meow mix meow mix (miauw) wrote in superbabies, @ 2013-03-14 01:00:00 |
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Entry tags: | rosette williams, shay wilson |
log; Redwing & Cougar
who Shay Wilson & Rosette Williams
when Tuesday 12 March
what Rosette seeks out Shay, knowing she could help. Shay's reaction is a little startling and confusing. She breaks down a little telling her, the hawk in the corner gives her the beady eye, and in the end, Shay comforts and they come to resolutions.
It was weird, being back in the school. Rosette had been surprised to see the apartment building but pleased that the powers that be roomed her in a double with Damien---she was comfortable around him and figured he needed some kind of watching---but after unpacking her lone jug of milk, she wasn’t sure where to go. Xavier’s was known for helping the fallen and lost, and she was fallen, and she was lost. After some inquiries she learned that Shay Wilson was currently here as well, recovering from her injury.
Shay was, and always would be, good company.
Rosette sought her out, still wearing the jeans and sweater from before, having no clothing of her own. Hell, not even a cellphone to her name, or a sock. That was going to be problematic. Certain things were needed and Shay could help her access that, maybe. Help her call her parents. Maybe hold her hand during it all so it wouldn’t be as scary.
Tentatively, and a little terrified, she knocked on the door to Shay’s room. It had been awhile since they last saw each other under, well, better terms.
It took awhile for Shay to answer the door; she moved so slowly these days. Most of her suite was still in disarray after the remodeling, with twice as much space and the same amount of stuff. She wasn’t good enough on her prosthesis to really get around and take care of things just yet, and it meant that while things were getting done, it was taking forever.
She limped to the door with careful steps, the prosthesis useful but taking some time to get used to. There was a cane she was supposed to use, but of course it was leaning up against her dresser and wasn’t in her hand.
When she answered the door, she wished she’d had it to hold onto----because she felt like the floor had been tugged out from under her feet.
“...Rosette?”
Ears catching the sound of Shay moving awkwardly make Rosette smile. Bad and terrible as it had been, it was familiar. Comforting, except not, and. Things she couldn’t put words, just sounds, to.
Shyly, Rosette waved her fingers at Shay when the door was open and words were said. “Hi.” A look at a calendar earlier had established just how long she’d been hiding out as a cat and it took a moment for her to really remember. The shock on her face spoke volumes more.
“So... guess... you weren’t expecting to see me, um. Surprise, not dead?”
Shay didn’t smile. She didn’t pull Rosette into a hug. Tears welled in her eyes but she didn’t let them fall. “Come in, have a seat,” she said crisply as she stepped back to let Rosette in. She held onto the doorknob to steady herself while she reached into her pocket for her phone.
“What? Oh, okay,” why was the one thing she didn’t ask, trusting Shay’s judgement. It felt off, though, stepping inside. She had expected hugs and cries of exuberant hoorays, not... this. Not this tone, not her going for her phone, not. No.
“No, Shay, don’t call anyone. Please don’t. Not yet. Please,” Rosette was horrified suddenly at the possibility of people, family, knowing before she was ready, even if that was what she wanted. Needed.
Shay held up a finger to shush her before she fired off a quick text. “I need Walter to check on something for me,” she said vaguely. “I’m not mentioning you.” She wasn’t a naturally cold person, but now she had all the calculated efficiency of Redwing at work. She closed the door----and locked it.
Swift, Shay’s falcon, was on a perch in the corner, and she seemed to be staring Rosette down.
“I have to take some precautions,” Shay explained.
“What? Check what.” Her name? face? DNA from the door? Walter was just as scary as anyone else and even if he did resemble a large (not)cuddly teddy bear, Rosette was highly suspicious and a little scared.
Locked doors weren’t good and the bird. The bird was calling to her inner cat. “Shay, your bird. Please make your bird stop, it, it looks---” she stopped, squeaking, and dropped into a cross legged position on the floor, burying her eyes in her hands. Hiding.
“Make them. Take your precautions,” she mumbled, choking down tears that wanted up. Scary, too scary.
Shay clicked her tongue and held out her hand; Swift left her perch and came to settle on Shay’s shoulder. It probably wasn’t much better for Rosette, but Swift at least seemed to relax and opted to pay attention to Shay’s hair. For the moment, Shay didn’t seem to care about whether or not Rosette was comfortable.
In fact, she seemed quite interested in making sure Rosette was uncomfortable.
“What happened?” she asked, keeping her distance. “You disappeared, we thought you were dead. How did you get here?”
