Mirian sniggered, at first, at Alex playing off of her ‘people mode’ phrasing, but her first thought for a response—that perhaps they were both in good company—died on her tongue as the sarcastic tone of his laugh sank in.
He wasn’t joking. He was jabbing.
Mirian’d had forty years to learn the difference.
She was caught off-guard by the startled discomfort that lanced through her chest—she’d outgrown this shit, damn it, and she was supposed to be professional right now besides, unfamiliar context and all.
But this one hit a little close to home, and the thing was, maybe she deserved it.
Miria stopped looking at Alex, abruptly deciding that even if his facial features were large enough for her to have a better chance at reading his expression she didn’t actually want that info right this moment, and scooted the roller chair over to the computer instead.
“Y’know, I always wanted to make that one work,” she said, mouth off and running as she waited for the government’s stupid checklist to load. “People’d ask “Where are you from?” and I’d lay the drawl on just a little extra thick and say “Georgia,” like they were stupid, because they were. But, well. 50/50 whether they believed me, and anyway, I knew I was born in India and that that’s what they were really asking, even if I couldn’t remember jack shit about the place. Kind of took the satisfaction out of it.”
She laughed at herself, derisive at the edges, because of course she was still babbling.
“Point is: sorry, for whatever it’s worth. I didn’t mean to ask where you’re from.” She still wasn’t entirely sure how she had, metaphorically or otherwise, but that was a problem for laying-up-at-night Mirian. On-the-clock Mirian didn’t get to have regrets; only course-corrections.
“I do have a whole slew of contractually-obligated questions to ask, though, so. Work mode it is!” She gave up on squinting at the computer, which had not been set to an enlarged UI like she requested and which was taking far too long to navigate, and turned to face Alex once more. She had his chart and some scratch paper and she could totally wing this. She had been studying.
“First off: how are you feeling today? Any concerns?”