2015-08-13 - Nurse No Longer

Kara Zor-El flies in through the window to her penthouse, talking on her cell phone. "Yes. Seriously, thank you so much Oracle. Let me know as soon as you figure out who this Marco is - it's really important." She pauses. "I know." She pauses again. "I don't know if Karen's going to be okay with that. But if you ever need ME to- Okay. Okay thank you again. Really. You're the best." She turns off her phone and puts it in her dimensional pocket as she looks around, noticing a hearbeat in her place.

There's a heartbeat, and a little bit of snoring actually. Kara tracks the sounds through the alcove, past the potted plants, and into the living room where she finds that a wild cosplayer has found a nest in her couch! Not on it, actually in it; a couple of the cushions seem to have been displaced by her tush and she's actually kind of slipped into the couch itself a little bit.

Yet for all the cuteness, with her blonde hair tangled and probably stuck in the couch and a bit in her mouth, she's really supposed to be at work right now. This oversleeping thing is getting out of hand!

Kara Zor-El leans over the couch curiously. "Leah?" She moves Leah's hair ot of her face, then lightly nudges her. "Leah.... not that I don't mind you coming over whenever you want... but shouldnt you be at work right now?" She pauses, then nudges Leah again.

Leah turns her head and opens her eyes when prodded. And spoken to. She blinks away sleep a bit, then says, "Thpptz," as she turns to pull a lock of her hair out of her mouth. "Gah. Hairball." She slowly extricates herself from the couch, carefully, and says, "Hey. No, I don't...I mean, I don't work anymore." As if it's nothing, or she's a little numb.

Kara Zor-El looks at Leah quizzically, then floats over the couch and sits down by Leah as she sits up. "What do you mean you don't work anymore? Don't you like being a nurse?"

Leah frowns, as she manages to get sitting instead of nesting. "Of course I..." she starts, a bit snappish. She pauses, then breathes. Calms. "Calm. Sorry." She looks Kara in the face, and says, "I was fired this morning. For not showing up for another shift. Slept right through it. I think there's something seriously wrong with me, Kara. I took a blood test at the doctor's though, and nothing showed up. Slight anemia, nothing to cause this. So I'm just not a nurse anymore."

Kara Zor-El sighs a little. "You've been tired a lot lately. I'm really concerned. Maybe I can take you to my doctor instead? He's pretty brilliant." She pauses. "Wait, if you don't have a job.... what are you going to live on?"

Leah slumps in the couch. Her feet stick way out, and she looks at Kara. "F'cked if I know, Kara. I've got some money stashed away, keep me going for a while. Maybe I can get a job as a home support worker, but they don't make enough to live on half the time and I have a bad rep right now and I got fiiiiired...." she isn't crying at the end, just laying further down the couch til her butt hits the floor. "Where am I gonna live? My rent is stupid expensive."

Kara Zor-El pulls Leah up from the couch and puts her arm around Leah comfortingly. "You know... maybe I could help. I mean... I own this whole building. You could have an apartment here ... rent free. Or even just move into the penthouse with me? I mean I have like... 3 other bedrooms which I don't use. There's lots and lots of space. And.... you know... we could figure out something about your job situation then, with you not worrying about that expense? Or food expense?" She strokes Leah's hair. "Would that help at all?"

Leah turns her head to look at Kara. She runs a hand over her face. No makeup since she was at work recently, she looks the same afterward. One bonus. "You realize ...no, you don't. Right." She pulls her heels up and hugs her legs, smiling a little. "That's ...actually do-able, isn't it? I mean, it feels like I need to pay rent, my whole life I've been working to cover the bills. Fells like I'd be mooching off of you."

Kara Zor-El smiles leaning over to you. "What don't I realize?" she asks, tilting her head. And then says, "And you're not mooching. You're my best friend, and you're in trouble, and I want to help you. I insist on helping you, actually. Besides, I could use the company, and we hang out a lot already. I mean.... I only got this apartment and all the money by selling some Kryptonian technology, because Kal told me I couldnt keep just making diamonds by squeezing coal." She pats Leah's knees. "C'mon. You staying here? It'll be fun. Or you can have your own apartment. Any one you want in the building that isnt taken, if you need your space."

Leah spreads her hands a little as she listens. She takes a moment to recover, not being used to this level of generosity in her life. Even though she's used to Kara. Mostly. "I honestly don't know how to...I mean," she pauses, frowning, and sighs. Then she tries again. "Given my current situation, I am going to choose to accept and we'll figure it out when I get my stuff. I mean, I don't have boys over but...I mean, I might have boys over. Sometimes. Occasionally." She smiles, gives a shrug, and says, "I'd recommend going to save Tibet or something on those nights. But this does mean total gaming night central."

