X-MEN: VALERIE AND LIGHT

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On Thanksgiving night, Valerie had a strange sort of interaction with Mihir, which left her feeling uncomfortable and needed someone to talk to. When she came back to the mansion from her dinner with the native at the lake house, she immediately searched out another female to speak to, and first came upon Light in the X-Men Lounge.

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Thursday, November 24th

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Light had come to the Lounge with Shade later in the evening, after she and the young man had shared a Thanksgiving dinner of their own, all of which Shade had prepared, considering the woman had never really learned to cook, although she knew several basics. In short, Shade's meal had been wonderful, rich and tasty, and the two were completely stuffed afterwards. Too tired to go back to Light's room for their usual nightly romp, the pair had come to the Lounge to simply have some downtime together and entertain themselves through television and movies. Currently, Light was the only one of the two who was awake, sitting up on one end of the couch with her head propped in her hand, elbow resting on the armrest. She was wearing a pair of bright blue fleece pants and a simple grey tank top, having chosen a set of warmer PJs for the increasingly colder nights. The small lamp on the table next to her was on, giving off a dim glow in the room, and the images of the TV were reflecting in her tired eyes. Her free hand was busy lightly caressing the black silky tresses of Shade, who had his head resting in her lap and was long since unconscious, still tired and lacking his full energy while he continued to recuperate from being attacked less than a week prior. Light breathed in deep, sighing quietly as her eyes flickered down from the meaningless images on the television screen to Shade's peaceful, sleeping form, a small smile pulling at one corner of her lips as she watched him.

From the hallway, the elevator dinged, the sound deadened a bit by the distance between it and the Lounge. The patter of footsteps followed, rubber soles on the hard surface of the floor, and a figure hurried past the door. However, after the form passed, it was drawn a few steps backwards with the realization that the room was not unoccupied. More than mere curiosity lead Valerie to stop and see who was there, for the girl was in dire need of someone to talk to. So, in the doorway stood the flush-faced and bleary-eyed dancer, who was just returning from a terribly awkward evening with Mihir, unzipping her fleece jacket as her eyes quickly zeroed-in on Light, then Shade, then Light again. Her eyebrows quirked upwards as confusion touched her features at the comfortable repose in which she spied the lavender-haired girl and the shadowy mutant. So she hadn't heeded Val's advice. With a short, brisk shake of her head, Val shook that train of thought from her head, and she opened her mouth, presumably to say something, but only managed to take a sharp breath in. If it hadn't been for the little amnesia incident, the dancer would have first sought Korvka out for a little girl talk, but Light had confided in Valerie, so could she do the same? A silent moment passed before she managed to get out in a single exhalation, 'When you have a few minutes, can I ask you something?' It wasn't so much a question of asking anything, of course, but more like she needed to unload. Considering that it looked like Light had all but turned-in for the night, and with the boy Val suggested she wash her hands of entirely, the blonde apparently didn't want to disturb her presently. So, after her eyes betrayed another very quick, uncertain glance to Shade and back to Light, Val turned away from the doorway.

Light had never really been one to care what others thought of her, as evidenced by the several times that she either said something unthinkably cruel to one of the students at the mansion or walked around the mansion in what most others would have considered less than appropriate clothing. So when she heard Valerie's voice at the door, it didn't even cross her mind to remember that she had told the peppy blonde girl that she had planned on dumping Shade, but yet here he was, asleep beside her and using her lap as a pillow. The lavender-haired woman looked up at the sound of her sort-of friend's voice, sounding less cheery and a bit more strained than normal. "Yeah, what's up?" she responded as she looked over to the door, indicating she was free to address any questions, or whatever, that Valerie had to say right then. The girl glanced around then, being sure there was a chair close by where Valerie could take a seat if she needed, considering she and Shade were taking up the entire expanse of the couch. Luckily, there was a love seat close by, perpendicular to the sofa, and Light gently nodded her head in the direction of the piece of furniture, indicating that she wouldn't be bothered if the girl took a seat.

