Thursday morning, early

[x-crowdofone.livejournal.com]

Jamie wakes up, catches Angie keeping vigil over Doug, and they chat about the care and feeding of mutant hackers. Also, Angie receives some disturbing news regarding one of her roommates.



Jamie mrphed and poked his head out of his blankets. It was always annoying when he burrowed under the covers in his sleep; he always ended up with more crusty guck in the corners of his eyes for some reason. He blinked it away, still not quite awake. "Morning, Angie." Maybe he could spare another fifteen minutes before showering?

Wait. Back up. Jamie wiped his eyes again to get a better look. It was Angie. ". . . You're here kinda early. Doug OK?"

Marie-Ange glanced up from where she was lacing one shoe, her foot propped just on the edge of Doug's bed, and then looked over at the blanket-covered prone shape actually in the bed. "I think so. He is asleep and not making noises anymore, so I think so."

Jamie sat up, fished under his pillow for a shirt, and shrugged it on. "That's good. Uh--what happened? Not that I'm not happy to see you, or anything, or like there isn't precedent, but . . . yeah."

"He was doing something with his computer, and.... " Angie shrugged, pointing to the wasteland of empty soda cans and books and notes that was Doug's desk. "One of those computer things. A two computer thing. He had Kitty's laptop too."

"That's some impressive computage. No wonder he didn't say anything when I told him good night." Jamie scratched his head. "Doesn't seem like all-night vigil territory, though--less you were just keeping him company. I do that sometimes--Kitty's cute when she's being Zombie Geekette from the Planet Hacker."

"He didn't respond to you at all?" Marie-Ange raised an eyebrow. "That would explain why he yelped when I came in to make sure he ate. He worked himself into a migraine doing .. something. I am not certain what. It would be cute, but Doug is strange when he is doing his computer thing. He stopped making sense a few times, or possibly sense I could understand."

"Weird. Was he pushing his power, or something? He and Kitty were talking about using it on encryptions a while ago."

"He .. said something about a finding a pattern in.. " Angie scrunched up her face, trying to remember. "I think he mentioned an encoded file? He printed out all these pages.. " She pointed to a messy stack of printer paper atop one of the laptops.

"Yeesh. No wonder he conked out. I swear, they both need brakes sometimes. Least I can pick Kitty up if I have to." He grinned. "Until she figures out to phase herself and her laptop, anyway. I'll have to figure something else out then."

"I cheated." Marie-Ange grinned back. "Doug worked himself into the headache downstairs. I had to make an image big enough to move him around. " She finished tying the bow in her shoelace. "Wouldn't Kitty ruin her laptop if she phased it?"

"Only if she went through it. Phasing the whole thing at once works fine, or at least it did when she tried it with a Tamagotchi once. And she doesn't kill her watch."

For a moment, Angie looked like she was going to say something, or ask a question. Then, she shook her head. "I am just going to leave that explanation for a time when I have not been up reading Star Wars books and Doug's big book of monsters. I try not to understand how my powers work, much less anyone else's."

"Heh. Same here. Although it's funny listening to Doc McCoy grumble about how we're all doing horrible things to the laws of physics. I've caught him actually throwing up his hands in despair at me a couple of times. I'm in direct, flagrant, and indeed gleeful violation of the very laws of thermodynamics themselves." This last was delivered in a nearly spot-on imitation of Dr. McCoy's lecture voice.

Marie-Ange affected a disappointed face. "Flagrant and gleeful? I only get "baffling", and then just sometimes." She shook her head and pointed at the Doug-shaped-lump. "I try not to think about how he works. I asked Dr. MacTaggart once, and she looked like she wanted to cry."

Jamie snickered. "Those poor scientists. Hey, are you going to hang around until Doug wakes up? I can have a dupe cover your classes if you want."

"I would, but I have an essay to turn in, and a presentation in History, and if I miss it, there is no way Shinobi is going to let me get away with napping in class. I am not .. entirely sure why he does in the first place." Angie answered, frowning slightly. "I will be back to check in on him, but .. Doug should be okay. I hope."

"I'll keep an eye on him while you're gone. Can I smack him for overextending his power when he wakes up if I don't hit him on the head?"

"Yes. Please. Twice if he tries to go to the computer first." She shook her head, smiling slightly. "I do not know I am going to do with him some days. "

Jamie grinned. "Welcome to dating hackers. It helps to make sure they're too busy and distracted to type. Which is fun anyway."

Angie blushed. Rather a lot, actually. "Yes. Yes, it is. No arguement there." She rubbed her eyes tiredly. "I think we need to invest a portable cot, with the number of times people spend the night in the wrong room. Though I suppose that might be a bit obvious... "

"Heh. Kitty just, uh, cuddles up." And now it was Jamie's ears' turn with the going red. "Not very often, just when one of us is having a seriously bad time. And nothing but sleeping."

Marie-Ange got quiet for a moment, slightly surprised, and mostly not sure how to respond. She .. wasn't sure her roommates would be as understanding. Clarice would, but Monet certainly not, and she wasn't sure about Rahne anymore. "I.. um. .. " she blinked. "That was not what I expected to hear. Really."

"It helps." Jamie shrugged. "Alison knows, Miles told her and I went and explained. And Rahne, uh, smelled us out one morning, which was kind of an odd conversation."

"Rahne... smelled you?" Angie's head jerked up from where she was attempting to stack some of Doug's books into piles that wouldn't result in her tripping over them. "Because you had slept in the same bed?"

"Well, yeah. I mean . . . I guess I probably smell a little like Kitty eventually most days, but this one time I guess she happened to be a wolf before breakfast and I smelled more like her then than usual. Once I explained what was going on--or, y'know, what wasn't going on--she was fine, though."

Angie tightened her hand on a book briefly, then put it down carefully. "Good. That she understood, I mean. Um. Yes." She stepped around the stacks of books, and eyed Doug's desk. "I .. am not sure if he was supposed to give Kitty's laptop back.. " she finally said, quietly.

"I'm sure he was--it's her baby. I can get it to her, no problem. She'll probably be all curious what he was doing with it all night." He nodded at Doug. "You want to handle care and feeding, or should I leave him some muffins and aspirin?"

Angie tilted her head, thinking. "I am not sure he is going to wake up for a while, but it can't hurt at the least." She shook her head again, smiling. "At this rate, someone is going to write a book. 'The care and feeding of mutant teenagers who do not know when to stop. Though, the title should be shorter."

"Mutant Dummies for Dummies?" Jamie suggested, chuckling.

Marie-Ange squeaked out a laugh, trying to keep quiet so as not to wake Doug. "Perfect." She glanced at one of the alarm clocks scattered around the room (she could see four, and wouldn't have been surprised if there were more.) "I should go, at least to change clothes. I slept in these." She said, with some distaste - at the clothes, and at the idea of going.

"I need to get a shower anyway, and people who aren't Kitty have seen enough half-naked dripping me for a while." Jamie grinned. "I'll leave a dupe when I go down for breakfast, and whenever you want to take over again just come kick me out."

Angie nodded. "I should be back before lunch." She sighed, and tugged Doug's blanket back up a little from where he'd pushed it away, and brushed her fingers over his hand. "Thank you.. " she added, before reluctantly heading out of the room.