Kyle and Garrison, team stuff
Jan. 20th, 2020 06:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsKyle seeks out (with free beer, which is a -great- bribe no matter what Garrison says) the one guy he trusts to be dead honest with him about re-joining the X-Men.
Kyle dropped the six-pack of beer on the table, in front of Garrison and then spun a chair around to sit with his arms resting on the back. "So, I am totally bribing you for a good answer here but, you know. I gotta question and I trust you not to take my bribes." Even if it was decent beer.
Kane looked up from his paperback as the beer hit the table, but let Kyle ramble as he helped himself to one and twisted off the cap. He tossed it in a high arc past Kyle and into the corner garbage before he spoke.
"So, let's take corrupt fixer out of your potential future careers, because this is the worst bribe/not-bribe approach in history. Even the doorman at a popular club would be embarrassed by this one." He put down his book. "So, what's on your mind?"
"So. I mean hypothetically speaking lets say a guy quit a job that you know..." Kyle started, and then shook himself and took a breath. "Okay, so, you know the big thing happened and I saw a bunch of my students die and I quit the X-Men and I wasn't great about it and I have done fuck, probably ten grand in co-pays of therapy and now I'm re-thinking that whole quitting thing." He reached for one of the beers, and waved the bottle at Garrison. "Also great, if it's a shitty bribe I'm drinking one because. Because."
"So what advice are you asking for here? Should you rejoin the team? Do I think the team could use you or if you could hack it? What kind of beer should you bribe with, because that was is always Moosehead, although this is pretty decent stuff right here." He took a pull from the bottle.
"Grocery store didn't have Moosehead." That was the easy one. Kyle shrugged. "I mean like, all that plus. Also and I probably know the answer to this, I mean do you think like. Anyone's gonna be hella pissed if I just rejoin, because I mean that won't change shit but it's good to know."
"Well, you can't just rejoin. I mean, you're going to need to train back up before you can get cleared for active duty and that will take a little time. But people pissed you left the team in the first place?" Kane shook his head. "You didn't take a sacred oath, Kyle. Plenty of people have left the team for good reasons. As long as you put the work in to get caught up, I can't see anyone having a problem. We're here to help people. Every additional person helps us do that, in my opinion."
Kyle waved a hand. "I mean, I might prefer not to have a stupid trainee code name though, you know, pretty sure we're past that?" Which was risky, one one hand saying so ran him the chance of getting stuck with one, on the other, mentioning it might make them funnier. "Eh, you know, I just - I mean I kinda guessed it wouldn't be like "welcome back here's a gift basket of pineapples" but like everyone else just kept on and I went "yeah, the world's shit and I can't teach so I'm gonna so be sad in the woods."
"You're not going to be a trainee. It's just going to be a process making sure you're up to snuff. And I think you need to rethink what we do here." Kane downed a long swallow. "Life is hard, man. We all get that. You want to help, help. That's all I care about and most everyone else, I think. Just be you and if anyone has an issue, deal with it. There's nothing institutional happening here."
"I could deal with institutional, dude. I was a teacher. Might try to be one again. It's the personal shit that I'd wanna know about." Kyle explained, after a long pull on his beer. "It, I mean you know, it's a bitch to train with people who are pissy at you." He set the bottle down, and idly picked at the label. "I mean I believe you that nobody's gonna be a dick. I just needed to hear it."
"People might. I'm not in charge of what the X-Men think. I just doubt it will be an issue. Regardless, does it matter?" Kane said, looking Kyle in the eyes. "If it gets too hard, are you going to punk out? Be honest."
"Please." Kyle finished his beer. "If I'm gonna do this I'm not gonna quit twice. I mean, what the fuck would that get me? Extra emo. I'd have to like..." He raked his hair in front of his face. "I mean not a good look on me and I don't like My Chemical Romance."
"I kinda like My Chemical Romance. I saw them at Sneaky Dee's in Toronto ages ago." He diverted, opening another bottle. "Look man, you didn't do anything wrong, if that's what you're stressing about. You want back in? Cool, we could use more bodies. Also, you want to teach, Bayside is close by. I'm sure they could use a substitute on file."
"Dude, lemee tackle one thing at a time, I don't have enough like, time for the therapy I need to cover my team stuff and like, what it'd be like to walk into that school looking like me." Kyle waved a hand, claws out. "But yeah, that's on my mind too. It's just a lot to, like, it's a lot to do all at once, and man, I would literally rather let you toss me around the Danger Room eleven times a day than have to deal with a PTO of people who think being a mutant is contagious."
