Terry, Marius: Housewarming Gifts
Jan. 12th, 2024 10:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsWhilst ensconced in his new quarters, Marius gets a visit from Terry. It is a pleasant visit accompanied by an unpleasant piece of news.
It wasn't that Marius had nothing to do. Rather, it was that the things he could have been doing were simply not compelling enough to keep him from obsessively refreshing news feeds about the most recent damage reports from District X.
It was probably unhealthy to dwell. While he'd done his fair share of damage, Marius at least had not been involved with the outside agitators -- Akkaba's own leadership had handled that aspect, and the corresponding deaths were not his responsibility. Not really.
Not really.
When the feed disgorged no additional evidence of his crimes Marius returned to the other tab, reminding himself he was still supposed to be doing some shopping. He had amends to make. Besides, while Kyle had only caught him staring at the feed once the expression on his friend's face told him it was better if there was no second time. It was probably not helping his worries for Marius' mental health.
Terry was carrying a rather large tote with both hands as she made her way toward the suite Kyle was sharing with Marius. She'd been too tired to do any cooking recently, so she'd been relying on the casseroles she'd shoved into a million different freezers after Hope's invasion - just to make room for all the venison Kyle had needed to store in hers and Darcy's. And frozen loaves, though they weren't nearly as good as they would've been frozen, they were for emergencies and making sure her boyfriend kept up his required caloric intake without eating nothing but meat for a week solid felt... something like an emergency, at least to her.
Besides, it gave her something to think about that wasn't the violence of the crowds outside the District-X Community Center or the guns and other weapons she'd seen baseline human wielding to gleefully. It also kept her mind off of the nosebleed she'd suffered, how long it'd taken to get it to stop, the bruises all about her person when she'd finally gotten back to the mansion, and how one of her best friends had simply shot people as thought it meant nothing. She'd need to have a good, long talk with her grandfather about all that, since she wasn't entirely sure she could trust her usual priest with that sort of information.
Still, Terry had been keeping herself busy with the things she could manage and firmly not thinking about anything else. Which is why she didn't even bother knocking on the or when she made it to Kyle's new suite. "Oh," she said, nudging the door shut after she'd walked in. "Hello," she offered, barely sparing the man in the room - Marius, she could put a better face to the name in her mind now, at least - as she walked right into the kitchenette. "How're y'settlin' back in? 'Doomscrollin'' as the teenagers say these days?" She nodded toward the phone in his hands as she sat the tote bag on the counter. It took a bit of heft to do it without using her powers. She hadn't realized how much she'd come to rely on them to bolster her strength.
Maybe she should start joining Kyle on his runs... maybe she should look into visiting the gym with Sooraya or Jean, instead. Lord above knew Kyle loved his pre-dawn runs and Terry knew herself to be non-functional before at least a good two cups of tea.
Marius blinked up at the visitor from his spot on the couch, and recognition flickered in his amber eyes. The tense, preoccupied expression evaporated like mist in the sunlight, replaced by a brilliant smile.
"Compulsive shopping, in fact," he said, setting the phone screen-down on the end table. Marius rolled to his feet to face the small woman with courtly welcome. "Apologies, I was absorbed in the world of wholesale spirits. You'd be Terry, right? Kyle said you might be round. Inevitably so, in fact."
Opening the fridge, Terry began unpacking the bag. "Aye, like a lucky penny," she said, grinning over her shoulder at the man. "It's lovely t'finally meet you. Kyle's only ever had brilliant things t'say about you and if I recall correctly, you're the director o'your family's charitable branch o'the business? I remember a few spectacularly successful benefits and galas that made the news when I was workin' with MSF. No' quite in the same circles these days," she motioned to the room in general before closing the door and opening the freezer. "Och - any dietary restrictions or allergies I should know about? I've packed two lasagnas - one veg and one meat - as well as a variety o'soups and things and several loaves o'bread. Best t'thaw one and have at it, assumin' y'can. If y'can't, I'll bring by some things you'll be able t'eat."
"I possess no dietary restrictions, only mildly horrifying additions. And you would be correct. Until last year I was Executive Director of the Laverne-St. Croix Foundation out of Brisbane. The name lacks a certain something, to be sure, but my father ever did insist upon personal branding. And of course it is not so confrontational as to announce itself to be for anything so incendiary as mutant-focussed health care. Ah," Marius clapped his hands together, remembering, "that's right, if I recall Kyle said you did a turn fundraising for Médecins Sans Frontières. He does so enjoy talking you up. Quite unnecessarily, I might add -- it hasn't even been three minutes, and already I find your obvious quality self-evident."
