Kitty plays counselor for a change!

[x-kitten.livejournal.com]

( Last Tuesday, Paige comes to get her copies and the two chat. )

<lj-cut text="And late Saturday night, Doug comes by, looking for a sympathetic ear, or at least a hug." Doug padded down the hall in sock-clad feet. Reaching Kitty's room, he tapped tentatively on the door. Kitty glanced up from her laptop, surprised. Nobody had mentioned anything on the journals last time she looked, and there hadn't been a note on IM, had there? "Come in," she called out, saving her work before she forgot. Doug peeked around the door. "Hi, Kitty," he said softly. "I'm not bothering you, am I?" "Nah, come on in. I'm just working on the AI term project Dr. McCoy assigned. Very preliminary stuff. What's up?" Doug ran a hand through his hair and sighed raggedly. After all the things that had happened to him, he was pretty much an open emotional book, even to people without his gift. "I...let's just say it's been a long day," he replied. A little worried at his tone, Kitty quickly put the laptop down and shifted her legs, making space on the bed. "Come here, take a seat. Want to talk about it?" Rather obvious that he did, given he'd come by. Doug shrugged noncommitally. "I dunno. I've done a lot of talking today. Mostly, I..." he chuckled wryly. "This is going to sound kind of five years old, but could I have a hug?" Kitty smiled. "Of course," she said, holding her arms open. Doug closed his eyes and clung to Kitty, letting out a deep sigh. Wrapping her arms around him, Kitty just held him, letting him hold on for as long as he needed. She certainly understood that there were times you just needed someone to touch. After an indeterminable amount of time, Doug pulled back and dashed his sleeve across his eyes and nose. "I...thanks, Kitty. That really helped." "You want to talk about it?" she asked quitely. Doug fidgeted with his hands in his lap. "I don't know. I'm just so tired. Part of me wishes I could just do today over." "Haven't got a time turner, unfortunately." Kitty smiled gently. "What happened?" Doug ticked off on his fingers. "Had a fight with Paige, had a long complex discussion with Angelo, then told Marie that I love her." He sighed raggedly. Kitty's eyebrows lifted fractionally. "Well, you've certainly be busy. Shall we talk about it chronologically, by level importance, or not at all?" Doug shrugged. "Well, the Paige and Angelo things are sort of related, I think. Paige is wound up about something, and me being me, I pushed. Which led to her being snippy, which led to me raising my voice, and eventually storming off in order to have the last word. Mature, huh? Angelo's stressed out because he knows Paige is wound up and can't help." Kitty nodded. "Hey, mature is over rated, especially given we're none of us even old enough to vote. Besides, everybody loses their temper sometime." Doug nodded. "Doesn't stop me from feeling guilty, though. So I was already kinda drained from all that, and then Marie dropped by my room. She could tell something was up, so she offered to go for a drive, get out of the madhouse for a while. And I was just so tired of pretending. So I told her." Kitty nodded. "What'd she say?" Her voice was quite as she asked, her eyes dark. Doug sighed. "That dating's not for her, she has to be practical with her mutation, that she'll never have something normal like that. But the thing is, somewhere in all that rationalization, she said she likes me. And I don't know if I'm being stupid or what, but I just can't help but cling to that, and think maybe somehow I have a chance." He closed his eyes, weary. Smiling softly, she brushed his hair away from his eyes. "Hope springs eternal?" she asked. "And hey, she knows and she still likes you. I'd say hope wasn't entirely off base." Doug shook his head. "I just don't know. I mean, at the end she just couldn't run away fast enough." Kitty nodded. "Bit of a shock to her, was it?" Doug nodded. "I think so. Although I was convinced that with the way I wear my heart on my sleeve, she had to know. Maybe she just wasn't expecting me to say it. Or maybe she knew and just would rather run away then set me down." "Doug, can you always read her?" Kitty asked, looking curious. Doug shook his head. "Not really, no. I could tell if she was lying to me, and I can sometimes read her emotional state if it's really strong, but otherwise not really." "Cause, you know, it's really hard for _everyone_ to know that somebody likes them. You'd probably have said it was blatently obvious that Jamie had a thing for me, but I didn't believe it for ages. It's just the way people are." Doug shrugged. "Maybe. I dunno." "Mmm, well, I do. It takes somebody with supream self confidence to believe another person's in love with them without external proof. And even that usually gets disbelieved." Doug nodded. "And if you're convinced that you'll never have anything normal like that because you can't touch anyone..." Kitty nodded. "It certainly wouldn't help." Doug flopped backwards and stared at the ceiling. "So basically I just have no clue what I'm doing. I mean, I want to cling to that little bit of hope from her saying she likes me, but I don't know if I'm making a fool of myself." "When do we _ever_ know what we're doing? I mean, when it comes to love, that is." Doug snorted. "Never. Talk about the blind leading the blind. We're all just fumbling in the dark." She smiled softly. "And sometimes we get lucky. But it takes a while." Doug smiled wryly. "So we keep trucking along." Levering himself up, he gave Kitty another quick hug. "Thanks, Kit. I needed this. Needed to talk and get a hug. And now, I'm going to go sleep and do my best to pretend today never happened. At least until breakfast tomorrow." "Tomorrow is another day," she said, grinning. "Cliche, but there it is. And glad I could help." Doug let himself out quietly and padded back to his room, where he flopped into bed, staring at the ceiling. Sleep was a while in coming.

Logan and Marie: Saturday Night

[x-snikt.livejournal.com]

( Sometimes, it's not enough )

[log] Doug and Marie, around 1pm on Sunday.

[x-rogue.livejournal.com]

Marie decides that she needs to talk to Doug, just to thank him for being such a sweet guy. Isn't he, though?

( It's not all bad. )

[log] Marie and Logan, aftermath from Saturday night.

[x-rogue.livejournal.com]

Around 2:15pm Sunday.

( Sometimes, it's all you have. )

Email to Emma Frost

[x-sparky.livejournal.com]

To: Auntie Emma
From: Sarah & Jono
Subject: The world.

Dear Auntie Em,

We have decided we're going to take over the world. We figure we could cause a great deal of mayhem, and throw a party when it's over and we rule the world. Thought you might like to help.

-The monsters in the basement

Sunday night, around 9pm

[x-skin.livejournal.com]

( Angelo comes to see Marie, and they talk, mainly about Paige and Doug )

Email to Shinobi

[x-tarot.livejournal.com]

To: Shaw, Shinobi
From: Colbert, Marie-Ange
Subject: .. Can we talk at some point? I am wondering something.

I have spent some time with Manuel recently, and because of that and another thing, I am wondering if you can tell me anything you know about what happened to him? He won't talk about it much, except for a few things he mentions often. He is quite irrational in his dislike of you, which I do not understand. I can explain in person, it is hard to make sense of it in typed words.