Laurie & Darcy | Whirlwind Travels
Oct. 18th, 2021 01:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logs(backdated) Laurie goes to Nepal for a meditation retreat and Madripoor to chase some leads. Darcy joins her just long enough to help her get settled.
“I need to find out if any of these places we’ve found are legit.”
Laurie was sitting in a chair in her lab, a search running silently in the background as she watched Darcy work.
She’d been debating for some time now whether to use any of the less than ethical people they’d found from various sources but the work with Sooraya and Doug’s seemingly effortless interfacing had made up her mind.
Intellectually, she knew he couldn’t help her and his ability to help Sooraya was specifically due to her silica based power. That didn’t make it any easier to swallow. She needed to do something that wasn’t sitting here in this lab day in and day out trying to keep on hoping.
“I was wondering if you’d come with me for the first leg? I’ve made reservations at a meditation retreat in Nepal that will give me a good excuse to be out of contact range for quite some time.”
"Of course. I can at least help you get settled, make sure you'll be able to reach and get around with minimum reliance on others." Darcy smiled at Laurie from where she was working. "I know you like not having to rely on others for your day to day where it can be avoided."
“Thanks. I have a few places to check out, and then Madripoor if I can’t find a better solution. Will you cover for me until I’m back? I don’t want anyone thinking I need rescuing when I don’t sign in for a few days.”
"As long as you stay in contact with me, yes. You're on a meditation retreat, you get one check-in every few days and that's me, since I'm your super awesome lady friend. And... Let me double-check anything you hear about in Madripoor, please. Some seriously shady shit goes down there. I don't want you to get hurt more if I can prevent it. Or worse, disappeared and experimented on."
Darcy stood up, stretching and twisting before walking to Laurie's chair and wrapping her arms around the other woman in a brief hug. "When do we leave? I'll need to let the team know I'm gone for a few days."
“Tomorrow night, I don’t want to leave it any longer. My mental state has been chaotic these past weeks and the leaking may merely be the start if I don’t do something. I don’t want to put you in a situation one day where you’ll need to put me down for the good of everyone.”
Laurie rubbed at the back of her neck, trying to work out the tension that has grown there during the crisis. It had been a tense few days, and she was just glad everyone had made it through.
The last thing they would have needed was another loss like Kane. She was surprised any of the mansion residents had made it through with that recent past hanging over their heads.
“Is that enough notice? I can hold off if you need to clear it with Marie-Ange.”
"It should be okay." Darcy pulled her schedule up on her phone, then tapped out a text to Marie-Ange. "Nothing on the schedule that I can't do on my laptop or reschedule." Her phone chimed, and she flicked the message open. "Permission granted, though we should give better notice in the future." She slid her phone back into her pocket and dropped a kiss on Laurie's forehead. "I think the retreat will be good for you. Less stress, minimal bullshit, lovely sights. Just what you need after these shitty last two weeks."
Nepal, a very long flight later…
They’d had a short layover in Hong Kong, which Laurie had to say was definitely interesting and a place she’d have liked to go back to some time.
The contact she’d met with Darcy during the time they'd spent there had not been able to offer the help she’d required but it had been a long shot at best. The technology they were working on was years in development before it was viable and she needed something now.
“Our guide should meet us after customs,” Laurie murmured, before glancing over at a tired-looking Darcy. “Would you like a pick me up? I normally give Kyle one when he asks for it on long missions. You’ll need a lot of sleep later but no more than after a coffee binge.”
"That sounds amazing, honestly. And probably without the sugar crankiness, I get after a coffee binge." Darcy pressed her hand to Laurie's back briefly, leaving it in place as they navigated customs and found their guide. A bit of a walk later and she was helping their guide load the luggage and sliding into the van next to Laurie. "So I was thinking for check-ins... you'll let me know when you're catching your flight out of here and once you've gotten to your hotel, and then at least every other day? And then once you're about to board the flight back and an ETA for me or someone to pick you up from the airport? I don't want to be overbearing, but I know I'll worry and miss you."
