Kevin Sydney (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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xp_logs2019-04-15 10:25 pm
xp_changeling) wrote in xp_logs2019-04-15 10:25 pm
Entry tags:
Log: Lunch Date
Marie-Ange and Kevin have a discussion about work, life, and Clea.
A decade plus of being 'regulars' meant that the local pub knew some of the quirks of the X-Force members. In this case, that the just-so put together redhead had just-so opinions about wine with lunch, that anyone suggesting the light menu would get a glare that seemed to double in intensity with half the number of eyes available, and that she preferred to not be by the window, thank you.
They had stopped asking years ago, now it was just quiet instructions to the servers - wine menu, don't suggest salads, always suggest dessert, this one likes chocolate.
Marie-Ange had just settled into her seat and gotten her gloves and scarf folded neatly as Kevin came in and waved him over before the hostess had to ask if he wanted a seat at the bar, or a table.
He nodded and crossed over, brushing off his hat. He only did it in New York, but one of the few trappings of his age that he maintained was wearing hats. They were excellent quality and came from a haberdashery that was twice as old as himself and which he refused to divulge the name or location of, suggesting he didn't trust them to make it go viral and ruin it for him. He also never answered when Gabe challenged him to describe what 'going viral' actually was.
"Marie-Ange." He paused to hand his coat and hat off to the hostess; a service that was not part of her duties for anyone but Sydney. "I'd ask if it's too early for whiskey but who has time for silly questions?"
"The day you do not have a drink at a lunch meeting is the day I check to make sure you are not naturally blue and scaly." Marie-Ange said, with an amused wave at the wine menu sitting next to her folded gloves. "Though if she gave herself away that easily I would be shocked."
"Yeah, obvious shapeshifters are the worst. I'll take a whiskey-" He said with a measure between his thumb and forefinger. "And a whiskey." A slightly smaller measure. "How goes the fort?"
"Crumbling and full of secrets, as any fort should be." Marie-Ange placed her own order - soup, sandwich and her usual glass of red. "Quite a lot of followup, very little to act on, from us or the other teams." She considered for a moment suggesting Kevin actually order food, and then remembered the next item on her 'update from the other teams' list and then considered just making her own lunch a two-drinks order. "One of which was giant monsters in the Pacific. Which it is not the first time, but the very saying of it gives me a headache."
"Yeah, Chris gave me a heads up about Skull Island. The island is two ancient co-joined mutants. Even by my standards, that's kind of fucked up." Kevin said. Finnigan's menu was trying to appeal to a wider audience. Where as Kevin seemed to live on thick deli sandwiches from places he knew all of their names.
"It is the most theatrical thing we will have to send someone to do follow up work on this winter at least, if the Weekly World News was still operating I am sure something would show up there about it and Bat-Boy." Marie-Ange added. "Also if anyone asks you who you are drift compatible with, tell them Grace Kelly." She pulled her tablet out of her bag and set it on the table. "Quite seriously, the X-Men got to punch the giant gorilla, but there is still the issue of all of the trafficking and experimentation of mutants in China and I would like to hope it is not going to be another Genosha."
"Well, fortunately, first look at the intel suggests that it isn't a state program but rogue actors within it. That changes the scope of what we're looking at severely. It also means we might be able to get some help from some of their intelligence groups. Very siloed groups, lots of ways to work within their internal divisions." Their drinks landed on the table. "The Koreans have a lot of resources in China. I might know some people still well connected over there that could help."
Marie-Ange sipped at her wine like someone who wanted to finish the glass faster than she was. "North or South?" She asked, curiosity winning out over the wine. "Or both, I would not be surprised if you knew both. That could be a disaster, if they knew we were talking to their opposing country's people, or a nice angle to play I suppose, if whoever we send in can play them off each other." She played with the stem of her glass. "Is this is kind of thing you want to handle in person? Korea, China, Thailand, that is probably where our intelligence skills are the least well rounded. We just do not have the people who innately understand the culture and the politics."
"I can go over. Past blending in, Asia was always my territory, even when it wasn't my territory, if you get my meaning." He drained the first whiskey and waved for another as he picked up the second one. "But we aren't playing their state agencies off each other. It's going to be individual assets in order to create a domino effect. Unless you can get me my old job back at the Agency."
Marie-Ange laughed lightly. "I just re-hired you, I would have to trade for at least two agents and a SHIELD liaison to make up for you, and Gabriel would probably follow you to the CIA and then I would have to go recruit Wanda's brother and it would be terrible. She stirred her soup and took a bite before adding. "Perhaps we should send Gabriel to Korea with you. We discussed you helping fill in our skill gaps when you returned, and that is a good place to start."
