xp_logs | Sunday Night, Marius and Terry

Marius takes Terry out to dinner. First she upsets him over his mutation, then he upsets her over Bobby. They go for a walk in the moonlight but there are problems there too. All in all, they decide they're better off being friends.

"Nice place, this," Marius remarked as he prized piece of ciabatta from the basket. "County has some surprisingly decent restaurants. Pity we can't fake our way into a shot at the winelist, but I suppose we'll find a way to go on. Perils of bein' a minor an' that." He unrolled his cutlery and draped the napkin across his lap before starting on the bread. He may have had to wear gloves at the table, but that was no reason to abandon good manners.

Terry laughed and shrugged off her jacket since it was warm in the restaurant before helping herself to a piece of bread as well. "Aye, and they've a ridiculous drinking age here. It's not like this back home." Terry glanced at her menu again then leaned forward, propping her chin in her palm, "So what are you ordering?"

"Beef carpaccio. Nothing special. Unlike your shirt," Marius noted, grinning. Terry was quite good at dress-casual, he had decided. He approved of the black. Particularly since it was cut to accentuate a generous portion of white. "You clean up well. Which isn't sayin' you didn't start off with quite a bit."

She grinned and brushed her hair off her shoulder, "Thanks. I can say the same about you. Purple suits you." Terry read the description for beef carpaccio and decided she wouldn't be stealing off Marius's plate at all tonight. "I'm thinking I'll have the chicken marsala with the angel hair. That sounds good."

"Good choice," Marius nodded. He waved over a waiter and relayed their orders briskly, pointedly ignoring the man's rather obvious assessment of a well-dressed Australian teen wearing rugby gloves on a semi-formal dinner date. Marius wasn't going to waste any effort on the man's opinion of him; the restaurant wasn't that nice. He turned back to Terry and took a sip of water. "So, how was your Saturday night? Lockdown was a bit dull, in my opinion. But then, I suppose borin' is better'n exciting in situations like that."

"I had my guitar so it wasn't too bad. This one was much better than the time we all had to vacate the mansion and stay in hotels for a week. The new girl--Karolina?--she took it pretty hard at first. I don't think anyone ever explained to her the occasional scraps that happen around here." Terry smiled, "I was rather disappointed that I didn't end up in your shelter. I was hoping to talk to you for a while."

"You'd have been a better shelter-mate'n Forge," Marius grinned. "He spent the whole night rewirin' a Gameboy. His mutation's a lot more exciting from the inside than out. End results can be a fair bit of fun, though. Feel bad for the new girl -- but then, my first day out've iso was the same day Lorna an' Forge got carted back from Magneto, so I can't speak from normal. Staff seem to go temporarily mental on an alarmingly regular basis."

"Oh, well, aye, I suppose they do. After awhile you don't really notice anymore though this does mean we have to reset the counter. I don't remember if Kitty was running a pool on this one or not." Terry sipped her sparkling water and thought longingly of the wine Marius had mentioned earlier. "Forge is brilliant, though. You're right that it's not a flashy mutation. Ours are definitely better at that."

Marius snorted. "One of ours is," he conceded, giving her a small nod. "I'd trade up in a shot. The ultrasensitive hearin' plays merry hell with my concentration the first day or so, though. And I thought Kyle's was bad. Takes my ears a bit of time to work up to it, but when it does . . ." he shook his head. "You're a better woman'n me. Which goes without saying. I would look far less sexy in those boots, for starters."

Terry rolled her eyes but smiled, quite pleased by the compliment, "I had to train for years to control mine like this. Yours is cool too. Just needs practice." She tilted her head to the side and rubbed at her ear, "I really can't imagine. My hearing has been like this as long as I remember. I think I'd feel deaf without it." Her smile turned impish, "Sure and it helps with the lock picking, anyway."

Marius took a moment to appreciate the line of her neck, especially the way it was framed by the black lace. It was a very nice shirt. "It'd be a bit of a shock if it disappeared all at the once, I think. Physical adaptation's take longer to run through than straight powers, but it's a bit odd even goin' out over a week or so. Like adding bits of cotton to your ears." He took another bite of ciabatta. "You born with it, or did it just come on early? Mine" he flexed his hands suggestively "came up over a few weeks last year. Seems I'm a bit've a late-bloomer."

