Sue & Jean-Paul | Thursday Afternoon (backdated)

[xp-northstar.livejournal.com]

Sue meets Jean-Paul in the kitchen and their conversation meanders.


If there was one major benefit of living at the mansion, it was the kitchen. It was fully stocked and always capable of feeding a hungry athlete at any time of the day... although it was pretty unusual to find someone else enjoying the bounty of the kitchen at four in the morning. Most sane people were asleep, but it was summer and just about the only time of the year that she got to train for surfing. Sue cocked her head as she regarded the man hunched over his plate, giving her hair one final rub with her towel before she plucked an apple from the fruit bowl that was out on the counter-top. "You know, they say if you keep scowling and the wind changes your face is gonna be stuck like that right?"

Jean-Paul startled, head shooting up from his place on one of the stools at the counter. He hadn't fallen over backward, though, so that was good. "Quoi?" He didn't know the woman in front of him, but then he didn't know anyone at this place, really. It was a never ending parade of new names and faces that he probably wouldn't remember.

"Your face. You looked like you were trying to make your food run away screaming in terror," Sue explained leaning against the counter top. "It can't be that bad, can it? I mean if it is I'm sure there are some leftovers from dinner around here or I make a mean PB&J."

"Well okay, if that's what you want, but you know the offer is always open," Sue smiled at the surly one. "Even when you're in the middle of training, sometimes comfort food is a nice way to get your mind off your troubles. And one treat every blue moon won't hurt too much." She glanced down at her towel, "Although you might have to step up the workout to make up for it."

Quirking a very small smile, Jean-Paul nodded. "Oui, this is what I am thinking to avoid." But he didn't know why, since it didn't actually matter. Though perhaps, if he took Miss Frost up on her offer, it would. Suppressing a sigh at the general confusion and illogic of his life now, he continued, "It is a very kind offer, of course."

The blonde waved her hand. "Least I could offer. Well, probably the best I can offer, too. You really don't want me to try to cook anything. Or to try to cheer you up in my tried and true family fashion. It involves either creating something explosive, bags of candy, or - if my dad and brother get together - something somewhere between the two." Sue shuddered. "That was a terrifying day."

Interest piqued despite himself, Jean-Paul stabbed a piece of chicken and ate it, chewing for a moment before he asked, "What happened?"

"Put it like this: the candy cannon was not meant to be filled with Jello and attached to a power generator. It especially was not meant to be used to chase your sister around the apartment pelting her with said Jello just 'because it's funny.'" Sue shuddered. "I picked Jello out of my hair and clothes for days afterwards."

Snorting a quiet laugh, Jean-Paul shook his head. "Your brother, he sounds... interesting." He quirked an eyebrow. "But he is not here?"

"Johnny? No, he's somewhere in California now doing..." The blonde grinned and shrugged. "I heard my gran talking about his car, so probably something fast and dangerous. And with unhealthy odds. I try not to think of specifics, otherwise I'd be on the first plane out of here."

"Ah, you are the... overprotective sister, oui?" Jean-Paul asked, quirking a sardonic brow. "I meant only that it seems, sometimes, mutations are inherited? And so if you have one, then he might as well."

"Someone has to be,"Sue pointed out. "Otherwise he might do something he shouldn't, and end up getting h... I really am the overprotective big sister aren't I?" She allowed with a wry twist of her lips. "It's hard to stop acting like that sometimes. You're right, he could be. It's not like I've seen him as much, these last few years he's been living away. It's hard to talk about anything personal over Skype."

Jean-Paul nodded along, expression falling into the blank type of default interest he used when giving interviews. Only then she said the last part, and he frowned. "Why can you not talk about personal things over Skype? Are you..." He frowned, gesturing with one hand. "Being watched? Like spies?"

"No, nothing like that. At least, I don't think so, but there was that one time when," the blonde gave Jean-Paul a grin before she shrugged. "It's mostly about privacy. You never know who might be listening, or even who's in the same room as him. Makes it hard to talk about anything mutant-related without giving the whole game away."

"Oh," Jean-Paul said, frowning slightly. "I suppose the mutant aspect would be difficult, yes. But privacy, it is not so difficult on Skype, I think. I have had very many very satisfying video chats with people and you do not see a sex tape of me on the internet, oui?"

Sue slowly blinked at Jean-Paul. "Nooo," she allowed. "Although to be fair, I can't exactly say I've been looking. So who knows what exists in some dark corner of the internet?" She grinned. "Personally, I prefer to have those kind of chats in person. So much more enjoyable that way."

"No, no," Jean-Paul said, amused. "I mean, I am very particular about looking for these things myself. There are none of me. But yes, I agree. Sex is much more fun in person."

Sue arched an eyebrow at Jean-Paul. "So what you're telling me is that you actually looked too see if there were any sex videos of yourself online? Not even Warr... okay Warren might, but not even I have ever done that. I wonder if there are actually," she pondered.

"I do not know about you," Jean-Paul said, gesturing toward Sue. "But if you mean Warren Worthington the third, then no. Not that I could find."

"I don't know what I'm more surprised about," Sue admitted with a shake of her head and a laugh. "That you've looked, or that there isn't anything to find online."

"Most certainly the second," Jean-Paul said, shrugging negligently even as he suppressed a smile. "Do not ever be surprised that I would look for something like that."

"I guess I shouldn't be," Sue acknowledged with a wry smile. "It's not like I haven't been curious about people in the past either. But you know Warren never even crossed my mind." Maybe it was the fact that he was kind of like a brother to her, though judging by his impact on the mansion's population when he arrived, she might be the only person who felt that way.

"He is attractive," Jean-Paul said, still amused. "And tall." Tilting his head to the side, he asked, "You have never thought that it would be very nice to let him pin you to a wall? In the sexy way, oui?"

"What? No, never... well, okay. Maybe once when I first met him," Sue admitted. "But he's like my brother now. A brother who's actually way older than me, but still acts younger. It's like I have two younger brothers to worry about these days. I swear I'm going to go prematurely white."

Laughing now despite himself, Jean-Paul shook his head. "Ah, this is a shame. Such an eligible bachelor and he is... what is the saying? A man-child, non?" Then the Quebecois shrugged and said, "Come, please. Sit. I have distracted you from your meal for long enough, have I not?"

"You obviously have never heard about the famous cooking disaster of 2003, when I tried to make breakfast for the family and almost burnt down a skyscraper... well okay, that's a wee bit of an exaggeration. I managed to burn eggs and set off the apartment's fire alarm. It might not have been quite what I was hoping for, but it did get my family out of bed in a rush," she noted with a laugh.

Amused, Jean-Paul tipped his head to the side and said, "Please, tell me more of these cooking incidents of yours."