“A kid.” Rosette was trying to ignore the bird’s beady eyes, glad it was with her and not looking. Not trying to tempt. “I... woke up, like, yesterday or so, and a couple months had passed, and then we came here.”
It took a moment for her to realize how bad that started. Sighing, “I ran, okay? I’m a cowardly lion, pun intended, and I ran and hid, following this boy named Damian around. He was planning to come here anyway so we came.”
Shay raised her eyebrows, turning to face Rosette again. “You----I’m sorry, you what?”
“Um, woke up? I’ve been playing housecat for... maybe five months or so? six?” It was her way of coping. Ignore the outside world. “Or ran away like a coward. Because I did.”
It took a moment, but Shay finally looked back down at her phone. She typed another text before shoving her phone back into her pocket. “You … ran off? You ran off for six months? And played housecat?” Sorry, this wasn’t computing.
“...Yes?” That was about right. Rosette ticked the time off on her hands, yup, six months. It sounded worse coming from Shay than she had thought it would. “I was scared! I hid, and he gave me a home, so I stayed and stayed... for a long while... I didn’t want to go back and see people and, I guess, by then people’d be even more upset or angry and I just. I couldn’t, okay? I’m sorry.”
Shay stared down at her like she was frozen in place and couldn’t move. She didn’t know how to answer this. “You … what? Why? You couldn’t cope with it?”
“No! I was terrified! I was hurt and scared!” Rosette felt a little hysterical, looking up at Shay. “I let the cat take over, it knew what to do and where to go and I was so scared, Shay, I hurt so bad.”
“Hey... hey.” Shay moved carefully to Rosette, and struggled to sink down and sit beside her. Swift went back to her perch to avoid getting too close. “Come here.” Finally, she wrapped her arms around Rosette and pulled her in close, like a mother would do for a child. “It’s okay. No one’s going to punish you. Talk to me.”
Sniffling, holding back the gateway as much as she could (all she did was cry now, it seemed) Rosette first shook her head against Shay’s chest, pushing hard against her chest. “I’m not a hero like you or mom or dad or anyone, I’m a cat, everything hurt and I hid and found a safe place to be,” her sentences were interjected with sniffs and meeps. “I felt so bad to put people through any more pain I didn’t want to come back but I knew I could come here because it was safe. So we came here.”
“If you wanted to quit, you could have quit,” Shay said softly. “This isn’t a life for everyone. I just wish we’d known what had happened to you, had any word that you were safe...” She leaned in and kissed Rosette’s hair, cradling her. This wasn’t the Revenant, and this wasn’t an imposter. Imposters didn’t admit to being cowards.
Shaking her head, “No, I couldn’t, my dad would have been so sad.” Not sadder than he could be now. “I’m sorry, Shay, I’m so, so, sorry, I hid and the cat didn’t let me out because it was taking care of me.”
“The...” Hm. Shay smoothed Rosette’s hair. “Okay. The cat took care of you. And now you’re here, and you’re safe. Lots of people are going to be happy that you’re alive.” She couldn’t bring herself to get mad at Rosette for deserting them and letting people think she was dead----at least, not while the girl was right there.
“It wanted me safe,” she barely whispered, glad for Shay’s maternal comfort. Rubbing against Shay’s hand, Rosette near about purred. “I need you to help me. I need to call them. I’m... we don’t have much, he’s got what he’s wearing and I’m wearing his clothes, and. We only brought milk.”
“‘We’? Who’s ‘we’?” Shay asked. “I mean, it’s fine, we’ll get you what you need. Clothes, food. It’s going to be fine.”
“Oh! Um, Damian.” Rosette chewed her bottom lip, looking up at Shay with some worry. “I’m just. I know I’ll be fine, but he’s. He needs help, too. He’s wearing the symbiote. Venom. But he’s totally not evil and very, very good! I promise.”
Shay raised her eyebrows. “Oh.” Well, that would be interesting. “I have some experience with the symbiote.” What she meant was, she’d fucked Gwen Osborn. “We’ll get this sorted out. But tell me: what do you need right now?”
Pursing her lips, Rosette sat back and thought. “Clothes. A bra, my... my parents, I want... I want them to know? but I’m afraid to go see them. We ate from the kitchen, but they gave us one of the double apartments so we have that...” and it faced the morning sun, so plenty of bathing room. “I don’t know. What else is there?”
Shay smiled, still looking a little shellshocked. “You know what, Rosette, that’s... that’s a start.”