Sunday Evening - Jennie and Crystal

[x-roulette.livejournal.com]

Crystal confronts Jennie after the fight yesterday. She's "fine" but she hasn't gotten out of bed all day.



Crystal paused outside the door to the room she and Jennie shared. Jennie would be up now, of course. She had to be out of bed. Crystal opened the door and frowned when she spotted Jennie’s figure in her bed. Well, perhaps she had been up and was back in bed now. If this was the case, however, why were the lights on?

“Jennie? Are you awake?”

Jennie didn't respond. She rolled over towards the wall and buried her head in the pillow. She wasn't one for being emo, but she'd been so lethargic all day she hadn't felt the need to get up.

"Jennie, please tell me you have not been in bed all day," Crystal said.

Jennie ignored her roommate. So she hadn't gotten up, not even to shower. Big deal. She was tired, and Crystal wasn't helping. She'd felt so drained after coming back from the woods yesterday, she'd just collapsed into bed, not even bothering to change into pajamas. At least she'd removed her belt and her bra before conking out.

Crystal understood the lack of response to indicate that yes, Jennie had been in bed all day. Therefore, she hadn't talked with anyone or eaten. "You need to get out of bed," Crystal said calmly. "Now. You need fresh air, food, and it is very likely that you need to take care of some other functions as well."

Jennie snorted in spite of herself. She rolled over and fixed Crystal with bleary eyes. "I've taken care of said functions, thank you. And I'm just so sleepy today. I might be coming down with something." She rubbed her forehead and yawned, and then turned back towards the wall.

"Perhaps I should call one of the doctors to come see whether or not you are sick?" Crystal offered. "Or perhaps you would feel better if you took a shower. Is that a function you took care of today?"

Jennie sighed and pulled herself into a sitting position to turn and fix Crystal with a look. "I'm fine, we don't need to call the doctors. They've got bigger things to worry about." She yawned again.

Crystal closed the door behind her and took a few steps into the room. "Fine. You still need to get out of bed. You must be hungry. We can have something delivered, and I am even willing to brave a trip down to the dining hall with you."

"I'm not hungry." Jennie said. And she wasn't, not really.

Crystal frowned. "When was the last time you ate?" she inquired.

Jennie paused, thinking. "Dunno, a little while ago." Coming from Jennie, that was a profound statement. While not one for eating large amounts, she ate frequently. One of the benefits of being able to manipulate a certain kind of energy was her increased metabolism. She never really worried about gaining weight, but it did mean that she ate all the time.

"The way I see it, you have two options. Option 1: Eat something. As I said, we can order food or go to the dining hall, maybe just see what is available in the kitchen. I also have a few Power Bars that you may have. Option 2: I call a doctor. The doctor will try to make you eat something. If you refuse, I'm sure that the nice doctor will be more than happy to do something in order to get nutrients into your body."

Jennie shuddered. She knew that Doctor Voght would be more than happy to hook her up to an i.v. just to prove a point. "No, I'm good. Like I said, I'm just not hungry. I'm not going to force myself to eat if I don't want to. That leads to upset stomachs and other unpleasantness. Don't worry about me, I'm okay."

Crystal sighed. "There's a difference between not being hungry because you don't need to eat and not being hungry because you... Crystal's voice trailed off. "Because of other matters. Are you absolutely sure that you don't need to eat?"

Jennie snorted. "No, I'm not hungry." She stretched and then wobbled a little bit. She was feeling lightheaded, however.

"Fine. You can at least leave your bed and walk around a bit, can't you?" Crystal prodded. "It is not very good to remain in bed all day."

And they were back to this again. Jennie rolled her eyes. She pushed herself to the edge of her bed and stood up. "Fine. Look, I'm getting up, I'm - woah!" She stumbled as the inevitable headrush moved in.

Concerned, Crystal created a wind to keep Jennie from falling. "Option 1 or Option 2, Jennie?" she asked, frowning. "Please don't make me ask again. You may not feel hungry, but your body requires food."

Jennie sighed. "Look, I'm fine," she snapped. "I will eat, and I will do it soon. I don't need you looking after me." Inwardly she regretted snapping, she never snapped.

"Do you think I want to have to look after you?" Crystal retorted. "Do you really think I wanted to walk in here and discover that you have been moping in your bed all day? This is not my idea of a pleasant way to spend my time, but the idea of watching you waste away is a far less pleasant thought."

"I am not moping. I was tired. Having a horrible screaming match with your best friend takes a lot out of you." There, she said it. She put her head in her hands and exhaled impatiently. "He's so damn stubborn," she muttered.

Crystal rolled her eyes and sat in her chair, facing Jennie. "Excuse me? Marius is stubborn? You were the one who kept insisting that he tell you something he clearly didn't want to tell. Really, it was obvious from the fact that he threw his cell phone that the conversation did not go well. You did not need to understand the words that were said to grasp that concept."

Jennie knew that was stupid, she did not need to be told that. "Look," she sighed, "I pushed Marius yesterday because he was about to go into full-on denial mode. How the hell would I know he would start attacking me like that? You don't know him like I do, he's never yelled at anyone like that. Ever."

