Yvette and Logan - Accepting Limits

[x-wolverine.livejournal.com]

Yvette comes to find Logan to talk about what transpired between him and Crystal.



Logan, dressed only in sweatpants, his dog-tags, and a carefully-wrapped bandage around each hand, pummelled the heavy bag like a man possessed. Rapid-fire sledgehammer-like blows made the bag dance and swing like a lass at a faire. He was always in motion, up on the balls of his feet, constantly moving, readjusting, rebalancing. If he wasn't using his fists he'd hit the bag with a flurry of elbows, or every once in a while a knee. For all his exertions his breath was steady and even.

Yvette didn't frequent the gym - it tended to be too noisy and aggressive for her. But something had been niggling at her for a while, ever since her conversation Crystal. There'd been... something odd, about the way Crystal had been surprised to hear Mr. Logan was patient with her. And Mr. Logan had always told her that if she wanted to know something, she should ask. So it was that she'd gone looking for him at last, and found him. However, now she had, she hesitated in the doorway, one part impressed by the display of effortless violence, one part disturbed by it. But at last, she found her courage, and, clearing her throat a little, called out softly: "Hello, Mr. Logan. Are you having a moment for me to be talking at you?"

Logan paused his routine, automatically catching the wildly swinging bag and bringing it back to a standstill. "Sure, kid." he said in as friendly a tone as he could muster. "Come here, sit." he said as he moved considerately to one side, away from the mats. He patted the floor next to him by way of a more concrete invitation.

Yvette came over and joined him, a slight frown on her small face. "I am sorry to be interrupting you, Mr. Logan," she said, always polite. "But I am being the confused about something, and you are telling me to be asking when I am wanting to be knowing something."

"That's right." he said with a slight smile. "Say your piece, Yvette." he instructed her as he bent to cooldown stretch his legs. Even with his healing factor stiff ligaments and sore muscles were no fun at all.

Yvette nodded, and summoned up the words she'd been practicing, to make sure she'd get it right. "I am talking to Crystal, and she is being... strange, when she is finding I am being learning with you." Glancing up at him, she continued: "It is almost like she is being worried for me. Was there being something that is happening?"

Logan had to fight to keep from rolling her eyes. "You might say that." he said, then paused to give himself time to think about how he wanted to phrase things. "It's no secret that I don't care for Miss Crystal." he said. "She tried to kill me. Sucked the air out of my lungs and hit me with her lightning." he said calmly.

Yvette's eyes grew round and shocked. "But... she is being always the calm and polite!" she exclaimed. "I am never seeing her be angry."

"She's a good actress." he agreed. "She is, in my view, the worst a person can get. One who believes that she's better than those around her just because of how she was born. Titles she doesn't deserve given to her by virtue of her birth alone." he explained. "When she attacked me, I pinned her to the wall. Claws here and here." he said, touching the corresponding points on Yvette's neck, not caring if she split the flesh of his finger open or not.

It didn't mesh with the person Yvette lived with. True, Crystal was sometimes too polite and formal, but Yvette understood how hard it could be, living in such a strange place. She shivered a little at the touch of Logan's finger on her neck, watching his skin split and heal almost immediately. "She is always being kind to me..." she offered hesitantly. "And she is not saying she is being better to us in the room. I am not understanding why she would be saying this to you, Mr. Logan."

"Have to take that one up with her, kid. I can't tell you why she did what she did." he said with the slightest of shrugs, switching legs to stretch the other one out more. "You're a nobody to her, kid. Just a warchild. No threat, no challenge. Keep that in mind." he offered. "You don't stand up to her."

That got another frown, as Yvette's pride was stung. "I think I will be asking her," she said, quietly but with a certain firmness in her tone. "But I am thinking that it is being, how you say... a not understanding? Crystal, she is thinking you can not be nice, and you are thinking that she is thinking she is being better than the others."

"I'm not nice." Logan said with a laugh of amusement. "I'm not a nice man at _all_, Yvette. Not by any sane standard." he added with a slightly sad note. He stood up with that and looked down at the small Slavic girl. "You'll have to make up your own mind. Nobody can do that for you. I've always thought actions spoke louder than words." he told her. And by those standards he was indeed a fairly miserable failure. But perhaps she'd understand.

Actions did speak louder than words, and his actions towards her said volumes. Logan might not be a conventionally nice man, but he wasn't the monster he seemed to think he was. For a long moment, Yvette sat, her eyes on the floor, thinking, weighing things up.

She reached out her hand for Logan to help her up, although she was more than capable of getting up easily. People sometimes were different with other people, but in the end, it was up to her to decide. "Maybe later, we can be carving?" she offered.

Logan gripped her forearm without question and helped the girl to her feet easily. "Yeah, I think so." he said. "Meet me in the clearing out back after dinner?" he asked.

She nodded, eyes flaring briefly. "Yes, please. I would like to be doing that, Mr. Logan."

"Done." he said simply and then looked back to the rest of the Gym. "You ever work out?" he asked curiously. "To tone your body, to expand its capabilities?"

Yvette shook her head. The concept seemed foreign to her. Where she came from, people didn't work out, they just worked. "No?"

"Should." he said simply. "Be the master of your body, rathern than letting it master you." he said, with a fingertip along her cheek that quickly went bloody. He showed it to her, so that there would be no mistaking his point. "There's nothing wrong in seeking to be stronger. Faster. Quicker. More agile. To push yourself against your limits and beyond."

She nodded, still a little uncertain, but willing to try anything that would help her with her control. "If you are thinking it could be helping...?"

"Would you rather master it or live as its slave for the rest of your days?" he asked archly. "Don't accept limits you don't have to, kid. Push. Push _hard_."

"I want to be learning," she replied, a certain stubborn tone coming into her voice. "I want to not be having the limits."

Logan gave her his first honest smile of the day. "That's my girl." he said with a laugh. "All right, kid. We'll talk more tonight after dinner."