"Flirt," Terry said, pointing at Marius for a moment before she turned back to her unpacking. "It's good you've nothin' you're allergic to, since organisin' two different meal plans for the two o'you would be complicated. How d'you feel about spicy things?"
"Favourably. I am by necessity an adventurous eater," Marius said, his face perfectly straight. "But please, enough about my gastronomic comfort. Food I can buy. Time with the woman who has captured the heart of my oldest friend, on the other hand, is without price."
Terry finished storing the food she'd brought, then turned to rest her elbows on the island facing Marius. "You'll find I enjoy cookin' and the like and feedin' people's the best way I've found t'show I care. Unless you're Kyle, in which case I just steal your shirts so y'can't find 'em when a crisis hits the mansion," she laughed. "There's somethin' of an appreciation club about the mansion, those who appreciate when the gentlemen run about shirtless. Y'can thank Namor for that. Kyle, Arthur, and a few others have apparently been added t'the roster."
Marius spread his hands in mock-helplessness. "Ah, would that I could contribute to this noble cause. Alas, like so many who've made a regrettable life choice I find myself left with some rather unattractive body art, so it's strictly shirts-on for the foreseeable future. A few points off my aesthetic value, to be sure, but fortunately I had high starting marks. Where are my manners? Please, sit. Can I interest you in a coffee?"
Choosing not to poke at the very obvious opening he'd left there regarding his newly acquired 'body art,' Terry laughed a little. "Well, you've got the face o'some ancient, non-Greek god and the charm t'match, so you're not wrong. And aye, I'd enjoy a cup of coffee. Just cream, please." It was how she took her tea and she might wind up putting sugar in if it still tasted too bitter, but she'd attempt to stick with the usual for now. Moving toward the seating area, she toed her shoes off and curled up in the armchair. "How d'you like being suitemates with Kyle?"
Marius sauntered into the kitchenette and headed to the cupboard. "A bit odd, since the last time I shared a flat with anyone it was with him as a student here. Tried to tell him not to put himself out, but you know . . . I am technically under observation until such time it is determined I'm in no danger of experiencing a sudden and dramatic medical emergency, and as chaperones go he is undeniably the safest option. So." There was a cheery little shuffling noise of beans against bag as Marius began to scoop coffee into the grinder. "What of yourself, then? You are clearly a woman of excellent taste as well as surpassing quality. Tell me how you came to be with Kyle, a very dear friend of mine who I nonetheless once observed using pruning shears to trim his toenails. Feral claws, you know."
"Oh, well that's simple, really," Terry said, grinning despite herself. "He was at the gate when I first arrived years ago. Yelled at me whilst fixin' a light or a camera, I think. Hopped off the wall an' I told him, I said, 'Lord, you're a tree of a man an' I'd no' even need m'gear t'climb you.'" She chuckled. "We planned dinner, had it that night, an' haven't looked at anybody else since." Still smiling, though more to herself now, she finished, "He's an easy one t'love, when it comes down to't."
There was a clatter. Marius had discovered it was impossible to operate a coffee grinder whilst simultaneously laughing so hard he could barely breathe.
"You know," he said, wiping tears from his eyes, "Kyle told me that story, and I only half-believed him. I thought: mate, you've always had an enviable ability to attract women well out of your league, but surely something has been lost in translation. Hearing your side of it, I see I now owe him an apology."
Laughing, Terry tilted her temple into the headrest of the chair to watch Marius as he went about grinding the coffee and sorting out the French press. "Y'know, I'm glad for Kyle's sake that thin's turned out as they did, but I'm glad for yours as well. And mine, since I get t'meet y'now. It's seemed like so many people've come back after bein' away and there's so many new people as well. It's comfortin', havin' things feel... no' settled, exactly, but at least... well." She gestured around them. Not everything had gone their way, obviously, and the world was still a riot of imperfection wrapped in the ephemera of broken universes and lives, but. What they had right here, while everyone healed, that was just right for them all.
Marius, in the process of filling the kettle, hesitated slightly.
"It . . . turned out for the best, yeah," he said, and for a moment he could almost convince himself he meant it.
Kettle now placed on the burner, Marius joined Terry in the seating area and took a seat across from her. This wasn't the first time he'd met a Theresa Cassidy, but he was finding the experience not as uncomfortable as he'd been expecting. There were similarities, true, but differences as well -- in mannerism, in appearance, in personality.
Marius didn't intend to mention he had once made out with her alternate version. That did not seem relevant.
