Log: Laurie and Remy (Backdated)

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Backdated to Wednesday 25th August, 2010. Set in the afternoon.

Laurie attempts to show off her stealth skills and fails rather soundly, afterwards the two talk about childhood, and history.



Laurie had managed to spread several text books across the booth table at Finnegan's she was currently monopolizing, a pub lunch half eaten sitting beside one elbow as she took notes on what she was reading. She was in New York to visit her Dad, and had decided to stop by Finnegan's for lunch before travelling on.

Remy's appearance was noted by the bartender, who moved automatically to pour a bourbon for the Cajun as he hung his jacket up near his chair and settled in. He was supposed to see Ororo here later, but instead of bringing a pile of work to occupy himself, he decided to let his mind roam instead. It sounded like wasted activity, but in intelligence, sometimes being too focused meant you missed things, or pushed them down pre-concieved paths. What was wool gathering for some was actually an effective, if random, method of juxtaposing data for them.

It was several minutes later that Laurie noticed him, having looked up from her work long enough to take a look around the bar. She smiled, and slipped out of her chair before trying to move as silently as she could up behind him.

"Remy," she said with a grin, wondering if she would manage to get him this time. Her practice with Logan and Yvette non-withstanding, Remy was the king of this sort of thing.

"Laurie." Remy said, without turning around. "You remember three months ago when Remy told you dat trying to sneak up on me, besides being impossible, is also occasionally a very bad and painful thing? Remember dat little talk?" Remy took a sip from his glass. "Fortunately, you make enough noise dat deaf geriatrics could pick up you footsteps de second de chair scraped back. Stick to de black leather and arrival by explosion, neh?"

"You have absolutely no sense of fun in your soul," Laurie noted with a contrived pout before slipping into a chair at his table. She figured her books were within viewing range, so shouldn't be messed with any time soon. "And here I thought I was getting quite good at moving through forests without snapping twigs and such."

"Dat's very useful when you sneaking up on people in de park. Not dat many trees and twigs inside de bar." He replied, resting his cheek against his fist and looking over at her. "Why you in de city today?"

"Visiting my Dad, mostly," Laurie replied, pulling one leg up so she could rest her chin on her knee. "He's not doing too badly, although he gets cranky at me when I fuss. How about you? Your day that is, not why you're in the city, since, well, you work here."

"Live here too. Remy going for a sweep of de whole board." LeBeau said, idly switching between the coverage and the girl. "Dis is what we like to call down time, rare as it is most days."

"So what does one in your sort of profession do with his downtime?" Laurie asked, idly twirling a finger through a strand of her hair. "Other then wear tuxedos and destroy expensive cars. Unless it's more like 'Mission Impossible', then it's 'get kidnapped a lot and talk to a guy who likes blowing things up after he talks to you.'"

"Remy takes de subway most places. Or spends exciting days reading reports and newspapers. You made not know dis, Laurie, but--" Remy took a threatical look either way, as if checking if he was being overheard. "Hollywood tends to make stuff up. To entertain. Don't let dem know you know."

Laurie's lips twitched with an urge to grin but she widened her eyes in her best shocked expression, placing a hand near her neck in classic pose, "Oh my God, to think Hollywood lied to me! I just, next thing you'll be telling me is that you don't even drink martinis."

"Only for a cover. Gin's not my usual, and dose vodka things aren't martinis. Dey cocktails in a funny glass."

"I'll have to take your word for it," Laurie noted with a grin, her drinking so far had only really extended to various types of beer, shifting a bit in her seat as someone cleaned the glass she'd been drinking from off her table. She wasn't sure if she'd have to rescue her books soon. "I only really drink beer. Okay, so I've been given cocktails before, but they're all full of sugar and the spirits go to my head too quick. I figure cocktails and I just don't see eye to eye."

"You young. Tastes change." Remy said, checking the ticker underneath > the news coverage out of habit. "Especially wit' a little more experience."

