Kitty Pryde (shadowofacat) wrote in thedoorway, @ 2013-02-03 12:33:00 |
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Andrea walked between the aisles, her shoulders slanted in a way that would have made her former gymnastic trainer scrunch his face in annoyance. Her hands were otherwise occupied and that meant she had to push forward a little to look down effectively at what was on display. She pushed forward after a bit of an inspection, checking out what else there was to offer in the store. Andrea walked with a purpose. A bit more than those she’d seen, on average, around the store. She wasn’t there to meander but to get something then to go out about her day. Nope, no, not at all, there was no meandering for Andrea. In fact her pace was more between a saunter and a stride. A little more of the former, because while she didn’t want to spend all day figuring out what she wanted, she had nothing pressing to do for the day. It was the weekend. That meant no work. In case, you’d missed that. There were times that it seemed that Andrea missed that, so it was important to be clear. One wouldn’t think that working at a library would allow another one to bring work home; however, one would have been entirely wrong in that estimation. Andrea found a way. However, not this weekend. It was the holiday weekend. If there was anything that could make the twenty-four year old stop, it was big commercialized holidays that had huge bouts of sentimentality attached to them. Andrea could be a sucker for sentimentality, though she would rather sell her thigh high leather boots than admit to that; of course. Of course. Also, if no one had guessed it yet, she enjoyed shopping. Christmas and Thanksgiving suckered her in, and sucked her in, like no other. Valentine’s Day, Halloween, and the Super Bowl varied (shut up, the Super Bowl counted, she might be a real football fan but the Super Bowl still had times, to her, where it mattered); but the words ‘you can decorate’ or ‘you can make cupcakes’ usually brought her in. Specifically, typically, the latter. Nevertheless, a small backtrack, Christmas and Thanksgiving - on the other hand - had levels of nostalgia that she couldn’t choke down even if she wanted to try. And she had once. They had been big deals in her family. They had been moments to honestly celebrate in the apartment building she’d lived in as a kid (them and the Super Bowl, and whenever someone’s kid from Met U played a game -- see why the pigskin game counts now?). No, they stuck with her. That’s why watching Christmas movies - mostly the classics but some newer specials - and gorging on cookies she’d previously made had been a plan. That’s why she’d even decorated a little bit. Andrea had become some form of a grinch since her mom died, and while that had lessened over the months she still was far from the most social, for Christmas she could be stubborn with herself. The holiday cheer was here and would stay until January 9, a few days post The Day of the Kings. This holiday bug was the reason why she was currently not-sauntering yet not-striding through looking for Christmas cards. She hadn’t really thought on buying anyone anything big. Andrea had gotten Storm a card, had gotten something for Cassie (as she was her Secret Santa). She had been contemplating something for Kara and Chloe too; but she hadn’t been planning on going much farther than that. Nevertheless, the Holiday Cheer had different plans for her. She had agreed to go to the get-together Chloe was setting up. Why? That answer was beyond her. Except for the part that she liked Chloe and … well, that was it. She liked Chloe. She liked the Chloe that she’d gotten to know back in Metropolis and the one here, who was the same though a little bit younger. For Andrea, who refused to think of these things, it was that straightforward. Because she liked Chloe, and her grandmother (as well, of course, as her mother) had raised her with some things called manners - though Andrea liked to pretend they were rarely existent - it felt odd to show up empty handed. Because she was her, the thought of simply giving whoever else Chloe had invited (and Chloe, too) a small baggy of homemade cookies had morphed into the idea of that cards would go great with that. Therefore, there she was. The card aisles being strolled through. A warm beverage in her hands, to cut time and because it was Caramel Brulee. A winter special. After some time, Andrea reached over and picked up a card. She opened it and contemplated the inside. Kitty sometimes groaned and rolled her eyes about Christmas, because after growing up as a Jew during this particular holiday season could be brutal for a little girl. She did complain a few times growing up that she wanted a Christmas tree and why couldn’t they sing any of the pretty songs that all the other kids knew. It took her a few years before she accepted she was different that way, and after that she was different in a much bigger way and being a mutant was much higher on the list of things to worry about than not celebrating Christmas. Plus once she got used to living at the mansion, they’d celebrate all holidays and encourage the students to do the same. They came from all over the world and backgrounds; no one was