Log - Inez and Kane, Sunday afternoon
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xp_logsInez runs into Kane while exploring the mansion, and he introduces her to Harry's and good beer while they learn more about each other.
Inez hadn't been at the mansion all that long. Certainly not long enough to explore it all, especially as she was taking a careful approach and analyzing her surroundings bit by bit, day by day. She took the same approach with its inhabitants as well; she didn't want to overload herself with too much new information.
Today was dedicated to expanding her new horizons past the typical kitchen and living room areas. She found herself inside of a large library, which on one hand wasn't a surprise to find in so large a mansion, but on the other it was way bigger than she'd expected.
Trailing a finger along the spines of the tomes on one shelf, Inez gazed upward and took it all in, wondering how exactly she'd gotten herself into all of this again.
"Inez Temple. I heard a rumour that you'd washed up here." The voice came from behind, almost making her jump. The man was unfamiliar to her; well built and bearded. But it was the suit that gave him away. The Feds all seemed to get their suits from the same shop and she know his occupation as clearly as if he'd had his ID clipped to his jacket. He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the bookcase. "A little far from your normal... well, hunting grounds? Is that the right term? I'm rusty speaking bounty hunter."
Thankfully he was behind her, because while she didn't jump - barely - Inez sure as heck blinked and appeared as startled as she felt. Still, she tried to play it cool, putting her hands into the pockets of her jeans as she turned around and took him in.
"Mmm, more than a little, to be sure," she replied with a nod. "Both this library and the mansion both... never been much of a reader." She shrugged and tilted her head to one side. "'Fraid you have me at a disadvantage, Officer..." Inez wasn't sure of his rank but the suit, the posture, the cadence, it all rang true for him to be a fed of some sort.
"Special Agent Garrison Kane. FBI." He said. "And X-Man and resident of this madhouse. We haven't met, but you've dropped off at least three wanted mutant criminals to co-workers of mine out west. You just passing through or here for a longer stay?"
"Special," she said with a smirk. "Pleased to make your acquaintance, sir." Inez looked around at the library again, considering her surroundings as much as she considered her words. "I'm not quite sure yet, still mullin' it over. Not my style to stay in one place too long, but y'know what they say, a change is as good as a rest." And she could really use a rest, the more she thought about it.
"Well, I've been told the Bureau owes you a drink or two. How about I show you the local watering hole and get started on that?" Kane nodded his head vaguely in the direction of Harry's.
"I like the way you think, Special Agent Kane." Inez had been paid handsomely for the help she'd provided his colleagues but who was she to turn down a free drink? "You know just how to cut to the chase, don't you? I like that." She gave him another grin and gestured for him to lead the way.
"In homage to Jim Croce, my tinder profile just says 'hey'. I mean, that's a lie. I don't even know how to use tinder." He joked as he led her through the maze of rooms in the house and to the front, stopping only to acquire coats before venturing out into the bright, sharp weather. "So, I heard a couple of rumours. You really take out a Yakuza assassin in San Francisco accidentally?"
"Accidents can happen, especially when two people are tryin' to bring in the same target at the same time. Allegedly," she added. "That said, it's always nice when you can bang a two-fer." Completing a job and thinning the competition at the same time had been a win-win. For Inez at least; not so much for the other two people."
She followed up outside, enjoying the sound of their footsteps crunching along the cold ground. Inez had grown to appreciate the cold, the wintertime, which she hadn't really experienced growing up.
"So, this watering hole, it ain't too far from here, is it?" She could definitely use another place to hang out, and it sounded like this would be her kinda place, or so she hoped.
"Less than ten minutes through the woods. It's a reasonable stumble home. At least for people without healing factors." He waved her down the path with him. "You open for a little contract work? I'm in the mutant crimes division and we predictably run into support issues. I could use another freelancer available."
She couldn't help but chuckle at that. Inez was grateful for her own, though it wasn't nearly as prodigious as some other mutants', but it'd come in handy more than once when fighting a hangover. "Much obliged, I'll definitely be committin' this route to memory."
She let Kane's question hang in the air for a beat or two before answering. "'Course, that'd be more than fine by me. I don't intend to be a freeloader, so I'd appreciate anything I can do to help and earn my keep." He seemed earnest enough in his offer, and she did want to keep herself busy, even if working with a fed was pretty different to her own regular line of work.
