xp_logs | LOG: Haunted House

x-wolverine.livejournal.com posting in

This one didn't get posted with the rest of the Haunted House logs because I am an idiot.

Logan, recovering outside with the rest of the victims of the mutant inside the FOH building, has a conversation with Ororo that does _not_ end well. Logan's still rattled by his experiences inside the Void and not quite firing on all cylinders, even for him. Ororo pays a price for it, but a lighter one than Nate paid.

Ororo made one last search of the void, finding no one. That does not mean they are all out... but I do not know how much longer it is safe to stay here. Once again following the running water, she emerged from the darkness into the waiting crowd of people, who quickly escorted her outside. There was talk of instability in the building, and they were evacuating everyone they could find.

After checking on Nate and assuring him that she was fine, Ororo made her way over to the small, tented-off area where the more serious injuries lay. She saw Logan on a low cot off to one side and quickly knelt down beside him, glad to see that he was looking better than when she had seen him last.

Logan had returned to the Land of the More-or-Less Conscious, but he clearly wasn't having a good time of it. His gaze tended to be a little - off-kilter, and he'd developed a nasty little tic in the muscles in his forearms. "Hey." he said, trying to focus his attentions on Ororo rather then do something really dumb like pass back out or something.

"Logan. You're awake. That's good." She let out a sigh, glancing over her shoulder at the building before looking back at him. "How do you feel?"

"Don't ask." he said, blinking too rapidly. "Silver." he said, reaching up clumsily to pat Ororo's hair. He frowned, as if chasing something important that didn't want to be caught.

Holding still, Ororo reached up to put a hand over his. "Things will be fine now. Most of the people have been evacuated." She touched his hand, smiling warmly at him.

Logan lost the war for control briefly, and six gleaming adamantium blades came sliding out from their housings in his forearm, ripping holes in his flesh on their way to freedom. They only stayed out for about thirty seconds before he retracted them back into his body. "You check in with base yet?" he asked Ororo, focusing on her role as team lead, not on her as a woman. For some reason, that latter designation was stirring up some major shit in his head, and the last thing he wanted to do was add to the screaming headache he already had.

Maybe she shouldn't touch him... not his hand, at least. "Yes," she said, nodding and withdrawing her hand. "A good majority of the building has been accounted for, and the team is all fine. Lorna is stabilizing the building now. Do not worry about the mission, it is all going well enough." Except for the angry protestors, the ones who seemed to be growing more vocal by the minute.

"We need to get the hell out. Now." he said, making no effort whatsoever to stand up. "They're coming for us."

"What? No, Logan, things are safe. You are safe." These must be the hallucinations Nathan was talking about. Ororo shook her head, shifting a little closer to the cot. "Listen to me. You are fine, here. Just rest."

Logan sniffed the air and shook his head. "It's ugly out there. Real ugly." he said, but still didn't make any attempt to get up. "Reminds me ..." he started to say, then let it go with a snarl. "Never mind. We done?"

"Logan..." Ororo started to say more, but decided that whatever was going through his mind, it wasn't anything logically connected to what she was saying. "Stay here. Rest. We will take you back to the Mansion soon." Almost automatically she reached out to put a hand on his forearm, a reassuring touch before she got up to go.

Logan nodded brusquely. "Call Chuck. Let him know ... I got a problem. It's bad, 'Ro. It's real bad." he said, almost sounding broken by the admission. "What that place did ... "

"Is not permanent," she finished for him. "You will be fine. But you must be patient. Do you need anything?"

"Could use a cigar. I'm out." he said, patting down his uniform looking for the absent tobacco. "Maybe a light to go with it."

"I... don't think we brought any with us," Ororo said, looking amused despite herself. She slid her hand down his arm, patting his hand. 'I am sorry. That will have to wait as well."

Logan looked up at Ororo and grinned at her. A weak grin, true, but a true grin. "What kind of a field leader are you when you forget the important things?" he teased.

"Apparently not a very good one. I am sorry. I will put it in my report: 'Noted lack of cigars. Remedy for future missions.," Ororo quipped.

Logan smiled, but it was a weak one and one that took a lot of work. "Good. It's important." he noted, then let his eyes drift closed. Not because he was tired, but because it cut his sensory input by roughly a fifth, give or take. Less input was _good_ right now, even if the input had gone back to making total sense once he was out of that whatever-it-was.

Unfortunately, Ororo didn't know that. "I will go now, and leave you to rest," she said, rocking back on her heels. Reaching out one last time, she put a hand on his arm, giving it a squeeze.

Logan growled and flailed at the touch - it had corresponded to one of the fragments oozing through his brain like toxic sludge. He kept the claws in and flailed at the grasping object - he wasn't sure if it was a woman's hand or a surgical clamp.

Ororo released her hand as soon as she could, but it wasn't soon enough. One metal-laced forearm sliced up and across her face, knocking her back onto the ground. She felt her teeth rattle and squeezed her eyes shut at the sudden sting across her cheek.

Logan opened his eyes again to see Ororo sprawled out on the ground in front of him. "You OK?" he asked, getting to his feet to offer her a hand back up - coincidentally, the same one that had flailed at her.

It was silly, unreasonable even, but Ororo couldn't help it. She cringed back, shying away from the offered hand and pushing herself up. "I'm fine," she replied, feeling the ache spread to her jaw. "You should lie down. Rest."

Logan let his hand drop and then nodded. "Right." he said, turning back to head further into the recovery center, away from Ororo and as far away from anyone else as he could possibly get and still remain in the area.

Turning as well, Ororo went to find Scott, knowing that she shouldn't have dallied so long anyway. And I will think about that later.