"Came on when I was about ten. Early in the grand scheme of things I suppose but it was so long ago that I really don't remember it." She extended her hand to him, palm up. "Can I see your hand? I haven't ever had a chance." A faint blush stained her cheeks, "If you don't mind, of course."

Marius blinked. "Here?" he said, automatically pulling his hands back across the table. He was fine with it at the school, but . . . he glanced around the restaurant. It wasn't particularly busy, and they were seated in a corner. No one was close -- and he could see Terry about to frame an apologetic demure. Marius stomped on his instinctive unease and began to peel back the glove of his outside hand. "Ah, no worries. Just keep it facin' the wall, right? An' if the waiter comes we'll just say you were inspectin' an interesting rash. Good thing for the lack of romantic candlelight," he added, moving his hand to meet hers, "at least the view'll be decent enough."

Her lips quirked, "I'll hear him before he gets here." Terry wrapped her hand around his wrist, spreading his fingers with the other hand. Her arms still had the deep purple bruises from where he'd fed on her just a few days before; they stood out dark and livid against her pale skin. Terry didn't even notice them. With his hand outstretched, she traced her finger along the top of his palm, inspecting the tiny rows of teeth curiously.

He was going to buy Catseye every type of pastrami he could find for forcing him to learn to control the mouths; the muscles didn't so much as twitch at her touch, and right now that was not an easy thing to maintain. He closed his eyes, exhaling slowly. There was a reason Marius never pursued other mutants at the clubs. He had to be careful even with human girls he picked up. He couldn't remember the last time a girl had held his bare hand.

"Bit weird, isn't it?" he murmured.

Her thumb stroked over his wrist, unconsciously reacting to the tension in his voice. "Aye," she replied equally softly, then looked up at him through her lashes, smiling, "So are we all." She leaned a bit closer so she could get a better look. Her breath feathered over his skin. "Isn't it a beautiful thing?"

For just an instant he faltered, and the mouth and the fingers that circled it twitched. He clamped down on his control and stilled the movement before it could become more, forcing his fingers flat and open against hers. He grit his teeth, his eyes fixed on the tablecloth. This does not own me. Never. Never. "Yeah," Marius whispered, "life's a real beauty."

"Aye, that it is." Terry smiled without the slightest bit of irony then tilted her head and quickly turned his hand palm down, linking her fingers with his. A moment later the waiter appeared, none the wiser and apparently quite glad to see that at least one of the gloves had been removed.

It was only through sheer force of will that Marius managed to keep himself from flinching at the waiter's sudden appearance, and even that couldn't stop his hand from tightening around Terry's as the man set down their plates in front of them. He realized a split-second too late that this was bringing her knuckles hard against the teeth, and felt the scrape of skin before he could loosen his grip. She tensed for a moment, but gave no outward indication of pain before the waiter had left them. The moment he did Marius jerked his hand away as if he'd been burned.

Marius curled his hand into a fist, his gaze going from her hand to her face. "Sod -- Terry, I'm sorry--"

She was calmly inspecting the scrapes on the back of her hand and looked up at him with a startled expression as he began to apologise. "Sorry? Whatever for? I really should have warned you that he was coming but I didn't think." The initial pain was already numbing away and she flexed her hand slowly to be sure it was working properly then waved it dismissively. "It's nothing." She wrinkled her nose at his plate. "You're really going to eat that?"

"Yeah, seems I'm in the mood for blood tonight." Marius shoved his hand back into his glove, heedless of the sticky feel of smeared analgesic against his skin. Terry was clearly less bothered by the accident than he was, but that didn't do anything to help the hot, prickly feeling at the back of his neck.

Her expression remained faintly grossed out. "Well, to each his own, I guess." She raised her glass, "Slainte."

The gesture was returned in a manner that was both automatic and mechanical. "Cheers," he replied flatly. Then, "Excuse me. Washroom. Back in a sec."

