Kevin & Darcy: drinks and a talk
Sep. 29th, 2021 07:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsThe night after the Gala, Darcy collects on the drink Kevin owes her.
When Darcy had suggested a nightcap, she wasn't aware of the bar inside the lounge area of the mansion. Few were and she was dubious when Kevin had suggested they move there. Shortly, she found herself walking into a space she hadn't dreamed existed beyond a pair of doors perpetually closed off.
The lounge was a throwback to the society years of the Xavier family, the dark inlaid wood walls still carrying a faint hint of cigars and pipe smoke. The deep leather couches were handmade before Kevin had been born and dominating the throwback ultra-masculine environment was the bar. And what a bar. The designer, Arnold Constable, had been poached from the Astor's shortly after the completion of the St. Regis hotel, and he brought the same kind of attention to designing the bar. Dark themes of chestnut and black walnut accented the core of oak that ran 25 feet through the lounge. Behind it were a dazzling array of bottles, although many of them long empty and largely ornamental since the room had been rarely used by the Professor following the death of his parents and often locked in the years that the school was centered in the mansion.
"Wow, I obviously need to poke around the lesser used rooms around here more often, if this is what I'm missing out on," Darcy remarked as she joined Kevin in the lounge. She spun slowly in place as she looked around, delighting in how well cared for the room appeared to be, and made her way to one of the leather couches. Her hand stroked over the fabric, and she sat, carefully arranging her skirt before letting her heels drop onto the floor. "And you owe me a drink, for almost making me lose my cool in front of Mr. Smarmy Art."
"Fair enough." Kevin said. The bar was lightly stocked, but since he'd found it last year, Kevin had laid in some decent booze. He quickly built a classic pitcher of martinis, and after a few minutes, he served an ice cold one to her with a flourish before sitting down with his own.
"To successful heists... and your trainee not losing her cool even when you were startling the poor bartender." Darcy tipped her drink in his direction as she'd done with Harkness, then took a long sip. "The hotel bar wasn't bad, but this is better," she pronounced, gracing Kevin with a smile. "And if I get too tipsy to walk in my heels, I can just carry them up to my room instead." She held the glass up, contemplating it through the light. "This is the sort of dangerous smooth that makes me think I probably should've had dinner first."
"We can get you a bite and a cup of coffee before bed." Kevin said. "I swear, this place produces more food from nervous residents than a bakery."
"Yeah, lot of that's me and Terry," she replied, another swallow disappearing. "Especially after that mess in August. Pretty sure we made enough things that freeze and reheat without a lot of fuss or texture loss to last the year. Ended up taking her out to throw axes so she couldn't use up all the flour stress baking. Think I ate some form of soup and a sandwich for almost every meal that week, even breakfasts." She drained the glass, setting it on the table in front of them. "I know you said something about being wait staff at the Gala. Please tell me you were the one that pinched my ass and then disappeared into the crowd before I could turn."
"Sorry, that was someone else. I was running cover for a few people before I finally got to spend an hour as a guest. You seemed... preoccupied so I shared a couple of drinks with Doc Grey."
Darcy gave him a small grin. "Ah, while I was dancing with Doug? I was having a minor panic about the potential for Harkness noticing me and he was the first friendly face I found. I would've saved a dance for you, but collecting on a proper drink instead works for me." She tapped her glass. "Another?"
"Appreciate the thought, but I prefer being anonymous to the Hellfire Club for now. After all, the only way they'd recognize me is if they have any 80 plus members who were at the same parties I was." He said with a grin as he rebuilt new drinks for them both from the pitcher.
"So, kid, tell me something? I have a dozen tasks for you listed. Colbert has almost as many. But absolutely none of them involves you and your powers. You want to tell me why you're not training with them?"
"I have no control and it's very obvious when I've used them for too long, because it takes me out of the picture? Nosebleeds, migraines, nausea. And no idea how to fix that ethically. Can't really just walk up to someone and be like 'Heeeeeeeeey friend, let me manipulate your grey matter for fun and no profit' without the screaming terror. Maybe for the best. I'd hate to constantly wonder if I was influencing people." A hefty sip accompanied her words, and she winced. "I love everything you've had me learning so far, though. Even the physical shit, which." She indicated her body with an abrupt wave of her hand. "Not really built for fighting, this one."
