Yvette and Fred ((backlogged to Monday Afternoon))

[x-nothungry.livejournal.com]

Yvette surprises Fred, both with her stealth and her theatrics.




Fred sat leaning against a tree as he read. The sky was overcast, and looked like it would rain at any moment, but that bothered Fred little. He preferred overcast to overly sunny any day of the week.

He'd brought his Math and Science text books with him, but hadn't cracked them open once yet; he'd had a hard time justifying the school work to himself. Instead, he read an old battered copy of Fahrenheit 451 that he'd owned for almost as long as he could remember.

Fred sat the book down and lit his cigarette. As he did, he heard someone as they approached, and turned his head to look for whoever it was.

No sign of anyone. Just as he was about to go back to his book, there was a scrabbling sound from the tree above his head, and Yvette's cheerful voice piping a greeting: "Hello, Fred. Are you well?"

"GAH!!" Fred stood up so fast his head splintered a large branch he had been sitting under. The hit seemed to phase him much less than the shock of Yvette's sudden presence. He backed into the tree in his shock and tumbled over. He looked up at Yvette from the dirt he'd landed in, "Yvette! You scared the bejeezsus outta me!"

The violence of Fred's reaction startled Yvette as well - her hair shot into long spikes behind her head and her fingers and toes, which were bare, dug deeply into the wood of the tree. "Oh! I am sorry, Fred! I did not think. I hope you are not hurt."

Fred stood up and dusted off his coat and pants. He looked at how visibly upset Yvette was, and smiled a little to calm her down, "Sokay, Yvette. Only my pride got hurt. I just haven't slept a lot lately, and I spook easily when I'm tired." Fred leaned over and picked his cigarette up. He dragged off it as he looked to Yvette, "What are you doing up in the tree anyways?"

"I am forgetting not everyone is used to the Apple Ninja, as Kyle is calling me." Yvette descended the tree, jumping the last few feet and landing in a crouch. She was dressed only in the black bodysuit of self-repairing material Forge had made, sans socks and gloves. "I like to climb the trees. It is helping for me to practice with my powers, yes?" She tilted her head slightly, a worried note entering her voice although her facial expressions had stiffened somewhat with the powers spike. "You are not sleeping? Is there something being wrong?"

Fred had been in more pain than normal recently, with his new environment and the stretching of his powers a bit. He did not want to worry Yvette further, however, "Nah. Nothing's wrong. Just, heh, too much late night Red Bull and bad movies," Fred chuckled lightly and scratched the back of his head.

She wagged a long finger at him, mock-sternly. "The Red Bull, it is not good for you, Mr. Fred," she said, and then giggled. "So, you are doing good now? You are liking the school?"

"Yea. Settling in pretty good. Julian's not bad, and Cammie is pretty cool. Classes are, well..." and Fred trailed off as he smiled, "And a lot of things I do are but for me, but I do them anyway. For the sake of mental health," and dragged off his cigarette.

"Just wait until the training with the New Mutants," Yvette replied, moving to sit underneath the tree, close to where Fred had been sitting. "In the Danger Room. Have you been hearing about that yet?"

"Yea. Heard of it, can't say I'm over eager to get in there," said Fred. He sat across of Yvette, and blew a lungful of smoke up into the air, "Call me a coward, but I don't like the idea of being in a room that's trying to kill me..."

"Oh, it is not trying to kill us. It is more like the obstacle course, yes? And it is not so hard if we are working together." She giggled again. "Like the time Inez is throwing me across the room because she was being too impatient to be using the maze."

Fred laughed along with the girl, "That's one way to get it done," he said. Fred snapped his fingers, "Hey, aren't you going to be in a Midsummer Nights Dream? I heard they were gonna be putting it on..."

"Oh, yes. I am Puck, yes? It is the joint project, with the students in the town, for the good mutant and ordinary human relations." The words were a little odd, coming through Yvette's mangled English. "Are you coming to watch? It will be very good fun. Catseye has the very funny part."

"Of course I'm coming to see!" said Fred, "Wouldn't miss it for the world! Actually, while I'm thinking about it, here. You might need this..." Fred scrounged around in the insides of his coat for much longer than what should have been necessary, and pulled out a small rabbit's foot keychain, "Here. For luck."