Having disappeared from the doorway, Valerie tentatively sidled back into view, obviously not having expected Light to consent to an immediate conference. Even though the other student had so seemingly easily offered her willingness to talk right then, she still lingered in the doorway. 'Oh, now? I don't want to,' she said with a gesture toward the two mutants on the sofa, '...you know, interupt anything,' even though there really wasn't anything to interupt, save for maybe Light also nodding off. Since it was doubtful that the green-eyed girl ever said anything or offered to do something that she didn't really mean or want to do, Val dawdled only a moment longer before stepping into the room after Light had indicated that she should sit, removing her jacket along the way. Skirting around the other furniture on her path to the love seat, Valerie doffed her jacket entirely, laid it on the cushion next to her, and tucked one leg underneath her as she sat down. 'Do you remember Sunday night?' she asked, although it was a ridiculous, vague question, so she added, '...when you came into my room after the whole argument thing, and I said, like... I had talked to Mihir?' Valerie pushed her hair back from her face, as she spoke in the hushed manner that befit a person who was talking in the presence of a sleeping individual. Technically, the initial contact had been via text, but the blonde was on edge and sort of paraphrasing through the fog of memory, before she lost the courage to continue.

Valerie's sudden reluctance to bring up whatever it is she wanted to talk about made Light furrow her brow, confused at the girl's reaction. She was the one to ask if she could talk, right? However, when the blonde pointed out the sleeping man in her lap, Light's expression was more of an understanding kind of look. "Don't worry, he's out," she explained, looking down at Shade as she moved a strand of hair from his face, brushing it back with her fingertips. "Pain pills take him down pretty quick," she added with a grin, silently musing on the fact that as strong and tough as the boy was, a simple medication could knock him out cold. Her eyes raised once more to Valerie as she finally entered the room, getting comfortable without her jacket in the love seat nearby. Normally Light would have been completely disinterested in speaking with anyone, but at that moment, after working things out with Shade (and finding out about Camille's murder, as sadistic as it was), she was at a sort of peace and didn't mind too much if someone wanted to talk. Especially Valerie, considering the help she had provided in getting Light ready for her date and giving her advice, which she didn't use in the end. She listened curiously as the blonde began her question, wondering where the mention of Sunday night and Mihir could be going, but she quickly remembered the little tiff that Mihir and Anthony had shared, and a grin broke out on her face. "Yeah, I remember. Did he set something in your room on fire in an attempt to woo you? Or did you end up going with the bald kid?" Light hadn't really spoken to Valerie in the interim between their dates and Light and Shade coming back to the mansion, so she didn't know what kind of night the blonde ended up having and was rather curious after the trouble she went through to give her a good time.

Before she continued, Valerie looked down at the upholstered arm of the love seat and ran her fingernail along a seam. She kept her gaze affixed as she did this, like she were suddenly more interested in the pattern in the seat's fabric than in the conversation, or at least until Light replied. Her eyes rolled up to the other girl, and Valerie looked far more distraught than amused, as Light grinned and spoke. 'Uhm. Like... both, actually... well, except for the fire part,' she intially explained, and although Mihir had admittedly attacked Anthony with fire, after the British mutant had kicked him, or something equally as immature. Val shook her head suddenly in exasperation as that entire, ridiculous dialogue permeated her thoughts, and she returned to the discussion at hand. 'I ended-up going out with Anthony, just out of, you know, the principal of the matter, and I'm glad I did, I totally had a good time, and he said he did, too.' Val paused and took a breath, pressing her lips together before continuing, 'After you left for your date, Mihir came to my room, and he was, like, all dressed up and stuff, and ready to go. He'd sent me a text before, asking if I wanted to go out, and I was, like, sure, but it had to be some other night, but I guess he didn't get the message. Anyway, he didn't stay long, but before he left, he wanted to know if I wanted to have dinner on Thanksgiving, and I felt bad, so I kinda agreed to it, because he was so upset and it was his birthday and stuff, too.' The blonde paused again after that bout of verbal vomit, only to add, 'That's where I was all this evening.' She opened her mouth to say more, but shut her mouth tightly, setting her eyes upon Light's face to make sure she understood the backstory.

