Lorna and North: Beginning Sometime On Wednesday Night and ending early Thursday Morning

[x-polarisstar.livejournal.com]

Lorna and North have an adventure. Filled with poker, drinking, bar fights, golf, and some blacking out and waking up on the lawn with Scott looking down at them.


Lorna sat at the table over watching the men nearby playing a friendly game of poker. Well it looked like a friendly game of poker, but one of the players had been on a "lucky" streak. He had taken out the last two players rather quickly, as if he knew exactly what was in their hand. The green haired woman lifted her glass of wine and took a sip - waiting for the fight to break out or for David to finish off the other two guys.

It did not take too long for him to wrap up his game, throwing his cards face down on the table and downing the remainder of his third glass of whiskey. There was a brief round of good-natured ribbing and crude jokes made as his money was cleared away. David laughed a little and agreed to a re-match the following week before grabbing his trench coat and slipping over to the next table.

“You’ve been watching me.”

"Well if by watching you, you mean seeing how long it would take for them to realize that you aren't that "lucky" then yes I was watching you," Lorna smiled at David - and she was teasing him. "It is good to see you again David. Busy?"

“Not at the moment.” The spy quirked a half-smile and gestured at the chair next to hers, requesting permission to join her at her table. “Would you believe me if I told you that I was not using my powers, Miss Dane?”

Lorna nodded when he asked silently if he could join her. "Then you are extremely lucky. I have been watching for awhile...not that I am a stalker or anything."

“No, no. Of course not.” The German man cocked his head at Lorna, the glint of mischief in his eyes lost in the dim lighting of the pub. “I am just very good at poker,” he said solemnly. “Even if I did lose in the end. And you are not a stalker, even if I have never seen you here – or anywhere else since we returned from our last ‘trip’ abroad.”

"Right. Okay we will go with that. I come here sometimes. Last time I had too much to drink and Sharon lake'd me. I rather not have a repeat of that especially during the winter time." Lorna looked down at her wine glass. "Been in the kitchen and feeding everyone, even took up the cooking teacher position at the last minute. What have you been up too?"

"Working, training, breathing," David waved his hand, the gesture moving fluidly from dismissing his answer as unimportant to flagging down a waitress. "Playing poker. Everything as per normal."

"I never got into poker. Is it fun?"

“It is an exercise in reading people, preventing people from reading you, and knowing when to strike or retreat,” he replied, the smirk he was sporting indicating that he was joking if one knew him well enough. “I have heard that it can be fun.”

"Sounds like one of Scott's training sessions." Lorna laughed, "But I think poker would be a lot more entertaining."
“I cannot tell, because I have not trained under Summer,” he said. “But I feel obligated to agree with you. Can I get you another drink?”

Looking down at her almost empty glass and thought about it again, "Okay just one more. Believe me poker would probably be easier."

“All right,” he agreed congenially, signaling to their waitress for a second round. “I believe you.”

"So, what are your plans for the evening besides playing poker and having a few beers?"

“None whatsoever.” Aside from going back to the office and being a productive employee. As usual.

"Sounds boring. Come let’s play some pool or something. I think I am good at that one.”

Collecting his half-drunk beer from the table, David rose and gestured for Lorna to precede him to the part of the bar where they had two pool tables – both currently unused – nestled away in the far corner of the room.

Lorna put her bag and jacket down on a nearby table before taking a sip of her drink once more before she started to step up the table. "Want to break it?"

“As you wish,” David said, neatly racking the balls and grabbing two cues from the stand. Tossing one to Lorna, he lined up the shot and broke it, scattering the balls on the far end of the table, trapping the cue ball in the middle of an array of solids and stripes.

“Apparently, I am better at poker.”

Catching the cue stick and watched as David broke it and made a face when she saw that the cue ball had no good shot. "Perhaps that is true, but I have no shot now." She looked around before deciding to go for a strip ball. That stripe ball stopped right at the edge but the cue ball lined up perfectly, "Good thing I am not betting."

“We should,” he replied, tapping the striped ball lightly in. “Keeps things interesting, ja?”

"What did you have in mind?" Lorna looked at him as he was already winning this little game.

David paused to consider the question, leaning against the pool table with his ankles crossed. His gaze turned speculative after a moment. “Shots – one for every ball sunk, and of your chosen poison. Eight ball sunk in early earns eight shots, but successfully sunk at the conclusion earns the other party eight shots.”

