Log: Kevin/Domino
Jul. 17th, 2018 03:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsBACKDATED TO JULY
Kevin reappears to talk to Domino. It does not go well.
It was seven o'clock and Domino was already halfway to wasted. It was a good day; she had waited until after five to fuck off from work and head to one of her local bars. Not that the urge to do so hadn't been strong before the end of the workday, but she was pretty sure that there were only so many times Clea could come in to find her face-down on her keyboard before she'd eventually report it to someone. The girl was gullible, but getting less so every week.
Besides, there was something to be said for actually being in a bar with a bunch of other sad sack losers - nobody wanted company or even to meet anybody else's eye, but it was less like being alone. And she otherwise was so very, horribly alone. Fuck it. Thoughts like that deserved more vodka.
"You know, if I had any credibility whatsoever, I'd say that you might be coming here too much." The man who sat down at the bar next to her waved for a drink, pointing to Dom's glass in lieu of an order. Another pair of glasses came down. "But, like I said, there's that credibility issue."
"Yeah, well. Hasn't stopped you saying it anyway," Dom replied, though she took the drink all the same. "Besides, what are you, some kind of stalker? How do you know how much I come here?"
"There's a few people who might characterize our relationship as stalker like, especially considering the age difference." He said as she paused to take a sip. In the second her attention was diverted, the face changed. It was Kevin, although not the one she was used to. He was unshaven and mussed, a long way from his almost fastidiously shaved and groomed normal appearance. "Although, I do appreciate you always grab the corner of the bar to keep the creeps away. Makes it a little easier to talk."
"What the fuck." Perhaps it was the vodka or just the fatigue of the week that kept her from reaching out and slugging him or throwing her drink in his face. As it was all Dom did was glare at him, hunching her shoulders and pulling her glass a little closer to her chest. "What are you doing here?"
"I came to apologize." He said simply.
"Well fuck your apology. And fuck you."
"Can't say I don't deserve that. Or expect you to forgive me. I just wanted you to know that I'm sorry."
"Message received loud and clear," Dom said with a mocking salute. "You want me to pass it on to the rest of the crew, or are you going to creep on them too? I'd watch out for Emma, she's a stab first and ask questions later kind of girl."
"No, this was just for you. They'll fill my desk soon enough, I'd imagine." Kevin said, taking a sip from his drink. "But after our years together, I figured I owed you an apology and a goodbye in person."
She didn't reply at first, alternating between scowling down at her drink and steadily draining it. Kevin disappearing had been hard, but she had been coping just fine with it (though perhaps her liver would disagree). But this, a face-to-face goodbye, this was something altogether different, and she was not prepared. When she eventually spoke it was with an outpouring of words even she hadn't been expecting.
"We put ourselves on the line for you, Syd. Everyone did - we disarmed a nuclear fuckin' bomb for you. No one even questioned it, no one said 'oh sorry, this other mission takes priority', they just dropped everything and did it. For you. And now you're leaving? Fuck you, man. Why?"
"Don't give me that. You want to be pissed at me for taking off, that's fair. I own that. But you disarmed a nuke for me?" He shook his head. "You finished the mission. It had nothing to do with me and my corpse. You finished the mission. And I have spent my entire life doing just that. Finishing the mission in front of me. And after sixty years of that, this is where I am."
"Fine, so you're old and tired. What, you're going to suddenly show up at your nephew's house, play tea parties with his daughter?" It was a low shot, but she didn't care.
Kevin's look froze. Rarely did the man ever overtly react, a combination of training and his powers giving him an almost perfect poker face. But not this time. "I... should have figured that you'd stumble on it at some point. But no, I'm not going to show up at his house. Because to him, I'm dead. He was at my funeral. Most of them people who were there are dead themselves. Family, friends... every one who knew Kevin Sydney as a man... they're dropping quick and with each one, whatever tiny impact my life made disappears with it. And maybe that's how it should be."
