Doreen & Julian: Long Time, No See

[x-scion.livejournal.com]

Two old friends from L.A. reconnect on the other side of the country.

Dori wasn’t quite sure where her roommate was going, but she was still unpacking. Her clothes were being but in the drawers but right now she was looking for a place on the wall for her Batman poster. The one from the original Tim Burton movie. That was signed by Jack Nicholson, Tim Burton and Michael Keeton. It involved her standing on a chair. At least her balance was perfect.

This place was really cool so far. If nothing else at least she was off the bus! That thought was enough to keep her from being homesick.

Julian could hardly believe it when he spotted her on the journal. They'd been friends back home and for her to suddenly be here, in Westchester, at the mansion...! Part of him didn't want to get his hopes up, thinking that this was probably a late April Fools joke from one of the mansion's telepaths.

He hurried down the hall to Callie's room, which was the only place he could think that they'd be able to fit her at this point. The door was propped open so he left himself inside and he could immediately hear the half-squeaks of his old friend in the other room. He beamed as he pushed the room door open and spotted her trying to tack up a poster. Still not possessing enough control to push the tacks in, but he could at least hold up the poster for her. Julian reached out and pushed the poster against the wall evenly, a think green shell of energy with four little holes for the push pins appeared.

When her poster started glowing Doreen looked around, eyes wide. “Julian?!” The rumor mill had him sent to military school. Or to some place so far out of the way that no one would ever stumble on him again. She bounced off the chair in a second and flung herself at him. “OHMYGOD!” Batman could be forgotten a moment for this.

"OOMPH! Hey!" He tried to free himself from the hug, but found it strangely impossible as she clung to him, so instead Julian just hugged back. "I saw your post on the journal and I couldn't believe it! What are you doing here?"

Doreen clung to him, smiling widely, “I thought you got sent away to military school!” she said and then finally let go. Dori was stronger than she looked, but that had always been the case, “Um… it’s kinda a long story, but social services sort of told Mom they thought I needed more help and we found this place.”

"This is amazing- I mean, what are the odds, right?" he had to watch the clock- afterall he did have a show tonight. "You're at the right...oh, my god- you're going to love it here." Julian's eyes got wide, if Doreen Green belonged anywhere, it was here in super-hero HQ. "And no- not military school- here in New York is where I'm serving my exile." The fact that Shakespearean dialect from the play was affecting his everyday conversations, one of his least favorite things about acting.

“I know, that’s… that’s awesome!” she gave him another hug. “I can’t believe it! This is so cool! Once you left I never thought I’d see you again and school got really weird after they made you leave. So this is a good school then? I hope the classes aren’t TOO hard.”

Chuckling, Julian finally freed himself from the hug, "The classes are okay, the extracurriculars are even better. Has anyone told you about the New Mutants program yet?" He beamed at her, knowing this would knock her socks off- if Doreen indeed wore socks.

“Um, kinda? I had the orientation thing today but I didn’t really pay much attention to it,” she said. They didn’t honestly think she could pay total and complete attention to the whole thing after spending three days on a bus.

"Okay, but did they tell you about the X-Men?" he was practically giddy with excitement over this, but the clock on dresser told him he didn't have much time left before he had to head out.

“Kinda? I just spent three days on a bus, Julian,” she whined, “The people smelled. The people smelled worse than the smog back home. Dad wouldn’t pay for a plane ticket.” She couldn’t have paid attention if they were introducing her to Superman.

"Oh yeah, how are things with your parents?" she'd have to be excited later when she learned that her teachers were actually real life super-heroes. "When I left, well, more like was sent away, things weren't going so great."

“Um… about the same?” Doreen said, going down and sitting cross legged on the chair she had been standing on. She blew some hair out of her face, “But it’s okay. I mean, I won’t be home now so Dad can come back and maybe they’ll work things out and if I go home in the summer things will be back to normal.”

Julian sincerely doubted it, but still felt it best to let Dori have her delusions. "I'm sure they will, Dor. How bad did it get at school when I left? Did, er, Cas give you any trouble?" He leaned against a dresser, knowing he'd be late for make-up, but also knowing they couldn't do the play without him unless Frank Dean could play both parts.

“Yeah… uh, kinda. But it wasn’t too bad. I mean, they did stuff all the time, now that I think about it. Even if it’s kind of mean, I won’t really miss them at all. I’m glad I won’t be going to school with them anymore,” Doreen admitted. “Cas was a butthead. I don’t get why you dated her.”

'She was popular, hot and easy,' Julian shrugged, "I don't know, Dori...I'm sorry they were mean." Deep down, he knew that it was more than simply being mean. "People here are better and I'm sort of seeing someone SO much better than Cas was on her best day." He was careful not to say that he and Angel were dating- there was nothing official about it yet.

"Sort of seeing? So you have a new girlfriend?! She better be nicer than Cas. Of course that wouldn’t take much,” she said with a giggle and Monkey Joe walked in the door, jumped up and crawled on her shoulder. She quickly acknowledged her friend with a touch of noses before going back to conversation, “I know it’s mean to say it. But she was really a big butthead,” Doreen said and then squeaked happily, “I can’t get over how awesome it is that you’re here!”

"It's awesome that you're here too, really." He paused and looked at his watch again, he definitely had to get going, "Sorry I never wrote- just with getting settled in here and everything...lost track of stuff." Another pause, "And not my girlfriend, or maybe, I dunno really."

“How do you not know if she’s your girlfriend or not. And it’s okay you didn’t write. Things got really busy and stuff and now we’re both here! I suppose it makes sense. I mean, this is a school for mutants. And we’re both mutants so we both could go here. Even with my grades and stuff,” she said. She hoped she could keep up here. But as long as she could make it to class on time and didn’t have to be the one doing everything for her brother and maybe there’d be less of those things where she didn’t remember… Those were scary.

“Why are you checking your watch?”

"Oh, um, you're gunna be fine with classes here, all the teachers are mutants too." He stood back up, "And I keep checking my watch, because I'm actually acting in a play tonight...and tomorrow night too. Want me to get you tickets for tomorrow night?" He smiled and smoothed the front of his shirt.

“Ohmigod, you’re in a play? What play? I’d LOVE tickets for tomorrow night!” she chirped. “That’s so cool. Oh, you have to get going then! You can’t hang around here if they’re all waiting for you! What time is the play?”

"I'll get you tickets, it's a Midsummer's Night Dream...though it sorta became a bit of a nightmare for a while and...well, that's a long story. I'll stop by when I get back, okay? Show you around a little bit?" Julian took a couple steps toward the door and smiled at his old friend.

“Yeah! Go, go!” Doreen said, pushing Julian towards the door, “You have to be on stage! I’ll see you later! Bring Snickers!”

"Will do," Julian smiled and paused at the door, turning back toward his friend. "It's really good to have you here, Doreen." With a nod he headed out, at a hustle, hoping that there was at least one car left to check out or that one of the adults hadn't left yet.