"I can check in however many times you'd like," Laurie said with an affectionate smile, reaching up to run her hand over Darcy's cheek as their guide entered the vehicle and started off into traffic. It was different from being driven in New York, and the views were definitely spectacular. "I'll miss you too, you know. But it's better that you're back there, I don't want anyone worrying and trying to look for me while I do this. They won't trust my motives given how paranoid they already are about me in general. Besides, you have a date, don't you?"
"I think more of the people that actually matter would be fine with your search than you think, and the people who would be entitled to a deeper answer are polite enough to not demand like a petulant child denied a sweet." Darcy blushed lightly at the follow-up. "Yes. You don't mind? I know the two of you are... complicated."
“I’m your friend, not your jailer, Darce.”
Laurie gave her an affectionate look before focusing back to the scenery passing by the window in front of them. She took the opportunity to lean her head against Darcy’s shoulder however.
“I’ve never been particularly interested in heteronormative ritual chest thumping but I could threaten to make him a eunuch if he hurts you if it would make you feel better? Besides, I’d still climb him like a tree if it wasn’t so complicated, so one of us should get some of that.”
"Seems polite for both of us to have our other partners on board with the fact that there may be... tree climbing, in the future. I don't know, I'm still feeling out the edges of this whole dating more than one person thing." Darcy tucked an errant strand of hair behind Laurie's ear absentmindedly before settling her hand on the curve of the other woman's shoulder. "Speaking of, what are your feelings on clearing the air with Doug once you're back, assuming this trip is fruitful? Give him some closure, maybe? He wasn't opposed to the idea when I offered to ask you about it."
“I’ve tried before.”
Laurie didn’t lift her head from Darcy’s shoulder, content to simply exist for the moment. Difficult would be later, when she was trying to find a diamond in the sea of shit that was the contacts they’d found.
She honestly wasn’t sure how much more she could take. Adding another attempt at reconciliation with Doug at the end of that? She couldn’t imagine anything worse. Perhaps a root canal.
"Just keep it in the back of your mind? No need to decide immediately. Selfishly, of course I'd like both of you to be in a decent place with each other, but it's not helpful if I push either of you into it. Just.. an option on the table." She pressed a kiss into Laurie's hair, watching the scenery pass as they moved from the busy feel of the city into more greenery. "This is beautiful. I regret not being able to stay the whole time just a little bit more now."
“I needed some peace and quiet.” Laurie admitted with a soft sigh as she enjoyed the scenery, both inside and outside of the vehicle. “Sometimes I think the mansion makes me worse than I would be otherwise. Not because of the people but because of what we have to do, and the world outside. It’s so much easier to just be in places like this.”
"Well. Sometime next year we can take a week somewhere peaceful together? Beach maybe, during the off-season? Somewhere new?" She planted a soft kiss in Laurie's hair. "Maybe bring you to the farm and let you meet the family, but I'm not sure that counts as peaceful," she added with a small laugh.
“It would be nice to see them. I could cook for them all even, if you helped. I haven’t cooked in forever.”
"Bubbe might let you, if I can figure out a way to ask her without making her think I'm insulting her cooking. Which I would never do, because she taught me most of what I know. She'll put you to work if we're there long enough, chopping veg and stirring. Maybe both? Somewhere peaceful, and then my family later on."
“Maybe she can teach me? My Grandmother taught me when I was a kid, but I only really became any good when I moved into the mansion.”
Laurie’s eyes had closed as she spoke, just wanting to listen to Darcy’s voice and forget about the outside world for awhile.
“Did I ever tell you how I ended up at Xavier’s?”
"She loves teaching people about food. And no, how'd you end up there? You don't really talk about your early years." Darcy squeezed Laurie's shoulder lightly, basking in the easy touch.
“Habit, really. We were told the world would explode if we mentioned anything about the fact we weren’t originally from this reality.”
Laurie wished everything could be like this. Easy conversation and no need to be on her guard about anything.
“I was arrested due to an incident at my school involving my powers. Nathan, you never met him, he managed to make them let me go and acquitted all charges. I’ve always had to fight, and it always comes back to what I can do, and how afraid people are.”
"I'll have to be appropriately grateful if I ever get to meet him then." The van came to a stop and Darcy was moving, making sure Laurie was out safely before grabbing their luggage. A few minutes later they were checked in and entering a tiny room. "Well, it's going to be a tight fit tonight, but at least you're not sharing with a stranger while you're here. Anything obvious we need to move around to make it easier on you after I leave tomorrow morning?"
