That’s why these dreams are so awkward. Who: Hermione Granger and Kitty Pryde When: During the Wonderland Plot Where: Hermione and Jim’s place What: Friends meeting for tea Rating: Low Status: Complete
Kitty knocked on Hermione’s door, and leaned back on her heels. It had been a small adventure just to get here, but she figured, of all the people she knew, Miss Magic Wand might have an idea as to what the hell was going on.
It might also be ‘keep busy’ time for her, too.
Hermione was sitting on her sofa, watching the news. Apparently, one of the broadcast towers was now a tall tree, so they had to find other ways of getting the news out. They were bouncing the signal for some stations around via satellite. Fortunately, Hermione had Cable.
She climbed up at the sound of the knock, still in her pajamas for the day, and answered the door. Relief washed over her at the sight of her friend.
“Kitty.” She said, then reached forward and wrapped her arms around Kitty to hug her tightly.
“Hey...” She hugged Hermione back tightly. “I wanted to make sure you were okay. And I was hoping we could find some answers.” And she just wanted to see her. Why did she always spend time with Hermione when there was something traumatic? She decide to spend some time just having fun some time.
“I’ll see what I can do about that. Come in, come in,” she said, tugging Kitty inside and closing the door behind her. “Let me get the kettle on.” She added, even though she could flick her wand and boil water, something about doing it the muggle way was calming. “We can have tea.”
“Tea sounds really good, actually.” Kitty looked around the apartment. It was just weird. James T Kirk lived here too. She could even see all the things that she’d expect a Kirk to have in an apartment. And things that were clearly Hermione’s. “Wow..this place really has become your home too.”
“Well, we’ve been living here together for... gosh, almost eight weeks?” Hermione said, filling the kettle with water and moving it to the stove. “My place is already emptied and gone, some of my stuff is in storage, but most is either sold or moved in.” She’d nearly doubled his book collection--which was a considerable feat--when she moved in.
“That’s awesome. I’ve never seen so many books in one apartment,” Kitty said, looking around. She was impressed with the collection, and the general feel of the apartment. It felt like a home. It made her ache, actually, but it was a good one.
Hermione settled the kettle on the burner, turned it on high, and turned to look over at Kitty. She felt her own heart ache as she watched her friend, and realized that she might have been insensitive. She moved over and wrapped her arms around Kitty for a moment, giving a silent apology.
“It’s okay,” Kitty whispered. She kissed Hermione on the cheek. “I’m okay. Okay, I’m not, but this kinda thing isn’t going to get to me. I just need to...get out. Be busy. Punch card knights in the face. The usual things.”
Hermione ran both hands over Kitty’s hair, hugging her close for one more moment, then pulled back and nodded. “The usual things.” She said, repeating Kitty’s joke. Then the kettle started to whistle, so she moved over to it to fix the tea into two mugs. “I went to the library, it’s almost completely taken over. Can’t seem to figure out what the hell’s going on.”
“Think it’s magic? Reminds me of some of the reality warpings I’ve encountered. I suppose it could be a mutant, too. A sufficiently powerful one could rewrite the whole planet.”
“Well, that’s intimidating.” Hermione said, eyes going slightly wide as the tea steeped. “I can’t imagine that sort of power. I mean, in my world people have power... but it’s more localized.”
Kitty nodded her head. “There was a woman named Wanda Maximoff. She warped reality once...and then when she warped it back there were...” She frowned and shivered. “We went from ten million mutants like me...to about two hundred. Everyone else lost their powers.”
“Wow.” Hermione said, eyes wide as she watched her friend while Kitty spoke. “That’s... well, I can imagine that would be really bad, considering some of the mutations I’ve heard about.” A lot of mutants would likely die without their powers.
She nodded. “Good for some people. Bad for others. I think the problem is none of us had a choice. What makes someone like Jubilee deserve to lose her fireworks?”
“I can’t even imagine. I can’t imagine wielding that sort of power. This Wanda Maximoff person. She didn’t do it on purpose, did she? Was that just her power going haywire?” Hermione asked, then held out a mug of hot tea for Kitty to take.
“She was a little crazy. She blamed mutants for taking away her babies. Babies that never existed.” It was more complicated than that, but that about summed it up. “They said she just said three words. No more mutants.”
“If she said no more... how were there two hundred left?” Hermione asked, completely enthralled in the story.
