Dori and Catseye: Friday Afternoon

[x-squirrel.livejournal.com]

The arrival of Nico brings about some bad memories from Dori, which she confides in Catseye.

After everything had been straightened out and settled, Doreen went and curled up in the treehouse. Monkey Joe was on her shoulder, giving comfort in his own way. There were way too many flashbacks to high school in the last hour or so for her to be very comfortable with, so took the first moment she could to just get away.

As far away as she could, anyway.

Flying through the trees in catform, Catseye dug her claws in on a branch and stopped short right before a leap when she noticed movement in the treehouse. She changed directions, landing on the top of the treehouse before shifting into girlform on the roof and leaning over the side to peer in at Dori through one of the windows. "Hi Dori! Hi Dori'sSquirrelFriend!" she exclaimed with her usual enthusiasm.

Doreen had to wipe her eyes quickly before she looked over, a smile painted on her face. Though it was weaker than her usual ones, “Hi,” she started, “I didn’t think you’d be out here right now.”

"Why not?" the catgirl asked, doing an upside-down head tilt.

“I dunno,” Doreen said, “I… well… just thought I’d be by myself for a bit.”

"Oh." Catseye looked crestfallen. "Should I go away and leave you by yourself? Because you were crying and you don't want me to know?"

“I wasn’t crying!” Doreen said too quickly, “And you don’t have to leave.”

Catseye disappeared for a moment, until the purple cat jumped from the roof into the treehouse through the window, shifting back into girlform when she was inside. She sat cross-legged on the floor across from Dori and MonkeyJoe and examined her claws. "Okay I will not leave then," she said with a nod. "How come Dori was NotCrying?"

Doreen shrugged and dried her eyes a bit, "I don't know. Just thinking, I guess. About stuff."

"Stuff? Like puppies and rainbows and presents and comics?" Catseye wasn't entirely sure who she'd picked up sarcasm from- most likely Cammie- but she enjoyed it sometimes. Or was that irony? She didn't know. But hopefully it would be effective. "That kind of stuff?"

Dori couldn't help it, she laughed a bit, "No... not that kind of stuff."

"School? Boys? I am a good listener," she offered with a smile. "I could even be a cat if you want to talk because some people think the cat is a better listener because the cat does not ask questions."

"I guess school, but not this school, my old school," Doreen said looking over at Monkey Joe.

"Because Nico used to go to your old school? Does Nico make you sad?" She liked Nico a lot, but she also liked Dori, and it would be very confusing if they didn't like each other...

"Yeah, she did, but she left before I did," and then things had gotten even worse. Nico hadn't even been as much of a shield as Julian was, "Where I went to school before the other kids were really, really mean."

"Because Dori is a mutant with a tail and the other kids did not understand?"

"Yeah, I guess so. And I have claws, and my teeth look funny and tons of other reasons, even the fact I couldn't get expensive clothes anymore after Dad... um... left. They did a lot of bad things," Doreen said softly.

Catseye wrinkled her nose. "Dori should not let SillyStupidKittens make her sad. SillyStupidKittens do not understand anything. And now Dori is here and Nico is here and it is the bestest place for mutants to come and the best school and it is much better than that old school Dori went to because everyone is nice!"

"But she left! And things got really, really, really bad," Doreen explained.

Tilting her head, Catseye frowned. "Are you angry at Nico for leaving the other school and leaving you to get hurt by the other kids?"

"I don't know," Doreen admitted with a shrug, "Julian got shipped away and she left and I was just... there."

"You can be angry and sad," the catgirl said with a nod, patting Dori's shoulder, "it is okay. But you cannot be angry and sad all the time, because you cannot change things from before when Julian got shipped away and Nico left and you were at the mean school by yourself. Now, you are here with us and we are your friends and we love you and if anyone is mean to you I will hurt them and so will lots of other people here! You have to be think about those things and be happy," she suggested with a smile.

"I'm not sad and angry all the time. I didn't even care until I saw her again, because this place is so much better," Doreen said, "I like it here."

"Good," Catseye nodded happily. "Because if you said you were going to be sad all the time like Julian thought, I would have to thwapp you! I think Nico is feeling like she does not fit in at the school," she admitted to Dori, "and I think she is afraid that everyone else will not like her because her powers are not like anyone else. So I think it would be good if you told her this place is so much better than the mean school? Because you are already her friend so maybe she will listen to you more than me because i am someone new?" She didn't know if that tactic would work, but she didn't want Nico's presence at the mansion to make Dori sad and wanted to feel out how Dori thought about Nico.

"...Maybe. Wait, Julian thought what?" Doreen said, sidetracked by all the other information that Catseye had just dumped on her.

"He was sad about Inez leaving," Catseye said with a shrug. "He did not know why he should be happy at all if people kept leaving to make him sad and sad and sad again every time someone leaves. But I told him he cannot be sad all the time. And neither can Dori."

"I'm not Catseye. I promise I'm not. I just don't like thinking about my old school, I guess," she said simply. "At least I'll never have to go there again."

"Why would you have to go there again?"

"I don't. That's the great thing. Even most of the teachers there were really mean," Dori explained simply.

"It is veryverygood you do not have to go there! Are you going to cry some more or do you want to go play something?" the catgirl inquired innocently.

"We can play. Monkey Joe likes to play too, as long as you don't pull at his tail," Doreen said, putting a smile on.