Three Unfinished Logs
Note from Cora: 1) Back when Mr. Lee first came to the school and installed the new security system, he offered to let some of the students help test it. This is the result of one of those tests.
Kitty nodded as Mr. Lee finished explaining the test they’d be running and set off to find someplace to start. She’d been thinking about this since she’d seen the post in the journal community and had actually started her own test right then with excellent results – which was to say, none. Even with a week’s work and all the backdoors in the school computer system she’d been unable to find a single schematic, not even anything that looked like a private email with set up notes. The way Kitty figured, if she with her insider information couldn’t find anything, that meant nobody outside the system – nobody who might be a threat – could either, which was all to the good.
Letting herself into one of the side rooms on the first floor, Kitty hesitated near the door, quickly scanning the room. She knew there would have to be sensors somewhere, but they were discretely placed and hard to spot. A few more moments and she finally tagged one, high on a shelf – just barely in reach.
“Well, here goes nothing...” she said to herself.
Reaching up, she phased out and swiped her hand through the sensor, shutting it down, and then dove through the wall under her newly created sensor free zone into the next room.
In the control room, the isolated unit which was the sensor Kitty had affected blinked out – a brief anomaly – and within seconds it had cycled through a power start and was back online.
Not knowing this, and not knowing that the units were on individual circuits, Kitty raced through the next room and dove through the opposite wall, triggering the sensor imbedded within it. As she started across this room – one of the smaller dining rooms – a speaker crackled to life.
“Ms. Pryde, in the dining room off the eastern hall, you have been spotted.” Mr. Lee’s voice was calm and measured, and Kitty slowed as she recognized it. “Thank you for your assistance.”
Kitty turned and scanned the room again, finally spotting one of the sensors, which she tossed a little wave to. “No problem,” she said, then turned and headed out of the room to find Jamie and see how the other tests had gone.
2) Sometime after Illyana recovers from the demon attack, but people are still harping on her, Kitty drags her away from the school for a break.
Kitty waited until there was coffee in front of her best friend before even bringing any of it up - it seemed wise to give her 'Yana something to focus on besides her frustration and coffee was as good as anything and better than lots. Taking a sip of her own latte she said, "So, aside from the random journal spats, how's it going being back amongst the living and the home-work recieving?"
Illyana shrugged, sipping her latte carefully -- the foam was the best part. "The usual," she said, not entirely truthfully. "The catching up in my classes, avoiding doctors and teachers whenever I can, what can I say? My life's totally monotonous."
"Uh-huh," Kitty said, arching an eyebrow at Illyana. "Pull the other one, babe, it's got bells on."
"Why must you always be so perceptive," Illyana muttered, not really complaining. "It's just -- kind of irritating, I guess." If irritating meant 'painful', anyway. "All those stupid people thinking they know so much about anything. It's bloody awful to see them embarrassing themselves all the time, that's all." So she couldn't say exactly what was up. It was close enough.
'Let he who is without sin...' Kitty thought. There were times thoes Christians weren't entirely off their collective nut. "I'm perceptive cause I know you, 'Yana. And cause I care. You're right that they don't know anything about anything, and of course that's never stopped any of them." And she wasn't ever going to suggest that they ought to know, although she knew that at least one of the teachers ought to. And she trusted Illyana enough to have told them by now.
Illyana rolled her eyes; it might have been more impressively sarcastic had she not looked like a victim of rugby gone wrong. "I just don't particularly care for most of the idiots, that's all," she said, sighing. "It's not like I pester them about the intimate details of their lives. In fact, less detail makes me much happier. Like I really want to know how the death of their pet hamster traumatised them for life."
"The problem is that while they all seem to have mastered the whole 'do unto others' thing, they seem to have missed the bit where you can't make others 'do unto you'. So they think that the fact that they're sharing means you should share, too. Bit of a pain, hey?" Kitty leaned back slightly, taking another sip.
