Log: Remy/Sofia

[x-gambit.livejournal.com]

Remy and Sofia have what could technically be called their first session. It doesn't go all that well.



Remy was outside of his office, an unusual occurrence on the days he
was in the Centre. The younger staff had basically colonized the open
concept main area, only the regular threats keeping the paperclip wars
at bay. Remy normally only appeared there to demand information or
throw stacks of files at one of the people. Wanda had stickered over
the 'IN' on the box on her desk and replaced it with 'REMY'S CRAP'.

However, the room was empty and quiet. Most of the staff had gone off
to help the X-Men with the sudden disaster in San Deigo, leaving Remy
mostly alone in the office, as he sipped his coffee and contemplated
the view out the window.

Sofia expected it to be dark today; cloudy with a chance of
thundershowers. Overcast even. Instead she found herself with
neither, the weather had turned a romantic, and gold light filtered in
through the window, giving everything a warm hue.

Leaning against the doorframe, she watched the red in Remy's hair cast
him in a halo; he knew she was there. She'd figured out early that he
always knew when she was there, when she was just around the corner,
when she'd fallen asleep in Doug's chair because she couldn't figure
out how to start up her own system. But for the moment, he was
letting her watch, whether because the coffee was that good or this
was all she was going to get out him, a mystery, and she valued it
either way.

Maybe it was a contest of sorts. Remy never entirely knew. His
dedicated avoidance of the doctor was something that everyone was very
aware of, but at this time, it didn't seem as important. He still
hadn't heard from Lorna, he didn't know what was waiting for his
people in San Diego, and more importantly, there wasn't a damn thing
that he could do to help.

With a small sigh, Remy turned from the window and walked back to the
coffee pot in the office, refilling it slowly before pointing it at
Sofia. "You want one?"

"Yes," Sofia said quietly, pushing herself off the frame and crossing
the room. "Please." Her shoes on the old, wooden flooring
interrupted the unspoken peace of the room, and she made the extra
effort to step toe first instead of heel. Reaching Remy's side she
picked up the creamer, going through the motions of offering and
pouring some into her own.

"Thank you." With coffee in hand she toasted him, giving them the two
of them distance, in some sort of fear that he might run away if she
stayed close too long.

Remy nodded, taking his mug and resuming his perch at the window. It
was like a silent standoff, each waiting for the other to say
something, anything that wasn't merely a coffee break pleasantry.
Still, at least it wasn't the active avoidance.

Giving it a moment, Sofia settled herself on one of the empty desks,
rearranging the skirt she'd decided to wear today around her knees as
she tried to steady her feet on the rolling chair. "I'd say 'draw'
but I'm not wearing my revolver today," she said absently, still
staring down at her hem, mug held away from her.

"Automatics." Remy took a sip from his mug, not bothering to turn
around from the window while he spoke. "De FBI uses a Glock 22
automatic pistol, chambered in .40 caliber. Ten round box mag, or
extended for fifteen. You wouldn't have gotten the extended clips."

Her mug slipped a little as Sofia's wrist went slack, before she
caught herself and brought it to her lips instead; she probably needed
something stronger right about now. "Unless you ask really, really
nicely," she remarked casually, letting the steam from the coffee
wiggle into her skin. "You've been snooping around."

"Of course. I'm a spy and a natural paranoid. You honestly think dat
I'd let you have access to dis place without getting de full details?"
Although, the reality was that Emma had briefed Wisdom first, who'd
passed along the details to Remy and Betsy. His own investigations had
mostly confirmed things, and doublechecked whether or not she was
either corrupt or incompetent.

"I was pretending so, yes," she answered honestly. "Thought it might
be part of the reason why you were so irritated in my direction."
Hoped, was more like it. Sofia had planned to keep up the guise of a
shrink by practice for at least another month or two, and then as long
as she could. Then again, Remy knew and she didn't seem to be kicked
out or dead. It gave her something to ponder this evening.

"I worked for de government for nineteen years. Dere's nothing dat dey
do dat can scare me any more." Remy shrugged. "I'm not even irritated
at you. I don't really know you, and dat's de whole point."

He might not be looking at her, but Sofia was definitely looking at
him; it was an interesting curve in his spine, the way he sat. "But
that can't be entirely true," Sofia pointed out calmly, pausing her
study to watch a pigeon fly by. "A lack of trust is being scared that
the person will not follow a known pattern, isn't it?"

