Yvette and Crystal - Making Choices
Apr. 11th, 2007 04:25 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsBackdated to earlier this week. After talking to Logan, Yvette approaches Crystal with questions.
Yvette was generally quiet, so it was hard to tell when she was being more quiet than usual, but for the last couple of weeks, she had been. Since her conversation with Logan about Crystal, in fact, she'd been pondering the man's words, and trying to balance what he'd said and what she knew of her suite mate, and not succeeding very well at making things tally. So it was she finally worked up the courage to go talk to Cystal about it. Certainly Logan had been frightening enough, but Crystal was daunting in a whole other way. Always so isolated from her fellow students, Yvette didn't want to upset her and make her withdraw any more.
It wasn't until after one of the ad hoc poetry reading sessions in the library that she finally had the chance to speak to the older girl. Waiting until the others had gone, she seized the moment.
"Crystal?" she began, her voice a nervous squeak. "I am having the problem, and I am hoping that you are being to help me?"
Crystal looked at Yvette, not showing the bit of surprise she felt at Yvette's words and demeanor. Yvette normally seemed happy, and she hadn't been this way, even when Jennie had been nasty to everyone around her. What kind of a problem would Yvette ask her about? Jennie was being nice, no one seemed to be acting in an unusual manner...
Crystal smiled at Yvette. "I hope I can help you. What is the problem that you are facing?"
She is, in my view, the worst a person can get. One who believes that she's better than those around her just because of how she was born. Yvette shook her head. Mr. Logan had to be mistaken. Crystal wasn't like that, she knew it. "I... am being talking, with Mr Logan," she began, not really sure how to frame it. "He is saying that you and he are... being fighting?"
Now Crystal was more than just a bit surprised. Fighting... yes, there had been fighting... but what had Logan told Yvette? Crystal didn't advertise what had happened and had assumed that Logan was the same. They both had the right to talk about it, but she had figured that, for their own reasons, neither one would want to talk about what had happened very much.
"We had a... disagreement that became out of hand, yes," Crystal replied.
"I am being asking him. When you are talking about him, you are being... worried, yes? So I am wanting to be asking why." Her brow furrowed. "He is saying that you are trying to be making him hurt."
Crystal took a deep breath. Wonderful. She had decided not to say anything to Yvette about Logan, and look where it had gotten her. "I was not trying to hurt him," Crystal explained. "but I did hurt him. He treated me quite harshly, and was also harsh with other students. I had believed that we were over this, and was quite surprised to discover that he still had ill feelings for me. He said some rather nasty, crude, and insensitive things to my sister, mainly about me but some about her. I went to talk to him about it, hoping that we could come to an understanding, but he continued to be rude. I... attacked him."
"Mr. Logan is being having... ideas. About what you are being, about you having the title. He is thinking it is changing how you are treating the people who are not being the same as you." She sighed, a small, sad little noise, fiddling with her book. "He is being wrong, I am thinking. But... he is also being to be helping me, and is not being harsh. So I am being confused."
Crystal nodded slowly. "People do that, Yvette. They judge people, even before meeting them, based on what they think that person will be like. They allow the perceptions of others to influence their own beliefs about someone's character without finding out for themselves. They do not take the time to find out if such things are true or not, and even if someone shows them how untrue their original perceptions were, some people do not care. This is what Logan did. I wanted to learn from him, but he decided to see me as a spoiled brat who would never be able to take care of herself, even when everything I said or did should have proved otherwise. However, he does not feel this way about you, so he is nice to you and treats you in a kind and perhaps even gentle manner."
"But you are being attacking him... not because he is thinking badly of you, yes?" Yvette asked, tilting her head a little as she processed what Crystal was saying. "There is being more there, like when I am being waking up and being confused, and hurting him because I am afraid."
You're slumming it, Your Majesty... Her best isn't good enough. She's a liability to your little inbred cabal. "Not because of what he thought, it was because of the way he acted and what he said," Crystal replied. "I should not have done what I did, Yvette, but I will not lie and offer excuses for my reasoning and judgment, poor as they were at that time. One of his main beliefs regarding me was that I was defenseless, that I could never defend myself on my own." Please, allow me to end your uncertainty as to whether or not I can defend myself should the need arise. Crystal nearly winced at the thought of her own words to Logan right before she prevented him from being able to breathe properly. "I decided to prove to him that he was wrong. It was not the right course of action to take, but it is what happened."
