Dori & Kyle, Dori & Marie, Dori & Julian, Dori & Kurt, Dori & Bobby

[x-squirrel.livejournal.com]

The barrage of visitors kicks off the day after with Kyle. Dori on drugs manages to shock him more than once and he realizes her dose might be a bit high...

Doreen was having a staring contest with her hands. One eye was slightly more open than the other in what could almost be called a pirate glare. Her hands didn't hurt. Which suddenly struck her as being really, really funny because of what was sticking out of them under the bandages. It was like she could feel them, but she couldn't feel them.

Monkey Joe started was watching her. He was staying quiet for the moment because neither of them wanted the mean doctor to chase him out again.

She contemplated everything that had happened for a long moment, "I'm a ninja now!" she finally said, "A... tree ninja. Yeah. Because I ninja trees."

Kyle walked in at just the right time to hear "Because I ninja trees" and considered whether or not maybe the donuts were a -bad- idea. Because while Dori might've said "because I ninja trees" when not eleven kinds of drugged out on painkillers, it wouldn't have been quite so slurred and drawn out. But he was all too familiar with her need for sugar and get-better-soon donuts were just the right thing to do. If it resulted in a sugar-buzzed painkiller-stoned Doreen, well, so be it. He'd just eat the lecture from Doctor Voight. "Tree ninja, huh?"

She smelled food! Which she would've tackled him for if she hadn't promised to stay in the bed, but there was a tackle in her eyes. If the tackling with the eyes thing was possible, "Food, you brought Kyle! Hi food!"

"Oh, yeah, how stoned are you? Vicodin or just Tylonel with Codiene?" Kyle figured it was him-safe so the odds of it being Dori-safe were high. "Donuts, meet Doreen. Doreen, meet donuts." He set the box down on the little table next to the bed and then sat himself down in the chair. "Dozen donuts, all yours. Peanut butter, honey-cashew and peach cobbler."

She was having a hard time moving her hands right now but that didn't stop her from getting about four doughnuts from the box to her lap, "I like dozens of things. That means there's more than one," she pointed out. Monkey Joe was inching in closer too. She'd let him have one. THIS time. But if he got that English accent again then all bets were off. "You know, I have NO idea. It's some type of pill..." she started laughing, "Like in Brain Candy! Except, not. Because it's not like that at all, only it should be, but I don't want to be the lady with the cats."

"Well, I think first off, you'd be the girl with the squirrels. And second, your squirrel is totally removing all the cashews from that donut and just leaving the donut." Kyle couldn't help but laugh at the squirrel's antics. "It's probably Vicodin, if you're this stoned. It's the good stuff. I totally went around hugging people when I was on it for a broken jaw."

Doreen looked over at Monkey Joe who took the look as a cue to shove every nut he had in his hands in his mouth right there. "I'd tell him to stop but his English accent is scaring me," Doreen breathed, "I like hugs," she added, "I bet they were the best hugs ever."

"English.... accent?" Kyle knew he was going to regret asking that question. "Maybe you're a little too stoned, kiddo. You tell the doc that your squirrel is making like Bond with the accents?" He paused, realized what he'd said and then snorted a laugh. "He's not all Joe, Monkey Joe, Double-Oh-Cashew, is he?"

"No, he's been watching those shows. On that channel. And talking like the squirrels in England talk. It's... he does it so bad!" Doreen said rolling her eyes, "Like when a person tries and they don't sound right. It just sounds funny," she did snort, "He so is. But he's totally too pudgy to be a spy."

"Also he'd get distracted by food. It'd be like, okay, Agent Joe, go sneak into the secret base and get the Plans and he'd be fine right up until the evil bad guy who is always a Nazi or a Commie, did you ever notice that? sets out a banquet and then, bam, it's like "Do you expect me to squeak?" "No, Mr Joe, I expect you to overeat." or something."

She couldn't help it, she burst out laughing, "Yeah, they always are!" she giggled, "You are so funny." Which was a true statement even when she didn't have her system chocked full of pain killers.

