xp_logs | Log - Inez and Liam, backdated to August 29th, 2023

xp_outlaw posting in

While out for a walk, Inez ran into another cat, which was becoming a pattern.

Summer afternoons by the lake were generally that quiet stillness of overbearing heat and the chirp of mosquitos. In a horror movie, it would be a precursor to something terrifying emerging from the waters to chomp people. To a poet, the solitude was likely inspiring.

Somewhere in the middle, Liam stood in nearly hip deep water, rubber overalls and boots keeping his lower half (especially his tail) dry, a bucket bobbing on a rope nearby. Bursting into action without warning, he half dived, half threw himself at the water, coming up a moment later with a fish in hand, that he tossed in the bucket.

Inez had decided a walk by herself would be just what she needed this afternoon. Not that anything was wrong, but she'd had some interesting times lately and some time on her own had sounded like a good idea. She hadn't spent a lot of time by the water but part of her wondered if it'd be any good for fishing, an old pastime she used to enjoy with her dad and one she hadn't tried since, well...

It'd be nice if it was, so out she went, intent on checking it out. And when she saw a large splash out of the corner of her eye she got excited. Maybe this was a nice, serene place she could retreat to, a fishing rod in one hand, a cold beer in the other, and nothing to annoy her like a big, purple...

Then she saw Liam emerge from the water, yeeting a fish into a bucket.

"...y'gotta be shittin' me," she muttered under her breath.

Counting how many he'd caught, Liam thought maybe one more would be good. They weren't huge and he could always throw the smallest ones back to keep growing. Only a little fish trauma.

Turning his attention back to the water, he waited patiently for another fish to swim up. Idly, he wondered if there were any rivers with good fishing nearby, too.

"Catchin' anything good out there?" Inez shouted, clearing her throat as she waded in just close enough to be heard. She figured the other person had seen her by now so it's just as well to engage with them, though as she saw how far out he was into the water she realized maybe that wasn't the case.

She watched him putting his catch into the bucket and nodded. "Mightn't be a bad spot at all, I reckon..." she said to herself, before shouting again. "Inez is the name, by the by," she said, giving him a polite little wave.

One ear swiveled as soon as he'd heard someone in the area, now, both ears were canted towards the shore. Turning, he waved, gathering his bucket and heading back in, "Hi!" he said once he was closer to what she could likely hear more easily, "I'm Liam. Want a fish?" he had five currently swimming awkwardly in the bucket.

Emerging from the water completely revealed that he had his rubber overalls tucked into his boots. Immediately, he set the bucket down and pulled off the shoulder straps so it fell around his waist, tail emerging.

"Hi Liam, I'm... I'm good, but thank you," Inez replied, unsure how she'd be able to take one but so good for the time being. She cleared her throat and smiled back at him. "I was just wonderin' if there was any good fishin' spots 'round here, and I think you've gone and answered that for me. You must be new here, I..."

She paused as the tail came into view. Well, she hadn't been expecting another cat, but there she was. "Yeah, I'm thinking that's a good guess, mm?" At least this one wasn't lecturing her about Approved Meat.

Inez squinted a little at him. Yet.

He nodded, definitely new. "This one isn't bad. Not a ton of variety that I've found yet though, so I guess it depends on what you want. And we're not that close to the ocean for salt water fish," which was just sad. He'd have to see if they could go some time. Or maybe deep sea fishing! He held the bucket close to his chest, reaching in to pull each fish out one at a time, then he tossed the two smallest back in the water. That was better.

"I just wanna relax, t'be honest," Inez answered with a wry grin. "It can be hard t'do that in the mansion sometimes, an' fishin' has always been special t'me, for... reasons," she said, not wanting to open the lid on that kinda thing with someone she just met. "I don't think I've ever done any ocean fishin', but I bet it's peaceful too, with the right company." No talking, just relaxing and enjoying the solitude in companionable silence.

"Wait, have you done any? I didn't think that, uh... you know, water and all," she said, not sure whether to call him a cat or not. But then again he was also standing in pretty deep water too, so who knew?

Inez was struggling these days, it seemed.

"Sure, my friend's dad had a boat and we'd go out sometimes, bring back a ton of fish!" that was always good even if it was early early mornings. Looking down at himself Liam grinned, "Deep sea fishing is from a boat. And I don't....I like swimming and stuff, it's the drying out part after that takes forever. So, rubber pants," his tail was mostly dry, though his ears were wet. It was what he had to suffer sometimes for fish. "Oh! Get a boat and go fishing. I mean, a small one. Easy."

