Marius and Jennie - Friday Morning

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Jennie's trying to unwind in the rec room when a still sick Marius wanders in. Both of them reach a mutual conclusion about the state of things.



Class was still in session for the time being, so Jennie took the full advantage of having the rec room to herself by parking herself on the couch, occupying her time with Black Adder DVDs and refusing to change out of her pajamas. The fact that her pajamas consisted of a tank top and very small shorts notwithstanding. Add a frappuchino to the mix, and Jennie had achieved the perfect state of zen. In spite of the bruising, that is.

There was a shuffling noise from the doorway. It proved to be Marius: holding a waterbottle, sweating, and not paying much attention to where his feet were going. True, he wasn't powering a doomsday device, but he still had four mutations in his system, three from energy projectors. His metabolism was retaliating by alternately running to fever and demanding insane quantities of food. The tendency to scorch objects when he wasn't paying attention was beginning to annoy him. Without much energy, Marius achieved the closest piece of furniture and collapsed on his stomach. As this happened to be an ottoman, the rest of him settled for spilling over the sides.

Jennie appeared in his line of sight, kneeling on the floor and head tilted. This was the first time she'd seen him since the mission, and it was quite possibly the first time she'd ever seen him look ill. "Marius honey?" she reached out and felt his forehead, then his cheek. He was burning up. "Okay, while that seems like a good spot right now, I think you'd prefer the couch. Upsie-daisy..."

"Oh, Jen," Marius remarked to the carpeting from where his forehead nearly scraped it. "Didn't see you. No worries. Just restin' my eyes."

"Nope, up, you big lug," Jennie cooed. She draped an arm across her shoulders and half-pulling, half-shoving, deposited him on the couch. She then perched on the armrest by his head, stretching out her arms. "Pray tell, why are we out of bed?"

"A darin' escape from Medlab," the boy replied, folding one arm over his eyes as the other readjusted its grip on the neck of the waterbottle where it rested against the floor. "Well, escape from a general check-up, that is. Despite appearances and personal desire to the contrary, I am assured Death is quite a few doorsteps distant."

"How much longer until it's out of your system?" Jennie said, picking up the remote and turning the sound down, as Hugh Laurie in drag argued with Rowan Atkinson. "While I like the good bit of schadenfreude now and then, this is patently ridiculous. I don't want there to be a new trainee curse. I swear to God, with the way Forge is going on, he'll bring down the Chicken Men from Mars upon us or something."

"In the event of befeathered overlords from beyond, let it be known I intend to curry their favour by sellin' you out on that remark." Marius rubbed his face with his free hand. "As for when all this has run through, don't know. Another day or so, perhaps. It seems my body regards the mixin' of similar and yet different mutations much like the mixing of beer with wine and harder liquors to the average drinker. That is to say, unhappily. And on a personal note, I think I deserve a month off comms for sufferin' through two abductions in a single week."

"I'm not sure if it counts as two if it's technically by the same person," Jennie reached over and took a sip of her drink, wincing. "I'd swear everlasting revenge on the douche with the sword, but since he's now a stain one the floor of the ruined volcano base..." Jennie trailed off and paused. "Y'know, when I once brought that up, I was kidding," she shook her head. "Anyway. You know, Marius, you'll technically have to repay me the favor and rescue me once Krankor, king of the Chicken Men claims me for his bride. Just think, you'll burst in heroically into his throne room, and I'll be tied up and in some sort of metal bikini, because distressed damsels always wind up in metal bikinis, and you'll be all 'You can't marry her! She's already married to me!' ...Except this is you, so it'll be more like 'Oi! Mate! Hands off me gel before I sic the drop bears on yeh!'"

Marius winced under his hand. "You know, I had thought nothing more distressing than your pronunciation of French. It is a comfort to know such assessments may ever be proven wrong. Truly I should leave you to the mercy of our feathered conquerors. Additionally, multiple kidnappings by the same individual are completely valid. Moreso, in fact. The only thing that can worsen such an experience is redundancy."

