Marie and Kurt: Family Bonding, Friday early morning

[x-traction.livejournal.com]

Marie realizes she should start reaching out to those around her...starting with family.

Marie had been standing outside Kurt's door for about five minutes. She raised her hand to knock for the tenth time, fighting the urge to let it drop to her side without touching the wood in front of her, just like she had the previous nine times. Gritting her teeth, she rapped on the door with her knuckle. After all, Haller had made a valid point in their evening at Harry's. She'd been emotionally retreating since Logan had stayed in Canada...and if she was truly honest with herself, it had started long before then. She had a brother now and she needed to do more to actively work on that relationship, no matter how odd it was.

The first response was a storm of barking, then soft chiding in Romany as Kurt tried to calm the puppy down. Finally, the door opened and he gave her a slightly surprised smile. "Marie! Hello."

"Um, hey," she said, shuffling her feet and resisting the urge to stare at her feet. "Ah was wondering if maybe you wanted to grab breakfast or something."

"I would be happy to", he answered without hesitation. "Here, or in Salem Center? Or the city, perhaps, I could take us there."

"Why don't you pick?" Marie replied. "Ah, uh, didn't really think this out before Ah came by. Just figured, y'know, we should start doing, uh, doing stuff together." Very articulate Rogue she thought, mentally smacking herself.

"It would be nice to do so", Kurt agreed. "What are you in the mood for? Cooked breakfast, or fresh?"

"Let's go with fresh," she said. She tensed slightly, trying not to show it, as she waited for Kurt to touch her and teleport them to whatever location he had in mind.

He had bent to scoop up the puppy at that point, taking his eyes off her, and so didn't notice the shift in her demeanour. Looking back up, he smiled again and laid a hand on her arm. "Fresh it is." And they were gone, reappearing in a city restaurant.

Marie relaxed as Kurt's hand lifted off her arm and she turned to smile at the surprised hostess who managed not to stare at the pair for too long before grabbing menus and seating them. "So what've you been up to lately?" Marie asked as she started looking over the menu. "Besides running the team while Scott and 'Ro were gone."

Kurt knew this place, if not that specific waitress, well enough to feel comfortable and safe teleporting straight into it. "Not a great deal, apart from that. The usual training, of course, both of myself and of Triscuit." The said puppy wagged his tail happily, even restrained with one three-fingered hand from jumping off Kurt's lap.

"And how has having a little one been?" she asked, bending over to scritch Triscuit behind his ears. "Nice to have someone home to greet you, huh?"

That got a definite contented smile. "Surprisingly good, in fact. I had not intended to get a pet, but he did seem attached to me at Lorna's house, and then she gave him to me when I returned."

"Good thing it worked out. Puppies are hard present to return," she said. The waitress returned and the pair placed there order and then lapsed into silence. "Uh...so this is just still a little weird for me," Marie said wryly.

"If it helps", Kurt suggested, "perhaps you could think of it as only developing more of the friendship, rather than as brother and sister. That is what it mostly is, after all."

"That makes it have a lot less pressure, yeah," Marie said, smiling at Kurt.

"I thought perhaps it might. And anything that brings less pressure into such lives as ours can only be a good thing."

"Indeed. 'swhy Ah need to figure out what to do with school this semester. Ah'm wondering if maybe Ah should take the semester off or at least go to part time. Ah just hate getting further behind than Ah already am," she said as the waitress came to deposit their plates in front of them.

"Thank you", Kurt said politely to the waitress before turning his attention back to Marie. "If you feel the load is too much for you just now, then you should at least consider lightening it."

"Ah just figure it's bad if a week into the semester, Ah'm already behind in all my classes. And Ah have a couple of the same profs from last semester and it's getting harder to come up with valid excuses. Ah kinda wonder how they'd react to the truth." She paused, smiling wryly. "Ah see it now - Professor Schlosberg, Ah'm sorry Ah missed class but Ah was battling an elemental spirit in Canada that smelled like rotten eggs." Making her voice deeper, she shook her finger sternly "Hit me with a brick. Now Marie, you know Ah told you the only excuse for missing class was being in the hospital."

"You know Jean would be willing to write you a sick note", was the mild response. "Whether or not it is true, she knows better than most that these things are sometimes unavoidable."

"Maybe Ah'll hold another week, see what happens and if Ah start catching up. Or if the mansion explodes," she said, her tone growing slightly lighter as she teased.

"That would be all right, I suppose", he teased back, then his tone turned more serious. "As long as another week does not turn into another and then another."

Marie nodded, but didn't answer. Sometimes she felt the best way to go was to approach things a week at a time, but she thought she understood what Kurt was trying to say. However, a topic change seemed to be at hand. "So have there been any more brawls in the halls?" Marie asked, taking a bite of her breakfast.

"Since Lorna and Shiro?" he asked with a slight grin. "Not quite as public at least, or not that I have been present for. It does not seem likely to blow over soon, though."

"It had been a while since we'd had any good drama around here anyways," Marie said, starting to truly dig into her breakfast. "Bought time we had something to focus on other than missions and the like."

"And that is definitely one good thing about it", Kurt agreed, turning his attention to his own food.