Doing the blood rounds can wait, right? ((OPEN))

Now, Sadiq Adnan was not raised to be lazy in the slightest. If anything, his mother would chase him out of the house with a broom if ever she caught him wasting time when he could be doing something productive. Like running to the shops or cleaning the gutters.
Because of these special incentives, he found little reason to hang about the house for very long as a kid; instead finding other things to do.

He supposed this trait flowed onto his adulthood; but instead of making him more industrious and focused, it merely taught him how to avoid work when he could by simply being busy with something else.
Unless he was hungry. Then he'd drop everything for the sake of filling his belly.

Take now for example. The blood rounds were due about ten minutes ago, and yet there he was, sitting in the cafeteria and frowning at a particularly insulting piece of cake.
Insulting not because it was an animated object which was spewing vitriol at him, rather, insulting because he couldn't really believe that something so dry and... not chocolate-y would dare call itself 'chocolate' in any form or matter.

Be it the case, he had spent good money on that cake, and come hell or high water, he was going to eat it.
...
Eventually.

[I hope you don't mind. Ohgod]

If Natalia didn't have the capabilities to tabulate all of her responsibilities she would have burned out within the first two months of her residency. She'd had an idea of what fledgling doctors had to do between operations (time consuming), the running around doing menial tasks (papers, tests, memos; also time consuming), and sometimes seeking out runaways who weren't doing their own duties. She'd actually been two minutes from washing up and heading to lunch when she was stopped by one of the nurses ranting and raving about blood work that was late. Promptly, as Natalia had looked uncompassionate (her normal facial expression no less), the nurse had demanded she find this man so he would finish his job.

Babysitting, basically.

She was tempted to say 'no', that she was off to lunch so she didn't pass out during surgery, thank you very much, when unnamed nurse (she wanted to call her Joy...) mentioned he was more than likely in the cafeteria. So, just a side-track from her eventual food. As she stood in the entrance to the dining area she thought about how nice a person she really was, trying to search for some unknown lackey that 'Joy' had described as tall, dark, and absentminded. Natalia slumped a bit, the tendrils of nutritional deprivation licking at her stomach.

"This is ridicu-oh." She stopped talking to herself when she saw someone that ...oddly enough, fit the nurse's description, currently scowling at a piece of cake. Uncanny. Deciding that this guy had to be the guilty party she made her way over to confront him so she could get her food. To her annoyance, and confusion, he didn't seem to notice her approach him, or when she stood there - arms crossed and waiting. Nothing. She finally gave in and sat across from him, thin brow raised.

"You're Sadiq, correct?" Her eyes narrowed a bit while watching him watch cake. Honestly, was he weird and expecting it to speak to him? Why was he eating cake when he had duties, no less? "A frantic nurse stopped me on my way down here to find you."

(Of course I don't mind! Ohohoho~)

He attempted to stay on the good side of the nurses, if only because he had to work with them - and happy people are more pleasent than ones trying to stab you in the eyeballs with scalpels. It's just that sometimes, he'd accidentally, not on purpose, do something that would tick them off. Sure, they'd get hissy when he missed a shift, or was too swayed by hunger to inject properly; but most of the time they'd forgive him if he looked sorry enough. Other times, he was reduced to having the staff fridge conveniently locked, only opening during his allocated breaks.

Yeesh.

In any case, the blood rounds were certainly the last thing on his mind when a shadow loomed over him, breaking his staring contest with the abonomation-in-cake-form. He blinked up at the suddenly appearing, but certainly serious looking woman, and ran through a little check in his mind.

Scrubs first. Doctor? Nope. Referrals? Nope. Specialist? Nope. Surgeon? .... Probably.
Alright, mood. Happy? Nope. Angry? Possibly. Hungry. Unsure. Pissed? Definitely.

But, as his dear mother always said, it's hard for people to be mad when they're full. They can't run away either. After she said that though, his father would always make a small choking noise as she smiled at him.
He still didn't get it.

He grinned up at her regardless, shifting his seat around to face her. "Yeah, that's me alright. And don't worry about those girls up on fifth, they always exaggerate." He sighed, waving his hand in dismissal.
Then, after a pause and a moments thought, he added; "Do you like cake by the way? The fake chocolate kind?"

