8/10 Instance: Lemon Aid

[Starfish]

Timeline: Current.

Selene: Selene sat cross-legged on a small stool, hunched over her table, and scribbled away on a sheet of paper. She sat back and studied the rough lines and words, tapping the end of her pencil against her chin. A frown crept onto her face. No, this still wasn't good enough.

Jay: Jay hovered outside the window, chewing his lip before catching the edge with a hand and putting his feet on the sill, tapping on the glass, wings helping him keep balance. He'd been looking for Selene for a while after leaving Darren to try and get Spook to get used to him again.

Selene: Selene jumped at the unexpected tap, flailing her arms to keep herself from falling over. She glared towards the window, prepared to whack another batch of winged shingles - arching her eyebrows when she saw that is was someone unusually normal. "Jay," she said, leaning over to open the window. "Hello there."

Jay: Jay gave her a quick smile before sliding his legs in to sit on the sill, wings still outside. "Sel." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Ah'm sorry if Ah caught y'all by surprise...y' ain't too busy, are yeh?"

Selene: "It's okay," she said, putting down the pencil. "Your visit makes for a welcome change after I had to constantly watch out for all kinds of weirdness jumping me. Besides, my new plans for a lemonade can probably wait a little while longer."

Jay: Jay eyed up the paper warily. "Get t'gether wit' Adriana and you guys could come up wit' d' next WMD." He shook his head. "From what Ah can tell, dere ain't no more weirdness out dere. Well, any more'n usual at d' moment..." He looked over a shoulder a little nervously, as if expecting another formation of flying pigs again.

Selene: "Hm, that's an intriguing suggestion," Selene said, glancing down at her paper. "After all, it's supposed to have a certain destructive power." She turned back to Jay. "Anyway, I believe you're right. There have been less and less unusual things out and about recently."

Jay: "Besides d' odd homicidal ex-mutant." Jay rubbed his bare shoulder with a smirk. They still ached after all the taxi-ing but the muscles were slowly loosening up. "Dat actually kinda brings me t' why Ah'm here, surprisingly." He paused for a moment. "Nothin' t' do wit' those pigs, before y'all say anythin'." He added quickly.

Selene: "Ah, yes, those dreaded flying pigs," Selene said with a soft chuckle. "Too bad there's no video evidence of them; they could be used to settle many arguments worldwide." She gave Jay a faint smirk. "If it's not for the pigs, what other weirdness did you bring here?"

Jay: "Hn." Jay gave her a slightly nervous grin. He liked Selene, but she was unpredictable at best. "It's Darren." He said bluntly. "Ah'm worried about him, Sel."

Selene: Selene put on a slightly more serious expression. "Yes, I see," she said, shifting on her seat. "I've talked to him - among other things - and this entire ordeal seems to affect him quite a bit. I like to think he's starting to deal with the situation, but I'm not sure if that's entirely true."

Jay: "He ain't." Jay sighed, leaning his head against the side of the window and closing his eyes, suddenly feeling very tired. "He's havin' nightmares, Sel. Not jus' bad dreams - he's wakin' up screamin' with dem. An' tryin' to stop himself sleepin' - not dat Ah can blame him, Ah know what he's dreamin' about after all. Fuck sake, he passed out on Lorna's obstacle course." He opened his eyes, looking at her. "Ah'm worried, Selene."

Selene: Selene took a deep breath and sat back, sucking her lower lip for a moment before she replied. "You're right, this sounds troublesome," she said, letting out a quiet sigh. "I tried to pull him out of his pitiful state of mind, but his problems seem to run much deeper than I thought."

Jay: "Yeah..." Jay sighed. "Ah...Ah know what he's been through, Ah mean...Ah got his memories an' personality." He shifted a little uncomfortably at the memory of the party. "As y' know. And...fuck, even with dem Ah dunno what t' do, Sel. What can Ah do? Firs' thing Ah'd do is take him out an' get him hammered, but he's never got drunk before. Ah'm his roomie an' best mate an' Ah cain't help him." He picked out his cigarettes out of habit. "Do y'all mind if Ah...?"

Selene: Selene was pulled out of her own thoughts by Jay's request and looked up. "Hm? Oh, no, please go ahead," she said, then ran a hand through her hair. "I'm not sure if you came to the person best suited for such kind of advice. I may be his girlfriend, but treating psychological trauma is something I'm very much struggling with myself."

Selene: "However, I'll admit to believing that you've always been a very good friend to him," Selene added, giving a slight nod. "I have no doubt that you doing as much as you can to be supportive."

Jay: "Y' know him pretty fuckin' well, Sel." Jay sighed, lighting up. "But mesi. Ah jus' wish Ah didn't feel so useless. Guess d' only way Ah can fix dis is find dat Kevin kid an' choke him a bit." But if even Darren couldn't win against him... "Ah guess we cain't really do much t' deal with d' trauma, but...mebbe we can put our heads t'gether an' find some way of cheerin' him up?"

Selene: "Oh, I'm very much for the chocking approach, but I think that will require some concerted effort on our part," Selene said, a wry smile appearing on her lips. "Well, there's one thing I have been wondering about..." She tapped a finger against her chin, giving Jay a thoughtful look. "How do you think he'd react to visiting his mother again?"