left out, that’s what the point of Xavier’s was. Time changed since then, the point of the school changed a bunch of times, but it eased Kitty’s initial hostility toward the holiday. She had a great time celebrating Hanukkah in New York. She went to the lighting of the candles and volunteered there for each night of the festival, and she gave out little presents to all her loved ones over the days. So most of her close friends were already covered by her holiday tradition, but this year there were new people to consider. Kitty was the supervisor for two floors so she tried to decorate with an ‘all holiday inclusion’ mindset, and she got some general knick-knacks for everyone. She wanted to get everyone a holiday card to leave on their door as a cheerful gesture. Brown hair was tossed up in a simple ponytail, and Kitty was dressed down in jeans, sneakers, and a long sleeved shirt with a puffy warm vest pulled over it. The weather was cold, but they hadn’t really gotten hit by any snow, so she was fine with gloves and layers instead of a scarf or coat. Not for the first time, she was psyched that she wasn’t recognizable the way some of the others were; she saw some of the fangirl freak outs near the Potts Tower. It wasn’t pretty. She figured that even if she was easy to recognize, the way she dressed down and ordinary would probably help her sneak by. Kitty was currently not far down the aisle from Andrea, similarly wrapped up in browsing, and she frowned as she sorted through a few different cards in her hands. “Not enough generic cards,” she muttered to herself. A few of her floor people might have to get a duplicate, whoops. She looked up as she shuffled from the side and managed not to run into Andrea, which was a good thing too since she had a drink. “Ha, hello, sorry, just sort of talking to my -- holy crap me.” She put a hand over her mouth to stop from saying anything more embarrassing and ended up laughing instead. “I’m a spaz sorry, which one are you?” Yes, at this point, there were several people who could be her facetwin. Yup. They’d gotten to that point. They had an awesome face, what could she say? Andrea looked up at the sound of the voice and had a moment of, Ah! Dios Mio, my face! She had close to barely any interaction with her any of her face!twins; and the interaction she had definitely hadn't been this close and personal. She was startled but luckily her brain managed to catch hold of her tongue, if not the quick surprise that flitted across her face as her head jerked back slightly. This. Was. So. Strange. This was so ... This was - Andrea tried to think of other, more neutral words, but she was having a momentary brain shortage as her gaze took in the woman across from her. A strange - no, yes, that was a good word; she could work with strange - level of curiosity overtook her as she contemplated her ... face!twin. Who was this one? It was better than the strong annoyance she first had when she'd discovered such a thing existed outside of sci-fi and various tales about everyone having one twin out there. She had been so pointedly peeved at the prospect. Then, to be fair, she had been pointedly peeved about a number of things when she had first arrived. Particularly, though in this case, over the fact that she not only shared a face with a rather well-known actress but Now, the fact that there was a second (or third, if you counted this Odette Yustman Annable) face!twin was something met with mild exasperation and further curiosity. A recent arrival that Andrea had yet to even talk to over the network. She figured she'd minimize the punches the other woman was likely to get just from 'hello, you're fictional' and make friendly, or something, a little more down the road. That, however, moment of good intention might have been shoved aside by the current moment of accidental meeting. Might have being that Andrea hadn't a clue which face!twin she was currently speaking with. "The Other One. Which one are you?" Her tone came as if it were casual shrug. Her comment a reference to boy bands: there being a cute one, a shy one, and that no one ever knew (or recalled) which trait they were meant to emphasis. "I'm Andrea." Her name was provide a beat after her question, “Don’t worry about it.” It was actually going better than Andrea had thought it would. The moment was yet over but she’d imagined more awkward or stilted starts. “I think spazzing gets a free pass in certain situations.” The short laugh that quirked her mouth, provided a scant grin, also colored her words. “Or if it doesn’t, it should.” Kitty was so used to weird that weird wasn’t weird to her anymore. She had her moments of fangirling when her favorite people came through the Tesseract, even if she “tried” to stop herself, but really it wasn’t that strange compared to what she was used to. The facetwins were new, but she was used to dealing with Multiple Man, so you know, it was on the list somewhere of things to be unsurprised by. She wondered how weirded out Odette would be though. She was just some random actress. Kitty did tech work for SHIELD so she knew when Andrea and Helena showed up. “Oh Andrea, hey. It’s Kitty.” Kitty did interact with her a little bit on the network, but things could get so hectic in that