xp_logs | Log: Jake, Marie, Remy and a Snow Storm

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1. Trip to Washington. [05:09. Tuesday.]

Jake picked up the thin package lying in the glove
compartment and swiftly slipped it into his briefcase
before turning to glance into the backseat. "All
good?"

Looking up from fiddling with her seat belt, Marie
smiled, looking indecently awake considering it was
five o'clock in the morning. "All good," she
confirmed.

Remy met his eyes briefly, continuing to shuffle the
deck of cards like he'd been doing since Jake first
came down the stairs and spotted, to his dismay, Remy
waiting in a chair by the front door. He hadn't said
much though, which Jake supposed was a small blessing
at least.

He settled back into his seat and nodded slightly to
Francis who was waiting patiently in the driver's
seat. "Let's go."

Francis shifted into gear and they were on their way.

No, Jake wasn't at all pleased by Remy's decision to
tag along, but if he were to be entirely honest, he'd
gladly have used Remy as a buffer between himself and
his sister if Marie hadn't agreed to come with. The
fact that she had, was making him feel a lot less like
a complete bastard.

This conscience thing was a bitch.

It had snuck up on him at some point, and now he
couldn't get rid of it.

It made him uncomfortable.

Warren was pleased by it, Jake knew, but Warren was
weird like that. Possibly it had something to do with
the wings. Angel complex. Yeah. Warren was cool,
though. He blushed. At the strangest things too, which
Jake thought was quite frankly hilarious.

And the only way Alison could be less subtle would be
if she bashed him over the head with a Psych book or
something.

Jake sighed. If it wasn't for his father considering
Jake's current position as guidance counselor to a
bunch of mutant children the greatest joke since some
UN official declared Latveria a 'peaceful and
prosperous nation', Jake would really have been in
trouble by now.

2. Jake's office.

"So this is the Infonet headquarters?" Marie stood in
the middle of his office, looking around critically.
Remy had sidled up to the bookshelf and was randomly
picking out books and putting them back in. "Are you
sure you're not lawyers?"

Jake was rummaging through his filing cabinet for his
good pair of gloves and the passports he hadn't
brought with him to Sudan and therefor not to the
mansion. Well, you never knew what you might need at
that place. He straightened, having found the
passports, and grinned. "No, this is my office. Not
the same thing. And yes, I'm sure."

"Yeah? Where are your headquarters then?"

"Switzerland," Remy said, squinting down at a copy of
"Much Ado About Nothing".

Jake and Marie gave him identical startled looks.

Remy placed the book back in the shelf and picked out
another. "Dere's a map on de wall," he said drily
after a moment.

"Ah," Marie said, looking around the room again, and
then walking over to study the map.

Jake ducked back into the filing cabinets, unnerved.
He hadn't even seen Remy glance towards the wall with
the map on. Remy was being quiet, watching... Who knew
what he was planning? Nothing good, of that Jake was
sure.

3. Devi, Jake's sister.

Devi was waiting when they arrived. She was nursing a
caffe latte and looked tranquil. Her black hair was
braided back and fastened with a band with a flower on
it. She was wearing a white sweater with a crocodile
on and grey slacks. Jake wished he knew what the hell
she wanted.

"Devi, this is Marie and Remy. Marie, Remy, my
sister," Jake introduced gloomily as they sat down.

"Jacob?" Devi blinked. "You... really don't look like
yourself."

"There was a thing. I'm sure mother has told you all
about it."

"Yeah, she did. I just wasn't expecting... Well,
anyway. Thanks for seeing me." She poked her latte
with her straw, uncomfortable.

"No problem. I was picking up some stuff from the flat
anyway."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

Silence descended.

Remy was breaking toothpicks into neat halves.

Finally Marie said, "I really love your sweater, Devi.
Where did you buy it?"

Jake eyed the forks on the table and contemplated
stabbing himself with one.

Too bad Devi knew that wouldn't hurt him.

4. Jake's flat.

"This place is a pig sty."

"No expense account, no maid service," Jake replied,
tossing clothes into a black bag.

Marie was standing in the doorway, trying not to touch
anything. Remy had disappeared again. Jake hoped he
was checking out the contents of his fridge. There
were things in there that were probably alive by now.
Death by beings evolved from chinese take out. It had
a certain ring to it.

"Hand me that shirt over there, would you?" Jake
straightened, and pointed towards a pile next to where
Marie was standing.

Marie eyed it. "Is it going to bite me?"

"...Don't think so."

"Oh, that's reassuring." She grinned and leaned over
to pick up the top shirt. Blue, of course.

5. Snow, snow, snow.

"This snow is unnatural," Marie announced out of the
blue, folding her arms over her chest.

"Why is dat, chere?" Remy leaned forward until he was
level with the front passengers, grinning.

Jake gave him a brief, distracted look then returned
his attention to the road.

"There's too much of it."

"Ah, but den, if we're forced to dig a snow cave,
being stuck because of the weather and Jacquie's
inability to check the weather reports, we'll be all
nice and cozy... and warm, no?"

Marie gave him a suspicious look.

"Of course, we'd have to take our clothes off to be
sure," Remy continued. "Sleeping in wet clothes will
make you sick, ma tante always tol' me."

Marie rolled her eyes. "Do you really think this is
the time?"

"It always is."

Jake found himself wishing Remy would shut up and go
back to being creepily silent again.

Ten minutes later, he gave up, disgusted. "Remy,
Marie, switch seats. I need someone to tell me if
we're going to crash into an oncoming train or
something, and Remy's got the best eyesight."