"Well...here is to not remembering the rest of the night." Lifting up her wine glass and finishing it off. "Okay, since you got the first ball in, what am I drinking?"

"Choice is yours," he said, almost cheerfully, bending to line up his second shot. It missed by a good inch and the spy shrugged, raising his arm to flag down their waitress. "I am partial to whiskey, myself. Or vodka." Like every respectable German.

"If I am going to go out with a bang might as well do it with whiskey." Looking at the pool table before bending over to line up her shot. She got it in, "Yes." Making a little dance as she did so.

Two dozen shot glasses of amber liquid made their way over to the pool table, and David paid for both their tabs while Lorna lined up the next shot. He grabbed a glass, raised it in a salute and knocked it back with a satisfied sigh.

"That is a lot of alcohol..." Lorna picked up one and raised it before taking it, as she was behind one from his first shot. "Okay I can do this." Shaking her hands as she picked up the stick and looked for a good line up. She missed and lowered her head, "Oh man."

David obligingly handed her a shot glass, smirk curling a corner of his lips. Perhaps he ought not have set the stakes so high - this was neither Vanessa nor Wade he was drinking with, after all. Lowering them at this juncture, however, might offend his companion.

"Do not worry, Miss Dane. I know where you live."

Lorna laughed as she took the shot. She ended up winning that one, the next one, and was about to win the third one. "Come on North. I thought you were good." Leaning against the table, to hold her balance. The more she became drunk the better she got.

"Can't have you drinking all the alcohol now, can I?" David retorted. Unfortunately for him, he was not fooling her and she knew it. And he knew she knew it. The German man took the agreed upon penalty and gestured for her to take her next shot, still remarkably steady for someone who had lost count of the amount of whiskey that had traversed the path of his gullet.

While the pair had gotten progressively sloshed, the other pool table had been taken over by a group of rowdy men whose feelings were apparently buoyed by their football team taking a match. For their part, both mutants had ignored them. It was, unfortunately, rather difficult to ignore the lewd gestures being made by two of their party when the green-haired mutant leaned over the table to take a particularly deep move.

David set his cue down as a bald, broad-shouldered man approached from Lorna's back, but was a beat too late to prevent the lingering smack that was delivered to her behind.

"I can hold my liquor....so far." Lorna smiled at him before heading over to take her shot. She bent over to take the shot when suddenly she felt a smack. "Hey you made me miss..." Lorna turned around to see that it wasn't North and without another word she threw the first punch. "That kind of hurts without metal."

The man staggered back from the force of the blow, a look of astonishment on his face. His companions reacted with varying degrees of surprise - ranging from jeering catcalls and laughter to frowning faces. David stood placidly beside Lorna now, blank mask in place and arms at ease despite her amusing comment.

"You stupid little bitch! You punched me!"

"And you smacked my ass. I say we are quite even." Lorna leaned against the table again with the hand she punched under her other arm. As she spoke some of the other men started to come over as well. "Hey look guys your friend started it. I was just protecting my assets."

"He was just being friendly, no need to get violent."

"I think that was a rather friendly tap from her," David commented blandly. "No broken bones, ja?"

"Shut up, fucking Eurotrash," the bald man growled, having clearly recovered from getting punched in the face by a woman with more force than he could have anticipated. He stepped into the German's personal space, alcohol heavy on his breath. "I can handle a little love tapping from your lady friend. Whatcha gonna do 'bout it? Doubt you could do any better, you old ballsack."
He flung a beefy arm around Lorna's shoulders with a leer.

David grabbed his other arm, twisted it and yanked. A furious roar of pain was issued, and it all descended into hell from there.

"He coulda kept a friendly distance...ya know?" Lorna winced as he put an arm around her but it was soon off as the fight broke out. Seeing the other men coming, Lorna scratched her head as the chairs slide out to block their path, causing the men to tumble forward over them.

Moving away from the table, she watched as the men started to get up. She unbuckled their belts and took them off with just a little twirl of her finger – metal buckles gotta love them. With that their pants fell to their ankles, giving David more time.

The German man almost looked like he was enjoying himself, ducking, spinning and systematically weaving his way through the five men as he delivered blows with far too much accuracy for a man who had been in the cups. Lorna did not know, but alcohol dulled his senses and dampened his powers and it had been a while since he had fought without that particular advantage – not that Lorna’s choice of retaliation was not an advantage unto itself. Which was why, when he caught a blow to the back of his head, David snapped around on his heel and broke the asshole's nose with what could only be described as a huge shit-eating grin.