A pause, then her face absolutely lights up! "I can spend more time on my cosplay! I can actually have time to do worbla wings, or ...or...research costumes and...oh my Kara, this changes everything!" Kara Zor-El smiles happily when Leah accepts after the long pause. "Yeah! You can concentrate full time on cosplay and... okay I have no idea what worbla wings are, but you can definitely do that too! And you can have boys over of course, and if you need privacy I can always stay at the house in San Francisco, or at Titan Tower, or at Mount Everest, or this place I have in the Sahara Desert, or at the Fortress... or you know whatever you'd want." She hugs Leah. "And I don't know what gaming night central means, but we can totally do that as well. I can help you move even today if you want?"

"It's all so sudden," Leah says. She's smiling, but there's a bit of trauma still in her eyes. "I mean, I haven't even had coffee yet." She's stalling, but it's not meant badly. "I mean...I probably should let you help me. Don't pay any attention to me, Kara, it's been a long day. Yes. Help me get this done." Kara Zor-El puts her hands on Leah's shoulders. "And maybe the reason you havent been sleeping well is because of stress. You can concentrate on your cosplay now and doing what you love without all this other stuff hanging over your head. I'm going to go make you some coffee, then we're going to go to your old place and move everything here. Unless you want a different apartment. Like I said - your choice." She gets off the couch and heads into the kitchen.

Leah mentally latches onto the idea of coffee. "I heartily second the motion and make it one of the big cups." She wonders if she can afford some of the really good coffee now. Wait, still no job. Damn. "Kara, do you really think I can pull it off? Cosplay for a living is no joke, and it's something you can't do forever. Just til your looks go."

Kara Zor-El starts making the coffee while in the kitchen and calls back to her, "Considering how people keep mistaking you for me? Yeah I'd say you can pull off cosplaying for a living. Not to mention you do have the inside scoop on Supergirl as ... what to they call it... a 'hook?'" Kara says, making air quotes as she looks out into the living room. "And I don't think you have anything to worry about looks-wise. And you don't have to do it your entire life even, if you don't want to." She walks back out into the living room while the coffee is percolating. "What are your expenses anyway? I mean.... rent? We've gotten that covered now. Food? The fridge here is always fully stocked and if you need to buy anythng.... you know... just let me know if you need money. I don't have a credit card - they keep asking for stuff like date of birth and location of birth and stuff like that, and if I give my real information they never approve me, and if I give my secret identity - that would just be like... credit card fraud. So I just have cash."

Leah sighs. She says, "I'll figure out my expenses sometime, but nobody avoids taxes. Not if you're an earthling. Kara, your secret identity...you're not thinking about this straight." She wanders after the coffee maker person, wondering if she's addicted. No. Keep your mind on the topic.

She holds up her fingers. "Point one. You and all people interacting with the government are required to register under a name. You have. It isn't the name they accept, so you use one that they will. Point two. You are not the one forcing this on you. It is actually the government of the locality you're in. So you're actually following their rules by using that identity on your documentation. Point three. You're being silly." She smiles, ticking off her fingers, and ending by giving Kara a hug.

Kara Zor-El smiles a bit as Leah counts off the points. "Actually I once tried to register as an American citizen. The United Nations freaked out over it and they actually got my cousin to prevent me from asking the President personally about becoming a citizen. They said something about how all the stuff I do could be taken as um.... invading national sovereignty. They never explained why they didnt have the same problem with my cousin doing it though. It's fine though - I have about a million dollars in the bank, and the bank seemed fine with it being in my real name. Probably helped that I stopped several bank robberies."

Kara hugs back. "All I'm saying is... food, it's covered. Rent? Covered. Car? It's fully paid for already. Those are the big things, right? And if you need any help on this cosplay stuff? You know you can count on me. And I can probably get my friends to help too if you need them."

Kara Zor-El pauses. "Well.. probably not Batman."

Leah cracks up a little at the image of Batman at a sewing machine. she leans on Kara for a minute, laughing her ass off. In her credit, it HAS been a very long day. When she's done, she's tearing up and reaching for the coffee again. "I'm gonna like living here. It makes my brain hurt."

She smiles, then stops and says, "I can sleep in. I can watch anime all night. I can finally get time to watch Cowboy Beebop without getting interrupted. I gotta call my mom." Her brain's finally catching up with the situation.

Kara Zor-El nods a little listening to Leah. "I understood almost half of what you just said." She grins. "Tell you what - you call your mom, then we go to your old place and start moving everything over."

Leah nods, having understood most of it herself. But she's thinking. "Sorry. Yeah. Gimme a...right." she pauses, then takes out her phone. And suddenly she's talking with a strong Irish accent. "Mom? Mom, it's Leah. Can we talk?"