Topaz And Meggan (Backdated)

[x-meggan.livejournal.com]

Meggan brings hot chocolate and chicken soup to Topaz as the snow begins piling up. They discuss the weirder aspects of the astral plane while playing with a kitten.



Meggan had peered out the window when there was a short break in the rate of the snow falling, and realized there was really no possible way she would entertain the idea of sitting on a tree branch, when the branch itself could not be seen. For all she knew, her body plus the weight of the snow would send it crashing to the ground. It wasn’t a good place to be, and it was too cold.

She had needed something warm, so she headed straight for chicken soup…and hot cocoa. Even if the cocoa did leave her uncertain as to whether she actually wanted it. If marshmallows were involved in it, it might have been worse, because she had seen more than enough of them dancing through the astral plane that she wouldn’t be interested in eating them for a very long time. Or for a month. It remained to be seen.

There was enough left that she wanted to share. She also wanted to see Topaz, so she found a tray (and marshmallows, since Topaz might want one or two or ten—one never knew) and headed for the other girl’s room. She tapped a knock with her foot, given her arms were full. “It’s Meggan, with soup,” she called through it. “Not as much as Amanda might have fed you right after everything if she did you like me, but it’s soup. Oh, and cocoa.”

"What' the occasion?" She asked, a bit jokingly, as she stepped aside to let Meggan in. She set Midnight down as soon as the door closed and the kitten wound around Meggan's legs. "Sorry. She's friendly."

“Not much of an occasion—it’s more of an ‘it’s so cold out there, here’s something hot to share in here’ and an ‘are you okay today, too?’ all in one go. Oh, hello,” Meggan said as she looked down to the kitten. She walked carefully so that she wouldn’t step on her. She shouldn’t trip over her, unless the kitten suddenly decided she wanted to grab a shoelace.

“It’s okay,” she replied. Meggan put down the tray safely. “I don’t think kittens can have cocoa, but maybe a piece of chicken floating in the soup would make her happy if she gets curious. What’s her name? Does she like being scratched behind the ears, or is that bad territory?”

"Ears are fine. Anywhere is fine. It's more of a problem if you're not pettin' her, honestly." Topaz picked a piece of the soup and held it out. Midnight sniffed it for a moment before gobbling it up. "Her name's Midnight. She was a gift from your sister, actually. Well...'gift', since I don't think I was allowed to say no." She scratched the kitten's ears, and smiled. "I'm alright, though." Excessive sleeping aside, of course. "How about you?'

Next time, if Meggan was offering food that could be considered edible for a cat, she was bringing a tinier plate with a sampling with her…even if that could lead to sad cat eyes begging for even more food. “You’re an extremely adorable gift, Midnight,” she complimented as she reached to scratch the kitten’s back. “I think I’m good, even if I won’t be touching anything marshmallow related for a little while longer. You can have all of them.”

"Well, since you offered..." Topaz wasn't usually a big hot chocolate person, but right then it didn't sound that bad. She even added a few marshmallows - apparently the last nap had actually helped, apparently. She felt a lot better. "Amazin' how bein' at Xavier's can ruin somethin' as innocent as marshmallows."

“I may have seen at least one Marshmallow Peep in the Candyland Hell, but maybe they’ll be fine by Easter. They weren’t as prevalent, or if they were, they were hiding under things instead of flying into people’s hair, so they aren’t 100% ruined like molasses. The Peeps remain innocent,” Meggan said. Someday a stack of pancakes would come to her, and she wouldn’t be disgusted at the thought of pouring syrup upon it. Someday she would love the taste again. Today was not that day.

Peeps weren't dripping from trees like slime, so it was easier to get over. “And unicorns. They’re not—not really ruined there, but the thought of them is going to be strange enough to remain funny for a while. To me.”

"I'm sure Ms. Frost won't be findin' them too amusin' for a while." Topaz took a sip of cocoa, sighing. Candyland Hell didn't sound like fun per se, but it had at least provided a few fun stories. As opposed to the library which was just depressing.

“Yeah,” Meggan agreed. “I’m very glad the unicorn didn’t try to—I don’t know, impale her on the pointy end of its horn even before the parasite was provoked, or kick or buck her off, and all she did was ride it onward surrounded by happy little animals.” Emma was off the unicorn by the time of ripping things up. Anywhere else, that kind of unicorn thought would be weird. Here, much more normal. “She was hurt enough trying to get out.”

She scratched Midnight under the chin, and received a happy purr for her effort. “It was just a regular stag painted white under the unicorn shell in the end. She didn’t see that, I don’t think.” Meggan was pretty sure everyone had been kicked out by then.

"I wonder what would've happened if it had though," Topaz said thoughtfully. "Not that I want Ms. Frost to be impaled by a unicorn or anythin' but it wouldn't have been real, so...what would that have done to her?" There had never been a morbid thought, Topaz was sure. But she couldn't help that.

Meggan winced at the thought. It wouldn’t be a good result, was all she could guess. “I don’t know. Something not good? We ended up with headaches from all of it. So…sore arm?” She thought a bit more. “Something that didn’t involve her having a scar from the horn of a mythical creature. Or a massive bruise wherever the unicorn that was really a stag gored her with its horn that was really antlers? Or she might have been knocked out again.” This was such a bizarre train of thought to agree to follow, but it couldn’t be helped.

"Someone else would probably know. I mean, not about specifically getting stabbed, but just what happens if you get hurt on the astral plane in general." It was never something Topaz had thought about before -- never something she'd had to think about, she'd never had any dealings with the astral plane before all this.

“Maybe it’s something like phantom pain when someone loses a foot or something else. Lingering,” Meggan guessed. She had to agree that someone else would probably know far more than they did. She suddenly realized something. “Oh! The cartoon squirrels that attacked Quentin—I don’t think they left behind any phantom injuries. He would have said something if there was anything nibbled into him. ‘Tis but a flesh wound’ doesn’t apply there.”

"Oh that's right, squirrels tried to eat him." A scene Topaz would be forever disappointed she hadn't gotten to witness. "Huh. So it's almost like a dream. You get hurt, but it doesn't actually effect you." Even if getting nibbled on by a bunch of squirrels had probably hurt at the time.

“Well...at least they weren’t flying squirrels. Regular gliding ones, or literal flying ones with the way it was around there. Just your regular old run-of-the-mill chittering cartoon ones ready for terrifying nibbles. So it could have been worse for him,” Meggan acknowledged as she rubbed Midnight's tail. In some odd way, to her it would be worse if they glided after him in a great big swarm of squirrels. “Unless it’s a really drastic injury, that’s probably how it works there, yeah. Smacked by a tree branch against your leg in the dream or astral plane, but no bruises in real life,” she agreed.

"We should try and learn more about that," Topaz said thoughtfully, scratching Midnight's ears. "I dunno about you but what I know about the astral plane could fit on a teaspoon."