Oh he really really really hoped that was the drugs talking. He hadn't noticed Dori being quite so ... complimentary before but he was occasionally clueless about that kind of thing. He'd missed Jan being totally hot for him for how long? His girlfriend - he has a girlfriend, he did not need to be wondering if the sixteen year old had a crush on him - would probably think it was awkward-land. Kyle was strongly considering denial-land. But she sort of smelled like there was a crush. Maybe that was the drugs too.

He did not need a sixteen year old with a crush on him. That way went to the "Take a Seat Over Here" place with Chris Hansen and losing his teaching career before he even started it and jail and he'd done that already. Way Not Cool.

So denial it had to be. Assume it was the drugs talking. "Yeah. Or evil dudes from some evil company who want to take over the world's like, water supply or something."

Doreen giggled again. Wow, Kyle was really funny. And pretty cute, "That sounds like something from Captain Planet. Did you ever watch that show? I watched that show all the time?" she said, sitting back a bit and giving him a really wide eyed (and cute, she hoped stare.)

"Dude, I spent a year trying to convince everyone I wasn't the monkey!" Kyle said, laughing. "Cause Angel's the fire one, and Crystal's the water one, and Julio's the earth one. And then Angel and Forge got monkey phobias, so that ended fast."

"...How can you be afraid of monkeys?! Monkeys are so neat," Doreen said, "Though they're not scary at all! And if you were the monkey who was heart? I mean, I think you'd be heart and they could get someone else to be the monkey. Monkey Joe could be the monkey!"

"I thought it was the guy with heart and he had a monkey." Kyle asked. He didn't remember, it was on like when he was six or something and that was forever ago. "Dude, monkeys have little nasty hands that grab your hair and they throw poop. At me!" Even if he was technically grateful to the monkeys for making him laugh that one time, they were still creepy.

"He did, but that means the monkey is your pet!" Doreen said, "Because you are totally like the heart and stuff."

"Dude, I am the ass-kicking one. Who doesn't show up because he's a ninja and you can't see ninjas. Also the heart guy was not nearly as cool as me, and he was also like, Mexican, so I can't be heart." Kyle explained carefully. It was obvious. Julio had to be Heart because Julio was Mexican.

"No no nono, you are TOTALLY heart. Because you have a heart and it's like awesome," Doreen said.

Kyle clapped one hand over his face, and tried not to groan. "Okay, fuzzy, if I buy you another dozen donuts, will you promise to never say that again? And I'll write it down so your stoned self doesn't forget."

"But.... but it's TRUE. Can I think it? Because I do think you're awesome. But I do like doughnuts... THIS IS SO HARD!"

"You promise not to say it around, you know, Jan or anyone who might tell Jan and we're good." Or the 'take a seat over here' guy. Or anyone who might get Kyle in trouble. Or give him shit. Or tease him.

"Ooooh yeah...." Doreen said. Kyle had a girlfriend. Suddenly this seemed very tragic. Or she was just over emotional, but it was still tragic. Her eyes started to water and she sniffled.

Oh god. Kyle clapped a hand over his face and tried not to groan. "Okay, I'm gonna go find Doc Voight and tell her you need less drugs, and then get you more donuts and we'll just forget this conversation happened..."

"...Okay... Can you come by later?" she asked and sniffed a bit.

From still under his hand, Kyle muttered a "Yes." adding a "but not until you're off the heavy drugs." in his head. The last thing he needed was a sixteen year old with a megacrush on him. Especially since Dori did almost everything dialed up to eleven. He was frequently set to Life Volume Level Eleven himself, so he knew just how annoying it could be to other people.

"Yay!" Doreen said, perking up instantly, "You should bring food. I like food. And we can share. Yay!" Right then the happiness just surged through her and if she hadn't been told to sit still on the threat of big scary needles. "Other than the sucky stuff I'm really happy right now. Wow. You are totally awesome, I get to say it one more time."

Marie then stops by, and Dori learns something about Logan she didn't know...

Doreen sighed. She really wanted to do her blogging. But right now, she just couldn't move her hands enough to do it. Oh, she could move her hands, and the bandages weren't covering the small bits of bone, but for typing you sort of had to be able to really bend your fingers, and not just fake it.

