The X-Project

Kevin takes a break from watching Yvette during Face the Blood to get her some more snacks and things. Clarice is in the bath, but absolutely agrees to go with him and help.



Yvette had fallen asleep again and Kevin had taken the opportunity to slip out of her room so he could re-stock her fridge. He was currently debating between leaving her long enough to go to a grocery store or just raiding the fridge downstairs. He didn't particularly want to leave her or the inhibitor out of his sight for long and he wasn't sure how long Angel would be around the suite for. Kevin hadn't been paying much attention to where he was going until he realized he knew whose door he was outside of. It was a long shot that Monet or Clarice would be home, the two of them popped in and out of the place faster than he could keep track of, but Clarice was the flavor of terminally upbeat he could use. He felt tired, even with how much he really had fallen into coordinated nap times with his friend. It wasn't exactly a physical exhaustion, anyway.

Clarice was in the bath when the knock on the door came. She was enjoying herself too. There were sweet smelling candles and music playing. She also had a glass of wine, though it was more for ambiance than actually for drinking. Opening one eye she debated answering it or not. Finally, curiosity won out, "Who is it?" she yelled, not getting out of the water. There were bubbles.

Kevin pulled up his hood so he could rest his head against the door frame. It clashed stylistically with the collared shirt he wore over it but he was more about function than fashion while he was camped out with Yvette for the most part. "It's Kevin," he called back through the door to the suite and hoped he was loud enough to be heard wherever she was inside.

Oh! Kevin! Wow. She hadn't expected him to leave Yvette's side. So many people had been in and out to see her in Kosovo and now here, she had sort of backed away a little. She didn't want to crowd the girl. "Come on in!" she called. The door was open. Briefly, she considered getting out of the bath and putting on a towel or clothes or something, but the water was still warm and she had only gotten in a few minutes earlier. Nah, she'd stay, she had nothing to hide.

Kevin opened the door to the suite slowly and looked around. He didn't see Clarice but he did see light coming out of a door that was open a few inches. He was pretty sure that was the bathroom since he knew it wasn't Clarice's bedroom and it was about situated right for the room from what he remembered of the layout of his own suites while he'd lived there. The suite's door was clicked shut behind him gently and he padded over to the light doorway silently. "Ah can come back later if Ah'm interrupting you doin' somethin'." He was hesitant to open the door any further than it was so he instead leaned against the doorframe and waited for either an invitation or the energy to sit on the floor.

"You can come in if you want," she invited, the invitation entirely platonic. They weren't into each other like that. "There's bubbles! And I have a rubber ducky," she had three actually. A dead one, a pirate one and a ninja one, but that wasn't the point. He sounded exhausted. "Come keep me company!" she chirped.

Kevin blinked at the door when he was invited in and then told she was...in the bath. With bubbles. "Uh, you sure?" She remembered that he was nineteen, right? And male? He made a mental note that like everyone else she probably assumed or at least thought of him as being gay. Kevin sighed. Well, things with Jay would do that to a guy's reputation, wouldn't they?

Instead of making her reissue the invite, Kevin pushed the door open enough to slip inside. His eyes were kept very politely and determinedly above and away from the tub and the purple girl inside of it. He sat down on the toilet after moving the folded clothes there to the edge of the sink. "How you doin'?"

19 and male, sure, but he had fooled around with Jay and was mostly asexual thanks to his powers. Plus, Clarice was not into the men still. Boycott. Women only. "I'm good. Relaxing. I'd invite you in, but the tub's not really big enough. There's wine on the counter if you want though," she was sort of hospitable. Clarice's hair was piled in a mess on her head, a mix of natural purple strands and black extensions. Her hair was almost long enough for her to take the extensions out.

"And we'd both like your skin to remain attached," he added in. "Not that some people wouldn't like the exfoliation, but, yeah, you're prettier not bein' a mummy or missing your back or something." He was babbling a bit because Kevin now had the quite vivid mental image of being in a bath with Clarice. He had to shift how he was sitting for reasons of comfort and forced his eyes away from the girl they'd fallen upon. "No thanks, Ah don't drink much. Never got the taste of wine. Figure Ah'll be fifty before that happens."

"It's an acquired taste," she agreed. One that she had only partially acquired. She liked the sweeter wines, this one was too dry for her . "It's mostly just for atmosphere anyways," she she shrugged and twirled her glass before taking a sip and making a face. Ew. "So. Now that you're in my office, what can I do for you? Anything. Just name it."

