noteful | (no subject)

Entry tags:

(no subject)

Meg is bored.

And still contagious.

And bored.

And covered in calamine lotion, which only does so much for the itching and clashes rather dreadfully with her hair.

And bored.

She eyes her pile of books without anything that could be called enthusiasm, turning the three bracelets on her wrist around, idly.

And then stops, as her fingers find the one link on bracelet from Laura that is heavier than the others.

She hesitates for a moment and then taps the communicator on her wrist that she's never needed to use in the more than two years she's worn it every day.

"Laura? Are you there?"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"That is stupid."

This is X's first and immediate response.

But after a moment or two of thought --

"And it is not fair. To her. Or to the other mutants. We can do things, too."

Beat.

"We can all help. If we are not too afraid."

"Well, it's irrational," Meg says.

She probably wouldn't say stupid.

"And, no, it's not fair. To anyone.

"And, yes, even if you can't all help in the same way, I would think that there would be ways for anyone who wanted to help to help."

"I know people hate us. And it is not always safe."

X is still ruthlessly not fidgeting, even if she wants to.

"But it is important to try. And to help."

X does not know how not to, really. Not at this point.

She likes it that way.

"Because that's the way you see the world, Laura. You're smart, and you're strong, and you're brave, and you help people when you can, and you try to fix the things that you think need to be fixed.

"And that, I'm sure, is why Tomas wants to run away and be an X-man."

But --

Meg --

X does not know how to parse that. And she does not blush. But --

Just this once, if she could, she probably would.

Still.

"But he does not need to be an X-man."

X does not quite sound plaintive, but it's close.

"To do that."

"No, he doesn't," Meg agrees. "And he'll figure that out, when he's old enough to understand that the attributes and the title aren't just a package deal.

"But you'll still be part of the reason he wants to be all those things. Just like my father's the reason I want to be a doctor."

"Oh."

X's voice is quiet.

"I -- "

She does not know what to say to that. At all.

It's all right.

Sometimes, you don't have to know what to say.

Meg is silent for a moment, too.

And then she starts coughing.

After several seconds, there's a gesture toward the water glass nearby that probably means Please would you mind handing me that?

X snags the water glass in a movement that is faster than humanly possible.

She wavers a moment between handing it to Meg or holding it up to her mouth so she can drink without worrying about spilling -- X's superhuman reflexes will be good for something here --

Then leaves it to Meg to decide.

X is not used to this. At all.

Meg manages to hold up one index finger in the universe gesture for just give me a moment. Gradually the coughing eases to intermittent and then subsiding, and she reaches to take the glass.

"Thank you," she says, somewhat hoarsely.

"You are welcome," X says, very earnestly.

And then, a little more hesitantly --

"Maybe it is better not to talk?"

Edited 2012-03-26 03:59 (UTC)

Meg nods. "Probably.

"Or at least not to talk much."

She takes several sips of water.

"So what will you do? About Hope and Tomas and everything?"

"I do not know," X says, after a moment's silence.

"Yet."

Beat.

"But I will tell you. When I do."

Meg smiles, and nods again.

"Good.

"And if you want to talk about it along the way, we will."

Even if Meg has to resort to rely on hand gestures and charades.

"I know," X says.

She sounds absolutely certain of that. Because she is.

And right now, it is quite likely that X's smile is not at all a trick of the light.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only