"Potentially. And, granted, I'd just absorb you all in the Firm regardless of your wishes." He took a sip. "There's a lot to deal with. Gabe's successful time abroad aside, we need to get a lot more operationally diverse. You thought about putting the recruiting hat on for the Xavier's people who are at loose ends? We could use a few of them, young or not."
"I have a bit. Amanda is going to lodge a token protest, but I want to get Clea some field training. She is not much younger than I was when I started, and I had a year on the X-Men so she will have fewer bad habits to unlearn." Marie-Ange answered. "The rest, I admit I do not know most of the college set well enough to do more than broad recruiting."
"Really? That's interesting. When do you want to put Clea in the field?" Kevin said, as another whiskey hit the table. "I can compromise a a group but... we could strip the useful parts from Warren or Clint's group."
"Not while we all live in the mansion and need to interact with the other teams." Marie-Ange said. "I am not opposed to pulling people from other groups, but not at the expense of losing any further goodwill. At least..." She paused. "Not as of yet. I would be more than happy to hire Quentin Quire to do psionic assassination and Katherine Pryde simply because she can walk through walls, but now - or even soon - is not the correct time." She tapped her eyepatch. "I rather cheated for that, which six months ago would have meant a migraine."
"Piece of advice? Don't rely on your pre-cog for justifying decisions. There's a laundry list of ones who didn't interpret it the right way to make it a certainty." Kevin leaned back and took a sip. "So, if we're not cultivating the young and the underused, that means more out of the rest of us. Want me to take Clea to Madripoor? We can traumatize her and destroy her faith in humanity in the same weekend?"
Marie-Ange nodded. "More trying to be clever, I forget you have not had years of my blaming every other thing on the precognition just to be irksome and get my way for lunch takeout." She dipped the end of her sandwich in the soup. "Not cultivating wholesale. If there is someone who you think would be valuable, by all means. I am not at all certain about how to train up Clea, she is.. " She left the bread crust in the soup. "She is all colored pens and cute cat bowl, but she also... there is extra-dimensional magical nonsense, Amanda can explain it better, but I do not think Clea is as faithful in humanity as it seems. I do agree a tour of our less pleasant operating areas is in order, but perhaps not Madripoor right out of the starting gate? We pay enough for therapists and rehab for the rest of us."
"I wasn't suggesting we start her off undercover as a rent girl for High Town but it is a nexus of the kind of places we need to operate and if she's got the ability to operate in our world, it's the place to find out." Kevin said. "Besides, I still have the place pretty wired. I can start her off in the kiddie pool, so to speak, with minimum risk."
"You say destroy her faith in humanity, I assume you are going to have her sell drugs to small children." Marie-Ange said with a shrug. "What I really want is a telepath, and our only one has two other priorities before us. We have bugger all for dedicated psionics."
"Don't be silly. Small children don't have any money to buy drugs with." He said. "I heard a rumour that a 14K Red Pole is looking to add mutants to his normal sex trafficking for a couple of Hightown clients. It's something I could takedown myself with local resources. Easy enough to work in a relatively safe but useful role for her while she gets to experience the flaming dogshit that is that world. If she can handle that, I think we can trust there is a way to train her to do what we need. While I'm there, I can also put out some feelers if there's a psion looking for work that fits the bill. I mean, unless Doc Grey has a dark side we don't know about, I can't think of any internal options. The new Braddock kid doesn't scream assassin to me, and Quire the kind of fuck that I think would enjoy the job to much. Reminds me of I guy I served with and his collection of North Korean ears."
"Yuck, I hate dealing with the Triads. There is... I suppose you could call it a cultural elemental to how organized crime works in China and Hong Kong that I do not have a natural grasp of." Marie-Ange pushed the plate away, only crumbs left. "Which is why I keep old men who drink whiskey for lunch and could walk right into North Korea on the payroll. How are you going in? As a supplier? A customer would not get the right sort of connections, no?"
"Not sure yet. I'm going to set up Clea as a nice juicy target and then get an idea of what's really going on. Dugan will have the place wired up." Kevin shrugged. "I'm guessing it's likely the normal kind of shitty amoral debauchery and murder, but I need names before I can get into the details."
"Well, let me know what you need. I will warn off Amanda so she does not turn you into a lizard." Marie-Ange said. "She has a history of that, with shapeshifters."