"Did yours?" Laurie asked, curiosity not only evident in her voice, but in the way she leant slightly forward.

"My past is not a place dat you want to go, petite. Even for de harmless things."

"I promise I won't scream or faint," she said, wondering just how bad a past could be, but figured if he was warning her then he had good reason. "Was it really that bad? Not that I'm prying or anything, except in an 'I'm really curious but I'll shut up any minute now and talk about hair products which is a much safer and less scary topic' kinda way."

"Remy used to drink screwdrivers. Not real ones. Usually cheap orange mix, like dat Tang. Colonial Club Vodka from a two litre plastic bottle. It used to kill the taste." Remy took a sip from his glass. "I was eleven."

"Isn't that a bit young?" Laurie asked, frowning slightly as she wondered > who would sell alcohol to an eleven year old. "How'd you get the Vodka?"

"Dis was New Orleans thirty years ago. Getting hold of booze wasn't exactly hard. Half de time, de johns brought it wit' dem and left it in de room."

"You had johns at the age of eleven?" Laurie asked, shocked despite herself. She knew what the term meant, but she'd never thought she'd hear it in reference to a child. "I'm sorry."

Remy shrugged. "It's not as uncommon a situation as you might think. By de time I was twelve, I had killed my first man and ended up in de hands of de CIA. So Remy don't exactly have a lot of stories 'bout growing up dat you can relate to."

“I guess not,” Laurie replied, sad for the boy he’d been. Nobody should have to go through something like that, whether it was a common situation or not. It just made her feel more determined then ever to make her time with the X-men and with Vanessa’s agency count. “Did you ever have any happy times at all?”

"Sure, but like I said, dey not de type you can relate to." Remy leaned back in his seat. "Dat's a good thing. You don't want to be able to relate to it."

“I would guess not,” Laurie admitted, watching him for a moment before she shook her head and smiled. “Would you say you have a better life now?”

"I have Ororo, and until she gets smart and gets rid fo me, everything important thing in my life makes sense." Remy said. "You had a family; mother, father, siblings. Dat's great. I have a debt, and her, well... she makes me wish dat things could be easier."

“Actually, father who mind controlled my mother into loving him, and no siblings because she left him when she got pregnant with me,” Laurie noted, but she shrugged afterward, it was something that she didn’t like to think about often. “Dad’s, well, he’s complicated, but even so, I always had Mum, and now I have him and he’s trying even if it’s not what he’s used to. If you want it to be easier, can’t you just make it that way? And I think you need to stop thinking Ororo’s going to get rid of you; from what I’ve seen she’s not going anywhere.”

"You can't. Dere are things in you life dat define who you are, whether you like it or not. My life was defined when Remy was a different person, but I can't walk away from dat. Dere's... too much dere; too many debts."

Laurie’s life had never included the kind of debts you couldn’t walk away from. People that she would never leave behind, certainly, but she’d been lucky enough to never have the kind of past Remy had to face every morning when he woke up, “You’re not alone though, right? Whatever you’ve done in the past, you’re trying to change that now. Whether the ledger ever balances or not, I’d think the need to try means you’re not that man any longer. At least, not unless you have to be.”

Laurie wasn’t so naive as to think that Remy or the others in X-force didn’t do horrible things when there was a need to do them. She had to wonder sometimes what her younger self might have thought could she see her now. Probably something along the lines of having sold out, but living life meant you changed, whether you expected to or not.

"Sorry petite, but it's more complicated den dat." He didn't add that she had twenty years to discover that fact, despite her earnest efforts to help. It was somewhere between comical and innocently endearing that she thought it could be talked through. Remy couldn't ever remember being that innocent about life. "You going to be late meeting you pere if you stick around here all day."

“I guess so,” Laurie noted, glancing at her watch and realising how long she’d actually been sitting here for. “I’ll see you around, Remy.”

"See. Optimism."