"Isn't that part of being at the mansion? Getting better control. Hell, I didn't figure out I was a mutant until the 80s. Even then, main things were a few tricks and the lack of aging. It wasn't until I came out of the bay years later that I could do all... this. And even I'm still figuring it out. You can't be scared of what you can do. And hiding from it only means one day you won't know how to control it when you need it."
"I'm not nearly drunk enough for this conversation," Darcy replied with a grimace before finishing the last of her drink. "Fill 'er up." She waited patiently while Kevin filled her glass a third time, then knocked half of it back. "Might be too hungover to make it physically into the office tomorrow, just. So you know." She sat a few minutes, letting the alcohol swirl through her system, before letting out a deep sigh.
"Cards on the table, painfully honest time? I've seen the way my.. er.. Laurie gets treated for her own powers and really don't want that turned on me. Sure, having foreign pheromones pushed on you would suck, but what about the person slowly hooking tendrils of mental manipulation in your brain until all of their ideas sounded like the best ideas ever? If I don't have the control to do that without people noticing, they don't push me away in fear to the point that I snap." She'd pulled her knees to her chest as she talked, elbows balanced on them, hands threaded into the hair at her temples as she directed her words at the table in front of them.
"Counterpoint. Collins doesn't get treated like that because of her powers. She gets treated like that because she's obnoxious, tactless and has a history of abusing her powers. Jean, Emma or Betsy could do far worse, far more easily, and they don't get treated with fear." Kevin said. "It's not about powers. It's about character and integrity. And believe me, that's what people see in you that they don't in her."
Darcy shrugged as well as she could in her position, an uncomfortable itch and urge to defend Laurie in her brain at his words. "I guess I interact differently with her then, although I'm not blind to her faults. Some of that... I'm obnoxious and tactless sometimes too. I'm just not usually poking at someone's soft underbelly when I do it, so I get a pass. And I don't have the lengthy history to really twist the knife like she can. Just not sure the same would be said if I did those things and also had the control to be slithering in and out of most of their brains without notice."
"Again, Jean could rewrite your entire self before you were even aware it was happening. And she isn't treated the same." Kevin said, aware of the discomfort, "I always believe the more you understand your powers, the better you are. Whether you use them, a bit or at all, that's your own judgement. And I think people trust your judgment. You've never given them a reason to think otherwise. Based on her history, Laurie lost that trust."
She ruminated on that for several minutes, finally covering her eyes with her hands and pressing in with a frustrated sigh. "Okay. Fine." Her voice was reluctant. "Find me people willing to let me poke in their brains and I'll work on it." She drained the last of her drink, staring intently at the glass gripped in her hands.
"We'll talk to Emma. Maybe Doc Grey. I'm sure with their powers, they can create a safe environment for you to experiment. Hey, this is a good thing, Darcy. If you fully understand your powers, you can also be confident that it's not them influencing people."
"I haven't been having any of the issues I associate with trying to push them, but subconscious... yeah, you're right." Darcy set the glass down, wincing at the clink against the wood. "I'd rather be manipulating people at home in a way they can counter, not with the equivalent of background radiation." Her hands traced the air in an hourglass while she talked, leaving the implication of how she'd prefer to get her way clear.
"Part of my job is to teach you how to manipulate people the old fashioned way. I want to know that's working without your powers first before we try integrating them."
"Yeah. I don't... the idea that I might be doing it subconsciously is.." she took a slow, deep breath, mind and stomach sour at the thought. "Not on people here, at least."
"That's what training helps ensure." Kevin patted her on the knee. "I know it's tough, but it really is the best direction, I promise."
Darcy was decidedly tipsy, and it felt like a good idea, so she tilted her forehead until it rested against his hand. The position muffled her voice as she replied. "Have I said no to any of the training you've told me to do yet? I've grumbled and bitched a little, but you've done nothing but keep pushing me to expand past a distracting rack and being quick to wrangle people or data. And you haven't broken your word yet. I trust you."
"So trust me on this. Believe me, training someone involves responsibility. So whatever you need to go through, I'll be right there with you the whole time, kid." Kevin said, patting her slightly awkwardly. "I promise."
"I said I would, Boss." Darcy straightened out, bending over to grab her heels before standing on unsteady feet. She gave Kevin a small, genuine smile. "Thanks for the drinks. I think you missed your calling as a bartender at the Gala. You would've made bank in tips."