An eyebrow cocked on the lavender-haired girl's face as Valerie admitted that both the things she had jokingly suggested, had happened. "Surprising," Light replied when the blonde discounted the fire scenario, not bothering to hide the grin that showed up in her expression again. The girl knew that Anthony and Mihir had a little tiff over the whole thing; she had been there, after all. But she didn't know the serious extent to everything, that Anthony had kicked Mihir and Mihir had burned him. Initially hearing the turnout of Val's night, Light gave her a sort of cocky smile, saying "Good," as soon as the blonde admitted it. Of course, this news did nothing but fuel Light's pride, considering she was the one who had stopped the random bald guy in the hall and told him to give her friend a good night. "See? I don't have the most awful taste in guys, like some people believe," she added with a wink before looking down to the young man asleep in her lap and petting her hand across his hair again. However, her amusement was short-lived, and her head whipped up in Val's direction when she heard Mihir's name. She opened her mouth to speak, but the story that spilled from Valerie's lips kept her from doing so, and when she finally finished, Light simply stared at her for several silent seconds, jaw dropped. "He..." she began, blinking rapidly as she tried to organize the thoughts in her head. "So, he came to your room. Dressed up, ready to go? Are you serious?" If anything, the Native's actions struck her as incredibly overbearing and overprotective of something that wasn't even his to begin with. "You're kidding me. He walks up on me getting you a date for the night, overhears, gets jealous, then goes to your room to take you out even after you say no? Valerie. That is creepy." Ever the blunt one, Light couldn't contain a small chuckle as she dished out her thoughts, carefully and slowly lifting a socked foot to rest it on the coffee table, being gentle enough not to stir Shade from his sleep. "And then you went out with him anyways," she concluded, tilting her head to look at the blonde with a smug sort of expression, her words enunciated slowly as she spoke. Even sounding like a taunt, it was still an invitation for her to continue.

'Yeah, Anthony's, like... a super sweet guy,' Valerie said distantly, her puffy eyes shot with red and unfocused as her gaze settled somewhere in the vicinity of the door as she idly toyed with a thread sticking out of the loveseat's arm. 'Thanks again for everything,' she added. Even if her voice was thin and her smile wan, she meant it no less. 'Oh, and I have money for you,' she suddenly interjected, just remembering, 'In my room. I'll get it for you, then...' Mihir had come bearing money that had been specified as belonging to Light; she couldn't remember how, or if she even knew how, he'd come by it, but she felt the need to return it. Her attention drifted down to Light's hand as she smoothed it across Shade's hair, and when the other girl verified the course of events, Val shifted her eyes back up to meet her fellow student's; she nodded slowly and hesitantly, looking much like a puppy that had just been scolded. 'I know, but,' Valerie started to say, in lame defense of her poor decision, '...but Mihir was so upset, and I had already said yes before I knew about all of this other stuff,' as she spoke the word stuff, the dancer made a quick, violent, swirling motion with her hands,' ...and it was our birthdays, AND it was Thanksgiving, so I thought, like, what's the harm? Before, I totally would have gone out with him in a heartbeat... I mean, I kinda liked him. Like him... liked him. Ohhh...' Pausing, Val covered her face with her hands and gently massaged her fingertips over the lids of her close eyes, flustered, frustrated and trying to keep her voice in check, although she was wont to let it rise as she got more and more worked-up. 'But, oh my gosh, tonight...'

Light gave Valerie an intentionally cocky nod and wink at her thanks, making a clicking sound with her tongue and teeth as she pointed a finger at the girl, almost in a 'sure thing' kind of motion. Her interest was piqued again, however, when the blonde mentioned owing her money, and she opened her mouth to ask how she had gotten it, but she remembered something else first. "Aaand, I have your gloves and shawl. We can trade," she offered. The girl had been so engrossed in Shade and having him back that she had completely forgotten to return Valerie's items, and they sat tossed over the back of her desk chair in her room. As the dancer began to defend herself, Light raised her brow again, sort of silently scolding the girl for taking the actions she did, and she even let out an uninhibited laugh when Valerie admitted to crushing on him. "Wow," she said simply before a short pause, in disbelief at that point. Sure, maybe Light had gone for a sadistic, cocky ass of a man, but at least he could be a proper gentleman and not a total overbearing creep. "You have to understand," she began to explain, shifting a little in her seat so that she was facing Valerie a little more, but still taking care to move carefully and not wake the sleeping man in her lap, "Men will take anything, anything, as encouragement to come after you.""So what the hell happened tonight?" the girl then asked with a curious expression when Valerie nearly seemed to break down at the mention of it, not bothering to hide her foul mouth as she propped her other foot up onto the table in front of her.

