(no subject)

[x-snowflake.livejournal.com]

Kitty and Illyana meet and have a chat when Illyana ventures upstairs from the medlab on Thursday night. They talk about chocolate, computers, and generally just bond. Fluffy. :)

Kitty had spotted the note on the journals the last time she'd gotten up to check her email, and was thrilled that she'd be getting her last roommate back, and that it sounded like 'Yana was finally doing better. She'd placed a pile of chocolates she'd filched out of the kitchen on 'Yana's pillow, and was lying in her bed reading now.

The door edged open, and a quick, sharp knock on the doorframe announced Illyana's presence at the door. "Hello?" the blonde girl said, hesitantly, her voice still very slightly hoarse. She pushed the door open further, peering into the room with a flood of nostalgia that she hadn't expected.

Kitty dropped her book, sitting up in her bed. "Hey," she said, smiling. "Welcome back. I'm glad to hear you're doing better."

At the sight of her old friend, a muted look of shock crossed Illyana's face. Should have expected it, she told herself firmly, and smiled. "Thank you," she said, pushing the door all the way open and stepping inside. "I'm feeling much better, yes."

"That's so good to hear. Must have been dreadfully boring staying in the medlab all this time."

Illyana rolled her eyes. "I don't think I have ever spent so much time doing nothing," she said dryly. "Well -- unless you count getting poked at and stabbed with needles. And reading magazines about clothing," she added dubiously, as though she wasn't sure this was at all a normal activity, or just something reserved for people stuck in hospital beds.

"Why on earth did they stock the medlab with fashion magazines?" Kitty wondered. "I mean, if they're choosing their reading material by who ends up there the most often, I can't imagine Angelo is interested in thoes."

"I really don't have any idea," Illyana said, shaking her head. She paused, then smiled wryly. "I spent most of my time sleeping, anyway, so it wasn't too terrible."

"Well, that's good, at least, and the sleep was probably good for you." Swinging her feet around to rest on the floor, Kitty said, "Well, the weather's turned lovely, so at least you won't be stuck in the Mansion anymore if you don't want to be. I assume they're not making you join classes right before finals..."

Illyana took a few more steps in and looked around, a strange expression crossing her face as she took in the somehow-familiar walls. "I missed the weather here," she said quietly, glancing at Kitty as though she were embarrassed for saying such a silly thing. "And I think they need to decide what classes I should take, anyway. My education's a bit -- lacking, I suppose."

Kitty nodded, her smile dimming as she considered that. "Yeah," she said slowly. "I can see how that could be... If... If you ever need any help, I'm here, you know?" Not the most articulate thing Kitty had ever said, but she meant it fervently. She had lost her roommate in one way, but refused to lose her altogether.

Illyana looked at Kitty with an unreadable expression on her face, then smiled, looking as though she wasn't sure what the proper reaction to such a statement was. "Thank you," she said finally, mind flashing back to someone very similar and very different from this girl, whom she'd known first and hadn't forgotten. "I -- I'll remember that. Thank you."

Kitty's smile brightened again. "Anytime," she said. "Oh, and hey..." She gestured towards Illyana's bed. "I got you something from downstairs. I know the medlab food's not as bad as real hospital food, but..." Kitty shrugged.

Illyana blinked and went to the bed, sitting on the edge and taking in the contents of her pillow. "Chocolate?" She looked at Kitty for confirmation, with an expression between amusement and surprise over her pale features.

Kitty nodded. "Yep. Figured raiding one of the 'secret stashes' in the kitchen would be ok, since it was for you."

Illyana grinned a bit, feeling intelligence -- trust is not a good thing right now -- and instinct -- if you can't trust her, what was the point? -- battling it out for her approval. "When I was younger," she said, looking somewhat covetous, "I had dreams about chocolate."

Kitty grinned back. "Well then, we'll just have to keep you supplied, won't we? Shouldn't be that hard, not in this place. Half the mansion are addicts."

Illyana laughed a little. "From what I remember, I can understand why." Taking a chocolate and nibbling at one edge, she looked around, seeming lost for words. She felt off-balance, but not in the way she'd expected -- coming back here was like stepping into someplace she'd convinced herself didn't exist.

"Hey," Kitty said, some what suddenly. "Do you remember how to use the journal system?"

"The what?" The blonde looked confused -- for a moment, even stereotypical. Then she smiled self-consciously. "I guess not."

"The journal system on the computers. It was set up by Dr. McCoy last May. You're on it as x_snowflake. Most everyone in the school has one, although a lot of them don't use it." Standing and moving over to her laptop which was set on her desk she flipped it open, waking it up. "Here, I can show you if you want."

Illyana stood and walked over, brow wrinkling. "If you don't mind," she said, looking at the machine bemusedly. "I -- don't quite remember it."

A few quick key strokes had brought up Kitty's friends page, "Here," she said, slowly scrolling down the page. "Mr. Dayspring, Lorna, Dr. Mctaggart, me, Angelo, and so on." A little more typing, and she'd opened Illyana's journal, hesitating as the familiar, childish language covered the page. "You... you probably don't remember the password, but I can get into the server and reset it for you, if you like."

Illyana leaned forward to see better, hands on her thighs. "I -- no, I don't remember. I would appreciate it if you would -- reset? -- it, yes. But -- what are the journals for, exactly?" She sounded hesitant, as though she wasn't sure how much anyone expected her to know, but her curiosity outweighed sounding like an idiot.

Kitty shrugged. "My personal theory is that Dr. McCoy is working on a fourth PhD, this one in teenaged psychology. But, um, basically it's for, well, whatever you want. Alex, Jubes and Manuel are all using theirs as part of their therapy, and I tend to just use mine to keep up with what everyone else is doing. It's... well, it's a journal, that everyone can read. You can write about what you're thinking about, or what's happening in your life, or how much you don't like your classes, or you can just follow along with what everybody else is doing. And then there's the communities..." She trailed off. "It's kind of confusing, I know..."

Illyana nodded, although she hadn't really grasped the concept. Write what you're thinking about. Minor gods and deities, she thought, astonished, examining the webpage on Kitty's laptop. "A kind of -- communication device? Something like that?" she asked.

Kitty nodded in agreement. "Yeah, basically. Here..." Minimizing the window she opened another program, filling in passwords quickly to get access to the journals' main server. "I'll set the password to Illyana, and you can change it to whatever you like, although it really ought to be something that people won't be able to guess."

Illyana nodded, inwardly fretting about this new -- well, semi-new -- technology she was being introduced to. "Right," she said, nodding again.

"It really is just for fun," Kitty said. "You don't have to use it, if you don't want to. And..." A few more keystrokes. "You're all set up." Looking up from the computer, she smiled.

Fun. Huh. Illyana smiled back. "It looks interesting," she said, although she sounded doubtful. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."