Backdated Log: Marie, Kurt, Haller and Logan at Harry's

[x-traction.livejournal.com]

Backdated to Parent’s Day.   Marie's invite to Harry’s is answered by Kurt, Haller and Logan and the four go to grab a drink.

Marie was glad that at least a couple of people had taken her up on her suggestion of Harry’s, as she felt like she was going to suffocate if she stayed at the mansion much longer.  It was hard seeing all the happy families, especially the hugs and kisses exchanged between parents and children.  Add that to the fact that she hadn’t really left the mansion since taking Laurie to her final exams, and even she realized how sorely needed a night of fun was.  Haller, Kurt and Logan had been the first to reply to her message and they had all decided to meet and walk over together.

Kurt had also been unobtrusively staying out of the parents' way, as far as he could - partly because he wasn't sure how some of them would react to someone <i>quite</i> as obviously different as he was, partly just because his own family were thousands of miles away, and he suddenly missed them very sharply.  Marie's suggestion couldn't have come at a better time, and it was with some relief that he hurried out of the mansion towards her.

Jim laughed softly to himself as he emerged from the mansion to see the rest of the group. <I>These are the people who walk out of Parents' Day wanting a drink. I wonder what that says about them. I already know what it says about us.</I>

"Is this all of us?" Jim asked as he made his way down the front lawn. He gave Marie a brief smile.

"Not quite." Logan said, appearing from the mansion with something of a relieved look. Parents weren't exactly his thing - too many uncomfortable questions he couldn't answer. "Got a powerful thirst." he said with a grin.

“Do y’ ever not?” Marie teased Logan, finally beginning to relax a little.  Smiling at the group, she turned and began the walk to Harry’s.

Kurt was the first after her, suddenly realizing that they hadn't really had much of a chance to catch up since her return and taking the occasion for a quick chat on the way.  "How have you been settling back in, Marie?"

“As well as anyone ever does here,” she said with a wry smile. “Although things seem t’ have calmed a bit since Ah first got here.”  Looking over at the blue furred man next to her, she continued, “Ah’m sorry Ah haven’t had a chance to come by and catch up…you’ll have to fill me in on what’s new with you.” Smiling as Harry’s came into view, Marie hastened her step a little.

"Catching up can be problematic, though," Jim remarked as they approached the pub. "I mean, take a month off and you miss three kidnappings, a serial-mutilator and an FOH headquarters invasion. Never mind leaving for years. I've been back since January and I'm still ploughing through the archives. I know I wasn't a student for very long, but at some point this place got entirely too exciting."

Logan just listened as they walked to the bar. Exciting or not, he had his own reasons for sticking around. "Least you won't get bored." He offered up finally to Haller.

Jim smiled. "It's true. Of all my possible complaints, I'm pretty sure boredom will never be one of them

Marie just shook her head.  “Sometimes Ah feel like everyone who comes to the mansion gets that old curse put on them…how’s it go again? ‘May your life be interesting.’  Doesn’t get more interesting than life at Xavier’s.”  Pushing open the door to Harry’s, she walked in and signaled the barkeep to set the group up with a round.

"Many of us are here <i>because</i> our lives became interesting", Kurt observed casually, settling into the usual booth.

Logan snorted in a friendly way at that, and settled himself into the booth. "Well, I gotta admit you came onto the scene with a bang, elf." he grinned. "I hear the Secret Service still has nightmares."

The counselor quirked an eyebrow as he slid in next to Marie. "Um, did anyone here <I>not</I> have an entirely too exciting introduction to Charles?" Jim asked, not really joking. "I mean, I wasn't really all there at the time, but we technically got introduced after I almost burned down a psychiatric hospital. It was kind of an urgent problem."

Logan grinned. "Not me. I had a violent encounter with a log." he snickered. "Knocked me for a nice little loop." He then grinned at Marie. "Trashed my camper."

“Ah told you to put on your seatbelt,” she teased playfully.  “An’ Ah was just a simple runaway when Ah came to the mansion…’course it was all of a week before Ah was kidnapped and dragged off…” Marie was semi-relieved to be cut off by a round of beers being placed on the table.

