Catseye, Yvette and a Surprise Guest - Thursday night, after the play

[x-penance.livejournal.com]

After Opening Night, Yvette gets a surprise. It's a good type of surprise, for a change.



He'd managed to show up while they were all off at their dress rehearsal earlier in the day. Kevin had spent most of that time in the shop and meeting the new green girl, Cammie. He was even pretty damn proud of himself for managing to keep his plan going off without a hitch. So far as he knew no one in the play, and almost no one in general, even knew he was there. Care was taken as he picked his way through the growing crowd of friends and family of the play's participants to not brush against anyone and to keep the bouquet he held in tact. Everyone else had red roses but Kevin thought that was a bad idea. Yvette was red enough already. Instead he'd put together a rainbow of eighteen roses. It seemed more fitting. Now he just had to locate his tiny pseudo-sibling.

Catseye was searching for Evan and her mother, but before she could spot them her gaze fell on Kevin and her heart leapt with happiness, elevating her already high spirits. He'd come back! Just like he'd said he would! She took the opportunity provided by his looking around, for Yvette she assumed, to strike unawares. The catgirl pounced and bowled into him around the shoulders, careful to make sure she didn't knock him into anyone else but nearly knocking him off his feet nonetheless. "ShinyRoomBoy!" she squealed excitedly. "You came! Is ShinyRoomBoy looking for SharpSkinGirl? Catseye is tall, Catseye can find SharpSkinGirl! Did ShinyRoomBoy like the play? Did ShinyRoomBoy like Catseye's roar?!"

"Oomph!" It was his own fault, really, for not keeping an eye out for the hyperactive catgirl. Kevin's balance was knocked off and he teetered for a moment before managing to regain some semblance of dignity and balance again. "Yeah, lookin' for 'Vette." Which brought his eyes to the bouquet in his hand. It was undamaged but he held it out away from the pair of them nonetheless and gave Catseye a one armed hug. "Your roar was great. Very believable. And the play was good, too."

Catseye sniffed in the general direction of the flowers, wrinkling her nose with disinterest before turning back to Kevin with a beaming smile. As she turned back, however, she spotted Evan through the crowd. "BigBrother!" She gave Kevin a last hug and then let go. "Catseye is glad ShinyRoomBoy liked the roar and Catseye thinks SharpSkinGirl will like the flowers because they are not red and that is a GoodThing. SharpSkinGirl is by the drinks table! Catseye has to go see BigBrother now and the MotherWoman, but is ShinyRoomBoy staying at the mansion? Can Catseye see ShinyRoomBoy later? Maybe tomorrow?"

The rapid-fire questions had Kevin's head a bit dizzy. "Uh, yeah. And yeah. And, um, uh-huh?" That covered all the answers, right? They seemed to do because the purple-haired girl gave him a toothy smile and went bounding off, pretty much literally. "Way. Too. Hyper," he muttered to himself and went picking his way across the high school theatre.

Kevin spotted Yvette right where Catseye said she would be. She was talking to some person Kevin was sure he didn't know but he wasn't too bothered about it. He wove his way up to the table and crept up on the short girl from behind. Once he was close enough his arm curled around in a wide arch and held the flowers out in front of her without a word.

"Oh!" Whatever Yvette had been about to say was forgotten, as was the cast member she was talking to. "They are so lovely!" she exclaimed, and then turned to see who had brought them. "KEVIN!" she shrieked, loud enough to turn several heads. "You came? All the way from the California?"

Kevin grinned like an idiot at the reaction, especially because of the very curious looks it was drawing from a few people. "Yeah, all the way from California. You're supposed to be there for family. You're all the family Ah got and this was kinda important so," he gave a half shrug and held out an arm. "Ah don't even get a hug to go with the ear drum damage?"

There was barely a pause between the movement and finding himself being hugged tightly by a small red girl. Yvette's height meant she didn't have to worry too much about her hair scratching his face, although she did leave a few smudges of stage makeup on his clothes. "Thank you so much for coming," she said, muffled slightly before she pulled back so she wouldn't shred anything. "Are you liking the play? Everyone was doing the very good job, I am thinking."

Kevin was careful with his reciprocation of the hug, but he'd been getting better about that. Rather, he'd been getting better at making it look like he wasn't treating people like glass whenever they were within touching distance but still treating them like they may shatter if he breathed wrong. "Yeah, Ah liked the play. You were great. Everyone else was okay." She got another grin. "Ah was thinking you needed like celebratory ice cream or dessert or pancakes or something maybe."

"The dessert as well as the flowers?" Yvette's smile grew impish, something which was coming far more naturally since she'd gotten the role of Puck. "If you are not careful, people will be talking about the date." She was only joking, however, and slipped her arm through his, cradling her roses carefully in the other. "I would very much like that, Kevin. We can be catching up, yes?"

That look on her face was pure trouble. It hadn't even been six months and Yvette had grown into a mischievous girl, indeed. "Yeah, well, there're worse people for them to be startin' rumors about me datin' anyway. You're top tier." He started to weave a path through the crowd, arm linked with Yvette's and being careful to make sure there was enough space to get by without brushing up against others much. They didn't need accidents to ruin the night. "Ah'm borin', but Ah'm sure Ah can think of something to fill in any gaps ya leave for me."

As they reached the outside, Yvette let out a little breath. While she was much better with crowds, she had to admit she'd been using the drinks table as a shield. And it had been hot in the theatre - the change in temperature wasn't much to her skin, but it did feel better. Sniffing at her roses with a sigh of contentment, she looked up at Kevin. "When are you getting here? Did you come here from the airport?"

