Lil, Johnny, and JP

[x-cynosure.livejournal.com]

Jean-Paul takes Lil and Johnny out to dinner as a prelude to asking them for a favor.



The latest addition to the Fogo de Chão chain was crowded, even for a weeknight, but between the waiters weaving their way between the tables with skewers of meat, the trio of guitarists plucking away against the south wall, and the customers bustling to and from the salad bar of grilled vegetables, Jean-Paul had a hard time imagining this place quiet. He dished up another spoonful of polenta from the sides that had been delivered to the table and regarded the scene again.

"I did not think it would be quite this busy," he said to his dining companions, not entirely apologetic.

Tucking a curl of long blonde behind her ear, Lil offered Jean-Paul a bright smile. "What's the problem? People blocking the view of the emergency exits make you nervous? No escape route from your current fate?" She winked at Johnny over the top of her wine glass, quite enjoying herself despite the hustle and bustle that surrounded them, even if the giantess did have to trade her jeans and for a knee-length skirt and blouse. At this rate, Lil was going to have to invest in more business-like attire; two outfits in as many weeks was all her current wardrobe could handle.

Johnny smiled around his straw at the light-hearted quips shared between the older mutants, sipped at his soda and then leaned back in his seat to point out, "Mr. Beaubier's not allowed to be nervous. He invited us." And how happy that made him still showed quite clearly in his tone. He then added lightly, "If anybody should be nervous it's me. I haven't recognized half the stuff they've put on the table." He followed Jean-Paul's example just the same, spooning a bit of polenta onto his plate and regarding it briefly.

"It is not going to bite you, Johnathan. And Lillian is just forgetting that I can fly, that is all. If anyone is in danger of being stranded, it is her. Not that I would ever, of course." People with abandonment issues had to stick together after all. Jean-Paul paused a moment to let one of the waiters place a serving of garlic-seared picanha on his plate. "This looks almost too good to eat," he said, attempting to be mournful even as he reached for his knife and fork.

"Speak for yourself," the only female in their trio returned as she all but tore into the piece sitting on her plate like a death row convict being granted their last meal. "Everything looks extremely edible." Even the flowers, but why go for the weeds when there was prime cuts of meat being served left and right?

"If you say so." Johnny gave both older mutants a skeptical look, though he seemed to light up a bit as the picanha was delivered to them. He didn't know what it was, but at least he could identify it as food and a quick taste confirmed the fact. He seemed pleased with it, piping up playfully after a few bites, "You guys like this stuff so much, maybe our next trip should be to Brazil."

Jean-Paul raised an eyebrow as Lil demolished her first course, then turned his attention back to the one he hadn't given up as a lost cause. "So one trip and you have developed a taste for travel?" he teased. "Maybe you should join Elpis."

"Oh, yeah, so he can get stuck filing away paper after paper after paper and then get in a fight with the fax machine," Lil quipped, rising out of her seat to reach for the salt as she spoke. "And then maybe after you work though a billion files, they'll unchain you from the desk and let you see the sunlight."

"What's 'Elpis'?" Johnny replied with a curious expression, moving to swipe up his soda from the path of Lil's extended arm and taking a small sip. His features contorted at the woman's unpleasant description and he added warily, "...Apart from torture."

Enough was quite enough. Jean-Paul swatted Lil's hand and, more effectively, stole the salt-shaker out from beneath her questing fingers. "Lillian, neither your jaw nor our arms are broken." To Johnny, "Elpis is the NGO that Nathan runs out of the boathouse. Making the world a better place for mutants through more conventional channels than the X-Men. And do not listen to her; she was employed there for all of seven seconds."

"Hey!" Lil pouted, the hungry look turning to one of childish indignation. "Gimme the salt," she said, holding her hand out for it. "And it ain't my fault I am better behind the bar than I am a desk. Gimme the salt, Jean-Paul."

Johnny did his best not to laugh as the oldest of the trio seized the suddenly valuable salt shaker, but Lil's adamant protests made it difficult, as did the look on her face as Jean-Paul gave it a slight, probably unnecessary shake over one of his side dishes. He managed to keep his amusement down to a wide grin, "Who'd have thought I'd be the best-behaved person at this table?" He averted his eyes innocently and took an urbane sip from his straw.

"I am old enough to indulge in a second childhood." Jean-Paul gave up the salt as the waiters came around with skewers of grilled chicken. "I cannot say what Lillian's excuse is."

"Eternal youth," she said, snatching the shaker and pouring a generous amount on her meal - or what remained of it. "And you know, dead mother, trucker father. Kinda missed the manners lessons somewhere along the line." Another forkful of prime meat was shoveled into her mouth to stifle any further comment about her childhood.

The teenager frowned despite himself upon Lil's flippant discussion of family and focused briefly on cutting his meat, hoping a change of subject might find its way to the table before he looked up again. They were having a good time and he didn't want to disrupt that with a natural inclination to sympathy that Lil did not seem to want or need.

Jean-Paul watched as Lil drowned a perfectly good piece of meat in salt, obviously regretting giving over the shaker. "But speaking of Elpis, Nate and I are going to be out of the country for a little while. The sports program for young mutants is being picked up internationally, and we are going to see it through. I was hoping I could count on the two of you to look out for the rodents."

Lil's nose wrinkled as she paused mid-bite, the fork suspended in her fist with a piece of chicken dangling precariously from the end. "You're leaving again? And I gotta take care of the vermin this time? I know speedsters got issues staying still but this is getting ridiculous what with you crossing borders all over the place now." And her not getting invited along on any of the adventures. "Sports program sounds great and all - and if some kid puts another one in a basketball hoop, make sure you get a picture for Forge - but you just got back." It was very nearly a whine.

Johnny's reaction was almost the opposite: relief for the change of topic and enthusiasm over the opportunity of pet-sitting and the stories the Canadian would likely bring back with him. "Sure, we can watch them!" he replied easily, faltering only as he realized just how far his words were from Lil's. He gave her a sheepish, apologetic glance and then brought his eyes back to Jean-Paul, "Well, I mean...if Lil doesn't mind."

Jean-Paul chuckled. "If it is that arduous, I think it could be a one-person job. I will make sure to stock up on food and treats before I go."

"Of course he worries about who's going to feed the rats," Lil muttered after chewing her chicken and starting to push the peas around on her plate. Back to bar food and frozen dinners after this. "At least bring me back something big, bright and shiny," she added, taking up her wine glass again. "If I'm gonna have to suffer through more time without my personal chef, it better be damn worth it in the end."