xp_logs | Sarah and Callisto, Thursday evening, in the kitchen.

Skipping the party at Harry's, Sarah and Callisto find themselves being less anti-social than they had expected.

Callisto had her own refrigerator in her own room. But her own room was currently smaller, barer and more stifling than it had ever been. Also, it contained no beer. The fridge in the mansion's main kitchen did contain beer. Probably somebody else's beer, but she could be philosophical about that.

Clad in a pair of worn, faded jeans and a wifebeater vest that had probably once been white but was now grey due to years of her rather relaxed policy on colour mixing washes, her hair still damp from her shower but already 'settling' into its trademark unruly mop, Callisto took a seat at the large, 'rustic' table in the kitchen. Usually inhabited with a handful of relaxing staff of an evening, chatting, eating and so on, it was tonight entirely empty. Everybody was somewhere that wasn't here. Guess I missed a memo.

She settled down in the chair, flipping the top of her beer and taking a long swig, closing her eyes. She sat like this in silence for some time. Then, neither moving from her seat nor opening her eyes, she spoke.

"Shouldn't you be out hanging out with everyone wherever it is they all are? Partying like it's not the end of the world?"

"I don't drink with the mansion anymore. It always ends in tears." Sarah stood in the doorway, freshly showered, with a ragged pair of the School's logo sweatpants slung low on her hips, and an ill-fitting t-shirt pierced and snagged by the bones that had sprouted. She smiled wryly. "I think I've had too much of people for a while."

Callisto pursed her lips, and took another sip of her beer before opening her eyes, her gaze trained on the large fireplace at the other end of the room, slightly narrowed. Eventually, she spoke. "You scared me."

"You'll get used to it." Sarah shrugged, and made a beeline for the fridge. Hooray for beer. Later, she was going to raid Logan's old room and see if he'd left any of his stash behind. "Ask Captain Fuckwad if he still has the Mission Pictures from when I died that one time. I'll bet those are a riot."

"'Captain Fuckwad'?"

"Scott." Sarah grinned, and popped the cap off her beer bottle. "We didn't get along very well. I told him to shove off when he tried to stick his nose in my business. To my credit, I didn't run him through with the pool stick."

"I see you haven't changed, then," the older woman quipped, an eyebrow raised.

"Oh, but I have," Sarah smiled sweetly back at her, "I'm a people person now." She paused a beat. "No, really. I get paid to deal with people."

"God help us all." Callisto raised her beer and knocked a good half of what was left in the bottle down her throat.

"I know." Sarah took another gulp of her beer and pushed herself up onto the countertop. "I'm thinking it's all relative. I'm a much better public face than, say... LeBeau. And occasionally I'm good to hit things."

The other woman scowled at the mention of Remy's name, then sighed, her shoulders slumping a little. It was hard to stay mad for long with anyone about anything these days. Things were changing too fast.

Sarah noticed her reaction, but didn't bother to mention it. She knew from experience that it would take more than somebody claiming 'he's changed now' to make things different. She waited in the silence, and added, "I hated him so much I left him for dead once."

"I know."

Callisto let the silence drag out doggedly for some time before reluctantly breaking it again. "I've seen him. Around. I know he's not... I know he's not Gambit." She frowned. "That doesn't mean I have to like him."

Sarah laughed, nodding, "I work with him, and I still can't say I actually like him. Even though we are always on the same team. Never fails. The last person I see before I die will be LeBeau. What a comfort."

"Well, it wouldn't be the first time, huh?" the other woman quipped. There was a time when I thought he was going to be the last person I saw before I died.

Callisto took a smaller drink from her beer bottle before placing it on the table in front of her, turning it gently between her long fingers and thumb, picking idly at the label. "You were..." She trailed off, pursing her lips in thought before charging onwards. "I want to say I'm proud of you," she said quietly, eyes still trained on her bottle, her tone clearly conveying how awkward she felt. "But I don't want to be bludgeoned to death with a thigh bone," she added with a smirk.

Sarah might have smiled, just slightly. She didn't look over. Her tone, however, was as pleasant as Sarah got. "I'm in a good mood. So I'll forget you said that and you can live to see another day and be terrified by my actions. How's that?"

"Works for me." Callisto's eyes didn't leave her bottle, but her expression had definitely softened.

"Good." Sarah threw back the rest of her beer, and pushed herself off the counter. "Because that's about all I have."