'Oh, yeah, okay,' Valerie nodded a little and barely whispered through her palms when Light made mention of trading the cash and accessories at some later point before she pulled her hands away from her face, leaving what was left of her make-up smudged around her reddened eyes. The blonde then leaned forward and rested her loosely-folded hands on her knees and obediently paid attention to what the other student had to say, even though her first reaction was to be resistant to Light's generalized opinion of the rougher sex. She'd previously been down that road of expressing her opposition to Light's beliefs, so, for the moment, Val just listened, even if her face subtly betrayed the fact that she didn't believe, or didn't want to believe, that what the lavender-haired girl was saying held any truth. The words lent creedence in consideration to Val's less-than-stellar dating record, however, consisting of at least a couple self-absorbed, alpha-male jocks and assholes. She'd never been involved with anyone who was on the chemically unbalanced side, though. The dancer's nails scritched against her denim-covered knees, and she glanced evasively down at the floor until her friend asked what had happened earlier this evening. 'It started-out fine, you know, it wasn't as, like, weird as I thought it would be, but then things got... they just got...' Valerie paused to try and recollect and figure the best was to paraphrase the events that had taken place. 'Okay, so at first he's like you're really great and was, like, hinting at maybe, you know, a thing between us, and I was totally prepared for that, but I basically told him no, because, you know, he's got anger problems and stuff, and he still asked me out on another date, and I was like, maybe later on after you get through your issues, and then he was all Well, I love you.' Val's voice trailed upwards into a squeaky whisper before she finally took a breath and stared unblinkingly at Light to gauge what her reaction to that little tidbit would be. So it wasn't exactly what had been said, and Val intended to add to the story, but she needed to take pause as her unease mounted as she continued with her petty tale of woe.

Even through the dim light in the Lounge, Light could still see the black and brown smears of eye shadow and mascara around Valerie's eyes, and reaching over to the end table at her side, Light pulled a couple of sheets of tissue from a box, leaning forward afterwards to hand them to the sobbing blonde. Light sat back again after the tissues were retrieved, if they were retrieved, and listened with honest interest, the whole ordeal piquing her curiosity. As the girl told her story, Light would, every few seconds or so, give a cursory nod or a small "Mhm," to show that she was tuned in and to keep the words coming from her companion's mouth. Finally, as Valerie's story, or at least this part of it, seemingly came to an end, Light could not do much more than sit, staring at the girl silently for more than a few seconds. "Wow," was all she could manage to say after a moment, letting her head fall backwards onto the back of the couch, followed by a small, incredulous laugh. "Well it seems like the first thing that went wrong was you agreeing to have dinner with him," Light chuckled, speaking rather bluntly, as was her norm, before turning her head, still resting on the couch, to look at Val. "But anyhow, as I said before, that's awfully creepy. It's sort of... stalker behavior. I mean you left after that, right? He didn't follow you out into the cold, did he? Or try to make you stay, or like... offer you dead animals as gifts or anything?" Still smiling, it was obvious that Light found the whole situation quite humorous, but in all honesty, it did bother her somewhat. Even if she and Valerie didn't agree on most things, the blonde was a sweet girl and had never really done Light wrong, and she had even helped her out once or twice before. Since that were the case, perhaps Light didn't exactly consider Valerie a good friend, but she was still a friend, and behavior like Mihir's was unacceptable.

