Diamond Lil comes to Xavier's

[x-diamondlil.livejournal.com]

Lil arrives at the mansion and Clarice is there to welcome her with some nice, warm words.



To say she was in a bad mood would be an understatement. If the flight had been a nightmare - with its tiny seats, no legroom and five dollar peanuts all topped off of course, by the wailing infant in the row behind her - than her arrival was full blown night terror attack. Delayed bags had put her back another hour and while waiting in one of the nearby restaurants, the blonde had not only managed to spill a cup of overpriced coffee on her magazine but her pants as well; the latter of which caused a stain that simply refused to be removed after several battles with a soap-drenched towel in the ladies room.

With her bags were finally collected, Lil's troubles only continued. Not one of the taxis in the endless stream outside the airport seemed willing to take the tall woman; leaving her no choice but to launch herself out into the middle of the pick-up lane when the next one approached. She'd waved off the few foreign curses spewed at her as she'd climbed in the back and having given him the address of her destination, tried desperately to ignore the smell of the cab. And the music... if the horrible mix of screechy-howly-screamy sounds could even be called music.

The cabbie's retreat couldn't have been faster once they reached the mansion - though she wouldn't be surprised if he'd just driven to the biggest house he'd known so he could get rid of her more quickly. All but throwing the blonde out on the curb with her bags after receiving his money, the yellow car shot off leaving her to trek up the grounds, grumbling to herself the whole way about idiots and jerks and what they could shove their dysfunctional air freshener. No, Lillian Crawley-Jeffries was definitely not in a good mood as she rang the doorbell of what hoped was Xavier's. Anything otherwise, while perfectly fitting with the apparent theme of the day, might push her over the edge and she highly doubted whoever lived here would enjoy a fist-sized hole in their front door.

Hearing the doorbell, Clarice teleported down to get it first, not because she was expecting someone, but because she was bored and was hoping to surprise, shock, or scare whomever was on the other side. Lacking that, she'd take any other adjective that began with an 's.' Pulling the door open, she intoned, "Yes..." in her best Lurch imitation. That she looked and sounded nothing like Lurch from the Addams Family did not phase her in the slightest.

"Well, at least I know I'm in the right place," Lil muttered as she stared down at the purple girl with a quirked brow. Interesting choice for a butler. Taking a deep breath, the Canadian shifted her bags for a better hold and straightened to her full height before speaking up. "Xavier's, yeah?" she asked with a quick lift of her chin towards the building.

"Nope, this is Lady Sally's," Clarice said looking up and using the name of the whore house in the books she was reading. "You the new artist?" she asked, opening the door to let the other woman in. Damn she was tall. Really tall. Like, as tall as Kyle, which on a woman meant at least six inches taller than him in Clarice's mind. Taking pity on her a little, Clarice relented, "Yeah, this is Xavier's.

Confusion danced over Lil's face for a fleeting moment before fading into annoyance. Just what she needed today, a wise-ass. "Great," she replied through clenched teeth and a fake smile as she stepped past the threshold. "I'm Lillian Crawley-Jeffries. Is there somewhere I have to check in or something?" She wasn't quite sure of the routine; who she had to meet with about what and when. Details had never been her strong suit.

Ookay...not a fan of Clarice's humour. "Was someone expecting you?" she asked, wondering why that person wasn't here to meet her or why she hadn't been picked up at...Clarice supposed the airport given the luggage tags. "Or...I don't know...are you a new teacher?" She looked too old to be a student. At least, not a traditional one, people came here to work on their powers at all different ages though, not just high school.

"Someone shoulda been." Though, with what she'd heard about Garrison missing, Lil wasn't surprised her arrival had been overlooked. Plus, she was at least an hour late. Still, someone should have known about her. "And if I was a teacher, this school would be in serious trouble of being shut down. I'm from Alpha Flight, here for training," she explained, not bothering to hide her annoyance now. This day just couldn't get any better, unless of course there was no food around and the entire place was a no-smoking zone.

"Oookay...." Clarice hadn't done anything wrong! Yeesh. "Well, you know who? Or do you have a name so I can get them? And you can't shut us down from Canada. We're American here, yo," bitch. Thankfully, Clarice had been up against people much more annoying than this woman, though she'd be hard pressed to think of someone so tall. Her height wasn't intimidating though.

Hazel eyes rolled when she dropped her bags then folded both arms across her chest. "I'm pretty sure the person who was supposed to be setting up this whole bag of transfer fun isn't here right now unless you've found him in the past couple of days," Lil bit. "I wasn't given the name of anyone else from Heather but if Marie's around, that'd be great." She'd be a place to start at least instead of having to deal with this pixie.

