Doreen, Jan and Kyle: The Bus Station

[x-squirrel.livejournal.com]

Jan and Kyle go to pick up Xavier's newest student from the local bus station. It's hard to miss the girl with the squirrel tail.

The bus ride had been three days. Now that she was near the end of it, Doreen perked up. She wouldn’t have to deal with bus or the smell of all the patrons crammed into one place or having to hide her friend in her backpack because the bus wouldn’t allow pets. At least that’s what they had told her Mom when they had bought the ticket.

She supposed she should look on the bright side. No one was sitting next to her on the bus so she could take up two seats to get comfortable with her tail and her things. She had been trying to read a few of her comics and listening to some music but when they announced they were getting there she had haphazardly packed all that stuff back in and apologized, in clicks, to Monkey Joe. He was making it loudly known just how much he was enjoying his ride in her bag.

“Look,” she said to him in English because enough people were staring already, “I promise I’ll give you all the Snickers you want when we’re at the school place but you have to be quiet for just a few more minutes,” she said, as she zipped the bag almost totally closed. She could trust him to stay in there. He always listened to her. The angry clicking subsided and the bus pulled into the station. She got in line, went to the side to get her one suitcase filled with just about all her clothes and her few personal things, and went through the gate.

She wasn’t quite sure what she was looking for, but the girl with the big fluffy tail would be really hard to miss. She wrinkled her nose.

“Wow… the bus station smells almost as bad as the bus…”

Kyle had refused to hold any signs that said "Doreen" "Green" or "Hey, you, with the tail." on the grounds that first, it was embarrassing, and second, did people who weren't Forge ever really do that except in movies? Besides, how hard could 'The teenager with the tail" be to find in one small bus station.

As he'd guessed - not that hard, as he caught sight of the tail first, and -then- the girl as he and Jan entered the bus station. "Holy -crap-." he said under his breath. "I'm glad we brought the wagon." He shot an arm up, waving it in the girl's direction.

"Yeah, I figured she'd be bringing a ton of stuff," Jan said to Kyle, looking thoughtful. "I mean, look, she's actually arriving on a bus. It's kind of cute, I think. Sent by her mom, not to get rid of her or anything but because she really cares about her kid. And just, you know, sent here. On a bus. Not 'come get my scary mutant kid' or 'my scary mutant kid just blew up a building', she just came here like any normal kid would. No injuries or mega big drama, she's just here." The serious look vanished, and Jan grinned. "I love it!"

Doreen caught the wave and pulled the big suitcase over. She was stronger than she looked, which she considered to be a good thing when dealing with a suitcase. She smiled showing slightly bucked teeth. Her tail even perked up, “Hi!” she said as she drug it over easily, “Are you guys from the school? I’m Doreen! Wait, you’d know that already if you’re from the school so yeah. Thanks for coming to get me,” she said brightly.

"No problem." Kyle said, grinning. And given how -big- that tail was, and how obviously Doreen was a mutant, he was sort of eager to get out of the bus station sooner than later. No sense in having any unnecessary trouble. "I'm Kyle - this is Jan. Uh." He tried to remember what he'd gotten told on his first day, and rejected most of that as Not Helpful. "Okay, first, car. Then, uh, Jan help me out here?" Way to sound like a responsible semi-adult, Gibney, he mentally scolded himself.

Jan grinned at the girl. "Hi, Doreen, I'm Jan! I have wings! I'm the RA at Xavier's! It is so so cool that you're here, and I'm glad we decided to bring the big car because it looks like you brought everything except the kitchen sink with you! And that's good, it is, but still if you forgot something or need something else just let us know and we can make sure you're able to go somewhere to get it. We'll take you to the school, you know it's in a mansion, right? It's big, and that surprises some people, well that and other stuff, it's not exactly your normal boarding school, but it's still a really cool place and we all hope you'll like it."

“It’s a mansion, neat!” she said, putting faces and names together. Kyle. Jan. Okay, she could do this, “You have wings? That’s so awesome,” she said and then opened her backpack, “I brought my pet with me, I hope that’s okay,” she said as Monkey Joe happily shot out of the bag and took his spot on her shoulder. “He’s all well trained and stuff but he’s kinda angry right now because he had to make the trip in my backpack. They told us when we bought the ticket that pets weren’t allowed on the bus. But he’s my best friend so I had to bring him with me. And that’s neat, I’ve never been to a boarding school before. Do you guys have a big back yard then?” she asked, everything about her perking up, even as Monkey Joe was making annoyed clicking noises on her shoulder.