building and on there. “I should’ve figured, I think Helena’s trained by Batman, so she might automatically Judo chop people.” She was mostly guessing on that, but it seemed reasonable. She probably should actually meet Helena too, one of these days, it seemed like the polite thing to do. Kitty also had a fight or flight response when she was startled, but since her reaction was to go intangible, no one usually got hurt. Just confused. And sometimes convinced ghosts were real and traumatized for life. This was weird. She remembered the first time she saw Mystique turn into her, and shapeshifters were nothing new, plus there were Skrulls, but they weren’t in the middle of a war here. It was the card aisle of a store. At least they weren’t clones. Kitty heard bad stories about clone wackiness. “This is … wow. Hey, do you moisturize?” Completely random question, but she furrowed her eyebrows a little. “Your skin looks better than mine. I’ve always been terrible at that. I tried the nightly masks for awhile, and it didn’t go so well. I left one on too long and my face became like a big red raw mess. And I’m also talking a lot because I’m being awkward.” Kitty sheepishly smiled and then offered her hand. “So. Hi. I’m Kitty Pryde.” “I’m not sure which part of that I should comment to first. Sooo. Let’s start with, hi, it’s nice to meet you in person, Kitty Pryde.” Andrea stated as she took and shook the other woman’s hand. “I don’t know if that’s funny, creepy, or reassuring but when I’m being awkward I also talk a lot. We’ll have to check with Helena if it’s a ‘for three’ trait.” Then that would verge on creepy. “I do moisturize. This, sadly, isn’t all natural. Go me that it’s working! Apart for the obvious, where my skin doesn’t get weird when it gets windy.” It was practical when you were a person who went running around the streets - or rooftops - of Metropolis. “Not that I’m saying your skin - Which. Obviously I’m not. Well, moving on now. What’ve I missed? Right. Batman. I think that might be less straightforward than that. I’ve heard,” Ha. Heard. She had looked him up. “that he gives Midas stiff competition but I think judo chopping everyone who appeared out of nowhere would give to a lot of restraining orders. She probably knows how to ninja sense actual threats. Or something. Also, you should try lotion in the morning. That should do it.” It would seem that New York was the place to bump into people and have strange conversations. This was Andrea’s second this month. At least Kitty she was somewhat familiar with and Andrea, in this scenario, wasn’t in a rush to go elsewhere. She could fully absorb the quirkyness of the conversation from start to finish. Although, moisturizing was an important topic of conversation. What!? It definitely was. “I think there are two kinds of people. Those who get chatter in awkward situations until it feels better, or those who just clam up and/or walk away as soon as possible. The X-Men manage to balance that out. We’ve got about half and half.” Then there were people who Logan who didn’t get awkward or just ignored most people and had a beer instead. Or Scott who was flat out stoic and might be always awkward, or never awkward. It was hard to tell with their great and powerful leader. “This isn’t that new to me. I haven’t had duplicates exactly, but you know, shapeshifters and alternate universe selves, sort of a thing for us.” Kitty didn’t know a huge amount about Smallville, other than what she researched online, and she didn’t delve too deeply. It was personal to do that, and she was a little relieved her own life wasn’t splashed everywhere online. “I’m doing the lotion thing now. It used to be necessary with all the spandex, but beauty regimes didn’t get to be high on the list.” Kitty rarely went all out on make up, she preferred the girl next door approach, but she also liked glamming up a bit when she had the chance. It was nice to have the option. “So okay weirdness slowly creeping away.” She glanced around to see if anyone was staring, but why would they? They probably just figured the two were twin sisters. Duh. “How’s it going? You getting used to the place?” Kitty was one of the earlier arrivals so she was settled smoothly by the time the masses started to come in. “Spandex.” The repeated word filled with amusement and disbelief. Andrea blinked, slowly and visibly, once. She couldn’t much decide what was stranger: that she was in an actual conversation about using spandex in a certain way (with someone who wore it to save the world - this wouldn’t have happened back in Metropolis, at least not for her) or spandex -- in and of itself. She was going with the first one. Because her feelings on multi-colored spandex aside, Andrea was capable of admitting what little she’d actively looked up of the X-men on the internet proved that they were at least practical about it. And not at all one with the ridiculous bright colors. “Dios, I don’t miss that! I used to do gymnastics.” She explained. “Also … I’m going good. I’ve got a job. I have my Brulee. Other than being dragged to a dimension not mine, I couldn’t go better.” A ghost of a smile curved her mouth. Andrea, actually, found herself appreciative of Kitty’s concern. She seemed like a genuinely nice