xp_logs | Backdated to the afternoon of November 16th

After a month of avoiding him, Yvette comes to talk to Tommy about what Jay told her.

It had been a month since the scene with Jay in the kitchen and those awful things he'd said. A month of avoiding Jay and Tommy, trying to figure out what she thought of things. A task made easier by the fact that Tommy himself had been scarcely seen since Jay's arrival, which bothered Yvette on a whole other level - Tommy was never the most social of people, but he had at least been getting better about getting out of his room. At last, tired of thoughts chasing each other around and around in her head, no matter how much time she spent out in the woods, Yvette knew there was only one thing she could do.

Talk to Tommy. Ask him for the truth.

At least she'd know where to find him; waiting until her classes were done for the day, the small Albanian took herself to his suite, tapping with some trepidation on his door.

Tommy had been reading on his back on his bed. Or he would have been if he hadn't spent most of his time staring at the ceiling. It was amazing how much work one could get done if they were trying to avoid someone who lived in the same house as them. All of his homework for his classes was finished until the end of the month, his room was clean and he'd used up most of jewelry making supplies, all because he refused to go out and possibly face Jay. The fear crept up his spine whenever the thought crossed his mind. Even the color red was starting to freak him out.

When he heard the knock on the door, he gave a sigh. The shyness of it meant it was probably Sooraya or Yvette. Closing his eyes for a moment, Tommy composed himself before rolling off his bed and going to the door. He opened it slightly, leaning on the doorframe, just looking tired overall. It's a amazing how tiring worrying was. "Hey Yvette." He said softly.

"Hello, Tommy." The tiredness of his face was almost enough to make her turn tail and flee, but Tommy was also her friend. "This is being difficult but... I need to speak to you." She gulped a little. "It is important."

He was too tried to frown so instead he just opened the door for her to come in, closing the door afterwards as he moved to sit down on his bed, crossing his legs in front of him as he left room for her to join him if she wanted.

The red of her skin wasn't bothering him nor was he clasping his hands from keeping them from shaking from the fear of hurting her. He just looked overall tired and closed.

Yvette automatically checked that the body suit was in place, and that her socks and gloves were pulled up properly before she sat down. Of course, now she was here, she didn't know how to start.... "I have not seen you so much, this lately," she said at last. "You are well?"

Tommy nodded. "Yeah. Just taking some time for myself." Because hiding from Jay would just sound pathetic and Tommy wasn't one to admit things like that. "Have you been okay?" He hoped she didn't think he was avoiding her, but there wasn't anything thing he could do if she did.

She nodded a little. "I am well," she said. "I have been going to the woods often. It is quiet there and I can be thinking, and not worrying about hurting things." Or people, for that matter. "I... I have been trying not to see the certain person," she admitted.

That caught Tommy's attention. "Certain person? Did something happen Yvette?" Despite how he felt, he couldn't stop the fondness in his voice. If someone was getting to Yvette, he wanted to know so he could put a stop to it if he could.

"I was meeting one of the new people. The boy with wings... Jay, yes?" Yvette clasped her hands together, willing herself not to go all spiky. She was learning control, she could do this without losing facial expression. "He..." She swallowed. "He said some things. Bad things."

Tommy didn't frown or move, but his demeanor changed. He didn't draw into himself like he normally did when Jay was mentioned. No, instead this time he seemed to get bigger, and considering he was a big guy this was something. Jay had Yvette upset and that just wasn't going to happen, no matter what Tommy felt about him. "What did he say?" He asked softly, putting a soft soothing note into his voice.

"We were talking, and I said that you were my friend, and he was getting angry." Yvette's gaze was fixed on her feet, dangling above the floor in their black socks. She almost fancied she could see her toes elongating. "I did not understand why, and he said..." She stopped again, unable to say the words, but she looked up at Tommy, eyeglow muted.

Oh. Shit.

Tommy immediately stood up and away from Yvette, his fist clenched at his sides. He wanted to hit something and that was not exactly the image he wanted to give Yvette right now. But still...that little shit. No one was supposed to know and he... Tommy stood now with his back to Yvette in a completely defensive manner. Figures. Jay probably thought it was his duty after all, to make sure Tommy didn't hurt anybody else. And a small part of Tommy agreed. "He told you about what I did to him." He said flatly.

"Then, it is true? That you hurt him, broke his wings?" Not that Yvette had entirely disbelieved Jay - there'd been too much real emotion in his voice - but Jay was, to put it mildly, a strange boy. The way he had fixed on Kevin, making the other boy uncomfortable... she didn't understand it. "Because he is the mutant?"

"Yes." There had been more reasons: he'd found out about Terry that night and he was angry about having to get her out of life. Jay had come on to him and it was a perfect opening to get him alone. The fact that it was what he'd been trained to do his entire life had made him do it. But it wasn't what had made him stop. He could have easily killed Jay that night. His parents would have been proud of him But he hadn't. In fact, he'd been physically sick for days afterwards over the fact that he was capable of such a thing, of killing someone mutant or not.

"I beat him badly and left him in an alley." His voice was flat and restrained, confirming it. "Because he was a mutant and I was angry." Tommy stayed with his back to her, afraid of what he'd see if he turned around.

"Where I come from, there is much hate. The war... people are to make the new life, but there was much that was done that was very bad, very wrong, many people who were taught to hurt the others. My mother... I am born, because of such a bad thing." Yvette spoke softly, not looking at Tommy's back. The flatness of his voice - she couldn't tell if it was because he was angry she had found out, or that he was sorry. "Tommy, you are my friend. You are being very kind to me, even when I am scaring you. And I want you to be my friend always. So, when I am asking you a question, you are to be making the truth to me?"

It was a little bit of both, mixed with fear. Tommy finally gathered himself and turned to look at her, though he couldn't meet her eyes. "It's against my nature." He said simply as a yes. "What do you want to ask me?"

She looked up from the floor. "Were you to be sorry? That you hurt him? Are you to be sorry now?"

Tommy crossed his arms over his chest, again hugging his arms to his chest as he looked out the window as he said what he needed to. "I want to be. I regret it...but I don't know if I'm sorry. To apologize for it would be to apologize for my entire life before I manifested and there are parts of it that really were for the good of everyone. Or at least, I meant it to be. I wanted to help people...not hurt them."

"But the hurting people, that was the bad part, yes?" Yvette hesitated, then made herself say it. "You did not like to be hurting Jay?"

There was a pause, before Tommy shook his head.

Yvette let out a breath she hadn't even known she was holding. "There are things, that we do, that we wish we do not. It does not mean we cannot ever be changing. Or that we cannot be having the second chances. You are still my friend Tommy, who is reading poetry with me and making me such pretty things." Her eyes glowed softly. "My friend, who I have been missing to talk to."
Tommy also let out a breath and for the first time in a long time, let the corners of his mouth twitch into a smile. "Thank you Yvette." It was sentimental and fond and against his normal behavior... but he couldn't help himself.

Her mouth tilted up in an answering smile and the glow of her eyes increased. "You are welcome, Tommy."