"Yeah," Illyana said, thinking back to her conversation with Alison -- the very much oversharing, too much information, please shut up now Illyana conversation, as she had come to think of it. "I shouldn't bait them, but it's so -- " amusing, fun, great way to pass time -- "easy. I guess I should probably stop picking fights," she added grudgingly.
Kitty shrugged. "If you don't want to deal with the headaches afterwards, yeah. Or if you don't want me to," she added with a little smile. She was not entirely above guilt trips if it would keep at least a modicum of peace and help protect 'Yana, whether she wanted protecting or not.
Illyana made a face. Kitty was the only one who could actually make her feel guilty. "The headaches I don't mind," she said, staring down at her cast. "I just hate how they assume it's because of what happened, instead of what's happening. It makes me so -- " she cut herself off, unwilling to admit to 'angry' or 'scared' or anything like real emotion. Even to Kitty.
Of course, there were only so many ways a sentance like that could end, and Kitty's mind was busy offering them all up. But all she said was, "I know,' in a quiet little way.
Illyana nodded, sipping at her latte again and studying a crack in the table, picking at it with a fingernail. "Yeah," she said, matching Kitty's tone almost exactly. It didn't occur to her to question that -- of course she did.
Sitting quietly with Illyana, Kitty finished off her coffee and then leaned forward setting the cup down on the table. "So, I lack any real inclination to go back to school. What say you to a movie, or more coffee or, well, just about anything?"
"I seem to lack a similar inclination," Illyana admitted, fiddling with her cup just to keep her hands (well, hand) busy. She managed not to say that she'd do anything rather than go back, at the moment. "Anything sounds good -- I might not be up for a whole movie," she admitted reluctantly. "But more coffee or something sounds like a plan."
"Want to go to a diner for some actual food, or just another latte?" Kitty asked. She wasn't terribly hungry but Kitty didn't know if 'Yana had gotten dinner before all the fuss started or not.
3) And the gods only know when this one happened (possibly sometime in December 2004, given the dates on the emails), but at some point Kitty apparently decided that Paige needed to go clubbing.
Black skirt riding low on her hips and a black t-shirt under one of her nicer tops, Kitty was ready to go. All that was left was Paige, and who knew how long that bit would take. Depended on the other girl's mood quite a bit. But she was going into this one armed for battle - she'd borrowed some of Clarice's glitter and was fully ready to fast talk the girl if she needed to.
Knocking on the door to Paige and Jubes' room she called out, "Hey, Paige, it's Kitty."
There was a curse from behind the door and the sounds of hasty shuffling about before Paige finally opened the door, standing behind it in a robe. Her legs and feet were bare, as was her exposed throat, but she did have the decency to look a little bit meek. "I'm not dressed."
"Well then, the glitter won't be necessary to get you attention but it will complement the look overall." Kitty grinned brightly. "Or, you know, I could come in, advise on wardrobe matters and then glitter you..."
Paige opened the door a little wider, allowing Kitty inside and went to sit on the bed, crossing her legs almost, what was that, demurely? Yes, demurely. Her toenails were red and sparkled in the light. "That'd be good. My closet hates me," she whimpered, looking positively pathetic.
Kitty stepped inside, shutting the door behind her. "Well, the toes sparkle, the glitter sparkles, your personality sparkles, as do your eyes and so on," she said, waving her hand airly. "So, let's find an outfit that matches." Heading across the room she poked her head into the closet. "God but you have a lot of very nice and respectable sweaters. Mind," she added, turning back with a smile, "so do I. Where do you hide your clubing outfits? And don't pretend you don't have them - I've heard about the leather."
"Oh, you're smooth," Paige observed in an impressed tone, watching Kitty rummage around in her closet. She curled her toes in a little, embarassed, but managed to continue. "I don't happen to own any clubbing clothes. The leather outfit was from Alison, surprise surprise, but everyone like to forget that one. Um. There's some stuff in the far left corner, though. Most of it is just stuff Sarah left behind."