"As long as I stay, any road," she clarified, as she still wasn't sure how long that'd be at this point.
"Oh this won't be mansion work. Xavier and the others will figure that out with you. This is pure off the books stuff that Uncle Sam is willing to pay for." They cleared the trees and stepped into the small parking area beside Harry's. He held the door for her into the well lit and surprisingly inviting roadside bar.
"Good ol' Uncle Sam does owe me, I reckon, so yeah, I'm interested." She shrugged off thoughts of her time in the government's clutches, just in time to see the bar come into view. Coincidence? Probably but it made perfect sense to her.
"Thank you, sir," she drawled, giving him a little curtsy before entering the door ahead of him and surveying the inside of the premises. Inez let out a low whistle as she twirled around, eyes going a little wide. "Wow, this is a beaut of a spot indeed. You undersold it, cowboy," she teased Kane as she came to a stop.
"Not a cowboy. I'm actually a Mountie." Kane said, walking in after her. "Special Inspector with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. I'm on secondment with the FBI. Completely true. Got the hat and the red serge and everything."
An eyebrow shot up at that. "A real, honest-to-goodness Mountie?" She'd seen a few from her time in Montana, but they'd been few and far between, and never in the red serge. "You just get more and more interestin' with each passin' second, don'tcha'?" Inez winked and looked for a place to sit, preferably close to - or at - the bar. "So how'd you end up in a place like this, if you don't mind my askin'?"
"Canadian government sent me here. Set up a relationship with the Professor. Been here since." Kane shrugged and waved at Briar for a pitcher of Moosehead and a couple of shots of Crown. "Getting close to twenty years now, which is its own kind of terrifying."
"Ahh, of course, should've guessed." It checked out, though twenty years was a long time to do anything, she thought to herself. "Twenty years ain't nothin', it's true. Not that I'd really know, of course," she joked. Inez had 27 under her belt but thankfully not all of that had been work. More than she'd like to admit, sadly, but not quite.
"Y'don't look it, though," she said, leaning against the bar with one elbow, head in her hand as she turned to face her new acquaintance. "If I can say that," she said with a hint of a smirk. "Let me guess, you play hockey to stay in shape?" Hockey and poutine, that about summed up her knowledge of the Great White North.
"I have a similar cocktail as you; preternatural strength, endurance, speed, a healing factor." Kane poured two pints deftly. "So I mostly have to eat a ton and get to keep the same kind of six pack we share while having the worst habits. It's a wonderful thing." He passed a beer over and held his up in a toast. "To mutant powers."
Inez hoisted her pint and returned the toast to her host. "Cheers," she added, lightly tapping glasses and taking a big pull. "Mmm, that's not bad," she said after, swiping the corners of her mouth with her tongue. "Not bad at all. Thanks." She took another mouthful and closed her eyes, realizing that it was the first good drink she'd had in a while now.
"Glad we have so much in common," she said, resting her mug on the counter lest she chug it all too quickly. "It's a handy toolkit t'have. Funny that it led you to where you are and me to, well... I guess to th'same place, for now anyway."
"One side of the badge or the other, it seems." Kane said with a grin that split the beard and flashed white. "The mansion could use some people who are used to our line of work. If not with the X-Men, the detective agency in District X would absolutely be lucky to have you."
"XFI, right? They seem like decent folk, it's how I got here in the first place." She took another sip and thought back on Alex and the crew. "Honestly that does seem like a decent fit for me, if they'd be interested. I wouldn't impose m'self, though, of course." Inez hadn't talked with anyone about it but would definitely be open to the possibility at least. "X-Men is where you fit in, I take it?"
"That's me. I'm also one of the main operators of the Danger Room, which I've already booked you into a session. We need to gauge your powers and abilities." Kane said. "But everyone is good people, and XFI could use someone with your experience."
"Danger Room, huh? Sounds like fun." It'd been awhile since she'd had any kind of testing or evaluation, but if that's what she needed to do to stick around, it was a small price to pay for sure. "Everyone's been real nice to me so far, s'true. Some a little more than others, heh," Inez said, raising her pint in another little salute before taking another big mouthful. "I'd be more than happy to help 'em out. S'good to keep busy, don't wanna get too rusty, after all."
