Sydney/Laurie - Afternoon Drinks

[xp-changeling.livejournal.com]

Laurie joins Kevin for a drink, discovering that the man doesn't give up personal information easily.



Laurie typed out a reply to an sms from Marie-Ange about the fact that Laurie might have encouraged Wade to build a fully functional replica of a ballista in the mansion's grounds as she exited the Snow Valley offices. She'd spent a satisfying lunch date with Doug after she'd managed to tear him away from his latest batch of intelligence reports.

She knew that her chosen family's work was important but that didn't mean she wouldn't make them relax from time to time. Of course, she herself could probably follow her own advice.

"Hello Kevin," she said, pulling the door open for the older man. "Has you day been productive?"

"I have not been shot yet today, so I am calling it a success." He said, putting on his hat. "Finishing up a date? Dates? Whatever the hell you people are doing."

"Lunch date with Doug." Laurie replied with an amused smile. "I find making a formal time for eating means that we don't forget due to more pressing concerns or interests. Are you headed anywhere particular? I find myself in the mood for company."

"My current plan involves drinking heavily and reading about a thousand reports. There might be smoking cigarettes as well. I've been trying to multi-task more."

"Well, if you don't mind the company I could get you started on the first at least," Laurie said, stepping through the door and pausing as the heat hit her square in the face. "As long as it's air conditioned anyhow."

"Air conditioning isn't really one of my priorities." Kevin said. Another advantage to shapeshifting; heat and cold didn't bother him until they got to extremes. His body regularly subconsciously adapted. With helped, considering he was wearing a suit in the New York summer swelter "But I'm sure there's somewhere."

He took the lead, cutting across to the west side of the island, passing 8th avenue at a pace that had the shorter woman near jogging to catch up. After a few more blocks he turned and opened the door to a small corner bar.

Laurie nodded her thanks and preceded him into the bar, taking a look around once her eyes adjusted to the change in light.

It was your standard fair corner bar, some booths in the corners, a long bar along one wall behind which several barkeeps poured out beers to a variety of people.

It seemed a popular enough place without being crowded, and Laurie smiled, a selection of music playing that was not offensive to her ears.

"Perfect, Kevin. Where shall we sit?"

"... in the bar?" He said, before taking a seat beside the dingy old jukebox at the bar. "Sully, two for me, two for the girl."

"What did I tell you about coming back in here, Syd."

"That I'm your best customer and you cry bitter tears without me?"

"Oh, fuck you." The bartender poured four shots and slid them over with a couple of draft. He was heavily tattooed, but the one on the side of his head that said 'born to dire' was one of the more difficult to puzzle out.

"I take it you're old friends?" Laurie said, a dry amusement coloring her tone as she knocked back one of the shots. "Tequila? You weren't kidding before."

"Not really. I've just known guys like Sully before." He knocked back his shots and scowled. "What is this shit? Sully, I asked you for a drink, not a refreshing cocktail that is prepping to audition at Stonewall."

The bartender said nothing, instead pulling out a bottle with no label and pouring four more.

"How many guys like Sully?" Laurie asked curiously before finishing off her second shot. She looked at the new ones dubiously. "After you."

"Too many to name across too many different countries." He took a sip from the glass and winced. "I think he let this age an extra week in the rubber boot. Take that slow. You toss it back like a shot and you'll be handing out 'missing' posters for your sense of smell."

Laurie took a sip of her drink and immediately coughed, placing it back on the bar.

"I believe the only phrase worth saying here is fuck that's strong," Laurie said after suitable recovery time had passed. "What type of paperwork does one such as yourself have to fill out exactly?"

"I work in intelligence. Ninety percent of the job is paperwork."

"Much like the medical profession," Laurie mused, taking another sip of her drink. This time it went down smoother, if no less potent. "What made you get involved in it?"

"The draft. Why are you interested?" He took a sip from his beer and dug into his pocket for change. The jukebox was a relic from the seventies and only took quarters.

"Really? Just how old are you?" Laurie asked, pulling a small bowl of nuts towards her. "Is my motivation important?"

"Aren't you dating three spies? You should already know that motivation is incredibly important to us." He fed a few coins into the machine and pushed the sticky keys. Almost immediately, the Animals came on with the House of the Rising Sun. "What motivates you to be an X-Man in the first place, as opposed to a safe medical student?"

"At the moment, nothing. I'm on hiatus until I can do something about my little problem," Laurie noted, pondering how likely food poisoning was if she ate any of the nuts in the bowl. "And the fact that I'm dating three spies means I try not to give away all my information at once. How am I doing so far?"

She knew from Doug that she had tells, things that made her easy to read. Up to this point in her life it hadn't really mattered so much. But the very fact of who she cared about met that she was starting to realize whether she was a spy herself or not, she could still be used.

"Not that well. You're pretty much the kind of person we love to find. Someone who is easy to read but thinks they're good at keeping things hidden. You can play that a hundred ways." He sat down. "But surely your little problem isn't privileged information. I mean, what can it hurt?"

"Prevarication and myself have never been synonymous," Laurie replied with a smile, unphased by his description of her, it was much as she had expected. "I know I appear to manage quite well but the arm I currently use is not sufficient when one is attempting to not die in battle."

"Replacements have that downside. I admit, I was a little surprised to see a young woman as a War Amp. Plenty of young men, but a young doctor student? What happened?"

"M-day," Laurie murmured, momentarily uncomfortable until she realised it wasn't exactly a lie. The real events might go unknown but they all fit under the same general story that was the lie M-day had become. "And, well, a rather nasty case of PTSD to go with it, but I notice that we somehow changed from discussing yourself to talking about me. Do you often deflect when people ask your age?"

"Constantly. So, while you're working out a replacement and dealing with a dose of operational exhaustion, you're... going to medical school. Generally considered an extremely high stress, high pressure environment? Did you perhaps consider that a break might have been a better decision?"

"I'm...technically on a break from that as well, actually," Laurie admitted, taking another sip of the drink. She felt positively warm now, and amused by Kevin's deflections back to herself. "I keep my hand in with Medlab and Jean's workplace but I'm meant to not be studying. I'm finding it hard to give up entirely though."

The jukebox switched over to 'Body and Soul' as Coltrane unctuously made his way through the opening. "Professional volunteer then? Makes sense. After all, what's the use of a mansion and a stipend if you can't have it support your own goals. You planning a return to the X-Men?"

"If I keep asking will you eventually tell me how old you are?" Laurie asked curiously, avoiding the question rather noticeably. "Or will we just get to the point where we prevaricate endlessly while getting drunker and drunker?"

"Why do you care how old I am?"

"Because you keep avoiding the question and I love to know things people don't want me to know," Laurie answered simply, taking another drink. "Why do you want to hide it so badly?"

"What's the benefit for me to reveal it? After all, if it's something you want, then you need to give me a reason why I should share it with you." His head nodded slightly with the music. "After all, I'm in the business of keeping secrets."

"A truth for a truth perhaps?" Laurie replied with a smile. "Or I could simply buy you more alcohol."

"Don't take this the wrong way, Ms Collins, but if I want to dig into your life, it's not a chore. And I'll give you a hint about my age. I'm old enough not to want young ladies to buy my alcohol." He gave her a wink as he polished off his glass. "I think you might have to keep guessing."

Laurie laughed and polished off her own glass with a flourish. "There's a few that might make that hard for you but point taken. I always did like a good guessing game. Got any clues for me to start with?"

"Sure. You've been drinking straight stingo with an eel marinating in it. Want another glass?"