As he settled into the chair his amber eyes fell to a splotch of bruises around her neck that he hadn't noticed before. The urge to pull at a loose thread suddenly returned.
"Apologies if it's presumptuous to ask," he ventured, "but that day in District X . . . were you there? Just . . ." He gestured vaguely at his own neck.
Strength of will kept Terry from raising a hand to her neck where the bruises lingered. They'd been particularly dark after she'd gone into the shower with Kyle and they still were, to a degree. The person who'd grabbed her had been fairly intent on throttling her, but a graceless, only half-vocalised shout had left them wheeling away from her, so she'd made her escape. "I was," she answered, grin settling into something more akin and a wry, if soft, grimace. "At the Community Centre, t'start. Thin's turned ugly quickly after the anti-mutant protestors turned up and then there were all sorts o'emergencies t'worry about."
Gesturing toward her neck, though she still kept herself from touching, Terry shrugged. "I'm usually fairly good at keepin' others away from me, since I can shield m'self. But the one that did this got me after I'd dealt with a group of rioters surroundin' a crashed car. They kept beatin' on the shield... then I flew up t'a rooftop and... well. Let's just say I slept for about twelve hours and had a nosebleed or three afterward." She didn't see any reason to not give him the information, since he hadn't been in that part of the fight. She just hoped it wouldn't add a layer of guilt to what he had to already be feeling.
"Ah." The Australian gave a soft laugh. "You know, it's a bit sad, but I'm relieved I wasn't the one who left those? Bad enough I beat Kyle into the pavement. I'm not sure even he would've forgiven me if I'd laid a hand on his -- partner."
Slight thought it'd been, Terry's mutation involved sound and she'd been working with Alison Blair for well over a year. She noticed that pause. Her eyes narrowed just ever so slightly, but she consciously chose not to pursue any of the many questions that could have filled her head in that moment, if she'd let them. Instead, she offered Marius a small smile. "Same as everyone else who's ever fallen into the hands o'bad people doin' bad thin's, it wasn't you that chose t'do those them. And y'know, Kyle bein' who he is... he'd no' hold it against you. No' the way he talks about y'anyway. Especially since I wouldn't hold anythin' that happened that day against you. I'd give him such a look, Marius Laverne, if he even tried."
The corner of Marius' mouth twitched in a smile. "And a hard word, too, I imagine," he said. He couldn't imagine why he'd thought Kyle would have found someone any less bullishly forgiving than he was. He shrugged. "Nonetheless, whilst the decision to inflict harm was not within my control, how I move forward with it shall be. It would please me to make amends to those I've wronged, even if only in some small way. Haven't really wanted to ask Kyle about it, he'd think I'm dwelling. Molly, I imagine, should be fine once her shoulder's set . . . I seem to recall hearing Jubilee depleted her reserves. Arthur and April Parker, though, have you heard anything? I put hands on both of them."
“April’s doin’ well, I believe,” Terry said, pausing to try to remember if she’d heard anything to the contrary. “Arthur, though…” She shook her head, a frown of real worry and concern taking over her features. “He’s no’ doin’ as well as… well. As anyone would’ve expected. He’s got luck powers, y’see, and he’s always so conscientious with them, no one expected a lucksnap. I suppose it could have somethin’ t’do with his psychometry, but that’s seems a more odd. But he’s no’ comin’ out o’whatever happened.
“I’m goin’ by a little later, myself. A good number o’my thin’s’ve migrated t’Kyle’s suite, so I’ve been stayin’ there t’keep close t’Arthur. Haller’s there as well, but the man’d forget t’eat half the time, himself, if I didn’t pop in an’ hand him somethin’.” Terry shook her head, sadness overtaking the frown. “It's early yet, though, an' I've faith in Jeanie and Amelia. I just wish Arthur didn't seem so... it's like he's paperthin, if that makes sense. There, but... sometimes not. And exhausted with it.”
"Arthur's not . . ?" While Marius was still getting a sense of the woman and didn't think she was the type to sugar-coat unpleasant truths, nor did she seem like she was the type to raise a worrying point with a virtual stranger unless she was truly concerned. The mention of "Kyle's suite" also clunked firmly into somewhere in his hindbrain. He'd known Kyle had temporarily relocated to keep an eye on Marius; he hadn't realised that this would involve putting out another one of Marius' victims.
Automatically, Marius turned the palm of one hand upward and stared at the exposed mouth. He hadn't been wearing gloves when Terry came in; the ring of exposed teeth gaped open to the air. He muttered a profanity.