The bartender had ducked into the back and fortunately, the 6:30 crowd wasn't exactly busy. He blinked and transformed. Normally his changing features was fast enough it was an uncomfortable blur. This time, it was the results that shocked. The dull grey skin, lack of nose, slit of a mouth, and the black featureless eyes. "Because this is what I am."
Dom flinched back; even with all the weird shit she had seen on the job since joining X-Force watching her partner's face slide away into this alien otherness was still shocking. She looked away and took a gulp of her drink. "That's a cheap shot, man. So what if you look weird? There's a guy at the mansion who's got a tail. Doesn't stop him from sticking by his friends."
"It's not just about looking weird." Kevin said, as he reverted back to the slightly shabbier version of the face she knew. "I don't know how to explain it but... I've died twice and woken up different. If that's the case, what am I? Am I an 88 year old ex-operative who is out-living his life or did that end, and what I'm supposed to be is what I'm hiding from? I just don't know, Dom. Call it running away if you want, but I don't know how to figure it while still playing the role."
"Okay, fine. Then go figure it out." She really didn't have a leg to stand on - how many times had she ghosted on people, disappearing out of their lives because she was simply done with it all? She'd probably do it to X-Force if she didn't need something to pay the rent. But... Syd was different. She had thought they were a team. "I'll just be here, learning the same lesson I was too stupid to get every other time before." You couldn't trust anybody.
"I don't know how to explain it in a way that doesn't seem like I'm just running away. And I can't tell you it's not like that after already running." Kevin said. He knew what he was doing to Dom. But he couldn't just pretend things were fine. "I just wanted you to know that I'm sorry. I wish I had a better response, but I'm sorry."
She shrugged. "Okay, fine. I got it. What, you want benediction or something?" She turned and sketched a shaky cross over him, a crude example of the symbol that had once hovered over her every waking - and sleeping - hour. "Go figure your shit out. Just don't expect any of us to welcome you back with open arms when you're done." It was cruel and she regretted it the moment she said it, but she merely hardened her expression and turned back to her drink. "We've got our own problems to deal with."
Kevin reappears to talk to Domino. It does not go well.
It was seven o'clock and Domino was already halfway to wasted. It was a good day; she had waited until after five to fuck off from work and head to one of her local bars. Not that the urge to do so hadn't been strong before the end of the workday, but she was pretty sure that there were only so many times Clea could come in to find her face-down on her keyboard before she'd eventually report it to someone. The girl was gullible, but getting less so every week.
Besides, there was something to be said for actually being in a bar with a bunch of other sad sack losers - nobody wanted company or even to meet anybody else's eye, but it was less like being alone. And she otherwise was so very, horribly alone. Fuck it. Thoughts like that deserved more vodka.
"You know, if I had any credibility whatsoever, I'd say that you might be coming here too much." The man who sat down at the bar next to her waved for a drink, pointing to Dom's glass in lieu of an order. Another pair of glasses came down. "But, like I said, there's that credibility issue."
"Yeah, well. Hasn't stopped you saying it anyway," Dom replied, though she took the drink all the same. "Besides, what are you, some kind of stalker? How do you know how much I come here?"
"There's a few people who might characterize our relationship as stalker like, especially considering the age difference." He said as she paused to take a sip. In the second her attention was diverted, the face changed. It was Kevin, although not the one she was used to. He was unshaven and mussed, a long way from his almost fastidiously shaved and groomed normal appearance. "Although, I do appreciate you always grab the corner of the bar to keep the creeps away. Makes it a little easier to talk."
"What the fuck." Perhaps it was the vodka or just the fatigue of the week that kept her from reaching out and slugging him or throwing her drink in his face. As it was all Dom did was glare at him, hunching her shoulders and pulling her glass a little closer to her chest. "What are you doing here?"
"I came to apologize." He said simply.
"Well fuck your apology. And fuck you."
"Can't say I don't deserve that. Or expect you to forgive me. I just wanted you to know that I'm sorry."
