2013.07.25 - Some Education Is Probably Required

The news about Shift had hit like wildfire. And yet, somehow, Doug Ramsey didn't seem -terribly- surprised. Maybe it was Scott, maybe it was -someone-, but that Shift had left over a difference of 'opinions'... well, Doug might be more dramatic about it, but it -was- out of his hands, and he wasn't going to spend time on the darker matters that Shift's interrogation had touched. 
He did, however, wonder what Kitty was going to make of it, especially with Rachel, who had been involved in the interrogation, as her roommate, but eh... he was in too good of a mood. 
Which is why, when he'd stopped by Kitty's room with the newest 'let's try this food experiment', he'd simply passed her the bacon-flavored freshly roasted coffee and made himself at home on the beanbag, tossing the Hello Kitty cushions right onto Rachel's bed. "Morning, Kitty," he greets. "You seen that Cumberbatch was involved in a gay wedding this morning?" 
Kitty's room - for the most part (at least Kitty's side) is filled with camping gear of all manner. A sleeping bag (half rolled) is half on her bed, half rolled off. What appears to be two tent stakes have found themselves away from the tent itself, and are leaned up against the dresser. A large cooler (with bits of dirt clinging to the bottom) has been placed over the top of Lockheed's bed, and the dragon is having an absolute fit about it. The small purple creature is hefting, and shoving, pushing and heaving, trying to move the heavy thing /off/ of his bed with many grumbles of 'meh'! 
As for Kitty, well, she looks slightly disheveled, her hair is pulled back into a tight ponytail, the curly waves kept barely in check by the band. She wears a pair of cut-off jeans, that have the appearance of being not only well worn, but worn often through her week. A shirt with stains of unknown origin is still on, and for the most part - she smells of the outdoors. Mud. And fish. And worms. And ferns. And everything else you can imagine. 
The coffee is collected with a grateful. "Oh thanks!" Before she coughs slightly over the flavor. "Is that.. bacon..?" She hopes its Kosher, but doesn't mind right now. She could use the coffee. For the most part, Kitty hasn't heard of Shift's betrayal, or Rachel's part in any interrogation. No. She hasn't even turned on her computer, or pulled her tablet out all week. Flopping down onto her computer chair, Kitty just idly sips the coffee and eyes Doug. "No hadn't heard. Phoebe's doing good." She begins, "She's engaged to some rich banker or .. something." Kitty mutters under her breath. "And when we left, she looked absolutely stunning. How the heck is it that I can go camping and look like I've gone camping, and someone else can go camping, and look like they've spent hours at a beauty parlor?"
"Sure is," Doug replies. A bit of Torani syrup, and presto. And unless 'natural flavors' wasn't kosher, it would probably be Kitty-approved. Probably. At least it wasn't the Chicken N' Waffles. "Don't worry, it's flavorings. And Cumberbatch officiated a gay wedding. Looked like a blast. Oh, and they mentioned McGann is apparently being filmed for the Dr. Who episodes. New film, not just old footage."
Straightening out his toussled hair, Doug eyes Kitty's gear, before looking back towards the girl herself with a jaundiced stare. "Phoebe's engaged -already-?" Considering their ages... 
Shaking his head, Doug motions, his blue eyes twinkling. "Besides, knowing you, you probably did all the work and she just bossed everyone around." 
Lockheed's struggles catches Doug's attention, and the young man pushes his own cup of coffee towards Lockheed so that the dragon can hold it while he goes to free Lockheed's bed. 
"Lots happened when you were away. Shift left the X-Men, for one," Doug adds, anticipating a question, considering that she still hadn't turned on the computer. "Where's Rachel?" 
 
