xp_logs | Kurt and Ororo, a late-night visit

Ororo brings Kurt tea and cookies and they talk a little about what he did, then move on to safer topics.

Tea solves everything. World threatened by a nuclear bomb? Tea. Hit a student over the head with a brick? Tea. Ran away with your supervillian mother while lying to your best friends and family about it? Tea. Ororo was beginning to think Charles was having a bit too much influence on her coping skills, but she carried the tray of tea, cookies and a vase of flowers up the stairs nonetheless. She didn't know what else to offer Kurt but her presence and tea, so that's what he would get.

He hadn't exactly been coming out much when there were many people around, but Kurt refused to drop back into actively hiding from company. Which meant, no more teleporting away when people knocked on his door.

"Come in!"

Ororo shouldered the door open, smiling as she glimpsed Kurt. "I brought dessert," she announced, nodding to the tray. "And tea. I hope you are hungry."

"I can stand to eat", he said with a wan smile in return, moving to pull the door wider.

"Excellent." She managed to set the tray neatly on the coffee table, nudging the vase back into its spot and turning over the two teacups she had brought. "This is new tea, so I would be appreciative if you told me your honest opinion... I will not get it again if nobody likes it."

"I will be sure to give a detailed review", Kurt answered, going to the couch to sit down since she had the setting-out in hand. He might have been putting off other topics of conversation.

She poured in silence, arranging a few cookies that Lorna's beginning cooking class had made on a plate and handing them to Kurt. Once everything was set she took a seat beside him, apparently content to sip in peace. At least for a little while.

"Amanda came to see you?" she asked eventually, twisting to look at him. "I know she wished to visit, and I believe I may have seen her car in the garage at some point."

"She did come, yes", Kurt agreed quietly, focusing on his cup of tea. "On Monday. She was... worried, but I think perhaps a little less so now."

"I am glad. It can be... difficult, living as we do, with so much uncertainty." She pursed her lips, obviously not wanting to make Kurt feel uncomfortable, but needing to address at least some of her worries. "It is a shame that we cannot be sure of everyone's intentions, or even if their words are true. I wish it was otherwise, but to be blindly complacent would be just as dangerous as being too untrusting."

"I did not say an untrue word", he said flatly, not looking at her. "And my intentions toward you and the others never changed."

"There is a difference between the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth," Ororo replied gently. "You must admit that you intended deception, even through truthful words. I know you had no reason to suspect we would learn that you were not where we expected, but... what you did was not safe, Kurt. What if something had happened to you?"

"Nothing we do on missions is safe", he retorted bitterly. "And it does not stop us. I would not have involved you in this, any of you."

"I am afraid that we involved ourselves. That is what we do best, after all." Her tone was still quiet and unaccusing. "Perhaps we should not have. But we... I made the decision based on what I knew, and I do not regret it."

No one had ever seen Kurt smile quite the way he did then, so utterly humourlessly and almost twisted. "And neither do I. I regret that you were hurt, though not injured. But not the rest." The last words were spoken clear and cold.

Ororo nodded silently then, her hands clasped around the teacup, which was still steaming slightly. "It is not my place to judge your actions, Kurt. I cannot claim to understand them, but know that I still wish to be your friend."

"As I said before, I do not ask you to understand or forgive. But if you can... I will be glad of it."

"Is there anything... anything I can do?" Ororo regretted not asking this question far, far earlier in the course of events, even as she knew the answer was probably negative.

"For now? Nothing that you have not already done, and will continue to do." He gave her a faint, kinder smile.

"Very well." Ororo sipped at her tea, not quite sure if she liked it yet or not. There were definite hints of citrus there, as well as something she couldn't put her finger on.

"The tea is very good", he volunteered, in what was not at all a blatant attempt to change the subject.

"Is it? I cannot tell if I like it or not. Have you tried a cookie?" she asked, raising her eyebrows. "The beginning cooking class made them, but I have been told they are not entirely toxic..."

He'd eaten less than half of the one he initially took, which was still in his hand, and he looked at it almost in surprise before starting to eat again. "The cooking class must be coming along well."

"Well, there have not been any explosions in the kitchen that I have heard of, so that is always a good sign," she joked. "And I have heard the advanced cooking is going extremely well, which is good, because after Jamie left I was afraid Lorna might run herself ragged trying to keep everyone fed."

"Does Rahne still help with the cooking? I know she must be busier now, with Elpis, but perhaps she would have a little time?"

"She does, yes, and when Amara and Sooraya finish the class they will be able to take over duties as well." Ororo smiled, setting down her cup and pulling her feet up onto the couch and tucking them beneath her. "Dani has agreed to help out as well... I think between all of them, Lorna should have some respite."

"She deserves it", he said quietly. "Of everything..."

"I am going to try my hardest that every staff member gets the rest and free time they deserve. It may be more difficult for those that insist on overworking, like Nathan, but I will find a way." This decision was motivated in no small part by Kurt's own behavior, though she didn't mention that at all. "Even if I must institute a leash law to keep him from taking on anymore projects."

He wasn't seizing on the distraction, at all. It was just the current topic of conversation. "You should, perhaps, enlist Angelo to help you with that. He does seem to have made it his mission to keep Nathan healthy."

"If he does not go down the same path himself," 'Ro said dryly. "I swear it is an epidemic of some sort."

Kurt smiled ruefully. "Perhaps Nathan will find for himself that all his hours are filled."

"One can only hope," Ororo said with a dramatic sigh.