She resisted heaving a great sigh, resting her forearms on the beige tabletop instead. Glad to have his attention, finally, she let the stern look on her face slacken minimally. He probably wouldn't have noticed... it was the thought that counted. She did give him a politely confused grimace when he grinned at her. Actually grinned. It was rare that people smiled at her in such a carefree manner; even her brother looked downright nervous when he honored her with a grin. Blinking once, then twice, she allowed a mildly annoyed grumble at his nonchalance.

"Worry? They're nurses; I doubt they'll harm me with their cuffs" she responded back, sounding bored. "I'm only mildly concerned that your little play date with confectioneries will keep me away from my lunch. They were ranting about blood work being over twenty minutes."

Natalia sniffed at the offer, dark eyes settling on the cake with a fair amount of apprehension. It looked harmless enough; a slab of chocolate cake on a plastic plate. He'd been glaring at it enough that she didn't particularly want to put her own palette on the line. A slight shake of the head in the negative was her answer.

"Sir, I'm not a fan of fake anything."

A flicker of something crossed the girl's face as she settled down on the opposite side of the table. His grin remained on his face as he listened to her mutter darkly about danger levels of nurses. So she thought they were harmless huh?

"Heh, sure, they're pretty and look innocent, but they'll chase you around with hypodermic needles if you piss them off."

N-not that anything like that happened to him of course! any case, he was a young, foolish intern! How was he supposed to know the coffee machine didn't work that way? He shivered slightly, recalling the thunderous anesthetic nurse; and how she chased him for hours until the end of her shift.

"Uh... yeah. Don't mess with 'em too much."

He scratched the stubble on his chin and opened his mouth to say something more when his stomach let out a whine of protest. Right.

"Well, seems like I've deprived you of your lunch, and I'm still starving. If I wait long enough, they'll get fed up and do the tests themselves. And that seems like a bonus for me."
His grin returned as he shoved the fake confection to the far end of the table and banged his hands down on the table. Funnily enough, regulars didn't seem to be bothered about the sudden noise. Possibly because the Turk acted like that most of the time anyway.

"Let me treat you to lunch. At least then I'll have a proper excuse fer slacking."

Because, why not? Treating people was in his blood after all.

She appeared more amused than frightened by his mention of hypodermic needles. Sadiq seemed able-bodied enough to run for his life. Surely he could smile his way out of involuntary sedation. The slight quiver in his words told differently and Natalia was the tiniest bit intrigued. If he was frightened of nurses he would be terrified of her knife collection. Resting her chin in a delicate palm she thought about telling him, weighing the pros and cons.

Pros: Seeing a somewhat cocky looking man shudder some more.

Cons: Somehow finding out he had a knife fetish and would cling to her in hopes she'd cut him during coitus.

So...there really were no feasible cons, if she was being honest. But that could wait because he was speaking again, appearing to having gotten over whatever thoughts of being pricked by nurses he'd been having originally. Her mouth twitched slightly at his admittance, then blatant disregard for his tasks. While he had a point; they would indeed get fed up and do it themselves, she wasn't all that charmed by shirked responsibilities.

Free food though and company. She could be secretly satisfied with the proposition on its most base levels. Her lips quirked. "You're intentionally slacking off after telling me to not mess with their delicate moods?" She paused to look him over, relaxing her shoulders a bit when he seemed harmless enough. "I guess I can keep you company for your last meal." It might have been humorous for anyone else making such claims but Natalia was a different, blanker, creature completely, always able to be sound incredibly deadpan without any noticeable effort.

She shuddered to think of what kind of table manners he had with how noisy he was though.

His experience with the fairer sex was mostly limited to his mother, sisters, and multitudes of cousins and aunts. Which, in reality, isn't very limited at all. In any case, it wasn't hard to see that this particular person was probably going through the motions of weighing up the positive and negative aspects of accepting his rather selfish offer.

Okay, okay… So he was kinda using her as an excuse, but hey - in five more minutes, the nurses would get fed up and do it themselves. And he wouldn't be hungry anymore. And he'd still get paid as if he'd done it himself.

Win-win situation all round, he thought.

Her lips shifted slightly in what he would charitably describe as a small smile, before she spoke in a tone that almost sounded like she was patronising him. Regardless, the smile did not drop off his face in light of the tone of her voice or the blankness of her eyes. If anything, it made him let out a short bark of laughter as he rocked back in his chair.

