Jane, Yvette - Thursday afternoon

[x-penance.livejournal.com]

A trip to the mall for some last-minute items becomes somewhat less pleasant as some locals aren't exactly into the holiday spirit.




"What do you think?" Jane held up two spools of ribbon, one sheer and gold with a slightly funky pattern of dancing snowmen woven in it, the other a deep velvety red. "Sparkly and see-through or traditional and fuzzy?"

The card shop was fairly quiet in contrast to the mall itself, which was bustling with activity. Jane's shopping trip was going well - she had managed to wrest a small, slightly dinged package of miniature felt stockings away from another woman at the 75% off table, even if it had been at the expense of the of losing the last of the candy cane stickers to a more agile shopper. There were only a few more things she needed to pick up for her project and she'd be done for another year.

Yvette tilted her head, looking at the options. "Traditional and fuzzy," she said after a moment. "It is going much better with things, and it can be used for the hair later?" The card shop had been something of a breath of fresh air, after the busy mall - Yvette would have forgone the trip entirely when Jane had suggested it, except she needed more origami paper for her presents and cards. Her great aunt would have had a fit, seeing the child of a good Muslim family involved in Christmas, but Yvette was treating it as a celebration of her friends, and enjoying it accordingly.

"Ooh, good point." Jane tossed the gold back on the shelf and tucked the red in her basket and eyed the discount table one last time. Not for the first time she wished that her Christmas budget was a bit bigger. She'd managed to sock away some money by selling her old DVDs and things on eBay, but it hadn't been much. Enough to buy some gifts and reopen her old savings account, really, and that money didn't count until she'd paid back the Professor for her plane ticket.

"So is there anywhere special you want to go?" she asked Yvette as they made their way to the register. "I need to swing by the candy shop and that Christmas store on the far end, and then I should be done." Jane had noticed the younger girl's discomfort around the crowds and didn't want to linger if they were bothering her.

"I need paper, for the origami. There is the art store, which is being near the candy shop? They have some there. I am making the gifts for people, because I do not think my mother would be pleased to be giving me money for the Christmas." Yvette wrinkled her nose a little. "She is not the Muslim any more, but she would not be understanding."

Jane took her change from the cashier and nodded. "I can understand that." She grinned at Yvette. "I forgot there was an art store here. We'll go there first, then?"

"Yes, please." Yvette's eyes flared brightly as they left the card store. "I was getting the paper in Japan, but there are so many people to make for! And sometimes, I make the mistakes and have the confetti." She held up a safely-gloved hand. "It is difficult to make the concentration, sometimes."

"There are a lot of people to make gifts for," Jane agreed. "Hey, do you mind if I ask a question? When you said your Mom's not Muslim anymore, what did you mean? Does she just not practice?"

"No, I do not mind..." Yvette thought for a minute as they walked, one part of her attention always on watching out for people who might bump into her. "We are Albanian, yes? Before I was born, when the war happened... many bad things happened. My mother, she became very angry, that such things should happen. When I was born, she... how you say? Did not believe any more."

A shout went up across the hall, making Jane start. She glanced over at the crowd of rowdy teenagers. A boy in a dark brown hoodie, gesticulated wildly as he loudly told his friends about some adolescent adventure. "Atheist," Jane supplied absently. "I think. Or agnostic. I get them mixed up. One doesn't believe in God at all and the other believes in something godlike, but not one in particular."

"Atheist," Yvette confirmed, echoing Jane's glance and hunching, just a little, into herself - she was acutely aware of how much her red skin stood out. "She does not believe in the god any more. The family are saying she is lost now." To take her mind off things, she asked a question of her own. "Do you have the family? To go see for Christmas?"

"Depends on how you look at it," Jane replied with a odd little quirk to her lips. "I don't know if I have any family that's related to me. The amnesia, you know? I don't remember anything before, oh, gosh. 2002 or 2003, I guess. So I don't really have anyone like that to go visit, but, " Jane's voice perked up and she broke into a full-fledged smile, "I consider my friends to be my family, Angelo and Amanda and Paige and the Professor and everyone, and I get to see them all the time which makes me really lucky. I'll have family around at Christmas, even if it's just a handful of us lurking around the mansion."

"Oh, of course. That was silly of me." Yvette offered Jane a shy smile. "I will not be going anywhere for Christmas also, if you are wanting someone else to lurk with?"

"I would like no-one better," Jane informed her pertly, resisting the urge to hook her arm through the Yvette's. "I was thinking of baking cookies, if you'd care to join me. Gingerbread mutants."