"Who says I wasn't." He gave her a toothy grin. "Shapeshifter, kid. Never trust where you think I am and aren't."
When Darcy had suggested a nightcap, she wasn't aware of the bar inside the lounge area of the mansion. Few were and she was dubious when Kevin had suggested they move there. Shortly, she found herself walking into a space she hadn't dreamed existed beyond a pair of doors perpetually closed off.
The lounge was a throwback to the society years of the Xavier family, the dark inlaid wood walls still carrying a faint hint of cigars and pipe smoke. The deep leather couches were handmade before Kevin had been born and dominating the throwback ultra-masculine environment was the bar. And what a bar. The designer, Arnold Constable, had been poached from the Astor's shortly after the completion of the St. Regis hotel, and he brought the same kind of attention to designing the bar. Dark themes of chestnut and black walnut accented the core of oak that ran 25 feet through the lounge. Behind it were a dazzling array of bottles, although many of them long empty and largely ornamental since the room had been rarely used by the Professor following the death of his parents and often locked in the years that the school was centered in the mansion.
"Wow, I obviously need to poke around the lesser used rooms around here more often, if this is what I'm missing out on," Darcy remarked as she joined Kevin in the lounge. She spun slowly in place as she looked around, delighting in how well cared for the room appeared to be, and made her way to one of the leather couches. Her hand stroked over the fabric, and she sat, carefully arranging her skirt before letting her heels drop onto the floor. "And you owe me a drink, for almost making me lose my cool in front of Mr. Smarmy Art."
"Fair enough." Kevin said. The bar was lightly stocked, but since he'd found it last year, Kevin had laid in some decent booze. He quickly built a classic pitcher of martinis, and after a few minutes, he served an ice cold one to her with a flourish before sitting down with his own.
"To successful heists... and your trainee not losing her cool even when you were startling the poor bartender." Darcy tipped her drink in his direction as she'd done with Harkness, then took a long sip. "The hotel bar wasn't bad, but this is better," she pronounced, gracing Kevin with a smile. "And if I get too tipsy to walk in my heels, I can just carry them up to my room instead." She held the glass up, contemplating it through the light. "This is the sort of dangerous smooth that makes me think I probably should've had dinner first."
"We can get you a bite and a cup of coffee before bed." Kevin said. "I swear, this place produces more food from nervous residents than a bakery."
"Yeah, lot of that's me and Terry," she replied, another swallow disappearing. "Especially after that mess in August. Pretty sure we made enough things that freeze and reheat without a lot of fuss or texture loss to last the year. Ended up taking her out to throw axes so she couldn't use up all the flour stress baking. Think I ate some form of soup and a sandwich for almost every meal that week, even breakfasts." She drained the glass, setting it on the table in front of them. "I know you said something about being wait staff at the Gala. Please tell me you were the one that pinched my ass and then disappeared into the crowd before I could turn."
"Sorry, that was someone else. I was running cover for a few people before I finally got to spend an hour as a guest. You seemed... preoccupied so I shared a couple of drinks with Doc Grey."
Darcy gave him a small grin. "Ah, while I was dancing with Doug? I was having a minor panic about the potential for Harkness noticing me and he was the first friendly face I found. I would've saved a dance for you, but collecting on a proper drink instead works for me." She tapped her glass. "Another?"
"Appreciate the thought, but I prefer being anonymous to the Hellfire Club for now. After all, the only way they'd recognize me is if they have any 80 plus members who were at the same parties I was." He said with a grin as he rebuilt new drinks for them both from the pitcher.
"So, kid, tell me something? I have a dozen tasks for you listed. Colbert has almost as many. But absolutely none of them involves you and your powers. You want to tell me why you're not training with them?"
"I have no control and it's very obvious when I've used them for too long, because it takes me out of the picture? Nosebleeds, migraines, nausea. And no idea how to fix that ethically. Can't really just walk up to someone and be like 'Heeeeeeeeey friend, let me manipulate your grey matter for fun and no profit' without the screaming terror. Maybe for the best. I'd hate to constantly wonder if I was influencing people." A hefty sip accompanied her words, and she winced. "I love everything you've had me learning so far, though. Even the physical shit, which." She indicated her body with an abrupt wave of her hand. "Not really built for fighting, this one."