"I put him in a hole," Marius said. "I forgot I tossed him after I fed. When I take marrow it weakens the donor's entire system, you know? Powers, yeah, but immune system and physical reserves, too. If you're healthy the damage is right again in a few days, less if you've a healing factor like Kyle, but if you get hurt or ill on top of it you're starting from a disadvantage. It's why I'm not safe around sick mutants." Marius curled his fingers closed and rubbed the heel of his hand against his forehead. "Fuck."
Terry's expression didn't change despite the lamprey-esque mouth on the hand Marius had shown her. Physical mutations were often the most stigmatised, as it was readily apparent that they set someone into the 'other' category, but she'd seen more than a few 'difficult' physical mutations in her youth when she helped with the Underground in Ireland and she wasn't one to be squeamish about something someone had no control over. "Marius," Terry said, wanting to touch his shoulder but refraining. "You didn't do that. Y'had no choice in the matter. An' I don't think Arthur'd hold it against y'either. He's a generous, kind man. None o'this is your fault an' I know y'said how y'react to't goin' forward is, but beatin' yourself up right now's no' goin' t'help anyone."
Shifting forward so she could catch his eyes, Terry continued, "Move forward as best y'can and spare yourself all the grace you're able, love. An' remember you're with people who care about you here, no' just what y'might be able t'do for 'em. Take care o'yourself, mentally and physically, so y'can help those that can't help themselves."
Marius noted that despite Kyle's fears he must still possess some form of self-preservation instinct since he didn't attempt to argue with Terry. He met her eyes, and found her expression stern but sincere. For just a moment he considered trying to believe what Terry so clearly did.
The kettle whistled. Marius jumped in his seat.
"Ah, excuse me." The Australian rose and went to busy himself with the coffee. "You're very kind to say that," he continued as he decanted hot water into the french press. "Generous of spirit, wise of words, beautiful of course . . . tell me, what negatives do you possess?" Adding the requested cream, Marius hefted the mugs and turned towards her with a wide smile. "Please, I must know. Even a passing detail will be sufficient to temper my overwhelming jealousy at Kyle's good fortune."
Terry watched the moment come, nearly catch, and then pass them by as Marius handled the coffee. That was fine. There'd be other moments where she might work to convince the man that he mattered just as much as the people injured during the riot and the battle to stop the Horseman. Accepting the mug, she said, "Well, I thank y'for the compliments... but I'm always cold, I steal all the covers, turn Kyle into a blanket, an' I'm a terrible mornin' person. There's other negatives, but that seems enough for now. Wouldn't want y'thinkin' I'm a terror t'your best friend."
Marius grinned around his mug as he dropped back into the chair. "I was about to say Kyle doesn't go in for the sunk-cost fallacy, but we are still mates, so I shall amend that to 'in partners.' My own flaws are many and varied. Now that we're sharing a flat again you'll no doubt hear of them in great detail." He took a sip and the smile faded around the edges like a wilting flower. "I'll have to speak to someone about Arthur, though. Not sure what can be done, but . . . yeah. That needs early intervention." And not only because of the potential threat to Arthur's health. Because, despite what Terry thought, the choice that had so injured the man had been completely within Marius' control.
"Good luck."
Marius shook his head. "At any rate, I'm glad to hear he's being looked after in the meantime. Yours seem quite capable hands. One less thing for me to worry about whilst I convalesce, eh?"
"Aye, an' what'd I say about beatin' yourself up?" Terry asked, arching an eyebrow at Marius. She took a sip of her coffee as she maintained eye contact and waited for his answer.
The Australian rested one hand across his chest in a picture of wounded innocence. "Please. If I must have a vampiric mutation surely I am afforded the right to the occasional moment of brooding tragedy. It's a genetic predisposition."
Snorting softly, Terry lowered her cup just enough to say, "If that's how you'd like t'play it, y'should've made m'coffee Irish."
Smiling now, Marius raised his coffee to her in mock-salute.
"I see that you enter into this relationship with certain expectations of me. As I tell Kyle every day of our friendship: prepare to be disappointed."
Uncurling from the chair, Terry sat her coffee cup on the end table and leaned over just far enough so she could kick Marius' shin (gently) with the toe of her slipper. "You've a lot t'learn about me, Marius Laverne. Consider this m'own version of 'challenge accepted.'"
Marius raised his eyebrows. "Yes, ma'am," he replied, hoping one of them wouldn't regret this.
Mostly because it would probably be him.
