2269/Tigger Momma Boogaloo

Tigger Momma Boogaloo
Date of Scene:	31 August 2017
Location:	Xavier's School, Westchester, New York
Synopsis:	Diya has remained at the Mansion for over a day, and has remained human in all of that time. Tabby has some things to say to Lexi's Tigger Momma, and she's going to get them said while there's an actual person instead of a giant killer tiger. Language skills count, apparently.
Cast of Characters:	Okhotnik, Boom-Boom

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Okhotnik has posed:
Since being - however gently - dragged into the Mansion the other night, Diya has stayed in the guest room in which she was placed almost all of the time. The only exception has been trips to the bathroom, and to the kitchens to devour more ungodly totals of food. At least as Diya she has been devouring all of this cooked, unlike her furrier persona.

Currently, Diya has finished yet another substantial meal and has just returned to said guest room still glowing from another shower. She is currently the cleanest she has been since her days in the army; it is rather refreshing, and there's something about being freshly scrubbed that makes her feel more human and less like the tiger still hidden beneath the surface inside her.

The ash blonde Russian woman has changed into a pair of shorts and a t-shirt - probably loaned - and is stretched out on the floor, once more going through exercises, including pushups with one and with two arms. The bed behind her is still just as neatly made as the minute she was shown into this room last night; she slept on the floor, instead, because the bed was much too soft.

Boom-Boom has posed:
    Tabitha peeks in the guest room door, guess it wasn't closed after all. "Hello?" she calls. "Oh. Hiya." she greets as she sees Diya on the floor, exercising. "Sorry. Uh. I jus..." and she shrugs. "I brought you some pie." and she shows the half-a-blueberry-pie in a tin in her hands. "No ice cream, though. I didn't think."

Okhotnik has posed:
Diya glances up, unsurprised, at Tabitha's appearance; given her senses, she knew exactly where the girl was before she approached the door, before she spoke. "Hello." she offers with her strong, sharp Russian accent. She pushes herself up, then tucks her legs and inverts into a held jackknife low, then sits down after a thirty county. "Thank you. You are ... Tabitha, yes?" she questions. "No need for ... ice cream. The pie smells delicious."

Boom-Boom has posed:
    "Yeah. Tabitha. Noone calls me that, though. Usually they call me 'Boom-Boom' or somethin' like that." She sets the dessert down on a nearby surface. "... showoff..." she mutters. "An' you're 'Hottie'. You doin' alright?" she asks, looking around carefully, almost as if she expected a giant tiger was going to materialize from nowhere and pounce. "Oh! Damn! I'm so dumb. I should have went out and got some kolaches."

Okhotnik has posed:
"Please. Do not call me that." Diya offers, with a soft, irked tone in her voice. "Okhotnik, it is what my comrades called me. Means 'Hunter' in English." Or close enough, at least. "I ... was not trying to show off?" she questions, waiting. "Just working out. It is a way to burn energy, to keep myself contained." She is a soldier, after all. "I did enjoy the koloaches. But I am not picky. The pie smells delicious." That said, she leans in closer and sniffs it, offering a tothsome smile to the blonde. "Please. Sit. This is more your place than mine."

Boom-Boom has posed:
    Boomer takes a step back at the toothy grin. she's clearly a little spooked still. "Yeah. I jus' wanted to try to let you know that I was sorry for the way I acted out on the grounds." she says, looking down. "It's jus'... I don't know." she looks up, then. "Thanks for lookin' after Lexi. She seems to really like you."

Okhotnik has posed:
The ash blonde eyes the younger woman, seeing that reaction, and hides her teeth. She didn't mean it as a threat, but she will have to remember others will see it that way, now that they know about the tiger.

"You reacted as you reacted. You are entitled to your feelings. You do not need to like me." But she nods. "Some part of Lex has an inner need to be protected. She responded to me that way from the moment we met. I look out for her ... because it is what I am. What I was built and trained and raised to do." And a little because Lex is just too damned cute to let walk into trouble.

Boom-Boom has posed:
    "Well, yeah... I guess." Boomski begins. "Hey! Wait... I'm tryin' to _apologize_. You can't jus' blow me off like that." and she snorts. "I can protect her jus' fine, thank you." she says, a little irritated. "what's this thing between you and the other Russia... Aserov? Seems funny that you both showed up here at the same time."

Okhotnik has posed:
Diya sighs. Amerikanski. "I am not ... 'blow you off'. I am just accepting. You think, you feel, as you do. Nothing wrong with that."

But Diya shakes her head at the last. "You were not there, Tabitha, when Lex needed protecting in Mutant Town. I am sure, had you been there, you could have taken care of it. But you were not. So I did. Which meant she was safe to come home here, to you."

