options. Destroying them being the one that I'm really rooting for." There's a pause and a wry smile. "I didn't mean that pun. But I stand by it." There's a brief sigh. "He understood. Then he changed the subject. Like he does. I don't know that he does that with you, because you guys are close and know a lot about each other. He does it a lot with me though."

"We've only really known each other outside of the coroner/police chief relationship for a couple of weeks, after all." She doesn't seem terribly bothered by it. She seems to understand that it's his nature. Especially given how little time it's been.

The other woman's face has gone calm, cool, in that way it has. "He's a pragmatist," she allows. "And he discusses things in general as little as he possibly can. I'll occasionally bother to chase him down on a given subject, but you're going to have to pick your battles when it comes to which ones you try that with."

Jo takes another swallow of water, Adam's apple bobbing, before she sets the glass down on her knee again, cradling it lightly in inked fingers.

Ava nods. "Noted." There isn't a press for more details on that. "Somehow our conversations always tend to circle back towards Javier. But I do want to get to know you, too, you know. As a person, separate from him. The astronaut stuff is especially fascinating. Have you managed to open up any more moon doors?"

There's another shake of her head at that. "No," she says, gently, admonishing. "No. It's late for that. If you want whatever it is you have with Javier to continue on, that's fine. That's between the two of you, it isn't my business. But it's better for everyone concerned if he stays the hub of the wheel, as it were."

There's an arch of a brow from Ava as she studies Jo at that. "You think it's better if we're not friends at all?" The surprise and uncertainty is clear on the woman's face. "That doesn't make sense to me."

Jo's gaze is level, as she nods an answer to that question. "I do," she says, but doesn't volunteer anything further. Still sitting entirely at ease, hipshot on the arm of the couch. Apparently her bad hip isn't hurting her that much this evening....or maybe she's taken something else to take the edge off of it.

The arch in Ava's brow doesn't go anywhere as Jo confirms that that was exactly what she'd meant. The confusion only deepening across the brunette's expression. "But why? Wouldn't it be more prudent to be friends? It's likely we'll see more of each other now."

"And why is that, exactly?" Jo wonders. "This seeing more of each other that you think will happen." Tone still pleasant, manner polite, if a little offhand. No explanation will be forthcoming, it seems, at least on her part. At least for now.

Ava's position in the chair is beginning to shift, the glass set to the side, back straightening, hands moving to rest in her lap. "I'll counter that question with a question of my own. How much have you seen of me since Javier and I have started sleeping with each other, compared to when we weren't? People who spend time around the same people, do tend to have more run ins with each other."

"More, in that I see you at all as opposed to never. I don't show up at Javier's house without first checking to see if he's home and free. I don't work with him or with you. As it stands, I'm not involved with his relationship with you. I don't have any desire to be. I've spent as much time around you as I have recently because of the problem with the roots, but once that's dealt with, you'll have the space you had before." As if she were granting them a favor.

"I see." Ava's expression has changed to something far more clinical than friendly. Perhaps it's her work face? "Well, that's your prerogative. I'm certainly not going to try to force someone's hand when it comes to friendship." Ava rises and reclaims her glass. She moves towards the sink so that she can set it inside of there like a good guest. "You can text me when you're back to yourself. We'll take care of the root situation."

The blonde inclines her head to that - no alteration in her expression. Still calm, almost a little sleepy. "As soon as I am, I'll do that," she drawls. "Should be soon, hopefully."Jo rises to follow her to the kitchen, sets her own glass down by the sink's edge. "Thank you for comin' by, it was kind of you."

"Should be within the next handful of days. If not, perhaps destroying the roots will further along the speed of it." Ava slips her bag over her shoulder and gives a little nod. "Take care." Then she's hurrying out.