"All right." Terry bowed her head for a quick blessing and tried to shake the unease of being out with someone not Bobby. She was still angry with him, of course and she was enjoying herself--accidents with mutations notwithstanding--but it just felt wrong. Still, Terry reminded herself, Bobby had started it. Kissing Jay and then having the gall to beg for her to come back to him. Terry stabbed viciously at her vegetables.

It was a one-person restroom, which was fine by him. Marius locked the door behind him and went straight for the sink, stripping off his gloves as he did. Setting them on the side of the basin, he stuck his hand beneath the faucet and rinsed off the secreted analgesic, which had already started turning tacky. After a moment's thought he turned the contaminated glove inside out and wiped the lycra with a wet paper towel.

Clean-up done, Marius rested the heels of his hands against the sink and stared at the drain. At what point, exactly, had he become this oversensitive? Marius snorted. Bugger this. The only one in our flat allowed to be emo is Jay.

He turned his gaze to the mirror to meet his reflection in the eye. "Marius Laverne," he said distinctly, "does not have drama."

Right.

Marius straightened away from the sink and rolled his shoulders, untensing. The hell he was going to prove Dayspring and the others right. He was at a nice restaurant with a pretty girl. The minute he stopped being able to appreciate a situation like this he really was in trouble. Redonning his gloves, Marius brushed his hair out of his eyes, took one final glance at the mirror, and went to rejoin Terry.

She smiled when he came back and it was only a little bit forced, a cooked baby carrot having taken the brunt of her misgivings. Her food was otherwise untouched since she'd waited for him to return before beginning. "I was trying to figure out what we were doing after dinner since you won't tell me. I've decided that you don't have the faintest idea and you're just going to make it up," Terry teased lightly.

Marius grinned, reclaiming his napkin as he slid back into his seat. "'Course I don't. I come off as the calculating sort?" He began to dissect his entree. He wasn't particularly hungry anymore, but he also wasn't one to let food go to waste. "Figured we could go a few ways, depending on the mood. Movie, walk, dessert, coffee" he popped a piece of beef into his mouth, distantly noting it wasn't half-bad, "lady's choice."

Terry grinned and started to cut apart her chicken breast, "Lady's choice. Magic words." Her blue eyes sparkled, "Do you sing, Marius?"

"Sing, dance, even cook a decent game. It's like I'm perfect or something." Marius cocked an eyebrow at her. "So, what does mistress have in mind?"

"I was thinking...mmm," Terry broke off with a blissful expression on her face at the first taste of her chicken. Her eyes fluttered closed as she chew then licked her lips. She sighed contentedly, "Wow, you have to try this." She speared another bite and held it out to him on her fork, "Here."

Marius leaned forward and accepted the chicken with a wolfish grin. "Mm. Very nice. And a masterful way of diverting attention from your evil plans. Unfortunately for you, I am impervious to your feminine wiles. Highly appreciative, but impervious."

She giggled and waved her fork at him, "Not easy to distract you is it? Okay, I want to sing. And I want to see you sing. Find me karaoke and you shall be rewarded most handsomely." She smirked and leaned forward on the table again. "How does that sound?"

"I do like handsome rewards," Marius replied, grinning. "It shall be done." Really, it was astonishing what a girl in a low-cut shirt could do for his mood.

"Smashing." Terry said satisfied, leaning back again and reapplying herself to her food. Terry had never understood the impulse to pretend that girls didn't eat too and so applied herself to her food with plenty of appreciation for it.

"Right, so our nefarious post-dinner plans are settled." Marius dipped a piece of ciabatta in his sauce. It was an interesting combination. "How're things with you otherwise? Heard you an' Bobby had a row."

Terry froze, fork in the air and looked up at him with wide eyes, rather glad that he wasn't a telepath which meant that the litany of curses running through her head remained unheard. "Ah...Aye. I suppose we did. Not about the right thing though, I'd have not been nearly so nice if I'd known what he'd done."

