Marius and Darcy | First Impressions

[xp_darcy]

Marius and Darcy meet, and she catches him up on a wayward classmate.


Marius peered at his phone, unsure of what to make of this technological enigma. Initially it had only been minor delays in sending, but some manner of distortion seemed to be affecting the screen as well. Now, looking at the state of his Sent texts, he could only hope his stylist wasn't going to take this as some sort of ciphered cry for help.

No, the same style as usual, only makesoup??? shipped to a different location.

As I am currently suffering the backward FIFOcheckdates climes of the Northern Hemisphere please ensure at least one fingerless option with the first, but expedite the dontforgetbrownies traditional style.

A dozen of the jersey-knit checkonmaya casual gloves as well, please.

sad

"'Sad'?" he repeated, puzzled.

"What's sad?" Darcy didn't recognize the voice, but she pulled her head out of the fridge with a politely confused smile, tilting her face towards the newcomer. He was recognizable, of course, and she had a quick second to decide her behavior.

"Marius Laverne. You're looking better than the videos we've been scrubbing from various parts of the web. Would you like something to eat?"

"My texts, apparently--" Marius looked back to the screen only to find the intrusive text was gone. He blinked.

"Or I'm simply losing my mind," he amended. With a shake of his head he pocketed his phone and turned his attention back to the unfamiliar brunette with a smile. "My apologies, I was a bit distracted there. You have the advantage of me, Ms . . ?"

"Darcy Lewis. I'm one of the tech types around here, among other things, hence my advantage." She gave him a more genuine smile as she straightened from the fridge. "And I'd offer to shake, but unless you're wearing gloves I believe your hands are a no love zone? The blessing of an inquisitive mind–-I actually enjoy reading the mission reports."

"A pleasure. And you are correct, I do not shake." Marius paused, rewinding the conversation just slightly. "Once again, my apologies, but did you just say you've been scrubbing video?"

"I helped out as Muir's internet connection allowed, mostly. Making faces blurry beyond recognition where possible, full scrubbing where necessary. What's your preferred greeting then? Just verbal, bro fist, foot taps? I'm flexible." She winked, shutting the fridge door now that her mental inventory was done. Nothing sounded appealing, so she grabbed a seat instead, chin propped on her hands as she watched Marius.

"Strictly verbal, if you would." Just as he had when Garrison had pointed out the possibility Akkaba might be somewhat less than willing to surrender an asset to his own devices, Marius felt a cold knot begin to form in the pit of his stomach. Kyle had mentioned something along those lines after some chat with Topaz -- how there had been a degree of door-knocking in the neighbourhood of his little misadventure by Snow Valley's more psychically inclined, how Doug had been burning the candle at both ends doing "some security thing" on the tech end. He had assumed it was for the benefit of the residents who had engaged him. For some reason he hadn't thought to connect those measures to himself.

Marius realised he hadn't said anything for a significant amount of time. He grimaced. "My apologies. Thank you for your efforts on my behalf, truly. It's only that the past few weeks have been an exercise in discovering yet another potential complication that might dangle over my head like the Sword of Damocles. With this I now have enough for an armory."

"Seems to be the sort of thing we accumulate here. Mostly Doug's handiwork, if you want to thank anyone, but you're welcome for the small bit I've helped with. Besides, the more I help, the faster I can convince him to actually come to bed. Even if it sometimes means resorting to dirty tricks." One of those dirty tricks was slowly swapping his caffeine intake, not that she'd ever admit it.

Marius thought of the other man's closed expression when he'd first awoken in the Medlab. Doug must have either taken time off to pick up a shift watching him or been actively scrubbing footage on his laptop while he waited. "He mentioned it not at all," he said, more to himself than Darcy. Marius ran a hand through his curly hair with a snort of disbelief. "Although, of course, he would not. A willingness to sacrifice sleep, sanity, and pleasant company in service of one completely ignorant of your efforts? This place is exactly as I remember it."

"Aww, you called me pleasant company." Darcy was genuinely pleased at the compliment, and it showed in the happy crinkle around her eyes. "You're right, I'm a fucking delight. Not everyone catches that though. And you're spot on about most of the place too. Speaks of first-hand knowledge."

Marius flashed her a rueful smile. "Spent rather a lot of my adolescence and young adult years here, as it happens. A tragedy our paths never crossed. From context I assume you are in the employ of Snow Valley?"

"I was a bit of a recluse when I arrived, but definitely a shame," Darcy agreed. "And yes, I'm in-house counsel and other duties as needed. For Xavier's, too, but only for paperwork. If you need representation in court, that would be a Matthew or Angelo problem. I hope that's not an issue. Some people take exception to those other duties. And you? Which team had or has the joy of your presence?"