"Mmm. Benedict." Is Kitty's response, a glassy eyed expression crossing her hazel eyes - before she shakes it off with a grin. "He's such a great person. I like him more and more. Though that one interview he did, was just -odd-. I couldn't figure out a thing he said. It was just gibberish. I think he was really pulling our legs, or had one too many shots of something." Still seated, still sipping her coffee, Kitty just relaxes a bit, letting the camping trip just ease on out, as she listens idly to what Doug has to say.
Lockheed collects the cup, and sniffs it curiously. After all. Food, right? Smelling that it's /coffee/, but yet it also has a unique smell he can identify that /isn't/ coffee... the dragon just shrugs and takes a sip. "HEY!" Is all he lets out as he spits the offending coffee flavor to one side with a disgusted yucko sound. At least he didn't spit /back into the cup/. No. The cup gets jostled a bit, as Lockheed turns his attention back to Doug, letting out a happy 'cooo' once the cooler is removed. The cup is shoved back towards Doug, as Lockheed makes quick work of cleaning his bed and getting back into it afterwards.
Kitty, for her part, just doesn't even comment. "I am so tired, last night we stayed up all night talking. And man could she talk. And yes. Already engaged, though they're not going to get married until after both are out of university, though knowing Phoebe I imagine it isn't going to last more than a month before she gets bored of him. Or he gets fed up with her!" A laugh, as Kitty just ruefully shakes her head. "I remember when I first met Phoebe, did I ever tell you about that girls school? It was hideous. I was sure I was going to beat the snot out of them all, and actually I did." A grin, remembering back again, before Kitty shuffles about, taking her cup of bacon flavored coffee with her as she goes. "I've heard some rumours about them using /all/ Doctor Who's in some way. But wow. New footage of McGann.. That would be -beyond- awesome."
At the question of Rachel, Kitty just shrugs. "I only got in a little while ago, haven't seen her. Hey think you could help me with the tent, as Phoebe had to get back to the airport at an insanely early hour, I really didn't pack it up as good as I should, and it needs to be re-done out, and then repacked. I hope I got all the stakes." Kitty's gaze flickers towards the two that some how got stuffed with her sleeping bag.
And then. And only then. Does it sink in that Shift left the X-Men. Her head snaps towards Doug with a questioning glance. "He..did? Why..?"
"Some of the details, though most of what you mentioned was 'Phoebe' this and 'Phoebe' that," Doug's eyes twinkles with merriment as he responds to the question. The merriment fades as he eyes Lockheed's spit-up. Oh well, it... it wasn't on Kitty's side of the room. 
Grabbing the sanitary wipes canister, Doug yanks a few sheets out and begins to clean up. "I know! The internet didn't explode, but there sure were a lot of guessing about -everything-. But Cumerbatch said something about a monkey, did he? I'd really like to see Cumberbatch play the Master on Who. Maybe that'll be the surprise..." Wishful thinking, but Doug prattles on a bit, as he starts to grab ahold of the tent, pulling it back out. 
"Probably has to do with the men we pulled in," Doug replies, not quite meeting Kitty's gaze as he stars trying to unpack the tent on one end. 
Kitty and Rachel's room is soon filled with a small, personal tent that engulfs all things with its presence. Kitty hefts a few stakes into temporary position, just to get it back into shape, before she and Doug can put it back down /correctly/. Lockheed is not impressed, especially as the fabric gets close to him, then over comes him and his bed, leaving the dragon to scurry out of the way with a few grumbled snorts. He's annoyed that Kitty didn't take him on the camping trip, and even more so that she didn't even bring him back /one/ piece of fish, which she obviously smells of. Or worms for that matter! Which she smells even /more/ of. No, the dragon is thoroughly annoyed, and showing it by fluttering up to flop down onto Kitty's bed now, shoving all of the stuffed animals onto the floor with a sweep of his tail and wings, before flopping onto her pillows with a disgruntled 'huff'. 
As the tent is put up, and then Kitty begins the process of putting it back down correctly, so it wont be such a pain to use next time - she pauses in what she's doing to eye Doug. To watch his expression, to notice with great interest the fact he's purposely not meeting her gaze. Letting go of her end, Kitty phases through the tent, to appear right in front of Doug, her arms now crossed over her chest as she stays there - half phased through the fabric of the tent, upper part of her body out. "Okay spill. What men he pulled in? What's going. You better spill Doug Ramsey, or so help me, the next danger room exercise will involve giant pink stuffed animals all yelling, 'mama' at you."
Poor Lockheed. What, being fed the finest grub worms (eww) available wasn't good enough? As Doug picks up the animals tossed down, he tosses them back onto Kitty's bed, some of them just happening to whuff Lockheed. As much as Lockheed was awesome, he was verging on spoiled, and Doug wasn't putting up with -that- guff too often. 
Giving a start, however, when Kitty approaches him like that, the young blonde wrinkles his nose. "Uh... it's just that Rachel and I brought in a couple of those guys who were turning off mutants' powers. And hten Shift arrived, and we took them to a warehouse, then... uh, I left. Last I saw, Shift was preparing to interrogate people when I reported to Scott..." 
 
