xp_logs | Check-ins (Doug/Darcy, Doug/Marie-Ange)

xp_cypher posting in

After the anaphylactic shock scare in Baltimore, two of the important people in Doug's life check in on him.

First, Darcy, who is dealing with some stuff of her own, runs into an unexpectedly emotional turn of phrase, and points out that she'd really like to take things to the next level with Doug. Also under no circumstances is she leaving Doug to fend for himself overnight.

Doug lay on a couch in one of the hotel rooms that X-Force had gotten after the events in Baltimore, a cold cloth covering his eyes. Was the pounding headache a side effect of getting jabbed with epinephrine, or an aftereffect of the weird anaphylactic reaction that had necessitated the injection? The magic 8 ball that was his skull would have sloshed around a bit before saying "answer unclear". Or maybe "signs point to yes" in an unhelpful 'why not both' sort of way.

Darcy keyed into the room, movement soft as she noticed the cloth over Doug's forehead. "Just me," she said quietly, setting her bag down on a chair and pulling out a few cleaning supplies. She disappeared into the bathroom for a few minutes to freshen up, mostly checking herself over that any visible clumps of blood or dirt had been scrubbed clean before moving back into the room. "You plan on staying on the couch most of the night, or getting comfortable in the bed?"

"The couch was closer," Doug told Darcy as she moved around. "And the room was too...everything." He lifted a hand and waved it weakly around. "And I had half a thought to try not to sleep the entire day and totally screw my sleep schedule." He'd had enough of that during the blood curse, thank you.

"It's late enough now, but if you're not moving sit up for a sec so you can use me as a pillow instead." Darcy set the bathroom trash down, sliding under Doug so he had something more comfortable to rest against. "Gotta say, figured seeing you naked the first time would be in better circumstances." She gave him a small, tired smile, hand rubbing down his side.

Doug leaned into the touch and sighed. "Yeah, this is definitely not how I imagined you getting to see my dick for the first time would go," he admitted. He was down to a T-shirt and one of the room's bathtowels draped around his waist out of consideration for anyone who might come to check on him. "Gonna have to get some clothes delivered before we go back to New York."

"I'd offer you my jacket, but it probably wouldn't cover that cute ass of yours. I don't feel like getting arrested for public indecency, either, and my own shirt was a casualty to cleanup activities." Darcy pressed a kiss to the top of his head. "We'll have better opportunities for naked viewing later."

"So what I'm hearing is see if I can talk Emma into having new outfits for the both of us delivered in the morning," Doug murmured. If anyone could manage that particular bit of logistics despite the late hour of the evening, it was Emma.

"I can live with my pants, unless you're politely trying to tell me I smell like a combination of fish and worse. Pretty sure I've been nose blind for a few hours now for my own sanity." Darcy shifted against the couch, the length and weight of the day pressing down on her. "Be very grateful to you and Emma for a fresh shirt or day dress though."

Doug managed a very slight shrug. "More that Emma doesn't do things by halves," he explained. "If it's worth doing, it's worth doing properly, darling," he said in his best impression of Emma's barely-there upper-class Boston accent. He curled up into Darcy and looked down at his nanite hand, which had finally returned to a baseline state. "We're gonna need to have a long talk about proportionality of response, friendos," he muttered at it.

"Is that what happened to you? You can't be hurting my manfriend like that, lil dudes," Darcy directed down to the arm as she laced their fingers together. "Well, I'm certainly not telling Emma she needs to do something improperly. She can have my thanks and a baked good of her choice, instead."

Doug turned a bit abruptly at Darcy's choice of word for him, clinging to her waist and burying his head in her shoulder. "That's what Wade calls me," he said, knowing she would probably wonder what brought this bit of strong reaction on. He used the present tense, as always clinging to the stubborn hope that one day he'd be back at the mansion where he belonged.

Darcy winced, squeezing Doug a little tighter. "Shit, sorry, still trying to figure out what words are... most precise. I won't use it again. Are you missing him a lot, lately?"

