Yvette and Dori - Spiky and Squirrelly, Tuesday afternoon after classes

[x-penance.livejournal.com]

Random treehouse meeting - Yvette meets the latest student in person.



Dori was laying on the floor to the tree house, she could’ve been outside in the branches but she didn’t really want to at the moment. Monkey Joe was resting on her stomach and she had her cell phone open and was staring at the screen. No calls.

Still.

Doreen laid herself dramatically, arms stretched out, her tail curling over around one leg and sighed. Again dramatically. It was one of those things she felt she really shouldn’t have bothered her but it still did. Monkey Joe walked on up and curled up on her neck, making clicking noises. Doreen laughed, somehow it was hard to take things too seriously with a squirrel sleeping on your neck.

There was a scrabbling noise in the tree outside, and then a spiky red head popped through the trapdoor. Glowing blue eyes fixed on the other girl, flashing brighter for a moment. "Oh, hello," Yvette said, sounding surprised. "I was not expecting anyone to be here. I am sorry to bother you."

“It’s not a bother at all,” Doreen promised, trying to sit up and almost ending up with Monkey Joe down her shirt. It ended up it a bit of a scramble to get him situated on his favorite spot, her shoulder. Eventually she was righted, sitting in her favorite position, cross-legged, though she was a bit more disheveled for it, it was more comfortable on her tail, which curled naturally behind her. “You can come in! I don’t think we’ve met yet,” she said brightly.

"Only on the journals, yes," Yvette replied, smiling at the impromptu wrestling match and Doreen's dishevelled state. "I am Yvette. You are Doreen yes? And this is Monkey Joe?" As she spoke she was climbing into the treehouse, careful not to poke Doreen with her hair or her long fingers and toes. Over the bodysuit she was wearing a pair of shorts and a pink t-shirt with a happy smiling yellow sun on it - the colour clash was eye-watering, to say the least.

The color clash didn’t bother Doreen in the least she smiled and nodded, “Yep and yep. Nice to meet you in person,” she said simply. “This tree house is really cool, we both like it up here.”

Yvette hunkered down on her haunches, the movement seemingly without effort. "It is very good to be meeting you also," she said solemnly, although the gleam of her eyes betrayed a certain degree of humour at addressing a squirrel like a person. "I am glad you are liking it. Angel and I did much of the work and it is the good place to be coming to think if you want to have the quiet time.

“Yeah. It’s really easy to get to too, I mean, I think it is. I also like going higher up in the trees though,” Doreen said with a smile, “I think you guys did a great job on this place. If you want quiet time though, I can leave. I was just resting for a moment. We were running through the trees, which really is really fun.”

"Oh, it is fine. I was just making the check up, yes? I was away for the visit to my friend and sometimes the raccoons, they are getting in here and making the mess." Yvette smiled reassuringly at the younger girl, not wanting to scare her off. "I am also liking the climbing - perhaps you can be joining me sometimes when I am doing the work? I help Kyle to make the gardens tidy." She held up one long-fingered hand. "My powers, they are making me the natural weed-whacker, yes?"

“I suppose they would,” Doreen said, going distant for a second as she thought about it. “I don’t really like raccoons that much. They also like to get into the trash and they’re mean,” she said. Of course, she could fight off about any small animal she could name. “And sure, I’d love to join you! I don’t know how much help I’d be though, I mean, I just really climb trees and stuff. I suppose if you need anything done really high up, but I’m sure you could get pretty high yourself…”

"There are some places I cannot be reaching. I am being heavier than I look, yes?" came the reply with a laugh - the time with Kevin had done much for Yvette's mood. "So there are some branches that will not hold me."

“Yeah, I guess that could be a problem then,” Doreen said. “I can get up just about everywhere as long as the branches aren’t twigs. So I’ll help. Gladly. I love climbing.”

"Then you are in the good place for it, yes? With the trees we are having here." Yvette tilted her head at the other girl. "How are you, how you say? Settling down?"

“Yeah, there weren’t too many trees back home outside of the parks and stuff,” Doreen said, trying not to giggle, and failing, as Monkey Joe made his way to her head, “It’s nice. It’s way better than my last school.”

"They did not like the mutants there?" Yvette asked, smiling at the squirrel's antics. "The school here is the good place for when you are not looking the same as the other people. Most of the time, at the least," she added wryly, thinking of Illyana and Cammie's "teasing" of Kyle.

“I guess not, but I mean, I think it kind of freaked them out. The part of LA where I live people can be pretty… funny, I guess is the right word,” Doreen said, thinking back on it.

"It is hard for the people to understand, when you are not looking like them. My mother, when I am visiting her in Kosovo, still does not like for me to go out alone. She is afraid something will be happening to me. It does not matter that I tell her I cannot be hurt so easily." Yvette shrugged a little. "Were you always having the tail, or were you making it to grow when you were the teenager?" she asked, curiously.

Doreen tried to think just where that was, but it was escaping her right now. Very few classes put her to sleep as fast as geography, “Oh, no I grew it before I started high school,” Doreen explained, “It was sort of weird. When it was growing it was really, really hard to walk.”

"It must have been very strange to feel. I was manifesting while I was, how you say? In the coma? I did not realise, any way. So when I am waking up, it was very much the surprise, to see myself." Considering the way she'd panicked, "surprise" was putting it mildly. "I am getting more used to how I look now. And I am glad I have the powers that mean I can be helping the people."

“Yeah, that’d be kinda creepy,” Doreen said. “It did feel really weird, what I remember about biology it’s like a part of my spine… so while it was growing I was growing a new part of my spine. I couldn’t take three steps without falling over. Now I don’t trip at all.”

"Mr. Sefton is the same - he was breaking his tail and was having the trouble with his balance," Yvette said. "He is teaching the gymnastics here - perhaps you would like to be trying this?"

“I was thinking about it,” Doreen said honestly, “I guess I’d be pretty okay at it.” She shifted a bit and then smiled, she was getting itchy again, “Want to go climbing with me? It’ll be fun. I promise,” she stood up then, more of a bouncing motion, “Come on, let’s go!”