Now, really, Kitty can come to many different conclusions there, and without proper knowledge, she'll assume everyone is innocent until proven guilty. She doesn't judge. She never will. Though she will raise her eyebrows upwards, and just -ponder- the meaning behind those words, what Doug is saying, and what he /isn't/ saying. And more. Why did Shift quit to begin with? It isn't that Kitty really knew the fellow too well. Basic passing is all. Or knowledge for that matter. Yet. 
Lockheed is not spoiled, though getting whuffed by a stuffed animal does send the dragon to "HEY" a bit louder, as he huffs and grumbles, but at least doesn't shove the stuffed critters back onto the floor again. No. He just fwumps down onto the bed and sighs dramatically. Maybe even letting out a moan of dissatisfaction. He was left BEHIND. 
As Kitty's processing this information, she phases back through the tent, and finishes up packing the item up cleverly enough to fit right back into its original packaging, stakes included. With a happy dusting of her hands off, Kitty offers a quick. "Hey thanks, that's great.." To Doug. And just when Doug might think he's getting away with not saying anything else, well, Kitty slides over to him, and idly inquires. "Okay so, Shift left the X-Men after he, and Rachel interrogated some bad guys. What /kind/ of interrogation, Doug? I mean. It's Rachel. She's at least an alpha class telepath, if not higher. She can pluck thoughts out of people's heads, they don't need to be.. ... I mean. They wouldn't.. " One hand lifts upwards and slams into Kitty's face as she mutters under her breath. "That's what you're thinking isn't it. That they.. That even with as powerful of a telepath as Rachel is, they.. did .. oh I think I'm going to be sick. I'm glad he's out of the X-Men, if we allowed that.. that.. that kind of.. Doesn't Xavier's dream mean ANYTHING to people anymore!" And Kitty's just getting started, though she pauses in her dramatic speech to say. "They .. I mean. You don't know that they.. I mean. Tell me everything, and don't stop until everything that you know is said."
With the tent folded up to Kitty's satisfication, Doug hops onto Rachel's bed, sitting on it and sprawling out, partly because it had more room, partly because the young blond mutant was not about to mess with a pouting dragon. 
"Yeah. I'd sort of put it out of my mind till I saw the news he'd left this morning," Doug begins, after passively waiting for Kitty's torrent of words to flow over him. Not that they went unregistered, of course, just that after years, it was easier to just let Kitty get -everything- out of her system before he could get a word in. "I don't know. I -know- Shift gets involved in, well, darker stuff, and when he said he was going to interrogate them, I just -left- to report to Scott." 
Suddenly, the chipper mood he'd been in after last night seemed a bit further away, as Doug slumps. "Beyond that, I don't know. I want to ask Rachel what the fuck happened." 
And yes, Doug rarely ever swore, so -that- should tell Kitty just what the blond linguist thought had happened... 
 
As Doug flops onto Rachel's bed, Kitty just settles onto the edge of her own, reaching one hand out to poke the sulking dragon in the gut once, to show she wasn't having any of his pouting, which sends the dragon into a fit of giggles. Seeing as how he's being utterly ignored by Kitty, Lockheed tries one more time to sigh dramatically, letting out a 'woooo' noise.. though as his eyes peak open, he notes that Kitty /still/ isn't having any of it. Defeated by being ignored, Lockheed just grumps and moves over to settle onto Kitty's lap, rolling onto his back to get tummy tickles, which now that he's being good, Kitty grants, her fingers idly tickling Lockheed's tummy as she listens to Doug. 
Her own mood just sours more, as she listens, takes in Doug's words and the fact he actually 'swore'. Which for Doug, is about as rare as Kitty actually saying a bad word. "Well, as much as we might want to leap to conclusions, Doug. And about as much as /I/ did, we can't until we know the truth of what happened. It could be that Shift left innocently enough, and that the interrogation was nothing more than Rachel reading minds and getting information for them." Her hands lift off of Lockheed's tummy to run through her hair, pulling the rubber band at the back tighter as she does so. 
"Until we know the facts, Doug, the only thing we can do is listen. And if they did.. well. Shift's left. His punishment is already handed down, leaving the X-Men, your home, your family, that is the worse possible punishment I can think of." Which, to Kitty, it really is. "And as for Rachel. You should have seen the world she lived in Doug. If it's /that/ Rachel, which I just don't know, as she doesn't have any memories of me, or of anything that transpired. Regardless. She needs to be taught the difference between right and wrong, good and bad. Re-educated in the way of /this/ world, versus what she's known. I'm not sure I can do it, I'm not sure what I'd say. Compassion is one thing, but sometimes that only goes so far." 
"Yeah, we -could-," Doug grimaces. "I wanted to ask Rachel, at the least. I just ... I don't know, it's such a coincidence. So soon...?" 
Bright blue eyes lift up to meet Kitty's hazelnut eyes. "I haven't... it didn't seem to be a thing to talk about, whatever future she came from. She did say she'd explain those marks on her face, but..." 
Flopping down to stretch out and stare at the ceiling, Doug considers. "... I just... I don't know. Rachel seems like a good egg, and then she goes and does something I'm not so sure about and then I remember she's kinda... I dunno. Does it strike you like sometimes she's missing a needle point somewhere on her compass?" 
 
Still idly tickling Lockheed, Kitty's mind traces back to that point in the past. The one where her older self traded places, the death, the tragedy, the horror, the sentinels, everything was so dark, so awful, it isn't any wonder the way Rachel is now. Still, Kitty just sighs, lifting Lockheed up to place him on her bed, as she hops off herself. "I'm not sure I could stay sane in that world, if.. if it's that world." Kitty states, not wanting to talk ill of someone. So she just makes up excuses. "And I don't want to judge. We'll just find out what happened, and we'll do what we can to make it right." Cause Kitty believes fully that everything /can/ be fixed. That good /can/ triumph. She's naive - sure, but fully believes in good over evil, light over dark. "I'm going to grab a shower, Doug, and some clean clothes, and then pack all of this back where it belongs." 
Pausing a bit, she moves over to Doug and idly jabs the boy in the shoulder, "Hey, don't worry though, we've helped worse, right, it's Xavier's way." And then Kitty's scampering off to the showers, grabbing some clean clothes as she goes.
Category:Log