Marie-Ange and Wanda (backdated to Jan 24)

[x-tarot.livejournal.com]

Marie-Ange makes an appointment to talk with Wanda, and bring her back to the X-Force fold.



Between paperwork, reorganizing which of her things had ended up in Wade's suite versus the one she now shared with Amanda, renewing a handful of prescriptions for pain pills and then poking numerous holes in accounting paperwork with a stapler, Marie-Ange hadn't had time yet to explore exactly how Wanda Maximoff was there, seemed to know everyone, and was familiar with the journals enough to post.

It was easy enough to text the older woman - "Wanda" still featured in the contact list on her phone, though the actual number itself was different and ask if she had a few minutes to discuss the current situation.

Which was nicely vague.

The boathouse was much tidier than Marie-Ange had last seen it - though, the last time she'd seen it, she was helping guide a rather more than drunk off his ass Doug Ramsey back to his room, after what was a spectacular bender. Someone had cleaned up the table, binned the trash and even swept.

"It feels like forever since I came in here." Wanda stood in the doorway, looking around wistfully. She had just finished a resounding nap when she'd gotten Marie-Ange's text and it had only taken her long enough to look presentable before she made her way down to the small lake and boathouse on the grounds. "It certainly is quieter down here than back at the Mansion proper. I might have to keep that in mind considering the hoard that appears to be growing by the day."

"I think right now anywhere is quieter than the Mansion. It is so easy to forget how chaotic it is, after something big happens." Marie-Ange said. "Especially when everyone comes home to roost, and brings their relatives along, yes?"

That made her smile as Wanda wandered around for a moment before finally snagging a kitchen bar stool. "Just be grateful it's the nice relative as opposed to the grumpy one," she responded. "Pietro sends his regards. Or, actually, he doesn't, I completely made that up."

"I would think the best we can hope for is him not sending his sarcastic remarks about how we are all horrid people." Marie-Ange offered - and then caught herself before asking Wanda what Pietro was doing now. "Or slow; or slow and horrid." She said - instead. "I think, cutting to the chase a little, no? What did bring you home to roost? Not just the baby sister?"

"Mmm, no. Honestly, she was an unexpected addition." Her gaze grew slightly unfocused while she gathered her thoughts. "Ever since the teams were disbanded, I had been driving myself into the ground and chasing after Harkness and his cult. Agatha and I are still not on great terms but I had to focus on something." Too many months, too many countries and too few leads to show for all that effort. "So. when the holidays rolled around, I headed to Hawaii for a much needed break. And then the world went crazy and I had to come back."

She rolled her shoulders and grimaced. "I had hoped that it would mean the restart of the teams but, even worst case, I came back for a few days or weeks and recharged."

"Well, at least Hawaii is not possessed by a volcano goddess." Marie-Ange said. "I read that in a tabloid once, that people still believed in Pele." She rested her elbows on the little folding table. "Well, we are rebuilding X-Force, and Snow Valley. You still have an office, if you want it back."

"More than I could say," was the instant, firm reply. "When we dissolved ..." Wanda threw up her hands and sighed. "I had not realized how deeply I had tied myself to the team, to this place. I thought I would enjoy getting back to "normal" work but it held my attention for a few days? Pah, probably not even that."

"Oh, we spoiled you!" Marie-Ange said, laughing. "We spoiled you and now you have to have adventure and people throwing knives at you from dark corners."

She couldn't help but laugh in return. "It sounds so ridiculous, does it not?" Wanda said, a giggle escaping as she thought about it. "No one throws knives at me for months and I sulk and kick rocks! What have you people done to me?"

"If I say we set you up for kicking rocks and throwing knives, you will have walked right into that, and so I will not say it." Marie-Ange said - teasing words slipping out as easy as ordering from a favorite menu - if the restaurant had moved everything five feet to the left. "We are.. oh, what is the movie, with the Ghostbuster actor? And the singing. They say, we are getting the band back together. Most of us, anyway. I think we will need to, because of M-Day."

Wanda sobered up slightly at those words but the laughter had lifted some of the stress from her shoulders and had eased the hard look on her face. "I figured, or I should say, hoped as much," she responded. "I understood why Xavier saw fit to shut the doors before but that does not mean that I agreed with it. With everything that has happened since, I think regrouping is the only thing we can do."

"Regroup, and get our feet under us before this eats us alive. It is all we can do. All the rest of us who are still here, and more still, because..." Marie-Ange patted the lump in her pocket where a deck of cards sat. "Because we lost so many, and we need everyone whose skills make us a better team."

"Well, then you have me for as long as I can see," Wanda said warmly. "If what I experienced these past few months is what retirement might feel like ..." She made a disgusted noise. "I think I can wait until my hair is completely white to make that transition, thank you very much."

"Ooh, can I pluck out the greys?" Marie-Ange's hand wandered over until Wanda smacked at it. "We did not even lose the lease on the office, so you can have your office back just so. Minus some bourbon I stole from it. Wanda, really, it was the worst. I will replace it with something not terrible."

She huffed a laugh, trying to aim for irritated but missing entirely. "If that was the bourbon hidden in the fake book that certainly looked fake, you drank the decoy stuff I put out to prevent Jubilee from finding the better stuff. Which I am pretty sure I drank before we closed up." Wanda shrugged and grinned. "But do feel free to buy me another bottle as an office warming present. I certainly wouldn't say no."

"Well, it did work, just not on Jubilee. I think she has moved on to stealing drinks out from under the owners of stores that give Kurt dirty looks." Marie-Ange said. "I was having a bad night, and had just sent Artie to go learn to be a better criminal." Not that Artie needed much help. He was exceptionally criminally minded sometimes. Marie-Ange was almost proud of him - when she wasn't concerned.

"I'll try to remember to hide clues to the better stuff the next time I decide to do that. I'll make sure to write it in French to throw off Jubilee." She didn't think Jubilee spoke French. With a groan, Wanda slipped off the stool and stretched her back. "In the meantime, if the gang is getting back together, I probably should start working out again in the Danger Room. But ... not today? Do you want me to show you where I'm currently keeping the good bourbon?"

"Are you sure it is good, because twice I have had it and it was not good." Marie-Ange said - she wasn't sure any bourbon was good. Then her brain caught up with her - the Danger Room. Was an option for X-Force now. No more Danger Gym, not unless they put down bamboo mats somewhere in the mansion. "Actually yes, I need alcohol, no matter what it tastes because it has occurred to me that my name may have shown up on someone's Danger Room roster again and that thought terrifies me."

"Luckily for you, I have an entire array of alcohol to choose from if we cannot get you to appreciate the good bourbon I have in my rooms." The idea of running Danger Room trials after so much time away was both exhilarating and yet exhausting at the same time. "I am sure we can get Douglas to keep an eye on the roster and manipulate where needed," she teased. "I need some easing back into the training before facing Scott's version of an "easy" run."

The face Marie-Ange made spoke volumes about what she thought of Scott Summers' idea of easy. "Thankfully he is no longer the boss of us, and cannot make anyone go on 5am fun runs anymore." She made air quotes around the word fun. "There is not enough alcohol in the world for a 5am jog."

"X-Force. We may not be morning people but we can at least drink you under the table. Do you think we could fit that on our nonexistent business cards?"