xp_logs | Remy and Marie-Ange, backdated to last Wed.

Backdated because I suck and forget - last Wed, Remy and Marie-Ange meet to discuss a job offer he's made, and why she's taking her time about it. Set in an anonymous sports bar which is entirely too similar to every other sports bar I've ever been in. 800 televisions and food portions twice as big as everywhere else.

It hadn't taken much to get the bartender to change one of the TV's off the ESPN channel covering more unending American football, and onto one that (still) doing post-coverage on the World Cup. Just a smile and a very politely worded request. That her shirt was low-cut didn't hurt a bit. At least, she thought so. The polite request might have done it anyway, even without the shirt.

There wasn't anything much on at the moment, just coverage of France losing to Italy, but it was something to half listen to while she waited for Remy, and picked at an entirely oversized plate of pasta, leaving a little pile of unwanted diced tomatoes on the side of the plate.

LeBeau limped through the door, making a threatening look at the crowd of fans that were ready to blow their whistles in his face. Sports was slowly inspiring him to violence.

It didn't take long to pick Marie-Ange out of the crowd. For one thing, she was one of the only ones not wearing some kind of team colour. He collected a drink from the bar and made his way over to the table. They'd talked briefly following their mission to Germany, so her e-mail asking if he had time to meet for lunch didn't come as much of a surprise.

"Afternoon, chere. See dat Remy missed dat lunch special."

"You can have mine..." Marie-Ange retorted, still poking around the plate at the limp bits of red pepper and spirals of pasta. "I think I am going to find whatever restaurant Nathan uses and borrow it the next time I need to meet someone for lunch. Everywhere else runs the risk of running into people I would much rather... not." Like Doug.

"I don't think dat you can afford it on your loans." Remy eased himself into a the chair across from her, putting his drink down carefully in front of him. "Besides, dis place has character." Remy neglected to mention that the ghettos of Shanghai also had character.

"Yes, speaking of student loans.." Marie-Ange started. "Even with my trust fund, I am going to end up several tens of thousands of dollars in debt." She stabbed at a piece of pasta, spearing it on her fork as if it was the personal embodiment of her potential future college tuition. "Or I am going to spend exactly nothing at all, for the next five years."

"Dat's what de whole student experience is supposed to be, neh? Remy seen dose movies. You move into de dorms, you roommate dies while having sex with some teacher, de rest of de time ends up in a wacky attempt to hide de body from de Dean while getting de man of you dreams." LeBeau grinned over the edge of his drink.

Marie-Ange raised an eyebrow and shook her head. "You watch far too much television, Remy. I have too much homework, and the remains of my relationship are hiding in a server room in New York City." She smirked at him, and rolled her eyes. "Besides, if I wanted to hide bodies, I would have to work for you, no?"

"Well, we did have dat conversation after Germany." Remy said, mentioning the short talk they had in the bar once they'd returned from the mission. "You've got a level head, de X-Men training you went through is a definite asset, and your powers give you a major advantage in de field."

"I cannot say it is not tempting. I just... " Marie-Ange waved her free hand vaguely. "I think I would be happier. Or perhaps not happier but more comfortable? But... " She set her fork down firmly and looked over the table at Remy. "It is one thing to think that I would be happier looking forward and trying to improve the world, or stop problems before they start. It is another to reconcile myself with the fact that stopping some of those problems requires a bit more than taking down a factory in Germany and hitting some guards in the mouth."

"Dat's true. Remy won't lie to you, chere. Dis kind of world sinks hooks into you. Once you've been in it, you never fully can get clear of it." Remy was totally serious, without the edge of amusement that normally coloured his tone. "It's ugly. No matter how many bastards you take down, dere always seems to be two more waiting to spring up. And de worst case scenario is dat one day, you either die anonymously in some shithole country or end up spending thirty years in an Ubzerkistan prison."

"Dis is not de kind of life dat you get de happy ending on either. You've seen Wisdom and I, hell, even Betts. All of us carrying around scars inside and out from dis stuff. I can't imagine dat anyone whould actually want dis life." Remy sighed and took a sip. "All dat I can tell you is dat de job is important. Like Germany, what we risk saves lives. It stops people from being able to fuck with however dey want because dey got enough power or money to make demselves untouchable to de rest of de world, or destroy anyone dat moves openly against dem. Dat's what we do."

"I am not sure that I can imagine seeing anything worse than I already have." Marie-Ange explained. "Not what I have seen, wearing the leathers, but in the future. What could be, what could have been. Some of it cannot happen now, but some..." She absently patted the cards in her pocket, just to make sure they were there, and continued. "I am not using that, right now, very much. There are bits and pieces, here and there. And so I am not sure what I want to do."

"I don't think seeing de future is de way to make dat decision, chere. It's all 'bout what you think you ready to do now." Remy said. "I just want you to be aware of what you getting into if you say yes to dis. No uniforms to protect you, no big jet, no headmaster cosy wit' de President if things go bad. Just a lot of boring work punctuated with moments of utter terror."

