Garrison and Adrienne (Backdated to May 24)

[x-adrienne.livejournal.com]

Shattered by bad news (and the Danger Room), Kane opens up to Adrienne, who tries to comfort him.

Kane stopped for a moment to look in the long mirror that Adrienne had put in their suite. His workout leathers were battered and shredded. His knuckles were split open; broken and swollen. His nose had also been broken twice and he sported a pair of spectacular shiners around both eyes. As he peeled off the suit, mottled bruises and blood crusted cuts appeared. There were limitors on the Danger Room, but for mutants will healing factors like Kane, it was possible to push it to a dangerous limit.

It was likely a little silly of a response from a grown man. It was after all, a musician, and frankly, spending six hours destroying the simulation's most advanced scenarios while absorbing a tremendous amount of damage was hardly a mature, responsible decision. But cancer had taken Kane's mother. The reaction to the announcement wasn't really about the man or the band. It was a barbed reminder of her death; scrubbing a wound that hadn't ever entirely healed.

In a day or two, there would be no signs of the wounds. The exterior ones, any way.

Closing the suite door behind her, Adrienne stopped in her tracks and couldn't keep her jaw from dropping. "Christ, babe! Are you alright?! Did the Danger Room go rogue and try to kill you?"

"I needed to blow off some steam. Turns out those new scenarios Scott programmed in are really, really good." He kicked the rest of the suit into the trash. No saving it now. "It's been a bad day so far."

"I heard." Adrienne kicked off her heels and went over to him, intending to hug him but hesitating. She couldn't pick a spot to embrace him that looked like it wouldn't either hurt him or get blood on her. "Thanks to that google alert you set up on my work computer as a prank to give me any Hip or Air Supply news. I'm really sorry, Slick."

"I appreciate it. I know it is dumb to get all over the top over a musician. It's just... I don't know. I don't do cancer well. Especially at that age. Gord isn't much older than my mom when she got the diagnosis." He sighed. "Am I transposing her for him in some kind of orphan turns music into parent kind of thing? My psych degree didn't cover musical artists and grief, which could have made me a fortune this year."

"Yeah, there's a lost opportunity," Adrienne responded with a melodramatic sigh. "Though to be honest, dating a psychiatrist would wig me out much more than dating a cop does." Still studying him, she felt she'd finally found a spot to hug him that wouldn't hurt him and would bring about minimal blood transference to her clothes, so she pulled off her jacket and blouse and, in her tank top, put her arms around him. "It makes perfect sense that you're feeling the way you do. Of course it does. It's not dumb at all. The Hip are your favourite. They've been an enormous part of your life, of your... identity, for decades. Music does that to people. It shapes who they are." At least, that's what Rogue had told her earlier today when Adrienne had called asking for some insight into how Garrison would most likely be feeling. Adrienne's track record with comforting people was notoriously bad, but she really wanted to make a strong effort here. "And because of your mother... of course this is beating you up inside. So... it makes sense to beat yourself up outside."

"Scott came up with this new unit that has extendable hammer hands. He mostly beat me up outside." Kane sighed and put an arm around Adrienne. She was right, as usual. And the extended violence had done one thing; make him feel better. "It's not just my mother. It's also a cop/superhero thing. I can defeat or arrest bad people trying to hurt others. But a disease? Fucking helpless."

"Well, you're not alone there. I mean, most people aren't cops or superheroes, let alone both," Adrienne mused, "but everyone feels helpless against diseases. I don't particularly like that I can toss around money to make almost every problem I encounter go away, except disease." She held on to him for another moment before stepping back. "Hey, he's not gone yet. They're going on tour this summer, right?"

"They are and yeah, I already intend to be there. And no one knows how long it will be that he's got. Really, I supposed the news isn't as much about him as it representing another loss from cancer for me. Like ripping off the scabs of an old, old wound."

Adrienne couldn't think of anything comforting to say to that, so she just hugged him again, and said the only thing she could think of. "I wish I could make this better for you."

"You being here is everything to me, babe. You should know that."

"Well, your Jays suck and my guys are in first place. It's easy for me to be here when I have all the gloating power," Adrienne smirked. "I hear Wanda's organizing something at Harry's tonight. You wanna go, or do you wanna stay in?"

"I'm thinking about a lot of drinks. Maybe give Harry a scare with the tab."

Adrienne gave him a smirk. "Oh, honey. I don't think Harry's been scared of your tab since you and I started dating. Scared of you drinking all his stocks, maybe. But he knows your sugar mama's good for the tab."

"Sugar mama. I like that..." Kane smiled, the first authentic one she'd seen tonight. "So, want to kill the supply and then spend tomorrow in bed? I could use the best distraction."

Mentally rearranging her schedule, Adrienne nodded. "Sure, we can do that. Let's cause a little destruction to your room instead of you destroying the Danger Room, huh? You sure you'll be up for some of my 'best distraction', though?" she asked, eyeing him up and down again. "I mean, I know you heal quick, but you're still gonna be pretty sore tomorrow, aren't you? You might only be able to go two or three rounds with me." It was clearly a challenge being issued to him, going by her smirk.

"Forget that. I'll rope-a-dope like Ali to last fifteen and win on points!" Kane said, his grin returning to normal.

"Yes, the ref will give you all the points, I'm sure." Adrienne snorted and grinned at him, though there was a tinge of sadness to it. "Did you ever find out that Vanessa and I used to judge the men around here based on points? We kept scorecards and everything?" She actually couldn't remember if he'd ever known that or not. "You always rated the highest, of course," she added, quashing melancholy thoughts of the past. No use dwelling on what used to be. That's what she'd always told herself, and it had gotten her this far in life.

"I didn't, but I'm not surprised. After all, other than me, her taste in men was pretty bad." He joked.

"And other than me, so was her taste in women." Adrienne laughed along with him, but sobered up when she realized something. "Oops. I guess I shouldn't laugh with one of those men being my business partner, should I? Or is it okay considering it was a different... version?"

"The current version is a trainwreck." Kane sighed and pulled Adrienne into his arms. "I miss her too, Adri. It's okay."

Adrienne let herself be hugged for a long moment before pulling away with a wan laugh. "Hey, tonight's about you being okay. I'm always okay. Now what say we go drink Harry out of all his beer, huh?"

"That is my lady." Kane said, his smile finally returning to the honest almost boyish one. "I'll spot you three pints."