[X-World] Unsweetened Dreams

[Melissa Castro]

"Victories are victories. Do what *you* can do, but don't ever sell yourself short. I taught you that, too."

[Jennifer Newgate]

"Yeah, but I can't even fix my friend. Not to mention that I failed to stop her in the first place."

[Melissa Castro]

Melissa was giving her 'the look' again, "I'm not going to repeat my bit about not dwelling failures. I'll have to go back to Gar soon and I won't be able to return for a while. I'm seeing the girl I tutored again though and not the young woman I left behind. Don't compare yourself to others, do what you know is right. Celebrate *every* victory, no matter how small. And don't be upset that you haven't fixed Theresa. I can sense the damage from here and I'm not even sure how I'd begin to tackle that. It may be something that no one person can do."

[Jennifer Newgate]

"The girl you tutored was in denial and the woman you left behind was probably a tad too optimistic for what was to come. Now I'm a survivor who has to live with the fact that she's starting to feel like killing her friend may have been the merciful thing to do, both for her and the city. I'm hard to ignore past failures when the consequences stare you in the face every day. I'd rather move on, built something from the ruins, but we can't walk Theresa into a group of people who lost family and friends because of her and expect them to understand that she barely even remembers, much less could be held responsible."

[Melissa Castro]

Melissa stared at her quietly for a moment. Her substance seemed to be slowly fading. "When you see Vertie, tell her that Gar still think about her and he loves her. He's doing good things in Miami and she should be proud of him."

[Jennifer Newgate]

"I will. Tell him we'll do our best to keep her safe."

[Melissa Castro]

She smiled, "I trust you and I'll tell him. Take care of yourself, Jennifer. I'll be back some day."

[Jennifer Newgate]

Jennifer runs her hands through her hair as she looks out over the city and catches herself feeling ever so slightly optimistic at the thought that people like Melissa are still out there, in a way, trying to make a difference. "God damnit..." she whispers to herself.