"If it makes you feel any better, you are not even within spitting distance of Kyle's record. And he managed two kidnappings by two separate entities within a month of each other," Jennie took another sip of her drink. "I'm sure it reflected well on me when I all but grabbed Fearless Leader by the lapels and shook him while demanding to be sent after you. Kyle said my eye twitched."

"In fairness, I suppose I did rather deserve it for escortin' her to the door, though I am assured that as some sort of ridiculous god-magic and, as a consequence, I wasn't to know." Marius raised the waterbottle to his forehead. "Ah, well. I am thankful someone handled themselves with competence. A certain degree of short-term memory appears to have been broiled, but I feel confident in approving those vague impressions that remain." He looked directly at her for the first time and nodded towards her jaw. "Quite the bruise, though."

"Cracked a tooth, too," she gingerly pulled aside her lip to show him. "My very first crown. It is a sacrifice I was more than willing to make for the safe return of everyone," she gave Marius an affectionate scratch behind the ear. "I wouldn't worry so much about competence level, I still really have no idea what I'm doing. And after this mission, I figure our esteemed leaders do draw up a plan before we go into battle, and then tear it up a few minutes before we land."

"Speakin' as one with a long history of bein' set upon by violent men, I have always regarded strategy as more of a guideline."

"My poor sweaty boy," Jennie cooed. She rubbed his head. She wasn't going to bring up just how badly he'd scared her. That having less to do with her recent feelings and more to the fact that she was still deeply protective of him. She often wondered where that particular branch of reasoning came from, since Marius was the type of boy who she often avoided like the plague in her old life. Popular jock types who delighted in drinking and giving STDs to the female population of the school. Truly, life was strange. And this was coming from the girl who had fought with guy with a bag over his head. "I wouldn't wallow too much in the misery of being held captive, I'm merely ahead of the curve. Remember the kidnapping I had in November? Coupled with the random species change? I think it's less about being incompetent and more about having a life that is really frigging weird."

"This?" Marius said, raising an eyebrow. "This is not wallowin' in failure. This is bein' bloody crook." He sighed and shifted his head against the pillows, bringing a draft of cool to the heat trapped in his damp hair. "Truth be told, I don't so much feel like the rehash. I have come to determine that turnin' round the same problems over and over does me no good. I'm not that sort."

"Nope," said Jennie. Though for all that Marius professed to be an airhead, he sure put a lot of energy into making sure everybody understood that. She took pity on him and rested her cold drink on his forehead while turning up the volume on the television.

"What I mean to say," Marius continued, bristling slightly at the hint of placation, "is that some are suitable to dispassionate rumination on such subjects as fate's caprice and unfortunate trends. I am not one of this sort. Those sort of thoughts, they curdle on me. I am in a mood, true, as that I think is inevitable after one has been used to power a doomsday device, but I'd do a bit better without the gentle understandin'. Appreciated though the sentiment is, right now it just serves to remind me I've somethin' to be understandin' about."

Jennie raised an eyebrow. "Are you accusing me of gentle understanding? Me? pssh." She wrapped her arms around her legs and rested the side of her head on her knees. "How long have we known each other and how many times have I tried to be 'understanding' at you? The closest I get to gentle understanding is letting someone stare too long at my breasts. No, what I see is a friend who just had a crappy experience and who has proven immune to my usual charms and as such I was content to let you lie there and soak the couch until the time you tired of my company or passed out. There's not many people I would go happily get punched in the face for, and I'm keeping in mind that you're probably in one hell of shitty mood, but as such I would trust you extend me the benefit of the doubt here."

She leaned back against the couch with a sigh, pulling up the remote and finally pausing the DVD before it could go onto the next episode. "I care very much about you, you dumbass. It's either engage in witty banter right now or sob in relief that I didn't accidentally kill us all at the end there, which would you prefer?"

Marius rubbed his forehead. Currently the process of deep emotional reflection, only topically explored country at best, did not appeal to him.