"Ooh, you have no idea what you're getting into." Kane grinned and toasted her again. "Welcome to Xavier's, Inez. I hope you survive the experience."
Inez hadn't been at the mansion all that long. Certainly not long enough to explore it all, especially as she was taking a careful approach and analyzing her surroundings bit by bit, day by day. She took the same approach with its inhabitants as well; she didn't want to overload herself with too much new information.
Today was dedicated to expanding her new horizons past the typical kitchen and living room areas. She found herself inside of a large library, which on one hand wasn't a surprise to find in so large a mansion, but on the other it was way bigger than she'd expected.
Trailing a finger along the spines of the tomes on one shelf, Inez gazed upward and took it all in, wondering how exactly she'd gotten herself into all of this again.
"Inez Temple. I heard a rumour that you'd washed up here." The voice came from behind, almost making her jump. The man was unfamiliar to her; well built and bearded. But it was the suit that gave him away. The Feds all seemed to get their suits from the same shop and she know his occupation as clearly as if he'd had his ID clipped to his jacket. He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the bookcase. "A little far from your normal... well, hunting grounds? Is that the right term? I'm rusty speaking bounty hunter."
Thankfully he was behind her, because while she didn't jump - barely - Inez sure as heck blinked and appeared as startled as she felt. Still, she tried to play it cool, putting her hands into the pockets of her jeans as she turned around and took him in.
"Mmm, more than a little, to be sure," she replied with a nod. "Both this library and the mansion both... never been much of a reader." She shrugged and tilted her head to one side. "'Fraid you have me at a disadvantage, Officer..." Inez wasn't sure of his rank but the suit, the posture, the cadence, it all rang true for him to be a fed of some sort.
"Special Agent Garrison Kane. FBI." He said. "And X-Man and resident of this madhouse. We haven't met, but you've dropped off at least three wanted mutant criminals to co-workers of mine out west. You just passing through or here for a longer stay?"
"Special," she said with a smirk. "Pleased to make your acquaintance, sir." Inez looked around at the library again, considering her surroundings as much as she considered her words. "I'm not quite sure yet, still mullin' it over. Not my style to stay in one place too long, but y'know what they say, a change is as good as a rest." And she could really use a rest, the more she thought about it.
"Well, I've been told the Bureau owes you a drink or two. How about I show you the local watering hole and get started on that?" Kane nodded his head vaguely in the direction of Harry's.
"I like the way you think, Special Agent Kane." Inez had been paid handsomely for the help she'd provided his colleagues but who was she to turn down a free drink? "You know just how to cut to the chase, don't you? I like that." She gave him another grin and gestured for him to lead the way.
"In homage to Jim Croce, my tinder profile just says 'hey'. I mean, that's a lie. I don't even know how to use tinder." He joked as he led her through the maze of rooms in the house and to the front, stopping only to acquire coats before venturing out into the bright, sharp weather. "So, I heard a couple of rumours. You really take out a Yakuza assassin in San Francisco accidentally?"
"Accidents can happen, especially when two people are tryin' to bring in the same target at the same time. Allegedly," she added. "That said, it's always nice when you can bang a two-fer." Completing a job and thinning the competition at the same time had been a win-win. For Inez at least; not so much for the other two people."
She followed up outside, enjoying the sound of their footsteps crunching along the cold ground. Inez had grown to appreciate the cold, the wintertime, which she hadn't really experienced growing up.
"So, this watering hole, it ain't too far from here, is it?" She could definitely use another place to hang out, and it sounded like this would be her kinda place, or so she hoped.
"Less than ten minutes through the woods. It's a reasonable stumble home. At least for people without healing factors." He waved her down the path with him. "You open for a little contract work? I'm in the mutant crimes division and we predictably run into support issues. I could use another freelancer available."
She couldn't help but chuckle at that. Inez was grateful for her own, though it wasn't nearly as prodigious as some other mutants', but it'd come in handy more than once when fighting a hangover. "Much obliged, I'll definitely be committin' this route to memory."
She let Kane's question hang in the air for a beat or two before answering. "'Course, that'd be more than fine by me. I don't intend to be a freeloader, so I'd appreciate anything I can do to help and earn my keep." He seemed earnest enough in his offer, and she did want to keep herself busy, even if working with a fed was pretty different to her own regular line of work.
"As long as I stay, any road," she clarified, as she still wasn't sure how long that'd be at this point.