"Money should do it. I'll need... wait, lizard? Do I want to know?"
A decade plus of being 'regulars' meant that the local pub knew some of the quirks of the X-Force members. In this case, that the just-so put together redhead had just-so opinions about wine with lunch, that anyone suggesting the light menu would get a glare that seemed to double in intensity with half the number of eyes available, and that she preferred to not be by the window, thank you.
They had stopped asking years ago, now it was just quiet instructions to the servers - wine menu, don't suggest salads, always suggest dessert, this one likes chocolate.
Marie-Ange had just settled into her seat and gotten her gloves and scarf folded neatly as Kevin came in and waved him over before the hostess had to ask if he wanted a seat at the bar, or a table.
He nodded and crossed over, brushing off his hat. He only did it in New York, but one of the few trappings of his age that he maintained was wearing hats. They were excellent quality and came from a haberdashery that was twice as old as himself and which he refused to divulge the name or location of, suggesting he didn't trust them to make it go viral and ruin it for him. He also never answered when Gabe challenged him to describe what 'going viral' actually was.
"Marie-Ange." He paused to hand his coat and hat off to the hostess; a service that was not part of her duties for anyone but Sydney. "I'd ask if it's too early for whiskey but who has time for silly questions?"
"The day you do not have a drink at a lunch meeting is the day I check to make sure you are not naturally blue and scaly." Marie-Ange said, with an amused wave at the wine menu sitting next to her folded gloves. "Though if she gave herself away that easily I would be shocked."
"Yeah, obvious shapeshifters are the worst. I'll take a whiskey-" He said with a measure between his thumb and forefinger. "And a whiskey." A slightly smaller measure. "How goes the fort?"
"Crumbling and full of secrets, as any fort should be." Marie-Ange placed her own order - soup, sandwich and her usual glass of red. "Quite a lot of followup, very little to act on, from us or the other teams." She considered for a moment suggesting Kevin actually order food, and then remembered the next item on her 'update from the other teams' list and then considered just making her own lunch a two-drinks order. "One of which was giant monsters in the Pacific. Which it is not the first time, but the very saying of it gives me a headache."
"Yeah, Chris gave me a heads up about Skull Island. The island is two ancient co-joined mutants. Even by my standards, that's kind of fucked up." Kevin said. Finnigan's menu was trying to appeal to a wider audience. Where as Kevin seemed to live on thick deli sandwiches from places he knew all of their names.
"It is the most theatrical thing we will have to send someone to do follow up work on this winter at least, if the Weekly World News was still operating I am sure something would show up there about it and Bat-Boy." Marie-Ange added. "Also if anyone asks you who you are drift compatible with, tell them Grace Kelly." She pulled her tablet out of her bag and set it on the table. "Quite seriously, the X-Men got to punch the giant gorilla, but there is still the issue of all of the trafficking and experimentation of mutants in China and I would like to hope it is not going to be another Genosha."
"Well, fortunately, first look at the intel suggests that it isn't a state program but rogue actors within it. That changes the scope of what we're looking at severely. It also means we might be able to get some help from some of their intelligence groups. Very siloed groups, lots of ways to work within their internal divisions." Their drinks landed on the table. "The Koreans have a lot of resources in China. I might know some people still well connected over there that could help."
Marie-Ange sipped at her wine like someone who wanted to finish the glass faster than she was. "North or South?" She asked, curiosity winning out over the wine. "Or both, I would not be surprised if you knew both. That could be a disaster, if they knew we were talking to their opposing country's people, or a nice angle to play I suppose, if whoever we send in can play them off each other." She played with the stem of her glass. "Is this is kind of thing you want to handle in person? Korea, China, Thailand, that is probably where our intelligence skills are the least well rounded. We just do not have the people who innately understand the culture and the politics."
"I can go over. Past blending in, Asia was always my territory, even when it wasn't my territory, if you get my meaning." He drained the first whiskey and waved for another as he picked up the second one. "But we aren't playing their state agencies off each other. It's going to be individual assets in order to create a domino effect. Unless you can get me my old job back at the Agency."
Marie-Ange laughed lightly. "I just re-hired you, I would have to trade for at least two agents and a SHIELD liaison to make up for you, and Gabriel would probably follow you to the CIA and then I would have to go recruit Wanda's brother and it would be terrible. She stirred her soup and took a bite before adding. "Perhaps we should send Gabriel to Korea with you. We discussed you helping fill in our skill gaps when you returned, and that is a good place to start."
