Yvette and Fred, Tuesday Morning

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Yvette runs into Fred, and finds out why he freaked out a little after the Train Crash...




She hadn't gone out intentionally looking for Fred - she understood the need for private time to sort one's thoughts out - but catching sight of him as she was in the process of clearing the running track of brambles, Yvette decided to take advantage of the opportunity and make sure he was all right. He had sounded rather unsettled on the journals the previous day. Taking care to make a bit of noise so she wouldn't startle him if he was meditating, the small Albanian girl approached the large Texan where he sat. "Good afternoon, Fred," she called out, keeping her voice light and friendly.

Fred had honestly been trying to stay off the Mansion radar, and had been failing miserably all day. He was a bit embarrassed with himself that he'd reacted the way he did, and really wanted to be on his lonesome for a while. However, when he saw and heard Yvette approaching, he hadn't minded so much; Yvette was one of his closest friends, after all. Fred stood up and dusted himself off, "Hey, Vette. How are ya?" Perhaps if he didn't mention it, the conversation wouldn't find itself there.

"I am good. The exams are going well. And you? I hope I am not interrupting you?" As always with Fred and the taller residents of the mansion, Yvette had to tilt her head back to look him in the face. Otherwise she'd be talking to his knees or thereabouts. "I had not been seeing you for some days."

"Oh, uh, yea. I've been out, y'know..." Fred rubbed the back of his neck, "...looking for a job for the summer, y'know. Classes went pretty well for me, too. I passed math, so, heh...must be good, right?"

Yvette wrinkled her nose. "I think I am needing to be learning your secret; I was passing the math, but only by the little bit. I think I will be doing better in Mr. Beaubier's class, if he is not minding so much my grammar." She tilted her head. "If you are needing the job, perhaps you can be asking Kyle for the work on the grounds? It would help for us to have the strong person working too - Mr. Marko was very strong and was lifting the falling trees and such by himself."

Fred nodded a bit, "I was gonna look for a security job somewhere in town, really, but I could probably help around the grounds too..." Fred looked around a bit, then lit a cigarette and dragged from it. He turned slightly away from the small European girl, knowing that burning tobacco wasn't her favorite smell in the world...

She nodded her thanks and moved upwind to perch on a fallen tree, long toes gripping the wood as she crouched. As was usual when she was in the woods, she was wearing only her bodysuit, a slender, almost androgynous figure reminiscent of her portrayal of Puck in the play. "There are many things you can be doing, to be helping," she agreed, glowing eyes fixing on him.

Fred visibly winced at the mention of helping, and tried his best to cover it up by taking another drag off of his smoke, "Uh, yeah. I can, uh, I can look into that..."

"Is there being something wrong, Fred?" Yvette asked, her voice as soft as always. "You do not seem to be so happy right now. And you were, how you say? Having the wiggins, after the train crash?" She shrugged her shoulders a little. "Like I am saying, if you are wanting to talk, I am the good listener."

Fred sighed a little, and smoke poured from his mouth and curled around his head, "I just...I'm glad that I was able to help the other day, really, but, uh..." he turned his sad eyes to Yvette, "I can't stop thinking about what could've happened. What if I'd caused a spark when ripping open that car? What if I'd dropped someone or stepped on someone while trying to move around in that thing? What if...what if I'd dropped that train on ya, Vette?"

Fred took in a breath, and then another, "I...just don't think I'm cut out for lifesaving, is all..."

"Of course you are not," came Yvette's surprising response, but she smiled a little. "Not yet, you are not. You need the training, to be taught to be using your powers safely, to know how to move the injured people, the first aid. That is what the Red X does - it is training us. What is happening on Friday... that is being thrown in the deep end, yes?"

Fred was still and silent for a long moment...before he chuckled and sighed, "I, uh...heh. Ya got me dead tah rights, Vette." Fred smiled a little, "Guess I can't write myself off before I give it an actual shake, huh?"

She gave a pleased little giggle. "There is the training session this Friday. If you are coming, you can be signing up and starting the program, if you like. And if you do not feel like it is your thing then, there is not being the harm in leaving, yes?" She tilted her head a little. "But I do not think you will be leaving. When I am seeing you on Friday, you were not so bad, for the newbie."

Fred's smile continued, "Yea...yea, I'll give it a shot. Why not, right? I'll, uh, I'll be there." He reached up to Yvette's perch and poked her once on the forehead, and laughed a bit, "You are pretty good at this whole listening thing, huh?"

Poking her tongue out at him, she grinned. "It is not so hard to listen if the person is wanting to talk," she pointed out. "I think more people here would do well to be remembering that."

Fred smiled and pulled his favorite cap from deep inside his jacket and pulled it on over his head, "I think you're more right then ya mean to be, Vette." Fred lit another cigarette, and then it looked as if something occurred to him, "Hey, I was gonna head into town later, maybe grab some pizza and catch a flick or something. You wanna come with?"

She hesitated only a moment, rationale thougt overcoming the instinctive fear of leaving the school. "Yes, I would like that very much," she replied. "May I have some time to be getting changed?" She indicated the body suit. "This is not so much the good clothes for dinner."


Fred nodded and grinned, "Okay, sure. Meet me in front of the school in about an hour, alright?" and with that, Fred made his way back towards the Mansion.