"Oh this won't be mansion work. Xavier and the others will figure that out with you. This is pure off the books stuff that Uncle Sam is willing to pay for." They cleared the trees and stepped into the small parking area beside Harry's. He held the door for her into the well lit and surprisingly inviting roadside bar.
"Good ol' Uncle Sam does owe me, I reckon, so yeah, I'm interested." She shrugged off thoughts of her time in the government's clutches, just in time to see the bar come into view. Coincidence? Probably but it made perfect sense to her.
"Thank you, sir," she drawled, giving him a little curtsy before entering the door ahead of him and surveying the inside of the premises. Inez let out a low whistle as she twirled around, eyes going a little wide. "Wow, this is a beaut of a spot indeed. You undersold it, cowboy," she teased Kane as she came to a stop.
"Not a cowboy. I'm actually a Mountie." Kane said, walking in after her. "Special Inspector with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. I'm on secondment with the FBI. Completely true. Got the hat and the red serge and everything."
An eyebrow shot up at that. "A real, honest-to-goodness Mountie?" She'd seen a few from her time in Montana, but they'd been few and far between, and never in the red serge. "You just get more and more interestin' with each passin' second, don'tcha'?" Inez winked and looked for a place to sit, preferably close to - or at - the bar. "So how'd you end up in a place like this, if you don't mind my askin'?"
"Canadian government sent me here. Set up a relationship with the Professor. Been here since." Kane shrugged and waved at Briar for a pitcher of Moosehead and a couple of shots of Crown. "Getting close to twenty years now, which is its own kind of terrifying."
"Ahh, of course, should've guessed." It checked out, though twenty years was a long time to do anything, she thought to herself. "Twenty years ain't nothin', it's true. Not that I'd really know, of course," she joked. Inez had 27 under her belt but thankfully not all of that had been work. More than she'd like to admit, sadly, but not quite.
"Y'don't look it, though," she said, leaning against the bar with one elbow, head in her hand as she turned to face her new acquaintance. "If I can say that," she said with a hint of a smirk. "Let me guess, you play hockey to stay in shape?" Hockey and poutine, that about summed up her knowledge of the Great White North.
"I have a similar cocktail as you; preternatural strength, endurance, speed, a healing factor." Kane poured two pints deftly. "So I mostly have to eat a ton and get to keep the same kind of six pack we share while having the worst habits. It's a wonderful thing." He passed a beer over and held his up in a toast. "To mutant powers."
Inez hoisted her pint and returned the toast to her host. "Cheers," she added, lightly tapping glasses and taking a big pull. "Mmm, that's not bad," she said after, swiping the corners of her mouth with her tongue. "Not bad at all. Thanks." She took another mouthful and closed her eyes, realizing that it was the first good drink she'd had in a while now.
"Glad we have so much in common," she said, resting her mug on the counter lest she chug it all too quickly. "It's a handy toolkit t'have. Funny that it led you to where you are and me to, well... I guess to th'same place, for now anyway."
"One side of the badge or the other, it seems." Kane said with a grin that split the beard and flashed white. "The mansion could use some people who are used to our line of work. If not with the X-Men, the detective agency in District X would absolutely be lucky to have you."
"XFI, right? They seem like decent folk, it's how I got here in the first place." She took another sip and thought back on Alex and the crew. "Honestly that does seem like a decent fit for me, if they'd be interested. I wouldn't impose m'self, though, of course." Inez hadn't talked with anyone about it but would definitely be open to the possibility at least. "X-Men is where you fit in, I take it?"
"That's me. I'm also one of the main operators of the Danger Room, which I've already booked you into a session. We need to gauge your powers and abilities." Kane said. "But everyone is good people, and XFI could use someone with your experience."
"Danger Room, huh? Sounds like fun." It'd been awhile since she'd had any kind of testing or evaluation, but if that's what she needed to do to stick around, it was a small price to pay for sure. "Everyone's been real nice to me so far, s'true. Some a little more than others, heh," Inez said, raising her pint in another little salute before taking another big mouthful. "I'd be more than happy to help 'em out. S'good to keep busy, don't wanna get too rusty, after all."
"Ooh, you have no idea what you're getting into." Kane grinned and toasted her again. "Welcome to Xavier's, Inez. I hope you survive the experience."