person from what she’d seen of the other woman around the network. Nevertheless, Andrea tried her best to never delve beyond the surface. Despite herself, even with eight months of practice (around six back home and two here), she wasn’t as perfect as it as she would like - she shared a little too much and she took in a lot more than she’d like. Yet she kept serious thoughts for the most part, under lock and key. Besides! Divulging theories about why you were uncomfortable with a situation (where on the surface most would say she had it great) wasn’t first meeting material. Maybe on the fourth and after Kitty had gotten her a soft pretzel. “I mean, sure. I’m still waiting on that winning lotto ticket but that’s not a dimension-specific activity … How about you? Tell me your life is more exhilarating than this librarian’s.” “Spandex,” Kitty confirmed. There was a reason superheroes used it, and also professional athletes and gym enthusiasts. It was tight on the body, it left no ability for people to grab a hold of you, it easily stretched with your body’s movement, and it didn’t rip easy. But she knew how weird it was to see a bunch of brightly colored spandex-wearing people run by. Around here, people flirted and joked about the spandex, but to them they were too used to it to find it attractive or showy. “I still have the uniform in my closet, Kirk keeps begging to see it.” She was BFFs with James Tiberius Kirk. It was weird and awesome to know that. “I’ve been to less fun alternate dimensions, so this one isn’t too bad.” Kitty actually liked it in a general way. It was something of a break for them, since there weren’t currently any sentinels or people trying to kill them on a daily basis. Not to jinx it or anything. “It’s exhilarating ish. I work for SHIELD as a tech head. I’ve worked with ours before in the past.” She liked it too, generally. Computers were one of her major loves, and if she wasn’t an X-Man, that would be her second choice for sure. She had a good read on people so she could tell Andrea was holding back, maybe a little self-possessed, but they were strangers so she understood that. Strangers who shared the same face. “Who are you getting holiday cards for? I’m trying to think of some for the people on my floors.” If Kitty had been hoping to get an answer for her question, she would find herself disappointed. Or at least find the response momentarily delayed. Andrea’s interest had actually been piqued at the mention of Kitty’s uniform. Her curiosity had been very well prepared to get the better of her but any possible interruption of her face!twin’s words had been sumo-body slammed. Her brain actually froze. She’d seen Kirk and Kitty talking to each other once or twice on the network; but this … this was different. Maybe because it was some current weird relation to her. Because come on. How often did you speak to someone who simply casually mentioned a past conversation with James Tiberius Kirk!? Andrea was too in awe to even consider jealously … much. Yes, it was true, she was a Picard girl. And yes this wasn’t the Kirk she had grown up with. Nevertheless, it didn’t change the fact that it was Kirk. Her eyes widened almost comically simply at the mention and she had to set her teeth as she mentally reminded herself that she was no longer twelve years old. She didn’t squeal like she was half-mad whenever her favorite actor or musician showed up on the T.V. Or someone else thought them awesome. She was a twenty-four year old, former vigilante, occasionally mild-mannered and generally smart-assed librarian. Self and Control were her middle names. Andrea just barely tuned into a vague mention of travelling to other dimensions. She also barely managed not to blurt out something ridiculous, like: Have you been to another planet!?! Her twelve year old self was deeply ashamed of her. Andrea attempted to discreetly, and failed to, clear her throat. Luckily, she managed to get control of her face before Kitty reached her question. See? Her middle name. There was a visible pause as Andrea replayed the question in her head. With the parts that weren’t inwardly facepalming or going: Kirk! Kirk! Kirk! Dios mio, Dimensions! “Ho-Holiday cards? Right. Oh .. um. For … Chloe! I don’t know if you’ve met her yet? Chloe Sullivan. She’s putting together some holiday …. thing. Yes. A holiday thing. And she invited me.” Maybe awkward really was a thing that happened to people that had this face. Andrea looked down at the card like it was something important. Almost like she was mildly surprised to find the Magna Carta before her and was quickly inspecting it in order to provide a brief summary. In truth, she was wondering how she could insert the mention of Kirk and spandex. Andrea was pretty sure that was how most fanfiction started. Even the ones that were serious and had you sobbing at the end, in the quiet of your room with a box of kleenex and those cookies you accidentally let crisp. … or whatever other scenarios worked for people. “I figured, I might as well properly have some holiday cheer and give out some holiday cards.” Feeling her emotions settle, even as her brain continued to think, she continued, in a normal tone. “This set of cards are pretty great I think. Festive, not too