xp_logs | The screaming last night. (Reply)

Lockheed, meet Illyana the Paranoid

Kitty was quite happy to be asleep. It had been a late and tiring night, and by the time she'd made it into the room even 'Yana was already asleep. Kitty and Lockheed had simply curled up in the bed, much like the kittens Kitty took her name from. Kitty hadn't even bothered to change into her pjs or get under the blankets, just collapsed onto the bed, Lockheeds wing curled over her shoulder and his tail wrapped around her wrist again.

Illyana -- a light sleeper by habit -- woke momentarily to the sound of Kitty collapsing into bed. She turned over, content to drift back into sleep, when something caught her eye.

Being an innately suspicious person, her first reaction was to wake up fully, just to be safe. She flicked on her bedside lamp.

And, in an action that would embarrass her forevermore, screamed bloody murder, grabbing the nearest weapon her hands could find (a pillow) and pouncing, tangled up in bedsheets, hair in her face, determined to save her best friend from whatever-it-was that was trying to eat her head.

Kitty was doing much better these days - she never phased automatically just because of loud noises. Loud noises and attacks, though, were a different matter. Unfortunately, when she phased she phased away from the little dragon, who had been quite startled by the sudden noise. The fact that he could no longer feel Kitty just made him that much more distressed. With a piteous cry, he launched himself from the bed.

Even more unfortunately, it was his first 'flight' and flight was apparently not something that he had been born knowing how to do right. He made it clear of the bed away from the crazy screaming apparition with the pillow before tumbling to the ground on the other side. Luckily, he was small. That meant hiding under the bed was absolutely an option.

"Stay where you are," Illyana panted, attempting to gather her dignity about her. Dressed in a pink tank top with match pyjama shorts, and still holding the pillow defensively, this was a failure. She glanced at the pillow, looked somewhat disgusted, but it was the most dangerous thing she could find on short notice. "I'll get it." Her voice lowered menacingly on 'get it', and she crouched down, peering under the bed and taking an experimental swipe with the pillow.

Lockheed gave off another little whimpering cry, moving back farther under the bed until he was flus up against the wall.

"'Yana, what the hell are you doing?" Kitty asked, phasing back in and staring at her roommate, who had clearly gone psychotic. The cry, however, reminded her. Glancing around quickly she asked, "Lockheed? Where's Lockheed?" There was a little, unhappy sounding 'mer' from beneath her.

"What?" Illyana stared up at the brunette. Clearly, the creature had poisoned Kitty, rendering her insensible. Or hypnotised her, to think of it. "It's all right," she said slowly, as though she were speaking to a very young child, "something was trying to eat your head but I'm about to get it. Just stay still."

"Eat my head?" Kitty blinked at Illyana. "What are you on about? Lockheed?" Rolling off the bed away from 'Yana she peered under the bed, trying to see into the shadows. "Lockheed, are you under there?"

The dragon was glad to see Kitty again, but not quite brave enough to venture out from his safe spot - who knew what the crazy screaming thing might be up to.

"Careful!" Illyana grabbed Kitty's shoulder, hauling her as much as possible away from under the bed. "It's under there. I mentioned it was trying to eat you? It was trying to eat you. Please let me deal with this." She was still speaking deliberately, unsure how much of this was getting through.

"He wasn't trying to eat me," Kitty said, using the same calm and reasonable tone, having decided that her best friend must have had a nightmare and might still be dreaming or something. "He was sleeping. So," she added, a little more darkly, "was I. It was a good sleep. It was a nice sleep. There were pleasant dreams about Jamie and, you know, no screaming roommates with pillows. Not that I don't love you." She tried to get back to the bed to recover her new pet.

"You were sleeping," Illyana said patiently, keeping her grip on Kitty as much as possible, "because you have been poisoned, or possibly hypnotised, by the monster that was trying to eat your head. Which is now under your bed. I will take care of it. Stand back."

"I was sleeping because it's midnight, 'Yana. Honestly. And he's not a monster. He's a baby and his name is Lockheed. And you are not going to 'take care of it', with or without the pillow."

"That was not a baby, Kitty. Babies are human-coloured. That was purple. Unless it is Clarice's lovechild with an eggplant, it was a monster, and you are more poisoned or hypnotised than I thought."

Kitty ignored the comment about Clarice. "He's my new... well, pet, I guess. He hatched this evening out of the stone that the dragon gave Jamie in Asgard. I have been neither poisioned nor hypnotised, and will you please move so I can get him out from under the bed. You're scaring him."

Actually, the lack of screaming or pillow swinging had calmned Lockheed down considerably, and it was about now that he stuck the end of his snout out from under the bed, looking around for Kitty.

Illyana jumped back, a distrusting look on her face -- even though she let Kitty go, so that she could edge away slowly without hinderance, she was very uneasy. "A dragon," she repeated flatly. "A man-eating, fire-breathing dragon is your new pet." She had the sudden urge to laugh; this would be hysterics, and bad, she told herself. "Well, that's all right then," she said instead, and shut her mouth firmly, lest she babble.

Kitty leaned down to scoop Lockheed up, cuddling him. "Yes, he is. 'Yana, this is Lockheed. Lockheed... stop that, she won't hurt you." Lockheed was burrying his head in Kitty's arms, trying to hide from Illyana. "This is my best friend, Lockheed. Her name is Illyana. 'Yana, appologize for scaring him."

"Apologise to him? I'm sorry, Kitty, I thought you just asked me to apologise to your dragon." It was late at night, she'd been awake since four AM the previous day, she could not be expected to cope with this. "Your dragon, which was trying to eat your head and even if it wasn't right now will probably commit violence at some point? Because he's a dragon, and their primary activity is eating people?"

Kitty blinked, then giggled. "Ok, you're right, that was a stupid thing to say. But seriously, he's not going to eat me, or you, or anyone. Hear that Lockheed?" The dragon looked up at her, cocking it's head. "Rule number one: no eating people. Any of them. Here in the mansion or elsewhere."

Lockheed considered Kitty carefully, then dropped his head in a sort of nod and went, "Meh."

Illyana closed her eyes briefly. She would deal with this another time. Possibly tomorrow. Tomorrow, this might turn out to have been an awful dream. Until then, she would try not to get killed in her sleep. "Thank you," she said sarcastically, albeit without energy. "That's convincing. I'm going back to sleep."

"Me too," Kitty said, ignoring the sarcasm, and Lockheed added a little `mer`. "Good night, `Yana."