"No, a lack of trust is dat I don't know you enough to know any
pattern. Frankly, I don't see a need to change dat, Doctor." Remy
looked over his shoulder. "You're a part of the office, in de same way
as de fax machine and de water cooler. You're not connected to anyone
here. We have no need to trust you, because at de end of de day,
you're currently only a tool here for a specific purpose. Passed dat
purpose, you don't apply."

"It's Sofia," she said quietly. If there was any hurt behind her
eyes, or a clenching of her hand around the handle of her mug, it went
unnoticed as she stood up, her hair moving in as a curtain. "You
already know I don't have a doctorate."

"From nine to five, it's de Doctor. Or shrink, if you prefer. Past
dat, it doesn't matter. And dat's de point, femme." Remy finally
turned, putting the mug down on the nearest desk. "What goes on in my
head is private. I only let people I trust inside, and you haven't
done anything yet to earn dat. Everyone here has come on for a job dat
is shitty, and dangerous, and dark. Dey know dat dey going to suffer
doing it, and dey come in anyway because dey believe it's de right
thing to do. Dat means a lot to Remy."

"You, on de other hand, were hired. You get a quiet office and de
supposed right to arbitrate over dose other people. You've been very
clear on what you expect dem to do and de consequences of not doing
it." He got up awkwardly, getting the cane under him. "If you want dem
to trust you, den you need to be a part of dis. I can't imagine dat
Frost choose you just because you were de most convienent mutant wit'
a psychology degree around. Wit you training and you background, you
could be vital to us, if you wanted to be. But unless you willing to
do dat, dey got no reason to trust you, and neither do I."

Sofia rinsed as Remy spoke, adding a touch of extra soap around the
rim for the anal part in her; she watched the last of the bubbles
swirl down the drain as she set the mug into the drying tray. "Try
not to finish all your prescription tonight, Remy." Her voice was
soft, gentle even, and stayed after her in a whirl of rustling papers
and chairs pushed under their desks, as she left the room.

Comments

[xp_daytripper]

I like this log. A whole lot.

Of course, the brat in my head is fleeing at the thought of a cop being a shrink too, but we all have our little quirks. *grins*

[x-forge.livejournal.com]

Well, any professional help is a marked improvement over the ineffective self-medicating a lot of folks do. And with all the issues the folks at SV have, they could open their own magazine store.

[x-gambit.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, because the rest of the game is so much more stable.

[x-forge.livejournal.com]

And most people with some sort of psychological problems get them looked at so they're at least stable enough to not crack and/or endanger their teammates. Which fails a good deal of the time.

One would think that for the Snow Valley crew's sort of operations, and given the giant pile of emotional baggage in the hallways there, they'd be welcoming someone trained in making sure they're not developing behavior patterns consistent with unstable field behavior.

[x-sanfuaiyaa.livejournal.com]

But insane people don't know they're insane, which is what makes them insane. So.

[xp_daytripper]

And if there had been the chance to see it that way, most of them would have (Pete already does see it as that, actually). But the repeated threats of job loss if they didn't go into therapy with her didn't exactly endear her to the place. Evaluations, yes - the X-Men do those. But compulsory therapy without a choice of therapist? Not so much with the helpful.

Or at least, that's how I see it. IMO, psychological evaluation for the purposes of work and therapy are two different things. One you can insist on with threat of termination of employment, the other tends to be counter-productive if you do.

[x-gambit.livejournal.com]

Don't mistake Remy's opinion for the opinion of the SV people as a whole. Even Remy understands the need for a shrink on staff. He's just having issues with Sofia herself right now.

[x-viento.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid to ask. What did you like exactly?

[xp_daytripper]

It was very downplayed, very subtle. Lots of nice little atmospheric touches which actually said more than the participants themselves. *grins* I like the subtle, even if I don't always use it myself.

[x-viento.livejournal.com]

Ohwhew. I admit it, I'm still paranoid about people fist pumping over Sofia getting 'bitchslapped' as it were.

But yeah, a lot of subtle, a lot of things not said, at least on Sofia's part; am trying not to speak on Remy's behalf, whee. And whee for playing in the prose!

[xp_daytripper]

Oh, definitely not encouraging bitchslapping. And really, that whole scene could potentially be more productive than all the bitchslapping in the world. There are, at least, perspectives out there now.

So yeah, you two both rock. :)