"Apologies," he said at last. "It's less to do with you an' more with me, truly. Taking things wrong and that. I think I could just do with a bit of a break. Even if it is not the usual 'Ah, it is Marius, he has just undergone a traumatic experience and thus we must act as if naught is amiss' routine I shall certainly project such an intent on further interactions. The only thing more unpleasant than bein' in a foul mood is spreading it to all and sundry. Temporarily satisfyin' though it may be, in the long run it's far more trouble than it's worth. Rather like an emotional STD."

"Well, you are allowed to take them you know." Jennie said, stretching out her arms again. "Breaks I mean. I'm halfway tempted to take Marnie up on her offer to go boating with her family off of Key West. It'll have to wait until the bruising heals properly, but then it's sun, sea, and wearing as little as possible. Just think, you and your speedo by some pool with a nice fruity drink and an army of women in nothing but a few scraps of string. Besides, how can your many many many women here miss you and pine for your absence if you don't actually leave?"

"I don't fancy a flat-out vacation. A little constant violence is both healthy and necessary, in my opinion." Marius gusted another sigh and scratched in the depths of his sweat-sodden hair. "I think I might put in for a bit of time at the West Coast Annex. Sun, sea, an' regular training sessions have a certain appeal. I have also yet to visit the golden sands of California, which I am told is practically illegal for aliens abroad in America." He wasn't the closest friend of most of those at the Annex, but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Additionally, regular access to physical outlets had a way of improving his mood.

Jennie fought the urge to roll her eyes at him. He was in a bad mood, and as such, was to be expected to be like talking to an overheated blob of frequently incomprehensible jello. "Have fun with the hitting of things, then. I am finding myself with a sudden, almost comedic overabundance of fight training. However, considering some of it will be with Pete Wisdom from Snow Valley, whose fight style is uniquely suited to my own, I ain't complaining. I will most eagerly plunge into it after I return from reminding myself that I have friends who expect nothing more from me than my presence."

Marius eyed her with an impressive combination of weariness and confusion. "Sorry, I fear I am fever-addled. Was that meant to be a dig?"

"No," she sighed. "Just an exhausted statement of facts. Marnie makes me feel normal. Uncomplicated. I feel like I've been beating my head against a brick wall with school and the team and everything, and all I can think of right now is how good it's going to feel to stop." Jennie rubbed her forehead.

"Strange thing about normal," Marius said, letting his eyes close. "It is defined as 'that which conforms to a type, standard, or regular pattern', and yet when those of us in residence long for 'normal' we mean, almost exclusively, we desire that which is not a natural occurrence. Calm, simplicity, and so forth." He sighed, sloshing his water gently. "Odd, though. Despite the definition, human or mutant, I don't think I've yet met a single person who didn't feel such a state to be the exception rather than the rule."

"I guess what I mean is that I'm not always on guard. I feel more like myself when I'm around her and at school. Everywhere else I'm playing a part, trying to be more than what I am. Even with you, where I don't even know what's okay to say anymore and what's not. I'm tired. I want to be myself for a while before I forget who that is." Jennie said softly, gnawing at the end of her thumbnail.

There it was again -- that odd edge to her words that seemed to open into a void that the simple torch of Marius' comprehension couldn't hope to illuminate. Or didn't want to, possibly. With his head full of his current thoughts, he didn't know that he spare the room for anyone else's. Not until he'd found his proper mind again, at any rate. Still, one uncharacteristically lucid thought did make its way to his forebrain.

Who isn't playing a part?

He wondered if even the professor could have answered that question.

Marius exhaled slowly. This wasn't his forte, but he would hazard a guess that philosophical discussions were best left for those times one was not running a fever and feeling unpleasantly lightheaded. And so, in the interest of sanity and simplicity, he settled on what seemed to be the only undeniable fact in the entire conversation: "Sounds like a break would do us both good."

"No shit," said Jennie amiably. She scratched his head again. "Can I get you anything while you're spread out here? Juice? Gatorade? Flintsones chewable morphine? You're more than welcome to stay while I make my way through the Blackadder oeuvre."

"Cheers, but no. I'm fine. Take a bit of a nap, probably." He thought back on the last few days for a moment and added, conscientiously, "Though just to be safe, you may want to fetch a fire extinguisher."