"Ah got to Salem while you guys were having dress rehearsal. Ah ditched my stuff in a guest room and hung out with the piles of metal in the shop until it was time to come for the show." He smiled, obviously proud at his secrecy in the whole manner and led her off to the car. "Ah'm sneaky. Like a ninja. What kinda dessert you want?"

"Very sneaky, yes. If I am the Apple Ninja, you can be the Flower Ninja, yes?" She giggled again. "I would like the ice cream, please. There is the place not so far from here. How long are you making the visit for? So I can be making the most of my Kevin time, yes?"

Kevin opened the passenger side door for Yvette and made a face at her. "Well, that's not exactly masculine. What sort of fear will that invoke? What respect? Ah need a better title than Flower Ninja." He shook his head at his pathetic title. Man, talk about the short stick. Once she was inside the car he shut her door and went around to get in on the driver's side. "Ah dunno. Probably a couple weeks? Got permission and everything. The FBI's nice about it when Ah'm just going from one Xavier-run place to another."

"The Metal Ninja, then?" Yvette suggested, once he'd joined her in the car. Her flowers were cradled carefully in her lap, nearly hiding her completely - two brightly glowing blue eyes were visible through the blooms. "Perhaps they are seeing you are the good person and that is why they are letting you travel?" she continued as Kevin started the car. "I am glad you are here for a little while. The Spring Break will be starting next week, so I will not have the classes and can spend the time with you."

"Metal Ninja's better. More manly. And, y'know, things like swords and shuriken and stuff. What would I do, attack people with roses as the Flower Ninja?" Or maybe just give flowers to every girl in hopes they'd fall madly in love with him? Nah, that was such a lame way of going about things. "Nah, Ah think they see Ah'll be watched over by people they've decided are responsible and that's all. Ah can go wherever Ah want for three or four days, but more'n that and they get to pull the leash back until Ah choke." Bastards. He pulled out of school's parking lot in the general direction of Carmel. The town was nearby and it had a Friendly's, which Kevin kept craving for the past month for some stupid reason.

"There is the cartoon where there is the man who attacks people with roses," Yvette pointed out. "And he is wearing the nice suit and the cloak and is very handsome." It was hard to tell if she was joking or not, so straight-faced was she. Except for a literal sparkle in her eyes. "It is still the progress, and one day you will be able to go where you want, yes?"

"What's he do, thorn 'em to death?" Kevin glanced at Yvette with faux suspicion. "That Puck role really rubbed off on you, huh?" Because she had to be pulling his leg on that one. What sort of stupid cartoon is based on a guy who attacks people with roses?! "Yeah, one day the leash'll come off. Maybe. Dunno if anything Ah ever do will satisfy 'em, though. Not like I've got Death Touch Off button and Death Touch On button and the off one is just harder to reach so Ah haven't found it yet or somethin'."

"But you can be showing you are not meaning to be hurting people, and that is the difference," Yvette said, confidently. However, she knew this was a conversation topic strewn with angst and she didn't want to spoil the night. "Are you making the friends at the Annex place? I do not know so much about it."

Kevin shrugged but didn't respond about showing the authorities he wasn't intending harm. He wasn't all that sure they cared about his intentions and his character so much. If they did he wouldn't be in the situation he was currently in and had been in for about a year and a half. He chose, instead, to focus on Yvette's question. "They're alright but not really...friends. Ah dunno. Ah just keep to myself mostly and they let me. Kinda nice that they do." Especially since he'd never get away with such a thing around the mansion.

"The people here, they are not always so good at the space," Yvette acknowledged ruefully. "I do not have to be hiding so much - people are learning that with powers like ours, we need the time to be alone and to relax. The new girl, Cammie, she is the same. Her powers make people sick, so she tries not to be around all the time."

"Yeah, Ah met Cammie already, actually. Ah like her, she's nice." In a crass, vulgar, playful sort of way. He really was going to draw her up paint on tattoo designs. Bleeding hearts, cherry blossoms and lots of pink. He might get sick of all the pink. Kevin could draw it in black and white, add the color later. "So people letting you hide out in your tree house without invadin', huh?"

"More so, but then again, it has been very cold." The warmer weather would determine things, obviously. "But I am finding I do not need as much time as I used to. And I am working for Kyle, helping with the gardens and cutting the wood, so it is the good time to be alone and to be useful, yes?"

Kevin smiled at her as he navigated his way along the dark roads. "Yeah, being useful's good. And alone. All multitaskin' and all. Sometimes Ah almost miss being social, but it's kinda hard to end up alone too long over there if ya don't want to. Sometimes there's a Jamie every five feet. Wonder if he ever made a dupe to hang out with when he was bored or lonely when he was younger." Seemed like a logical thing to do to Kevin, but then he had only child syndrome as well.

"It is the interesting power, to be able to make another you. Although I wonder if it is like he is talking to himself?" Yvette giggled a little at the thought. "I think everyone has been changing, a little. We are more wanting the social, people are understanding not to be crowding... perhaps we are all growing up, yes?"

Kevin thought about that silently for a bit. She had a point. He wasn't really sure if wanting to be more social went hand-in-hand with growing up, though. Some people seemed to get less social the older they got. But time wore on and people changed and maybe they had grown up a bit. "Yeah, Ah guess maybe we are." Weird how that snuck up on a person.