Better late than never...

[x-kitten.livejournal.com]

A pair of logs from this weekend.



Kitty is sitting in the library, her laptop open on the table in front of her, a book in her lap as she leans back in the chair.

Walking in quietly, Alison looks around, nodding to herself as she sees that the young girl is indeed in the library. She makes her way to the table, and smiles at her, concern lurking in her eyes. "Hey there," she gestures to the chair on the other side of the table, facing Kitty. "Mind if I grab a seat, talk for a bit?"

Kitty glances up, smiling. "Sure, go for it." Shifting her weight she lets the chair thunk down so she's seated securely and closes the book. "What's up?

"Got an answer from your parents," she grins wryly, "said they'd be saying the night and then heading out on Sunday." She leans on the table, waiting to see how Kitty reacts to the news.

"Oh yeah?" She grins. "Great. Glad to know, thanks."

"Mmm," Alison nods, considering her next words. "It's been a while since you've seen them," she comments, remembering something in one of the emails she's received from Kitty's parents. "You must be looking forward to this."

"Oh sure. I haven't seen them in, like, a year I think. Since I didn't go home for summer break and I always stick around for spring and winter breaks I guess it's been... well it would have been last August."

"Wow," Alison shakes head head briefly. "Then again, been there myself." She shrugs, remembering how... terse the email was. "Have you all managed to keep in contact over email during the year? I admit... I'm a bit surprised they didn't just tell you themselves."

Kitty shrugs, grinning. "Oh, we keep up just fine. They're a little scattered sometimes. I'm kind of used to emails that are all 'We're find, how're you? Dad's work's going great and the family next door moved away. Oh by the way we're taking a holiday in canada, leaving tomorrow. Hope classes are good.' Not real coherent, but..." she shrugs, "It's jsut the way they are."

"Ah," Alison leans back in the chair, stretching as she considers those words. "Doesn't make it any easier to deal with the... flakiness?" She grins apologetically at the word, trying to soften the implications.

She cocks her head, considering Al. "Well, I've never had any problems dealing with it, really. It's the way they've always been." A grin breaks across her face. "The greatest example of this is when I was seven and summer break had just started. I'd planned with a friend to go swimming the next day and told my dad, and he just looked at me. Then he says 'Sweetie, we're leaving to go to St. Paul to see your uncle tomorrow. Didn't you remember?' And of course, they'd completely forgotten to tell me."

"Somehow I thought that's what you were going to say at the end," she chuckles, crossing her arms lightly. "So you just got used to the unpreditable, then?"

"Pretty much. Unpredictable and unexplained, that's them. But they mean well." Kitty was completely unaware of just how odd it must sound, this young girl speaking of her parents as though they were wayward teenagers.

"I'm sure they do," is all Alison says for now, thinking this actually explains quite a few things about Kitty's sometimes unusual behaviour on certain aspects. "You'll have to introduce me properly to them, tomorrow." She smiles cheerfully, showing every sign of looking forward to such an event.

Kitty smiles back. "Will do, happily."

"Good. We'll have ample time before the show starts to do just that. And I'm sure I'll want to see the look on Jamie's face when you introduce him, and give him some sort of moral support," she winks, remembering Jamie's worry at the notion.

"Mm... Actually, already talked Jamie into meeting them with me when they first show up. You know, get it all over and done with."

"Let me know how it went," is the amused reply, as Alison gets to her feet, and pushes the chair back in place. "I've got other people to stalk about the concert, and then I have to drive down to the club, so I'll leave you to what you were doing before." She straightens up, and smiles fondly at Kitty. "Don't go to bed too late, kiddo."

She grins up. "Don't worry. I won't. I just want to finish my reading so I don't have to worry about it this weekend."

"Good! I'll see you tomorrow then," Alison turns and heads towads the door, already trying to sort out what she has to do next so that everything is perfect for tomorrow. "Night!" she calls out as she leaves the room.

"Good night!"





Kitty knocks on the door to Al's room, her parents standing behind her. "She ought to be in here," she says.

The door opens with a snap, and Alison sticks her head out with a harried expression. "Agh, Georgie, I'm not ready yet - oh! Hi!" She smiles brightly, worry transforming into welcome. "I've been dying to meet you!" stepping out of the room, she closes the door firmly, and smiles at Kitty while waiting to be properly introduced.

"Heya!" Kitty smiles, although it's not as bright as it normally is. "Al, these are my parents, Isaac and Sarah Pryde. Mom, Dad, this is Alison Blair, one of the graduate students at the school. She's teaching dance this term."

Mr. Pryde stuck out his hand. "It's nice to meet you," he said.

"Yes, it is," Sarah agreed. "But I thought you were taking dance lessons in town, at a professional studio?"