That she couldn't do.

"Hands, you suck," she said, looking down at them. Because right now? They totally did.

Knocking gently on the slightly opened door, Marie peered into the room. "Up for a bit of company?" she asked, pushing a hand carrying a plate of fresh peach cobbler through the crack. "Figured you probably need some comfort food. Though knowing folks around here, Ah might be the 10th person to have such a thought and you're probably already stuffed full of every sweet treat known to man."

She smelled the food first. She had smelled it awhile ago, but Doreen's focus really wasn't that good right now. Not that it could've ever have been called stellar, but the medicine haze made it that much harder to really think. "I like food. Food keeps bringing people by," she said, the last bit coming out on the end of a couple of squirrel clicks.

"More like food gives people an excuse to keep coming by," she replied, pushing the door the rest of the way open and walking in. Pulling a tray close to Dori's bed, the Southerner set the plate down. "Made it myself, but don't worry, your personal opinion of my grandmother's very own secret recipe will not jeopardize your gym grade in the least." She made sure to wink at the last so the younger girl would realize she really was kidding.

"I like gym too," because here she wasn't on the bench all the time. "It smells really good," she said, figuring out how the best way to eat this would be. Could she even hold on to a fork right now? "My hands are evil," she decided and said out loud.

Marie sat on one of the chairs near Dori's bed and smiled wryly. "Not evil...just difficult right now. Can you manage a spoon maybe?" Marie asked, while reaching to grab a clean one from a set of silverware left from a previous meal. "And don't worry about making a mess, or whatever. You have a good excuse."

"I dunno," Doreen said, kind of managing the spoon. It was hard when moving your fingers around too much hurt your hands, "If they weren't evil they wouldn't hurt so much." Made sense. Kind of. She looked at the spoon. Right now, she felt like she should be allowed to eat like a cat or something. Face. Meet food. Yeah.

"So, uh...here's where Ah'm supposed to have a really clever way of slipping my questions about how you're doing into casual conversation...but Ah'm much better at just being sorta blunt," she said, smiling wryly. "Ah hear Logan spooked ya."

"He's scary," Doreen said simply. It was true. Mr. Logan was a scary man.

"Yeah, he can be. But he can also be, well..." Nice isn't exactly the right word... "not scary and less scary. Ah ever tell you how Logan and Ah met? He was the first person to get me to stop running."

Doreen shook her head. She was still hung up on the 'scary' factor to really picture him as being much else. Even though he had never acted like he was going to hurt her. "No. Was he really?" How could he not be scary? That was what he did!

"Ah was just about your age when Ah manifested," Marie said, settling back into her chair. "And, well, Ah freaked out. Ran away from home, ended up hitching my way north, and got stuck at this tiny little truck stop." She paused, closing her eyes, an image of the bar flashing through her mind.

"That's where Ah first saw Logan. And Ah thought he was kinda scary too. But then Ah figured out he was kinda like me, that he had a power...so Ah hid iin his trailer...didn't really see much other choice for myself. He figured out Ah was there pretty quick and threatened to leave me, but he didn't. He even tried to make sure Ah was ok, in his own way." She paused, deciding to skip over some of the details that came next. "We ended up at the mansion until Ah got freaked out again and ran away. Logan found me and talked me into coming back...but before Ah could, Magneto kidnapped me. Logan is the one who ended up saving my life."

“Really?” Doreen asked, the idea sort of making it through the haze of the pain killers. It did occur to her that she wasn’t quite sure why he was scary, only that he was. He smelled funny, she thought. Kind of. Like something just under the skin that was wrong. Doreen wrinkled her nose. Did that mean she’d smell wrong now that she had claws. She didn’t think so. Mr. Logan smelled more like metal. And the way he moved just made her want to run in the other direction. “That must’ve been scary. I couldn’t runaway. I’d be too worried about my mom because she worries a lot.”

"Ah don't recommend running away, so that's good," Marie said. "Did you know that he wasn't born with the metal claws? That helped make them less scary for me."

