Jennie and Laurie - Thursday Evening

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In response to this thread Jennie decides Laurie needs some tough love.



Laurie typed furiously, the keys of her laptop keyboard clacking in a soft staccato rhythm as she replied to the comments on her journal entry. She would never have admitted it, but the sheer relief of finding a target for the rolling, undirected anger inside her was almost overwhelming.

If they 'd been in the same room with her, she couldn't say she wouldn't have tried to deck them at that particular point in time.

"All right, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way," a familiar voice said from behind her. Jennie stood in the doorway, finishing pulling on a pair of gloves. She was dressed in long sleeves and jeans in spite of the hot weather, and a painter's respirator hung around her neck.

Laurie turned, ready to snap about how Jennie could just get the hell out of her room and leave her alone, and then just stared for a moment, looking slightly confused. "Jennie?"

"Easy way," Jennie gave the gloves one final tug, "is that you walk with me to Samson's office, for he is there, I have checked, and you get some good therapeutic anger management. Hard way? Pretty much the same, except I carry you there myself," she put her hand son her hips and tossed her hair out of her eyes. "So what will it be?"

Ahhh, that. Laurie sighed, and rolled her eyes before turning back to her computer. "I already told you, Jennie. You're not my mother. I'm dealing with my anger perfectly fine. Just because you don't like what I'm saying, doesn't mean I'm in need of therapy."

Except that if she were really honest, at least to herself, she did need help. She just...she couldn't, not yet, she didn't even begin to know how to talk about everything. It made her angry, this inability to put things into words that she felt she could say. The sheer frustration of having it catch in her throat, and simply devolve into tears any time she tried was even more infuriating then simply ignoring the entire thing.

She didn't want to go see Samson. What she wanted was to go her own way, to deal with things in her own time. If they were really her friends, they'd have understood that, and put up with a little anger till she felt strong enough to talk about it.

"Hard way it is," Jennie said decisively. There was such a thing as letting people be on their own to deal with things. But unhealthy coping methods coupled with increasingly worse instances of cope failure on top of mutant powers used to control people... and look, you have found one of Jennie's buttons. She secured the mask around her face with a snap, and before Laurie could react, was across the room. With a few graceful movements, Laurie was slung over Jennie's shoulder in a fireman's carry, arms pinned to her sides.

"I only do this because I love you," Jennie said as they exited the suite that Laurie shared with Morgan and proceeded down the hallway, her voice muffled through the respirator.

Laurie had never felt closer to a Christmas turkey then she did right now, in both senses of the word. She controlled the blush rising as she watched the world at a slightly different angle then she had a moment before.

She probably could have broken Jennie's hold given enough force, and more brutality than she was willing to use. It was Jennie's words that had given her pause in her anger though, and she now held still as her friend carried her down the hallway.

"You've been working out?" she asked, more to have something to say then anything else. Which was probably why she'd just asked such an obviously stupid question. Jennie was an X-man, of course she'd been working out.

"Yup," Jennie said, her voice still muffled. "Pete's even taking to kicking my ass on a weekly basis. I'm hoping to level in badass bastard here soon," she shifted Laurie's weight. "You need to eat more, girlfriend. Seriously."

"It's the running." Laurie replied, adjusting herself slightly as Jennie's shoulder dug into her stomach. "Did I tell you I joined Doug's dojo? He's been kicking my ass for weeks. Well, that and pushups, it's always pushups."

Jennie snorted, the sound far louder with the respirator. "Not hard enough it seems," the stairs were a bit tricky but since Laurie wasn't struggling, it made it far easier. "Now, I don't want this to become routine, Laurie bear, so I'm hoping we won't have to repeat this exercise. Being so angry you lash out at everyone and every thing? Sign you need a break. Trust me. Kind of an expert."

The trip down the stairs had been interesting, considering she'd been watching the stairs go past them backward.

"I'll be good." Laurie promised, having lost most of the intense anger she'd been carrying just a moment ago, only the slow burning bitterness appeared to be left. That, she supposed she'd have to talk to Samson about. Intellectually, she knew it wasn't good to be carrying around any of it, but emotionally? She really wasn't sure she trusted the man, much as she wanted to.

It reminded her though that she needed to talk to Garrison, the trip to Sri Lanka had shown her just how dangerous situations could get. Maybe he hadn't been being quite so out of line as she'd thought. Something to discuss with him, at the very least.

"All right, here we go," Jennie plunked Laurie down in front of Samson's office door, keeping a firm grip on the girl's arm in case she decided to bolt. She knew Laurie was technically an adult, but her childish behavior hadn't helped her. "Now, Samson's cool people. He's helped me get over some pretty tough shit, and I know you can't be therapied unless you wanna be therapied, but give it a shot, yeah?"

"I'll try." Laurie replied, somewhat reluctantly. She didn't usually make vows if she didn't mean to keep them. Which meant she really would have to try and trust the man, considering she'd just said she would. "Don't expect miracles."

"I'll be happier when you're not freaking out over small things," Jennie said, removing the respirator and lifting an eyebrow at the girl. The mask had left red indentations in the sides of her face. "Now shoo," Jennie crossed her arms over her chest and waited.

Laurie rolled her eyes at her friend, but knocked and then entered Samson's office all the same. She really did need to talk to someone, it might as well be him.