It wasn't that Marius had nothing to do. Rather, it was that the things he could have been doing were simply not compelling enough to keep him from obsessively refreshing news feeds about the most recent damage reports from District X.
It was probably unhealthy to dwell. While he'd done his fair share of damage, Marius at least had not been involved with the outside agitators -- Akkaba's own leadership had handled that aspect, and the corresponding deaths were not his responsibility. Not really.
Not really.
When the feed disgorged no additional evidence of his crimes Marius returned to the other tab, reminding himself he was still supposed to be doing some shopping. He had amends to make. Besides, while Kyle had only caught him staring at the feed once the expression on his friend's face told him it was better if there was no second time. It was probably not helping his worries for Marius' mental health.
Terry was carrying a rather large tote with both hands as she made her way toward the suite Kyle was sharing with Marius. She'd been too tired to do any cooking recently, so she'd been relying on the casseroles she'd shoved into a million different freezers after Hope's invasion - just to make room for all the venison Kyle had needed to store in hers and Darcy's. And frozen loaves, though they weren't nearly as good as they would've been frozen, they were for emergencies and making sure her boyfriend kept up his required caloric intake without eating nothing but meat for a week solid felt... something like an emergency, at least to her.
Besides, it gave her something to think about that wasn't the violence of the crowds outside the District-X Community Center or the guns and other weapons she'd seen baseline human wielding to gleefully. It also kept her mind off of the nosebleed she'd suffered, how long it'd taken to get it to stop, the bruises all about her person when she'd finally gotten back to the mansion, and how one of her best friends had simply shot people as thought it meant nothing. She'd need to have a good, long talk with her grandfather about all that, since she wasn't entirely sure she could trust her usual priest with that sort of information.
Still, Terry had been keeping herself busy with the things she could manage and firmly not thinking about anything else. Which is why she didn't even bother knocking on the or when she made it to Kyle's new suite. "Oh," she said, nudging the door shut after she'd walked in. "Hello," she offered, barely sparing the man in the room - Marius, she could put a better face to the name in her mind now, at least - as she walked right into the kitchenette. "How're y'settlin' back in? 'Doomscrollin'' as the teenagers say these days?" She nodded toward the phone in his hands as she sat the tote bag on the counter. It took a bit of heft to do it without using her powers. She hadn't realized how much she'd come to rely on them to bolster her strength.
Maybe she should start joining Kyle on his runs... maybe she should look into visiting the gym with Sooraya or Jean, instead. Lord above knew Kyle loved his pre-dawn runs and Terry knew herself to be non-functional before at least a good two cups of tea.
Marius blinked up at the visitor from his spot on the couch, and recognition flickered in his amber eyes. The tense, preoccupied expression evaporated like mist in the sunlight, replaced by a brilliant smile.
"Compulsive shopping, in fact," he said, setting the phone screen-down on the end table. Marius rolled to his feet to face the small woman with courtly welcome. "Apologies, I was absorbed in the world of wholesale spirits. You'd be Terry, right? Kyle said you might be round. Inevitably so, in fact."
Opening the fridge, Terry began unpacking the bag. "Aye, like a lucky penny," she said, grinning over her shoulder at the man. "It's lovely t'finally meet you. Kyle's only ever had brilliant things t'say about you and if I recall correctly, you're the director o'your family's charitable branch o'the business? I remember a few spectacularly successful benefits and galas that made the news when I was workin' with MSF. No' quite in the same circles these days," she motioned to the room in general before closing the door and opening the freezer. "Och - any dietary restrictions or allergies I should know about? I've packed two lasagnas - one veg and one meat - as well as a variety o'soups and things and several loaves o'bread. Best t'thaw one and have at it, assumin' y'can. If y'can't, I'll bring by some things you'll be able t'eat."
"I possess no dietary restrictions, only mildly horrifying additions. And you would be correct. Until last year I was Executive Director of the Laverne-St. Croix Foundation out of Brisbane. The name lacks a certain something, to be sure, but my father ever did insist upon personal branding. And of course it is not so confrontational as to announce itself to be for anything so incendiary as mutant-focussed health care. Ah," Marius clapped his hands together, remembering, "that's right, if I recall Kyle said you did a turn fundraising for Médecins Sans Frontières. He does so enjoy talking you up. Quite unnecessarily, I might add -- it hasn't even been three minutes, and already I find your obvious quality self-evident."
"Flirt," Terry said, pointing at Marius for a moment before she turned back to her unpacking. "It's good you've nothin' you're allergic to, since organisin' two different meal plans for the two o'you would be complicated. How d'you feel about spicy things?"