"HEY!" The bouncer was finally getting involved as he ran through the crowd to break it up.

Lorna ran to David and touched his shoulder, "We need to go."

The men were mostly on the floor by then, some assisted by David but mostly tangled up in pant legs. The German spy rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck, darting a glance towards the bouncer and the small spectating crowd that had gathered loosely around them.

He nodded towards the door, and by unspoken agreement, the pair swiftly exited the scene before they could be hindered.

“That may have been the stupidest thing I’ve done this year,” he commented, pulling on his coat and struggling with the buttons for a minute before giving up. “Maybe.”

Lorna had grabbed her coat and purse before leaving the building. "You still have six months to come up with something stupider." She put on her own coat and put her purse on her shoulder. "I think what was stupid is I punched that guy." She looked down at her bruising knuckles.

“I’m impressed,” David said, having to concentrate a little before his vision would focus enough for him to see the bruising without stumbling or having to snatch it up to peer at it. It would heal, he decided after a long deliberation. “It was a good punch. And given how much whiskey you’ve guzzled, I’m surprised you didn’t use your powers openly. Good job, Miss Dane.”

"That's me...impressin' as I go." She stumbled a bit and ended up leaning against David for support. "Hold on. My world is spinnin'."

He threw an arm around her shoulders to make sure she would not sag to the floor and they paused in the middle of the sidewalk for what must have been at least three minutes, waiting for the moment to pass.

“If you’re going to throw up, do it at the curb,” he warned, almost in an afterthought. The thirty-odd shots he had taken was keeping his belly warm and his mind distracted.

"I'm good. We keep walking and maybe find some food..." Lorna gave him the thumbs up sign and then she started to laugh. "I can't believe we just did that."

“Perhaps you’ll not remember it in the morning. Then I can put the blame on you.”

They stumbled down the sidewalk together, conversation a jumble of nonsense. They ended up buying slices of pizza from a hole-in-the-wall joint, hoping it would ease the buzz of alcohol a little. But it was not until they passed the most unlikely of sights that they finally found a place to rest their feet.

A miniature golf course.

"Ohh golf. Let's play." Lorna walked up to the gate and looked in. "Now this is something I am good at."

“That’s not golf,” David scoffed, but somehow or another managed to obligingly pick the lock and swing the gate open. “That, my friend, is a mockery of the sport for children to play.”

"Not golf? Pff. You have a putter, a ball and holes. Seems like golf to me." Lorna walked into the empty miniature golf course. "Okay. putters...putters...where are the putters?"

“Behind the counter?” David hazarded, making a vague gesture toward the registration counter right beside the wandering Lorna. She could climb over the counter or use her powers to get the putters. Either way, he was staying still for a moment for the world to settle in around him again. “I think the balls might be there as well.”

Lorna walked over to the counter and used her powers to get two putters before making sure everything was exactly how it was originally like. "There might be balls in the water."

“We’re not going fishing for balls,” he protested, though frankly he would not stop her.

"That sounds wrong on so many levels." Walking towards the water and getting on her hands and knees. "Okay. Concentrate Lorna." She said to herself as she pulled out a small metal ball from her pocket and fashioned it into a claw before lowering it into the water.

Well, he couldn’t help it if people had dirty minds, no? David crossed his arms across his chest as he watched Lorna claw up several golf balls from the water, each one dropped onto the ground beside her until she had a good half dozen.

“Nicely done, Miss Dane,” he complimented, helping her to her feet before gathering the balls in his hands. “To the green then.”

Standing up with the help of David, Lorna looked down at the golf balls. "Yup. I'll own you." Taking the putter in her had and started to walk to the first hole, which was probably not the first hole of the course but at the moment she did not care.

Lorna may or may not have owned him in that match. In the unlikely event that someone happened to ask either of them after the fact, Lorna would not be able to recall the exact outcome of their night and David would say that he was not able to recall anything per se.

It was, however, a little more difficult to deny the fact that early morning found the both of them sprawled out on the grass of the mansion grounds, David somehow having managed to get them into a cab willing to drive them out of the city for a hefty tip. What with the German man waking up to the sight of Scott Summers peering curiously down at the both them.

The German man blinked at him, then down at the green-haired mutant who was practically face planted into the grass. Then ever so silently, he rose to his feet, nodded at Scott and took a quick stage exit to the left. Summers would take care of Dane. Not much of an X-Man if he did not. Besides, David was having a hangover.