"Well, let's focus on the team then. For now, you'll need a physical from one of the Docs, but you're a physically enhanced mutant, so I doubt that's an issue. You're need to pass a psych evaluation so we know your reason to come back isn't about getting blood and guts and veins in your teeth." Kane pulled out his phone and worked up a text to Scott. "Say, a week to clear all that. You don't have a beer gut or anything to work off, so I'm guessing conditioning will mostly be just re-testing your abilities in the DR. Maybe another week. After that, we'll put you on the group training. Depending on how you do, handful of weeks to get up to speed, maybe a deployment or two in support and comms primarily. 6-8 weeks, and you'll probably be a full swinging dick back in the X-Men fold. That work for you?"
"I'm like, noticing you didn't say you weren't gonna throw me around the Danger Room eleven times a day." Kyle said, grinning. "Yeah, works for me. I mean it's not like I'm not in there once a week with some of the lingering Gen-X folks, so mostly I gotta get rust off." He finished his beer, and fidgeted with the bottle. "You know what's stupid? Being half a shark for like a day, and fighting evil fish people, that didn't get me back. Having to like, face a stupid haunted house fulla dead student voices, that's what did it. What the fuck, right?"
"It's a weird world. You know that better than anyone." Kane shrugged. "We all have different reasons for doing this, so it isn't surprising we all have different reasons for coming back. All that matters is that when you show up, you make a commitment, eh?"
"See man, this is why I asked you. You don't even blink at the shark thing." Kyle said. "Yeah, like I said, not gonna go full emo a second time. Quitting was, I mean, I could quote the therapist but mostly it translates to head up the ass, so." He paused, then groaned. "Ugh, now I gotta talk to Scott I guess."
"I'd give him a head's up but, Kyle, the only person that truly gets to decide if you can return to being an X-Man is you. We're in charge of the 'how', not the 'if'." Kane polished off the bottle and reached for another. "And that means more than just about joining back up, eh."
"You're right, I just gotta sack up and it's like that last step is the worst one." Kyle said, shrugging. "I'm gonna, I'm just gonna not enjoy it. It's like, you know, going to the dentist. You gotta, so you do it, you just don't have to like it much. Still better than the PTO though."
"Relax kid. It's not like you're going to get run through a gauntlet and paddled. Unless you want and that's on you to arrange for yourself." Kane said, leaning back in his chair. "There's a lot of work to put in. I'd make it an early start tomorrow. I say I, but really, I'm going to Harry's after this."
"Dude, I think it counts as early if you come back after closing time."
Kyle dropped the six-pack of beer on the table, in front of Garrison and then spun a chair around to sit with his arms resting on the back. "So, I am totally bribing you for a good answer here but, you know. I gotta question and I trust you not to take my bribes." Even if it was decent beer.
Kane looked up from his paperback as the beer hit the table, but let Kyle ramble as he helped himself to one and twisted off the cap. He tossed it in a high arc past Kyle and into the corner garbage before he spoke.
"So, let's take corrupt fixer out of your potential future careers, because this is the worst bribe/not-bribe approach in history. Even the doorman at a popular club would be embarrassed by this one." He put down his book. "So, what's on your mind?"
"So. I mean hypothetically speaking lets say a guy quit a job that you know..." Kyle started, and then shook himself and took a breath. "Okay, so, you know the big thing happened and I saw a bunch of my students die and I quit the X-Men and I wasn't great about it and I have done fuck, probably ten grand in co-pays of therapy and now I'm re-thinking that whole quitting thing." He reached for one of the beers, and waved the bottle at Garrison. "Also great, if it's a shitty bribe I'm drinking one because. Because."
"So what advice are you asking for here? Should you rejoin the team? Do I think the team could use you or if you could hack it? What kind of beer should you bribe with, because that was is always Moosehead, although this is pretty decent stuff right here." He took a pull from the bottle.
"Grocery store didn't have Moosehead." That was the easy one. Kyle shrugged. "I mean like, all that plus. Also and I probably know the answer to this, I mean do you think like. Anyone's gonna be hella pissed if I just rejoin, because I mean that won't change shit but it's good to know."
"Well, you can't just rejoin. I mean, you're going to need to train back up before you can get cleared for active duty and that will take a little time. But people pissed you left the team in the first place?" Kane shook his head. "You didn't take a sacred oath, Kyle. Plenty of people have left the team for good reasons. As long as you put the work in to get caught up, I can't see anyone having a problem. We're here to help people. Every additional person helps us do that, in my opinion."