Marius cocked his head. "What, kissin' Jay? . . . ah, whoops." He shouldn't have known that, really -- it was none of his business -- but with Terry's hearing over the past few days not much had been secret, least of all a renewed discussion about biting-appropriateness in the next room over.

"Am I the only one who didn't know?" Terry slammed down her fork, quite sick of this. "Mother of mercy, I thought that I could trust him. So nice to see that I was a complete idiot. What else don't I know that everyone else does, Marius? Who else has my ex-boyfriend been kissing?"

Marius raised his hands. "Sorry, not as if it's common knowledge -- but enhanced hearin' right now, see? Jay an' Kyle are my flatmates. It's hard not to hear. Besides, think it's only been the last little while, while you two are takin' a break. That was the sense I got of it, anyway."

"Taking a break doesn't mean he gets to stick his tongue down other people's throats. Especially not my best friend's!" Her voice rose sharply and several of the nearby diners turned to see the commotion. Her eyes shimmered suspiciously until she pressed at them with the heels of her hands. "Fuck him," Terry whispered, "If he's done with me then I'm done with him."

Privately, Marius had some sympathy for Bobby's position, but no force on earth could have compelled him into pointing this out within Terry's earshot. "It'll go how it goes," he said simply, paying no mind to the stares. Teen drama wasn't his personal forte, but he'd been an outside observer to many. This, at least, was familiar territory. He reached across the table and rubbed her arm, being particularly mindful of the teeth this time. "If you're done, you're done."

More upset even than she was showing, Terry shook her head and pulled her napkin out of her lap, throwing it on the table. "I'm not hungry anymore. Can we go? If I sit here any longer I'm going to start screaming and then there will be property damage."

"Not too hungry myself, honestly. Go ahead if you feel the need, I can cover a bit of light remodelin'." He caught the waiter's attention and instructed him to collect their meals for carry-out, then added a generous tip to the total before slipping the man his credit card. His attitude may have left something to be desired, but Marius had learned the benefits of gratuity. By now it was automatic. The boy rose and helped Terry back into her jacket. "Apologies," Marius said, "normally I'm a bit more've a fun date. Less negative screamin', anyway."

Terry sighed. "It would be more than light remodelling." She followed him to the door and out onto the street. "You've only heard yourself scream. Trust me, it gets much worse." They walked for a few steps then Terry slipped her arm through his and rested her head on his shoulder, "I'm sorry I'm such a lousy date right now."

"You're not quite goin' it alone in that respect. I know I'm not the easiest to get on with. Tact and I have only passing familiarity." Tonight was turning out to be a hell of a test of his control. Marius had a feeling the mouths were not going to be happy come tomorrow morning. Still, she made for a nice fit on his arm -- and there were worse things to be sore from. "Still up for karaoke, or have I effectively killed the mood with talk of your ex?"

Terry was silent for a few moments, thinking about his question. Thinking about Bobby and thinking about how much it hurt that he had run off to someone else first thing. Her jaw tensed and she lifted her chin defiantly. She'd said she was done, hadn't she? "No, let's go have fun. You'll not get out of it that easy, lad. In fact, I demand extra attention to keep me from my woes."

Marius squeezed her arm briefly in his as they walked down the street. "What can I say? I pay my debts. So, what is this fun you envision?" He flashed her a grin. "I am at your command, after all."

Terry tossed her hair back over her shoulders, long and fire red against the cold night and smiled at him with a genuine warmth in spite of her temper. "I think you should surprise me. I told you what I wanted. It's up to you to come up with how to give it to me." From this angle, he had to be looking down her shirt. Good. "That's how you earn the handsome reward, after all."

Well. Marius didn't think he was anything more than usually smutty-minded when it came to interpreting signals from attractive women, but there weren't really many other ways to read this situation. He was slightly surprised. Given the situation with Bobby he hadn't actually anticipated Terry would follow-through on any of her flirting. Surprise on me . . .

"Never let it be said I missed the opportunity to give a woman what she wants," Marius smiled, steering them towards a small park he remembered to be in the area. This was a very bad idea on at least three different levels, but at the moment Marius wasn't feeling particularly inclined to play by his normal rules. He'd had a bad week, and Terry was obviously looking for a little distraction of her own. They were more like guidelines, anyway.