“No one knows. Maybe we got lucky, maybe some part of her heart didn’t want to wipe out her own species entirely.” Kitty spoke as if she was used to this sort of thing.
“It’s bizarre.” Hermione said, shaking her head. “Sounds like a...” Really amazing story? “Really trying time. I’m so sorry that you had to go through it.” ...in her dreams. Somehow. It was strange, talking about it as if it was real. But to Kitty, maybe it was real.
As real to Kitty as the Wizarding War might be to Hermione. Still, she could tell the other woman was having a hard time understanding. “wasn’t even the worse part. Anyway...”
“Anyway.” Hermione gave Kitty a small smile as she lifted her mug to take a sip from it. “...Mmm,” she said, brightening a little. “Have you seen Jim’s captain chair? It’s here in the living room.”
“.....that is so awesome! Why not on the Enterprise? Did you replicate it? Oh my god are there replicators?” Kitty could finally focus on the fact that ENTERPRISE. She took a sip of her drink and fidgeted.
Hermione laughed. “I don’t know. I think it’s a second chair? Apparently it appeared in his living room after some dreams, and there’s another one up on the Enterprise.” Hermione said, leading the way to it. “Do you want to sit?” She grinned. “Just don’t spill any tea on it.”
Without a word, Kitty bounced over to the chair, and sat down, reverently. “Captain’s log,” she murmured, then started to giggle. For just a moment, it was like a shadow had lifted off of her face, revealing light and life beneath it.
Hermione moved over and sat on the edge of the sofa, folding one leg over the other. She loved the look on Kitty’s face. Her friend looked so happy for the first time in so long. “You look like a natural.”
“I’m a huge geek. This is so amazing! Does Scotty know? Tell me Scotty knows!”
“Scotty knows, of course!” Hermione said, beaming. “Scotty and I actually met for the first time up on the Enterprise.” She said, nodding. “He’s just as amazing in person.”
“He really is. Did you know he tuned up my motorcycle?” Kitty swiveled on the chair and felt very captainy. “Did something to the engine and the shocks that was just astonishing.”
“We go to comic shops together, sometimes. He got an Enterprise schematic once. I bought some comics books with me in them...” She never did show them to Xi’an. She had decided that she didn’t want the woman freaking out about the idea, considering her assault in her backstory.
“You’re in comic books like Jim’s on tv and in the movies?” Hermione asked. She really needed to finish having her own dreams so she could be a part of the cool crowd.
“Yep.” Kitty pulled out her phone and walked over. She paged through until she found the Shadow & Flame mini-series. “See? That’s me in Japan! Complete with walking through walls.”
“Wow.” Hermione took the phone and started to flip through the pages, looking at the hand-drawn copy of Kitty on the page. “You remember all of this? You have complete memories of these events? In real life, not a cartoon?”
"In real life. Not drawn. I have some I dreamed of before I found the books, and others I dreamed of after I'd read them. There's...decades of this stuff. They even got how I lost my virginity to Pete Wisdom."
“Decades? Do you mean to say that you’ve got decades worth of memories adding to your own?” Hermione asked, eyes wide. “...are you immortal?”
She shook her head. “These..comics have been around with me in them since like..the 80s. But time is squished. I’m..probably..18 or 19 in the latest ones, but I was fourteen in 1980. You could have 24 issues take two years to come out, but only show a few weeks of time.”
She ran fingers through her hair. “There are..decades worth though. Years when my mind was attacked. Other times when we jumped across universes...It’s really complicated.”
“Wow.” Hermione thought her time travel with the time turner made things complicated. But that was nothing compared to alternate universes and whatnot. She leaned back in her spot on the end of the sofa. “...you truly are wise beyond your years.” She teased.
“Yeah, I feel like a little old lady,” Kitty replied, smiling. “It’s such a trip. I can’t even think about it.”
“I wouldn’t, if I was you. I’ve got a lot of stuff banging around in my head that’s hard to reconcile, too. Just... not decades of it.” Hermione agreed with a nod.
Kitty nodded her head. “I’m sure you do.” Seven books, at least. She wondered if Hermione realized it yet. She wondered how she’d react.
“I think a lot of us have the burden. Double lives. I just never realized that some of us could have so much.” She climbed up off of the sofa to take her now empty mug into the kitchen.
“Makes me wonder what’s crueler. That people go through these horrible things, or that there are people that write these horrible things.” Kitty laughed, the sound strained. “Maybe there’s some sick bastard writing what’s going on right now.”
