Stoker and Stalkers: A Friend Indeed

[x-kitten.livejournal.com]

There are definitely some good things about sharing a suite.



Jubilee put her feet up on the coffee table and sat back with the can of soda she'd acquired from their mini fridge. She'd just come back from a somewhat late night training session in the Dangerroom and just wanted to sit back and watch television for awhile before she took to her bed.

Luckily for her, she didn't have school tomorrow, although she'd need to start looking for work soon. She knew Chuck had been fairly lenient with her so far but she couldn't keep freeloading off him.

She really needed to figure out what she was going to do for a living.

Jubilee looked up at the sound of movement, and frowned as she saw Kitty heading toward the door of their suite. "Kitty?"

It was interesting, watching Kitty. The door to her and 'Yana's room was still closed - she'd obviously phased through it - but now that she was out in the open area of the common room she was clearly solid. Her feet made soft footfalls in the carpet and she moved around a chair which had been pulled out instead of simply going through it. Very strange behavior. And, of course, there was the thing where she didn't respond to Jubilee.

'She must be sleepwalking again.' Jubilee thought, getting up and heading toward her friend. She'd have to wake her up, before she got out of the suite.

Jubilee placed a hand gently on Kitty's shoulder as she reached her. "Wake up, Kitty. You're sleepwalkin' again."

As it had every time before, even the light contact broke through the cloud in Kitty's mind and she woke with a start, breathing in suddenly. "What...? Where... Jubilee?" Kitty blinked, looking around the room nervously. The common room. She hadn't left the suite.

"Nope. I'm actually a figment of your imagination." Jubilee replied with a wink. "You were sleepwalkin' again. Kinda interestin', since you completely bypassed door usage on the way out here."

"Ah?" Kitty's head turned to glance back at the closed door. "Well, you know me," she said a little weakly. "I am the cat who walks through walls..." Her voice trailed off.

Jubilee squeezed her shoulder reassuringly. "You want some hot milk? I'm told it does the whole 'calming frazzled nerves' thing really well. Also has the added bonus of being yummy."

"Uh, yeah." Kitty blinked again, her brain still feeling fuzzy from sleep or nerves or whatever. "Yeah, that'd be... That'd be nice. I think." A yawn fought it's way free and she wrinkled her nose, rubbing at her eyes. "And hey, also with the making you sleepy and stuff, right? Knock me out far enough and I'll stay down, maybe."

"That too. I tend to drink it when I'm in need of the little extra help sleepin'. Best non-drug remedy I know. Take a load off and I'll make us some." Jubilee replied, walking over to the small kitchenette and opening the mini-fridge. "I wouldn't worry too much about the goin' walkies thing. Enough of us late nighters around to make sure you ain't gonna go too far."

Kitty smiled, moving into the room to curl up in the corner of the couch. "Well, that's certainly true enough," she agreed, watching Jubilee heat up the milk.

"Was about to watch an episode of 'House', kinda unwindin' an all. That and the fact that I don't exactly have anything that I've got to do in the morning. I never knew not bein' at school would be so damn boring." Jubilee replied, reaching up to one of the cupboards and pulling down a bottle of honey.

You couldn't have hot milk and not add honey, that would be sacrilege.

"Yeah?" It wasn't much of a response, but it was a response. And Jubilee usually didn't have any problem filling the verbal spaces left by conversational partners. Which was good, Kitty felt, because she really wasn't up to repartee.

"Seriously. It's not just that anyone I could have done something with is doin' the study thing. I mean, I could just do more team training, if it was just about the 'havin' somethin' to do' problem. Guess it's more that I feel like I'm bein' a complete sponge off the Prof. Like, what the hell do I bring to this place, ya know?" Jubilee replied, pouring some honey into their mugs and then placing the bottle back into the cupboard. "Oh! Did I tell you? David has totally been wanting to introduce me to his folks at Christmas. I'm havin' major wiggin's. I mean, what if they don't like me? Or they're all strange about the mutant thing? I think it'd be total sucksville to have his parents hate me."

Kitty found that she couldn't quite follow the whole thread of Jubilee's conversation. It was too fast, too energetic. "'S gonna be fine," she said vaguely, thinking she'd caught the hint of a need for reassurance.

Jubilee poured the now hot milk into the two mugs and stirred till she knew the honey had melted. "An, I totally think Jono's idea to dress up like a bunny for Halloween has merit. I mean, think about it. Guy who wears a lot of black leather plus fluffy bunny ears? Seriously seein' a match there."

"Yeah," Kitty agreed, propping her head on her fist, blinking slightly. "That's right."

"Of course, Cain decided that if we got to go trick or treatin', then he totally did too. I've never seen anything more frightening then a man that large dressed in a blue polka-dot dress. He said something about always havin' wanted to play Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz but someone else had always gotten it and he'd had to play the Scarecrow." Jubilee continued, walked back toward the couch and placing Kitty's mug in front of her.

The mug entering her field of view finally pulled all of her attention back into the here and now and she blinked at Jubilee, catching her last words. "What?"

"Dude, you're totally out of it. You sure everythin' is okay?" Jubilee asked, sitting down beside her friend.

"I'm just still tired," Kitty said, reaching down to craddle her mug. "Sleep walking's not all that res'ful."

Jubilee gave Kitty a measured look, and then smiled. "Come on, time for you to get back to bed, I think."

It was a measure of how tired Kitty was that she didn't protest. "More cocoa f'r you," she said, setting her mug down and pushing up from the couch. "Am thinking of getting ropes and tying m'self to the bed, only it wouldn' work..."

"Yeah, the whole insubstantial thing would be a real bitch with that." Jubilee replied, getting up herself and gently leading Kitty back to her room.

She wanted to make sure the other girl actually made it to her bed, rather then falling asleep on the floor, or tripping over.

"Although, think of the life of crime you could adopt. You could call yourself 'The Black Cat' or somethin' like that."

"Silly name," Kitty mumbled, letting Jubilee steer her along. "Would pro'lly just stick wit' Shadowcat."

"Yeah." Jubilee replied, reaching the door of Kitty's room and opening it softly, so as not to wake Illyana. "Now, don't let me see you out of bed again, young lady."

"Yes, mum," Kitty said, giving Jubilee a faint smile and a little hug. "Thanks for... you know. Catchin' me before I got far."

Jubilee grinned, giving her a big squeeze. "Hey, what are friends for, if not for that? You don't have to worry a bit. None of us are gonna let you go wanderin' off by your lonesome. I promise."