Shifting a few pairs of dress pants and a very respectable (far too respectable for an eighteen year old) skirt, Kitty found the hidden stash. "Hmm... Well, these'll do," she said, pulling out a pair of tight black hiphuggers. "I know Sarah didn't go much for colors but compared to the rest of your closet it's like a small blackhole has opened up in the corner and is using goth-gravity to suck in all the color. We may have to raid Jubes' stuff for a top - there is a distinct lack of spark...oooh! Boots!" They came out of the closet along with Kitty and she dropped them by the bed as she headed over to start picking through her ex-roommate's clothing. "Where is that red silk piece..."
Paige was staring in something like bewilderment as Kitty made her way through her closet, musing in Paige’s general direction but luckily not expecting any sort of intelligent reply. Which was probably a good thing, since Paige’s thoughts were more centered on the fact that Kitty had spent all of ten seconds finding the pieces laying beside her, while Paige had been sitting there, staring, for a good forty minutes beforehand. That just didn’t seem fair. “We just did laundry, so it’s probably on the chair, waiting to eventually make it to a drawer,” she finally replied.
"Hmm, hope not. Silk and Jubilee doing laundry is a terrible combination," Kitty mused, but detoured to the chair anyway, picking through the assorted garishley colored tops. "Oooh, green. Red and green, that's festive, right?" The scarf was drapped over Kitty's shoulder as she continued through the pile. "No, I don't see it..." Pulling up a shirt that was edging into the orange spectrum, Kitty considered it, then shook her head. "Won't suit your complexion," she said. "Dressing for clubing is a lot like designing costumes for a show," she explained as she headed into Jubilee's closet, shoving piles of shoes to the side. "Only, you know, less filled with prima donnas. Ah!" Kitty backed out of the closet, holding her prize. "Can't find the silk, but this'll do," she said, holding up a red lycra shirt shot through with silver threads.
Paige looked from the top to Kitty and back again, rather comically except for the fact that she wasn’t doing it for a laugh. “You’re insane,” she said simply, returning her eyes to her friend. Not only was Kitty, Kitty her fellow dork, dancing around the room with clothing articles and talking about complexions of all things, she honestly thought that Paige was going to wear lycra. Lycra!
"Tight, clingy, red, shiny and sparkly all in one. Nope, not kidding," Kitty said with a grin. "I may have no artistic sense, all of it having gone into my ability to solve multivariable calculus, but I know a dancing costume when I see one." She pulled the scarf off of her shoulders and held it up to the shirt. "Am killing the scarf - it'd be too much." Kitty tossed the shirt to Paige and said, "Go on, get changed," before wandering over to the mirror and starting to thread the scarf through the belt loops of her own skirt.
“I love how you think you’re going to get away with this,” Paige grumbled, but snatched the shirt from the air, putting it over her arm with the rest of the things picked out for her. Making her way for behind the closet door, Paige slipped her robe off her shoulders at the same time she reached into the general area of the drawer in which she kept her underwear. Peeking out as she pulled the pants on, trying to ignore the way they fit, Paige remarked, “The scarf looks better on you. Adds some colour. I think Jubilee has some metallic green eyeshadow if you have the nerve to use it.”
Kitty grinned and did not point out that she was getting away with it. "Nah," she said. "I only really ever use make-up for shows and stage make-up is a scary, scary thing in person. Way over the top. But I never really learned how to do it normally."
Paige laughed from behind the door, slipping the top over her head. How exactly was she supposed to get out of this? Was this a secret method that one of her boys had put Kitty up to to make sure nothing happened that involved shirt taking off? Not that anything would. “Darn you with your natural beauty and I with not of bit of it nor the patience to put goop on my face,” Paige retorted without an edge to it in sight.
Kitty snorted, tying off the scarf. "Yeah, right, babe. Pull the other one, it's got bells on." She grinned over her shoulder in the general direction of the door Paige was hiding behind. "Seriously, do you ever look in a mirror? Much with the hotness."