"Favourably. I am by necessity an adventurous eater," Marius said, his face perfectly straight. "But please, enough about my gastronomic comfort. Food I can buy. Time with the woman who has captured the heart of my oldest friend, on the other hand, is without price."
Terry finished storing the food she'd brought, then turned to rest her elbows on the island facing Marius. "You'll find I enjoy cookin' and the like and feedin' people's the best way I've found t'show I care. Unless you're Kyle, in which case I just steal your shirts so y'can't find 'em when a crisis hits the mansion," she laughed. "There's somethin' of an appreciation club about the mansion, those who appreciate when the gentlemen run about shirtless. Y'can thank Namor for that. Kyle, Arthur, and a few others have apparently been added t'the roster."
Marius spread his hands in mock-helplessness. "Ah, would that I could contribute to this noble cause. Alas, like so many who've made a regrettable life choice I find myself left with some rather unattractive body art, so it's strictly shirts-on for the foreseeable future. A few points off my aesthetic value, to be sure, but fortunately I had high starting marks. Where are my manners? Please, sit. Can I interest you in a coffee?"
Choosing not to poke at the very obvious opening he'd left there regarding his newly acquired 'body art,' Terry laughed a little. "Well, you've got the face o'some ancient, non-Greek god and the charm t'match, so you're not wrong. And aye, I'd enjoy a cup of coffee. Just cream, please." It was how she took her tea and she might wind up putting sugar in if it still tasted too bitter, but she'd attempt to stick with the usual for now. Moving toward the seating area, she toed her shoes off and curled up in the armchair. "How d'you like being suitemates with Kyle?"
Marius sauntered into the kitchenette and headed to the cupboard. "A bit odd, since the last time I shared a flat with anyone it was with him as a student here. Tried to tell him not to put himself out, but you know . . . I am technically under observation until such time it is determined I'm in no danger of experiencing a sudden and dramatic medical emergency, and as chaperones go he is undeniably the safest option. So." There was a cheery little shuffling noise of beans against bag as Marius began to scoop coffee into the grinder. "What of yourself, then? You are clearly a woman of excellent taste as well as surpassing quality. Tell me how you came to be with Kyle, a very dear friend of mine who I nonetheless once observed using pruning shears to trim his toenails. Feral claws, you know."
"Oh, well that's simple, really," Terry said, grinning despite herself. "He was at the gate when I first arrived years ago. Yelled at me whilst fixin' a light or a camera, I think. Hopped off the wall an' I told him, I said, 'Lord, you're a tree of a man an' I'd no' even need m'gear t'climb you.'" She chuckled. "We planned dinner, had it that night, an' haven't looked at anybody else since." Still smiling, though more to herself now, she finished, "He's an easy one t'love, when it comes down to't."
There was a clatter. Marius had discovered it was impossible to operate a coffee grinder whilst simultaneously laughing so hard he could barely breathe.
"You know," he said, wiping tears from his eyes, "Kyle told me that story, and I only half-believed him. I thought: mate, you've always had an enviable ability to attract women well out of your league, but surely something has been lost in translation. Hearing your side of it, I see I now owe him an apology."
Laughing, Terry tilted her temple into the headrest of the chair to watch Marius as he went about grinding the coffee and sorting out the French press. "Y'know, I'm glad for Kyle's sake that thin's turned out as they did, but I'm glad for yours as well. And mine, since I get t'meet y'now. It's seemed like so many people've come back after bein' away and there's so many new people as well. It's comfortin', havin' things feel... no' settled, exactly, but at least... well." She gestured around them. Not everything had gone their way, obviously, and the world was still a riot of imperfection wrapped in the ephemera of broken universes and lives, but. What they had right here, while everyone healed, that was just right for them all.
Marius, in the process of filling the kettle, hesitated slightly.
"It . . . turned out for the best, yeah," he said, and for a moment he could almost convince himself he meant it.
Kettle now placed on the burner, Marius joined Terry in the seating area and took a seat across from her. This wasn't the first time he'd met a Theresa Cassidy, but he was finding the experience not as uncomfortable as he'd been expecting. There were similarities, true, but differences as well -- in mannerism, in appearance, in personality.
Marius didn't intend to mention he had once made out with her alternate version. That did not seem relevant.
As he settled into the chair his amber eyes fell to a splotch of bruises around her neck that he hadn't noticed before. The urge to pull at a loose thread suddenly returned.
