log: [Jennie, Marius and Angel] - Friday Afternoon

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Marius seeks sanctuary in Jennie's room, and then Angel shows up seeking help with the pig. It goes downhill from there.



Bag from the kitchen under one arm, textbooks under the other, Jennie somehow managed to open the door to her room with only a foot, and pushed it open with her hip, backing into her room. She set the bag on the floor and was about to toss the textbooks onto her bed when she noticed the figure sitting on it.

"What the-- oh." She put her hands on her hips and cocked her head. "Please tell me Crystal let you in and that's not sulfur I'm smelling."

"Apologies, but current circumstances leave me little choice. Despite the evidence of my uncanny perceptions to the contrary, mum appears to be manifesting the very specific mutant ability to track me through the entire bloody mansion. Hence: here." Marius nudged the blankets that spilled onto the carpet with one foot. "Although perhaps I should have given notice to provide you with proper opportunity to tidy up. You feelin' all right?"

"I am doing quite well, thankyou." She padded over to the bed, handing Marius the textbooks before stepping up to open her window. "And no worries, I shall protect you from your mother. If she knocks, feel free to hide under the bed. I'm sure there's room in-between the storage bins, I'll cover and say you've taken up silent meditation and are off communing in the woods," she grunted and pushed open the window, letting fresh, cold air into the room.

"A subtle hint? My apologies. The stench does tend to slip my mind." He tapped the side of his respirator. "Filter an' that. Ta for the support. I am gratified to see you've had a change of heart since the other night's joint-venture in havin' a go at my hair. How many times must I reiterate that it was a perfectly well-devised strategy after witnessing the damage incurred from the unspeakable hell-dimension? An' a successful one at that. You can't tell me people are so much noticin' the split ends now."

"No, now they're looking at you and wondering what's next. Patchouli oil? Birkenstocks? A sudden, aching desire to protect the spotted owl?" Jennie flopped down on her bed next to him, before reaching up and patting his head. "And yet, for all your bitching, you still have relatively undamaged eyebrows. Lucky for you you can't grow any sort of facial hair. At all."

"Call it a miraculous display of natural selection. The scalp an' legs will brook no competition." Marius smoothed an eyebrow with his thumb in a dignified manner before glancing back at her. "If I were you I should not speak of body hair. Do not delude yourself into thinking the tufts around your ankles have gone unnoticed. The sheer amount of blonde fuzz puts one to mind of downy baby ducklings." He tilted his head, contemplating a knee that was safely covered from hip to foot. "Although far be it for me to deny that downy baby ducklings do possess a certain irresistible charm. However, I do not find myself with sufficient information to pass judgment. We should compare. Here, I want to stroke one . . ."

"Jennie? Are you in there? I need some help being Sneaky McSneakinstein…" Angel stuck her head into the other girl's room and blinked. "Heeey, Marius, when did they let you out of the infirmary? And why are you trying to pet her leg? Is this the sort of thing that I should back slowly out of the room for?" She glanced down at the pig in her hands and shoved it into her backpack before smiling innocently.

"Ah, Angel. Just released the bit ago, an' about bloody time. It seems one fluke encounter with the progressively degenerative biological agent of a convicted felon an' this lot become quite paranoid. No worries, I am perfectly capable of fondling a pretty girl in front of an audience. Ow," he added cheerfully as Jennie smacked him in the back of the head.

"Marius, darling, the only way you're getting near my leg hair is to remove these tights. And there is no power on this earth that would make me take off my clothes for you," she lowered her hand, and smiled at Angel. "He's really just begging sanctuary from his mother, and he's become jealous that I have invisible leg hair and therefore do not need to shave in winter. Come on in," Jennie waved Angel into the room. "We would be more than happy to assist you in mayhem."

"What cause have I to covet invisible leghair? Unlike some I could name, it is an acceptable attribute for my sex. Whatever Forge may have told you about my grooming habits are vile falsehoods. Excepting that time I was on swimteam, which was strictly a matter of water-resistance an' nothing more." He turned to Angel with what would have been a bright smile had the respirator not been in the way. "At any rate, mayhem."

“Yes, mayhem,” Angel agreed, holding up the back pack as she entered the room. She sat on the floor next to the bed, propping her head on the mattress. She gave Marius a sly look. “Water-resistance, huh?” she repeated, grinning. “I’ve heard that one before. But I’ve got Kyle’s pig and need to hide it in here for a day or two, I think he’s starting to get suspicious.” She pulled out the small smooshie pig and showed it to them.

"Oi, so that's where it went," Marius said, raising an eyebrow. "Well, sod. That explains quite a bit. I've been shut in my room for a month an' even I haven't been able to avoid news of the fruitless searching."

Angel snickered slightly, juggling the pig from hand to hand. “Kyle left it in my bag after the big camp out,” she explained. “And then I was going to get back to him but thought that this was a lot more fun than that. I’m going as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz for Halloween…and this is Toto.”

Jennie clapped her hands in delight. "I like her, I do!" She held out her hands for the pig. "Don't worry. I'll keep it safe as safe can be. Even from my roommate, who, while not one for spilling secrets, might look down her nose at this mooshienapping affair." She held the pig up and grinned at Marius. "Kinda makes you feel even better about the butt-kicking, doesn't it? The guy has a stuffed pig. Anyways," she turned back to Angel, "you said you were going to be Dorothy? Got a costume yet?"

“I’ve got most of it,” Angel responded, reaching over to poke the pig. It was fun and surprisingly comfortable, the reasons she’d requested a “friend”. Two friends, actually, one for her and one for Sooraya, just because. And it wasn’t like she hadn’t been slipping the money back into Kyle’s wallet so there was no guilt. “I just need the shoes. And a basket for the pig.”

