Log: Shadowcat and Remedy Who: Kitty Pryde and Elvyran Adelaide Where: Xavier's, the basement When: 9/6, very late at night (or early the next morning) What: Kitty can't sleep. Ran has no problem with that... until she walks into his room. And they talk. And Talk. UH-OH.
Summer's end in Westchester County was slow, days drugged into a haze by the heat and humidity. But this year was different. Instead of the languid heat, it was more like the charged atmosphere of a thunderstorm, with the registration debate touching off sparks. Everybody had an opinion and was ready to share it. Matters were even worse at the school since the deportation notices had come. Kitty felt like she was going to lose her mind. This wasn't something vague in the news; people at the school were dealing with the terrifying new tattoos, and her best friend was going to be kicked out of the country.
Perhaps it was due to her distraction over weightier matters that Kitty forgot to knock on Ran's door. They still hadn't discussed whatever had happened between them, but going to him for comfort felt like the right thing to do. She couldn't turn to Kasey and Aubrey, since they were obviously more than a little preoccupied... but Ran would listen to her. So she drifted through his door, hoping for a little reassurance.
Elvyran was probably one of the only people around here over the age of eighteen who actually slept well. He'd actually been dozing when Kitty walked right through the door, and instead of reassurance, she was met with light snoring. Sleeping on his back would do that. Except with Elvyran, "light" snoring was more of a deep grumbling noise that didn't sound quite right.
How could anyone stay in a thoroughly depressed state when confronted with the incongruity of a beautiful man... snoring like a truck driver? Kitty tried not to laugh out loud, choosing instead to walk to the bed and sit on the edge. One hand touched Ran's shoulder gently before brushing a lock of hair away from his face.
Elvyran shifted, pulling a face and swatting idly at her hand, missing by a good few inches, half asleep and probably thinking Kitty was a figment of his imagination.
Kitty chuckled softly at that. This wasn't quite what she'd expected when she'd come down here. Nudging at his shoulder again - a bit more firmly this time - she said softly, "Ran?"
He grunted, squinting up at her---and then he jumped, pushing himself back. "Kitty!" He ran a hand over his face, embarrassed. "How did you----no, never mind, I know how. Hi."
She had to smile at that. "Sorry for startling you." Of course he knew how she got in. Duh. "Should I go?" Now she was a little concerned - and embarrassed, almost. Waking someone up in the middle of the night? Great idea, Pryde.
"No, it's fine." She wouldn't be here if she didn't need something. Elvyran paused, thought for a moment---and then he shifted to the other side of the bed, patting the empty space. The bed was still made, if a bit messily, so it wasn't like he was inviting her in bed or anything. "You need something?"
Kitty moved into the space he'd left, leaning against him a little once she'd settled. "I just... I don't know, I'm sort of freaking out over everything, and..." And she didn't know how to finish that sentence. She wasn't sure what she needed.
Elvyran put an arm around her (it was just more comfortable that way) and just listened. "I know how that feels," he said gently.
Cuddling further against Ran felt right, and Kitty was content to just stay there for a moment. "Well, yeah, Kasey's your friend too. And she had to go and cooperate with the authorities." A little scornful, not of Kasey but of the whole nonsensical government and its idiot plans.
"She'll be back. And if she's not, we'll go to her. That doesn't make it much better, but she made her decision." He didn't sound cold, just ... matter-of-fact. "I was registered when I came here two and a half years ago, remember? It's worse than the pro-registration people make it sound but not as bad as the rebels would want you to believe. We're just hitting a few natural road bumps. That happens when there's a bunch of brand new people running the country."
"You think we'll be able to leave?" If they were tracking mutants, it didn't seem far-fetched that they'd start restricting their movements. "And when you got registered, you carved the tattoo out of your arm... and now you're legally dead." Kitty wasn't convinced that these were just road bumps.
"Kit." Ran looked down at her, raised an eyebrow. "You walk through walls and I don't officially exist. If we want to leave, we'll leave." He didn't comment on the rest.
"I guess." She was quiet for a moment, then spoke again in a softer tone of voice. "I feel like I'm worried over nothing, like I got spooked by my grandpa's stories."
"Maybe," he admitted. "And maybe not."
Kitty looked up at him, curious. "You're worried too, right?"
