Kurt and Wanda

[x-scarletwitch.livejournal.com]

Kurt and Wanda get together in the city for dinner and a little catching up.



Kurt pulled Wanda's chair out, mostly just on automatic reflex, before heading to his own side of the table.

"How have you been?"

"Well enough," Wanda responded as she turned to make sure her purse wasn't in the way of any servers. "Battled a mutated child of a spider god, got royally drunk for my birthday and I am up to my hairline in research. So." She grinned. "Pretty much the same. What about you? How is life treating my favorite former circus performer?"

"Ah, I suppose well enough, as things go." He grinned back, crookedly. "I have disowned my mother, acquired a new protegee, and started... something... with Monet. I am glad you enjoyed your birthday."

Maybe Kurt had something for bossy women, Wanda thought with a smile as she took a sip of her water. "You sound confused about your relationship status," she teased, pausing to tell the waiter what she wanted. She'd better stock up on protein now to fend off Amanda's grilling of what she had to eat that day.

Kurt turned to give the waiter his own order, then back to Wanda with a slight shrug. "I think it is a relationship, but we have not exactly talked about it." And Monet hadn't talked to him at all in days, but that was another matter.

Wanda shrugged one shoulder in return. "If you are enjoying yourself, if she is, then I do not see a reason to 'talk'. Just enjoy yourself, Kurt. With the lives we lead there can be precious little time to actually do just that."

"That is very true", he allowed. "And we have been enjoying ourselves."

"Nothing lasts forever so make the most of everything." She grinned as she saluted him with her water glass. "I live, and will probably die, by that statement."

He toasted back with a laugh. "Some would say that is a cynical view, but I say they only do not want to think about the truth in it."

"To that I would say that I am not a cynic, simply pragmatic." Actually, she probably was more than a little cynical. After all, she sometimes saw the world as a series of events waiting to break down - time and erosion touched everything. "So, you finally cut ties with Mystique?"

"I have", Kurt agreed, sobering a little. "I suppose it was inevitable, though it did not always seem so to me."

Wanda leaned back as her plate of steak and potatoes was placed in front of her. "As we grow up, we are told that we must honor our parents, and grandparents. Even when they turn out to be the worst of the worst, we probably all want to believe in them." She paused, a sharp smile more teeth than comfort across her face. "Well, almost all of us. Then again, I've only seen my father once - you've had more run ins with Mystique, more chances for her to get her nails in."

"And your mother knew what your father was", Kurt added. "My parents told me nothing, if they knew anything, of what Mystique is. Which is not to say I did not know, in most ways, but... I wanted to think there was a chance."

"Well," she sighed, "my mother let her fears guide her. In the end I suppose she was right but there were issues there, believe me. The problem with Mystique is that she is a predator. She saw that you wanted to give her a chance and she manipulated you for her own gains."

"And then she almost got what she wanted", he completed. "But I know for myself what she is, now."

"Better late than never, at least. And almost is better than did. Consider it a - potentially humbling, perhaps - life lesson. We are all still young, Kurt, there are plenty more lessons where that one came from."

He sighed quietly. "At least there can be no more for me in that direction. I will not be drawn in by her again, and certainly not by my father."

Wanda's hand settled over his, giving it a firm squeeze. "Look at them as - donor materials. They were a means to an end, you to be precise. We are Rom, Kurt. Our families are much more than mother, father and children, you of all people should know that. This is why we have clans and we two are lucky to have more than one at that!"

He turned his hand up to squeeze hers in return. "Oh, I know that very well. Look at my brother, all my sisters, and only one of them by blood - and for that matter, I suppose Mystique did give me two good things. She left me with the clan, and she produced Marie."

"And she's lost you, for good this time, which means the Brotherhood was hit with a loss." She smirked, squeezed his hand once more before letting go so she could pick up her knife and fork. "Score one for the good guys."

"And may it not be the last." He sat back with a faint smile in return. "So tell me more about this spider god."

Wanda made a face. "For that I think I need some wine. A lot of wine." She raised her hand to signal for the waiter; she might have moved past some of the issues that had gathered after Ghana but it was still a story that needed something a little stronger than water.