"Why not just let Remy drive?" Remy suggested.

"Do I look insane to you?"

6. Three car accident scene.

"What?" Jake was trying to manouver the car between
the stranded cars on each side of the road, and it was
hard enough without Remy making that kind of surprise
comments.

"Dere's someone in dat car," Remy repeated, eyes thin
slits as he tried to see better through the incessant
snowfall.

"You're joking."

"No, he's right." Marie was already out of her seat
belt and with a hand on the doorhandle. "I can see
them as well. Jake, stop the car."

Considering he was currently doing 3 mph, Jake didn't
think it would make much of a difference, but he
braked, resigned. "What are you going to do?"

She didn't answer, didn't even seem to have heard the
question, just opened the door as though it hadn't
frozen shut hours ago and walked into the snowstorm.
He turned his head to look over at Remy, and found him
eyeing the passenger door thoughtfully.

"...You're not blowing up my car."

"Hm?" Remy seemed to be measuring something.

Jake pointed with his thumb at the backseat. "We're
going out that way, since freakishly strong girl got
her door open without destroying my car in the
process. I hope."

"...After you."

"You're disgusting."

Remy sighed. "What I get for being a gentleman." He
crawled over to the back seat though. Jake followed
him a moment later.

"Gentleman, my ass."

"Maybe later," Remy replied distractedly. "Remy can
see someone on de other side..." he trailed off,
holding a hand out for the gloves Jake was digging out
of his bag.

7. Helping out.

"Well?"

"Dead," Remy said shortly, running a gloved hand
through his hair in a futile attempt to get rid of the
snow. "Loss of blood. Cold..."

Jake nodded. "Marie's are still alive. Here." He
dumped a pile of his clothes in Remy's arms. "We've
got to keep them warm. There's no chance of any kind
of rescue getting here any time soon, so..."

"We're it."

"Yeah." Jake grabbed a second pile of clothes and they
trudged on towards the other two cars which were
barely visible through the snow and the wind. To add
to the general state of misery, it was rapidly getting
darker. Jake found himself reflexively altering his
eyes until they resembled cat eyes to take advantage
of what little light there was. Marie met them a feet
or so from the first car. She had tears of frustration
in her eyes and a firm set to her jaw.

"They won't let me take her."

Remy narrowed his eyes, looking at the car. "Who? La
petite?"

"Yes! She needs medical attention _now_, and I _know_
I can get her to a hospital, but they're not listening
to me!"

Jake glanced towards the second car, barely glimpsing
the teenage boy in the driver's seat. "We don't have
time for this."

Remy nodded in a agreement.

Marie was silent for a moment, then nodded as well. "I
know." She took a deep breath and exhaled. "I don't
like doing this, but..."

"You don't have a choice."

"Remy'll go with you," Remy said, shifting the pile of
clothes over to one arm. Just in case.

"I'm checking on the boys," Jake said, starting the
wading towards the second car, praising his mutant
ability all the way. Frostbite didn't sound like
something he'd enjoy experiencing. Some time later, as
he was handing the clothes over to the terrified
teenagers and trying to be reassuring, he spotted a
figure shooting up into the air. He could dimly see
the outlines of a small bundle of clothes held tightly
in Marie's arms.

That left him with Remy and five civilians.

Didn't that just fill him with a warm fuzzy feeling?

Or, as Paige would say, give him the fucking wiggins.
Possibly she wouldn't include the fucking. Then again,
considering, she might.

"What?" he said absently.

"Do you have any food?" the boy said again, pleading
with his eyes. "We're really hungry, and--"

Jake tuned him out.

Angelo. Oh god. What if the storm hit the mansion?
Jake might not know an awful lot about medicine, not
ever getting sick himself, but he knew that people in
ICU wards generally was hooked up to a whole bunch of
equipment which went on electricity, and if the
electricity should go... But, no. Surely, the mansion
had back-up generators?

Although, they had a joke of a security system...

"No, we don't have any food," Jake snapped, tuning
back in as the boy finished his pitch.

The boy jerked back, wide eyed. "S-s-sorry, miss."

This feeling crap was getting on Jake's nerves. He
sighed. "We might have some potato chips left. I'll go
see."

8. Home, sweet home. [11:12. Wednesday.]

Marie leaned against the wall, eyes closed. "I hope
you don't take this the wrong way, but I'm never going
road tripping with you again. Ever."

"No, I quite understand," Jake replied. He hadn't got
further than the front door yet. He moved slightly
until the doorhandle wasn't sticking into his back and
sighed.

Remy had dropped down in one of the chairs in the
foyer and was eyeing the stairs tiredly. "Remy
gon' sleep for a week. Wan' join me?" the last was
half-hearted and not directed to anyone in particular.

Jake opened his eyes. "Not if you were the last person
on the planet," he said without heat.

"Ah, true love. Ver' touching," Marie muttered,
opening one eye to regard the stairs as well.

"Do you think anyone would mind if I slept right here
for a couple of days?" Jake wondered.

"Mr. Marko might." Marie paused. "Unless he decides
you're the new welcome mat."

"Charming." Jake sighed again and held a hand out
towards Remy. "Come on. Your room's next to mine."

Remy arched his eyebrows slightly.

"So I don't keel over in the hallway," Jake
elaborated. "Or you, I guess. Marie?"

"No, 's alright. Go on without me." She closed her eye
again. "I'm just going to stand here for a while. Very
comfortable wall, this."