"We could make the people we know?" Yvette suggested. "I am good at the cutting shapes - Mr. Logan teaches me to carve the wood." Another shout went up from the group of boys and she looked over her shoulder back at them.

"We could! Actually, if we worked on them this weekend, we could have them finished in time to give to people on Christmas." Jane followed Yvette's gaze and saw one of the boys poke Brown Hoodie in the side and point at them. A twinge of alarm pierced Jane. The expression on his face wasn't particularly pleasant.

"Miss Jane..." Yvette said uncertainly, her gloved hand creeping into the older girl's. "I think maybe it is the time to be going?"

Jane closed her hand around Yvette's as the boys all slowly turned to stare. Oh, yeah, this wasn't good. "Definitely time to go. C'mon," she said, starting towards an exit, worry and frustration starting to build inside of her.

"I am sorry," Yvette said softly, trying to keep calm enough to avoid her hair going all spiky and making things worse. The pace was difficult to keep up with her much shorter legs, but she did her best to stand upright and not scramble. "I should not have come. I make things not so safe for you."

Jane slowed a bit as Yvette stumbled. "This is not in any way, shape, or form your fault. You shouldn't apologize." They crossed in front of one of the gift wrap kiosks, and Jane slowed enough to take another look back at the group. It looked as if most of the boys hadn't moved, but her view was blocked by a giant Santa cut-out, and she couldn't see the spot where Hoodie and his friend had been. They were probably still, there, but just in case... "People need to learn to deal. It's just going to take time."

Sometimes it felt like it was taking forever, though. Yvette glanced back as well, but was even less able to see. "Do you think they are following?"

"Following? Nah. We passed you already, Mutie."

Jane turned to see Brown Hoodie and his buddy stroll around the other side of the kiosk. They couldn't have been more than fifteen or sixteen, tall and gangly, and sort of clownish looking, except for the
maliciousness of their expressions. Hoodie grinned nastily. "We just had to come back for a second look 'cause we couldn't believe how ugly your freakish ass is."

Jane stiffened and moved in front of Yvette. "Can I help you with something?" She asked frostily.

Yvette squeaked, eyes flaring brightly and her hair visibly stiffening into spikes. "Please, we are not wanting the trouble," she managed to stutter. "We were just leaving."

Double-freaking-crap. The panic in Yvette's voice put Jane's nerves on edge. She had to get her out of there. "Like she said, we're on our way out. There's no need to start anything."

"Says you." Hoodie drawled. He sauntered forward a little more, smirking. Jane glared at him. She hated bullies, and hated that they were scaring her friend. The rest of their little pack hadn't come around, but they could see the little scene playing out. Two stupid teenagers could probably be handled, but not a half-dozen, and they'd come over to defend their friends if they thought they needed to.

"Jack. Dude, look at her. Her eyes are fucking glowing." The other boy's voice broke on the word 'glowing'. Jane glanced over at him. He looked ready to bolt. Not so brave then. "What's she gonna do?"

"Golly. I don't know. But are you sure you want to stick around to find out?" She jerked her head meaningfully at Yvette and untangled her bags from her wrists, ready to drop them if she needed to shift. C'mon boys, she thought. Run away.

Yvette backed away further, bumping into the Santa cut-out behind her, and the spikes of her hair sliced into the cardboard, cutting it to shreds. It collapsed into pieces, and Yvette let out a small gasp. "Oh, I am sorry!" she said, not really sure who she was apologising to.

Both boys took several steps back.

Oh, thank goodness. Jane took a few steps forward. "You know, you aren't very polite. You haven't asked me a thing about myself. Like what I do." She smiled widely. "Want to find out?"

The nervous boy fled. Hoodie dropped back a few more steps.

"Try it." Jane told him. "What do you think will happen? Just go."

Jane watched him turn and run, and then turned back to Yvette. "Are you okay?"

Yvette gave an uncertain nod, shaking a little. "I scared them," she said, blinking a little. It saddened her that she made someone frightened, but then again, they hadn't hurt either her or Jane. "Thank you, for being so brave."

"Hey." Jane tried to smile reassuringly at the spiky red girl. "You were brave, too. You stayed here and told the boys to leave us alone. They were the cowards."

"My knees were shaking," Yvette confided, then took a breath, trying to calm herself. "Would it be okay for us to be going home now? I think I can wait to get my paper another time."

"Of course. I don't want to be here anymore either." Jane looked around one last time to make sure that they boys really had vanished and started walking Yvette out to the parking lot. Scaring the boys witless probably hadn't been the best tack to take, but frankly she was more worried about Yvette and how she was going to react to this. The boys had been cruel and threatening to her specifically. What was wrong with people that they thought they could treat each other like that?