"Not your fault," Doug reassured Darcy, relaxing into the hug. "And yeah, I miss him a lot. Every time one of my alerts pings on some super-polite guy ordering a Meat Tornado burrito, or I get a pallet of Reese's pumpkins delivered, it just...makes me wish I knew how to help fix whatever he's dealing with, you know?"

Darcy's voice was gentle. "You know he has to be ready to accept help first, honey. Wade's a good man, he wouldn't just leave without a reason. When he's found, if he's ready... he's not going to lack helping hands. Possibly a stern lecture about hurting your loved ones by not leaving contact info after."

Doug sniffled a bit, then sighed. "What good is being able to communicate with anyone if you can't figure out the right words." It wasn't really a question, more a rhetorical statement. "So, before we sidetracked, I was going to say that I think I know roughly what happened with my hand and stuff." He leaned back up to a more sitting position against the back of the couch so he could look at Darcy. "Nanites have been dealing with the blood curse thing, right? Counteracting a big magic thinger. Well, then they were exposed to a big ol' magic ritual, and they went into hyper-protective mode. Basically, overreaction of an immune system type response, and thus, anaphylactic shock."

"That.. makes sense, I guess? Nuance of "a lot of some magic is good, a lot of other magic is bad" is probably a bit much for comprehension. What's your plan for getting them used to it?" Darcy didn't even entertain the idea that the answer might be staying away from magic, not with how many magic users Doug was friendly with.

"Keep an EpiPen on hand, like anyone with a severe allergy would. See if desensitization is an option." He might have been dozing most of the time at the hotel, but Doug was also a creature of research who needed to know things and have a plan for them.

"Mm, being smart about your health and safety. I like it, very attractive trait," Darcy teased gently. She curled up in the corner of the couch, arms wrapped around her knees. "I'm sorry I couldn't stick around to make sure you were okay."

Doug shook his head and pulled one of Darcy's arms back towards him, trying not to let her curl into herself completely. "You had stuff that needed to be done, and I had people checking on me. And we're still here, right?"

"Yeah." Darcy didn't resist the pull, letting their limbs tangle and pressing her face into Doug's shoulder with a yawn. "Still here. How's the headache?"

"About the same." Doug squeezed Darcy's shoulder. "How about you take the bed? I suspect I'm going to be up and down a bit overnight, and I don't want to wake you up every time." He knew better than to suggest she sleep in a room of her own, she was obviously worried and wanting to stay close.

"I don't mind bed sharing even if you're restless, but if you'd rather the couch.." Darcy mumbled into his shoulder. "I can take a hint." She tilted her head up, pressing a kiss to Doug's cheek as she stood and crossed to the bed, stripping her shirt and pants before sliding under the covers with a soft "Good night."

Doug stood from the couch a bit unsteadily. He could take a hint too. He shuffled over to the bed and crawled in with Darcy. "I'll stay here until you fall asleep," he told her, rubbing her upper arm. "I can go to the couch later." He was pretty sure the nausea would wake him up.

"I'm. It's.. fine. You didn't have to get up." Darcy gave him a bit of a frown. "Your health comes first."

"It's not about coming first..." Doug snorted weakly. "Phrasing." He smiled gently at Darcy. "Compromise is the cornerstone of a solid relationship. And giving of what you have for each other." He scooted in a bit closer to hug her. "So I'll be here for you, even while you're here for me."

Darcy readily accepted the hug. "My phrasing was fine, Doug. You just got mostly healthy, that is not.." she let a frustrated huff. "I am not going to sleep well tonight, so I'd rather you focus on your own health." She kept her voice quiet out of respect for his headache, but her face was unimpressed. "And sex jokes when we're half naked in bed and unable to do anything? And more importantly aren't having sex yet?? My self-control is only so good, hon."

Doug leaned in and planted a kiss on Darcy's forehead. "Let's revisit when we're back home and recovered?" he offered.

