Nico & Remy - Just a meeting.

[x-staffofone.livejournal.com]

After some magic practice, Nico runs into the charming Mr. Lebeau; not that he actually tells her his last name.

Nico closed Amanda's door, feeling a little dizzy and tired, but certainly cheered up to know she was still alive and training magic, which was slowly starting to become less of a weird attempt to make bubbles some actual understanding of magic and energy, but not quite yet. Still, it wasn't so bad. Walking down the hallway, Nico decided to call it a day for magic, and start strong the next day.

LeBeau, on the other hand, was in the middle of his somewhat elongated day. The slight Cajun was carrying a stack of files, one of them open in his hand which he read from while he walked up the hall towards the next flight of stairs to his apartment. He was concerned how dangerously thin Snow Valley was being stretched, and made a mental note to talk about it with Ororo next time they had dinner. If it wasn't for his preternatural spatial awareness, he might have crashed into the young mutant without even noticing. As it was, he executed a neat sidestep, movely fluidly out of the path of the oncoming girl.

"Pardon."

What the man didn't count on was the fact Nico was already daydreaming with her lax agenda for the next hours, probably including the compulsory act of indulging himself with nail polishing; and if Megan was alright, it would be even better. So when Remy talked, the goth reacted abruptly, changing her path -he said pardon after all- and finally colliding with him, which resulted on finding herself suddenly on the floor, files everywhere.

"Ow."

Remy sighed. Even his mutant power couldn't completely defend against the klutsiness and absent-mindedness of a teenaged girl. "You need to pay more attention way you going, petite. Get youself hurt dis way." He bent over smoothly, scooping up the now thoroughly shuffled and mixed papers.

By that moment she was also helping with the files, trying to find some order in them. "Sorry, so sorry", mumbled as she handled the ones she had gathered to him. "I guess I'll need to ask Amanda for some way to tell when someone is about to get bumped." That would be a very interesting spell.

"She'll tell you to watch were you going." He pointed to his unique red on black eyes. "Dese tell you every thing dat you need, if you know what to look for."

"Most likely...oh, you also work with her?" Had she seen the man before? She wasn't sure. She would remember those eyes though. "This whole being known yet not knowing anyone is getting silly by the minute."

"'manda works for me." He stashed the files under one arm and sketched a quick bow. "Remy LeBeau. I work wit' de Snow Valley people."

"Touché." If Amanda worked for someone, then she more or less had something to do with him? Not really, but the feeling was there. "Nico Minoru, but you already knew that." She took her time to think about the next part of his introduction. "When you say with you imply you aren't really working there all the time? If that wouldn't be the case you would have said you work either for them or just...there. Am I making too much of a mess for a word here?"

"Not really. Like most things in Remy's life, my employment is... complicated." LeBeau nodded. "You de magic girl from de school. Wit' some kind of magical staff, oui? 'manda gave us de rundown."

Complicated, Nico repeated in her mind; she was getting better at not poking where she knew she could end up losing. "That's the one", mentioned as she pointed at her chest. "And the Staff of One is here...who else is part of that us?"

"De rest of Snow Valley. We like to be up to date." Remy said, with a slight smile. "So, you what? Tutoring here wit' 'manda dese days?"

"Yeah, trying to learn some fancy magic without the Staff, for a change. Not an easy task though, as it seems I'm not really made for the job."

"In Remy's experience, if de magic finds you, den it is because you de one for de job." He said, with an almost cryptive hint of a deep history behind the words. "Remember when 'manda was you age, using magic for 'bout everything dat she could get 'way wit'. Fortunately, she learned her lesson and den some."

Funny how he said 'find' and she could only remember the Staff being plunged into her; what a way to be found by magic. "And, besides some evasiveness from her, I know nothing about 'Manda and her colorful past; she did mention brain damage a couple of times."

"Oui, dat's a reminder for her 'bout not treating magic wit' respect." Remy said with a nod. "I'm sure dat she'll tell you de stories some day. Remy can't be de one to tell tales."

Nico shrugged. "I decided some time ago I would find out eventually, maybe." On the meantime the idea of liquefying her brain was enough to keep her under control, most of the times at least. "So you are...a mutant right?"

"Since much younger den you. I can infuse objects wit' kinetic energy, amoung other things."

"...You what? And I'm not a mutant." It had been a while since she had said that out loud; it felt a bit weird actually.

"Dat right?" Remy raised an eyebrow but didn't bother trying to correct her. After all, Xavier was the big brain in terms of who was and wasn't a mutant, and he didn't imagine the error originating from him. "In short, Remy can make things blow up. It's not a particularly multi-purpose power when you get right down to it."

She shrugged back at him. "I have, how do you call it? A latent gene? If I'm at the mansion and everything is more because of my magic and...issues with my family. You know, the typical 'we are evil and we will kill you' scenario. And that is actually pretty cool. Can you make people explode? That wouldn't be precisely cool..." He somehow looked like he could make people explode, though.

"Not easily, non. My powers don't work well on charging living matter." Remy reached into his pocket and pulled out a deck of cards. He fanned them out with a deft, practiced motion. "If you all 'bout de magic, Remy show you something. Pick a card."

Well, that's a relief. The next was totally unexpected, and because of that Nico couldn't help grinning like a child for a second. "Wow, Amanda's boss, complicated lifestyle, cool exploding powers, and skilled in magic tricks? You really are more than it meets the eye, Mr...eeeh...Remy?" She had grown a little wary of calling the grown ups by their names. Picking a card at random, Nico wondered what kind of trick had she just signed herself into.

"Checked you card? Put it back into de deck den?" He said, shuffling it quickly. He held the deck out squeezed between his fingers and it began to glow brightly. Remy rifled them into the air, the ridiculous 'flaph' noise like a errant fan as the purple glowing cards went up in a haphazard cloud. before they could fall, they began to explode, consumed in bright flashes like a firework going off, arching a fountain of light in the hall. The Cajun's hand snaked out, grabbing the only undamaged card left as it floated towards the ground. He flipped it over; the queen of clubs.

"Remy think dat dis was you card, non?"

Saying she saw that one coming would have been the biggest lie ever. Nico was still squealing at the light show when she noticed that, indeed, the card she had picked up was still there, undamaged. "Yeah, this is the one; Queen of Clubs; that's quite an interesting name. Do cards have a meaning anyway? They are not precisely tarot cards but..." She did have a club of sorts.

"You never know. Could be, could be." LeBeau said cryptically as he pressed the card into her hand and gave a nod. "Remy need to get back to work. You take care now."

Well, wasn't he cute? Cute and incredibly mysterious, somehow the kind of boss someone like Amanda would have, Nico figured. Holding the card, Nico decided to put it somewhere it wouldn't bend or break; somehow the whole deal seemed like a detail this Remy person was having towards her. "I'll take care of this, and good luck with work!" She would obviously take care of herself as well. Turning, Nico waved a hand at him before deciding she had taken too much time to leave the place.