xp_logs | Kurt and Yvette, in the library

After going to find Kyle, Kurt tracks down Yvette to the library and tries to convince her nobody's angry with her.

The library was mostly empty, as it usually was on a Sunday afternoon, which suited Yvette just fine. She'd retreated here after reading the argument on her journal, confused and unsettled, to take her usual solace in literature. Today it was Shakespeare - not her usual fare, but Kyle's speech had reminded her of something her teacher in Kosovo had taught them. Perched in one of the chairs by the window, The Merchant of Venice on the table, she read the words aloud, her voice soft and hesitating:

"If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die?"

Kurt had had a suspicion of where she might have gone, remembering what he'd heard about her liking for poetry, and so the library had been one of the first places he'd checked after leaving Kyle in the tree. He padded into the library on near-silent bare feet, spotting the little red girl at the back of the room easily. "Yvette?"

She glanced up at him, eyes flaring blue. "Hello, Mr. Sefton," she said, but her voice was a little subdued.

He settled in the next chair, yellow eyes watching her carefully. "Are you all right?"

"I am being well," she replied, but without the enthusiasm she would have normally have shown. There was a small pause as she looked down at the book again, unconsciously stroking the page with her gloved talon. "Mr. Sefton... she began, not sure how to put it. "Am I being making people angry?"

Kurt blinked, startled by even the suggestion, then sighed. If he could have hugged her right now... "No, Yvette. I promise you, it is not you."

"I am not understanding," she confessed. "Mr. Maximoff is being angry about the sliding, and now Miss Crystal is being angry about the snow playing. And people are being the upset and sad, and..." Her voice wobbled a little. "It is making me feel bad, to be reading this."

"Crystal was not angry about the snow playing", Kurt tried to reassure her. "I think she was just... surprised, to see her sister taking part in it. Not angry. And it would not have been your fault even if she had been."

"Is it wrong, to be playing?" Yvette asked. "We are being having fun, and then people are being angry. I am not understanding why."

"Not at all. Never think it is wrong to play... Mr. Maximoff is just under some stress at the moment, and Crystal was not angry with any of you for playing. Kyle was angry because of something else she said."

She took this in, remembering the journal conversation. "The using slang?" she asked. "But Kyle is always being talking that way. It is how he is being."

"I know that", he said gently. "And you know that. But Crystal is not used to that, and so she queries it, which makes Kyle feel bad. It was nothing that you said or did."

"I am not liking it when my friends are feeling bad. Kyle is being a nice person, who is being giving me the Piglet I can't be breaking. And now he is being angry and not feeling like he is belonging. This is being bad." Her hands curled a little, threatening to rumple the book. "Many things are being strange to me here, but I am learning."

Kurt reached out carefully to cover her gloved hands, rescuing the book at the same time. "Kyle will be all right. He knows that he belongs here, or he will when things are calmer - and he has you and others to remind him, if he needs it."

"I am going out, to the tree, to be making sure he is being all right," she said, relaxing under his touch. "But I am thinking he is needing the time alone, to not be angry any more, so I am not saying anything. My mother... sometimes when she is being sad and angry, it is being best to be quiet. I am being leaving her food, until she is feeling better."

Kurt nodded. "Was the apple from you, then? I took it up to him. When he comes back inside, you should talk to him - I am sure it would make him feel better."

She nodded. "Yes, it is. Apples are making me feel better, when I am feeling bad, so I am hoping it is being the same for him." She sighed a little. "And I will be talking to him. When he is being less upset. And... when I am being the same."

"That will be a good thing", Kurt said encouragingly. "Is there anything more I can do, to help you be less upset?"

She shook her head, eyes glowing softer. "You are already being helping me, Mr. Sefton. By being talking to me and telling me it is not being my fault. I al being... less upset. I am being sad, though, for Miss Crystal. It is seeming she is not being very happy here, and she is being making people unhappy because she is being unhappy?"

"It is something like that, perhaps", Kurt said slowly. "It is very different, here, to everything she knew at home, and she is not used to it. I do not think she means to make people unhappy."

"I think I am understanding a little better now," Yvette replied, her tone thoughtful. "It is being hard, being away from your home and your family. I should not be being angry at Miss Crystal, like I am being. We are being in the same shoes, yes?"

"Something of the same shoes, yes", Kurt agreed readily, pleased if she was going to be less angry. "And I think she does not know how to adjust to America."

"It is being a strange place, yes," Yvette agreed, with a hint of amusement in her voice, although her face remained as impassive as always. "And sometimes it is being confusing. I will be trying to remember this, when I am being angry." Glancing down at the book, she murmured the words: "Fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, heal'd by the same means, warm'd and cool'd by the same winter and summer..." She looked up at Kurt again. "I think I will be being okay, Mr. Sefton. Thank you for the talking to me." She reached over and briefly touched his shoulder. "You are being a very nice teacher. When I am going to the classes, I am hoping you will be teaching me."

"If you are interested in the subjects I teach", Kurt told her, "I would be glad to. Would you like to learn German?"

Her eyes brightened at that. "If it is being easier than the English, I am very much wanting to learn."