"Full-on denial about what? You kept asking about his mother. Was it really so horrible that he didn't want to say anything about his conversation?" Crystal inquired.

Jennie shook her head. "It was the obvious deflection that bugged me. He turned to you like I wasn't even there."

"My mind is still reeling from everything that you and Marius said yesterday," Crystal professed. "And I am still at a loss as to figuring out what exactly happened and why certain things were said. I don't know about Marius's family and I don't know about your... situation. However, it was clear even then that the things you two chose to say to each other were not meant to be kind words."

"He knew exactly what to say, and exactly how much that would hurt. He didn't pull any punches." Jennie muttered dryly. "Whatta guy."

"Oh, and I suppose that your comments were not intended to have the same effect on him," Crystal commented, a hint of sarcasm in her tone.

Jennie threw her hands up in the air. This was going nowhere, Crystal obviously thought the fight was Jennie's fault. She didn't understand that Marius normally wouldn't get furious over Jennie's pushing. Annoyed yes, but that? She knew he was in a bad way, and she didn't like that he was making her feel so helpless about it. "What we said was private, it sucks a whole lot that you had to be there to see it, but we can't change that. I'll thank you not to go judging me."

"I am not judging you!" Crystal retorted. "I am simply commenting on my observations. I am sure that the three of us have our own perspectives on what was happened in the Medlab. It is not my intention to pass judgment on either you or Marius. Obviously, the two of you were not quite your usual selves."

"And that is the understatement of the year." Jennie said dryly. "Next time, when I say that somebody probably doesn't want company? Please trust me on that."

Crystal gave Jennie a quizzical look. As far as she was concerned, it had been the pushing that ruined the visit, not the actual act of visiting itself. "I don't think the problem was in the visit, the problem was what was said during the visit. I don't want to play 'who started it?' I don't want to get into who was right and who was wrong or if there even was a right or a wrong. I know you don't want to hear anything I have to say. So for right now, just eat something before you pass out or I will summon a doctor to force-feed you or ram needles into your body!"

Somewhere in Jennie's mind, she realized that Crystal was doing the same thing she had done to Marius yesterday. No wonder he snapped. "You know what? I'm going to shower, now. And after I shower, I will go to the kitchen and I will eat something. Okay? Does that make you happy?"

"Only if you don't pass out in the shower and hit your head!" Crystal replied. "And if you think that at this point I will let you go to the kitchen alone, you are mistaken. I will be accompanying you to ensure that you do actually get something of value into your body."

Jennie carefully got up from the bed and began to rummage in her closet for a change of clothes. "You're as bad as Lorna, you realize that?" She came up with a clean t-shirt and a pair of pajama bottoms. "I tell her, the sugar's good for me, it helps my metabolism, and I can't get fat off of it, but do any of you listen to me? No..." Marius also liked to get on her for her eating habits, but she pushed that thought away. "Dating Forge will be nice, because he eats worse than I do."

Crystal frowned at the idea of being compared to Lorna. "I've never told you that you shouldn't eat candy and other forms of junk food. I don't think that such sugary snacks should be eaten in mass quantities and you're going to be doing what?!"

Jennie allowed herself a sly grin. "Yeah, he asked me out, I said yes, and we went out." She shrugged. "Now if he could figure out a way of talking without shoving his foot in his mouth, we'd be all set."

"Well, if you're still interested in dating him, I assume the date couldn't have been too horrible even if he did shove his foot in his mouth as you say," Crystal observed.

"It's Forge." Jennie said as if that explained everything. "I'm surprised he had the courage to ask me out. That merited rewarding."

"So you want to date him because you like him or just because he actually made an effort to ask you out and his eating habits are worse than yours?" Crystal queried.

Jennie blinked. "I honestly have no idea. I just couldn't think of a reason to say 'no'. And I'm tired of dating assholes. It was nice to be out with someone and not have them try to grope me or put their tongue down my throat."

"Oh. Well, you should go ahead and shower if you want or we can just straight to the kitchen. There won't be anything of you left for Forge to date if you don't take care of yourself," Crystal said.

Jennie made a face. "I'm showering. I don't smell very good." She opened the door and was about to go in when she noticed Crystal was following her. "And where are you going?"

"As I said before, I will not be happy if you pass out in the shower and hit your head," Crystal explained. "Therefore I intend to make sure that such an accident does not occur. I'll turn around to give you your privacy, but I do not intend to have to tell the doctors that I let you slip and fall and break your neck."

Jennie paused, slightly weirded out. "Just...But...." She was too tired to argue any further. "No peeking. Right?"

"I could wait outside the door, but that would prevent me from saving you if I needed to. If you prefer," Crystal added impishly. "I can have Forge stand guard instead."

"Oh good lord, I don't want to kill the boy. He'd have a stroke." Jennie felt better. Talking about things other than Marius was good. Jennie nodded towards the bathroom. "Come on, I'll be quick."

"Hopefully, just being clean will make you feel better, Crystal said. "And if it doesn't the food will." If that doesn't work, you will see a doctor.

Comments

[x-rahne.livejournal.com]

Welcome to Xavier's, Crystal; I see we can add one to the count of people who try to make sure the rest of the school gets around to eating.

We need all the help we can get. ;)