xp_logs | LOG: [Lorna, Haller] With no warning whatsoever . . .

Nothing says distraction like your mentally ill friend having an "episode." In the cutest possible way, of course.

Davey usually didn't have a lot of time for doubts, but he wasn't sure he should do this. Jim would probably be mad if he found out -- but then, Davey reasoned with painstaking logic, he was out right now, which meant Jim was being a dork about something again. That meant he wanted Davey to be out. Yeah. Jim had decided it was Davey's turn. Charles always said they were both David, so therefor what Davey wanted was also what Jim wanted. And that meant Jim had no right to be mad about anything Davey did because really he wanted to do it, too.

So there.

Holding the battered box he carried carefully horizontal in the other hand, the youngest alter drew himself up and knocked boldly on the door.

Lorna dried her hands on a towel and hung it meticulously over the hand on the oven before wandering out of the kitchen to see who was as the door. She hoped it wasn't any thing too stressful. She was having a fairly good day, all things considered, even if there had been moments where she'd been afraid things were going to go very badly indeed. "Door's unlocked," she called out, halfway across the living room.

She'd said he could come in. Why had he been worried? Davey opened the door and beamed at the half-familiar face standing across the room. She looked just like the pictures Jim had drawn of her, except she wasn't holding a knife or an egg or anything. Her hair was green, though. This pleased him greatly.

"Hi," Davey said, and triumphantly presented the box to her, the contents rolling loudly. "Moira's gone today and I'm bored. Play Chinese Checkers with me!"

Lorna continued toward him and accepted the box automatically, hands closing on it to prevent it from flying out of his enthusiastic grip, "Jim?"

Davey pouted. "I'm not Jim. You can tell. See, I've got eyes like a normal person. Jim's got eyes like a D-O-G." He pointed to his left eye, which was a blue to match his right. "It's okay," he added generously to Lorna's expression. "People mix us up all the time. Also you never seen me before so you didn't know, so I guess I forgive you."

She racked her brain. "Davey?" she said after a moment's frantic thought. That was really the only option, given that nothing was on fire or flying about the room. She smiled, "I'm sorry. I won't do it again, I promise. Come on in." It was stranger than she thought it would be, looking at her friend and seeing someone else in his face.

The alter broke out in a huge grin. He was getting to talk to someone new, and she'd recognized him. That hadn't happened in a long time. Davey preened.

"Right! And you're the cooking lady. Um, Lorna. I never saw you before either, but you're Jim's friend so you're my friend too." He gave her a solemn look. "Because it's the Rules."

Despite the solemnity of his statement, or perhaps because of it, she couldn't help smiling, "I absolutely agree. So, we're playing Chinese Checkers, hmm? That sounds like it's hungry work. Why don't you set this up and I'll get us some snacks, okay?" Lorna offered him the box back.

"Okay!" Davey said, taking the box back. Snacks were even better. He flopped down next to the coffee table and removed the lid from the box, taking out the board. It was one of the old ones, heavy and metal. Davey liked that kind because it made a good solid clack when you jumped the marbles.

"I ate some of your food when Jim was keeping us in isolation like a dork. You're a really really good cook. I like cookies," he called hopefully as Lorna moved into the kitchen. It was worth a try. "What color do you want to be? I call red."

"Blue? Or Yellow. You can pick for me." Lorna poured juice into a glass and got herself some coffee. Somewhat over optimistically she arranged apple slices on a plate along with some snickerdoodles then set it all on a tray with a stack of napkins. She brought it back out with her and set it down next to the game, "I'm glad you like my cooking."

"It's good. Jim was kind of forgetting then but I always ate it when I was out. You should be blue, because yellow's got a piece missing. It's always been gone ever since I've been here. This is really the school's game but Charles says it's okay to borrow it. Yay, cookies! Thanks!" Davey seized upon one eagerly, then caught Lorna's expression and paused with a snickerdoodle halfway to his mouth. "Are you weirded out?" he asked, wrinkling his brow with concern. "Lots of people get weirded out. If you are that's okay. David's brain is weird."

Lorna smiled and took an apple slice. "It's a little weird but so is everything when you aren't used to it, right? Like trying food you've never had before. But that doesn't make it bad." It was more than a little weird, truth be told, to see the enthusiasm of a child instead the normally reserved motion of an adult. The fact that it emphasized the way Haller's body was all arms and legs--and a great deal of both--made it just that much odder. "I'm glad you made sure that he ate. He lets himself get too skinny."

"Jim can't take care of himself. He's like a child, really." The words were a sing-song echo of one of Cyndi's favorite pronouncements. "You'd tell me if you were scared, right? 'Cause I don't like to scare people. That's what Jack's for. Also Jim really likes you. I can tell because I only ever get to come out around people he likes anymore. Now Moira's away a lot and Charles is busy, so if you didn't like me I won't be able to talk to hardly anyone." He snuck a bite of the cookie, still looking at her with mournful blue eyes as he chewed. "And then I would be lonely."

Sitting down on the couch next to him, Lorna wrapped her arm around his waist and gave him a quick hug, "I'm not scared and you can come see me anytime I'm not busy with something." She was careful to add the qualifier. Big and guileless those blue eyes may have been in Haller's familiar face but Lorna had been sitting for apparently innocent kids for years. They held you to your word. "I've never played Chinese Checkers before. Can you show me?"

"I can! Yay! This will be fun!" Davey grabbed Lorna and returned the hug, giddy. Now he had someone to play games with besides Jack. And she fed him. He didn't know what Jim was being dumb about today, but Davey was glad it had given him the excuse to meet Lorna. She was the first new grown-up friend he'd had in forever. This was going to be great.

"Okay," Davey said as he released his new friend and turned back to the board, half-eaten snickerdoodle still clutched in one hand, "first you gotta fill the triangles . . ."