Eli likes puzzles. (dashdotdash) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2013-04-01 22:55:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, eli, kitty pryde (shadowcat) |
Who: Eli and Kitty.
What: Meeting!
When: Monday afternoon.
Where: Logan's shop.
Rating: PG.
Status: Complete!
Flopped on the floor of Logan’s shop, crosslegged, Eli was sorting out timing belts. She hummed as she worked, her fingers and the hem of her dress dirty with grease, her long hair streaming down her back. Her only concession to Logan’s style of dress was a pair of boots - cowboy boots, she’d found them at a thrift store. Her back was to the door and she was as far away from the light as possible.
There was a sound, like the rushing of air as Kitty pulled to a stop in front of the shop. She got off her bike and headed into the garage, looking around. “Old man, you in?”
Eli turned her head toward the sound. “If you are referring to Logan, he has stepped out for lager.” Her voice was strangely accented - sometimes it sounded Swedish, sometimes German, but all tempered with a bit of American.
It was cute, but Kitty had a fondness for European accents. She smiled at the adorable looking girl. “Hey. You must be his new apprentice. And I think you mean beer, not Lager.” She walked over and held out her hand. “I’m Kitty.”
Looking up, Eli wiped her hand off on her skirt. “I’m Eli. I am his apprentice. You must be his friend. Anyone else that calls him old man, I don’t think he’d talk to.”
“Yeah, we go way back. To before I was younger than you, probably.” A half-truth, and the truth half was the only part that mattered. “What’re you working on?”
“Sorting the timing belts according to size. His shop is so dirty. He says he ‘knows’ where everything is.” Eil rolled her eyes. “If things are sorted and labelled, then he will not have to ‘know’.” She used liberal air quotes.
Kitty grinned. “It’s going to drive him nuts. He probably has everything organized in his head. He’s good with remembering things.” When people weren’t screwing with him, anyway. “I fully support this plan.”
“Well, things will be labeled sensibly, so he can learn their new places and remember those.” Eli huffed as she stood, hanging the belts up on hooks under labels that she’d made in her exacting penmanship.
“Where’d he find you? You’re cute.” Kitty followed her along as she hung the belts. “I think you need better working clothing, though. You shouldn’t be doing this kind of thing in a dress. Aside from messing up cute clothing, it can get caught in things.”
“I came in and asked him for work.” Eli nodded at her suggestions. “When I start actually working on the motorbikes, then I’ll wear trousers. For now, I’m just cleaning up his messes.”
“He does make a lot of them...” Kitty chuckled. “I came by ‘cause I wanted to show him my new sword, but maybe I could help you instead.”
“May I see your sword?” Eli hopped up onto a counter, sitting and crossing her feet primly at the ankle.
“Sure.” Kitty jogged back out to her crotch rocket, pulling it out of a bag and then coming back. She held it reverently. The sheathe was simple, but soft and strong.
Eli just watched, eyes going wide. “Do you ... dream? Of using swords like this?” She hadn’t talked about dreams with anyone, not even Logan.
“This sword came from one of my dreams.” Kitty smiled at her. She unsheathed it slowly, and the folded steel gleamed. “I dreamed about a visit to Japan, where I fought a group called The Hand, with the help of a man called the Silver Samurai.”
“I dream of being a boy,” Eli murmured. ‘But then they make me something else.” Memories of pain ebbed away when she saw the sword. “That’s lovely.”
‘They make me something else’ is never a good thing to hear, but Kitty knew better than a lot of people that you needed to say things at your own pace. She smiled. “Lovely, and very sharp. Just one of too many adventures. My dreams aren’t boring.”
Eli bared her teeth long enough to show her fangs for a moment, whimpering as they came out. “The lord of the manor wanted a ... they turned me into a - well, an eunuch. Then they fed me something, and then I dreamed that I had to have blood to live.” Then she’d woken up with fangs that dug into her lower lips, that stung when she tried to get them to retract.
“...Okay that sucks.” Kitty hugged Eli spontaneously. She was shocked, and her voice cracked a little. “I’m sorry. I actually have a friend who got..turned like that, but I don’t think it was anywhere near that horrible.”
“I can still ... eat food. I don’t think I’m one yet. Just - the sun hurts. And I’m still a girl,” she was quick to add. She’d woken up and frantically ran her hands over her body, making sure it was still hers.
“I’ll admit I haven’t heard of anyone dreaming about being a different gender. I suppose that has to be confusion.” Kitty ruffled Eli’s hair, unwilling to let go of her yet. “I hope..you don’t keep changing, but I can’t reassure you on that one. Everyone I know who dreams of being different, ends up being different. A friend of mine recently turned blue and furry, and like I said, I have a friend who went vampire.”
Eli looked up. “You know Kurt?” Her face lit up at his mere mentioning.
Oh shit. Kitty knew that look. Hell, she got that look about Kurt after she'd gotten over her fear of him.
"Yeah. The fuzzy elf is one of my best buddies!"
“He’s ... a very fine man.” Eli blushed, looking down and ducking her head. “Not for me, though.”