"I didn't mean shutting you down personally," the Valkyrie-like woman clarified. "I meant that it wouldn't be good for the school if I was a teacher because I'd probably end up putting a student through a wall." Parents and other educators tended to have a problem with that sort of thing now that corporal punishment had been banned.

"Oh. Um. No....Marie's not here either," Now Clarice was embarrassed. How awkward. "Um. If you want to leave your stuff here I can take you to see the professor?"

When the taller woman explained what she meant about being a teacher, Clarice smiled, she sounded like the kind of person that might need to be a teacher here sometimes, "I'm Clarice," she said, offering her hand, "And yeah. Maybe you shouldn't be a teacher. You'd be surprised though, around here."

"Dammit," Lil cursed, dropping her arms in defeat. She couldn't catch a break today! At least they were getting somewhere though. "If it's all the same to you, I'd rather get washed up and changed before I meet him. Good impressions and all." A shower would give her time to unwind and hopefully shrug off most of this bad mood before having to go talk to the man who basically held her future in his hands. "Maybe a visitor's room or something where I can stash my stuff for now?"

Clarice's comment, however, did make her smirk. "Lil," she returned with a handshake. "I go by Lil instead of Lillian and trust me, teaching has never been a profession that's crossed my mind."

"Um, yeah. This way," there were several guest rooms and Clarice didn't think any were in use at the moment. Plus, if the people she needed to meet weren't here, and who knows when or if they'd be back, what harm was delaying her meeting the professor or someone else by a few more minutes? If there was a problem, someone probably would have picked up on it and more than that, Lil wouldn't be asking for a shower.

"Nice to meet you Lil," Clarice had manners when it suited her, "I'm not going to be a teacher here either. I'm an anthropology major in college, but I'm on break right now."

Taking up her bags with little trouble, the taller woman followed closely behind Clarice. The place was huge and Lil's sense of direction wasn't the best. No use in getting lost in the first hour. "Nice to meet you, too. I tried the university thing once. Didn't go so well. Went back to bar tending and bouncing after my first semester."

Clarice stopped in front of a door with a discreet little plaque next to it labeled "Guest suite" and opened the door. "I like it and it keeps me off the streets at night," she turned and looked at Lil seriously, "You know if you try to fuck anyone over I will personally cut you into unrecognizable piece, right? Because I'm taking you at your word. And that means something." She perhaps should have considered how she looked wearing frog slipper socks when making a threat, but so be it.

Lil tried not to laugh, she really did, but the very thought of the little purple sprite in front of her causing physical damage was just too much to contain. The chuckle was soft but dry as she shook her head and sent her long ponytail swinging about. "Sweetie, I'd like to see you or anyone else try to cut me. Doctors have been trying for years and it ain't happen yet. You want someone's word to prove I'm telling the truth? Call Heather Hudson, wait 'til Marie gets back or find Garrison Kane." The last name was spoken with a degree of sadness that reached her eyes.

"Invulnerable huh? What about at an atomic level?" Clarice commented, seriously. "Tell you what, why don't we not find out? Because it would make me mad. All that blood and mess. Ew," cutting with a knife, how cute. No. "But, don't worry, if you're just here for powers training and stuff, that's cool. Oh! And JP is here from Alpha Flight. Jean-Paul Beaubier. You might know him. He's cool," Clarice smiled brightly as if she hadn't just threatened the other woman with severe bodily hard and was just commenting on the weather.

Once more her eyebrows lifted, both amused and somewhat impressed. Not very, though. This little one hadn't quite reached pest level yet, but Lil had no problem squishing bugs when they did. "I don't think being ripped apart at the atomic level would make me very happy, either," she said, tossing one of her bags into the room. It landed on the mattress, bounced once, then hit the floor without causing any damage or too much noise, thankfully.

"And I know of Jean-Paul. We didn't really train together or anything but thanks for letting me know he's around." With Marie and Garrison gone, she wasn't quite sure how to approach the other Alpha Flight transplant but it might be nice to talk to a few countrymen. "Thanks for showing me to the room," the taller woman added with a flash of fake-smile as she stepped into the guest quarters. "You'll know where to find me when you figure out I'm really a Norwegian spy."

"Good!" Clarice was pleased, they agreed! Without batting an eye she watched as Lil threw her suitcases on the bed. "Impressive. You an Monet should arm wrestle one day! Anyways there's always someone around for a tour or directions or whatever. Or you can call," there was a phone on the desk. "I'm not in classes now so I've got free time if you have any questions on how to get to Oslo from here!" with another smile and wave, Clarice left her alone to get situated.

"Right. Thanks and I'll let you know." Lil watched as the shorter woman departed then stepped into the room with her bags and closed the door behind her before heaving a sigh of relief. That could have gone a lot smoother but it could also have gone a lot worse. No blood was spilled after all! Maybe there was hope for the day yet.