"A jig?" He laughed and a smile crossed his face for a moment before fleeing and being replaced with a much more somber expression. "Ah just needed a break. Y'know, someone who wasn't busy worrying Yvette is going to shatter. Someone who's usually more upbeat, even when she's radiated? The 'Vette situation, Ah dunno, it gets too depressin' in my head even for me and all things considered," his voice trailed off. All things considered it was pretty damn bad if it was too depressing for Kevin. "Ah just needed to see someone to break up the constant sea of worry and anxiety and unspoken terror going on in her suite and since she's fallen asleep again... Ah was gonna restock her fridge but ended up at your door first."

"Awww, that's sweet!" Clarice moved so she could pat his knee. That was a safe gesture. "Gimme a minute, okay?" without waiting for a response, she undid the plug in the tub and stood grabbing a towel to wrap around herself. Drying off quickly, she dashed into her room and pulled on some clothes, just a lightweight black workout suit with silver embroidery on it and a tank top. When she had turned the scars on her upper back were visible. Usually, they were covered by her clothes or her hair.

Kevin's eyes went wide when she began to stand up and he immediately diverted his eyes to the floor, even raising a hand to shield his eyes so he didn't stare. A lot of the damage was done, though, as his eyes had moved down over her to the floor instead of to the side and down. It was a quick glance but it was more than enough for a guy who was used to memorizing moments so he could get them down on paper in ink. When she headed out the door he'd looked up and the scars distracted him enough to not notice the shade of red he currently was.

He trailed out of the bathroom, flipping off the light switch and going to perch on an arm of the couch until Clarice appeared again clad in black. "What happened to your back?"

"Burns a few years ago," she tried to think, "Um...hell. You know it's bad when you don't even remember because of the other stuff. They weren't that bad, just left some marks. On a mission," she hadn't really had a bad medlab stay or anything. "This was before I was nuked," she waved away the concern. A few scars were not her concern at all. "So. Let's go."

"Huh." He thought he should have remembered those but he didn't. Then again, it was entirely possible that Kevin's attention was merely...elsewhere when Clarice was around. It wasn't like it was hard to get distracted by her. "Go? We're going? Where? Are you tryin' to sacrifice me to the gods for some sort of fashion gain again? 'Cause after the time with the goat Ah told you no more!"

Laughing, she shook her wet hair, it was a good thing it was summer, "To the store. You said the apple ninja needed stuff. And stuff she shall have!" So long as he was buying, she'd provide transport. "Or did you just want to hang instead? We can do that if you want. You're being pretty awesome you know. Staying with her."

"Oh. Well, Ah just," he trailed off and looked toward the door, then in the direction of Yvette's suite. "Ah don't wanna leave her alone. Ah made promises to people about certain things and...she doesn't understand yet. She might just be trying not to think about it, and that's her right, but she ain't doin' herself any favors that way and," he shrugged, eyes dropping to the floor. "Ah don't have it in me to tell her how much what she's doing now is going to hurt. 'Cause she ain't me and maybe it's better for her to have that memory of...being normal. But she doesn't realize what goin' back is gonna be like and Ah can't just leave her alone for that."

Clarice had no real comparison to what Kevin had gone through nor Yvette now. She'd never worn an inhibitor for any length of time. "And keeping your promises is a good thing. So what do you need?" taking his arm she ported them to Target. They had everything basically. "Food? Drink? Shiny sparklies? Sudoku?"

Kevin blinked, disoriented, and looked around. "Don't people ever get weirded out by you poppin' into existence and pull guns or pitchforks on you?" Once his eyes found the iconic red bullseye of the store he stopped trying to figure out where they were. "Ah dunno what a su-do-ku is, but everything else, yeah. She likes books but Ah dunno what she likes to read. Movies seem like a better option. Magazines? What do teenage girls read? Why'm Ah always so hopeless? Why're you always around when Ah'm busy bein' hopeless?"

That was a LOT of questions. Biting her lip, she began across the parking lot, "Not too much, it's why we appeared over here though and not where more people were. Most people have problems with the purple anyways, so what's one more thing? Sudoku is a numbers puzzle, we'll skip that and go on to teen books and magazines instead. You think she'd like hair and makeup tips?" Clarice had helped her with makeup before. It was a challenge, "And you're hopeless because you're overwhelmed. And I am always here when you're hopeless because I am overwhelming. Any other questions young padawan?"

