2013-01-16 Consequences, consequences.

Josh has been stuck in the infirmary for a while. After he'd sneaked out and passed out in the snow yesterday, the nurses were insisting that he stay an additional couple of days, much to his chagrin. And to top it all off, he still had to do homework. Sigh. So that is what he's doing now. Well, at least halfway. He keeps stopping to read comics...
Of course, Jubilation Lee, protector of adopted aliens, picks this most convenient moment to drop by. While the Chinese-American teen is dressed casually enough, denims and layered longsleeve and regular cropped tees, she looks more serious than usual. "Josh? Got a sec?"
When Josh notices Jubilee's arrival, he groans a little and shifts uncomfortably on the hospital bed. Oh, /perfect/. Now he was going to get yelled at by yet /another/ person. He sighs heavily. "No...I'm busy with homework..." he mutters, quickly shoving the comics under the pillow.
"Crimson Falcon? I've totally gotta get into your Lit class," Jubes quips mock-cheerfully, her expressiong going from concerned to annoyed in a finger-snap. Sharp eyes that girl's got. "I'll be quick, okay?"
Josh sighs again, this time with resignation as he puts the textbook down on his lap. "Alright, alright...I know. I owe you an explanation. Look, I was just hanging around Grand Central Terminal and I accidentally ran into Broo. I knocked him over and I felt bad so I thought I'd help him out by making him taller so he wouldn't get stepped on." He pauses momentarily, turning his eyes downward. "It...didn't go very well, as you already know. I thought--" he runs a hand through his platinum-blond hair. "I thought I could do it. I thought his physiology wouldn't be that different from a human's."
"Josh, seriously... he's a three-foot alien who totally makes Albert Einstein look like Pinkie Pie," Jubilee replies, frowning. "I think it's safe to say his physiology's gonna be a bit different than..."
She catches herself, sighing. "Sorry. I get a little protective around him. Okay, majorly protective. But could you not try anything like that 'til we get some better data from Doc McCoy?"
"I know, I know..." Josh clearly feels bad about the whole thing, his eyes still downcast. "I'm sorry. I just--I was just trying to help. I mean. In my defense, at least no one ended up getting hurt too badly." Of course, since he'd healed everyone.
"I think the poor soccer mom with the Hummer might have a hard time forgiving you," Jubes reminds him gently. "But I guess I shouldn't judge. I've majorly screwed up that way, for just the same reasons. I was trying to help."
Josh sighs. "Well haven't we all? But some...more than others. Obviously." If anyone had been around the Institute recently, they'd know that Josh was a bit of a troublemaker. Okay a 'bit' was sort of an understatement. "I'm just glad we didn't really have to hurt him too badly."
"I just wish I'd happened along sooner," replies the California girl, who has been accused of being a troublemaker herself, though it's not like she /sets out/ to cause trouble. "Anyway, I just wanted to know what happened... and see how you were doing. Feeling any better? Um, aside from the schoolwork in bed thing, 'cuz make-up work always sucks."
"I just want to get out of here." Josh groans. "I /was/ going to be out of here today, but..." he sighs again. "I passed out in the snow yesterday. But please, don't blame yourself for anything. It was my fault entirely."
"Nobody likes being kept inside, even in winter," Jubilee observes with a sympathetic smile. It turns impish within seconds. "They made you wear the thing, didn't they?"
Josh arches a brow at her. Maybe this wasn't so bad after all. "What thing?"
"You know, the /thing/," Jubilee replies, as if anyone who's ever been in an infirmary should know this. "Too short, closes in the back, drafty?"
"Oh... /that/. You meant a hospital gown." Josh chuckles. "Yeah...But I got out of it."
Curled in a ball underneath one of the Infirmary Bed, Broo sits quietly, his eyes glowing being about the only thing that might give away his hiding spot. He trembles a bit, not wanting to go back to sleep again. He cries quietly as he 'Broods' on what he became. He hasn't slept well in days, haunted by the memories, both of the monster he became, and of every monster he was linked to before arriving on Earth. It is easy to delude oneself that you're different, special, and not evil when you've never done a cruel act in your life, but once you've thrown people around like ragdolls, thought of eating the face and limbs of people you consider friends, trashed a city block, poisoned dozens of people, burnt the flesh off of a friend, and beaten up friends and strangers without remorse, it becomes really hard to deny you are anything else.
"Pity. You'd probably look good in one," Jubilee quips, stifling giggles. "I'd better go check on Broo. Get well soon, Josh. Or at least don't walk in a winter wonderland without a partner." With a wink, she turns for the door.
"See ya, Jubes." Josh replies as she starts for the door. But then he notices a small sound coming from under one of the beds near to his. "Huh. What was that?" he wonders aloud. Leaning down over the edge of the bed, he peers over there to see what it is, and nearly falls out of the bed. "Oh...uh--Jubes? If you were planning on checking on Broo, I think he's in here." he says, pointing in Broo's general direction.
Skittering backwards, Broo moves away from the pointing hand, not wanting to touch it or be touched by it. He is once more in his little rag suit, the one he came to Earth in, and clinging to the yellow bracelet that he got sometime on Earth. His eyes tearing, as he covers his face and rubs the bracelet against his cheek. He whimpers and trembles more, tightening his semi-fetal curl.