"Apologies if it's presumptuous to ask," he ventured, "but that day in District X . . . were you there? Just . . ." He gestured vaguely at his own neck.
Strength of will kept Terry from raising a hand to her neck where the bruises lingered. They'd been particularly dark after she'd gone into the shower with Kyle and they still were, to a degree. The person who'd grabbed her had been fairly intent on throttling her, but a graceless, only half-vocalised shout had left them wheeling away from her, so she'd made her escape. "I was," she answered, grin settling into something more akin and a wry, if soft, grimace. "At the Community Centre, t'start. Thin's turned ugly quickly after the anti-mutant protestors turned up and then there were all sorts o'emergencies t'worry about."
Gesturing toward her neck, though she still kept herself from touching, Terry shrugged. "I'm usually fairly good at keepin' others away from me, since I can shield m'self. But the one that did this got me after I'd dealt with a group of rioters surroundin' a crashed car. They kept beatin' on the shield... then I flew up t'a rooftop and... well. Let's just say I slept for about twelve hours and had a nosebleed or three afterward." She didn't see any reason to not give him the information, since he hadn't been in that part of the fight. She just hoped it wouldn't add a layer of guilt to what he had to already be feeling.
"Ah." The Australian gave a soft laugh. "You know, it's a bit sad, but I'm relieved I wasn't the one who left those? Bad enough I beat Kyle into the pavement. I'm not sure even he would've forgiven me if I'd laid a hand on his -- partner."
Slight thought it'd been, Terry's mutation involved sound and she'd been working with Alison Blair for well over a year. She noticed that pause. Her eyes narrowed just ever so slightly, but she consciously chose not to pursue any of the many questions that could have filled her head in that moment, if she'd let them. Instead, she offered Marius a small smile. "Same as everyone else who's ever fallen into the hands o'bad people doin' bad thin's, it wasn't you that chose t'do those them. And y'know, Kyle bein' who he is... he'd no' hold it against you. No' the way he talks about y'anyway. Especially since I wouldn't hold anythin' that happened that day against you. I'd give him such a look, Marius Laverne, if he even tried."
The corner of Marius' mouth twitched in a smile. "And a hard word, too, I imagine," he said. He couldn't imagine why he'd thought Kyle would have found someone any less bullishly forgiving than he was. He shrugged. "Nonetheless, whilst the decision to inflict harm was not within my control, how I move forward with it shall be. It would please me to make amends to those I've wronged, even if only in some small way. Haven't really wanted to ask Kyle about it, he'd think I'm dwelling. Molly, I imagine, should be fine once her shoulder's set . . . I seem to recall hearing Jubilee depleted her reserves. Arthur and April Parker, though, have you heard anything? I put hands on both of them."
“April’s doin’ well, I believe,” Terry said, pausing to try to remember if she’d heard anything to the contrary. “Arthur, though…” She shook her head, a frown of real worry and concern taking over her features. “He’s no’ doin’ as well as… well. As anyone would’ve expected. He’s got luck powers, y’see, and he’s always so conscientious with them, no one expected a lucksnap. I suppose it could have somethin’ t’do with his psychometry, but that’s seems a more odd. But he’s no’ comin’ out o’whatever happened.
“I’m goin’ by a little later, myself. A good number o’my thin’s’ve migrated t’Kyle’s suite, so I’ve been stayin’ there t’keep close t’Arthur. Haller’s there as well, but the man’d forget t’eat half the time, himself, if I didn’t pop in an’ hand him somethin’.” Terry shook her head, sadness overtaking the frown. “It's early yet, though, an' I've faith in Jeanie and Amelia. I just wish Arthur didn't seem so... it's like he's paperthin, if that makes sense. There, but... sometimes not. And exhausted with it.”
"Arthur's not . . ?" While Marius was still getting a sense of the woman and didn't think she was the type to sugar-coat unpleasant truths, nor did she seem like she was the type to raise a worrying point with a virtual stranger unless she was truly concerned. The mention of "Kyle's suite" also clunked firmly into somewhere in his hindbrain. He'd known Kyle had temporarily relocated to keep an eye on Marius; he hadn't realised that this would involve putting out another one of Marius' victims.
Automatically, Marius turned the palm of one hand upward and stared at the exposed mouth. He hadn't been wearing gloves when Terry came in; the ring of exposed teeth gaped open to the air. He muttered a profanity.