impersonal, and a fantastic bargain.” Bargains were always important. Yes, even when shopping for holiday cards! Kitty could sense something was distracting Andrea, but since she wasn’t a mind reader like some of her friends, she could only assume it was going to stay a mystery. Not everyone was immediately used to the incredibly bizarre like she was, maybe the face thing was still throwing her for a loop. Knowing Kirk was pretty great, and she managed to dial back her own fangirling to reasonable levels with each one of her heroes she met. She had brunch plans with Bones and movie plans with Spock, and this was totally normal. Totally. Normal. Also there were Greek and Roman demigods all over her floors so that was new. “Chloe, nope, don’t think I have yet, but there’s a lot of people here. I wonder if there will be a time where we think we know everyone in the building but it’s far from the truth. If you want to know a secret, that totally has happened to me at Xavier’s before. It doesn’t help we have a dozen teams, students coming in and out, and ex-enemies and team members showing up randomly.” Just before she got yoinked through the Tesseract, Kitty came back to the team after a long time away. There were plenty of new students she hadn’t met yet, although she was trying to introduce herself around. Things got hectic at the mansion. It was tough sometimes to juggle the school part with the superhero part, but it was a juggling act they all got used to after a lifetime of it. “Sounds like a great idea. Pretty much the same here. I was going with the season’s greeting non-denominational options. A hello how you doing I’m your floor manager and I won’t bite but also don’t knock on my door at three in the morning because I will growl at you.” She smiled and was not kidding at all about that part. Because she would and Kitty appreciated her sleep thank you. “Not with the way people keep arriving.” Andrea agreed. “That actually sounds reasonable! I didn’t know everyone in my first apartment building and I’d live there for most of my life.” She shared. A neutral enough tidbit to share and it was true. She’d been close with a number of people but she hadn’t known every single person. “And that’s without the constant flow in and out of that that those two places have. ” Or was it had for Xavier’s. Was having? It was still having people coming into it somewhere right? Andrea was mostly certain that not even a fraction of the X-men were here, at least from what she’s read. Not that it mattered. Her grammar that is. She was going to stay focused on the here and now for this one. “Although, if you’re a fan of coffee, you’ll probably meet Chloe sooner than later at a coffeehouse.” A friendly teasing note crept into her voice but it tapered out into something more a little more serious yet just as sincere, “She’s pretty friendly.” Andrea moved as they spoke. Although she followed what Kitty said, her eyes did go back to her previous task. However, for a moment while talking she paused to look up. “Non-denominational! That’s a good thought.” Her mouth twisted in acknowledgment as she raised her coffee very slightly in appreciation of Kitty’s words. For someone who claimed to pretty much eschew the religious symbolism beyond the holiday she had went straight to Christmas. “Oh, dios,” Andrea found herself laughing slightly, an answering smile curved across her face. “You’re one of those eight hours people? Another tick for the differences section. That’s okay. I think between the two of us we could find a shorter version of that. Though, I’m thinking about writing Hallmark a letter of complaint. How do they not have cards like that already?” “The Professor knew everyone of course, but he cheats. Scott too, but he’s neurotic. Ororo … well she’s Ororo. Wolverine because of the smells. Damn I really am just the lazy one of the group. But I was on sabbatical for awhile, and they just keep coming and going. For every handful of that us join the X-Men, there’s plenty who don’t.” Kitty doubted that was ever shown in the comic books. There were a lot of mutants that came to get help and moved on with their lives, or had mutations that they could just hide in plain sight from there. Plenty of mutations that weren’t aggressive or useful enough to really be a part of a battle anyway. Just like Doug Ramsey. Who learned the hard way not every person should be in the middle of a fire fight just because they’re a mutant. “Love coffee. I’m a hot drink fan. Cocoa, tea, apple cider, anything that puts a little fire in your blood. Especially during the winter. If I see her around I’ll be sure to say hi … or she’ll say it first since she’ll think I’m you.” Kitty made a face. “If I get eight hours, I’m all for it. As long as it’s over four hours, I’m a happy camper.” Over the years she just got used to being busy enough to live on sleep deprivation. None of them slept very soundly. Probably because of the attacks on the mansion that happened from time to time. “Hallmark needs to come up with creative subjects too. I think there should be a break up card, and a you deserve better card, and a guess what you’re getting sued card.” She tittered but ended up reaching out to pick two general holiday cards. They were boring, but they’d