Doreen & Yvette

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Doreen finds Yvette, mostly back to normal, in the trees and the two girls catch up.

It was only until she adjusted again. She wasn't hiding, really she wasn't.

Yvette sighed and idly scratched at the bark of the fallen tree she'd chosen to perch on. Back in the body suit, haunting the woods - it was almost like nothing had happened at all. If it wasn't for the occasional twinge in her back, warning her she was still mending, she would have thought it was all a dream.

It was a familiar smell that wasn’t quite the way she remembered it, but it wasn’t the horrible, too off to even be comfortable smell that had been soaking the mansion the past few weeks. Monkey Joe right behind her, Doreen padded softly through the trees, in the direction of the scent. She had told Callie that she wasn’t very good at tracking people, and that was true in the mansion where everyone’s scent sort of ended up together like a goulash. Out here in the woods, it was a lot easier.

She moved in a little closer, a bit above Yvette, “Um…. Hi.”

Yvette started a little, toes digging into the wood of the tree. She tried to smile at the sight of Dori, but her face was heavy and stiff with the return of her powers and the best she could manage was a flare of her glowing eyes. "Hello, Dori," she said, her voice warmer than her expression. "Were you taking the walk?"

“No, I’ve been out here all day,” she admitted, moving and hanging on to the branch like it was a bar in the gym. The position didn’t bother her at all, the branch was more than strong enough to hold her weight. It was more annoying that Monkey Joe running over her hands tickled than anything else, “Back home there aren’t many places like this. So I’ve been having fun. How’re you?”

"I had not been seeing you very much since we are getting back," Yvette replied mildly - she knew the other girl had taken her accident badly and was worried about her. "I am all right. The doctors are saying I should be back to my normal self in another month, perhaps sooner."

“I’ve uh… been outside a lot,” Doreen admitted, still hanging from the branch, “And that’s good. Because, you really deserve to get better and stuff.” Wow, I sound like a jerk, Doreen thought as the last just sort of slipped out, not at all how she really was trying to say it.

"Thank you," was Yvette's grave reply as she watched the other girl swing slightly back and forth. "I am glad to be getting better also." It was a second chance she didn't intend to waste. "How are you, now things are not so bad as they were being? Catseye said she was making you run away in the hospital?"

“She said that?” Doreen asked, “I’m… okay. Just hanging out, you know, like from this branch. And I could smell you, but you know, not in a bad way, so Monkey Joe and I decided to come over and say hi and stuff.”

"You are knowing Catseye - she says everything that is happening." Yvette managed a small smile, the back and forth relaxing her a little. "I wonder, am I smelling different when I am not having my powers?" she asked, curious now that Dori had mentioned smells.

“Um… a little bit… I guess,” Doreen admitted, no longer swinging from the branch just sort of hanging there.

Yvette blinked. "Was I saying something wrong?" she asked. "I did not mean to offend you."

“Oh, no. It wasn’t anything you said. It’s just… weird, I guess,” Doreen said. “I’m sorry, I suck at explaining this stuff.”

"Forge was saying that for the inhibitor to be working, it was changing my normal body chemicals, yes? Perhaps that is what the weird smell was." Rather than being offended, Yvette was worried more for Dori. She seemed half-wild at the moment, ready to flee.

“Really? I didn’t know how those things worked, it didn’t hurt, did it?” Doreen asked, “I mean, that can’t feel right.”

"Well, Forge is explaining, but with lots of big words, so I did not understand it all." Yvette gave a small laugh. "It did not hurt, no, but there are the side effects which were not being so good. The longer I am wearing it, the worse they could be. So the doctors and Forge decided to take it off when my stitches are gone." Her eyes dulled somewhat. "It was hurting a little, to get my powers back. And it is feeling strange now."

Doreen dropped down a branch making her more or less level with Yvette, concern written on her face, “Are you okay? I mean, more than physically. Since nothing can hurt you with your skin like that, right? I mean, with what happened and with what’s happening now I guess.”

"It is difficult," Yvette replied honestly. "But I will be better. I must, how you say? Get onto the horse's back again? My powers, they are hard to be dealing with, but I cannot be using the inhibitor again or I will be sick. So I must be learning to control things myself."

“You can do it!” Doreen said, excitedly, “I’m sure you can do it! It won’t happen right away, but I’m sure you will.”

"I am having the things to be looking forward to now, when I can control my powers, yes?" Yvette added, amused at the younger girl's enthusiasm. Apparently she had a cheerleader. And it was just as well she couldn't blush any more, as she remembered the kiss from Kevin. Now that was something worth working towards.

“Yeah! Well, except sunburns, I suppose. Those suck. So does getting your tail stuck in things, but you don’t have that problem,” Doreen said, thinking about it, “But there’s a lot of cool stuff too!”

"Like climbing the trees?" Yvette suggested with a grin. "I am being a little slower than I was because I have to be careful, but if you and Monkey Joe would like to play follow-the-leader?"

Doreen looked up and clicked at Monkey Joe and waited for his answer, “Sure, we’d love to. It’ll be fun, right?”