xp_logs | Scott and Adrienne (Backdated)

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After bitching him out in Rogue's journal and being chastised by people for doing so, a pissed-off Adrienne runs into Scott in the Danger Room and goads him into a sparring match in order to force him to admit his true feelings.

Armed with the bow she'd taken from her demon alternate self and a quiver of arrows, Adrienne entered the control area of the Danger Room intending on putting herself through an archery course. She could have gone outside, but the weather was dreary. She balked, however, when she saw Scott at the control desk. "What are you doing here?" she asked him bluntly, surprised to see him. She'd been trying to avoid certain people since their move to this new universe, and Scott was near the top of her list.

The sound of someone else's voice snapped Scott's head up an towards the door, he hadn't expected anyone else to show up in the Danger Room at this time of the day so had retreated there for a little bit of peace and quiet in a mansion that never seemed to have enough of it. "I'm..." Scott gestured at the control surface in front of him, "Just updating the danger room scenarios. The worlds a lot tougher, and we need to be ready to handle that. What're you doing down here this late? I didn't think anyone would want to use the room now."

"Well, I do," she snapped at him. "I'm here and I want to use it. And I don't give a shit if you think this world's 'a lot tougher and we need to be ready to handle it,'" she added, mocking him with a sad impersonation of his voice.

Scott's eyebrows shot up into his hair at Adrienne's reply, "It sounds to me like you agree with me, if you're down here training up your archery in the middle of the night," he told her in a flat voice, "discipline, depth perception and a useful skill just in case. It's always been a useful training tool. I can load up a range for you if you're like."

"I can load up my own range," she shot back. "I don't need your help." He'd been so helpful lately. He'd been everywhere, offering advice and guidance to help get everyone settled and going about their daily lives once again. It was incredibly grating. Everything he did was grating on her lately. "And I'm not training," she added. "And I'm up because I can't sleep. And you know why I can't sleep? Because a bunch of people I cared about fucking died."

"You're not the only one hurting, not the only person who lost people they cared about Adrienne," Scott replied softly, "plenty of people are having trouble sleeping and adjusting without you snapping at me. I only offered to help, if you don't want my help," he gestured at a nearby console, "please help yourself."

Adrienne tossed her quiver and the beautiful bow down on the ground. "That's it. I'm sick of people telling me 'we all grieve in our own way.' I'm sick of this soft-voiced helpful bullshit. You and me. Spar. Danger Room. Right now. Let's go." She wanted to beat the shit out of him. "You wanna help me? This is what you can do. Let's go," she repeated, and stalked out of the control room towards the actual working area.

Scott watched Adrienne stalk out of the room before pushing his chair back and standing up to follow her down to the danger room. He thought he could understand why she was so angry, but he wasn't going to hold back. Besides, he realised as he took up a position opposite Adrienne, he'd been spoiling for a fight since this whole thing started. "Ready whenever you are," he told her coldly.

Adrienne did some quick stretches and bounced around on the balls of her feet for a couple moments before she lashed out at him with a 1-2-3-2 (jab-cross-hook-cross) combination.

Scott's hands came up defensively blocking the start of her attack before he pivoted on his foot to swing out of the way of her combination and deliver a jab of his own at her midriff.

Taking the jab, Adrienne took advantage of the fact that his jab had left his right side open and gave him a quick hook followed by another cross before dancing away. "I'm surprised you actually hit me," she taunted, bouncing around looking for another opening. "Shouldn't you be trying to help me make hot chocolate or something? Isn't that what you do these days?"

"I'll be happy to bring you a hot chocolate to soothe your bruised ego after we're done here," Scott retorted coldly, centering himself and extending his arms into a basic martial arts position as his eyes quickly started analyzing Adrienne's movements. "I'd hardly be a good sparring partner if I just stood there and let you wail on me now would I?"

"But that's what you do, isn't it? You're the good little leader, you just stand there. Your wife dies and now you're doing nothing!" she shot back, coming in on his left side but then dekeing low to the right to give him a cross, body blow, and hook.

Scott grabbed Adrienne's wrist, moving into the blow to lessen the impact as he swivelled and tossed her to the floor over his hip, "What other option do I have?" he asked rhetorically moving back out of her reach, "spending all day shut up in my room being catatonic isn't going to help anybody. Nor is snapping at everyone or bawling my eyes out. As much as I want to shut myself in my apartment feeling sorry for myself who will that help?" The X-man pointed above their heads, "There is an entire mansion up there full of people who are unsure of their place in this world, who are scared and sad , who lost friends and loved ones of their own. They're still here and they need me, someone, to help them."