Once away from the streetlights, the shadows drew themselves sharp and black. Terry had moved from being on Marius's arm to tuck herself under it, her own arm wrapped around his waist. She didn't mind that this wasn't a club--this was a better distraction anyway. As they walked through the empty paths, Terry began to sing softly, the melody haunting even though the words were in another language.

They came across a park bench illuminated by a moonlight that snuck through a break in the trees. Terry broke off her song and looked up at Marius. "Where are we going then?"

"Wherever you like," he said, smiling down at her. Her pale skin glowed in the moonlight. "Nice song, that. But that reminds me, you wanted to hear me sing." Marius stepped back to and took her by the hand, spinning her into a gentle pirouette. "Dame, je sui cilz qui vueil endurer, vostre voloir, tant com porray durer . . ." he sang softly. And his friends had mocked him for picking Medieval French Literature as an elective last year.

Terry wasn't immune to the romance of dancing in the moonlight and as she spun back into his arms, pulled herself close and rested her head on his chest, humming a soft harmony to the song. She didn't speak French but just the sound of the words was enough. "Yeh have a lovely voice," she murmured, still humming.

"It's the sexy billingualism. You're not half bad yourself, Beautiful Voice." He moved one hand across the curve of her back, the other stroking her hair. The trembling was . . . unique. Marius tilted his head forward and breathed in the scent of her perfume, light and full of flowers. "Are we doin' this, then?" he murmured into her hair. Just one last time, to be certain this was where she wanted to go.

Terry squeezed her eyes shut, hating that he'd asked. Her expression was soft when she looked up at him, "Please don't ask me that. You'll just make me feel guilty and there's no reason I should. I've every right to be here with you." Her hand drifted up from his shoulder to his face. "Unless you don't want to?"

Marius laughed softly. "I seem to be havin' trouble with want? Just making sure I wasn't gettin' my signals crossed before I did something earned me a smack." He took her hand from his face and brushed his lips against her knuckles. "I am a gentleman, after all." And there was still a part of him that was insisting this was not a good idea. Marius ignored it, and leaned in to kiss her.

She closed her eyes before his lips touched hers but there was no hesitation as she kissed him back, her hand still held in his. She was shivering though it had nothing to do with the temperature. She broke the kiss first, drawing back barely a breath away. "I'll be sure to tell yeh when yeh're too far. Yeh've a ways to go yet."

"Fair enough. Who'm I to argue with the woman who can liquefy my eardrums?" With a broad grin Marius pulled Terry down onto the nearby bench, one hand traveling to her hair. "Try this again, shall we?" he breathed.

Terry caught her lower lip between her teeth and nodded. His hand in his hair was almost too familiar a gesture. "Aye, that would be lovely." She draped her arms around his neck and leaned in for another kiss.

There was something very strange about making out with another mutant. It wasn't just the humming, though Marius was prepared to admit that made for a unique and incredibly enjoyable kiss. It was the -- presence of her. That sixth sense that allowed him to perceive other mutants was creating an odd undercurrent to the experience that he wasn't altogether sure he liked. He was getting keyed up, and not in the sense he normally associated with fooling around. Marius pushed away his unease and kissed her harder, slipping his tongue into her mouth as his hand slid down to the curve of her neck, one thumb circling the base of her jaw.

She moaned, pressing closer to him, unaware of his disquiet and trying very hard not to compare the way he kissed to Bobby. Her hands slid into his hair, gripping it gently. She wanted to enjoy this--to feel better about being betrayed. It wasn't working.

Marius tensed a little as her fingers brushed against one of his healing lacerations, but he didn't pull away. It wasn't as if he hadn't been with girls while injured before, after all. The painful stimuli wasn't helping his odd reactions, though. He started to bite Terry's lip and narrowly avoided exerting painful force -- not something he usually had a problem with. Now more than a little unsettled, Marius decided it might be worth abandoning her mouth for a while in favor of her ear and nuzzled her cheek.