"I don't know that he exists in this reality," Laurie admitted, looking sad for a moment before she shook it off and smiled at Darcy. "But I'm sure he'd have found you just as delightful as I do. This should be fine, as most of the meals are communal and I can always ask someone for help. They have a few vets attending, so they're used to making accommodations for people without all their limbs, it's one of the reasons I chose it."
"Well, if he does..." Darcy wrapped her arms around Laurie with a light squeeze, taking a few slow, deep breaths. "I'm glad you were able to find a place like this, that's beautiful and functional. I really hope it'll be good for stress relief. So, less annoying topics! Tonight is dinner and a meditation session before bed, right?"
"Yes to both," Laurie replied, letting Darcy envelop her without protest. When was the last time she'd had so much physical contact with another human being? Maybe Kyle? And that had stopped once he and Terry were an item, it had been too awkward to contemplate how to negotiate going back to a normal friendship level of contact so she'd just stopped entirely. Maybe this place would help her as much as finding a solution to her arm would. "You'll be fine to get back to the airport on your own?"
"Yeah, van's gonna take me back and it's not like I've got much luggage going on. Not looking forward to whatever mess my sleep cycle's going to be in after flying back so immediately, though." Darcy nuzzled Laurie's neck, soaking in all the touch she could before she had to leave. "Gonna miss getting to do this most days while you're gone," she murmured, pressing a kiss to Laurie's neck before reluctantly stepping back. "I hope all of this goes well, though. Don't forget to check in so I don't worry, and send me info on things so I can do a bit of a deeper dive and keep you from getting disappeared by sketchy assholes, please."
“I promise to make sure you have nothing to worry about.” Laurie pulled her into a rather serious kiss, letting everything she didn’t say out loud be said through the gesture. She also pushed another measure of pheromones, a cocktail to help keep Darcy awake and alert on the journey back. “Now, you have to go before I make you stay.”
"Next time," Darcy replied, smiling against Laurie's mouth as they broke apart. "You, me, relaxing vacation. Thanks for the energy, babe." She stepped back into the hallway, pulling the door shut as she turned to leave.
“I need to find out if any of these places we’ve found are legit.”
Laurie was sitting in a chair in her lab, a search running silently in the background as she watched Darcy work.
She’d been debating for some time now whether to use any of the less than ethical people they’d found from various sources but the work with Sooraya and Doug’s seemingly effortless interfacing had made up her mind.
Intellectually, she knew he couldn’t help her and his ability to help Sooraya was specifically due to her silica based power. That didn’t make it any easier to swallow. She needed to do something that wasn’t sitting here in this lab day in and day out trying to keep on hoping.
“I was wondering if you’d come with me for the first leg? I’ve made reservations at a meditation retreat in Nepal that will give me a good excuse to be out of contact range for quite some time.”
"Of course. I can at least help you get settled, make sure you'll be able to reach and get around with minimum reliance on others." Darcy smiled at Laurie from where she was working. "I know you like not having to rely on others for your day to day where it can be avoided."
“Thanks. I have a few places to check out, and then Madripoor if I can’t find a better solution. Will you cover for me until I’m back? I don’t want anyone thinking I need rescuing when I don’t sign in for a few days.”
"As long as you stay in contact with me, yes. You're on a meditation retreat, you get one check-in every few days and that's me, since I'm your super awesome lady friend. And... Let me double-check anything you hear about in Madripoor, please. Some seriously shady shit goes down there. I don't want you to get hurt more if I can prevent it. Or worse, disappeared and experimented on."
Darcy stood up, stretching and twisting before walking to Laurie's chair and wrapping her arms around the other woman in a brief hug. "When do we leave? I'll need to let the team know I'm gone for a few days."
“Tomorrow night, I don’t want to leave it any longer. My mental state has been chaotic these past weeks and the leaking may merely be the start if I don’t do something. I don’t want to put you in a situation one day where you’ll need to put me down for the good of everyone.”
Laurie rubbed at the back of her neck, trying to work out the tension that has grown there during the crisis. It had been a tense few days, and she was just glad everyone had made it through.