Adrienne lashed out from the floor, sweeping her legs around behind his in an attempt to trip him up. "You don't have to help them!" she yelled at him, volume rising in her voice. His comments stung with a particular venom since she'd done all of the things he mentioned, so it felt like a personal attack against her. "You don't have to be that guy all the fucking time, Scott!" It was rare for her to call him by his first name, a sign of how emotional she was about the whole thing. "Why can't you just stop thinking about helping everyone else for five minutes and do something to help yourself? Rogue thinks you're grieving in your own way, but you're not. You're not dealing with your shit at all! You're just avoiding it by pretending your pain doesn't matter as much as everyone else's; that they need to be helped but you don't!" At least, that's how it seemed to her. "But that's bullshit!"

"Because I can't stop to think about it, to let myself feel it," Scott countered, "Not if I don't want to collapse and turn into a quivering ball!" The X-man shook his head, "You're right and Rogue's wrong, I'm not dealing. But you know what? I'm not sad, I'm not distraught over anything, I'm mad. You know what, she LEFT ME!" At this point Scott was shouting back at Adrienne. "Jean was so noble, she sacrificed herself to protect all of us and all of reality I know. But she always did this, always chose to sacrifice herself, I've been through this before Adrienne. I thought I'd lost her before and then she came back, but she's not coming back from this one. She believed in Charles and chose to do what was best for everyone like he always talks about but she left. That's the bare truth, there wasn't a discussion, there wasn't a chance for us to find a better way she just chose."

Scott took a deep breath, "I met my soulmate, you know how rare that is? I met her and then I lost here and there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it. And now all I have left is this mansion, these people. All I can do is make sure they're ok and that everyone is trained to the edge, so that no-one else has to choose that sacrifice so they don't leave anyone else feeling like I do right now."

Adrienne got to her feet. "I knew it," she stated plainly, without pride or accusation. Sure, later she would probably be telling everyone she knew that she'd figured Scott out, proud of that fact due to her usual obtuseness in regards to human emotions. But right now, she was just relieved that she didn't have to fight with him anymore. He'd finally admitted what she'd been wanting him to admit for weeks. He was pissed off that Jean had chosen the universe over him and hadn't talked it over with him first.

"And I get it," she told him with a nod, offering a hand to help him up. "One day, I know Kane's going to do the same to me. I hate that about him. I hate that about all of you," she admitted. "And myself. I used to think I'd never be the kind of person who'd put others above myself, but I left to protect the mansion once, too. Without telling Kane. He destroyed some property over it. Would it make you feel better to destroy some property?" she asked suggestively, trying to be helpful. Because now that she'd gotten him to admit that he was angry, she had no idea how to make him feel better about it.

"If I did, I'd be the one who had to deal with all the paperwork and repairs," Scott noted wryly, "and no amount of fun is worth adding paper to the pile." The paperwork in his office never seemed to go down, it was like a never ending monster intent of taking over his whole desk. "I think I could do with a drink, well perhaps all the drinks. and then." Scott's voice trailed off for a moment, "and then I don't know." For the first time in a long time, Scott had no idea what the future would bring.

"You don't have to know, you know," Adrienne pointed out. "I get that too. Change is scary as fuck. Not knowing is scary as fuck. You think you have to know what's going to happen, but you don't. And all the drinks helps with that," she nodded in approval. "Did you wanna finish sparring first? Get some more buried feelings out there? Or just go drink now?"

"It's not the not knowing that scares me," Scott admitted, "It's the, I dunno, lack of a rock. I feel like I'm just floating adrift, not having that security of someone to fall back on is terrifying. I'd forgotten about that." Scott sighed and gave Adrienne a wry look, "Since we've started, I say we go three more rounds and then see if we can drink all the drinks at Harry's. Loser buys the first round."

"Sounds good to me," Adrienne nodded, starting to hop around once again, circling Scott. "And you have Xavier," she pointed out, hoping he'd find that comforting. Sure, she didn't trust the old man, or agree with some of his philosophies, but Scott did. "You have Kane to help you with the X-Men stuff. Kane's a good rock. You have Logan. The three of you can rock each other," she smirked. That way Scott didn't have to be everyone else's rock on his own, and he could feel like he had support to fall back on. Support that actually knew what they were doing, unlike Adrienne. "Or maybe I'll just have to make it my mission in life to find you a new rock of the female persuasion," she suggested, sounding unsure of how he'd take the suggestion but running with it anyway. "You know. Take it slow, obviously. But show you that there's gonna be a new life out there for you now."

"I never thought I'd ever hear someone advising me to lean on Logan," Scott noted dryly, "I think we'd better check the news for stories about flying bacon...although that could just be Marie dropping her sandwich," he allowed. ".New life huh," Scott gave Adrienne a small smile, "guess I have to move on, otherwise you're gonna knock me onto my back again."

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Guys, guys - this was awesome. Seriously, Adrienne and Scott hit some really awesome points that I think all the other P1 characters can relate to and that's just fantastic. The flow was wonderful! More of this sometime soon, please. :)