Terry gasped and whimpered, shuddering slightly and moving closer, nearly in his lap by this point. "You don't..." she paused to catch a breath. "You don't have to worry about hurting me."

His hands tightened on her shoulder and back. "I don't do that," Marius whispered, and wondered which of them he was trying to convince. Terry's reaction was not helping his own. The trembling in particular seemed to be setting things off. He took a deep breath and nibbled at her ear, fiercely restraining the urge to bite.

No...of course not. But Bobby would have. Terry pushed back from him abruptly and sat shaking on the bench, arms clutched around her waist. "I'm sorry. I...I can't. It's just...I can't stop thinking about Bobby and...God, I miss him." She bent and struggled to keep her breath steady.

Her sudden retreat brought at once incredible relief and, alarmingly, an unexpected surge of anger. Marius realized his hands were twitching and slammed them down against his thighs. "Don't -- no worries. For true. It was too soon." He shook his head, trying to push away the unreasoning sense of thwarted frustration that she had . . . escaped. What's wrong with me?

"I'm sorry," she said again, like she hadn't heard him, sitting up. Her eye make-up smeared as she incautiously brushed away gathering tears. "I'm just a mess. Everything is all screwed up. Ever since the pregnancy test, nothing has gone right." Sniffling, she looked over at him.

"Not your fault." Marius gripped his legs with his hands and willed the twitching to stop. The anger was mercifully subsiding, and some of what she said filtered through. He blinked up at her through curling hair. "Pregnancy scare? That what happened?"

She nodded, miserable, starting to shiver in the cold night. "I missed a couple days on my pills and so I took a pregnancy test and it came out positive and Jay told Bobby and he asked me to marry him and I said no and then Jean gave me another test and I was...wasn't really pregnant...and it was all just so confusing and so I asked Bobby for some time. Just so I could figure things out and he said that he couldn't just wait and we fought and he kissed Jay and then asked me to...I don't know, unbreak up with him and I couldn't so we fought again and then Kyle told me about Jay and..." She stopped teeth chattering too much to go on.

Despite his unease, Marius felt a distant pang of smugness. If that sequence of events was correct, it sounded like Jay had been the second person Bobby had gone to on the rebound. However, this did not seem like the appropriate time to mention this to Bobby's ex-girlfriend.

"That's a rough lot," Marius said, and cautiously risked a hand on her back. There were still microscopic spasms happening in his palm, but Terry was wearing a jacket, and anyway, she seemed like she needed it. "Sorry tonight didn't contribute much to relaxation."

Terry sighed and hunched in on herself. "I shouldn't have gone out with you tonight. I mean, thank you for dinner. I just think it would have been better if I'd said no." She smiled at him, "Not that you aren't a great guy."

Marius shook his head. "Ah, should've known better'n to ask. You just bein' broken up an' that. Had myself a right shit week, is all. Thought maybe dinner with a pretty girl would be a nice change of luck. Seems dinner was a bit doomed from start, though." He returned the smile. "Not that you aren't a great girl."

She laughed in spite of herself and the situation. "Maybe we should just decide to stay friends. Keep all the rest of it out of the way." She shivered violently once and chafed her hands on her arms. "Can we go? I'm freezing."

"Good idea," Marius agreed. "The fewer the complications in life the better, so far as I'm concerned." Which was why he had privately decided that he was never, ever dating another mutant. All tonight had done was reinforce preexisting apprehension, then add several new and even more unsettling issues. Attractive as his classmates were, it wasn't worth this. Sex was supposed to be fun.

Still, that was no reason not to stop being friendly. Marius positioned himself next to Terry as she stood and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling the lining of his coat around her as he did to include her in the extra layer. He grinned at her. "Maybe dinner was a wash, but I think I can just about handle bein' a warm body."

Terry smiled gratefully at him and leaned against his chest, still shivering. "Thanks. In all honesty, I think I need a friend right now more than anything. I don't know what I'm going to do, Marius. If Bobby's given up on us…I just don't know what to do." She shook her head and hugged him hard then turned their steps toward home.