http://x-justice.livejournal.com/ (![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png)
x-justice.livejournal.com) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
xp_logs2012-05-02 12:30 pm
x-justice.livejournal.com) wrote in xp_logs2012-05-02 12:30 pm
Entry tags:
LOG: Vance and Terry have lunch. Unexpectedly. (Backdated)
Wednesday, Vance shows up in the City to ask Terry to lunch.
Lunchtime in the middle of the week would be unremarkable for NYC, except that this week Terry had an unexpected visitor for lunch. Vance hadn’t quite thought this impulse through fully-- and so, he found himself downstairs in the lobby as Terry was called and informed that she had a visitor. After having gone through the metal detector, turning over his driver’s license and signing into the federal building where she was currently working, he had a shiny visitor’s badge clipped to his shirt as he stood off to one side, hands tucked in his pockets as he leaned against the wall to wait. Fortunately for him, he didn’t look like a complete fool-- no flowers, or anything inappropriate for a surprise luncheon.
Yeah, that's going to raise an eyebrow or two once it works it way up to her superiors. Ex-cons who are not part of a current investigation showing up for a visit is a little out of the ordinary for FBI buildings. Terry's jewelry rattled as she crossed the floor toward the lobby and paused just inside to scan for either a familiar face or one looking like it's waiting for someone. She found both in Vance's, and her brows lifted. Her rubber soled shoes squeaked on the floor as she turned on the ball of her foot and moved toward him. "What are you doing here?" she said in a quiet, tense voice once she was in earshot, glancing around to see who might be observing them.
Vance started to smile at Terry’s approach and stood up from the wall, but was brought up short by the tension in her voice. He blinked at her, followed her gaze in looking around even though he had no idea what for, before looking back to her again. “Uh,” he started eloquently, this reaction from the redhead giving him some uncertainty, “Well, I was in the city taking a break from the usual day to day. I thought maybe you would want to get lunch if you hadn’t already eaten?” The sad part was, his voice was sincere and slightly earnest, unaware of the faux pas he had just committed by showing up out of the blue, unannounced.
Terry stared at him for a moment, her lips pressing together, then sticking slightly as she opened her mouth to reply. "...you showed up at a federal /law enforcement/ building unannounced just to ask me to lunch? Are you insane?" she hissed, green eyes gone wide. She grabbed for his elbow and started to tug him along with her toward the building entrance.
With each passing moment of Terry’s silence, Vance’s composure slipped a little, looking more and more uncertain. “Yes. And no,” he said in slightly bewildered reply to Terry’s rhetorical question, eyebrows furrowed as his elbow is grabbed, and he is walked a few steps towards the exit. Before he can be marched out of the lobby, he shook his elbow loose of the redhead’s grip and grabbed her arm to pull her to a halt instead of trying to rush him out of the exit. “Hold on,” he said as he unclipped the visitor’s badge and released her to turn it back over to the guards in the lobby, ensuring the return of his own ID. After which, he moved to re-join Terry and walk outside. Calmly. In no hurry. Like he had never done anything wrong in his life.
Outside, Terry stumbled to a stop as if surprised to find herself there. She turned to face Vance, hair swinging around to tumble across her face. She pulled her hand up and through her bangs, pulling them back, then made a 'well?' gesture at the man.
Vance spread his hands helplessly, still a little wrong-footed at the severity of her reaction to his showing up for lunch. Whatever consequences may come of his little impromptu visit, it’s clear that they did not occur to Vance, his eyes a mixture of slight confusion, edged with just a little hurt. He looked up and down the street to spot any convenient cafes, then back to Terry, “Well-- I thought you might know of a nice little place around here we could eat. I’ll treat,” he added as he looked down, and for the first time seemed to notice that Terry had forgotten to bring anything with her but herself, “as it was my impulse to stop in. And… as it looks like you left everything else upstairs.”
Terry sputtered and looked down at her light summer jacket-and-pants outfit, entirely sans wallet, then looked back up at him and finally seemed to notice the honest confusion and hurt. She rocked back on her heels and closed her eyes for a moment, and inhaled deeply before opening them again. Her lips twitched in the beginnings of a rueful smile. "Seems I did, to be sure." She twirled a ring around the base of her right index finger, then looked down the street beyond him. "All right. I know a place. C'mon."
