Log: Lil and Scott

[x-diamondlil.livejournal.com]

Lil comes in from a night at Harry's and runs into Scott in the kitchen. The two discuss her training.



Lil'd forgotten how exhausting closing bar could be. The night hadn't
been bad; nothing out of the ordinary for a mutant-friendly bar and
she'd gotten a feel for the place fairly quickly. All she could do now
was wait to hear from Harry about future employment. Still, she was
tired. Coming back to the mansion late, the blonde was perfectly ready
to fall into bed and not get up for a solid 24 hours if she could
manage it. Not without her night cigarette first, however. The Amazon
made her way through the mostly quiet home into the kitchen, fishing
through her purse for her lighter as she went.

No one could really have expected there to be anyone else in the
kitchen at that hour, let alone that it should be one of the leaders
of the X-Men, sitting there in the dark. "So how did it go?" Scott
asked mildly, sipping at whatever was in his glass.

The giantess jumped slightly, sending her purse clattering to the
ground with a curse. "Fuck. Don't do that," she said automatically,
scooping up her bag before looking to see who'd startled her. When her
eyes landed on Scott, Lil blanched slightly. "Sorry. I didn't mean
that. You just surprised me. I wasn't... It went fine. He's gonna call
me in the morning to let me know if I can be any use or not."

"You'll get used to the fact that some of us don't sleep, and creep
around at all hours," Scott said, a hint of irony in his tone. He
raised the glass to his lips again, taking another sip. "But I'm glad
it went well."

"Thanks," Lil replied, giving him a small smile as she fidgeted with
the carton of cigarettes in her hand. "I am, too. Kinda getting cabin
fever so it'll be nice to be out. If I get it," she added quickly so
as not to jinx her chances.

Scott raised his free hand, and in the faint light from the hallway,
it was obvious that his fingers were crossed. "I'll think good
thoughts for you. Funny you should mention the cabin fever, though."

The grin fell away, leaving the blonde looking anxious and pale again.
"Oh?" He couldn't be sending her back to Canada already - she hadn't
done anything! Maybe that was the problem... "I've been meaning to
talk to you. Just with everything going on, the holidays and then the
rescue I didn't want to be a bother."

"It's all right." Scott gestured almost dismissively with one hand.
"I'd been trying to sort out what to do with you, Lillian. I don't
think an arrangement like we talked about originally is going to work.
For a lot of reasons."

"W-What do you mean?" Ohfuckohfuckohfuck. The words repeated over and
over in her head even as Lil's mouth moved, searching for something
else to say. Something to convince Scott that whatever the problem
was, it could be fixed. She'd be more proactive. She'd refuse the job
at Harry's if offered so she could devote more time to whatever
solution they came up with. She needed this training! "I'm sorry Mr.
Summers for whatever it is I did to make you feel that way and I will
do whatever it takes to make you reconsider your decision."

Scott gave her a blank look, both eyebrows going up. "... reconsider
my decision. Okay." It took him a moment to process what she thought
he meant; he was still feeling a little spacey after the telepathic
drubbing he'd taken. "Oh, for God's sake," he said, more irritably.
"This is not a preamble to sending you back to Canada. It's just that
training you at an arm's length isn't going to work - might for the
solo aspects, but you're supposed to be down here learning to work
with a team."

"You're not sending me back?" Lil asked, feeling the relief wash
through her. "If you're not sending me back then what do you mean what
we talked about isn't gonna work? I don't understand." She shook her
head as she collapsed into the nearest chair.

"I can work with you on your powers," Scott said, "and run you through
the Danger Room until we're both blue in the face. But I can't put you
into team training unless you're actually training for the team." He
set his glass down, with a palms-up shrug. "That's what I've been
trying to figure out. But I can't create a you-shaped hole in our
group exercises, expect you to fill it - and then leave it empty. Sort
of defeats the whole purpose. And you need the teamwork,
probably as much or more than you do the solo training."

The blonde's head shook back and forth slowly, desperately wishing
they could have waited until the morning to have this conversation. Or
at least until after she'd had her cigarette. "So... have you figured
out what to do? I mean it, Mr. Summers I will do anything you need for
me to do to make this exchange work."

"It's actually pretty simple. We don't train you at arm's length,"
Scott said. "You don those remarkably tacky gray leathers and join the
rest of the trainees." He shrugged again, with one shoulder this time.
"It's the only way to get the team experience, Lil. Any sort of...
halfway measure isn't going to accomplish what you need. And if
nothing else, working with our team's a chance for you to accumulate
some field experience to take back north with you whenever you decide
to go."

"Wait..." She blinked hard, trying to wrap her head around what he was
telling her. "I'm joining the X-Men trainees and being trained with
them instead of doing private work with just one or two people? Fuck
yes! When do we start?" It was perfect! A chance to get out in the
field, for real and not just go through simulations and Danger Room
sessions.

Scott gave her an aggravated look. "I've been racking my brain for
weeks trying to figure this out, and you were okay with it? That would
have been helpful to know. Training with the team is one thing.
Training for the team is another."

"I'm more than okay with it, Mr. Summers," Lil replied, standing once
more now that her legs were feeling steady beneath her again. "Thank
you. I mean, for not sending me back and giving me a chance to do
this. It's more than I could have asked for and I swear I'm not gonna
fuck up." At least the Amazon was going to try her hardest not to.
"When do we start?" she asked again, not caring if she was getting a
head of herself. Hell, he could tell her to suit up now and she'd do
it as the exhaustion she'd been feeling before completely evaporated.

"Give it a couple of days for things to settle," he said, "and I'll
make an announcement as to what you'll be doing. I need to design a
powers-training program for you, and a solo program - you'll be doing
that for a while first, anyway." He smiled faintly. "I don't throw
people into the deep end right off the bat."

She nodded quickly. "Of course, yeah. I mean, I understand that. And
I'm looking forward to it - to all of it. Thank you." She was going to
prove to him, to the others, to Heather and Mac and Maddy and everyone
else that she was Alpha material.

"You say you're looking forward to it now. But they haven't started
discussing your trainee name yet."