For a very long moment, Yvette was quiet, taking this in. As always, her blank blue eyes gave away nothing, but after a while, she nodded. "I am being understanding now. Thank you." There was one more thing, however... "There is something Mister Logan is saying. About what you are thinking of people who are not being the same as you. He is probably being wrong, but..." She hesitated, and then went on: "I am not knowing my father. My mother, she is being... how you say? Forced? When she is being very young. By Serbian soldiers who are taking her father and her brother. This is being a great shame to our family. They are calling me Pendim. Her... penance, it is in English." Looking up at Crystal, she watched the other girl's face. If Logan had been right, she'd know soon enough.
If the second part of Yvette's statement had not been preceded by the first, Crystal would have thought that this was just an "opening up time," same as what had happened between her and Jennie months ago. However, the first part had been voiced. Just what had Logan told Yvette? Did he truly hate her, or was he simply just a rude, thoughtless man?
Crystal could have told Yvette things about Logan during their earlier conversation, but she had chosen to avoid doing this. Why should she "warn" Yvette about someone who didn't seem to pose a threat to her? Why should she try to influence Yvette's perceptions about someone who seemed to care for her? Crystal hadn't like it when Kyle had done this to Yvette, and she didn't want to stoop to the childish measures he, and now Logan, had employed with Yvette.
"What happened was neither your fault nor your mother's fault," Crystal said, forcing herself to stay calm despite the anger she felt at Logan. Anger hadn't taken her to nice places in the past. There would be no confronting Logan this time. If their paths happened to cross, she might say something, but she would not do the angry confrontation route again. "It has nothing to do with who you are. If either you or Logan think that now that I know this about you, I will view you in a different manner..." Crystal shook her head "then one or both of you is very wrong."
Yvette nodded. "I am not thinking this. I am only wanting to be sure," she said, still quiet. This hadn't been easy for her. "Mr. Logan is not being understanding. Sometimes... he is not knowing how the people are. He is not being around them for much time, that he is remembering. And so he is making the mistakes." She looked up at Crystal. "I am sorry to be making you for to talk about this hard thing. But I am glad I am knowing the both sides now. I can be making my own chooses now."
Crystal nodded and offered the younger girl a smile. "It is not a problem, Yvette. Although most people do not know about what happened, I have and will answer questions about it when they are asked. Your choices are for you to make, yes. Your beliefs and your opinions are yours to make and no one should ever tell you otherwise."
Yvette's answering smile was relieved. "Thank you. I will be remembering this."
Yvette was generally quiet, so it was hard to tell when she was being more quiet than usual, but for the last couple of weeks, she had been. Since her conversation with Logan about Crystal, in fact, she'd been pondering the man's words, and trying to balance what he'd said and what she knew of her suite mate, and not succeeding very well at making things tally. So it was she finally worked up the courage to go talk to Cystal about it. Certainly Logan had been frightening enough, but Crystal was daunting in a whole other way. Always so isolated from her fellow students, Yvette didn't want to upset her and make her withdraw any more.
It wasn't until after one of the ad hoc poetry reading sessions in the library that she finally had the chance to speak to the older girl. Waiting until the others had gone, she seized the moment.
"Crystal?" she began, her voice a nervous squeak. "I am having the problem, and I am hoping that you are being to help me?"
Crystal looked at Yvette, not showing the bit of surprise she felt at Yvette's words and demeanor. Yvette normally seemed happy, and she hadn't been this way, even when Jennie had been nasty to everyone around her. What kind of a problem would Yvette ask her about? Jennie was being nice, no one seemed to be acting in an unusual manner...
Crystal smiled at Yvette. "I hope I can help you. What is the problem that you are facing?"
She is, in my view, the worst a person can get. One who believes that she's better than those around her just because of how she was born. Yvette shook her head. Mr. Logan had to be mistaken. Crystal wasn't like that, she knew it. "I... am being talking, with Mr Logan," she began, not really sure how to frame it. "He is saying that you and he are... being fighting?"
Now Crystal was more than just a bit surprised. Fighting... yes, there had been fighting... but what had Logan told Yvette? Crystal didn't advertise what had happened and had assumed that Logan was the same. They both had the right to talk about it, but she had figured that, for their own reasons, neither one would want to talk about what had happened very much.
"We had a... disagreement that became out of hand, yes," Crystal replied.
"I am being asking him. When you are talking about him, you are being... worried, yes? So I am wanting to be asking why." Her brow furrowed. "He is saying that you are trying to be making him hurt."
Crystal took a deep breath. Wonderful. She had decided not to say anything to Yvette about Logan, and look where it had gotten her. "I was not trying to hurt him," Crystal explained. "but I did hurt him. He treated me quite harshly, and was also harsh with other students. I had believed that we were over this, and was quite surprised to discover that he still had ill feelings for me. He said some rather nasty, crude, and insensitive things to my sister, mainly about me but some about her. I went to talk to him about it, hoping that we could come to an understanding, but he continued to be rude. I... attacked him."