Kyle waved a hand. "I mean, I might prefer not to have a stupid trainee code name though, you know, pretty sure we're past that?" Which was risky, one one hand saying so ran him the chance of getting stuck with one, on the other, mentioning it might make them funnier. "Eh, you know, I just - I mean I kinda guessed it wouldn't be like "welcome back here's a gift basket of pineapples" but like everyone else just kept on and I went "yeah, the world's shit and I can't teach so I'm gonna so be sad in the woods."
"You're not going to be a trainee. It's just going to be a process making sure you're up to snuff. And I think you need to rethink what we do here." Kane downed a long swallow. "Life is hard, man. We all get that. You want to help, help. That's all I care about and most everyone else, I think. Just be you and if anyone has an issue, deal with it. There's nothing institutional happening here."
"I could deal with institutional, dude. I was a teacher. Might try to be one again. It's the personal shit that I'd wanna know about." Kyle explained, after a long pull on his beer. "It, I mean you know, it's a bitch to train with people who are pissy at you." He set the bottle down, and idly picked at the label. "I mean I believe you that nobody's gonna be a dick. I just needed to hear it."
"People might. I'm not in charge of what the X-Men think. I just doubt it will be an issue. Regardless, does it matter?" Kane said, looking Kyle in the eyes. "If it gets too hard, are you going to punk out? Be honest."
"Please." Kyle finished his beer. "If I'm gonna do this I'm not gonna quit twice. I mean, what the fuck would that get me? Extra emo. I'd have to like..." He raked his hair in front of his face. "I mean not a good look on me and I don't like My Chemical Romance."
"I kinda like My Chemical Romance. I saw them at Sneaky Dee's in Toronto ages ago." He diverted, opening another bottle. "Look man, you didn't do anything wrong, if that's what you're stressing about. You want back in? Cool, we could use more bodies. Also, you want to teach, Bayside is close by. I'm sure they could use a substitute on file."
"Dude, lemee tackle one thing at a time, I don't have enough like, time for the therapy I need to cover my team stuff and like, what it'd be like to walk into that school looking like me." Kyle waved a hand, claws out. "But yeah, that's on my mind too. It's just a lot to, like, it's a lot to do all at once, and man, I would literally rather let you toss me around the Danger Room eleven times a day than have to deal with a PTO of people who think being a mutant is contagious."
"Well, let's focus on the team then. For now, you'll need a physical from one of the Docs, but you're a physically enhanced mutant, so I doubt that's an issue. You're need to pass a psych evaluation so we know your reason to come back isn't about getting blood and guts and veins in your teeth." Kane pulled out his phone and worked up a text to Scott. "Say, a week to clear all that. You don't have a beer gut or anything to work off, so I'm guessing conditioning will mostly be just re-testing your abilities in the DR. Maybe another week. After that, we'll put you on the group training. Depending on how you do, handful of weeks to get up to speed, maybe a deployment or two in support and comms primarily. 6-8 weeks, and you'll probably be a full swinging dick back in the X-Men fold. That work for you?"
"I'm like, noticing you didn't say you weren't gonna throw me around the Danger Room eleven times a day." Kyle said, grinning. "Yeah, works for me. I mean it's not like I'm not in there once a week with some of the lingering Gen-X folks, so mostly I gotta get rust off." He finished his beer, and fidgeted with the bottle. "You know what's stupid? Being half a shark for like a day, and fighting evil fish people, that didn't get me back. Having to like, face a stupid haunted house fulla dead student voices, that's what did it. What the fuck, right?"
"It's a weird world. You know that better than anyone." Kane shrugged. "We all have different reasons for doing this, so it isn't surprising we all have different reasons for coming back. All that matters is that when you show up, you make a commitment, eh?"
"See man, this is why I asked you. You don't even blink at the shark thing." Kyle said. "Yeah, like I said, not gonna go full emo a second time. Quitting was, I mean, I could quote the therapist but mostly it translates to head up the ass, so." He paused, then groaned. "Ugh, now I gotta talk to Scott I guess."
"I'd give him a head's up but, Kyle, the only person that truly gets to decide if you can return to being an X-Man is you. We're in charge of the 'how', not the 'if'." Kane polished off the bottle and reached for another. "And that means more than just about joining back up, eh."
"You're right, I just gotta sack up and it's like that last step is the worst one." Kyle said, shrugging. "I'm gonna, I'm just gonna not enjoy it. It's like, you know, going to the dentist. You gotta, so you do it, you just don't have to like it much. Still better than the PTO though."
"Relax kid. It's not like you're going to get run through a gauntlet and paddled. Unless you want and that's on you to arrange for yourself." Kane said, leaning back in his chair. "There's a lot of work to put in. I'd make it an early start tomorrow. I say I, but really, I'm going to Harry's after this."
"Dude, I think it counts as early if you come back after closing time."
