xp_logs | Kurt and Pietro, backdated

Before their respective departures for Las Vegas and Europe, Pietro comes to visit Kurt and bring his own special brand of reassurance and advice.

Pietro rapped on Kurt's door, perhaps a little more gently than usual. "Sefton? You in there?" Somebody ought to figure out a better way to do this, he thought; he always felt like a twit hovering outside somebody's room.

There was a pause, then a quiet sigh, and Kurt called through the door, "Yes, Pietro. Come in."

"I'll leave if you don't want company," Pietro said, giving the other man a part-irritated, part almost-concerned look as he walked into the suite, "but I thought you might not mind somebody who's been over the territory, so to speak." He smirked. "Pity we can't raid Dayspring's booze this time."

"I do not mind company", Kurt told him, unfolding a little from his hunched position on the bed - it was true, to a point, especially when said company came to him. "And it is tempting... but it would not be worth the wrath of the doctors."

"Particularly not when they're right," Pietro agreed, pulling up a chair. "So. Your mother's a manipulative bitch who treats human life like toilet paper unless it serves her purposes not to, and your father's a raving bigot who, you know from experience, actually would just as soon shoot you as look at you. I don't think I'd want to be inside your head right now; just as well I'm not a telepath."

Kurt blinked at him - no one else had been that blunt, by far - then smiled thinly. "I cannot blame you. It is not the easiest place to be living."

"Mm. Well, I don't think I'll have very much in the way of helpful advice--unless you want to engage in an obsessive vendetta? I might have some tips then." Pietro raised his eyebrows, then chuckled. "Well, I don't recommend it, anyway. I thought possibly getting some of what's in there out here might help you get a better grip on it, though."

That got faint bitter - and short-lived - laughter. "The idea of destroying his political career is more attractive than I am sure it should be. And I could, at least partially. A single DNA test, and the results published..."

"Still might not work. Damage him with his current power-base, certainly, but it wouldn't stop him from finding a new one. Even the good politicians are like cockroaches." Pietro snorted wryly. "Then, too, say it did work--you'll just have given him a reason to engage in an obsessive vendetta. Looking over your shoulder all the time is no way to live either."

"You are right, I know. And there are others he might strike at who do not have the same protections as I do." Stefan, Jimaine, his family...

"Maybe. Or maybe he wouldn't go that far--you never really know what somebody's going to do in a corner until they're actually in one." Pietro scratched his chin idly. "I admit you surprise me,though. I would have figured you for the whole optimism, forgiveness, maybe he'll change his spots approach."

"For most, I would think it more likely", Kurt said flatly. "And perhaps I am being unfair. But I was trying to save his life, fighting against the threat to him in his sight, and he shot me."

"Oh, I'm not trying to say he's not a bastard," Pietro replied lightly. "I'm the last person in the world to put a good face on fatherly bad behavior. You don't usually come off this bitter, was my only point." He smirked. "Then again, I suppose it is more difficult turning the other cheek when you've had a bullet through the first one."

"Perhaps", Kurt said quietly. "I am... not sure, on many things. I found it easier not to hate William Stryker than it is for... for Baron Wagner."

"The blood tie makes it harder," Pietro agreed, bitterness of his own leaking into his voice. "Especially if you first meet your father--or your mother, I suppose--as an adult; you've built up this picture in your head, consciously or not, and then you're confronted with the reality. Hard enough even when the parent in question isn't a violent bigot."

Kurt nodded. "It is not that Ivan Szardos was not a good father. He could not have been better. But he is dead, and I hoped, if I were ever to find my birth father..." He shrugged. "I am not accustomed to such hard feelings. About anyone."

"I think what I'm happiest about, all told--apart from having escaped with my life, of course--is that I didn't find out about my mother until after I'd already become . . . accustomed to denying how I felt." Pietro rubbed his hands together, his expression dark. "I suppose it's not very reassuring that you can get used to those feelings, but we're very adaptable creatures."

Kurt nodded. "That is very much true. And if it means I will not feel so... torn... on it, then it is reassuring in its way that you get used to it."

"Yes, and at the same time you've become someone to whom hatred has become routine. Stay optimistic; more people will like you." Pietro smirked. "It's also likely healthier."

That got a faint chuckle. "You may be right. If it is not just something that happens to everyone, if they live in the world..."

Pietro laughed, waving this off. "I don't have nearly enough faith in humanity to answer that question. Go ask one of those disgustingly cutesy teenage girls."

"...no, I do not think I will be doing that", Kurt said with a slight wry smile. "It is not conducive to their staying optimistic if their teachers ask them such questions."

"That was sort of my point. Maybe it'll get them to quiet down." Pietro shrugged. "Then again, jading all the little Pollyannas into world-weary cynicism is probably contrary to the school's charter, or something. Xavier would give us a stern look."

"And long discussions with tea about why we had felt the need to do it", Kurt agreed wryly.

"And I don't think he'd accept 'because I was bored and Sefton was moping' as an excuse." Pietro snickered softly. "Much though I'm tempted to try it, just to see the expression on his face."

"You know, he once threatened to make Logan think he was a six-year-old girl for smoking in Cerebro. I think he would be even more inventive with you."