Logan and Ororo - Invitations and Losses

[x-wolverine.livejournal.com]

Logan goes to pay Ororo a visit to offer her his support in his own special way. Backdated to Wednesday mid-morning.



Logan could tell her class was just ending even through the thick wood of the door to her classroom. He took up position just outside the door and waited for the horde of kids to come spilling out, laughing and teasing and carrying on - typical kid stuff, really. Once the horde had passed, he walked into her classroom.

"So this is what one of these looks like." he said with a grin. It was airy and light and had more than a few green living things to provide ambiance. The chalk dust in the air tickled his nose and the smell of ink and paper seemed to have soaked into this place.

Ororo glanced up from her desk - she hadn't been expecting anyone to come into the classroom after such a mass exodus. The sight of Logan made her smile, however, and she leaned back a little in her chair as he approached. "They are not so bad as they are made out to be, truly. No instruments of torture or monsters lurking behind these walls. Just books and learning."

Logan took care to close the door to the room, look behind the closet doors and to search behind the ferns. "Don't see any monsters." he had to agree. "And if you've got a whip or thumbscrews in here you hide them well." he said with a grin. Then he parked himself on top of her desk and looked at her from head to toe. "You all right?" he asked gruffly.

Blunt, but then this was Logan, and if anyone could tell if she was 'off', well, it would be him. "I am all in one piece, if that is what you mean," she replied carefully, spreading her hands to show that yes, she was all there. "Still a bit tired, but another ten hours of sleep should help with that, I would imagine."

"I can see that." he said with a very quick leer. "Heard you threw yourself in harm's way, saved a few hundred thousand folks." he said. "That true?"

The leer made her chuckle, though the words that followed sobered her a bit. "Yes, I suppose it is," she said, not immodestly. "And 'lived to tell about it', I believe is the saying."

Logan just grinned again. "Then I guess you done good." he pointed out. He sniffed the air, then looked at her again. "You burned out." he said. "No ozone." He thought about that for a few seconds.

"Should go camping again soon." he pointed out. "It's very relaxin'."

"Logan, I--" Ororo stopped herself, not wanting to shoot down what was obviously a well-meant offer from a friend. "It will be hard, going out there without my powers. As much as I know I should, it is a daunting prospect."

"You hit your head or something while you were out there?" he asked her. "You think you ain't the windrider anymore you can't run with me?" he asked, growing irritated. "Or you just afraid you can't keep up?" he taunted.

She had been the paragon of calm and serenity throughout everything - from the tense meetings beforehand through the frenzied celebrations at the end - but it couldn't last forever. Her jaw tightening, Ororo looked up at Logan with a dark expression. "I would rather not have my face rubbed in everything I have lost quite so soon, thank you," she said icily.

"You want to work it out, Danger Room's free." he growled. "Be sure to wrap your hands." he told her. "Point being - powers, no powers, don't give a fuck. Ororo's my friend and I like going camping with her. She appreciates the wild places as much as I do."

As suddenly as the anger had come it drained away, and the silver-haired woman's shoulders sagged. "Yes, she does. And that will never change." Her confidence, however... She gave a rueful smile and reached out to snag a pen off the desk, using the utensil to poke Logan in the knee a moment later. "What is it with the men in my life where they will simply not let me wallow in self-pity as I'd like to?"

Logan shrugged. "You're not one of your students?" he suggested. "Enough time to feel sorry for yourself in the grave." he pointed out. "You're a fighter, kid. Always have been, always will be. You're too strong to let something like this wear you down. There's more to you than the weather thing." he said confidently, spinning back around on her desk to slide off it on the side away from her. "Dinner. You up for it?" he asked.

Then he grinned. "And no, I ain't gonna destroy any more shoes of yours."

"Good," she said, scooping up a sheaf of papers as she stood as well. "Because powerless or not, I will make you pay if you do that."

"You already did. Your feet stink." he said with a childish expression before heading for your door. "You want sophisticated or you want someplace a little more real?" he asked. "Hear Mama Luc's got a mean cuppa gumbo." he teased with a wink.

"I think I would rather have something a little different tonight," Ororo replied with her own smirk. "What about Mexican? After all, there is more than one way to control the wind..."

Logan wrinkled his sensitive nose. "You bust that out and we're gonna have words, young lady." he said in his best Wheels impression before slipping out of her classroom.