"Hah, yeah, of course," she said sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck. "Dunno why I hadn't thought of that." Inez looked down at his pants as he mentioned them. "A good idea too, and I bet it probably takes ya awhile to dry out, huh?" The idea of a boat was a good one, though Inez didn't have one and certainly didn't know how to operate one. "I wonder if anyone around here has one, or access to one... could be a nice excursion," she pondered.

"But listen to me ramble on 'bout fishin'... how're you makin' out here, Liam? You doin' alright?" She wasn't sure exactly when or how he got here, but she remembered how kind people were upon her arrival and knew that she should try to return some of that herself.

"I can drive small outboards, but I don't have an inboard license," mostly because they hadn't owned a boat, so getting a license wasn't really a priority. He'd been out on plenty, fishing was common where he lived, being on the Atlantic coast. "But I bet we can figure it out."

Her question surprised him, "Oh. I'm good. It's... different," Liam paused considering, "Did you know the X-Men are here?"

"That'd be pretty sweet, not gonna lie," Inez said, a smile creeping up on her face. Turned out she wasn't all that bad around cat people it seemed, unless they were coming between her and her girlfriend. "Let me know if I can help with that, would love to set somethin' up."

"I did," she ventured, not sure how much she was allowed to say or not say now that she thought about it. "There's, um, a few teams and such... it's how I ended up here, t'be honest." She paused. "Have y'heard of X-Factor Investigations?" she asked, testing the waters to keep with the fishing metaphors.

He shook his head, "No," sounded like a business though, not superheros.

"Ahh, ok," she said, and probably shouldn't have been surprised. "S'who I'm workin' with here, investigations and things like that. It's, uh... it's good work, better than what I'm used t'havin' t'do," she admitted. There was some overlap but so far the XFI work was a) more consistent, and b) less violent, both good things in her books.

"Anyway, yeah, the X-Men are just part of it, but we all help each other out. S'a good place to be, I think you'll be happy here," she said with a nod.

"Yeah.... that sounds kinda cool, actually," he hadn't really thought about jobs and stuff after high school, he assumed he'd go to the University of Maine and study whatever and get hired somewhere as a diversity hire or something. Xavier's was opening his eyes to a lot more options though. That wasn't a bad thing, it was just a lot. "Have you been here a while? Where are you from?" he was asking nearly everyone that.

"I've not been here too, too long, maybe... god, almost a year already I reckon," she said, stopping to think about it. Inez exhaled and blew some stray strands of blonde out of her eyes and smirked. "Time does fly, huh? An' I'm from Texas originally, but a lil' bit of everywhere more recently before I settled down here," she replied. "S'a bit of adjustment, bein' here, but the place is growin' on me," she admitted, especially a certain few residents, but she left that part out. "What about you, where're you from if I might ask?"

"Maine," Liam replied, "A little town way up by the border," no one had heard of Machias. "I've never been to Texas. I've never been further south than Portland, until now."

"Ahhh, Maine, ok," she said. Inez wouldn't have heard of it either, to be fair, but Maine was a good enough indicator. She raised an eyebrow at that last part. "S'funny to hear this neck of the woods bein' south, but I 'spose it is in your case," she chuckled. "Texas is beautiful but, uh, not everyone's cup of tea, t'be sure," she freely admitted.

"If y'ever have a chance t'visit, I'll happily give you some pointers 'n all, or heck, even tag along if the opportunity arose." She hadn't been home in some time and she stared off, in her own little world for a beat or two, before turning back to Liam. "Sorry 'bout that, but yeah. Glad y'made it here, at any rate."

Liam wasn't sure Texas was a place he wanted to go. It seemed... unhinged in the bad way. "I think I'll pass..." He replied, trailing off. Was there anything to see in Texas? It wasn't like Disney was there. "Thanks. I'm going to take my fish in and clean them, but it was good to meet you."

"Of course, was good t'meet you too, Liam," she added, not blaming him for not being too eager to visit the Lone Star State. While it'd always be home to her, Inez wasn't blind to its faults either. "We'll talk again sometime about the whole boat thing, yeah?" she added, genuinely interested if they could come up with something.

"Sounds good," he agreed. Growing up on the water meant that while he kinda hated it, because cat, he also loved it. And fish. He loved fish. "See you later!"