Vance let Terry collect herself, taking the opportunity to watch her, his eyes drinking her in as she closed her eyes. His own lips twitched back a slightly hopeful smile as the redhead seems to master herself and even dredge up some glimmer of affection. “Sorry to catch you so unexpectedly,” Vance apologized as he walked next to Terry, letting her lead. “The mansion was a little crazy today, so I just kind of-- came into the city. Thought I’d look around, maybe visit District X. And then I remembered you were here, and it was around lunch time--“ He trailed off, and his cheeks flushed a very slight pink as he realized just how lame it all sounded. Even if it rang of sincerity.
"Just... call me next time, so I can meet you someplace instead," Terry answered, leading them down the sidewalk at a slow pace. She glanced back at the building they just exited once, then picked up the pace. Not that she was ashamed of him, but his recently revealed past could cause complications. Not that she explained this reasoning as she shuffled down the sidewalk next to him, her hands hooked behind her back. "I hope you like Greek."
“Give me your number, and I’ll do exactly that,” Vance replied to Terry’s suggestion, the ghost of a grin passing over his lips. He didn’t remark on the change of speed as they left the government building behind, but simply kept pace with the shorter woman as his eyes roved between the flow of people around them as they walked, and the woman he walked with. He half grinned again at her lunch selection and nodded, “I do. A favorite of yours, or just whimsy?”
"It is close, cheap, and good. Maybe not so much a favorite as it is practical," Terry answered, giving him a short-lived laugh and roll of her eyes. "What about you? You intend to end up here for lunch, or was that just whimsy?" she teased, some strain still overlaying her words.
“Just proximity, I swear,” Vance said as he held up his hands defensively, a smile teasing the edge of his lips. “Running into you and Doug yesterday… well, it made me realize just how much I shut myself into the mansion since I got there. It’s been a number of years since I came to the city, so I just-- jumped a train, and here I am.” He ducked his head slightly and peered sideways over at the redhead as he continued to walk with her, “You’re not displeased I thought of having lunch with you?”
Terry chewed the inside of her lip for a moment before she answered slowly, "Nooo, not displeased. Curious, more like." She swung suddenly in front of Vance, nearly forcing the man to bowl her over as she reached for the door of a tucked away shop that advertised more by word of mouth than signage. Looking up, her lips twitched again as she gestured him inside.
Vance’s feet stuttered and stumbled as Terry veered right in front of him, and his hands moved quickly to keep him from bowling the redhead over. In the end, his hands ended on Terry’s arms, holding her even as she held the door open. At her gesture, Vance looked through the door and then remembered suddenly to remove his hands from Terry as he stepped back and flushed just slightly. “Sorry. Give a guy a little warning next time?”
Almost amused by the unintended contact, Terry simply lifted a brow (though her skin showed a stain of color that spread unevenly across her nose and cheeks). "Same t' you, bucko," she retorted as she pulled herself in through the doorway ahead of him.
Vance shook his head slightly at himself as Terry stepped into the little hideaway in front of him, entering only after he’d held the door for her. They gathered their food while Vance paid and grabbed a small table off to the side that still allowed them access to one of the little windows facing the street. As he assembled his meal, Vance glanced over the table at Terry, switching between his food and the redhead as he clearly worked his way through a few things in his head. And coming to the /wrong/ conclusion, he asked hesitantly, “So-- is Doug your husband?”
Terry spread her gyros out and picked through the ingredients with an almost obsessive level of nitpickery, arranging the ingredients to get a little bit of each in every bite. Her fingers were kept neat up until the point of that question. In a sputtering flail, she dipped her fingertips too far into the sauce and flipped out bits of lettuce and onions across the paper wrapping as she looked up. "What? No! Why would you think-- Uhgh." She dropped her forehead into her hand, then popped it back out after feeling the smear of sauce across her hairline.
