The X-Project

Doreen meets with Jean-Paul about her final project again. Things go a little better this time.



Doreen was walking apprehensively towards Mr. Beabier’s office. She had to discuss her final, but all things considered she was now even more nervous. He had admitted on the journals to killing someone. She went towards the door and knocked on it quietly. It had to be done, but she was nervous. And Monkey Joe was on the look out.

"Come in."

From the moment Doreen opened the door, Jean-Paul could tell that situation hadn't improved. He'd hoped that giving the girl time and being as non-aggressive as possible in class without actually ignoring her would help, but he hadn't seen any sign of her getting over her nervousness on her own. He wasn't hopeful that pressing the matter would actually be helpful, but he had to try something. He nodded to Doreen as she -- and the ever-present Monkey Joe -- entered.

"Please, have a seat. What have you decided on?"

Doreen stepped in, and he didn’t look dangerous or anything. She sat down, and Monkey Joe went down to her lap. He liked it there when Doreen was stressed or someone was really acting mean. He said it gave him better leverage. “I… well… in my class back home we were going to be doing short stories… but I hadn’t decided on anything yet,” she managed.

"That would be easy enough to adapt to the creative writing option," Jean-Paul remarked. "So long as you can explain how your choices in narrative and structure are relevant to the coursework. Or were you speaking more specifically...more the content of the story than whether or not you mean to do one for this class?"

“Um… both? All of it?” Doreen said. “Everything had just been assigned when I had to leave so I didn’t know what I was going to write and now I don’t know if it really fits the class with the stuff you gave me…” Doreen said, petting Monkey Joe, the touch of fur calming her down.

Jean-Paul contemplated the clawed handful of fluff and chitter gazing at him with malevolent intent.

"I know that beast fables are more the realm of Aesop than the Brothers Grimm," he said, "but it seems that you could make some of Monkey Joe's adventures fit within the framework of a fairy tale. I do not think that they are any less fantastic than talking birds or candy cottages."

“So… I could write about Monkey Joe?” Doreen asked, her head tilting to one side. “And didn’t the Grimm fairy tales have the one about the donkey that wanted to start a band?”

"'The Musicians of Bremen', yes." Jean-Paul nodded, hoping his tone was encouraging. "I think Monkey Joe would be a perfectly valid subject for adaptation." He glanced at the squirrel again. "Assuming he does not mind." He wasn't entirely certain how intelligent the squirrel was or how much of his supposed opinions were Doreen projecting, but he saw no harm in taking her word at face value.

“He wouldn’t mind,” Doreen said. Monkey Joe had an ego, and he was giving her a look that asked if he was being bought out by the tall and pointy eared human. She gave him a look, raising an eyebrow. Sure, the whole killing thing was scary and not all super-hero but it didn’t mean he was being bought out. “Though it might not be the best idea.”

"Oh no? Why is that?"

“He has a pretty big ego,” Doreen said with a shrug, “Writing his biography isn’t exactly creative and then he’ll complain that I’m getting things wrong or that stuff didn’t really happen like that.”

"As I said, I think he would be a good subject for adaptation. Even if you were to base your work on his exploits, it would need to presented as a fairy tale. But if you think it would cause strife between the two of you, there is no need to go that route." By this point, this conversation had gotten remarkably surreal, even by Jean-Paul's standards.

She scratched Monkey Joe behind the ears and the squirrel got a contented clicks from her friend, “I guess I could do that. It’d be like an urban fantasy though,” she did know the genre terms, “Because he’s an LA squirrel.”

"Modern trappings are fine, so long as they can be related back to the same basic themes. I think that would be an interesting experiment. Do you feel like giving it a shot?"

“I… suppose I could,” Doreen said, “How long does it have to be?” he really didn’t seem so scary. Not like someone who could kill someone. But he had, he had even said so.

"No longer than five pages, while the accompanying paper must be at least seven pages long. Double-spaced, as per usual." The conversation seemed to be drawing to a close, at least so far as this topic was concerned, so it was time to bring up the other, less pleasant topic. "Doreen, I have noticed that you are not exactly comfortable around me. I cannot say that I blame you, given what you have learned about me since you arrived, but please believe that I am no danger to you. What happened in Quebec was a very specific and unfortunate circumstance."

“But the blonde girls said-” Doreen started and then stopped, “I mean you don’t seem… but… I… yeah.”

The urge to do violence to certain teenage telepaths was growing lesser. This was a good thing.

"However they presented the matter to you, I am certain that their goal was to rattle you as much as possible." He managed to keep his voice level. "In any event, they were not in possession of all the facts of the case. They took the information from the mind of a student who overheard me talking to Mister Summers, and that was not a detailed debriefing."

“Why would they want to rattle me?” Doreen asked, looking upset. She thought that this place would be different from back home. Maybe it wasn’t. That upset her, as much as anything ever did, her tail drooped and Monkey Joe looked up at her with big soulful eyes.

"Because you are new here and still settling in. And because the Stepford girls have a...difficult time relating to other people themselves, I think. That is no excuse, of course, and I am sorry that they decided to make you one of their targets."

“It’s okay,” Doreen said with a sigh and then a small smile, “I’m kind of used to it.”

"I am sorry for that too." Jean-Paul stood after a moment. "Our little mutant microcosm is not immune to cruelty, but I do think that we have more people here who try to support others than are only out for themselves. I do hope that the impression the Stepfords and I have given you thusfar is not the one that lingers."

“Oh, it’s really okay. It’s nothing compared to my old school now that I think about it really,” Doreen said. Hindsight, she supposed.

The speedster quirked a smile. "Damned with faint praise, but I think we will take what we can get, non? But...if you had any questions? Or anything you wanted to address about the class or the Stepford matter?"

“It’s not faint praise… I… uh… I don’t think people liked me very much at my old school. Not even the teachers,” she said with a shrug. “When is the paper due?” she asked, so she could figure out how much time she needed to write it. The story would be easier than the paper.

"Final projects are due in about a month. If you find that you need an extension, I will be happy to discuss it."

“That should be good,” Doreen said. A month...if she worked on it a bit everyday she should be able to do it. “You know, you’re really not that scary.”

This time Jean-Paul's smile was quite genuine.

"Merci. I have never been so happy to hear that before."

“I mean, I read what you wrote too and it seemed like you didn’t really have a choice and stuff,” Doreen said, petting Monkey Joe and looking down at her friend, “And Monkey Joe doesn’t quite trust you but you really don’t seem that bad. You’re nicer than a lot of teachers I had back home.”

His normal response would have been "Wait until you get your first paper back", but, even aside from not wanting to put them back at square one so far as frightening the girl into heart-failure went, he doubted she needed any further knocks to her confidence so far as grades went. Between their last meeting and this one, Jean-Paul was not developing a high opinion of Doreen's previous teachers.

"I am still working on my classroom manner," he admitted, "but thank you again. And you can tell Monkey Joe that he has nothing to fear from me. So far, he has done me less harm than my own rodents."

“Oh, he’s a lot of bark and no bite like they say about dogs. But it’s kind of funny because he doesn’t bark. So I guess it’s a lot of squeak and no bite?” Doreen mused, while Monkey Joe just gave her a confused look. “Either way, I can’t blame him for being jumpy. You look out for your friends.”