“Really? I suppose that would be really weird,” Doreen said, considering it, “It’s weird. He smells like metal, kinda. You know? I’m sure he’s not mean,” she mused, “…I mean, he’s never been mean… so I dunno.”

"Sometimes mutations make people look scary. And sometimes that makes them think they are scary too, so they act tough. But deep down...well, can Ah tell you a secret? You have to promise not to tell anyone," she said to the younger girl, making sure to keep her face and eyes quite serious.

“I promise promise,” Doreen said, eyes wide. Saying it twice made it more serious. It really did.

"Did you know that it hurts him, everytime he pops his claws?" Marie said, her voice solemn. "Now if he was just super scary, do you think that's what would happen?"

"...I dunno. ...Maybe it's not that bad?" Him being scary or the claw pain, she wasn't sure what she meant, "But... I guess I'll think about it?"

Marie nodded, wondering if she'd just ended up scaring the poor girl more. Oh well. Best intentions and all that. "Yeah. Ah'm sorry he did scare ya though, because intended or not, that's what happened...and if you need anything while you're stuck in here, just let me know, 'kay?"

"I will," Doreen promised, "I like that everyone is bringing food."

"Well, that's always a guarantee down here. Part of me used to wonder if that's why certain folks end up in here so often," Marie replied with a wink.

Julian stops by and asks Doreen about what happened.

People kept bringing food by. A lot of the teachers had been by already, though not all of them, and even though she couldn’t really move her hands that well she had plenty to eat. It was just taking her longer to eat it. And it was harder to shoo Monkey Joe away from her food. The dressings covered up to her second knuckles, where the little claws stuck out above the bandages. White, bony and sharp. And impossible to push back in. She had tried again. It had just hurt. A lot.

She looked at Monkey Joe, “I thought I told you to stop using that accent!”

Julian had been standing at the door with a box of unopened Snickers, a stack of DVD's and comic books in hand. He'd made a special trip to Uncle Stan's and hoped that he'd picked out good titles that Doreen would like. Taking a moment to take in the scene, Julian quirked up an eyebrow and stepped inside. "He's using an accent?"

Doreen looked up and happily said, in squirrel, [Hi!! Yeah, he is!]

Again, Julian could do nothing, but stand there and blink, his other eyebrow raising to join the first. "What?"

[What?] Doreen returned, “’said ‘hi.’ Right?”

Taking a seat at her bedside her smiled and shook his head, "If you did, it was in squirrel I think."

Doreen gave Julian a really weird look, "I wasn't [speaking squirrel.]"

"See, you just did it again," Julian laughed, hoping she didn't think he was joking.

“Huh?” Doreen asked and then shook her head. Julian was obviously going nuts with… uh… something. She looked over at Monkey Joe who was laughing, “Shut up!” she said to her pet and looked up at Julian, “Not you, him,” she pointed, kind of, “He’s doing it again.”

Doreen then looked down at her hands, “That looks so gross.”

Julian smiled, setting the gifts down on the table by her bed, "It's not that bad."

“But… I have bones… coming [out of my] fingers,” Doreen whined.

Able to piece together what she was saying, Julian's face turned to concern. "Does it hurt?"

Doreen nodded, “But I get pills for it. They think they’ll go back in, but you can’t push them in. I tried. It hurts.”

"How'd it even happen? I heard that Professor Logan tried to eat you or something."

“No! No he didn’t,” Doreen said, “He’s just really, really, really, really, really, really scary!”

"He's not that bad."

"Yes he is! He is SO scary," Doreen said, "So very, very scary. How can you not be scared of him? He even SMELLS scary!

"Anyway," he changed the subject, picking up the stack of books and trade-paper-backs. "Brought you a little something."

"But I'm not joking," Doreen said, "He's scary!" she perked up at the stack of books and trades, "Yay! ...oooooh, I don't know if I can hold them..."

Julian mentally slapped his palm to his forehead, "Well, that's okay- I'll hold, you read."

"Okay," Doreen said, "Can you bring me my lap top too?" If she couldn't blog, she'd die!

Standing back up, "Yeah, sure thing. Back in a few." Julian hurried out the door and back upstairs.