Vance stopped before he could even take a bite of his food, and a flush of embarrassment colored his cheeks as he looked down. To save himself from further verbal humiliation, he murmured a quiet “Oh. Sorry. I just--” And then took a bite of his food so that he would just shut up now, thanks. Also he made a point of not staring at Terry’s personal swath of destruction and focused on his plate instead.
Terry attacked her personal swath of destruction with a napkin, starting with her forehead. Her movements were agitated and her color closed in on Vance's telekinesis display. Finally, after a moment, she crumpled up the napkin and left it on the table between them as she slumped in her seat and stared across at him. "I'm separated. He's in California. Used to be here, but now is not," she said in a stiff, halting tumble of words.
If he had not been in polite company, Vance might have actually sworn as the landmine exploded underneath him. His eyes softened at Terry’s stare, and his features kind of crumpled with a mixture of concern, regret and embarrassment. He finished his bite and set his food down on the plate, quashing the impulse to reach over the table for her hand. “Terry--“ he said, and faltered, going silent as he watched her unhappily across the table. “I’m really sorry.” Again with that sincerity crap. He really did mean it.
"Guess I did not give you much warning there either, now did I?" Terry said after a moment, eyes dropping down to stare at the meal in front of her. She waved her hand and shifted in her seat, lips pinched together so tightly they almost disappeared.
Vance strangled the half hysterical bark of laughter that tried to fight its way from his chest, effectively making him twist his lips in a grimace as he also turned his eyes downward. “Fuck,” he said quietly, totally underneath his breath, though probably not so quiet that it wouldn’t reach Terry’s ears. There was another moment of silence, and then he spoke in a slightly louder voice, “I guess there were a lot of things we didn’t tell each other--“ He trailed off gently, the words offered as a sort of olive branch. Or maybe a conversational life raft for the both of them to cling to. “Look, Terry--“ he started, and then stopped again, a little lost for words.
Which Terry ignored. She crossed her arms in front of her and and glanced back up at him as she waited for him to finish (or find) what he wanted to say.
Vance flushed slightly as she glanced back up and made eye contact with him, and then stared at his plate, looking pretty miserable. “I’m sorry,” he began again quietly, working his way slowly through the words as his eyes dared to look back up at her across the table. “This was just an impulsive little thing-- lunch. Easy. Casual. Fun.” He pushed a hand slowly up through his hair, taking a breath and letting it out slowly as he watched her. “I just-- I’m comfortable with you. You know so much more about me than most of the others. And you can make me laugh, or smile. And it’s just easier, somehow. So, I’m sorry I’ve made it all that more difficult by--“ he waved a hand indicating the sudden tension so thick it might have needed more than a knife to cut, “talking about everything like an idiot.”
He sat back in his chair, letting out a huff of defeated breath, still looking a little miserable as he tried to gauge Terry’s reaction to his words. “So, if you can give me a second chance at this lunch thing, I promise you we can talk about-- bubblegum.” At this, Vance’s lips quirked into a very slight grin, inviting Terry to share in the little joke at his expense, “Or Malibu Barbie. Or whatever you want. Or I’ll just shut up and leave if that’s what you’d prefer.”
Terry sat still for a moment longer, then let a low breath out and shook her head, a small, bitter smile slipping into place as she did. "It's not your fault. You didn't know," she said before inhaling and holding her breath, cheeks ballooning out. She scooted down on her side of the table and planted her foot on his bench, next to his leg. "We're going to have to talk about it though, aren't we?" She narrowed her eyes and tilted her head as she peered at him. "I am the Queen o' 'not talking about it,' though so the offer is good today only. M'name is Theresa Cassidy-Drake, I work for Interpol, and I am a mutant," she offered, like an alcoholic introducing himself at an AA meeting, keeping the last bit quieter.
Vance’s eyes strayed to Terry’s foot as she put it up before looking back at her across the table, his forearms rested on the table in front of him. Her foot felt the gentle shift of his leg, his thigh bumping softly against her foot even as he simply held the contact, his leg strong and warm-- and maybe vaguely reassuring because that is all he did to acknowledge just how close she was. His lips curled in a small half smile, gentle and warm as he replied just as softly, “And my name is Vance Astrovik. A soon to be graduated college student, ex-professional wrestler, ex-con, and also a mutant. It is a pleasure to meet you, Theresa Cassidy-Drake.”
