Log: Bishop and Doreen

[x-bishop.livejournal.com]

Doreen gets hassled at the mall. Bishop happens to be near by.

It wasn't often but occasionally Bishop would make his way through the local mall. He didn't expect to learn anything of interest there and he was more likely to run across someone he had arrested than anything. It was what people were supposed to do, though. It was also an activity that allowed him to watch people without interruption; no one expected him to just be at the mall. He sat on benches and weaved through stores, having no particular task in mind. At the moment, watching a row of storefronts while drinking an Orange Julius was probably the most normal thing he had done in months.

Doreen was having a good time. She was shopping out on her own, an activity that called up memories of home. Monkey Joe was on her shoulder and had a bag to drop into whenever someone started to pay too much attention to the fact she had a squirrel on her shoulder. And no one ever believed him to actually be a Seeing Eye Squirrel. So she stopped trying that ruse.

Doreen had stopped outside the consignment store, looking over her bags. She had a job so could actually buy things. It might not be designer clothing or anything fancy, but it was still stuff. She didn’t notice the crowd of teenage boys around her until she looked up. There were at least six of them and they had her surrounded.

“Well guys, what do we got here?” Asked the guy in the middle. His clothes smelled bad. Like he slept in them. Doreen wrinkled her nose and looked around. She could’ve beaten them all up easily but she didn’t like to do that for a number of reasons. If you acted bad, after all, it gave people a reason.

“I don’t know, but shouldn’t we take it to the vet?” another of the boys cracked.

“How about a ‘date’?” asked another and then gave Dori a grin that just made her skin shiver, “I bet she’s desperate.”

“Um…” Doreen trailed off looking at the boys, her tail really puffing out, “I’m really not.”

“Oh, I think you are,” said the leader, coming in uncomfortably close, “After all, where else is a freak like you going to get some real action anyway…?”

"My friend says he likes her." Bishop was awkwardly good at walking silently for his size. He looked down at the largest of the group from behind, easily towering over him.

"He also says you should worry about picking on people smaller than you." Bishop pulled open his jacket just enough to show the small 'friend' he was referring to. It usually only took the flash of a pistol from him to get the wrong kind of people to move along. The quickly scattering group didn't make this time any different. In true coward fashion, they yelled one final insult as they turned a corner and headed out of sight.

Doreen watched them go, “I don’t like people like that,” she said simply and turned and smiled up at Bishop, “Thank you.”

"They're just people that don't like themselves." Bishop smiled down to the young squirrel girl. "You're welcome Doreen. Where were you headed? I'll walk you."

“I was going to check out the game store – wait, what’s your name?” she asked, she couldn’t remember where she had met him before.

"Bishop. I've been around the school at times for a while. I work at Snow Valley as the liaison between mutants and law enforcement. We only met once before, I believe." It was physically a little awkward to look down as far as he had to for her. "It's nice to meet you again." He politely offered one of his very big hands.

She took it, carefully. She had claws, after all and had to be careful with them, “Oh, I remember you now! We played chess once,” she said happily, “I have seen you around. I’m just totally terrible with names, I’m sorry. But I won’t forget it again, I promise.”

"It's alright if you do. I might have to make myself more of a presence to help, though." Once they shook hands, Bishop moved along to Dori's side so he could walk with her. He didn't want those boys to come back with something to prove.

“Okay, I don’t mind if you don’t mind hanging out with me,” Doreen said, “At least nothing happened. I mean, how much can they do in public?”

"You'd be surprised how much people can get away with in public because most people are afraid of a fight." Bishop didn't want to scare the young girl any more than a gentle warning. He didn't want her to think just because she was in public she was safe but he also didn't like that the young people at the mansion had to worry about things like that.

“Yeah, I guess. I’m more worried about hurting them if they wouldn’t leave me alone. I don’t like hurting people,” Doreen pointed out. She as a lot stronger than she looked.

Bishop nodded understandingly, "You don't seem like the kind of person that would like to hurt other people."

“I really don’t. I guess I’m small enough that a lot of people don’t think I can,” Doreen mused.

"Most people don't know that in a fight size doesn't matter. You'd think Bruce Lee would have proven that." Bishop just shrugged. "Some people missed the classics."

“Bruce Lee was totally awesome,” Doreen said simply. She was well versed in many kinds of geekery. Cheesy fighting movies among her many areas of expertise. “I can’t fight like that though.”

Bishop laughed a little. "I thought combatives was part of your school's program."

“Yeah, but it doesn’t mean I can fight like Bruce Lee,” Doreen returned.

"I'm not sure anyone else ever will." Bishop let Dori lead. He wasn't positive where young women went in the mall but he hoped it wouldn't be anything too surprising.

Wherever Dori went, she managed to get quite a few stares, but she was used to that. When she went into the game store though the person behind the counter waved and smiled she waved back, “Of course not, it’s Bruce Lee. He was awesome.”

Bishop looked around the store, idly curious. "I read that you were into different fantasy lives on the journals. This must be one of your suppliers, right?"

“Yeah, you can get D&D stuff here and card games and other things,” Doreen said happily and looked over at Bishop, “Do you play D&D?”

"I don't. I just know the common things most people know about it." Teasing someone for something they liked was not something Bishop did. The truth was he didn't know anything about it and wasn't about to judge her based on a preference any more than he approved of her being judged for being a mutant.

“It’s actually really fun,” Doreen said brightly holding out a player’s handbook for him. 3.5, of course. As if she’d play 4.0. She had standards, after all.

"I'm not very interested in fantasy." Bishop didn't mean it as a slight. "I keep myself busy with my work."

“All work and no play is totally boring,” Doreen said.

"You're not wrong." Bishop replied with a laugh. "We'll find something else we're both interested in."

“You won’t know if you actually hate it or not until you try it though,” Doreen pointed out.

"I'm not worried about hating it. Just doesn't have my interest." Bishop thought for a moment as he looked over the young woman and all the books. "I watch television sometimes."

“Do you like Doctor Who?” Doreen asked.

"I've never heard of it." Bishop thought for a moment, unable to place if he knew anything about the show. He decided he didn't. "What is it about?"

“It’s about the doctor,” Doreen said simply, “And his companion and the Tardis.”

"I get the feeling you're going to make me see for myself." Bishop resigned himself to his fate. Her mind was probably already set on introducing him to this show and it reminded him enough for his younger sister that he didn't intend to fight her about it. "This is between us." He stated simply.

Doreen left out the fact about their being twenty seasons. That tended to put a lot of people who didn’t know about Doctor Who off, slightly. “It’s a really good show.”

Bishop laughed slightly. "Do I have to go buy a season?" He assumed by her enthusiasm that she would likely already have some (or all) of it.

“Only if you want to? I have everything except the last three,” Doreen said. It was a lot of DVDs.

"I'll let you introduce me if you want, then." Bishop made his statement as much as an excuse to not try anything in her gaming store as anything. He did like the little girl well enough, though. He expected to like a show that was an actual story over any sort of reality television his sister had tried to force him to watch.

“Really?” Doreen perked up, “Cool! How do you like your popcorn?”

"You have to shake it with Tabasco sauce while it's still in the bag and hot." Bishop nodded, stating a fact. "It's best like that."

“That sounds kind of weird,” Doreen said, “But cool.”<\lj-cut>