Dori & Doug: Comic Time

[x-squirrel.livejournal.com]

Doug comes bearing comics. Dori is happy. Nerding out ensues.

Doreen’s part of the room was a homage to the best of heroes. Monkey Joe watched from Doreen’s desk as she started to rearrange everything. It had been severely messed up after her birthday and she figured she could at least put stuff together a bit differently.

Superman, the statue that Julian had gotten her stood on top the dresser and she started arranging smaller figures around it. Doreen had a few of the big ones, from back when her Dad would buy them for her too, but these were the little Justice League Unlimited figures you could get at Target. Black Canary, the Green Arrow (Ollie), Ice, Fire, The Flash (Wally West), Batman, Hawk Girl and others were all being carefully arraigned. She had managed to get all her posters up on her side of the room. The one from Tim Burton’s original Batman that was autographed by most of the cast and the director. A poster for The Dark Knight, Superman Returns and Batman Begins. It was really only a small reflection of her full collection back home.

At the moment she was pondering the placement of a large Wonder Girl, early Titans era, statue while Monkey Joe was digging through a bowl of peanuts she had left on her desk.

"Ah, I've come to the right place," Doug announced from the doorway. He'd tapped lightly, but the door had been open, so he'd peeked in. "That's quite the collection," he noted, a bundle of comic books tucked under his arm as he observed the tableau.

“Thanks,” Doreen said with a smile, “I had to leave most of the stuff at home. I didn’t know how much room I’d have here. I might have to have Mom send me some of my other stuff.”

Doug whistled. More stuff? He wasn't sure the room could take it. "I come bearing an offering," he said, holding out the stack of comic books with a smile.

“Oh my gosh, really?” Doreen said, reaching for the books carefully, as her claws had a tendency to wreck things if she wasn’t careful, “You didn’t need to do that.”

"I said I would, didn't I?" Doug asked. He handed the books over easily, trying to show via his body language that he wasn't all that concerned with claws. "I'm not the sort to keep all my comics in bags and longboxes and make you wash your hands three times before reading and all that. Comics are meant to be read." He shrugged. "So how are you settling in?" Despite no longer being a resident of the mansion, he still had an alumnus' pride in Xavier's and a desire to see it be as beneficial for others as it had for him.

Doreen was looking over the books with a squeak of joy. There was so much here that she hadn’t been able to buy in the past view months. That she’d now be able to read without taking up space and time at the comic shop. Not that she didn’t like to, but it was better when not smelling everyone and everything else around.

She looked up, “Oh, I like it. It’s a lot better than my last school and stuff. And I’ll take good care of your books too.”

"I'm sure you will." When had the students gotten so young? And why did he think of himself as old when he'd only just turned twenty-two? Probably the strain his job had put on him. And joining the Hellfire Club. And getting eaten by Mastermold. And...he snorted. Maybe he had reason to feel older than the calendar said he was. He looked over at the bowl of peanuts as it rattled a bit. "I take it this would be the famous Monkey Joe?" he asked.

Doreen looked over her shoulder, she had set the books down on her bed for her reading enjoyment later on. She fully planned to dig right into them when she could get away with taking a few minutes to do it. “I don’t know if I’d call him famous,” Doreen said as Monkey Joe, his mouth full of nuts, gave Doug a look that said ‘why yes, yes I am.’ Doreen was generally against feeding his ego too much and just shook her head. “He has a pretty fat head.”

Doug grinned as Monkey Joe made what sounded like a rather rude chattering noise at Doreen. "I think Monkey Joe disagrees," he noted with a chuckle. "I don't think I speak fluent 'squirrel', but it's not that hard to guess." Though Doug wondered if his power might also lend itself to the 'body language' of animals as well as humans. Something to ponder, maybe. He imagined Monkey Joe might be at the upper end of the bell curve for squirrels, though, perhaps because of Doreen, or just natural intellect.

“Yeah,” Doreen said, “but he does have a fat head, but I still love him,” she said, as Monkey Joe preened, knowing that he was being talked about. Doreen couldn’t help but to roll her eyes a bit, “He’s spoiled, and he’s used to the big city, he doesn’t know what to make of this place yet. But I like it.”

"Well, that's the important part," Doug observed. "I think your opinion probably matters a bit more than Monkey Joe's in the grand scheme of things. After all, you're the one with opposable thumbs and all."

Monkey Joe made some angry clicking sounds and now Doreen DID roll her eyes, “Yeah. Try telling him that.”