"Of course I am. Who wouldn't be?" Ran squeezed her shoulder. "But I have a hard time honestly getting scared anymore."
"I wish I could be as calm as you are," she said with a sigh. "I don't think I've had a good night's sleep in weeks."
"After you die, not a lot seems much worse. I wouldn't value it too much. I just naturally sleep like the dead."
"I... think I'll be passing on that strategy. Should I just start raiding the supply closets in the medlab? Or the liquor cabinet in the teachers' lounge?"
"You could just ask Dr. McCoy. You wouldn't be the only person on sleeping medication around here." Not that Elvyran would know about that. ..Of course not.
"I could... I kind of don't like the idea of being on medication if I don't have to, though." It wasn't that she wasn't sleeping at all, but still.
"Getting help isn't bad, either." Elvyran shifted, brushing back Kitty's hair. "Just keep it in mind."
She nodded, smiling a little at the gesture. "I will. Don't worry about me. I'll be okay."
"I do worry. A little." Kitty could take care of herself, but he worried anyway.
"Thanks." Worrying meant someone cared, as Kitty's mother so often reminded her. She was used to that sort of thing.
"...So." Yeah. Now that that was out of the way. "We should talk."
"We are talking," she said, reasonably. Then she paused. "Wait, you mean like Talk talk?" Oh crap.
"Yes. Like a Talk sort of Talk." Should it sound that foreboding. "I mean. You know. We should have one."
"Oh. Um. Okay." Kitty tried not to squirm or to blush. There was no reason this had to be horrible or embarrassing or anything like that. "Well... what do you want to talk about?"
"What are we?"
"I don't know, Ran. Friends? We're not really dating... I mean, I don't think making out in hotel rooms and the medlab counts."
"Well, no, of course not, but..." Hn. Well, all right. He couldn't think of anything that didn't sound roughly fourteen years old.
She looked up at him, somewhere between a smile and a smirk. "But what? You want to be my boyfriend?" The word stretched out, sounding even sillier.
Elvyran made a face, raising an eyebrow. "Why does that sound wrong when you say it?"
"Because it sounds kind of juvenile. I don't know, I don't mind making whatever we're doing more official than the random clandestine thing we have going on, I just... dissecting it like this is kind of awkward." Kitty let out a breath, relieved that she'd figured out just what was bothering her about this Talk.
"It is juvenile." Well, no, adults have boyfriends and girlfriends, too, but ... still. Weird. "I don't know, I'm probably just being dramatic."
"You? Dramatic? Never." She smiled, then poked him gently in the side. "Besides, it's not like we have to announce it on the network or anything."
"Oh, never." Ran sighed dramatically. "Good point. I'm just saying, a select few might want to know---but not Aubrey, I want to see the whackos he tries to hook you up with, if he still decides to do it." What with Kasey leaving and all.
"Wait, so even though I found myself a man I still have to go on blind dates? Ew." Kitty poked him in the side again.
"Oh, come on. It could be fun. And if you really like the guy, you could introduce him to your boyfriend." And see how scared he gets. Elvyran could almost see it.
"You say it'll be fun, but you're not the one who has to handle creepy dudes leering at you."
"So mention beforehand that you can phase your hand into their brains and remove it." It was a perfectly reasonable method for Ran, after all. That brain phasing thing.
"Oh, right, having the cops called on me. That sounds like a lovely end to an evening." Not that Aubrey would be picking out bigots, but you couldn't know for certain how someone would react.
Elvyran shrugged. "It could be."
"Kinky."
"If you're into handcuffs and nightsticks."
"Are you trying to suggest something? Because I think that might have to wait for later." Kitty smirked up at him. "Like after the third date."
"Oh, God, no. I don't like pain." Yeah, no kinky painful sex from Ran, thanks.
"I'll remember that for later." It wasn't Kitty's thing either, though she considered herself pretty open-minded.
"You do that." They shouldn't even be talking about this, really. Way too early, thanks. "Either way, you're ... you're welcome to stay in here, if you want."
"Yeah?" Kitty considered it. She was already in her pyjamas, and being nestled against Elvyran was surprisingly comfortable.
"Yes, of course." Like it was the natural thing to do. It wasn't like anything was going to happen, right?
"Okay. Thanks." Nothing was going to happen. Except maybe she'd be able to get a good night's sleep... unless Ran's snoring kept her awake.