Farouk and Marie: Confrontations

[x-traction.livejournal.com]

Farouk and Marie run into each other on the lawn. Things get a little heated, but everyone cools off in the end with an age old Xavier tradition.

OOC: A bit from tomorrow morning is included at the end

Farouk stopped, wheezing, and leaned against the tree, his hand fumbling inside his jacket for the pills. The migraine seemed to fill the entire world, his head almost pulsing with it, threatening to explode into agony at the first incautious movement of his head. He felt tired, old, used up. It was a mistake to continue going on these 'constitutionals,' he should have listened to Grey.

But he was tired of spending most of his day in bed. Tired of playing the invalid. Tired of waiting to die.

He was just tired.

And the fresh air seemed like an unbearable temptation after the stuffy trap of his room.

His breath fogged his glasses and he swore, rubbing at them ineffectually and dislodging his hat in the process. He reached to pull it back down in his ears and a lump of snow, dislodged by his movement, slid from the branch above finding its unerring way under Farouk's collar.

The professor thought something extremely rude.


His aimless, democratically all-encompassing baleful glare fixed suddenly on the doors to the Mansion and his eyes narrowed as he recognized the figure ducking out.

Marie was rushing outside to squeeze in her morning yoga and meditation - she was still trying desperately to catch up with her coursework, but missing a day of keeping the crazy inside wasn't a good idea.

A few days in Iran had not been beneficial to her goals of finishing her reading and her first class assignments. Not to mention the paperwork she had left to complete transitioning out of being an RA. And she still had to plan the next week of PE classes.

Clearing her mind today was not going to be easy. With all the thoughts bouncing about in her head, she barely noticed Farouk as she drew closer to him on her way to the lake.

"Ms. D'Ancato." Farouk spoke before he could stop himself, the irritation boiling over and taking control, snapping his reserve until he found himself stepping out of the shade of the tree and bearing down on the X-Men. "How was your trip?"

Marie automatically drew back, blinking confusedly at the obviously irritated man. She'd maybe had all of three conversations with him before this one and she couldn't imagine what she had done to evoke the body language he was displaying. "It was fine, Professor Farouk, thanks for asking. Ah mean, Ah'm not going to say it was an enjoyable vacation that Ah plan to repeat anytime soon, but it was par for the course with my general expectations."

"Interesting." Farouk drawled. "Because it came to me a complete surprise. I am not sure why, since it appears your boyfriends has decided to make a new hobby of FUCKING UP EVERYTHING HE TOUCHES!"

After rising to a sudden, explosive crescendo, the man's voice dropped again into a shockingly incongrous conversational tone.

"Although perhaps I am mistaken and it's an old and well-cherished side-activity of his, since he seems to be so marvelously good at it.

I really can't say, and more importantly I don't really give a man! If we could just see his way to a small favor of limiting his, truly staggering, incompetence to Sasquetchevan or perhaps Topeka, and staying the BLOODY FUCKING HELL out of the Middle East where his ham-fisted fumblings, however humorous to watch, have real honest-to-God consequences where honest-to-God people die!

And yet again - much more importantly - force me to waste my time and effort, which I can assure by far dwarf any impact that he has ever made on this world, in order to prevent him from meeting a much deserved and messy end!"

Farouk's diatribe long since have trailed back again into a hissing scream, his face reddening, the normally genteel and cool veneer disintegrating under the sudden explosion of tidal wave of the stress and long-suppressed anxiety.

Somewhere deep inside, under the headache fogging his mind, Farouk realize the ridiculous nature of his accusations.

He still did not know the exact nature of what had happened on the mission and turned it into a near debacle. And even if it was, in fact Kane's fault, this was hardly the way to address the matter.

But the cumulative effect of the last month's steady physical deterioration, the frustrated bafflement of doctors, the upcoming procedure in Madripoor that might be his very last hope and this mess in Iran... they just proved too much and Marie proved just so conveniently there, in the wrong place and the wrong time.

The silence, as he finally stopped, seemed to hang in the air between Farouk and Rogue, both frozen in surprise at what has just been said.


Marie stared dumbstruck at the man across from her before a small seed of anger seemed to unfurl in her stomach."Ah...what? If you have an issue with Garrison why in sam hill are you yelling at me?" she said, her voice rising despite her attempt to control it.

"And what the hell are you saying he did wrong anyways? Hindsight always makes it easy to critique other people. Sure you can come up with a better plan, sitting on a couch and wheezing."


Her eyes flicked over him, hardening as her resolve strengthened. "If you ever did go out in the field, it was obviously ages ago. Maybe you forget what it's like to have to make split second decisions to make sure that the people around you fucking stay alive."

"Ah, yes." Farouk smiled acidly, his hands clenching on the cane's head. "The famous excuse. It would make a lot more sense, if the plan I came up while wheezing on my couch, ended up cleaning up the mess and getting you and you Keystone Kops operation out of the war-zone after the rest of your outfit made the 'split second decision' to leave them in a lurch, in the middle of Iran!"