Lunchtime in the middle of the week would be unremarkable for NYC, except that this week Terry had an unexpected visitor for lunch. Vance hadn’t quite thought this impulse through fully-- and so, he found himself downstairs in the lobby as Terry was called and informed that she had a visitor. After having gone through the metal detector, turning over his driver’s license and signing into the federal building where she was currently working, he had a shiny visitor’s badge clipped to his shirt as he stood off to one side, hands tucked in his pockets as he leaned against the wall to wait. Fortunately for him, he didn’t look like a complete fool-- no flowers, or anything inappropriate for a surprise luncheon.
Yeah, that's going to raise an eyebrow or two once it works it way up to her superiors. Ex-cons who are not part of a current investigation showing up for a visit is a little out of the ordinary for FBI buildings. Terry's jewelry rattled as she crossed the floor toward the lobby and paused just inside to scan for either a familiar face or one looking like it's waiting for someone. She found both in Vance's, and her brows lifted. Her rubber soled shoes squeaked on the floor as she turned on the ball of her foot and moved toward him. "What are you doing here?" she said in a quiet, tense voice once she was in earshot, glancing around to see who might be observing them.
Vance started to smile at Terry’s approach and stood up from the wall, but was brought up short by the tension in her voice. He blinked at her, followed her gaze in looking around even though he had no idea what for, before looking back to her again. “Uh,” he started eloquently, this reaction from the redhead giving him some uncertainty, “Well, I was in the city taking a break from the usual day to day. I thought maybe you would want to get lunch if you hadn’t already eaten?” The sad part was, his voice was sincere and slightly earnest, unaware of the faux pas he had just committed by showing up out of the blue, unannounced.
Terry stared at him for a moment, her lips pressing together, then sticking slightly as she opened her mouth to reply. "...you showed up at a federal /law enforcement/ building unannounced just to ask me to lunch? Are you insane?" she hissed, green eyes gone wide. She grabbed for his elbow and started to tug him along with her toward the building entrance.
With each passing moment of Terry’s silence, Vance’s composure slipped a little, looking more and more uncertain. “Yes. And no,” he said in slightly bewildered reply to Terry’s rhetorical question, eyebrows furrowed as his elbow is grabbed, and he is walked a few steps towards the exit. Before he can be marched out of the lobby, he shook his elbow loose of the redhead’s grip and grabbed her arm to pull her to a halt instead of trying to rush him out of the exit. “Hold on,” he said as he unclipped the visitor’s badge and released her to turn it back over to the guards in the lobby, ensuring the return of his own ID. After which, he moved to re-join Terry and walk outside. Calmly. In no hurry. Like he had never done anything wrong in his life.
Outside, Terry stumbled to a stop as if surprised to find herself there. She turned to face Vance, hair swinging around to tumble across her face. She pulled her hand up and through her bangs, pulling them back, then made a 'well?' gesture at the man.
Vance spread his hands helplessly, still a little wrong-footed at the severity of her reaction to his showing up for lunch. Whatever consequences may come of his little impromptu visit, it’s clear that they did not occur to Vance, his eyes a mixture of slight confusion, edged with just a little hurt. He looked up and down the street to spot any convenient cafes, then back to Terry, “Well-- I thought you might know of a nice little place around here we could eat. I’ll treat,” he added as he looked down, and for the first time seemed to notice that Terry had forgotten to bring anything with her but herself, “as it was my impulse to stop in. And… as it looks like you left everything else upstairs.”
Terry sputtered and looked down at her light summer jacket-and-pants outfit, entirely sans wallet, then looked back up at him and finally seemed to notice the honest confusion and hurt. She rocked back on her heels and closed her eyes for a moment, and inhaled deeply before opening them again. Her lips twitched in the beginnings of a rueful smile. "Seems I did, to be sure." She twirled a ring around the base of her right index finger, then looked down the street beyond him. "All right. I know a place. C'mon."