Mouthing the word thanks, Valerie accepted the proffered tissues, folded one to blot her eyes with and left the other laying neatly in her lap for the moment. 'I mean, what am I supposed to do with that?' she softly choked out with uncharacteristic and muted animus, although she wasn't actually expecting an answer, and continued on instead. 'No. I didn't leave right away,' the young woman faintly admitted after a sniffle, and, for a change, she actually sounded a little... defensive. It wasn't what Light had said or asked, but that Val knew that it probably would have been best for her to say no to the entire affair from the beginning; alas, wasn't hindsight always infuriatingly clear? On top of it all, the electrically-charged mutant was confirming what she had already figured out for herself, but didn't really want to believe. When Light jokingly asked if he'd given her any dead animals, Valerie looked momentarily shocked that she suggested such a thing, but it faded to vague dismay as she dismissively admitted, 'No! Oh, my gosh... no... he just made me a thing... a little... carving, I guess...' Sitting up, Val glance over her right shoulder and then her left, searching for where she'd laid her jacket, since the little wooden effigy was safely tucked inside. 'I mean, it's actually kinda...' she started to say, a gentle sigh punctuating her words, then quietly started to rationalize, '...it's pretty...nice... you know...' as was her tendency, given her magnanimous nature, and fished the gift out of the fleece's zippered pocket to show the other girl.

Light let her head fall back dramatically against the couch cushions, rolling her eyes twice at the two responses and the seemingly defensive explanation she received from Valerie. "Oh, boy," she muttered to herself as the girl continued to tell her side of the story. She watched Val put out the small wooden gift, eyeing it while she twisted a strand of Shade's hair around her finger. "Yeah, cute," she said dismissively, then putting one hand on the arm rest of the couch, she pushed herself up a little so that she was sitting taller, but did so gently so as not to wake her boyfriend. "Look, Val, you can't... You know, when I said that men take anything as flirtation? I wasn't lying," she explained, lowering her head slightly to look at Val with raised eyebrows and a smirk. "Maybe it's easier for me, but sometimes you gotta cut him off from the start. The whole time you two were there, he was getting mixed signals, from what it sounds like. Hell, he probably still thinks he has a chance. Which means, he's probably going to keep bringing you gifts, or trying to ask you out, or keep trying to convince you that he loves you. Maybe even until you give in." Light paused for a few seconds to let her words really soak in to Valerie's mind, and to even give her a few seconds to respond if she felt like it. "I'm just telling you what I know, here... Really, how long have you two even known each other, or how much have you hung out with him? Doesn't it seem a little... weird? Maybe even psycho?" Light still wasn't bothering to sugarcoat her words, but she had a gut feeling, given Valerie's past responses to the lavender-haired girl's opinions, that she was more than likely not to agree with her sentiments.

'But I wasn't... it's not even like... ' Valerie managed to start, speaking the words before she even had a moment to think about what she really wanted to say, so of course she didn't finish any of the initial sentence fragments. With a defeated sigh, the blonde flopped back into the loveseat, cradling the little wooden gift in her hands, which fell to her lap and nested lightly where her jeans-covered thighs met. Unfortunately, and admittedly, even though she didn't say it, Val did leave the door open with her non-committal answer about another, future date. A soft groan issued from the back of her throat, and was muted by the fact that her mouth was closed, lips pressed together in a tight, frustrated line. 'It just would have been easier if he'd done something, like, normal... if he acted like a regular guy... cop a feel in the movie theatre, or something, I don't know, I totally could've handled that. But it was like... he's always so formal, or something; I'm not used to that... so what I am even supposed to do or say the next time I see him or whatever? I already said I was sorry...' Valerie suddenly said with a subtle degree of disappointment to her normally upbeat and sweet-tempered voice. Although her struggle was internal, considering her apparent nature, it wouldn't take much for someone who knew anything about Val to reason that she was torn between trying to salvage a friendship, if there was anything left to salvage, and doing what she should do for her own benefit. Another sigh slipped from her lips before she gave a half shrug and answered Light's last series of questions. 'I don't know... I've only been here for a few months, and he arrived after I did, so, I mean... I don't know... less than that, I guess...' she uttered while glancing evasively off to the side. 'We've done stuff here-and-there. Nothing that would indicate... I didn't even think I was remotely on his radar until Sunday... we've just, like, had Danger Room sessions, and stuff like that really. ' With another shrug, Val shifted her eyes back to Light, and her brows pinched together at the other girl's usage of the word psycho. 'Okay, totally unexpected and a little weird, but... well, psycho might be going a little far,' she said quietly and coolly, but her blue-eyed gaze dropped away from her friend and into her own lap, where she fiddled with the carving, as she fell silent once again.

