Log: Jubilee and Remy

[x-jubilee.livejournal.com]

Jubilee seeks out Remy from some advice.



“Boss, you busy?” Jubilee asked after a moment of standing at Remy’s door, waiting for him to get off the phone.

Remy wasn’t the first choice of person she’d want to talk to about the problems she’d been having since their return from teenagehood, but then he wasn’t exactly a horrible choice either. It wasn’t like he hadn’t given her good advice in the past, even if she hadn’t at that time known they’d end up here.

"De next time dat Remy have to wait for dat information, dere's going to be a conversation dat you don't like." He waved her in, still talking. "We know de local authorities, Galanz. Just get it done."

Remy hung up, and leaned back in his chair. "What do you have, Jubilee?"

"Just the usual stuff," Jubilee replied, dropping off a thick folder on his desk, inside were reports of the information she'd received from their various drop boxes around the city, sorted by what she considered most important at the top, to least important at the bottom.

It had taken her time to get the hang of organization, especially how to pick up what was most important from what was a dead end, but she'd eventually gotten there. The fact that she was still alive and breathing without help from a machine was only the most basic evidence of her continued skill at her job.

"Hear I'm gonna be takin' Nico on the rounds soon?"

"Oui. Break her in slow, but don't baby her. De New York run is 'bout as safe of one as we have, so Remy rather she make her mistakes dere."

"Don't throw the new kid off buildings, gotcha," Jubilee replied with a grin. "You ever have anyone actually listen to your 'This gonna ruin your life, go be normal' speech yet?"

Jubilee had never gotten that speech, considering how she'd started out, but sometimes she wondered if she'd have walked away if given a different path. It hadn't been though, and as deeply fucked up as she'd been, she was glad Remy had given her a chance.

"Nobody dat ever ended up coming here." Remy said, leaning back in his chair. "People coming in from de business are one thing, people who have no real choice are another. But people who have other choices den to be here needs to understand just what dey getting into. Because if dey don't, eventually, dey going to end up bitter and resentful. And when dat happens, you get people looking for an out. Dat's where people turn and sell you out."

"Anyone ever sell you out like that?" Jubilee asked, curious.

Jubilee liked to know things, it was one of the reasons she was good at her job. She wasn't using those skills now however, merely wanting to know something more about the man she considered a mentor.

"A few. Eventually a whole Agency." Remy nodded. "Dey wanted a monster right up until dey finally got to see what one looked like. Den, dey weren't so happy."

"What did you do?" Jubilee asked, almost reaching for a pack of cigerettes before remembering she'd quit the habit years ago.

Remy gave her a look. "I know full well dat you've taken a look into de Interpol records 'bout Gambit, petite. You know what I did. De reason de Agency finally burned me is dat dey weren't sure dat Gambit could be controlled any longer. I represented a tangible link between de United States and immensely violent and criminal activities throughout Europe, Asia and Africa. Dat's de calculus of loyalty in dis field, Jubilee; is de value of you abilities more den de liability dat your represent? When de answer is no, dey clean house."

“You’re not them though,” Jubilee noted, giving his words some thought. “I don’t think you’d let one of us rot somewhere just cause it’s less advantageous to come get us.”

"Non, but you going to be working wit' people at times dat will. Everytime we have to trust de assistance of an outside group, we're risking dat being applied to us."

"So don't assume everyone is like, gonna be gracious about screw ups," Jubilee noted with a nod, having known this already, but it never hurt to have it driven home again. "You heard about me and Doug?"

"De word got to me. He's interested in de Interpol agent, neh?" Remy said, watching for her reaction. He generally tried to stay out of the romantic foibles of the younger members of his team. He didn't have much positive experience to relate to them, and he perfered to not look the fool. He had idly wondered what the reaction might be if Doug ever mentioned to her that his boss was one of Interpol's most wanted, although he hoped Doug was smart enough to not bring it up.

“Terry, yeah,” Jubilee replied, wondering if Remy were fishing for an emotional outburst. She supposed it wasn’t completely unwarranted considering their line of work. “Think it’ll be a problem?”

"Depends what you mean by problem. If you mean her getting in our way, non. Terry may or may not agree wit' our methods, but Remy think her loyalty is to Xaviers first. Still, might have to remind Doug to watch his pillow talk if it goes dat far." he said mildly, obviously not too concerned. "If you mean problem between you and Doug being able to operate together in de field effectively, dat's another thing. Do you think it will be a problem?"

“Don’t think so,” Jubilee replied with a shrug, bringing a knee up so she could lean her chin against it. “Not gonna throw him off any buildings first chance I get, anyhow. Might think about it a little, won’t actually do it though.”

"Let me guess. De real reason dat you asking is because you mad, and part of de reason is you had been so sure dat because you already so broken dat it wouldn't hurt like it does right now." Remy gave her a slightly sad smile; an odd bit of encouragement from the Cajun. "Most of all, you don't understand why good weren't good enough, neh?"

“Bit transparent of me, yeah?” Jubilee replied, returning his smile with one of her own. “Got any sage advice to offer?”

"Don't try to make someone something more than they are." He leaned forward, his arms on his desk. His voice was almost gentle, the rough accent mellowing as he spoke. It was deep and liquid; an echo of Tante from him. "You been doing dis long enough now to start to get past people's facades, petite. Think about Doug like he was a potential asset; what does he want, what does he need, where are his levers? He needs to feel like he's de good guy. Dat he can walk through de job, much less de Hellfire Club, wit'out losing de good, moral figure dat he's built up in his head. And he still has a dream hidden in dere of some kind of life at de end which involves a stable, happy home. Dat's why he can't make decisions when he has to be de one at fault. And dat's why you ended up wit' him in de first place, because you could fool youself into believing dat what he wanted is what you wanted. And if he was blameless, den maybe you could be too."

“I just wanted somethin’ to come home to,” Jubilee murmured, tone wistfully sad. “Is that a bad thing, Remy?”

She wasn’t the type of person who cried, but she could feel the mix of anger and sadness inside, and she brushed the tears aside before they could fall.

"If you didn't, you wouldn't be a person, petite. But you can't make youself into someone else in order to make it happen. De unfortunate and inescapable fact of life, Jubilee, is dat we always come back to who we are, eventually." Remy motioned lightly. "And when dat person isn't out dere yet, you got to make due de best you can, honestly. Otherwise, it just going to hurt more in de end."

She was silent for a long time, brushing tears away as they fell, but thinking about what he’d said too. She knew he wouldn’t get impatient with her, they’d been what she thought of as mentor and student long enough that she could be sure of that.

“Thanks. It helps, you know?” she said finally, smiling through the lingering moisture of her tears. “So, you got any busy work for me? Cause I could totally use the distraction right now.”

"Dere's always work." Remy said, and rifled through his file. He started to pull one folder, paused, and then took out another. He slid it across the desk for her. "Rumours dat a Mexican gang has quietly bought a resort in de Mayan Rivera. Dey got ties wit' de North American Kick networks; might be using de place to conduct deals, maybe move some through it. Eyes and ears only; identify possible assets to turn, get an updated layout of de hotel, see if you recognize anyone on our watch list. Dat's all. I don't want you carrying anything into or out of dat hotel other den you brain dat is spylike. So go easy on de daqueris."

“Spy-like an frosty, boss. That’s like, totally me all over, “Jubilee replied, taking the file from him with a grin, tears of a moment ago forgotten as she focussed on what she’d need for the job. “Won’t let ya down.”

She gave him a salute before heading out the door, fingers tapping a dance rhythm against her thigh as she walked.