A 'duh' moment. Jubilee almost never has them, so it's pretty dramatic when she does. She turns bright red and goes silent for a long moment, looking that way. "Broo?"
And then Josh's finger apparently grows a new mutant power, because Broo scrambles backwards! "Oh, fudgesicles..." Jubes hurries over and drops to her knees. "Broo... What is it? I'm here."
Josh frowns as Broo cringes away from him. "Broo? ...Are you okay? What're you doing down there?" he asks, looking concerned. Oh, geez. The little guy looks so traumatized. Elixir hadn't thought of /that/.
Trembling and rocking a bit, rubbing the little gold colored bracelet, Broo mutters, "Don't want to be big, don't want to be a monster, never again, never, never, never, never. Safe room down here, here is where Jubilee brought Broo, here is where Kitty named Broo... safe room, safe from Brood, safe from being a Brood." a little bottle of caffiene pills falls out of his rags as he rocks, sounding almost completely empty. "Don't want to sleep, sleep means dreams, dreams replay it all, replay being evil, replay the massacre of Philoze Prime, replay the experiments on She who would become Broodsbane." he rubs the bracelet against his cheek more rapidly, as if the contact might help him, sniffing it from time to time.
Jubilee gathers the little alien into a hug. "Oh, Broo..." she coos sympathetically, rocking back and forth with him gently. "You're not a monster. You never will be again."
Oh! But of course, Josh owed Broo a serious apology...If anyone suffered from the fiasco it was the little Broodling. He sighs and climbs out of the bed, coming up next to Jubilee to pat the little guy sympathetically. "Broo...I just want to say I'm /so/ sorry about the other day. I--I thought I could help you. But I messed up. Big time. And I'm really sorry. It was my fault. Everything. You're not a monster. That--that wasn't you, okay? You're the sweetest little alien I've ever met." Well, he was the only alien Josh had ever met aside from Carol. And Carol was...okay, let's not go there.
As the hand moves to pat Broo, he cringes in terror. The hand it what changed him, and no matter the reassurances, there is a nagging feeling in Broo... "That was me all grown up, a full Broodling, a monster... matter of time before I grow up anyway... sooner or later... don't want to grow up, want to be small and puny forever... never a monster again... never scary again... never wanting to eat my friends faces again." the problem with having nearly perfect recall and a vast eidetic memory is that every detail is as if you're living the events again... and Broo knows what he did, he was a passanger for his body's rampage, but part of him knows that it was his brain thinking and his instincts working, so how could that not have been him committing those horrible acts.
"Broo, we don't know how long it'll be before you... well, grow up," Jubilee replies, hugging him a little tighter. "It might be ten years, or a hundred. And maybe you won't. Maybe you're different enough that you'll be just like this forever." She can hope!
When Broo cringes away again, despite his attempts to soothe the alien, a look of resignation and discouragement comes across his face and his hand drops away from the Broodling, falling back to his side. "Broo...I--" He could keep Broo from growing up for sure. Now that he'd had contact with his anatomy at least once...no. Out of the question. Why make the same stupid mistake again? He sighs and looks downcast. "Never mind...I see how it is. I--I deserve this, anyway." He turns away dejectedly.
Reaching into his rags, Broo pulls out a computer readout, three scans of his body and his biometrics, dated the week he arrived, a week ago, and then dated earlier in the day, "Examined them... Before rampage, was growing at rate comperable to Terran adolescent, and would reach full maturation in 6-10 years... after rampage, system slighly accelerated, maturation now approximately 4-9 years away. I will be that way... be a Broodling... grow bigger and scarier... no choice... defensive adaptation was triggered... system is now self-correcting." he is crying, then looks at Josh, "Want to still be friends... just don't want to transform again... don't want to be big Brood again... don't want to salivate at scent of Terran flesh and muscle. Don't want to salivate and have saliva be highly combustible and corrosive toxin filled slime... don't want to be a killer." he looks on the verge of breaking down into full on water works instead of slightly tearing, "Don't want to become Carol's enemy." rubbing the little bracelet against his cheek, as he hunches into Jubilee's hug.
Jubilee blinks, seeing the computer readout. Wow, somebody came prepared! "Oh, wow... maybe there's something Doc McCoy can do. I mean, he's a genius with biological stuff. Even if he can't stop the maturing, maybe he can put you back on your original schedule."
She glaces over at Josh, blinking in surprise, then back at Broo. "Broo, seriously... he said he was sorry. That's really all he can do now. Remember how bad you feel about what happened?" She nods at Josh. "He kicked it off. Can you imagine how much worse /he/ feels about it?" Another look at Josh. "And no, you don't deserve it.!" Angry sparkly girl. Rar.
But Josh doesn't look back up at Broo. And the accleration of the maturation process that he'd just mentioned really /didn't/ help things. Great, so not only had he traumatized poor Broo, he'd also made him grow up faster, giving Dr. McCoy even less time to find a way to slow it down or stop it altogether. "Deserve it, don't deserve it, whatever! It doesn't matter. If I keep hanging around him, I'll just end up causing more trouble." he picks his books and homework up off the bed, ripping the IV out of his arm before heading for the door. "I'm out of here. I don't care what the nurses say."
And with that the door slams shut behind him.
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