"Message received loud and clear," Dom said with a mocking salute. "You want me to pass it on to the rest of the crew, or are you going to creep on them too? I'd watch out for Emma, she's a stab first and ask questions later kind of girl."
"No, this was just for you. They'll fill my desk soon enough, I'd imagine." Kevin said, taking a sip from his drink. "But after our years together, I figured I owed you an apology and a goodbye in person."
She didn't reply at first, alternating between scowling down at her drink and steadily draining it. Kevin disappearing had been hard, but she had been coping just fine with it (though perhaps her liver would disagree). But this, a face-to-face goodbye, this was something altogether different, and she was not prepared. When she eventually spoke it was with an outpouring of words even she hadn't been expecting.
"We put ourselves on the line for you, Syd. Everyone did - we disarmed a nuclear fuckin' bomb for you. No one even questioned it, no one said 'oh sorry, this other mission takes priority', they just dropped everything and did it. For you. And now you're leaving? Fuck you, man. Why?"
"Don't give me that. You want to be pissed at me for taking off, that's fair. I own that. But you disarmed a nuke for me?" He shook his head. "You finished the mission. It had nothing to do with me and my corpse. You finished the mission. And I have spent my entire life doing just that. Finishing the mission in front of me. And after sixty years of that, this is where I am."
"Fine, so you're old and tired. What, you're going to suddenly show up at your nephew's house, play tea parties with his daughter?" It was a low shot, but she didn't care.
Kevin's look froze. Rarely did the man ever overtly react, a combination of training and his powers giving him an almost perfect poker face. But not this time. "I... should have figured that you'd stumble on it at some point. But no, I'm not going to show up at his house. Because to him, I'm dead. He was at my funeral. Most of them people who were there are dead themselves. Family, friends... every one who knew Kevin Sydney as a man... they're dropping quick and with each one, whatever tiny impact my life made disappears with it. And maybe that's how it should be."
The bartender had ducked into the back and fortunately, the 6:30 crowd wasn't exactly busy. He blinked and transformed. Normally his changing features was fast enough it was an uncomfortable blur. This time, it was the results that shocked. The dull grey skin, lack of nose, slit of a mouth, and the black featureless eyes. "Because this is what I am."
Dom flinched back; even with all the weird shit she had seen on the job since joining X-Force watching her partner's face slide away into this alien otherness was still shocking. She looked away and took a gulp of her drink. "That's a cheap shot, man. So what if you look weird? There's a guy at the mansion who's got a tail. Doesn't stop him from sticking by his friends."
"It's not just about looking weird." Kevin said, as he reverted back to the slightly shabbier version of the face she knew. "I don't know how to explain it but... I've died twice and woken up different. If that's the case, what am I? Am I an 88 year old ex-operative who is out-living his life or did that end, and what I'm supposed to be is what I'm hiding from? I just don't know, Dom. Call it running away if you want, but I don't know how to figure it while still playing the role."
"Okay, fine. Then go figure it out." She really didn't have a leg to stand on - how many times had she ghosted on people, disappearing out of their lives because she was simply done with it all? She'd probably do it to X-Force if she didn't need something to pay the rent. But... Syd was different. She had thought they were a team. "I'll just be here, learning the same lesson I was too stupid to get every other time before." You couldn't trust anybody.
"I don't know how to explain it in a way that doesn't seem like I'm just running away. And I can't tell you it's not like that after already running." Kevin said. He knew what he was doing to Dom. But he couldn't just pretend things were fine. "I just wanted you to know that I'm sorry. I wish I had a better response, but I'm sorry."
She shrugged. "Okay, fine. I got it. What, you want benediction or something?" She turned and sketched a shaky cross over him, a crude example of the symbol that had once hovered over her every waking - and sleeping - hour. "Go figure your shit out. Just don't expect any of us to welcome you back with open arms when you're done." It was cruel and she regretted it the moment she said it, but she merely hardened her expression and turned back to her drink. "We've got our own problems to deal with."