have to work. “Of course I could always not be lazy and design something of my own, and write personal messages. Except I don’t really know everyone that well yet.” It was only a month. “What floor are you on?” Andrea made a vague sound of agreement after Kitty mentioned Ororo. She didn’t really know the woman but Ororo was her floor advisor, and Andrea didn’t think it was difficult to see that was a woman who had it together. Poised, was a great word for it. As Kitty spoke, Andrea followed along, although her only reactions were to the mention of Ororo and smelling as a superpower. Because she didn’t know who she felt bad for more: the person smelling a bunch of hormonal, trouble-rousing teenagers or the trouble-rousing, hormonal teenagers being smelled. Occasionally, when she was on her own, Andrea had a brief thought. You know, beyond her reclusive broodingness and the brief thought was that having an environment … or maybe just, someone who knew what to do when she’d woken up with superpowers would have been an okay thing. Maybe not-so-bad. However, those thoughts crumbled under the heavy weight of reality when faced with: Wolverine smelling people. She wasn’t so bad now. Because, really, she’d probably end up being more neurotic than that Scott fellow, which said something if a person counted how uptight she could be now. Okay, she might have also smiled a bit sympathetically when Kitty mentioned that. Andrea took a sip of her drink again. “Hey, that’s two for three on tea! So far.” She amended. She was trying to see the positives of the face!triplet things. In actuality, she didn’t know what exactly about having the same interest in drinks was positive. However, it kept her from contemplating too hard about the awkward run-ins that could happen if people mistook them for the other in person. Well, at least when they weren’t standing. “That’s a good point … what do you think of name tags or getting a haircut?” She was mostly joking. Andrea happened on a card, “Ah-ha!” She exclaimed softly to herself. “It’s not imaginative as ‘guess you’re getting sued card’ !?” Incredulous amusement clear on her face. What was that? It would be quite the card. “but simple works when you don’t know the people.” Her words were a similar restatement of what Kitty had just said and also an agreement. Despite the other woman’s comment on laziness, Andrea didn’t think she was. On eiither accounts. There was a large amount of people coming in and at least Kitty wanted to make the effort to know them. “You also raise a good point about Hallmark needing to take a step or twenty up. … sadly a getting sued card would probably make a killing. It isn’t like people don’t do those via e-mail or notes, anyway. They might as well cash in now, give someecards competition, and make things festive. I wonder what you’d put on a ‘you deserve better card’? A picture of Viggo Mortensen or Halle Berry?” Andrea had a bit of a crush on Viggo. She had a bit of a more crush on Halle Berry. However, it all paled in comparison to Val Kilmer in Top Gun. Let’s just say if the Tesseract took requests and she was that much of an obsessive fangirl … it was a very obvious train of thought. “Unless that’s more a ‘that is fantasy, this reality, be happy with what you have’ kind of card. I can see these things becoming unruly. Also, I’m on the twenty-fourth floor.” A big difference between the two of them she could already tell was their height. So that was going to go over well. Kitty was average in height and usually got towered over by the modelesque women in the X-Men. It probably sold the kid sister part too. Kitty was everyone’s kid sister at the mansion. She was the youngest member ever, most of them watched her grow up, and no matter how old she got she’d probably still have people ruffling her hair or calling her Kitten. It used to bother her as a teenager, because she was obviously super serious and mature and they were hurting her pride. Now she just laughed and made dopey faces at them, because she was mature and didn’t need to prove it anymore. “I think our heights work for now but I don’t know about Helena. Maybe the hair, we dress in another way. You know it’s funny, our face is identical, but I don’t know, I think we look pretty different. But maybe only because I know better I see it that way.” Or she could be right. Facial expressions and little details were enough to make them unique. Kitty was just waiting for the day when another version of her showed up. The question was if they’d look different, like some of the duplicates, or be the same. Another Odette face. Was this world ready for that? She hoped not any time soon. This was enough. “If you put them on a you deserve better card, they’d be depressed they can’t get that much better.” Kitty finally decided on two general types of cards and basically stockpiled them. There were a few left over, but they’d have to restock for sure. “Dear floormate, sorry about the whole mystical kidnapping thing, such a drag, here’s hoping you either like being stuck here or get sent back asap.” She saw plenty of both. Kitty was of two minds about it herself. She didn’t mind this world, but she was aware she belonged elsewhere. She missed her friends and her home and while there were no