"I am," Kitty said. "This is just an extra lesson."

"Is that really wise?" her mother asked.

Alison reached for Mr. Pryde's hand, shaking it firmly with a smile, briefly watching the interaction between Kitty and her mother from the corner of her eye. "It's a pleasure to meet you too, sir," she answered solidly, tilting her head towards Sarah politely afterwards as well.

Isaac nodded, then turned to his wife. "Leave her alone Sarah. Kitty knows how to take care of herself."

"She over works herself. If you're not careful dear," she said, turning back to her daughter, "you'll end up a work-a-holic like your father."

"I'm not a..."

Kitty cut them off, something in her tone suggesting that she'd been doing this all day. "Al, when does the show start?"

Watching the interplay, and the underlying body language that spoke volumes, Alison smiled down gently at Kitty, placing a hand on her shoulder for a moment and giving it a faint squeeze. "In about an hour - we've got some time," she nodded towards a woman trotting nearby. "Shelly isn't at the calling out people's names in a 'I'm going to track you down soon and hurt you' way, so there's no rush yet." Turning to Kitty's parents, she smiled calmly. "So, you've had the chacne to visit the school this morning, I'm guessing. What were your impressions?"

"I think it's a good place. Kitty obviously loves it very much here." Sarah was smiling as she spoke. "And we got to meet young Mr. Madrox, who seems very nice."

"Yes, but things seem a little... disorganized. I finally found out what Kitty's taking, and it seems a little... haphadzard. She's past most of her fellows in math and a lot of the sciences, and while it's good that you're branching out into genetics and biology I can't help but worry that you're not getting any real math instruction."

"But, of course, you're not worried at all that she's not taking any humanities classes?"

Alison nodded politely as Kitty's mother spoke, giving every sign of listening as intently as one possibe could. "The class structure at Xavier's is built to complement our students' learning curve," she finally said once Sarah paused to breathe. "We also try to have different options in how students can build their schedules - either a well rounded class list, or a specialized one, that varies each term to finally encompass a whole range of topics and fields. If Kitty's not taking her humanities now," Alison grinned wryly, "you can bet she will before long."

"I was taking them last term. I just... they all conflicted this time. And it's not like I'm only taking sciences. I've got some variety."

"Oh yes, Transhumanist Ethics, whatever that is."

"I think it sounds very interesting," Mr. Pryde said.

"You would. Humanities for scientists."

"And what's wrong with that?" Kitty's voice was a little small, as she looked up at her mother, sounding very tired.

"Nothing," her father answered quickly. "There's nothing wrong with it. Everyone has their strengths, and yours, like mine, is science."

Leaning back on the wall, Alison watched the interplay, biting her lip. Finally, she leaned back in the conversation, catching her mother's eyes. "Would you mind very much if I borrowed Kitty for a moment?" She gestured towards Shelly who was walking by once more, and the young woman bounced towards them with seemingly endless energy. "Hey Al! How're things going?"

"Perfect. Listen, could you do me a favor and show Kitty's parents here, Isaac and Sarah Pryde, around the place?" she smiled quickly at the two, trusting Shelly to cheerfully bully them to her bidding within a few seconds of being around them. As Kitty's parents turned to face Shelly, Alison mouthed quietly

"No, I don't mind at all. This ought to be interesting." Sarah smiled, turning towards the new arrival.

"It was nice meeting you," Isaac said. "Good luck tonight."

Kitty watched quietly as the two of them followed Shelly down the hall, then turned back to Al. "What's up?" she asked.

"Oooh," Alison slung an arm around Kitty's shoulders, and took her in the opposite direction at a leisurely walk. "Just thought you could do with a small breather," she said gently, waving at a burly security guard, who stepped aside to let them take the emergency exit, and step outside in the sunlight.

Kitty wandered along. "I'd pretend I didn't know what you mean, but it'd be pretty stupid." She sighed. "I don't know what this is all about, but they've been doing it all day."

Alison reached out, gently tucking away a stray stand of hair before laying a hand on Kitty's shoulder - but otherwise remained silent for a while, letting the young girl gather her thoughts.

Kitty sat quietly, her head turning a little bit towards Alison but she doesn't say anything. Instead she simply thinks, chewing a little bit on her lower lip and going over things in her head. Eventually the quiet is disturbed as one of the stagehands comes bursting through the door looking for Alison.

"Come on, kiddo," Alison helps her up, and gives her a hug. "Just head for Shelly if you need a breather at one point during the show, k?"

"Sure. Thanks."

Letting Kitty go inside first, Alison sighed and followed, making a note to talk to Jamie as soon as possible, to get his point of view on Kitty's parents.