Cain and Inez (Backdated to Tuesday night)

[x-desperado.livejournal.com]

After helping out on the New Mutants trip, Cain tries to unwind. However, his protegé wants to have a few words. And a beer.



Inez wandered out onto the back porch, feeling like she should be smoking a cigarette or something even though she'd never had one in her life. It just seemed like she had no free time; between working at Patel's to pay for the summer's damages, working part-time for Ms. Frost, doing her New Mutants training, and piling classes on top of that, it was a definite change from the carefree life she and her dad had lived only a year or so ago.

Cain looked up as he popped the top on another bottle of beer, flicking his thumb and sending the cap flying out over the lake to vanish with an imperceptible plop. He noted Inez's presence with little more than a grunt and went back to drinking.

The blonde girl shrugged and walked over to Cain, leaning her elbows on the rail. With an impish grin, she nodded down to the small cooler. "Can I have one?" she asked.

Cain looked over and arched an eyebrow. "No," he said flatly. "You're what, fifteen? Go get a pop from the kitchen."

"I'm seventeen," Inez protested. "And I was kidding anyway. If I wanted a beer I'd go into town and get some college guys to buy me some. So we kicked butt this weekend, right? Doing good, helping those people out. I think I did pretty awesome, yo."

A snort was Cain's response. "You think you did good?"

Inez glared over at him. "We helped people. That's good, ain't it?"

"You acted like a bunch of individuals," Cain accused, gesturing with his beer bottle. "The whole point was to get you to cooperate as a team. Sure, a few of you might work together because you're friends, but on a team you ain't always gonna be friends with everyone. Most of you kids, yeah, you did good. But I saw Karolina and the weird Japanese kid moping off by themselves just as much."

"Karolina's a bitch," Inez responded. "And I don't know what Nori's problem is. She can't even speak English."

"Then you got a problem," Cain said after another draw from his bottle, "Because that means you gotta work harder to get through to 'em."

Inez was taken aback by that. "Why me? I thought everyone had to work together as a team, right?" She certainly didn't have any illusions about trying to take charge. Sure, some of the others like Yvette or Angel might have deferred to her, but that was just because she was usually the one speaking up. She wasn't any kind of leader.

"And you think that just happens by magic?" Cain replied harshly. "Remember who you are, girl. Remember what you are. You do doing shit like tearing up a diner--"

"--I'm taking care of that!" Inez protested.

"--shit like that," Cain continued, "and you realize why people out in the world are gonna be afraid of you, no matter how much good you do. And because they're afraid of some of you, they're gonna tar all of you with the same brush. So you gotta learn to depend on each other. It don't matter if Rainbow Brat's an insufferable bitch, or if Nori can't understand half of what people say. You wanna do good, you gotta get more than your own shit together."

Inez wrapped her arms around herself. "I am doing good," she insisted. "Ever since the stuff at Patel's, I've been working it off, I've been working for Ms. Frost, I haven't lost my temper with people..."

"Whaddya want, a fuckin' cookie?" Cain drawled. "That's life, kid. You don't get brownie points for not fuckin' it up. You want to be something special? Do something with your life. Don't expect a pat on the back for taking the easy road."

"Easy road?" Inez took a step back. "You... you son of a bitch. You think this has been easy for me?"

"I think you got a roof over your head and three squares a day and all the chances in the world ahead of you," Cain chided. "Let me tell you something. I ain't like Samson or Haller or the Professor. I don't give a damn about where you came from or if your parents didn't love you enough or what your hard luck story is. You're here now, and this is what you got. Now, you just gonna coast through it, or you gonna make something of yourself?"

Inez opened her mouth to curse at Cain, then stopped. As much of an asshole as he was, she had the sinking feeling that he was right. She turned away and leaned back over the railing.

"I want to be someone my daddy would be proud of," she said quietly, looking down at her fingernails. "Someone who does the right thing, no matter what anyone else says."

"Then you got good people to learn from here," Cain said, surprisingly gently. "If'n you pay attention. You got two ears and one mouth for a reason. Listen twice as much as you talk, and you'll learn something. But you gotta use your brain more than your muscles, girl. Get that through that rock you call a skull, and you'll make good."

Inez chuckled and turned her head to smirk at Cain. "That almost sounded like you give a damn, old man."

Cain just belched in response and pulled another beer out of the cooler. "Remember what I said about listening and talking? Now's a good time for you to shut up."

"So can I have a beer, old man?"

"No."