xp_logs | Face the Blood - Doreen and Crystal

Noticing Doreen in a tree, Crystal goes to talk to her. The two take part in the time-honored Xavier's tradition involving students and bringing food, except this time it is the student who is fed.

Doreen was still reeling from everything that happened. She kept playing the whole thing over and over in her mind. She couldn’t help put to think maybe it was her fault, but the plan had seemed like it would work. They had, at least saved the kids. But Doreen was still wondering why anyone would put landmines down. And what they were doing here if it was only going to get people like Yvette, who didn’t deserve to be hurt, hurt.

She was sitting in one of the few trees in camp, her tail dropping, a sure sign of her depression. She hoped fervently that Yvette was going to be okay.

Catching sight of an unusually large squirrel tail hanging down between the branches of a tree, Crystal floated up and closer to the tree. What had happened to Yvette was hard on everyone who knew her; the people on this Red X mission were affected, and she knew the people at the mansion were affected. Crystal could only imagine what it must be like for the two students who had been with her at the time of the accident. Seeing Doreen's face, the young woman was reminded of how lost she had felt both times Jennie had been missing.

"Hello, Doreen," Crystal said softly, not wishing to upset the younger girl.

Doreen looked up, she had been crying a bit, out of worry. She was deciding quickly she didn’t like a place where people were willing to use bombs to solve problems. She wiped her eyes with the palms of her hands, “H…hello,” she said, when she found she had a bit more of a sturdy voice. “You’re flying,” she said, stating the obvious.

"Yes," Crystal replied, "and you have a tail." To Crystal, the two ideas were the same; they were both due to their mutations. Doreen's resulted in her having a tail, and Crystal's gave her the ability to move in the air. "Have you eaten today, Doreen?"

She did have a tail, but flying, as a concept, was always fascinating. She shook her head, “No… I don’t think so anyway.”

"We should go and get something for you to eat, then, yes?" Crystal suggested. " Unless you are planning on staying in this tree all day, and while I can understand why you might wish to do that, I hope that you will also allow yourself to eat something. Perhaps I could bring food here for us; it is not such a bad idea to have a picnic in a tree."

“I suppose, I mean, I wasn’t, but I do like it up here,” Doreen said, her tail twitching a bit, “You’d eat in the tree with me?” she asked.

"Of course I would," Crystal said with a smile. "Why would I not wish to eat in the tree with you? I can fly, yes? This would not be my first time eating a meal above ground, sitting in a tree."

Doreen nodded, “I suppose not. I guess if you want to. I like to eat up in trees, you can watch the people walk by,” she finished, trailing off. With what had happened to Yvette, suddenly this whole trip didn’t seem nearly as fun as she thought it should’ve been.

"I will return in a few minutes with food," Crystal said, then moved away from the tree. As promised, she returned several minutes later with two small bags. "I recalled a journal post in which it was implied that you do not eat much meat, so I brought a variety of sandwiches including turkey, tuna salad, egg salad, and peanut butter."

“Yeah, if I eat too much meat I can get pretty sick,” Doreen said, the food smelled so good, especially the egg salad and the peanut butter, “But I can have a little, so it’s okay. Oh, and when they do the soy meat I can have that too because it’s not really meat. Mom started doing that for me in like hamburgers and things before I left home. Could I have the peanut butter please?” she asked, moving closer to Crystal and to the food.

Crystal handed the peanut butter sandwich to Doreen, found a branch on which to sit, and placed the bags next to her. She opened a tuna salad sandwich and began to eat. She remained quiet, not wishing to risk saying anything that might upset Doreen and cause her to lose her appetite, and perhaps the girl would choose to talk about what was so clearly bothering her.

Doreen polished off the sandwich quickly, “Um… could I have the eggsalad one too?” she asked, shyly. She normally tried not to really stuff her face around people she didn’t know, but she hadn’t had much to eat since the accident and it was starting to catch up with her and the rest of the food smelled so very good.

Crystal handed her the second sandwich, glad to see that Doreen had an appetite. "It is good to see that you are eating. We can get more sandwiches if you would like. I also remember reading a post in which you said you eat a lot."

“Yeah. I’m hungry all the time, really,” Doreen admitted. Girls back home in Beverly Hills would normally rather die than admitting they ate so much. Of course, those girls hadn’t been her friends in years. “…Do you think Yvette will be okay?”

Crystal paused for a moment, considering on how to answer the question. "I do not know, Doreen," Crystal answered honestly. "I do not wish to lie to you or give you false hope, but I do not wish for you to think that there is no hope for her at all. Yvette is in more than capable hands, and what I do know for sure is this - they are doing everything that they can to save her life."

“She can’t, die,” Doreen said, with all the force innocent conviction could add to the words. Her tail drooped considerably at the thought. “It shouldn’t have happened at all, Miss Crystal.”

Of course Yvette can die. Anyone can die. Even long-lived mutants with healing powers can die. My parents died. These much honesty, however, Crystal did not care to voice to the sad, hurt young girl sharing a tree with her. "Many things should not happen. And when we look at events after they have already occurred, we may see things in a different way, yes? Hindsight is twenty-twenty, they say. However, save for those who have some form of precognitive power, no one is able to look into the future in order to see how a certain situation will play out. No one intended for Yvette to be hurt; what happened was an accident. Perhaps this does not make the situation better" or any less grave "but she was harmed while helping someone. What she did, what you did, was heroic. Not everyone would have tried to save the life of a young girl they did not know."

“Sure they would. I don’t see how you could let a kid be hurt,” Doreen said simply. She also wanted so much for Yvette to get better. “We couldn’t leave her there.”

Ah, innocence. It was refreshing, a much better thought than "If Magneto were here, things would be better." Crystal shook her head. "No, Doreen. Some people would have left her there. The fact that you did not speaks volumes about your character. Not only did you want to save her, you worked with others to form a plan, and it worked. You did save that girl! She is alive, right at this very moment, because of what you did." Crystal hoped showing something positive would help Dori.

“Yeah…” Doreen said, her tail lifting a bit, “But I still think anyone would’ve done it, you know?”

Crystal smiled. Let the girl keep her belief, at least for now. Crystal wanted to help Doreen, not drag her down, and she had absolutely no desire to try to convince her that not everyone in the world would go out of the way to help someone they had never met before. "That is a very positive thought to have. Perhaps we can both think positive thoughts about Yvette? There are beliefs that wishing someone well and sending positive thoughts his or her way can be beneficial. Certainly, it would not cause any harm."

“Okay,” Doreen said, “Maybe that will work…” she really hoped so. Something had to.