Kurt comes by, and once more, Logan and her claws are a topic of conversation. Once the subject changes, Dori let's slip her Grandfather's secret.

Doreen was almost asleep at the moment. She wasn't totally out cold yet and it wasn't a natural tired. She was willing to bet that it was from the pain killers she was on. At least it kept her hands from hurting. Despite having been told not to numerous times, Doreen was poking at the small spires of bone that were sticking through the skin. It was impossible to shove them back in and right now that wasn't what she was trying to do anyway. (That hurt.)

She was just... looking at them. Right now, Doreen wasn't quite sure what to think of them. Because her thoughts still seemed fuzzy, she reasoned. Doreen just wanted to be able to type. She could live with them sticking out still if she could type. Everyone seemed to think they'd go back in, it was just a matter of Doreen figuring out how. And she really didn't know how.

She'd rather be a million other places right now. Like outside. Or learning the gymnastics stuff, that was fun.

The door opened quietly and Kurt appeared, taking in the girl in the bed. "Doreen, do not poke your claws", he said gently. "It will not make them better."

"Awww, but they're annoying," Doreen said, looking over. And they were stupid. And lame. And hurty. And...stupid. She didn't need them, "They haven't gone away yet, either."

He sat down in the chair, reaching to pull her hand firmly away from the other and holding it between his. "They will. I am sure it has been said before, but you really need to speak to Logan about this."

"But...but he's scary!" Doreen pointed out. Whey did people not get this? Hello, scary guy! It didn't seem like it should be that much of a leap or anything. "Am I the only one that thinks he's scary?"

"You are very far from the only one who thinks he is scary", was the wry response. "But he is also the only person who is truly equipped to help you control this new power, being the only other one here who has it."

"Bu... but I could just learn how to type again..." maybe... or not. "No one else has anything like this?"

"No one else", Kurt repeated. "Sarah, a former student in the city, has powers a little similar, but she does not pull her bone spurs back in - they detach instead. So, it must be Logan."

"Awwwwwwwwwwwwww," Doreen whined. With everything that had happened the last few weeks, she was so allowed, "This sucks. They should just go away on their own. Then I can get stitches and things will be okay."

Kurt didn't call her on the whining, feeling it would be uncalled for. "They may retract on their own, little one, but they will not disappear. This could happen again at any time."

Doreen bit her lip slightly as she thought about that. "That would suck, so much," she stated. Why did this have to happen at all? At least it was her and not someone else, she wouldn't want to put someone else through this at all. Doreen then giggled a bit, "Grandpa calls me that. 'Little one.'"

"It does", he agreed. "But you want to be able to do something about it if it does happen, no?" The latter comment got a smile. "Your grandfather seems a good man, from what you have said."

"Yeah... I don't want them to keep getting stuck," Doreen said. She'd rather they go away, but she wouldn't suggest getting them cut off No Matter What. "He is, he's really, really nice. You'd like him, Mr. Sefton. He'd also like you, I'm totally sure of it."

"Then it must be training with Logan. I will sit in on the sessions, if you like. And I would very much like to meet your grandfather, if he should be here."

"That'd be nice," Doreen said, "I'll make sure to introduce you when he comes and visits. He's so neat. He even used to have a tail. Oh crud, I shouldn't have said that part out loud," she said, giggling. Yeah, she was still woozy from the pain killers.

Kurt raised his eyebrows at her, amused. "He... used to have a tail?"

"Um... yeah? But not like how some babies have tails. His dad cut it off which isn't very nice at all and really, really sucks. I wouldn't want that to happen to me or anyone else."

"No, it should not happen", he said, the amusement disappearing. "But... this must have been sixty years ago. Mutation was not so well-known then."

"Yeah, he was just a kid, he said. But it's still wrong to hurt someone like that even if you think you're helping them. I'm glad he's my grandpa," Doreen said, "He's really great."

"Family is important", Kurt agreed. "Good family, all the more so."

"Yeah. He doesn't like Dad right now, but I don't know if he ever really liked Dad all that much, you know?" wow, it was so easy to talk about this stuff when you were extremely hopped up on pain killers, Doreen realized.