It felt so good, Farouk realized distantly, the words now far outpacing his mind, barely making any sense now, but coming quickly and furiously, drowning the girl before him in their mad, self-righteous rush.

It felt so incredibly right to let go at last.

He squinted at Marie, the scorn palpable. "But I suppose gratitude is not a value inculcated by this institution. Why should it be, after all.

Genetic self-entitlement is so much easier. Assuming the the world, and myself, owes you all - be it the school or help at a moment's notice."

He laughed, the sound, dry and frightening, as if a dying echo of a crow's cowing.

"Coexistance?! A militarized commune exclusively populated by mutants and you prattle about changing the world into a co-habitated paradise?! What wonder is it that you need an outside to deal with the humans for you. Leaving blithely apart in your dream-world, I doubt if any of you has realistic conception of the universe outside, at all, any more. Living here, separate but equal... What a fucking joke!"

He fixed Rogue with an unblinking stare, only marginally aware of the faces appearing in the mansion's window, drawn by the argument who sound carried clearly in the frost-touched morning air. "It's only a matter of time, before Magneto wins. He doesn't even have to kill you all. He has to but wait. In time, you will simply become him."

Marie's face initially turned white as all the blood left her face when Farouk started speaking. Soon though, it had transitioned to red as the blood rushed to her cheeks. If she'd been calmer, Marie would've realized something was off with Farouk for him to be so blatantly attacking her on the school lawn. But those thoughts weren't coming to her mind - so Marie did the only logical thing she could think of...an age old tradition between teachers at Xavier's who were in obvious need of a cool off. There really was no other option, she told herself.

Reaching over, Rogue grabbed Farouk by the shoulders, lifted off, and made a beeline for the lake. And simply let go. She waited a moment for Farouk to splutter to the surface. And waited...and...Shit.

Diving into the water, it didn't take long to find Farouk. He'd basically sunk like a stone exactly where she'd dropped him. Pulling him the shore, she checked for his breathing and a pulse as her panic grew, only subsiding once she realized he was ok. Just very wet.

------------------------

Enough time had elapsed between the knock on the door and Rogue being shown into the room by the stone-faced Esteban, for Farouk to compose himself, as he sat propped up in his bed, only minimal effort necessary to project the image of a sickly old man, one foot in the grave.

"Ms. D'Ancato. Firstly I want to express my gratitude that you have accepted my invitation, after my atrocious behavior yesterday."

Farouk concentrated just right and the rest of his sentence disappeared into a fit of hacking cough.

He shook his head and reached feebly for his water, swallowing driley and heavily, his Adam's apple bobbing.

"Ah, yes... I'm sorry - where was I?"

Marie shuffled her feet, a slightly embarrased look on her face. Reaching out to take the glass, she handed it to Farouk. "Ah, uh, didn't realize you didn't know how to swim."

"Thank you." Farouk sipped and reclined back on his pillows with a grateful smile, pressing his advantage now that the X-Man was off-kilter, already on the defensive. "Well, while hardly an example of athleticism, usually I am able to keep my head above the water. But it seems these days my heart is not what it used to be..."

Amahl shrugged deprecatingly. "But such are the wages of getting old. The ultimate sin." he smiled kindly, weakly at Marie. "Not, however and exciting or relevant topic. I had given you ample provocation, after all. ANd that's in fact why I dragged you here this fine morning.' 'He grew seriously suddenly, his eyes growing solemn as they settled on Rogue.

"I wanted to personally offer my sincerest apologies for the things I said and the way I said them. It has never been my intention to insult you or your team." Subtly Farouk avoided all direct mention of Kane, he wasn't sure his self-control or ability to lie with a blase expression extended quite that far yet.

"I have been unwell, Ms. D'Ancato. And I suspect that the stress of the last couple of weeks proved too much for me." He raised his finger hastily, preempting any comment. "That is not an excuse. My behavior yesterday crossed the lines of acceptable to such an extent that I do not believe there's a sufficient excuse for it. I simply offer an explanation and, as I said, my deepest apologies."

He made an effort, pulling himself into an upright sitting position and extending his hand, his eyes still firmly on hers. "I hope you will accept it and with it my friendship.

Marie's hesitation to take his hand was mostly due to her usual dislike of personal contact with people she didn't know well, even with her gloves shielding her skin. However, she couldn't help wonder who the man sitting in front of her was - he was so different from the Professor Farouk she'd met on the lawn that thoughts of pod people started dancing in her head. When she realized her pause had gone on way too long, she smiled embarrassedly and reached out to take Farouk's hand and shake it quickly.

Taking a deep breath, her words came out in something of a rush. "Sorry, Ah just...well, Ah accept your apology. And Ah hope you'll accept mine as well. While you were out of line, Ah could have stayed calm myself."