Circumstances
by Salamander
Notes: Okay. I admit it. I'm nuts. You happy now???
The stories talked about in this fic are real. Two of them are finished; three of them are not. Three of them are on the fic page. They're 'Hints, Allegations, And Things Left Unsaid'; 'The Addiction'; and 'The Switch.' The other two fics will probably never be put up but are called 'The Evil Within' and 'I Burn.' Dat's it!
Lass, perhaps ye should leave.
Where am I supposed to go now?
Darlin', what happened out there . . . It wasn't ya. What happened? Why'd ya do it?
I had to. Doesn't anybody understand? No. Of course not. They have no idea what was happenin'.
Jubes, . . . I love you. But I can't be in a relationship with you right now. I'm sorry. I just need to sort out everything.
Don't worry, Ev. Ya won't have to chose between me and Monet now. And, that crap about tryin' to 'sort things out' is just crap. Ya don't have to lie to me about that.
Jubilation, of all the blah, blah, blah . . .
Whatever. I'm too out of it to even make a come-back for that, Monet. --
"You're doing it again!"
Sal whirled around, surprised by the voice. "Oh!" She turned back to what she was writing. "Oh. . . . "
Jubilee pulled up a chair to the computer desk. "What's this one gonna be about?" She seemed rather exasperated.
Sal shrugged. "Oh. . . . Y'know. Just stuff."
"Depressing stuff?"
Sal shrugged. "Maybe."
Jubilee sighed. She was really getting annoyed with Sal. "Look at me! Do I look depressed??? Am I ever depressed??? When was the last time ya saw me cry???"
"When 'Yanna died. Actually, I just re-read that issue. It's really -- "
"Whatever! -- "
"SEE??" Sal pointed to the part in the story where the word 'whatever' was written. "That's in character!"
Jubilee smacked her own forehead. She was going to have to go through this. Again. Why she put up with Sal was beyond her. Well, . . . maybe not. Sal was the only fic writer who could actually see her. In a way, that fact was somewhat cool and comforting because she had such a great fan. In another way, it was rather spooky. Sal was the only one. It probably meant that she was a bit on the nutso side.
Jubilee let out another sigh. "I'm hardly ever sad. And ya know it."
Sal shook her head almost violently. "Not true! Ya're cryin' on the inside! Ya're like one o' those porcelain clowns!"
Jubilee leaned back in her chair and eyed Sal wearily. She was trying to think of the best way to approach this little problem. "Okay. I'm human. -- "
"Mutant! -- " Sal interjected. Jubilee gave her a very harsh, rather scary glare that shut Sal up.
Jubilee cleared her throat and began again. "I'm human. All humans have times in their lives where they're a bit down. But, if I were as depressed as I am in all of yar fics, I think it would be a clinical problem."
Sal sat back, clearly thinking. "Hmmm . . . " She nodded her head. "Perhaps ya're right. . . . "
"Of course I am! -- "
"But! There are some awesome stories that you aren't depressed in!"
Jubilee lifted an eyebrow. "Like?"
"That one where you switch minds with another version of yourself from another dimension -- "
"Doesn't count!"
"And why not?? Ya aren't depressed!" Sal eyed Jubilee.
Jubilee shook her head. "'Cause there's another recurrin' theme in that one. Everyone's against me. Remember? Ya told me how the story was goin' to go."
"Okay! How about the one where that new student by the name of Sam joins? And her power is that she can make wishes. -- "
"I'm not even the main character in that one! 'Sides, Sam's got some major problems! I mean, it's seriously scary 'cause it's kinda a self-insert kinda thing! 'Specially what she does to her parents!!!! -- "
Sal laughed a bit too gleefully for Jubilee's taste. "Yeah! That was so cool!"
" . . . Yeah. . . . Right. Well, still, depression is definitely a big part of that story."
"Well, how about the story where that magic dude named Zurnic takes over your conscience and ya're doin' all that bad stuff? -- "
"And why did I even agree to go visit him, Sal?"
Sal pouted. "Oh man! Well, how about the one where ya're on a road trip with Logan and Kitty -- "
"I'm depressed through some of it! Are you so dense that ya can't see it???" Jubilee knew the moment the words had come out of her mouth that it was a mistake. A big one.
Sal's eyes were nothing more than angry slits. "Ya just called me dense."
Jubilee laughed nervously. "I didn't mean it! -- "
"Ya called me dense!!!"
"Sorry?"
"YA CALLED ME DENSE!!!!!"
Jubilee reached out to touch Sal's shoulder but remembered that she couldn't touch her. She wasn't really there, after all. She was just a comic book character. "Now, now. Let's not do anythin' that we'd both regret later. -- "
"It's too late for that."
Jubilee let out a low groan as Sal's hands moved furiously over the keyboard. "What have I gotten myself into this time? Suicide? Homicidal tendencies? Alcoholism? More drug abuse? Or maybe it's just more Goldfish." She knew that Sal was now oblivious to the world around her. What she said wouldn't affect Sal now. That is, unless, everything was now subliminal messages to the other girl and her writing. Which, if that were true, was bad news for Jubilee because of everything she had just named.
Sal stopped writing and seemed to come up for air. She looked up at Jubilee with a maniacal glint in her eye. Jubilee had to look away. Sal went back to her work.
At this point, Jubilee began to wish she were a bit more real. If she were, she could turn off the computer. Or physically hurt Sal, which would definitely be the more pleasurable of the two choices.
Sal stopped again, this time with a look of pure terror. "What am I doin'?"
"Screwin' with my life?" Jubilee suggested.
Sal nodded. "Yeah. . . . "
Jubilee shrugged. "Ya enjoy yarself. And it usually leads to nothin'. It lead to anythin' right now?"
Sal looked sheepish. "Kinda."
Jubilee's brow furrowed. "How?"
"Well, . . . Ya kinda killed Frost and the Guthries 'cause of some sort of problem, which I haven't figured out yet. Nobody believes that ya did it in everybody's best interests nor 'cause ya were tryin' to save everyone else. So, . . . ya're basically shunned. And -- "
Jubilee sighed. "I really don't wanna hear the rest."
Sal frowned and looked down shamefully. "Okay."
"It all out of yar system?"
Sal, still looking down, nodded. "Yeah."
"Good."
Sal looked up. "Now what?"
"Whatcha mean?"
"I don't like this story."
"Just put it in the archive of things nobody will ever read."
Sal nodded, saved the story on a disk, and took it out. "This booger is to never again be seen by human eyes. 'Cept my own."
Jubilee shrugged. "Not by human eyes. By your own. It's really the same thing."
Sal put the disk in a box of other disks. "How should I take that?"
"Nicely?"
Sal snorted. "For now."
Jubilee really didn't like the glint that was resurfacing in Sal's eyes. She just nodded a bit and backed up. "Yeah. . . . For now. . . . "
Wanna go back home?
Or do you wanna go back to the fic page?
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