Vance let Terry collect herself, taking the opportunity to watch her, his eyes drinking her in as she closed her eyes. His own lips twitched back a slightly hopeful smile as the redhead seems to master herself and even dredge up some glimmer of affection. “Sorry to catch you so unexpectedly,” Vance apologized as he walked next to Terry, letting her lead. “The mansion was a little crazy today, so I just kind of-- came into the city. Thought I’d look around, maybe visit District X. And then I remembered you were here, and it was around lunch time--“ He trailed off, and his cheeks flushed a very slight pink as he realized just how lame it all sounded. Even if it rang of sincerity.
"Just... call me next time, so I can meet you someplace instead," Terry answered, leading them down the sidewalk at a slow pace. She glanced back at the building they just exited once, then picked up the pace. Not that she was ashamed of him, but his recently revealed past could cause complications. Not that she explained this reasoning as she shuffled down the sidewalk next to him, her hands hooked behind her back. "I hope you like Greek."
“Give me your number, and I’ll do exactly that,” Vance replied to Terry’s suggestion, the ghost of a grin passing over his lips. He didn’t remark on the change of speed as they left the government building behind, but simply kept pace with the shorter woman as his eyes roved between the flow of people around them as they walked, and the woman he walked with. He half grinned again at her lunch selection and nodded, “I do. A favorite of yours, or just whimsy?”
"It is close, cheap, and good. Maybe not so much a favorite as it is practical," Terry answered, giving him a short-lived laugh and roll of her eyes. "What about you? You intend to end up here for lunch, or was that just whimsy?" she teased, some strain still overlaying her words.
“Just proximity, I swear,” Vance said as he held up his hands defensively, a smile teasing the edge of his lips. “Running into you and Doug yesterday… well, it made me realize just how much I shut myself into the mansion since I got there. It’s been a number of years since I came to the city, so I just-- jumped a train, and here I am.” He ducked his head slightly and peered sideways over at the redhead as he continued to walk with her, “You’re not displeased I thought of having lunch with you?”
Terry chewed the inside of her lip for a moment before she answered slowly, "Nooo, not displeased. Curious, more like." She swung suddenly in front of Vance, nearly forcing the man to bowl her over as she reached for the door of a tucked away shop that advertised more by word of mouth than signage. Looking up, her lips twitched again as she gestured him inside.
Vance’s feet stuttered and stumbled as Terry veered right in front of him, and his hands moved quickly to keep him from bowling the redhead over. In the end, his hands ended on Terry’s arms, holding her even as she held the door open. At her gesture, Vance looked through the door and then remembered suddenly to remove his hands from Terry as he stepped back and flushed just slightly. “Sorry. Give a guy a little warning next time?”
Almost amused by the unintended contact, Terry simply lifted a brow (though her skin showed a stain of color that spread unevenly across her nose and cheeks). "Same t' you, bucko," she retorted as she pulled herself in through the doorway ahead of him.
Vance shook his head slightly at himself as Terry stepped into the little hideaway in front of him, entering only after he’d held the door for her. They gathered their food while Vance paid and grabbed a small table off to the side that still allowed them access to one of the little windows facing the street. As he assembled his meal, Vance glanced over the table at Terry, switching between his food and the redhead as he clearly worked his way through a few things in his head. And coming to the /wrong/ conclusion, he asked hesitantly, “So-- is Doug your husband?”
Terry spread her gyros out and picked through the ingredients with an almost obsessive level of nitpickery, arranging the ingredients to get a little bit of each in every bite. Her fingers were kept neat up until the point of that question. In a sputtering flail, she dipped her fingertips too far into the sauce and flipped out bits of lettuce and onions across the paper wrapping as she looked up. "What? No! Why would you think-- Uhgh." She dropped her forehead into her hand, then popped it back out after feeling the smear of sauce across her hairline.
Vance stopped before he could even take a bite of his food, and a flush of embarrassment colored his cheeks as he looked down. To save himself from further verbal humiliation, he murmured a quiet “Oh. Sorry. I just--” And then took a bite of his food so that he would just shut up now, thanks. Also he made a point of not staring at Terry’s personal swath of destruction and focused on his plate instead.