Light leaned back against the couch, resting her now tired eyes as Valerie continued on about Mihir, seemingly not getting it through her head that he was a creep and that she should just leave it alone and not worry. Then again, not all girls were as carefree as Light. Instead, they spent all their time worrying about everyone else rather than themselves, and Valerie was a prime example of that ridiculously selfless attitude. "He's weird," she repeated herself for the umpteenth time, looking a little irritated now as she glanced down as Shade, who stirred a little in her lap. She brushed her fingers through his hair to calm him, then cast her gaze up to Valerie again. "You have no reason at all to be sorry. He doesn't deserve and apology. Surely you understand that," she said firmly, trying to really get the point across now that she knew what all had happened between the blonde and the Native. "If he really wanted you and your trust, he would've earned it, not try to force it out of you. And it takes a hell of a lot more interaction with someone than just a few chats to decide you love them." With a furrowed brow, obviously quite miffed at the whole situation now, Light looked down at Shade again, thinking that they had spent nearly every day for three months straight with each other, then even had to face a difficult break-up and a near death experience to realize how they felt about each other. Granted, not everyone was as cold-hearted as those two, but Mihir was simply acting like a horny teenager who was absolutely desperate to get a girlfriend so he could get laid. And even more so, he was trying to force it on Valerie, which sat badly with Light. She almost wanted to go chew him out right then and there, but it was uncharacteristic of her, and she also figured it was Valerie's battle to fight on her own. She cut her eyes in Valerie's direction again, still frowning, lips pursed slightly. "He has issues," she clarified her earlier mention of him being psycho. "And either you completely separate yourself from him or you find yourself involved in those issues with him. And I bet it'll be damned hard to get out of." She raised her eyebrows then, signaling that she had given her final judgement of the native boy. "So it's your choice," she added with a one-shouldered shrug, "You cut him off now, or deal with him for a long time." Light let her eyes linger on the girl while she allowed her to contemplate what she might do. "And if you decide to cut it off and he still keeps coming, then you talk to me or Shade. We'll put a stop to it."

'I know... the whole thing is... weird,' Valerie disconsolately murmured before grabbing her jacket and stuffing the figurine back into its pocket. She wasn't sure exactly what she was going to do with the gift, but putting it away for the time-being seemed like the right thing to do. It all sounded vaguely familiar, the advice coming from Light, and it was evident that she was leaving little room for argument. The young lady nodded slightly, keeping her gazed affixed upon her lap, looking and feeling ashamed at the entire situation. While she possessed the wherewithal to figure out that starting or continuing a relationship with a person who not only admitted to having anger management issues, but who could also set things on fire, she hadn't remotely shared Light's bleak assessment of a further potential relationship with Mihir until she boiled it down to its essence. In addition to the disconcerting and rushed confession of love, be it romantic or agape, Val knew that what Light was saying made sense, whether or not she wanted to admit it. 'No, you're right,' she quietly confessed without looking-up from her lap after folding her hands, which rested on the tops of her legs, together tightly enough so that the skin across her knuckles grew white with tension. 'Thanks for listening,' she added with a joyless, crooked smile, as her eyes trailed-up over Shade's slumbering form to meet Light's face. 'I'll, uhm... I'll let you know if anything happens,' she hesitantly said, although it was questionable as to whether or not she was being entirely truthful. The blonde gave another vague smile and offered, 'Good night,' as she pushed-up from the sofa, jacket in hand and started to take her leave of the Lounge.

Light was never exactly a social creature, at least not a kind one. So after she had said her piece and once Valerie spoke again, the girl fell silent, her eyes trained on Shade's sleeping face as she, like so many times before, ran her fingers through his soft hair. "Mmmhm," she merely murmured when Valerie thanked her for listening, but as the girl began to say her goodbyes and good nights, Light looked up at her with her own tired eyes. "I'll count on it," she said with the faintest hints of a smirk. "Right down the hall if you need me," she added, sincerely hoping that if Valerie did have any trouble with Mihir, she'd come right to the lavender-haired girl. Her sadistic nature would just love for a conflict to arise between her and someone she didn't exactly like. "Night," was Light's final word, along with a nod, as the dancer headed towards the door.

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