“No, I think he has someone. Or he will if she knows what’s good for her.” Kitty smirked a little. “Took her to get birth control last week. So I’m doing my part.”
“Oh, he does. I told him to give her time, that she was likely just scared.” Eli still looked sheepish, was still blushing.
“He’s way too old, you know. It might work with someone like Logan, but I think Cadence is about as young as Kurt would get.” Kitty winked at her. “But I’m sure other boys make you blush.”
“I know! It is why I have not told him. And no. No others. I’ve never even held hands with someone.” Eli shook her head, covering her cheeks with her hands.
Kitty was still hugging her. She hugged a little harder, wrapping her arms around her in a cuddling fashion. “You will. Don’t be in a hurry to grow up. It’s freaking awesome when it happens, but you don’t need to hurry.”
“I am not trying to hurry,” Eli murmured, voice muffled by Kitty’s breasts. “I just think he is handsome. I cannot breathe.”
“Sorry...” She grinned and let Eli breathe. “And yeah, he’s really handsome. I know he’s sad about the change, but I squeed.”
“Change?” Eli cocked her head to the side.
“Turning blue,” Kitty elaborated with a smile. “And the tail, and the teleporting.”
“He wasn’t always?” Eli smiled broadly. She really liked his blue. And the tail.
She shook her head. “He was cute before. But not blue. Kind of like I couldn’t walk through walls before.”
“That must be handy!” Eil giggled in surprise, lifting one hand to cover her mouth.
The giggle made Kitty grin, and she had to stop from hugging her all over again. Instead, she put her hand through a shelf and winked.
“I wish I could do something useful. Instead I have sharp teeth I hurt myself with, and the sun hurts me.” Eli wrinkled her nose, sitting back down.
“You do something useful. You have an uncanny knack for driving the old man nuts.” Kitty smiled at her.
“Do I?” Eli grinned and her fangs popped. “Ow, merde!”
She winced. “Does it hurt coming out, or do you just end up biting your lips?” Kitty was curious about it. If it was anything like Jubilee.
“Just when I bite my lips. I don’t know how to control it yet.” She sulked, her blue eyes hooded. “I am sorry, I didn’t mean to worry you.”
“I’m a worrier. It’s okay. You’re cute. So I worry more.” No wonder Logan had drawn her in. She was Logan!bait of the highest caliber.
“I am not ... cute.” Eli wrinkled her nose. She’d take pretty, but not cute. “Nothing will happen. I just stay out of the sunlight and I bite my lips sometimes. Which sucked on both counts.
“You’re adorable. I wonder though... my friend has an amulet..I wonder if it can be replicated. She still has to drink blood but she can walk in sunlight.”
Blue eyes went wide and Eli bit her lip. “I hope I don’t have to ... ever, but I’d like to walk in the sun again.”
“I’ll talk to her. Her name’s Jubilee, I think you’d like her. She’s like a walking dose of sunshine, most days. She’s proof you don’t have to change who you are, when you change.” Kitty squeezed her shoulder. “I’ll talk to another friend of mine. See if he can find a way to duplicate the amulet’s power without damaging it.”
“Thank you. You don’t have to, but ... thank you.” Eli impulsively wrapped her arms around Kitty’s waist.
“I want to try.” She ruffled Eli’s hair. “Because seeing the sunrise is something that should never be denied.”
“Thank you. I see why you two are friends,” Eli murmured.
“I’m a little dose of sunshine on his cloudy days?” Kitty suggested. “Well, when my own parade isn’t being rained on.”
“Who would do such a thing to you?” Eli looked up, eyes narrowing. “Do you need me to beat someone up for you?”
“Life...” Kitty smiled at Eli, a fraction of her weariness coming through. “Just life, Eli.”
Eli stroked Kitty’s cheek, for a moment looking far older than sixteen. She tiptoed up to kiss her forehead. “But you are still here. Which means you have to take your moments of sweetness where you can. Steal them back from life, no?”
“....Well I give that advice out all the time, I suppose I could listen to it from someone else. You’re a very sweet girl, Eli. Don’t let anything change that, okay?”
“I doubt I could. I am very stubborn.” Eli beamed. “I could say the same of you, Kitty.”
“We’re probably a lot alike in some ways.” She winked at Eli. “No matter the old man dragged us into his orbit.”
“I forced myself into his.” Eli smiled. “But I see why he’d want you around.” Kitty was pretty and sweet, who wouldn’t?
“You did?” Kitty laughed. “There’s a lot more to you than appearances.”
“I wanted to learn, and he was there.” Eli shrugged. “He’s kind.”
“That’s Logan. He’s gruff, and a little broken and a whole lot grumpy, but when it comes down to it, he’s one of the kindest guys I’ve ever met.”
“I agree. But he’s not really so grumpy. Maybe I am too.”
“Not so grumpy?”
“A little broken, a whole lot grumpy, yet kind.”
Kitty smiled, and hugged Eli again. “you’re not broken. Just different.”
“If you say so,” Eli murmured, burrowing closer. She hoped Kitty was right.