"You have a pet squirrel." Kyle said in slight disbelief. "You have a trained pet squirrel. Okay, you win. I mean, Laurie has a pig, but I think squirrel is weirder than pig." It was a very clean smelling squirrel, even with having spent three days in a backpack. Once they got to the station wagon, he popped the back hatch and hefted the suitcase in. "We have... uh, okay, well, there's the grounds, and then there's some woodsy areas that have some walking and jogging paths and then there's the rest of the woods which... big's sort of an understatement."

"Your squirrel will like it, too!" Jan said, not showing anything at all to indicate her thinking that having a trained pet squirrel who had just spent three days in a bag in a bus was anything but perfectly normal. "He can have make lots of new squirrel friends! Or does he not like other squirrels?" She peered curiously at the rodent. "Wait... is he a mutant squirrel? Or a mutant who is a squirrel, I mean? We have a girl at the mansion who spents time as a cat. You might want to keep, uh, does he have a name? Might want to keep the squirrel away from her. We'll need to explain this is your pet, not just a random squirrel. And maybe you don't want to let him run all around without you. Does he like other people or just you? Might want to see if you can train him to not try to play with her. I wonder if he'll see her as a cat or person, if he'll be all 'Ah, run away!!' or not."

“His name is Monkey Joe and he’s just a squirrel but he’s a squirrel I talk to. Mom made him a collar, see? I’ll take care of him and keep him near me. But he’s just a squirrel. He knows how to fetch, sit, roll over, play dead, jump and all these other things,” Doreen said. It hadn’t really taken him long to learn all of those things. “I’ll keep him close to me, I promise. And that sounds great! All the woods and stuff! There weren’t many places to run around back home.”

She watched as Kyle put the suitcase in the back of the car. A couple of her movie posters were in there – the ones she could fit in – and she hoped they weren’t messed up from the trip. But those thoughts were overridden by the idea of a huge place to run around and jump without anyone calling the cops.

“Monkey Joe is more than my pet too, he’s my best friend,” she said again. Her only friend, really.

Kyle made a note to himself to mention that 'best friend is a squirrel' thing to Doc Samson the next time he had his appointment. He'd come to the mansion pretty lonely and miserable, not even counting the three months in jail and three months in the Mistra facility.

Hopefully Doreen'd get along with her classmates, but it couldn't hurt to warn the Doc. "The grounds are pretty cool. There's deer, and some foxes, and a whole mess of raccoons and squirrels and rabbits, and there's a treehouse that a couple of folks like to hang out and read in. And some trees that some of us use too." He closed the hatch and then showed Doreen the claws on his hands, and pointed down to his sandal clad feet. "You won't be the only one out there."

"Want to grab something to eat before we go to the mansion, or wait until we get there?" Jan asked the new girl. "Oh, do you have any dietary restrictions? If so, that's ok, you wouldn't be the only one. We can figure something out. I'm not sure any restaurants would want Monkey Joe in there, even though he does look like a very nice, clean, well-trained squirrel, but we could also go the fast food route or hide him again if he's not going to get all mad about being stuffed in a bag again. Once we're at the school you guys can run all around, although you might want to say hi on the journals and introduce yourself and Monkey Joe so people know they'll be seeing you guys around a lot. And hey, how did he get that name?"

“Sure! I’m so hungry right now,” Doreen said. “And Monkey Joe can come in with us, I’ll just make sure he stays out of sight, you know?” she said, petting him. “He’s hungry too. And uh, I can’t eat much meat, it makes me sick and I don’t eat vegetables either, really. I like nuts, fruits, eggs are really good and like casseroles and stuff. And ooh, candy! Like pies and things, and if we can go get some pie somewhere that’d be awesome! There’s this place near my dad’s work that has this pie made out of Peanut butter cups, chocolate and some peanut brittle and stuff and it’s the best thing ever!” Doreen said.

To the last question, “How’d you get YOUR name. Monkey Joe’s his name he got it like you got yours,” Doreen said. It was that simple. She hadn’t named her squirrel, that was what he told her his name was.

Kyle looked over at Jan and grinned. "Diner food. If I can eat it, anyone can, and they do a good egg salad, and they usually have fruit salad." And food would be a good distraction from the things he was not supposed to be looking at on the new student, doubly so when his girlfriend was -there- with them. "And they have a couple good pies. Nobody should have to do new student orientation on an empty stomach."