"Mr. Logan is being having... ideas. About what you are being, about you having the title. He is thinking it is changing how you are treating the people who are not being the same as you." She sighed, a small, sad little noise, fiddling with her book. "He is being wrong, I am thinking. But... he is also being to be helping me, and is not being harsh. So I am being confused."
Crystal nodded slowly. "People do that, Yvette. They judge people, even before meeting them, based on what they think that person will be like. They allow the perceptions of others to influence their own beliefs about someone's character without finding out for themselves. They do not take the time to find out if such things are true or not, and even if someone shows them how untrue their original perceptions were, some people do not care. This is what Logan did. I wanted to learn from him, but he decided to see me as a spoiled brat who would never be able to take care of herself, even when everything I said or did should have proved otherwise. However, he does not feel this way about you, so he is nice to you and treats you in a kind and perhaps even gentle manner."
"But you are being attacking him... not because he is thinking badly of you, yes?" Yvette asked, tilting her head a little as she processed what Crystal was saying. "There is being more there, like when I am being waking up and being confused, and hurting him because I am afraid."
You're slumming it, Your Majesty... Her best isn't good enough. She's a liability to your little inbred cabal. "Not because of what he thought, it was because of the way he acted and what he said," Crystal replied. "I should not have done what I did, Yvette, but I will not lie and offer excuses for my reasoning and judgment, poor as they were at that time. One of his main beliefs regarding me was that I was defenseless, that I could never defend myself on my own." Please, allow me to end your uncertainty as to whether or not I can defend myself should the need arise. Crystal nearly winced at the thought of her own words to Logan right before she prevented him from being able to breathe properly. "I decided to prove to him that he was wrong. It was not the right course of action to take, but it is what happened."
For a very long moment, Yvette was quiet, taking this in. As always, her blank blue eyes gave away nothing, but after a while, she nodded. "I am being understanding now. Thank you." There was one more thing, however... "There is something Mister Logan is saying. About what you are thinking of people who are not being the same as you. He is probably being wrong, but..." She hesitated, and then went on: "I am not knowing my father. My mother, she is being... how you say? Forced? When she is being very young. By Serbian soldiers who are taking her father and her brother. This is being a great shame to our family. They are calling me Pendim. Her... penance, it is in English." Looking up at Crystal, she watched the other girl's face. If Logan had been right, she'd know soon enough.
If the second part of Yvette's statement had not been preceded by the first, Crystal would have thought that this was just an "opening up time," same as what had happened between her and Jennie months ago. However, the first part had been voiced. Just what had Logan told Yvette? Did he truly hate her, or was he simply just a rude, thoughtless man?
Crystal could have told Yvette things about Logan during their earlier conversation, but she had chosen to avoid doing this. Why should she "warn" Yvette about someone who didn't seem to pose a threat to her? Why should she try to influence Yvette's perceptions about someone who seemed to care for her? Crystal hadn't like it when Kyle had done this to Yvette, and she didn't want to stoop to the childish measures he, and now Logan, had employed with Yvette.
"What happened was neither your fault nor your mother's fault," Crystal said, forcing herself to stay calm despite the anger she felt at Logan. Anger hadn't taken her to nice places in the past. There would be no confronting Logan this time. If their paths happened to cross, she might say something, but she would not do the angry confrontation route again. "It has nothing to do with who you are. If either you or Logan think that now that I know this about you, I will view you in a different manner..." Crystal shook her head "then one or both of you is very wrong."
Yvette nodded. "I am not thinking this. I am only wanting to be sure," she said, still quiet. This hadn't been easy for her. "Mr. Logan is not being understanding. Sometimes... he is not knowing how the people are. He is not being around them for much time, that he is remembering. And so he is making the mistakes." She looked up at Crystal. "I am sorry to be making you for to talk about this hard thing. But I am glad I am knowing the both sides now. I can be making my own chooses now."
Crystal nodded and offered the younger girl a smile. "It is not a problem, Yvette. Although most people do not know about what happened, I have and will answer questions about it when they are asked. Your choices are for you to make, yes. Your beliefs and your opinions are yours to make and no one should ever tell you otherwise."
Yvette's answering smile was relieved. "Thank you. I will be remembering this."
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Date: 2007-04-15 04:40 am (UTC)I liked reading this. I think you both did an excellent job with it. Much room for evolution, for growth, for nobility and base villiany.
Just what I like in a plot twist. :)