LOG: [Jennie, Marius] Breathing room

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Marius is perhaps still slightly raw from the events of the past two weeks. Luckily, no one is allowed to angst around Jennie.





There was no need, really, for the turtleneck and more traditional brand of gloves when all he was doing was lying in his own room with an arm flung over his eyes, but he wasn't in the mood to fight the paranoia. He'd woken up to Catseye on his bed the last few nights, and while she was smart enough to avoid skin-contact Marius didn't trust himself not to accidentally roll into her. Fully clothed it would be. It would only be for another day or so, anyway.

And if he never had to use these damned powers again it would be too soon.

Nodding quickly to Forge as he closed the door to the suite behind them, she made her way to Marius's door. Cradling the basket of Lorna-made goodies in one arm, she raised a hand and tentatively knocked. "Marius?"

Marius jerked his hand away from his face, startled, than rolled his eyes at his overreaction. He levered himself into a sitting position. "Yeah, come in."

Jennie opened the door cautiously. Inside was Marius' neat and tidy room. The only difference was that the shades were drawn, and Marius was sprawled across his bed in a heap of boy and bedclothes. She held out the basket with a wry smile. "Lorna sends her love." She set it on his desk next to his sports magazines and seated herself on the desk chair. "I would ask the obvious, but I'm guessing the answer might be 'like hell'"

Marius eyed her tiredly. "Yeah, right around there." He rolled his shoulders, grimacing. "Haven't been this sore since Cats decided on that 'self control' trainin'. Bloody feels like my arms have been run through a thresher. Thought there'd never be an end to it." It was strange to be talking to her again. For the last week his schedule had been essentially: wake up, eat, go to the infirmary, mindlink with Betsy or the professor for damage-control, return to his room, collapse. It felt like he hadn't seen Jennie in an eternity.

"You did very well." Jennie said with feeling. She herself had been on the front lines all week, not really caring about much else. She felt a special fondness for the boys in Marius' suite, and she was closer to them than the mansion's other residents. Even if they were also panty thieves. She reached out and was careful to give Marius's socked foot a squeeze.

He'd been touching a lot of people lately, but no one had been touching him. Not that he could blame them. Marius twitched a little at the unexpected contact, but finally cracked a smile. "Bloody right I did," he agreed, the old haughtiness leaking back into his tone. "Eighty-seven sodding people. All the prof could find. Took me forever an' a day and I'll be havin' psychotic dreams for the next month straight, but we put her right again."

"Indeed." Jennie said, and sat up straight. "I'm so proud of my little Aussie." She added, sounding like a chirpy grandmother. His ego had taken a severe blow in the last week, so she felt that a little boost wouldn't hurt anything. Especially since Marius was so happy-go-lucky normally, seeing him being so, well, emo, threw her off. And they were the drama-free ones, damnit.

Marius snorted. "I'm still celebratin' this whole 'using your powers for something other than going mental at a staff member' bit. Novel. Maybe it's the start of a trend. Not all bad, right?" He swung his feet over the edge of the bed and scowled abruptly, his recovering mood falling off again. "They're doublin' me up with Samson, though. Twice a bloody week now."

To Jennie, that smacked heavily of denial. She could tell by his face just how troubled he really was. But if he wanted to stick his fingers in his ears and hum, she was in no mood to stop him. "Look at the bright side, at least you were able to help those people."

"Yeah, that bit I didn't hate." Marius couldn't resist a nasty smile. "Or the bit where I got to punch the little toerag in the face. Pity Moira made me put him back. About time he got some of his own back."

Jennie muttered something under her breath about flesh-eating bacteria. "Good. Did you break his nose? I'm still mad Moira wouldn't let us tie him up and use him as a pinata."

The smile widened ever so slightly. "What nose? Never figured how to turn these powers off. Ever throw a chunk of wet clay against a wall? Like that." After what he did, I should have let him choke on his bloody face.

"Sweet." Jennie said. "Wish I coulda been there. D'you mind if I tell the boys?" There was no need to explain which ones. "I'm sure that would cheer them."

"Yeah, go ahead," Marius shrugged. "Don't see them exactly givin' me grief about it. Unlike some." He rolled his eyes, his voice taking on a nasal sing-song quality. "'Don't abuse your powers, Marius. Don't behave in ways befitting a supervillain, Marius . . .'"

"Dude, you would be the worst supervillain ever." Jennie giggled. "Your evilness would consist of getting a tan somewhere exotic while your minions brought you fruity drinks. None of that take over the world crap."

The boy made dismissive motions with one hand. "Nah, supervillainy takes too much work. Although I do like a good fruity drink. I find the little pink umbrellas set off my eyes a treat."

"And you are secure enough in your masculinity to imbibe said fruity drinks." Jennie smiled. "Though if you're off being all supervillainy, don't forget to give me a ring. While I may not condone such actions." here she mock-frowned and wagged a finger. "I'll want to hear all about it."

Marius gave her a wounded look. "I'm hurt. I would never neglect my friends. And of course, I'd want to invite someone to my evil lair. Which I will not have, because there is a distinct shortage of conveniently skull-shaped volcanic islands in the world, and I never do things halfway."

"I'm not sure if I could do a floating volcano island. That heat is terrible for my hair." She fluffed it absently. "You so pick a nice exotic local to be e-vile, like, I dunno, Tahiti or...oh! Hey! Moonbase."

Marius looked at her in mock-exasperation. "You always did have expensive tastes. Very well. Interstellar orbit for the evil lair I will not, in fact, possess." It was . . . nice to talk about normal things, he thought as he pushed away from the bed and made for Lorna's care basket. So much had happened in the past two weeks that between his mangled suitemates and handling Masque's power Marius had begun to feel like normal was a world he couldn't plot with an atlas. Somehow, though, conversation with Jennie helped. He could almost feel human again.

Jennie leaned back in the chair, feeling accomplished as Marius dug into his care basket with relish. Lorna had correctly theorized that Marius hadn't been eating well in one regard. The mere fact that Lorna was concerned about Marius had set Jennie's view of the universe on its ear. Next thing you knew, Paige would dump the English guy and go out with Forge.

"So how've you been?" Marius asked, pulling out something covered and presumably French. The cutlery was slightly awkward, but he was getting used to working through gloves. "Remarkable feats of moral support aside. Incidentally, Forge would like to compliment your technique of checkin' the machines. Seems its very . . . thorough."

"I was only doing my job." She sniffed. Best not to mention what she had to do to keep Jay's spirits up. "And I've been okay. Forge is going to help me look up my Dad."

"For true?" Marius said, settling himself back onto his bed. "Quite the busy little genius, he is. Must be the good shirt karma." He grinned at her and started on some sauteed vegetables. "Heard Forge's good for that sort of thing. May not have his Evil Genius Ways, but you need any help confronting disapproving relations, I'm there."

"Thanks. Though they can't be as bad as the Greek relations. And as we found out, you pump enough alcohol into 'em and they really don't care about your parents' marital status." It was strange that out of all the things to have in common, the biggest one the pair shared was bastard parentage.

Marius nodded sagely. "Ah, alcohol. Balm to all the world's ills. And prominent feature in many of its better parties." He cocked his head at her, eyes flicking towards the basket. "Help yourself, by the way. Lorna's probably done thirteen sorts of dessert again. Couldn't eat it all workin' all three mouths, let alone the one still eats properly. Besides, you need to keep up your strength. We rely on your continued moral support."

Jennie reached for a brownie studded with walnuts. "So long as my moral support involves no loss of clothing, I'll always be happy to oblige."

"Story of my life. Ah well, cheers."