Jubilee and Remy log: The City

[x-jubilee.livejournal.com]

Remy and Jubilee spend some time on the roofs of the city, much is discussed.




"You need to point you toes when landing in de cat jump." Remy said, slightly annoyed. Louis had been brilliant from the Thieves Guild in working up her training. Even in such a short time, Jubilee now moved differently, holding the tense, slightly coiled, always in motion nature of the proper la parkour study. Still, she'd been cramming years of study into a few weeks, and Remy continued to push her hard at it.

With a lazy motion, the Cajun hooked the edge of a fire escape, and dangling there, looking at her pull herself back to her feet from where she'd landed badly on the metal slats. "Otherwise, you end up taking de fall on you shins." He said, unnecessarily as the young Asian woman had just racked up her legs falling awkwardly.

Jubilee glared at him for a moment, walking out the pain in her legs and then standing on the edge of the roof, looking over at the next jump. She'd have to take a run at it, if she was going to make it over with any degree of grace. She would never have Remy's strength, or his innate dexterity but speed of motion could often make up for lack of physical strength and she'd learnt to compensate quickly with Louis's training.

"I'll remember that." she said, glancing at him over her shoulder. "We headed anywhere in particular tonight?"

"Oui, but you don't need to know where yet." Remy said, pulling himself fully on to the balcony, limber as an eel. "Next jump, think it through first. One day, you going to have to try to escape 'cross a cityscape you never seen before. You need to make decisions like dis instantaneously, 'bout when to jump and when not to."

She didn't answer him, studying the terrain below her with a quick, darting gaze, attempting to locate all possible routes across to the building across from here. There...if she took the fire escape there was a window open across from it that seemed to connect to a stairwell, it was possible that it could lead up to the roof. If it didn't though, she'd be trapped and in a small space.

Having made the decision, she backed up from the ledge and ran toward it, and then she was in the air, already bracing herself for the impact and the roll she'd need to do at the end. She came up short, realised that she was going to and groped frantically for the ledge, feeling the rest of her body smack into the brick wall of the building.

"You know, petite, you depend on luck a little too much." Remy said, leaning over from the edge of the ledge in a relaxed fashion, reaching down to grab her wrists and pull her out so she could get her feet against the wall and using Remy for leverage, walk up it and on to the roof next to him.

"How would you have done that then?" she asked, frustrated as she settled on the roof beside him, rubbing her shoulders where the abrupt stop had jarred them.

Remy pointed wordlessly to an overhang, not much further out, but making up the few feet of distance that she'd come up short by. "Jubilee, dis not 'bout you needing to prove dat you can do dis as well as anyone else. Hell, Remy don't try to imitate Kurt. You need to be smart wit' what you have. Dat's what impress me."

He was right, damn him. If she had been looking less at trying to prove herself then she'd have seen that overhang. "And what do I have, Remy?"

"You got natural agility and a sense of balance, which is more den most people do. De problem is, you trying to compete wit' people dat have it at a supernatural level, and dat holding you back." Remy shook his head. "Remy don' try and do what Kurt can, any more den I try and pretend dat wit' nough practice, Remy goin' be as strong as bete bleu. De first and most important lesson as a thief dat you can learn is to never lie to youself."

"I don't like bein' at a disadvantage." Jubilee noted, looking at the lights of the city below. "An I don't like admittin' that there's stuff I can't do, but I see yer point. So I can't do what you can, or what Kurt can, but I got the speed an the agility, maybe I should be lookin' at the places I can get to quick an easy, rather then tryin' to brute force my way across the landscape then."

"De best assassin Remy ever met had one hand. You learn to work wit' what you have. Self-delusion is fatal here, Jubilee. Dat's de point Remy been making." He poked her in the chest with two fingers. "De important thing is de job. If you can do it easier, do it easy. If it hard, figure de best way through. Also adapt to de situation, no matter what you personal feelings might be."

She nodded, standing from her crouched position and moving over to the next ledge, her gaze flicking back over her shoulder before she stepped off the side and caught onto a fire escape edge halfway down, launching herself over to the next building in a single bound. She could focus on the job, let go of personal issues and desires, at least for the stretch of time required. She pulled herself over onto the fire escape stairs and swarmed up to the next rooftop, sighing as she noticed Remy was already there. She needed to let go of her pride, that self-delusion he talked of if she was going to survive and what was more, not get anyone else killed.

"Anythin' you could suggest to help me with that?" she asked, smile wry as she stepped up to stand beside him again.

"Stop trying to compare youself to other people." Remy took an easy perch on the side of a raised wall, feet flat on the wall. "In dis, we all tools in de trade. Each of us has different traits and abilities; how dey all come together is unique in each of us. Dat's what you're in now, Jubilee. Operatives like us aren't built like soldiers; we're constructed out of what we can do, what we will do. Dere's no scale between us. Get dat focus in you head."

"It's going to take time." Jubilee admitted, leaning against the same wall to look below. "I've always compared myself to others, it's going to be hard to break."

"You better, because you not going to be judged based on whether or not you better den Doug or Marie-Ange. You going to be judged on how good you are compared to how good I think you should be." His red eyes glinted in the night sky. "And believe me, dat's more den enough to worry 'bout."