"I don't mind that we're building a more solid foundation first, it's just no fun teasing when you might puke on me." Darcy rolled to her back, pulling Doug until his head was pillowed on her chest. "But we can revisit it at home," she continued through a yawn, eyes drifting shut as she curled into his warmth.

-
In the morning, Marie-Ange brings breakfast, does her usual 'knows things and is mysterious' bit, makes sure Doug is recovering well, and is supportive and reassuring in her particular way.

Doug lay on a couch in one of the hotel rooms that X-Force had gotten after the events in Baltimore, a cold cloth covering his eyes. Was the pounding headache a side effect of getting jabbed with epinephrine, or an aftereffect of the weird anaphylactic reaction that had necessitated the injection? The magic 8 ball that was his skull would have sloshed around a bit before saying "answer unclear". Or maybe "signs point to yes" in an unhelpful 'why not both' sort of way.

"I thought you were recovering by shopping and delivery food." Marie-Ange had nudged the door open carefully with her foot, and then set a drinks container with several coffee cups down. "I know you were up earlier, I saw all of the slack messages about trousers and Emma's credit card."

"What time is it even?" Doug asked blearily as he lifted the cloth off his eyes. He'd been dozing off and on, and he'd decided to let Darcy have the bed after she made it clear that she wasn't leaving him by himself. And while cuddling up to her was nice, he'd moved back to the couch so that he wasn't interrupting her every time he woke up again to use the restroom or deal with the nausea that anaphylaxis followed by epinephrine had wrought.

"Early. And you are on decaf." Marie-Ange nudged the drinks container. "I googled all the recovery notes for allergic shock. No caffeine, no alcohol. Strangely nothing about limiting mairjuana but I did not bring edibles, so you are out of luck there. "I recovered your laptop bag, I have aspirin and tylonel for you, and I took the liberty to order you and Darcy both a waffle breakfast." She paused. "Amanda and I ate already. The room service breakfast is acceptably full of carbs, and bacon."

Doug's stomach picked the word 'bacon' to emit a loud rumble. "Well, obviously my stomach thanks you," he told her. "Sigh, decaf." He was probably going to sleep most of the way back to New York, he was guessing. "Thank you for the laptop bag, I'm guessing my phone went poof along with my pants yesterday." He tended to keep a spare in the laptop bag, so it was no great loss. "So. Uh. Me and Darcy." Of course she had known to bring two servings of breakfast, and he doubted she'd be all that forthcoming about how she arrived at that decision.

"I already started the clone from your spare." Marie-Ange said. "Yes. You and Darcy. I am a very observant human. It is rather my job, yes?" She sat down on the other end of the couch, uninvited but probably not unwanted, and reached over to flick at Doug's shoulder. "I outright encouraged it, do not give me the "uh" conversation. Do you want the entire report on how I know things, or can I continue to be mysterious and full of secrets and shoes?"

"You are always full of secrets and shoes, even if I asked you to tell me. And if I did, you'd just be vague and mysterious anyway, as you do." It was said with fondness and the closeness of having known each other for around half their lives. Doug leaned his head back against the couch and sighed. "The 'uh' was less you, and more..." He made a vague hand motion toward where Darcy lay in the bed, probably at least half-awake by now. "I hate that social media has made 'it's complicated' such a cliche."

Marie-Ange rolled her eye a little. "So stop using cliches, or stop using social media. Facebook is terrible, Mark Zuckerberg is a humanoid naked mole rat, and Twitter is full of nazis." She poked Doug in the arm again, just above the curved patch of nanites. "How are we? Both Doug and whatever we should be calling your passengers? Clea said the reaction was because of the heavy magic from the ritual?"

Doug looked down at the prosthetic, as he tended to do when it was the subject of discussion. "They don't seem to have a lot of interest in having a name for themselves," he told Marie-Ange. "The most I get is them usually just referring to themselves as 'naniteswarm' when needed. To be honest, I'm not sure they still have the tightest grip on the concept of names, since I'm still 'user douglasaaronramseycypher'. I made the mistake of trying to give them options and they decided the whole thing was my name." He shook his head and chuckled.

