xp_logs | Hank & Yvette (backdated to pre-night-of-the-living-pheromones)

Hank seeks out Yvette in the library after being well enough to not need a hospital bed twenty-four hours a day, wanting to see how the younger mutant is dealing with the events of Madripoor.

The hard click of his metal cane- even with the rubber stopper on the end- was cut short as it made contact with the plush carpet of the second floor. When he'd been a student, it had been a deep red shag- which he'd loved to feel against his bare feet in the middle of the night. Hank smiled at the nostalgic thought and made his way down the corridor toward the library, which is where he'd found Yvette's phone pinging the mansion's locator program. He looked down from the balcony that ran around the main room and spotted Yvette at a table, reading. Not yet able to simply tumble his way down to the first floor, he opted for the winding metal staircase that let off near her. The pingk-pingk-pingk of his cane against the metal steps would have earned his a severe shushing from a certain librarian had she been around.

Yvette was working on her homework. The lamp was angled away from her, casting light more on her book than on her face, and she was wearing the googles Hank had made for her to shield her eyes. At the sound of Hank's cane, she glanced up, looking around until she spotted him, then smiling. "It is good to see you up and about again, Dr. Hank," she said, even her soft voice carrying through the quiet library.

Hank smiled and took the seat opposite of her, easing himself onto the cushioned chair, "And you as well Miss Petrovic. How are you feeling?" He laid the cane across the table and ruffled his mane of blue hair.

"Much better," she replied, closing her binder. "The swelling is almost all gone. The light hurts my eyes a little, but Dr. Jean says that should stop soon and in the meantime, Kyle bought me enough bad sunglasses to last the lifetime."

The doctor could imagine Kyle doing just that, "I am sure that you'll be back in shape in no time at all then." He smiled at her, politely as a moment of silence passed between them. Finally, he broke the quiet, "How are you really doing?"

She looked down at her book, long fingers fiddling with her pencil. "I am sorry," she said at last. "I was not good enough in the fight and you were hurt trying to protect me."

Hank's head tilted, "Yvette, you know that's not true." He leaned forward, "You were excellent, but none of us were ready for the ambush or our opponents. You can not blame yourself for any of it."

"In my head, I know that. But here..." And she pointed to her chest. "I cannot help but feel I was the liability, yes? I tried my best and it was not even close."

"What of your other team-mates? Were they too liabilities?" Hank raised an eyebrow for a moment and shook his head before she could respond, "No, Yvette. It wasn't your fault- if anyone is to blame, I must accept that mantle with the grace and dignity of someone who has been doing this job for years. And I tell you, to protect my teammates, I would do it again...even if I don't particularly want to." He smiled weakly, a deep breath sending a twinge of pain through his body. "As I believe you too would have taken that villain's blow to protect me, had the situation called for it."

"I wish I had," she admitted, looking at the bandages on his torso. "Perhaps it would not have hurt me as much as it hurt you."

"Perhaps," Hank tilted his head back to an upright position, "but we won't know until next time. We gained valuable information about our adversaries in this encounter- don't forget that." The doctor wanted to reach a hand out to take Yvette's in a comforting gesture, but figured he was already slashed up enough. "The point is, I'm getting...well, the kindest way to say it is that I'm advancing in age- as are some of our other more senior members, no pun intended- and it's difficult for me to see you and the others I have seen grow up in the way of harm. I wanted you to know that my stepping in the way was in no way a slight against your abilities, Yvette."

"I actually did not think of it that way," she admitted with a smile. "Kyle is always forgetting that I am not so fragile, even if I am half his height." Her eyes brightened slightly. "Perhaps we could be working together more in the Danger Room, to train for such a mission again? I do not think it will be the first time we are meeting these people."

"I unfortunately must concur with your astute assessment, Penance," Hank smiled and rapped on the table lightly. "And I would love to put you through some more challenging danger room scenarios. If I had known you were looking for something more challenging, I would have been delighted to oblige." For his part, Hank was glad that they were off the topic of his age and made a mental note to talk to Jean and Charles about their feelings in instituting a mandatory retirement age for the X-Men.

"Angel and I - that is, Firestar and I - were talking about this. The need to train more for these people. Perhaps with the scenarios Mr. Logan used to use? Since the people fought very much like him, did they not?"

Hank thought about it for a moment, then nodded, "I suppose I could break into his private scenarios to see if there's anything useful there. And programming in Deathstrike shouldn't be too difficult either." He smiled, "And it provides me with something low impact while I mend, which means I will need volunteers to run new scenarios."

"Anything I can do to be helping, I will," came the eager reply. "And next time, we will be more ready, yes?"