"Oh!" Yvette's eyes glowed brighter, and she beamed at Fred. "Thank you! I do not normally believe in the superstition, but with all the accidents that have been happening, I am thinking the good luck charm is the very good idea." She carefully hooked the metal ring of the keychain on the tip of her finger, so her bare skin would not hurt it. Small flakes of metal were shaved off as it swung from her hand. "I am glad you are coming. I will not be so nervous if my friends are to be there."

"Theater is a superstitious place, I'm told," Fred smiled broadly as Yvette beamed. He'd never seen her eyes glow like that, and it made him feel great to see it, "But I'm sure you'll do great. Have you memorized your part yet? Shakespeare's pretty thick. I can't really get through it myself..."

"So I am seeing - Jan is saying 'Macbeth' on the stage and now the theatre people are saying we are cursed." Yvette snorted a little. "And I have. I am loving the Shakespeare, so I am reading it for the fun, yes? Mostly in my language, but the English is also very good." She grinned, and carefully tucked the rabbit's foot into a pocket of her bodysuit and scrambled up the tree trunk again. When she spoke again, it was a different tone than her usual - light, mischievous, almost cunning. "Thou speak'st aright; I am that merry wanderer of the night. I jest to Oberon and make him smile..." And here she turned, and beckoned to him with a long finger. "When I a fat and bean-fed horse beguile, Neighing in likeness of a filly foal; And sometimes lurk I in a gossip's bowl, In the very likeness of a crab; And when she drinks, against her lips I bob, and on her wither'd dew-lap pour the ale."

Fred's jaw slacked, and then tightened as he smiled and clapped, "Ho. Ly. Damn, Yvette! That was fantastic! Bravo!" and clapped some more, his large hands making thick sounds as they hit, "I don't know what it is ya said, but it sure sounded like Shakespeare," Fred said.

With another giggle, Yvette climbed back down and settled herself back next to him. "Thank you," she said with another brightening of the eyes. "Puck, he is the trickster, yes? He likes to play the jokes on people, to make his King laugh. Like the clown, yes? But he is also the clever one, with the plans."

"I've seen the play...well," Fred blushed slightly, "I've seen the movie at least. He's a bit of a schemer as I recall. He never seemed outright evil, though. Just...a bit manipulative." Fred stubbed out his cigarette, and lit another one, "Like I said, I'm more of a modern literature kinda guy. Shakespeare goes right over my head," Fred said, holding up his old copy of Fahrenheit 451.

"Yes, he is not the bad fairy. Just... sneaky." Yvette looked at the book, blinking at the title. "I like the poetry, mostly. But I read the other things too. The politics, sometimes. History. These such things. Your book, what is being the story?"

Fred held the book out for Yvette to look at "It's set in the future, where books are banned and people's houses are just huge TVs that they watch. The main character is a 'Fireman', but he doesn't fight fires. Whenever books or other contraband is found, the Firemen are sent to burn it. The books about Guy, the main character, figuring out what's important..." Fred coughed, "At least, that what I think it's about. I ain't a literary genius or anything..."

"A world where there are no books? That is sounding like the very bad place." Yvette sounded interested, peering at the book but not touching it with her ungloved hands. "Perhaps, when you are being finished, I may borrow?" she asked. "I think I can be finding something for the trade."

"Sure," Fred said, "You could borrow it now if you'd like." He smiled and shrugged, "I've read it a couple dozen times, to be honest. It's one of my favorite books. It, you know, means something? But it doesn't let what its trying to say get in the way of it being a good book. If, uh, if that makes any sense..." Fred looked away slightly. He was still catching himself tripping over his words, but was trying to get better at it.

"It makes the perfect sense. Thank you." Yvette was privately planning exactly what she would do to return the kindness. "It is getting to be the dinner time, yes? Would you be liking to sit with me in the dining hall?"

Fred looked confused for a moment, then smiled broadly, "Sure Yvette. I'd...I'd love to," Fred flicked his cigarette out and placed it in his pocket. He took a moment to collect all the discarded butts up off the ground and place them in one of the myriad pockets of his jacket. When done, he turned back to Yvette. "Ladies first," he said.