"Isn't that part of being at the mansion? Getting better control. Hell, I didn't figure out I was a mutant until the 80s. Even then, main things were a few tricks and the lack of aging. It wasn't until I came out of the bay years later that I could do all... this. And even I'm still figuring it out. You can't be scared of what you can do. And hiding from it only means one day you won't know how to control it when you need it."
"I'm not nearly drunk enough for this conversation," Darcy replied with a grimace before finishing the last of her drink. "Fill 'er up." She waited patiently while Kevin filled her glass a third time, then knocked half of it back. "Might be too hungover to make it physically into the office tomorrow, just. So you know." She sat a few minutes, letting the alcohol swirl through her system, before letting out a deep sigh.
"Cards on the table, painfully honest time? I've seen the way my.. er.. Laurie gets treated for her own powers and really don't want that turned on me. Sure, having foreign pheromones pushed on you would suck, but what about the person slowly hooking tendrils of mental manipulation in your brain until all of their ideas sounded like the best ideas ever? If I don't have the control to do that without people noticing, they don't push me away in fear to the point that I snap." She'd pulled her knees to her chest as she talked, elbows balanced on them, hands threaded into the hair at her temples as she directed her words at the table in front of them.
"Counterpoint. Collins doesn't get treated like that because of her powers. She gets treated like that because she's obnoxious, tactless and has a history of abusing her powers. Jean, Emma or Betsy could do far worse, far more easily, and they don't get treated with fear." Kevin said. "It's not about powers. It's about character and integrity. And believe me, that's what people see in you that they don't in her."
Darcy shrugged as well as she could in her position, an uncomfortable itch and urge to defend Laurie in her brain at his words. "I guess I interact differently with her then, although I'm not blind to her faults. Some of that... I'm obnoxious and tactless sometimes too. I'm just not usually poking at someone's soft underbelly when I do it, so I get a pass. And I don't have the lengthy history to really twist the knife like she can. Just not sure the same would be said if I did those things and also had the control to be slithering in and out of most of their brains without notice."
"Again, Jean could rewrite your entire self before you were even aware it was happening. And she isn't treated the same." Kevin said, aware of the discomfort, "I always believe the more you understand your powers, the better you are. Whether you use them, a bit or at all, that's your own judgement. And I think people trust your judgment. You've never given them a reason to think otherwise. Based on her history, Laurie lost that trust."
She ruminated on that for several minutes, finally covering her eyes with her hands and pressing in with a frustrated sigh. "Okay. Fine." Her voice was reluctant. "Find me people willing to let me poke in their brains and I'll work on it." She drained the last of her drink, staring intently at the glass gripped in her hands.
"We'll talk to Emma. Maybe Doc Grey. I'm sure with their powers, they can create a safe environment for you to experiment. Hey, this is a good thing, Darcy. If you fully understand your powers, you can also be confident that it's not them influencing people."
"I haven't been having any of the issues I associate with trying to push them, but subconscious... yeah, you're right." Darcy set the glass down, wincing at the clink against the wood. "I'd rather be manipulating people at home in a way they can counter, not with the equivalent of background radiation." Her hands traced the air in an hourglass while she talked, leaving the implication of how she'd prefer to get her way clear.
"Part of my job is to teach you how to manipulate people the old fashioned way. I want to know that's working without your powers first before we try integrating them."
"Yeah. I don't... the idea that I might be doing it subconsciously is.." she took a slow, deep breath, mind and stomach sour at the thought. "Not on people here, at least."
"That's what training helps ensure." Kevin patted her on the knee. "I know it's tough, but it really is the best direction, I promise."
Darcy was decidedly tipsy, and it felt like a good idea, so she tilted her forehead until it rested against his hand. The position muffled her voice as she replied. "Have I said no to any of the training you've told me to do yet? I've grumbled and bitched a little, but you've done nothing but keep pushing me to expand past a distracting rack and being quick to wrangle people or data. And you haven't broken your word yet. I trust you."
"So trust me on this. Believe me, training someone involves responsibility. So whatever you need to go through, I'll be right there with you the whole time, kid." Kevin said, patting her slightly awkwardly. "I promise."
"I said I would, Boss." Darcy straightened out, bending over to grab her heels before standing on unsteady feet. She gave Kevin a small, genuine smile. "Thanks for the drinks. I think you missed your calling as a bartender at the Gala. You would've made bank in tips."
"Who says I wasn't." He gave her a toothy grin. "Shapeshifter, kid. Never trust where you think I am and aren't."