"Potentially. And, granted, I'd just absorb you all in the Firm regardless of your wishes." He took a sip. "There's a lot to deal with. Gabe's successful time abroad aside, we need to get a lot more operationally diverse. You thought about putting the recruiting hat on for the Xavier's people who are at loose ends? We could use a few of them, young or not."
"I have a bit. Amanda is going to lodge a token protest, but I want to get Clea some field training. She is not much younger than I was when I started, and I had a year on the X-Men so she will have fewer bad habits to unlearn." Marie-Ange answered. "The rest, I admit I do not know most of the college set well enough to do more than broad recruiting."
"Really? That's interesting. When do you want to put Clea in the field?" Kevin said, as another whiskey hit the table. "I can compromise a a group but... we could strip the useful parts from Warren or Clint's group."
"Not while we all live in the mansion and need to interact with the other teams." Marie-Ange said. "I am not opposed to pulling people from other groups, but not at the expense of losing any further goodwill. At least..." She paused. "Not as of yet. I would be more than happy to hire Quentin Quire to do psionic assassination and Katherine Pryde simply because she can walk through walls, but now - or even soon - is not the correct time." She tapped her eyepatch. "I rather cheated for that, which six months ago would have meant a migraine."
"Piece of advice? Don't rely on your pre-cog for justifying decisions. There's a laundry list of ones who didn't interpret it the right way to make it a certainty." Kevin leaned back and took a sip. "So, if we're not cultivating the young and the underused, that means more out of the rest of us. Want me to take Clea to Madripoor? We can traumatize her and destroy her faith in humanity in the same weekend?"
Marie-Ange nodded. "More trying to be clever, I forget you have not had years of my blaming every other thing on the precognition just to be irksome and get my way for lunch takeout." She dipped the end of her sandwich in the soup. "Not cultivating wholesale. If there is someone who you think would be valuable, by all means. I am not at all certain about how to train up Clea, she is.. " She left the bread crust in the soup. "She is all colored pens and cute cat bowl, but she also... there is extra-dimensional magical nonsense, Amanda can explain it better, but I do not think Clea is as faithful in humanity as it seems. I do agree a tour of our less pleasant operating areas is in order, but perhaps not Madripoor right out of the starting gate? We pay enough for therapists and rehab for the rest of us."
"I wasn't suggesting we start her off undercover as a rent girl for High Town but it is a nexus of the kind of places we need to operate and if she's got the ability to operate in our world, it's the place to find out." Kevin said. "Besides, I still have the place pretty wired. I can start her off in the kiddie pool, so to speak, with minimum risk."
"You say destroy her faith in humanity, I assume you are going to have her sell drugs to small children." Marie-Ange said with a shrug. "What I really want is a telepath, and our only one has two other priorities before us. We have bugger all for dedicated psionics."
"Don't be silly. Small children don't have any money to buy drugs with." He said. "I heard a rumour that a 14K Red Pole is looking to add mutants to his normal sex trafficking for a couple of Hightown clients. It's something I could takedown myself with local resources. Easy enough to work in a relatively safe but useful role for her while she gets to experience the flaming dogshit that is that world. If she can handle that, I think we can trust there is a way to train her to do what we need. While I'm there, I can also put out some feelers if there's a psion looking for work that fits the bill. I mean, unless Doc Grey has a dark side we don't know about, I can't think of any internal options. The new Braddock kid doesn't scream assassin to me, and Quire the kind of fuck that I think would enjoy the job to much. Reminds me of I guy I served with and his collection of North Korean ears."
"Yuck, I hate dealing with the Triads. There is... I suppose you could call it a cultural elemental to how organized crime works in China and Hong Kong that I do not have a natural grasp of." Marie-Ange pushed the plate away, only crumbs left. "Which is why I keep old men who drink whiskey for lunch and could walk right into North Korea on the payroll. How are you going in? As a supplier? A customer would not get the right sort of connections, no?"
"Not sure yet. I'm going to set up Clea as a nice juicy target and then get an idea of what's really going on. Dugan will have the place wired up." Kevin shrugged. "I'm guessing it's likely the normal kind of shitty amoral debauchery and murder, but I need names before I can get into the details."
"Well, let me know what you need. I will warn off Amanda so she does not turn you into a lizard." Marie-Ange said. "She has a history of that, with shapeshifters."
"Money should do it. I'll need... wait, lizard? Do I want to know?"
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