"Shoes? I'm sure I can help." Jennie stood and made her way over to her closet. It was still precisely arranged, but a shirt that had fallen off the hangar was draped over the shoes. Jennie moved it aside without re-hanging it and, after a pause, searched. "What's your shoe size? Maybe these will work?" she held up a pair of red mary-jane heels. "We can brush them with glitter and hairspray to make them shiny."

"Ooh!" A tomboy she might be but she was a tomboy with taste. Angel scrambled up, nudging off her sneakers so she could try them. "Are you sure you want to glitter them? I mean, that stuff is notorious to get off. Though we could always use it to glitter Marius...whoops, did I say that out loud?"

Marius flicked his head. "I'll have you know that still managed to be one of my more fashionable birthdays. I look quite fetching in a certain shade of blue. Which was fortunate, as it was only by the narrowest margin I avoided spending prom indigo."

"Yes, my revenge was sadly thwarted. But I couldn't find glitter in a particular shade, so I made do," she set the shoes out for Angel to try on. "If you need help with makeup, I offer my services as well. If I can find the right shade of lipstick for Kyle, I can make anyone look good." Off Angel's expression, Jennie shrugged one shoulder. "I got really really bored one night and decided to put makeup on Jay, and it went downhill from there."

"I sense a theme here," Angel pointed out, taking the shoes from Jennie with glee. Plopping on the bed so she wouldn't tip and fall over as she put them on, she continued, “I mean, the first time I met Marius he mentioned lip stick. Pink Daiquiri, wasn't it? Though I think Cherry Red would be far better."

Marius kicked back on the bed as the shoe-fitting began. "Well, my complexion always was rather more robust than Jay's. Who I know to have been before your time, and shall now freely concede was the only bloke here prettier than I. An' in my heyday that was quite the feat. Alas, coordination is a bit of a trial now."

Jennie waved a hand dismissively. "Nonsense, I can make anyone look pretty. I'm sure I can find the right shade for you, Marius. Though, I only have two tries instead of one now." She stepped over to her dresser, and opened one small drawer. Makeup was aligned neatly inside. "Marius is my de-facto tester. Especially for nailpolish. He learned the hard way not to take very long naps around me."

Marius nodded thoughtfully. "I do indeed fall somewhere between animal-testing subject an' coma patient in this relationship."

"Whee, they fit!" Kicking her feet back and forth, she grinned and then slipped them back off. They really didn't match the socks. Sad, so sad. After nudging the shoes closer to her sneakers, Angel leaned over to take a closer look at Marius. "Hrrrm. There's lots of shades that would work with his coloring. And even the respirator can be prettied up, just a couple of minutes and some color and glitter..."

"Stickers. I was thinking stickers on the respirator," Jennie sat on Marius's other side and gave him a sly smile. "Still sure you want to be hiding out here?"

Marius raised his eyebrows in mock-offense. "Ah Jen, how soon you forget. I have after all endured far worse with not even the bat of an eyelid. Is that a corset and garters I see before me? Why no, it is not. Your paltry cosmetics hold no terrors for me."

"Bows in the hair," Angel sang out. "One for each dreadlock. And Clarice would be so happy to help the cause by giving us all sorts of pretty fabrics..."

"Who do you think donated the lingerie I stuck him in in the first place? It was his seeming preference for that color. Thankfully she had matching stockings, because Marius's legs are about as hairy as Kyle's." Jennie mock-shuddered. "And, I believe I have been challenged." She raised an eyebrow at Marius and eyed him critically, picking up a dreadlock. "I'm sure we can figure something out."

"Not the hair," Marius pronounced, reclaiming the dreadlock to hold it out of her reach. He gave her an arch look. "Never the hair."

"OoOOoohh." Angel grinned at Jennie over Marius' head. "What, no green and red polka dotted bows lined up? With sparkles, even, since you said you didn't mind sparkles earlier. After all, accessorize, accessorize, accessorize."

"Yeah, no, we leave the hair alone. He's a little sensitive, because it looks so bad," Jennie stage whispered to Angel. "Though we should start with lipstick, maybe." She picked up Marius's hand. "I'm definitely thinking a much darker shade, perhaps with an orange underbase."

"Perfectly. Sound. Strategy," Marius insisted calmly. His hand still twitched a little at the direct contact. The reaction wasn't even half as strong as it would have been a week ago, but it was noticeably more than it had been. The antivirals he'd been provided had mostly reversed the damage, but he had been warned by Moira some traces might be permanent. Still, he wasn't about to go attacking anyone anymore. As long as that were true he could live with it.

"But very well," Marius continued, carefully stilling the burgeoning muscle contractions, "I confess a spot of colour may do the biteybits good. Somethin' to draw the attention away from the fangs, perhaps. Though given the distressing tendency towards pavlovian salivation I rather recommend against favourite shades."

Jennie met Marius's eyes. Her eyebrows lifted in an 'is this okay?' sort of expression.

The boy inclined his head, so slightly even the redhead only inches away was unlikely to have noticed. The truth was, he hadn't come up here just to escape Amanti's attentions . . . or rather, it was the circumstances creating those attentions that he'd needed to discuss with Jennie. But that could wait.

"Right, Angel, dove? Left hand drawer. Pick us out a shade, will you? I hold veto power, though. I don't want his hand slime on my nice stuff." When Angel got off the bed, Jennie returned Marius's nod. If you say so.

“So many choices,” the younger girl mused, peering this way and that to get a good look at all the colors. In the end, she picked out four and showed them to the other two. “Purple Rain…silly name but pretty color…Fire Engine Red, Pink Daiquiri to match that lipstick that was talked about and Shiny Green. Just because green is an awesome color, maybe not for him but it does rule.”

Angel grinned, perhaps a touch evilly. "...or we could try all four..."