"It is understandable that he would not, after what has happened. As for before... protective fathers can be that way."

"I still like Dad," Doreen murmured, "But yeah, I'm sure Grandpa will visit and then he can meet everyone here. I'm sure he'll think it's great. I mean, I think it's great."

"And I am glad you do." He smiled slightly. "You should invite him, then."

"I will, I promise," Doreen said with a nod and then added, "I'm sorry I'm missing class."

"It is not your fault", Kurt assured her. "No more than any other illness or powers problem would be. Just get yourself well."

"I'll get better. Because I don't want to be down here too long," Doreen said. It wasn't fun, "Even if everyone does keep bringing food."

"We do have many people who are very good at that."

"I like that part." Doreen said absently, "Food is my friend."

Bobby comes by to ice Dori's knuckles and Dori asks the most important question: where's the ice cream?

Bobby Drake shuttered slightly as he passed down the halls of the medical bay. It was still uncomfortable for him every time he was down here. So many memories he'd just as soon forget. Keeping Jetstream under ice while they fitted his new additions, his awkward encounters with Jean. But he had sucked it up as he knew that he would have to get over his past memories some day. Turning the corner, he found the person he had come to see. Forcing an awkward smile across his face, he pushed his thoughts of the past from his mind. "I heard that someone around here could use some specialty ice packs for her hands."

Dori lifted her head. She was half awake, half not, watching movies on her laptop since it was really the only thing she could do at the moment, "Hi," she said, "did you bring food too?" it was a very important question. More so than coldness for her stupid hands and the stupid knuckle claw spike things.

Bobby held up his right hand, holding a bowl full of random bits of cereal with a smile. "Had to sneak it past Hank." He pulled up the chair near the side of the girl's bed and began frosting up its contents. "I couldn't do the usual unhealthy stuff or else the blue guy may maul me when he finds out."

The Dori was unimpressed with the health food, "Kyle brought doughnuts," she said wistfully. "But it's still okay. Dr. McCoy won't maul you because I say so," Doreen said. Loopiness due to the pain killers, "Everyone's coming to visit me. That's really cool."

"Yeah, you know I figured that it's the least I could do after dumping snow on you the first day we met." With a half smile he sat the bowl down to the side, and reached forward with both of his hands, palm up. "Now let me see those hands for a second missey."

"They're really gross right now," she said, holding one up. Though bandaged, bone claws stuck out from the middle knuckle of each finger. Simple and sharp, two inches long. "I don't like them."

"Well, look at it this way, if you ever want to pick up playing the guitar or piano, you'll already be a few digits ahead of everyone else. Except for if Logan tries to tickle the ivories, but I can't picture him pressed as Elton John..." Flashing his teeth, he hoped the shot at humor had some effect.

Doreen giggled, more at the image of Mr. Logan as Elton John. It was just so ridiculous that it overrode her ever present fear of the older, strange smelling feral, "I don't think I could play guitar with these though. I can't really move my fingers."

Bobby tried to keep the spirits of the girl up. "Well I'm sure they're just like any power, you just have to get used to it over time." Dropping his brow he leaned in closer to the girl. "You want me to do a little something for the swelling and the pain? I know it isn't doughnuts or anything..."

"Okay," Doreen said, "I like not hurting and even with the medicine they still feel really weird."

Bobby wrapped his hands around the bottom of the girls hands and closed his eyes as he focused in on the air around them. He made sure to control the temperature drop to make sure that it didn't get to the point that he hurt her. As the air began to chill, he opened his eyes to find hers. "Now this may feel a bit weird for a second."

It sent a chill down her spine, but in the cold winter air sort of way. Dori had enjoyed ski trips before her father had stopped taking them, "Like sticking your hands in snow," she noted.

"That's what I've been told." Bobby gently sat the girl's hands down on top of the blanket of the bed. "They should be a little numb and weird like for the next few hours, and by then I can stop by for another pick-me-up."

"Okay," Doreen said, "Thank you. Bring ice cream?"

He winked as he pushed his way back up from his chair. "I'll sneak some of the good stuff past the blue guy next time."

"Yay!" Doreen said. She liked the good stuff.