As for Yana? The Russian soldier smirks. "Asarov. There is no humor in it. She was there, when Lex got in trouble. She helped protect her. So I respect her." That's it. But she shrugs. "I find it odd how many Russians I have run into in this country. It has led to more than a few problems." After all, it is the Russians that are hunting her. So she has to be suspicious of them all.

Boom-Boom has posed:
    Boomer looks down at her shoes. "...'s not my fault I wasn't there." she mutters. Chin up. "Anyway. I guess I owe you somethin' for lookin' after her." she shrugs. "So, what's the plan? Are you stayin'? What did Jean say 'bout that? I mean... you're safer here than anywhere else, really."

Okhotnik has posed:
"I did not say it was your fault." Diya affirms to Boomer. "I assign no fault. Only stating what was. And you owe me nothing." A break on the attitude would be nice, but she's not betting on it. What is, is. No point trying to swim upstream against it.

"Jean seems to want me to stay. I may be safer here than elsewhere. But the rest of you are not." Diya offers, honestly. "It would be best if I go. Find another city, well away from this one. When the trouble finds me, it won't threaten any of you." Russian fatalism.

Boom-Boom has posed:
    Tabitha sighs. "Look, we're used to trouble. We have trouble for breakfast and crap it out again in the evening. You're not bringin' us any more to worry 'bout than we already have. So, stop worryin' 'bout that, okay?"

Okhotnik has posed:
"I cannot." Diya offers, honestly. There's no heat to her words, just deadpan reality. "I take on danger so that others do not have to. I cannot take lightly a threat like those who are hunting me, or the threat I myself represent. I am not capable of it."

Boom-Boom has posed:
"Everyone's so damn noble. get over yoourself, geez." Tabby begins. She waves a hand dismissively, though. "Look... I'm leavin' in a couple of days and I might not be back for while... or I might not ever make it back. So..." and she sighs, looking away from the hunter. "... so if I don't, I want you to be here to make sure that Foxy is safe, that she finishes school." she smiles just a touch. "The nerd wants to be a history professor or somethin' and I'd like her to have that. Have somethin' good in her life... somethin' to look forward to." she looks back to Diya, a level gaze. "Will you do that? I can't ask anyone else."

Okhotnik has posed:
Diya tilts her head in such a feline gesture, green eyes boring into Tabitha intensely. "You want me to stay, because you are going to go into danger, and you want me here to watch over Lex if you should fail to return?" She considers this for a bit. It's just the sort of appeal that could work for her. But she has one more question.

"Why not stay here, with her? I will go. Wherever it is, whatever you need done, I will do it. If I do not return, no one will miss me. It would be for the best. But I imagine I am a bit better trained than you, and heal much more quickly. I suspect I would have a better chance of surviving, if only by a bit." Diya isn't bragging. She's just offering to put herself at risk for she knows not what, so that Lex's girlfriend will instead be here to watch over her.

Boom-Boom has posed:
    "I have to go." Tabby says. "It's kinda my job. I have a team and my team is goin'." She turns a bit, but still trying to keep an eye on the older woman. "Yeah, yeah. You're a soldier and blah, blah, blah. Whatevs. Yeah, okay, you fought Spetnaz guys with folding shovels of death and all that crap, but we're goin' somewhere really dangerous. We can't jus' take along someone we've never fought alonside before."

Okhotnik has posed:
Were Diya wound any tighter than she is, she would explode over the disrespectful, dismissive tone. But she doesn't do more than growl softly. "For the record, //Tabitha//, 'no thank you, I really feel I need to do this' would have been enough of an answer, without trying so hard to be insulting." Yes. She called the girl on her shit. "I can accept that. Had my unit not abandoned me, and they needed me, I would be there, and would accept no substitutes." It would have been a way to be useful, to die for a worthy cause. But she should have known better than to expect that. "A wise woman understands that when she asks another for a favor, it goes best if she does not insult her in the asking."

Boom-Boom has posed:
    "Noone ever accused me of bein' wise." Tabitha replies, perhaps a bit chastised. "Look, I'm sorry, okay? I jus' have a lot on my mind... I still have classes to go to and then practice and trainin' and stuff to get ready for this mess." She sighs. "Yana might not make it back either, so... well, Lexi might need her tigger momma."

Okhotnik has posed:
Diya growls softly, but nods. "Well, since I cannot fight for you instead, I will agree to stay close enough to reach her, if she needs me." For a while, at least. She shrugs and turns around, scooting closer to the little table with the pie plate. "Do your best to come back to her. She loves you." Diya should know; she can smell it.