"I put him in a hole," Marius said. "I forgot I tossed him after I fed. When I take marrow it weakens the donor's entire system, you know? Powers, yeah, but immune system and physical reserves, too. If you're healthy the damage is right again in a few days, less if you've a healing factor like Kyle, but if you get hurt or ill on top of it you're starting from a disadvantage. It's why I'm not safe around sick mutants." Marius curled his fingers closed and rubbed the heel of his hand against his forehead. "Fuck."
Terry's expression didn't change despite the lamprey-esque mouth on the hand Marius had shown her. Physical mutations were often the most stigmatised, as it was readily apparent that they set someone into the 'other' category, but she'd seen more than a few 'difficult' physical mutations in her youth when she helped with the Underground in Ireland and she wasn't one to be squeamish about something someone had no control over. "Marius," Terry said, wanting to touch his shoulder but refraining. "You didn't do that. Y'had no choice in the matter. An' I don't think Arthur'd hold it against y'either. He's a generous, kind man. None o'this is your fault an' I know y'said how y'react to't goin' forward is, but beatin' yourself up right now's no' goin' t'help anyone."
Shifting forward so she could catch his eyes, Terry continued, "Move forward as best y'can and spare yourself all the grace you're able, love. An' remember you're with people who care about you here, no' just what y'might be able t'do for 'em. Take care o'yourself, mentally and physically, so y'can help those that can't help themselves."
Marius noted that despite Kyle's fears he must still possess some form of self-preservation instinct since he didn't attempt to argue with Terry. He met her eyes, and found her expression stern but sincere. For just a moment he considered trying to believe what Terry so clearly did.
The kettle whistled. Marius jumped in his seat.
"Ah, excuse me." The Australian rose and went to busy himself with the coffee. "You're very kind to say that," he continued as he decanted hot water into the french press. "Generous of spirit, wise of words, beautiful of course . . . tell me, what negatives do you possess?" Adding the requested cream, Marius hefted the mugs and turned towards her with a wide smile. "Please, I must know. Even a passing detail will be sufficient to temper my overwhelming jealousy at Kyle's good fortune."
Terry watched the moment come, nearly catch, and then pass them by as Marius handled the coffee. That was fine. There'd be other moments where she might work to convince the man that he mattered just as much as the people injured during the riot and the battle to stop the Horseman. Accepting the mug, she said, "Well, I thank y'for the compliments... but I'm always cold, I steal all the covers, turn Kyle into a blanket, an' I'm a terrible mornin' person. There's other negatives, but that seems enough for now. Wouldn't want y'thinkin' I'm a terror t'your best friend."
Marius grinned around his mug as he dropped back into the chair. "I was about to say Kyle doesn't go in for the sunk-cost fallacy, but we are still mates, so I shall amend that to 'in partners.' My own flaws are many and varied. Now that we're sharing a flat again you'll no doubt hear of them in great detail." He took a sip and the smile faded around the edges like a wilting flower. "I'll have to speak to someone about Arthur, though. Not sure what can be done, but . . . yeah. That needs early intervention." And not only because of the potential threat to Arthur's health. Because, despite what Terry thought, the choice that had so injured the man had been completely within Marius' control.
"Good luck."
Marius shook his head. "At any rate, I'm glad to hear he's being looked after in the meantime. Yours seem quite capable hands. One less thing for me to worry about whilst I convalesce, eh?"
"Aye, an' what'd I say about beatin' yourself up?" Terry asked, arching an eyebrow at Marius. She took a sip of her coffee as she maintained eye contact and waited for his answer.
The Australian rested one hand across his chest in a picture of wounded innocence. "Please. If I must have a vampiric mutation surely I am afforded the right to the occasional moment of brooding tragedy. It's a genetic predisposition."
Snorting softly, Terry lowered her cup just enough to say, "If that's how you'd like t'play it, y'should've made m'coffee Irish."
Smiling now, Marius raised his coffee to her in mock-salute.
"I see that you enter into this relationship with certain expectations of me. As I tell Kyle every day of our friendship: prepare to be disappointed."
Uncurling from the chair, Terry sat her coffee cup on the end table and leaned over just far enough so she could kick Marius' shin (gently) with the toe of her slipper. "You've a lot t'learn about me, Marius Laverne. Consider this m'own version of 'challenge accepted.'"
Marius raised his eyebrows. "Yes, ma'am," he replied, hoping one of them wouldn't regret this.
Mostly because it would probably be him.
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Date: 2024-01-12 05:59 pm (UTC)Favorite lines (but so many):
"Apologies, I was absorbed in the world of wholesale spirits."
"Consider this m'own version of 'challenge accepted."
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Date: 2024-01-13 05:10 am (UTC)Greta log, I like how they interact