Hermione paused. That made her head actually hurt. “No. No, I don’t think so.” She moved into the kitchen and set the mug in the sink, but glanced up and around, as if expecting to hear some sort of god-like voice.
“I know...” Kitty’s laugh was less strained this time. She followed Hermione. “It’s funny to think about. Funny to read about yourself.”
“I can only imagine.” For now. Hermione turned around and leaned back against the sink. “It’s so strange to watch that movie and see Jim and Scotty and Leonard.” She shook her head a little. “Makes my brain hurt.”
Crookshanks came padding into the kitchen and curled once around Hermione’s feet before going to investigate Kitty’s shoes.
“I’ve always wondered how much of the classic show still applied,” Kitty said. “Most of it before Nero came I’m sure. And judging by your library, a lot of Kirk’s lesser known qualities translated.”
“He’s absolutely brilliant.” Hermione said. Her accent came through a bit on the word, but she meant it in an intelligent way, not just in the slang way. “Really, I couldn’t have found a better match for myself. In every way.” Every. Way. Hermione thought, and her face went slightly pink.
“Every way, huh?” She grinned, and sidled closer. “Is he as legendary in bed as they say?”
It was difficult for Hermione to say. She only had a couple of people to compare him to. And even then, that was only kissing and groping. She’d given Jim her virginity, and never once regretted it. “...he’s certainly the best I’ve ever had.” She said, blushing a bit. “...we go twice a day most days.” ...was that normal? For newlyweds?
“God...” Kitty breathed. “And to think I almost had a chance with him.” She chuckled. “You can blame Scotty for intervening.” Her voice grew teasing. “Maybe he missed the shot at me so much that he went after you because we have like..the same hair.”
She wasn’t serious in the slightest.
“Maybe I’ll thank him.” Hermione grinned, teasing. “We do have similar hair, don’t we?” She asked. “Is your hair like this in the comics?” She added, “I’ve considered putting some straightening stuff into mine, but it takes so much effort.”
“Usually. It was a running joke about how I hated it, which mirrors how I really did hate it,” Kitty responded. She brought her hands to her short, pixie cut and laughed. “One thing they don’t get is how much I like it when it’s petted.”
Hermione grinned. Her hair was still long, bushy, and nearly out of control. “When that movie Brave came out, I thought it was about my hair. At least, the crazy part. Mine’s not red, though.”
Kitty giggled. “I sort of have a thing for red hair. If I hadn’t gone gay for Xi’an, it would have been a red-head.” It actually didn’t hurt so bad saying her name right now. That was progress!
That was definitely progress! Hermione was surprised it came so easily. But thrilled, really. She wanted Kitty to be okay. Hurting, yes, and growing, but she didn’t want Kitty to be hurting so much that she’d do something terrible. “Wait, you went gay for Xi’an?”
“Kind of? I mean I had inklings before. And I kissed my room mate once, but she was the one that really....made me realize.” Kitty rubbed the back of her neck. “In our dreams, we almost kissed once, but nothing ever happened. I kind of pretended that never happened. There are a couple other girls I felt things for. Only one of them is here. I actually dated one of my boyfriends from the dreams, before I ever dreamt.”
“Wow.” Hermione paused. “I’m in love with my best friend Ron in my dreams.” She confessed. It felt strange to say it out loud. She’d had some feelings for him in this world, but those faded when she fell in love with Jim.
“Feels weird, doesn’t it? Loving someone and then dreaming you love someone else?” Kitty asked, her expression serious. “I’m just...actually really glad I gave her a chance, here.”
“It does.” Hermione agreed with a nod. She was just glad that Jim didn’t know about her dreams the way she knew about his. There were things she wasn’t sure she wanted him to know. At least, so far. “I’m happy with Jim.” She said, “more than happy. That’s why these dreams are so awkward.”
Oh, poor Hermione, if only she knew...
"Then you ignore the awkward and you move forward with your life as best you can." Kitty smiled at Hermione. "I'm trying my hardest to listen to my own advice."
Hermione nodded. “It’s really good advice. You should listen to yourself.” She said, smirking. Then she stepped forward to wrap her arms around her friend for a tight hug. “It’s a bit easier said than done, I know.”
“I know. But I want to try.” She hugged Hermione, and buried her face into her neck.