Starring:
Summary: Fox walks into a crowded diner, ends up sharing a table with Bekah.
Date It Happened: January 19, 2008
Foxy Doctor
Downtown, NYC - Lucky Joe's Diner
Lucky Joe's Diner is packed tonight. It's late afternoon, and apparently, the entirety of New York decided that today was a great day for diner food. All the tables are full, and Bekah has a rarity. She's managed to snag herself a booth all of her own. The doctor is dressed for work, in light green scrubs and tennis shoes, with her coat sitting beside her. She's already aquired a mug of coffee from a harried waitress, and sits, savoring the hot liquid.
The diner's front door swings open with a jingle as a young girl steps inside, bringing with her a brief draft of cold evening air. Her sweatshirt is damp due to the light drizzle which is starting to pick up. Letting her knapsack slide down her arm, she catches the strap in her hand. Performing a cursory survey of potential seats, she sighs and her shoulders slump upon determining that every last table is occupied. None of the patrons seem about to leave. Reluctantly, she puts her knapsack back on, resigning herself to having to find another restaurant. She turns to face the door again.
Bekah is far too absorbed in her coffee, and the copy of a medical journal she has with her, to notice Fox. Thankfully, the same isn't true of the nearest waitress. She takes one look at the damp girl and shakes her head. "You stay and warm up before you go out again. Go sit with her. I'm sure she won't mind." The waitress, who must be a mother, points towards Bekah's table.
Fox turns to look up at the waitress, then follows her gesturing to Bekah. "Okay," she replies softly, as staying does seem a more pleasant option. She approaches Bekah's table and pauses. "Excuse me, can I sit here? There aren't any tables left," she inquires before anxiously biting her lower lip, revealing the tips of her two prominent front teeth.
Bekah looks up to Fox and blinks. "Here?" She pauses for a moment before she shrugs. "Go ahead." It's not exactly a warm greeting, but at least she didn't bite, right? Bekah turns back down to her journal, flipping the page to look at the next page of text about some medical procedure.
"Thanks," Fox says, as she slips into the booth and sets her knapsack down in her seat. She flags down the waitress and asks for a cup of hot chocolate, then unzips her knapsack and pulls out a notebook, flipping it open to a page half-covered in manga-style drawings of people in various poses. She rests her chin in her palm, looks out the window to the wet street outside, and absently chews the cap of her pen while waiting for inspiration.
Bekah looks over to Fox for a moment before she says. "You're welcome." And then her gaze is back down to the journal. After all, it's important information. And well, kids are not totally Bekah's favorite thing. Coffee, now that is much higher in her estimation and she'll sip from it.
GAME: Fox has rolled ART+CREATIVE and got a result of GREAT.
Fox finds little of interest through the window. When her hot chocolate arrives, she cups it in both hands and takes a brief sip. At that moment she decides Bekah would make a nice subject. She sets her cup down, flips her notebook to a fresh page, and holds the notebook at an angle against the edge of the table as she begins drawing the young lady facing her, again absently biting her lower lip, this time in concentration.
Bekah doesn't even notice Fox has started to draw her at first. She's far too absorbed in what she's reading. But then the waitress comes back with an omlet, sliding it in front of Bekah. "Oh, great. This looks like a wonderful breakfast." Bekah says towards the woman, even if it is /far/ too late for most to be eating breakfast. She's partway through cutting into it before she blinks over at Fox. "You're drawing me?" Well, at least she thinks that's her in the picture.
Fox ducks her head and smiles slightly while still biting her lip as she's found out. Working quickly, she adds some more details to the face. "Yeah. You're really pretty. Oh, you don't mind, do you?", she asks uncertainly while pausing to look up at her unwitting model, worried she might be annoying Bekah. She takes another sip from her hot chocolate.
Bekah shakes her head. "Nah. Go ahead and draw me, so long as I don't have to do anything for it." Yeah, she's obviously /so/ excited by that prospect. "You draw people a lot?" She asks as she starts to eat her omelet.
Fox relaxes somewhat upon getting permission to continue. Picking up her pen again, she works on Bekah's nose and mouth. "Drawing is what I'm best at, so I practice a lot," she explains. "People are the most fun to draw, because subtle differences in their facial expressions will completely change the mood of the picture. Ten people can draw the same person in the same pose and each convey a different mood." She's going for a realistic drawing with this rendition. Bekah looks serious, perhaps stoic in it, but it's a really good likeness.
Bekah continues to eat as Fox talks. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, right? "I suppose that's true. Never really thought about it. I've never really been into creating art." Bekah states, reaching out for a drink of coffee.
Fox glances up to study Bekah's hair, then works on capturing it to ink. A minute later, she's working on shading and touch-ups, until finally she seems satisfied with the rendition. She signs it 'fox' (lowercased) and dates it, carefully removes the page from the notebook, and slides it across the table for Bekah. "You can keep it if you want," she says before slipping the notebook back into her knapsack, capping her pen, and taking a longer sip from her cup. She leans forward to get a glimpse of Bekah's medical journal.
Bekah takes the picture with a quick smile over. "Thanks. It's really good." She says, as she cuts up the rest of the omelet. She spots Fox looking to the journal and picks it up to show the cover. "The Journal of Emergency Medicine. Always the most exciting magazine in the world to read." She says with a rather sarcastic tone.
Fox smiles at the compliment. "You probably have to read a lot to stay current, don't you?", she observes. "Otherwise you'd have something more interesting with you." As she finishes off her cup, the kind waitress returns with a fresh cup for her. "Thanks!", she says in response, letting it cool down a bit before tending to it.
Bekah gets a refill on her coffee as well as she shrugs. "Yeah, quite a bit. And really, when it's something you'll actually use, it's more interesting. I never know what I'll read now that I might use when I'm treating a patient tonight."
Fox takes another look at the rain outside and decides to order a cheeseburger the next time the waitress comes by. "If I could read as much as you do, I don't think I'd be able to remember it all; I'd constantly be afraid of forgetting something important. I think it must be stressful and take a lot of dedication. I wish more people were responsible like you, doing what they can to ensure they do their job as best they can. Perfecting oneself to make the world a better place is the most anyone can do." She smiles and places her order when the waitress does a check-up at their table.
Bekah gives Fox a smile. "I was in school for lots and lots of years to learn all this. And then I had years of hands on training. In the end, I get to do an interesting job every day, and help people at the same time. Seems like a fair trade off."
Fox nods. "I'm sure that saving lives gives you a satisfying sense of accomplishment. More than I'll ever get if I become an artist." She looks surprised when her cheeseburger and fries unexpectedly arrive so soon, and reaches for the ketchup bottle. Lifting the top of the bun, she squirts the ketchup onto the cheese in a pattern that happens to look like a stylized 'S' with three bars crossing it…then replaces the bun and begins enjoying the sandwich.
Bekah finishes off the last of her food, and picks up her fresh cup of coffee to sip at it as Fox's food arrives. "I guess you just have to do whatever you enjoy in life. Anyway, I need to get going. I've got to be to work soon."
"Thanks for sharing your table. Go save lives and have fun doing it," Fox says with a smile.