Terry attacked her personal swath of destruction with a napkin, starting with her forehead. Her movements were agitated and her color closed in on Vance's telekinesis display. Finally, after a moment, she crumpled up the napkin and left it on the table between them as she slumped in her seat and stared across at him. "I'm separated. He's in California. Used to be here, but now is not," she said in a stiff, halting tumble of words.
If he had not been in polite company, Vance might have actually sworn as the landmine exploded underneath him. His eyes softened at Terry’s stare, and his features kind of crumpled with a mixture of concern, regret and embarrassment. He finished his bite and set his food down on the plate, quashing the impulse to reach over the table for her hand. “Terry--“ he said, and faltered, going silent as he watched her unhappily across the table. “I’m really sorry.” Again with that sincerity crap. He really did mean it.
"Guess I did not give you much warning there either, now did I?" Terry said after a moment, eyes dropping down to stare at the meal in front of her. She waved her hand and shifted in her seat, lips pinched together so tightly they almost disappeared.
Vance strangled the half hysterical bark of laughter that tried to fight its way from his chest, effectively making him twist his lips in a grimace as he also turned his eyes downward. “Fuck,” he said quietly, totally underneath his breath, though probably not so quiet that it wouldn’t reach Terry’s ears. There was another moment of silence, and then he spoke in a slightly louder voice, “I guess there were a lot of things we didn’t tell each other--“ He trailed off gently, the words offered as a sort of olive branch. Or maybe a conversational life raft for the both of them to cling to. “Look, Terry--“ he started, and then stopped again, a little lost for words.
Which Terry ignored. She crossed her arms in front of her and and glanced back up at him as she waited for him to finish (or find) what he wanted to say.
Vance flushed slightly as she glanced back up and made eye contact with him, and then stared at his plate, looking pretty miserable. “I’m sorry,” he began again quietly, working his way slowly through the words as his eyes dared to look back up at her across the table. “This was just an impulsive little thing-- lunch. Easy. Casual. Fun.” He pushed a hand slowly up through his hair, taking a breath and letting it out slowly as he watched her. “I just-- I’m comfortable with you. You know so much more about me than most of the others. And you can make me laugh, or smile. And it’s just easier, somehow. So, I’m sorry I’ve made it all that more difficult by--“ he waved a hand indicating the sudden tension so thick it might have needed more than a knife to cut, “talking about everything like an idiot.”
He sat back in his chair, letting out a huff of defeated breath, still looking a little miserable as he tried to gauge Terry’s reaction to his words. “So, if you can give me a second chance at this lunch thing, I promise you we can talk about-- bubblegum.” At this, Vance’s lips quirked into a very slight grin, inviting Terry to share in the little joke at his expense, “Or Malibu Barbie. Or whatever you want. Or I’ll just shut up and leave if that’s what you’d prefer.”
Terry sat still for a moment longer, then let a low breath out and shook her head, a small, bitter smile slipping into place as she did. "It's not your fault. You didn't know," she said before inhaling and holding her breath, cheeks ballooning out. She scooted down on her side of the table and planted her foot on his bench, next to his leg. "We're going to have to talk about it though, aren't we?" She narrowed her eyes and tilted her head as she peered at him. "I am the Queen o' 'not talking about it,' though so the offer is good today only. M'name is Theresa Cassidy-Drake, I work for Interpol, and I am a mutant," she offered, like an alcoholic introducing himself at an AA meeting, keeping the last bit quieter.
Vance’s eyes strayed to Terry’s foot as she put it up before looking back at her across the table, his forearms rested on the table in front of him. Her foot felt the gentle shift of his leg, his thigh bumping softly against her foot even as he simply held the contact, his leg strong and warm-- and maybe vaguely reassuring because that is all he did to acknowledge just how close she was. His lips curled in a small half smile, gentle and warm as he replied just as softly, “And my name is Vance Astrovik. A soon to be graduated college student, ex-professional wrestler, ex-con, and also a mutant. It is a pleasure to meet you, Theresa Cassidy-Drake.”