"Don't start." he growled, and grabbed a beer to wet his throat with. "Only thing I miss is my bike. Scott misses it too." he smirked. He then looked over to Haller. "So what _was_ your deal, anyway?" he asked curiously. "Besides big hair?"

Jim was glad he hadn't actually taken a drink yet, because he narrowly avoided choking as it was. <I>Okay, so we need a haircut, but did Logan seriously just take a shot at my hair? Really? </I>Logan? Carefully smoothing out his expression, the telepath smiled. "Complete withdrawal from reality complicated by maladapted psionics. Bad manifestation experience. I spent a couple years locked in my own little world before the professor came and got me out again. Most of the damage has been dealt with. It's been years since I saw the inside of a mental institution in anything but a professional capacity."

Kurt glanced between them, amused, though not by Haller's latter words.  "And now you practice as a counsellor.  That must be hard, sometimes."

"Sometimes," Jim nodded, "but when you spend most of your life in a continuous state of breakdown and recovery you find yourself pretty well-equipped to deal with other people's. Practice and all. It's kind of like a personal hobby that became a vocation. After all the help I got I'm glad to be able to pay a little of it back."

Marie took a sip of her beer, considering how similar Haller’s reasoning was to her own.  Giving back was why she was going to study psychology, why she was back on the team and even why she had agreed to be an R.A. at the school. She wondered how many people were at the school for the same reason.   Setting her glass down, she surveyed her companions. “Ah guess we all have our reasons for doing what we do.”

Jim nodded again, taking a drink of his own. "So you two came here together?" he asked, indicating Marie and Logan with his free hand. "Around the time of the Liberty Island thing, right?"

"Just before." Logan confirmed, draining his beer in a series of easy swallows. Without bothering to ask he dug a cigar out of his shirt pocket and then fished for his lighter.

<I>Way to tell a story.</I> Turning to face Haller, Marie explained further. “Logan picked me up on the road and then we got attacked. Scott and ‘Ro kinda rescued us and brought us to the mansion. Then…well, Ah’m guessing you’ve at least read what’s in the database about that whole debacle.”

"Not _quite_." he said, correcting Marie's fabrication. "Seems Mississippi here stowed in the back of my trailer." he said with a grin. "Damned near froze to death."

“Yeah yeah yeah, details details.  Ah seem to remember being in the front seat eventually,” she said, returning his grin.

"I'm just a big softie, what can I say?" he said with a smirk. "Still owe me some jerky, woman." he mock-roared at her. Unconsciously, he ran three fingers over his other hand right where his claws extended from.

Kurt was watching them both in quiet amusement, over his drink.  "It all turned out relatively well, as I understand it", he ventured.

Logan laughed at Kurt. "Guess so." he said, deliberately not looking at Em's white-haired streak. "Gotta say, Elf, you took one helluva swing at the President." he grinned. "Hear the Secret Service uses your picture for target practice."

"But that's not really exceptional here, from the way I hear it," Jim said with a grin of his own. He took a drink and waved off his other thought. <I>They sound like they're married. But they would after knowing each other for years, I guess.</I>
 
Kurt smiled slightly at the reference, fighting down any urge to flinch at the reminder.  "Yes, I expect they do.  I am just lucky the President was so understanding."

Marie winced at the speed with which Logan had changed the topic from them to Kurt.  Wondering if he still blamed himself, she quickly took a gulp of the fresh beer that had been set in front of her. “We were all lucky,” she said quietly while memories of the raid at the school arose.

Jim smiled at her. "Luck. Kismet. Something like that, maybe."

"Luck, hell. Skill." Logan said, rebutting Marie's point after another hefty swallow. "C'mon, elf. It ain't a German brew but it's not that bad." he said to the taciturn-seeming German acrobat. "Trink!"(1)

Kurt shot him a real-looking grin in acknowledgment of the point, raising his beer to drink.  "Some of both, perhaps.  And faith."

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(1) "Drink!" in command-form German.