Kevin slumped his shoulders. "Yeah, why do Ah gotta go and have chick friends? Ah know how to entertain and distract guys." His hands flailed for a second before he shoved them into his pockets. "She's a girl, if girls like hair and makeup tips, which Ah assume they do, then Ah'll go with yes. Ah'm better at feeding people but Ah'm not sure she wants comfort food. Well, my version or it anyway. She'd probably appreciate the chicken, though."

Patting Kevin on the shoulder Clarice quickly led him through the maze of the store to the media section in the back. "She's a girl, but not all girls like that stuff, dude. Anyways, variety is the spice of life. Just because you like the dudes does not mean you cannot work with the womenfolk too. Here," she handed him a couple of books geared towards teenage girls that were not Twilight or Gossip Girl and a couple DVDs. "She might like these."

Kevin looked warily at the titles, but they didn't seem soppy so maybe they were okay. "Ah'm not gay," he reminded her. Not that anyone ever listened to him about that. "Ah dated one guy and it ended badly multiple times. Ah think that's a glaring indicator right there, Violet." He started to read the back of one of the books and wrinkled his nose. "Can we find the classics section? Ah feel like she might think I think she's lost some brain cells otherwise."

"Uh huh," she nodded, dismissing his statement about his sexuality, "Sure. See, that whole 'not gay' thing works better when you don't date guys, Kevin. Whether it ends badly or not. And I don't see harems of women lining up to break down your door," she paused to look at a DVD for herself, "Well, except me. You know I would," she teased, leading him around to a different aisle where the classic movies were located. Black and white. Ew.

"There's not harems of men lining up to break it down either," he pointed out. "It's that whole 'no touching' thing. Even people who don't like clingy sorts wanna be able to touch the person they're dating. And be touched by them. Skin-on-cloth doesn't really compare to skin-on-skin." Kevin fought to keep his voice from dropping into depressed tones and he even mostly managed to pull it off. Still, it wasn't a topic he wanted to dwell on. "So, you promised me there was food somewhere?"

"Over that way," the Target was a Super Target and had a full grocery store on the other side. She let the topic of his sexuality drop for the moment, "What're you hungry for?"

"S'not for me, it's for 'Vette. So, Ah dunno, fruit and easy stuff. Stuff she can eat and let sit and it won't matter. Vegetables she can eat raw maybe. So she doesn't feel bad if she falls asleep and food gets cold. Ah'll find other stuff, too." Kevin was at least good at feeding people. Life with his dad growing up had ensured that.

"Cookies!" Clarice suggested. They weren't the most healthy treat, but that was the point and they fit his requirements, "You're a good friend, you know that?" she asked, quietly. Kevin was there for people, for his friends. Even from the other side of the country.

"Ah, um," he flushed a pale pink and cleared his throat. "What kinda cookies should we get her?" He may have badly sidestepped the comment about him being a good friend, but Kevin didn't want the sort of attention a comment like that brought. Even if it was only from Clarice.

There was another kind of cookie? "The chocolate kind of course," then Clarice paused, she couldn't remember if Yvette could have chocolate or not. She knew Kyle couldn't...."Wait. Can she have chocolate?" There were chocolate alternatives, like peanut butter, but chocolate was the best.

"Ah'm pretty sure she can. Ah could always get her a couple different ones and if she can't eat one of 'em she can share with someone who can? It's not like my feelings'll be hurt if she doesn't eat the cookies." And it wasn't like he was showing any reservations whatsoever about effectively spoiling Yvette rotten. Dr. Grey-Summers was definitely going to be scolding him about how much sugar he was going to end up feeding her. "Maybe Ah should text Angel? She'd know."

"Nah," Clarice shook her head, "I'll eat what Yvette doesn't want or can't. Or someone else will. You know food will never go to waste around here," she tossed a couple packages of cookies at Kevin to catch. "Anything else? Drinks?"

Kevin caught the packages of cookies and tossed them into the basket he'd picked up while they were on the way to the food section. "Uh, juices. She probably drinks soda but Ah've never seen it and she keeps asking for juice so," he shrugged.

"Juice it is!" Clarice agreed, leading the way. Kevin was a good sort, looking after his friends. And she tried to look after him in her own way, by dragging him kicking and screaming out of his comfort zone, but never too much, only a little. He and Yvette were good for each other.


OOC: sorry this took so long, there was a miscommunication by Nichole and myself! This log doesn't directly affect the plot, Face the Blood although it does take place during it and references it directly.