"As to the other part...yeah, the best I can figure is that the nanites had a enormous hypersensitive reaction that presented like anaphylactic shock." Being clinical about it helped him get some distance from the event. "Since they seem to view part of their purpose as maintaining my body and counteracting the external energy of the blood curse, when another big source of magic popped up they went a bit overboard."

"Oh, and we did blood magic." Marie-Ange said quietly. "No wonder they were so distressed, and if they are integrated into your body, I imagine when they panic, your body panics." She let out a little huff - not of frustration but of resigned fatigue and leaned back into the couch, head all the way back on the cushions. "You look exhausted. Up and down all night recovering, or planning for how to manage this? Or, rather a bit of both?"

A snort escaped Doug. He had been half expecting her to suggest a well thought out plan wholesale. But at the end (or in this case, the very beginning) of the day, they'd known each other for a very long time, and the coping mechanisms they each tended to retreat to. "Bit of both," he admitted. "Plenty of residual nausea from the anaphlyaxis and the epinephrine, but also research. Would you like to see the expense report for an EpiPen supply that's ready for your inbox?" He grinned mischievously. "Or the half-done document of research on allergen desensitization techniques?"

Marie-Ange made a grabbing motion at Doug. "You know I love when you do the work ahead of time. Would you like a copy of the post allergic shock report?" She reached into the laptop bag she'd rescued from the ritual site and handed a still un-cased phone to Doug. "Once it finishes cloning from the backup, it should have that, and a timer for when you get coffee back. Which is not very long. Twelve hours from the epi-pen." She patted Doug's arm right where the skin met the nanites. "They are good robots, I am glad they keep you alive and healthy."

"What, no Hello Kitty case?" Doug asked and stuck his tongue out at Marie-Ange. His bet was either that there was one in the bag, or that Clarice had already been texted to acquire another. He supposed that it was possible he was out of the 'ridiculous phone case' doghouse, but he sort of doubted it.

"How's Amanda doing?" he asked to change the subject a bit. She had taken point on the ritual, after all, despite Topaz and Clea's objections at her overprotectiveness.

"She is mostly exhausted. Those rituals are draining." Marie-Ange answered. "But I talked her into letting me deep condition her hair after getting the dried blood out, so she is tired with good hair." She continued to dig around in the bag, and pulled out a green phone case with a cartoon frog. "Keroppi. I thought perhaps, waterproof case, so this one is frog themed."

Doug took the packaging and immediately opened it and put the case on the phone. "You don't realize how much stuff takes two hands, even incidentally, until you lose one," he noted. He felt better just having a phone again, which probably said something about him and his priorities. The image of Marie-Ange being comforting and pampering Amanda was cute, and brought a smile to his face. "Are we..." he trailed off, waving a hand between them. It was probably stupid, but he was feeling a bit fragile after the scare of the previous day, and Marie-Ange had been spending a lot of time exclusively with Amanda, and Darcy had her own...thing with Laurie, and Wade was still gone, goddamit, and he had no idea how to put all of that into words. And he was just -tired-.

Marie-Ange patted Doug's arm again. "Go back to sleep. It is early, we have a long drive ahead and I need you to back me up because five hours of Amanda's music will make me want to stab myself in the eardrums. We are fine, nothing has or needs to change. I adore many things about Amanda, her music is not one of them. I adore many things about you, your tendency to run on espresso and sugar is not one of them either. Get more sleep."

That answered how they were getting back to New York and who was going to be doing most of the driving. "Eh, I'm kind of up for the time being, better to get Darcy up and showered. We can rotate napping and driving duties as needed on the road." He slowly levered himself to a standing position. "Plus I should see what replacement clothes Emma had delivered overnight. Bath towel sarongs are great for hotel rooms, not so much for rest stops."

"But you finally have leg muscle again, you look so good in the towel sarong."