"Ha! It's fine. I make sure to bring in some flowers every Friday after all. They can't stay mad at me for long. But, if something happens between now and then that'll send them into a murderous rage, then I'd better make his count. And review my life insurance policy"

He pushed himself from the table and stood, readjusting his stethoscope before it slipped off his shoulders.

"What're you having?"

Flowers every Friday? Her shapely brow traveled into the pale expanse of ashen hair. He must have learned to placate the nurses from earlier life experiences, though, all in all, he would rather continue acting like a frolicking buffoon rather than be responsible and just do his work. Men had been seethed at for less. Yet… He just seemed jovial, which kind of pissed her off as well. Why would anyone want to die at the hand of the nurses? Her sister was a nurse – sweet, nurturing… It’d be a slap in the face to fall victim to the powder colored scrub enthusiasts.

“I’m fairly certain your laze is a psychological phenomenon,” she replied dryly, leaning back a bit to give him another look. “Or you’re a masochist.” She didn’t add that she was a sadist, deep down, so a partnership (because friendship was a strong term for her) between them would be truly awesome. Again, that ‘con’ flitted into her mind and she couldn’t help but to look away stubbornly as he stood, that cocky smile in place.

Chancing a glance up she saw him adjusting his stethoscope and failing, rolling her eyes without much thought as she followed suit, sans stethoscope to stand. Her mouth drew into a thoughtful frown as she made minor adjustments to her surgeon’s scrubs, pulling her hair back.

Usually she’d get a simple sandwich and salad, wanting light food with as little noticeable red meat visible to the naked eye. There was something about performing open-heart surgery that made the idea of a steak unappetizing. This doctor was willing to use her for an excuse to avoid blood work so it was the least she could do to order something with a smile. She headed toward the food, looking over with a clipped laugh. Perhaps it could be called a laugh. “I’m obviously avoiding your cake…”

((I'm SOOO SORRY I vanished for a while! I was sure I posted up my Hiatus, but.... I dunno ._.))

He chuckled slightly, pushing along the line of trays and pans along the cafeteria counter. "Masochist? Probably. My sisters were terrors in their teens, and I apparently loved to provoke them more than necessary."

Because, really, what was more fun than a reaction from a bunch of pre-pubescent girls screaming all hell because their hair straightener was missing. Although, he supposed he could have done with a lock on his door before they found and burnt his books as their way of revenge.

Of course, they (even in their howling rage) was nothing really like the surgeon he had latched onto. She seemed, despite all odds, eerily calm and collected. And, apart from the mad glint in her eyes and lack of facial expression, she seemed rather level headed.

But then, he HAD heard things about a rather pretty surgeon with Issues. With a capital I.

A forced laugh brought the grin back to his face , and he refrained himself from slapping her on the back in good nature. Instead, he merely selected a green salad of sorts (at least it looked alright by hospital standards…) and a chocolate pudding thing.

Hopefully, the pudding would fare better than the abandoned cake.

"Well, I'm avoiding it too. Hopefully, some starving intern'll happen upon it before the cleaners get to it. C'mon, don't be shy." he said, nudging her slightly.
"I'm paying, remember?"

(So I went on hiatus myself but it's a calm night and I thought I'd post while I had the time. It's okay!)

Natalia did not have Issues. She however would have done something to counter her questionable sanity if he had indeed voiced his opinion. But he didn't, so she just looked like a robot, and that was apparently fine enough for Sadiq. The man could be comfortable with alien life giving him a good probing.

There was something attractive about a guy like that.

As she listened to his jovial tales of screeching hellions he called blood relation, she couldn't help but smack down any hope whatsoever that he would be anything more than a flirt for anything with a pretty face. She raised a curious brow at the pudding, lips twitching.

"Yes, you are paying," she agreed. "I can't help but noticing that you got pudding though. Did you not learn your lesson the first time?" She gave the cup a somewhat stony look before finally deciding on a turkey sandwich and soup. She didn't know what kind of soup it was, being hospital-made and ambiguous enough (even when labeled). Ah well.

Turning to look in the direction of the table she'd spotted him, the sight of the abandoned cake greeted her. "It's still there as abandoned as before. I don't think the maintenance even wants it."