The last thing they would have needed was another loss like Kane. She was surprised any of the mansion residents had made it through with that recent past hanging over their heads.
“Is that enough notice? I can hold off if you need to clear it with Marie-Ange.”
"It should be okay." Darcy pulled her schedule up on her phone, then tapped out a text to Marie-Ange. "Nothing on the schedule that I can't do on my laptop or reschedule." Her phone chimed, and she flicked the message open. "Permission granted, though we should give better notice in the future." She slid her phone back into her pocket and dropped a kiss on Laurie's forehead. "I think the retreat will be good for you. Less stress, minimal bullshit, lovely sights. Just what you need after these shitty last two weeks."
Nepal, a very long flight later…
They’d had a short layover in Hong Kong, which Laurie had to say was definitely interesting and a place she’d have liked to go back to some time.
The contact she’d met with Darcy during the time they'd spent there had not been able to offer the help she’d required but it had been a long shot at best. The technology they were working on was years in development before it was viable and she needed something now.
“Our guide should meet us after customs,” Laurie murmured, before glancing over at a tired-looking Darcy. “Would you like a pick me up? I normally give Kyle one when he asks for it on long missions. You’ll need a lot of sleep later but no more than after a coffee binge.”
"That sounds amazing, honestly. And probably without the sugar crankiness, I get after a coffee binge." Darcy pressed her hand to Laurie's back briefly, leaving it in place as they navigated customs and found their guide. A bit of a walk later and she was helping their guide load the luggage and sliding into the van next to Laurie. "So I was thinking for check-ins... you'll let me know when you're catching your flight out of here and once you've gotten to your hotel, and then at least every other day? And then once you're about to board the flight back and an ETA for me or someone to pick you up from the airport? I don't want to be overbearing, but I know I'll worry and miss you."
"I can check in however many times you'd like," Laurie said with an affectionate smile, reaching up to run her hand over Darcy's cheek as their guide entered the vehicle and started off into traffic. It was different from being driven in New York, and the views were definitely spectacular. "I'll miss you too, you know. But it's better that you're back there, I don't want anyone worrying and trying to look for me while I do this. They won't trust my motives given how paranoid they already are about me in general. Besides, you have a date, don't you?"
"I think more of the people that actually matter would be fine with your search than you think, and the people who would be entitled to a deeper answer are polite enough to not demand like a petulant child denied a sweet." Darcy blushed lightly at the follow-up. "Yes. You don't mind? I know the two of you are... complicated."
“I’m your friend, not your jailer, Darce.”
Laurie gave her an affectionate look before focusing back to the scenery passing by the window in front of them. She took the opportunity to lean her head against Darcy’s shoulder however.
“I’ve never been particularly interested in heteronormative ritual chest thumping but I could threaten to make him a eunuch if he hurts you if it would make you feel better? Besides, I’d still climb him like a tree if it wasn’t so complicated, so one of us should get some of that.”
"Seems polite for both of us to have our other partners on board with the fact that there may be... tree climbing, in the future. I don't know, I'm still feeling out the edges of this whole dating more than one person thing." Darcy tucked an errant strand of hair behind Laurie's ear absentmindedly before settling her hand on the curve of the other woman's shoulder. "Speaking of, what are your feelings on clearing the air with Doug once you're back, assuming this trip is fruitful? Give him some closure, maybe? He wasn't opposed to the idea when I offered to ask you about it."
“I’ve tried before.”
Laurie didn’t lift her head from Darcy’s shoulder, content to simply exist for the moment. Difficult would be later, when she was trying to find a diamond in the sea of shit that was the contacts they’d found.
She honestly wasn’t sure how much more she could take. Adding another attempt at reconciliation with Doug at the end of that? She couldn’t imagine anything worse. Perhaps a root canal.
"Just keep it in the back of your mind? No need to decide immediately. Selfishly, of course I'd like both of you to be in a decent place with each other, but it's not helpful if I push either of you into it. Just.. an option on the table." She pressed a kiss into Laurie's hair, watching the scenery pass as they moved from the busy feel of the city into more greenery. "This is beautiful. I regret not being able to stay the whole time just a little bit more now."