"Then why?" Marie-Ange asked. "I know why I am considering it, but, tell me why I should. Because I hear you telling me why I should not, and why it is awful and terrible, but then, you let Amanda, and Wanda, and even Doug, and I think we both know that Douglas is not always the bravest person, no?" She cupped her chin in her hands. "So, tell me why I should, instead of telling me why I should not. If I want to know why I should not, I can just ask my cards to predict my messy death."

"You already know de answer to dat; because it needs to be done. Dere are people in dis world dat do de most horrible things imaginable wit' total impunity. Wisdom and I are examples of de tools dat dey have." Remy shook his head. "People dat are above the law or own it. If we do things properly, den we can drag a few of dem into de light. Dat's worth it to me."

"You were supposed to offer me a stupid amount of money, so that I could pay off my student loan, and so I could ignore the harsh reality of this job in favor of a plush bank account." Marie-Ange joked. "That is how those movies go, yes? Or is that the movies with the mafia? I get them mixed up."

"If it was about the money, you wouldn't be worth any amount." Remy said, draining the last of his drink. "Frost has a system set up, so you wouldn't have to worry about tuition costs, and this is a paid job. However, despite what James Bond movies say, the pay isn't all that lucrative."

"Yes, but then I tell you that my morals are not for sale, and then we banter back and forth and I throw a drink in your face." Marie-Ange pointed at her glass of ice water. "Tell me about the job. I know what Doug does, with his computers. I know what we did in Germany. Is it always going to be like that?" She asked. "I watched those James Bond movies. Doug loves them. How is it different?"

"Ninty percent of what we do is boring. Research, talking to people, trying to put together little bits and pieces and figure out what de bigger picture is. If we did everything right, it's very dull and safe." Remy grinned. "But sometimes it means things like we did in Germany. Sneaking in, finding out what we need, and if de situation calls for it, stopping what's happening."

"I won't lie to you. Pete, myself, even Betts; we've all killed at de behest of one government or another. I know de Professor likes to push de public line dat de X-Men don't, but someone like Magneto? We get a shot at him, we take him all de way out. And Magneto and Strucker aren't isolated incidents. You might have to take a life to save your own in de field."

"That is the part that I am not comfortable with." Marie-Ange said. "Not that I think you expected any differently. I stabbed Skippy. I put a sword into a guard in Asgard. But Skippy was not real, and I do not think I killed the guard. I just got his leg. I do not know if I could do that. I do not know if I would be okay after, even if I could do it."

"You shouldn't ever be comfortable wit' it. De only ones dat are we call sociopaths. What you need to be aware is dat it's a possibility and be prepared for it if it happens." Remy sighed. "I understand dat dis is a lot to put on you, chere. You barely an adult, and I'm offering you a job that means breaking laws, risking you life and forcing you to make life or death decisions. De smart move is to walk away from it. At least as an X-Men, dat uniform and de Professor offers you some protection. Only if you believe dis is as vital and you can handle being a part of dat world, should you say yes."

Marie-Ange sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "I don't know. I thought I was doing the right thing, with the X-men. I know they do the right thing. But there is so much more, that they cannot do, or will not do. Or even should not do, I do not know." She gripped her glass of water tightly and set it down very firmly. "I hate not knowing."

"You know, dat up until a year and a half ago, Remy thought dat he was a normal teenager. In dat time, I've had de memories of a man dat killed for fun stuffed into my head. I've got twenty years of history I didn't know about shoved in me." Remy shook his head. "Dere isn't a way to know. It's like faith; either you believe or you don't."

Marie-Ange smirked. "And here I am the Catholic, getting told about faith by you. That is irony. Did I mention how much I hate not knowing? That is the worst part about the X-men, is that it is so often reacting to things we did not know about until they started."

"De X-Men are reactive by de nature of what dey are trying to do. We're not. But knowing everything isn't a possibility either. We do our best to divine threats and dangers from de information dat we gather. When we find something, we can move on it because we're outside of de framework of law and process." Remy carefully laid out the operational plan that Wisdom, Betsy and he had come up with. "De X-Men are trying to stay within dat framework, so like de police, dey need intent, proof and reason before dey can move."

"Prevention, rather than reaction, in most cases." Marie-Ange said. "And I know that they overlap. The X-men do prevent, and you often have to react, but the philosophy is different." She shut her eyes, trying to clear her head. "I have to embrace prevention, just by what I do. I have to embrace indirect prevention, most of the time. Telling the president that Magneto was going to destroy a large city would not have stopped it even if I had seen it. Just changed how it was started. But, I think I need to think about this more. I do not think that I should make a snap decision."

"Dat's de smartest thing dat you said so far." Remy nodded. "Take some time and make sure you're sure 'bout de decision before you come and tell me. Dere's no rush."

Marie-Ange nodded. "Perhaps I will go talk to Amanda too. I think her perspective on it would differ from yours, or Pete or Betsy's." Maybe she would talk to Doug too, if he was willing to talk to her about it.

"Good. And now, it time for Remy to get himself intensely drunk. When you figured it out, just tap me around de puddle of vomit and we get you set up." Remy waved over the server and ordered a dozen drinks, proceduring to throw his credit card at her.throw his credit card at her.