sentinels, yessss, it was wrong too. Their futures weren’t too bright on the other hand. It was a weird place to be in. “Dear floormate, happy generic holiday if you feel like celebrating and hopefully this doesn’t make you sad no one else is giving you cards. Or reminding you that you’re not home. Suddenly I see pit falls in this plan.” “No,” Andrea agreed with a slight nod. “no, I think the same thing. Maybe the people who know us best would be able to pick up on those differences too. When you put it that way, and think about it, they spend more time staring at our faces than we do.” Andrea didn’t think that it was too much of a stretch. At least not on the people on Kitty’s end. They all seemed to have known her for a long time. That worked for Andrea because Kitty also had a lot more people here who knew her from home. Given Kitty’s own words, and what Andrea had sped read through, the X-men being familiar with each other felt like a given. On Andrea’s end, all the people she was fond with had never shown up on T.V., so she liked to think they were safefrom showing up. Thinking about the hows would bring more of a headache than card shopping needed. Furthermore, Andrea didn’t have that many people here that she was close to; therefore, frequent mix-ups wouldn’t be happening. Helena, as mentioned, was the one to consider now. “Clearly now, we just need to find Helena and pull a von Trapp to see how it works out. Is it weird to want her not to be shorter than you are?” Not that Andrea had anything against short people. She knew lots of people shorter than her. It would just be strange to stare down at herself with a major height disparity. She might not spend time staring at her own face but when she did look in the mirror she was the same height as herself. A smile skirted at the corner of Andrea’s mouth, a sort of blink and you’d miss it. “Point.” She acquiesced. Andrea watched Kitty just grab the cards and that smile returned, in fact, it turned into a grin that she attempted to suppress. It managed to stay under-wraps even when she let out a soft snort of amusement. “Ever think about quitting your day job? You’re a pro. You know what you should do? Take a picture of Kirk. Xerox it. Put them in the cards and there you go. Just have him sign their names. Everyone will be so bamboozled by a Kirk - oh! You should make it pop out. They won’t even realize that you didn’t put a message. Because who doesn’t want an autograph of James Tiberius Kirk?” Even Picard fans could momentarily put down the deathmatch of Captain vs. Captain to momentarily appreciate that. She have felt worse about a suggestion about taking advantage of a man she’d never fame if she’d been entirely serious. Only a small amount of partially. Also, if she thought he’d mind. She might not know this Kirk - either with the person to person familiarity Kitty had or even the childhood one she’d had due to television - but he was Kirk. “I don’t know, if she’s shorter than me she’d make it easier to tell us apart. But yeah I think with time people get to know you, and they can tell the difference. I’ve met identical twins before and after awhile, they seem like they don’t look alike at all.” It was eerie really. Kitty found it comforting to know personality factored in so much. She was feeling better about having doppelgangers now that she was confronted with it. Plus Andrea was cool. How weird would it be to share a face with someone you hated? “You should meet Jamie Madrox. He makes duplicates, and sometimes even they could be distinct. Not often.” That caused a few complications in the past too, but X-Men stuff always came with complications. Kitty laughed at her idea. “I would, but he’d love it way too much. I spend half my time being a geek about him, and half my time trying not to blow up his ego more.” He was a good guy though. She was starstruck at first, but they struck up a real friendship now. It was great having the Enterprise people around. Not only were they amazing, but their stories were the most interesting out there. “Tell you what, I’ll definitely make you one of those cards. I bet I could convince him to take his shirt off too for it. Hell he’d probably make a calendar.” Maybe. Kitty grinned and waved her cards. “For now this’ll have to do, what about you?” This time when Andrea’s eyes widened a bit taken aback, with pleased surprised, by Kitty’s offer she was far too slow to even find middle ground with her reaction, never mind control it. The grin on her face spread from slightly startled to bright in an instant. “If you’re serious I’ll … I don’t know what but it’ll be great something to have. Tell him, though, to keep his -” She was always reminding herself that she wasn’t twelve year old Andrea, she could see him as an attractive guy who happened to be shirtless on a piece of paper and not ‘Kirk! Kirk! Kirk!’. Not only that, at any rate. Besides Chris Pine was not William Shatner. “On second thought, your way is better. I like your ideas.” Andrea scanned the cards again and settled on what she had liked. She plucked some more for herself. “Merry Christmas to a group of people who have no idea how close they came to shirtless Kirk.” Andrea said showing her newer set of cards. “I’ll be okay with that for them.” |