“I needed some peace and quiet.” Laurie admitted with a soft sigh as she enjoyed the scenery, both inside and outside of the vehicle. “Sometimes I think the mansion makes me worse than I would be otherwise. Not because of the people but because of what we have to do, and the world outside. It’s so much easier to just be in places like this.”
"Well. Sometime next year we can take a week somewhere peaceful together? Beach maybe, during the off-season? Somewhere new?" She planted a soft kiss in Laurie's hair. "Maybe bring you to the farm and let you meet the family, but I'm not sure that counts as peaceful," she added with a small laugh.
“It would be nice to see them. I could cook for them all even, if you helped. I haven’t cooked in forever.”
"Bubbe might let you, if I can figure out a way to ask her without making her think I'm insulting her cooking. Which I would never do, because she taught me most of what I know. She'll put you to work if we're there long enough, chopping veg and stirring. Maybe both? Somewhere peaceful, and then my family later on."
“Maybe she can teach me? My Grandmother taught me when I was a kid, but I only really became any good when I moved into the mansion.”
Laurie’s eyes had closed as she spoke, just wanting to listen to Darcy’s voice and forget about the outside world for awhile.
“Did I ever tell you how I ended up at Xavier’s?”
"She loves teaching people about food. And no, how'd you end up there? You don't really talk about your early years." Darcy squeezed Laurie's shoulder lightly, basking in the easy touch.
“Habit, really. We were told the world would explode if we mentioned anything about the fact we weren’t originally from this reality.”
Laurie wished everything could be like this. Easy conversation and no need to be on her guard about anything.
“I was arrested due to an incident at my school involving my powers. Nathan, you never met him, he managed to make them let me go and acquitted all charges. I’ve always had to fight, and it always comes back to what I can do, and how afraid people are.”
"I'll have to be appropriately grateful if I ever get to meet him then." The van came to a stop and Darcy was moving, making sure Laurie was out safely before grabbing their luggage. A few minutes later they were checked in and entering a tiny room. "Well, it's going to be a tight fit tonight, but at least you're not sharing with a stranger while you're here. Anything obvious we need to move around to make it easier on you after I leave tomorrow morning?"
"I don't know that he exists in this reality," Laurie admitted, looking sad for a moment before she shook it off and smiled at Darcy. "But I'm sure he'd have found you just as delightful as I do. This should be fine, as most of the meals are communal and I can always ask someone for help. They have a few vets attending, so they're used to making accommodations for people without all their limbs, it's one of the reasons I chose it."
"Well, if he does..." Darcy wrapped her arms around Laurie with a light squeeze, taking a few slow, deep breaths. "I'm glad you were able to find a place like this, that's beautiful and functional. I really hope it'll be good for stress relief. So, less annoying topics! Tonight is dinner and a meditation session before bed, right?"
"Yes to both," Laurie replied, letting Darcy envelop her without protest. When was the last time she'd had so much physical contact with another human being? Maybe Kyle? And that had stopped once he and Terry were an item, it had been too awkward to contemplate how to negotiate going back to a normal friendship level of contact so she'd just stopped entirely. Maybe this place would help her as much as finding a solution to her arm would. "You'll be fine to get back to the airport on your own?"
"Yeah, van's gonna take me back and it's not like I've got much luggage going on. Not looking forward to whatever mess my sleep cycle's going to be in after flying back so immediately, though." Darcy nuzzled Laurie's neck, soaking in all the touch she could before she had to leave. "Gonna miss getting to do this most days while you're gone," she murmured, pressing a kiss to Laurie's neck before reluctantly stepping back. "I hope all of this goes well, though. Don't forget to check in so I don't worry, and send me info on things so I can do a bit of a deeper dive and keep you from getting disappeared by sketchy assholes, please."
“I promise to make sure you have nothing to worry about.” Laurie pulled her into a rather serious kiss, letting everything she didn’t say out loud be said through the gesture. She also pushed another measure of pheromones, a cocktail to help keep Darcy awake and alert on the journey back. “Now, you have to go before I make you stay.”
"Next time," Darcy replied, smiling against Laurie's mouth as they broke apart. "You, me, relaxing vacation. Thanks for the energy, babe." She stepped back into the hallway, pulling the door shut as she turned to leave.
