Doreen and Fred, Tuesday Evening

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Fred runs into Doreen, and the two mutants have more in common than you'd imagine...



Fred had been looking for a quiet place, and had as of yet come up empty handed.

It wasn't that he was trying to avoid anyone particular, really; on a lark, Fred had bought Kavalier and Klay during one of his trips into town, and was looking forward to sitting down and reading it. He'd found a nondescript tree near some of the gymnastic equipment that had been placed outside, and was in the process of carrying a chair to the cool shade of the tree.


Leaves rustled in the trees, Doreen was running around happily in the trees. She was quite a few branches up when she saw Fred coming up from below. Happily, she jumped down a few branches, and settled on one of the lower branches that was still covered in leaves.


Balancing easily, like on a trapeze bar, Doreen’s head popped down through the leaves suddenly, upside down, and smiling, “Hi!”


Fred had been looking for a quiet place; what he got was a near heart attack.

"Nyah!!!" Fred fell backwards and doubled over himself. However, unlike the first time this happened to him, he managed to come out with an iota of grace as he rolled over himself and came out on his feet, in an awkward crouch, "Jeezus som' Mary Doreen! What have I said about doin that tah me?" his tone was exasperated, but there was a small smile on his face. Something about girls and trees in this school equaled a surprised Fred.

You'd think he'd be used to it by now.


“I’m sorry,” Doreen said, “But I figured it was either this or jump right down in front of you and that’d be just as bad, you know?” Doreen said, still hanging upside down. “What’s that you got?”


Fred held up the new book, "Just a book I picked up in town. Thought I'd give it a read. Looked pretty interesting..." and offered the novel to Doreen to look over and inspect.


Monkey Joe caught up with her and now the squirrel was looking down on Fred too. Doreen took the book and looked it over, flipping through the pages. The premise seemed really cool like something she could actually read. She pulled herself up so she wasn’t upside down anymore, and sat on the branch, showing the book to Monkey Joe quick before handing the book back down to Fred, “Can I read it after you?”


Fred took the book back, but continued to hold it up, "Hey, why don't you read it first? Then, you can tell me how it is." Fred could be patient for a while longer, and that Doreen had wanted to read was a good thing. Why make her wait, "I've got some H.P. Lovecraft stuff I've been meaning to look at again in the meantime, so it's no trouble or nothin'..." He gave Monkey Joe a look. He hadn't seen the squirrel since it had tried to slaughter Marius in his dorm room, and was wary of the rodent, but it seemed pretty happy currently...


“Are you sure? I mean, I really don’t mind waiting,” Doreen said, laying down flat on the branch, her tail up in the air. Monkey Joe went to sit on her back, “After all, you bought it. It’s your book and I also have a bunch of comics that Mr. Ramsey brought over that he said I could read. And I have been.”


Fred smiled broadly, "Sure I don't mind. Books are good for ya, and a little break from comic books is good. I, uh, I read a few myself..." Fred had always hesitated to tell people he read comic books. Let's face it: he already looked the stereotype. He reached up as far as he could and placed the book next to Doreen, "Though it's always good to get outside once in a while..."


“You read comics? Which ones? I like DC and Marvel does some okay stuff. Image/Top Cow has good ideas but really, really bad writers. You know, I want to write comics one day, since they totally need more mutant super heroes in them and I love the Teen Titans and… oh yeah, what ones do you like?” Doreen managed to pull herself out of the tangent.


Fred listened patiently, and smiled when she managed to stop, "Astro City is probably my favorite right now, though I love the old Doom Patrol stuff. I uh, heh, I really don't read most ongoing stuff right now. But, uh, Invincible is pretty good..."


“Cool!” Doreen said, “Maybe we can go to the shop sometime! Julian takes me now but when I get my license I’m going to go on my own. And you can come too. It’ll be fun.”


Fred shrugged a little, "Why not?" He went to light a cigarette, but took a few steps upwind from Doreen before doing so. He'd learned pretty quick people with animalistic mutations didn't care none for cigarette smoke. "Saw you at Prom. Enjoy yourself?" he said from around his cigarette.


“Yeah,” Doreen said, crinkling her nose slightly. The smoke added a bite to the air, but it wasn’t as bad as it would’ve been had he been standing right next to her, “I had fun. Johnny and I had a lot of fun, but I think that Julian was pretty stupid.”


"Men gotta way of being stupid, Dor. And believe me, Julian got the bonehead thing to a science that night..." Fred blew a plume of smoke away from the mutated, perched girl, "But don't ride him too hard for it. Believe me, the person who hates Jules the most right now is hisself..."


“I can’t be mad at Julian. He was my only real friend for a long, long time,” Doreen said, “I want to help them get back together because Julian’s miserable but I don’t know Angel well enough to even try to talk to her. I mean, Esme’s a telepath, right? All four of them are, what if they did something to him to make him kiss her?” Doreen whispered. It could’ve happened.


Fred snorted, a small pillar of smoke escaping his nose, "The, uh, The Blonde Squadron is pretty slimy but...I don't think they'd sink that low."


“I dunno, if you really liked someone – I mean really really and you knew they had a girlfriend or a boyfriend and you thought you could do something to try to get them to like you, even if it didn’t work, would you try it?” Doreen asked, “I mean, I think I would, so I can kind of understand it, I guess.”


"Gotta a point there, Shortstack, I'll admit that...when you really like someone, like them a lot..." Fred rubbed his chin, a goofy smile spread across his face. It was fairly obvious who his mind was on, "...the lines do get a little blurry..."


“Yeah,” Doreen said, “So maybe it wasn’t totally his fault. I mean, I know Julian likes girls, but I think it was different with Angel.”


Fred nodded slowly, "Coulda been...but whatever happens, Julian will come out of it okay, I'm sure. Maybe Angel will forgive him, maybe he really wants to be with Esme, who knows? It's doubtful even Julian knows what he wants right now..."


“He was so upset about it though he got all drunk on the roof,” Doreen said, before she stopped herself.


Fred held up his hand, "Don't worry. I...I know about Julians' drink. Sokay, believe it it's alright, so long he doesn't make a habit of it..."


“I hope he doesn’t. Because when you do it gets stuck in your skin and it doesn’t come out at all,” Doreen said with a shudder.


Fred raised an eyebrow at the younger girl, "You...?" did he have a right to ask her what she knew about alcoholism? Was it his business? "...Yea. You're right. Filthy habit."


“Yeah. I hate the way it smells,” Doreen admitted, then said no more on the subject, “Thanks again for the book, Fred.”


Fred grinned broadly, "No problem. Why don't ya start on it tonight? It's getting pretty dark out here as it is..." and pointed towards the Mansion.


“No it’s not. I can see just fine,” Doreen said with a smile, “It doesn’t matter how dark it gets.”


Fred held up his hands, "Fair enough. I'm gonna head in myself, though. Maybe watch some TV or something. Wanna join me?"


“Okay!” Doreen said, jumping easily from the tree. “Let’s go!”