Jay: Jay considered for a moment, then nodded slowly. "Ah think he'd like dat." He smiled a little. Well, she hadn't mentioned anything to do with the threesome like he'd expected her to. "Think he'd appreciate it a lot, actually. His mom's kinda...important to him." Damn right she is. He pushed the 'voice' down with practiced ease. "If anyone'll get him outta d' funk, she will."

Selene: "Why yes, most likely she will," Selene commented, nodding once more. "There's another reason why I think her input could be invaluable: She's a normal human. To be fair, neither you nor I will be able to provide the best counselling for Darren, simply for the fact that we retained our powers. Naturally, he feels harshly mistreated by fate, and I can't blame him for that."

Jay: "Yeah. Ah'd take d' wing off if Ah thought it'd help, but he'd beat me with it if Ah tried t' do dat." He smirked. "Maybe we should take him dere an' leave him alone with his mom for a few days - don' think bringing her here's a good idea." He sighed a plume of smoke. "Never did thank y' for d' wing, did Ah? Gede said y'd helped."

Selene: Selene chuckled and gave Jay a lopsided grin. "You're welcome," she said. "Darren did most of the technical work, but I believe he valued my quirky input and unusual perspective." She toyed with the pencil lying on her table. "I like your idea. Perhaps a vacation would be good for him. If he wants us around, as well, we could probably stay with him."

Jay: "Hell yeah, he knows Ah'll do pretty much anythin' for him - for y' both, if Ah'm honest." Jay gave her a smile back. "Dat's another thing...Ah know dis cain't be easy on y'all. If y' ever need to chill or...talk..." He trailed off, a little embarressed. "Y' know where Ah am, right?"

Selene: "Oh, no worries, I'll simply follow the flock of flying pigs," Selene replied, shooting Jay a mischievous grin. "Thanks, though; I very much appreciate the offer."

Jay: Jay flushed hard at that, not meeting her eyes. Fucker. "Y-y're welcome." He ran a hand through his hair with a slight smile, despite the blush. "Even though sometimes Ah really wonder why, y're kinda my best mate too."

Selene: "A frightening though, isn't it," Selene asked, still maintaining that grin. "Consider yourself lucky, though. As weird as the idea might seem at times, it's way better to have me has a friend than as someone whose irritated by your mere existence." She chuckled. "This way, you can rest assured that you won't be a test subject for my new lemonade."

Jay: "Hey, y're d' reason Ah now drink cucumber juice." Jay gave her a lopsided smile. "But oui. Ah'd rather have y'all as a friend den an enemy. God knows y'd do worse'n tease." He chuckled, despite blushing again. "Uuuh...on dat subject. Dose flyin' pigs don't count, right?" He couldn't meet her eyes, taking a drag.

Selene: "I haven't decided on that yet," Selene said, sitting back with a smug expression on her face. "After all, both of us saw them. I shall ponder their significance a bit longer." She shook her head as she chuckled. "Oh, and don't let the name fool you; it's not a drink I'm working on. In this case, lemonade is a neologism. Lemon and grenade equals lemonade."

Jay: Jay looked at Selene worridly. But Darren wouldn't let anything happen to him, right? "Y'all do dat. And...wow. Lemon grenade...?" He flicked the finished cigarette out of the window, giving Selene a wary look. "Why're you makin' a lemon grenade, Sel? Or is dat a stupid question?"

Selene: "Does anyone need another reason to create explosives except creating a big boom," Selene asked in return, slightly tilting her head to the side. "Well, in this case, it's a matter of subterfuge. I figured that volatile fruit could actually prove useful in some situation - or quite humorous, when used to fool unsuspecting victims with a weaker payload."

Jay: Jay snorted a laugh at that. "Wit' a friend like y'all, who needs enemies." He grinned. "Gede's lucky t' have you, Sel." He looked out behind him. "Speakin' of which, Ah should probably get back t' him. Ah'm tryin' to force-feed him an' make him take breaks from studyin'. It ain't exactly easy."

Selene: "I wish you good luck with that then," Selene said, giving Jay a smile and a court nod. "I'll make sure to check on the two of you later, and relieve you of your moral-support duty." She chuckled. "I guess we could take shifts of cheering up Darren."

Jay: Jay flashed her a grin as he boosted himself onto the sill, holding onto the edges of the window. "Y'all're jus' hopin' you walk into somethin', ain't ya?" He smirked. "Ah need t' sleep sometime. Mebbe y' can come round t'night and Ah'll disappear so y' can tire him d' hell out."

Selene: "Oh, I'll stay vigilant," Selene said, her smile turning into a grin. "And I like how you think. I'm pretty sure Darren wouldn't mind to have his mood lifted that way."

Jay: "Yeah. Jus' make sure Ah'm completely gone 'fore y'all start." Jay rolled his eyes with a smirk. "Dere's some things my sanity don' need to see." He balanced on the sill. "Ah'll see y' later on den, Sel. Bring cookies, dey'll be appreciated." He saluted her and dropped, twisting and opening his wings to catch himself. "An' no lemonades!"

[puppygirl]

- "Mama? "