"The X-Men, once upon a time. Perhaps again if I prove medically stable enough. Despite Kyle's sparkling presence one does begin to yearn for something greater than eternally jogging the grounds and endless World Cup reruns." Rolling the last of his tension from his shoulders, Marius dropped into the seat across from Darcy and regarded her with mock seriousness. "Enough of me. Tell me, what brings a woman such as yourself to this place? Powers mishap? Fugitive status, perhaps? Surely not rehabilitation and restitution subsequent to a large-scale act of terrorism. I feel quite strongly that should be my thing."

"Oh no, nothing so exciting as that. Political power games, although my outing was just a bit of collateral damage. I saved my powers mishaps for–well. Tell me, what has Kyle told you about Laurie Collins?" She gave the man across from her an even look. "The basics, the details? Let's say I can probably fill in some of the gaps. Perhaps not all of them, though. Tricky thing about brains, that."

Marius smiled again, but this time it was a hard, cold thing that did not reach his eyes. "Oh yes, Kyle has kept me abreast of that situation, or at least the essentials thereof. We overlapped somewhat as students, you see. However, I would welcome further insight in advance of our inevitably disastrous class reunion. Please, proceed."

"So, the rundown goes something like this," Darcy started as she launched into the story. "Nanites attack. While Doug is gaining sentient friendos Laurie's bionic hand decides I'm prime for some non-consensual asphyxiation play. My taser happens, we're electrocuted, Laurie's arm can't be replaced because the socket's fried." She continued explaining. Her guilt, Laurie's depression, taking on her care and PT, the unlikely friendship that started becoming more. The Hellfire Gala and the retreat-that-wasn't. "So, unknown to any of us she skips out on part of the retreat to head to Madripoor, where she meets Nathaniel fucking Essex. Yeah, that one. From Genosha. Well. Unsure if it's that Essex, but same power set, same weirdness about his kid."

"I know him, in a sense," Marius said with the care of a man whose thoughts on this matter were piling up behind his tongue. "Never met him in the flesh, at least not whilst I was awake, but he did Kyle and I a good turn once. An ex-coworker of Dr. McTaggart's abducted us to make some point. Behavioral programming, genetic modification, all the hits. Afterwards it was Essex they called in to set us right. Turned out the reason he could so handily undo the process was because he'd sold a better version to the Genoshans."

Darcy nodded. "Eventually she... either got careless or impatient, and I started to notice I was missing time. So I confronted her." Her laugh at this part was hollow, smile bitter. "I hadn't really trained my powers at the time. I didn't know how to do it ethically, and I wasn't very good about reaching out to ask. Just enough that I wasn't obviously leaking, a lot of going against my own instincts to keep my hands to myself and my eyes indirect. We had a feedback loop. Laurie won. Everything else I know is from reports. They found her, she got injured again, and when she woke up she left. Now she belongs to Essex and has a massive hate boner for the mansion."

"I'm familiar with feedback loops of that nature, unfortunately." Familiar enough that the memory of his own experience still gave him a queasy feeling almost two decades later. Small wonder Kyle had skimmed this aspect of Laurie's ignominious departure. Marius curled his fingers against his palms, tracing the outline of the mouths with his fingertips.

"Your control has since improved, I surmise," he said, wresting his mind from memories of Monte Carlo and Manuel's broken body. Marius turned his attention to studying Darcy, this time with the slightly unfocussed gaze that meant he was taking in more than her physical appearance. "Your power is psionic in flavour, somewhat more projective than receptive? Ah," Marius sat back as he realised his slip, "my apologies, I don't usually speculate on such things aloud. I'm simply overcautious about mutations that fall within a certain spectrum. My own trouble had to do, in part, with my unintentional absorption and perpetuation of an ambient power. Empathy, specifically."

"That... would have been incredibly useful when I arrived," Darcy mused. "Yes, the original was. Vocal persuasion, with the ability to amplify based on proximity, eye contact, and touch. Great for consensual orgasms... not so great for broader use or dealing with the sort of fears that come along with having that sort of power and the ability to wield it like a weapon. So I didn't." The mention of empathy combined with the memories of the fight had her giving an involuntary shudder. "But Laurie burnt me out, so my ability to access that power is currently lost, and I don't want to think about what would have to happen to make those neural pathways reconnect." Her nose wrinkled at the thought. "I developed a secondary mutation at some point, so now I'm my own personal taser and have a really nice bond with my frequently used electronics."

Marius' eyebrows rose. "That so?" he said, looking at her more closely. "Interesting. The projective aspect to your mutation I can perceive, and now that I know to look I do recognise traces of the other, but I wouldn't have taken you for an energy projector in the style of, say, Jean-Phillipe. However, my ability to discern specific powers is a bit imprecise; it doesn't take into account personal adaptations. Amanda's magic, for instance." He gave her a wolfish grin. "Regardless, it sounds as if you find the current incarnation less ethically concerning. Some opportunities lost, perhaps, but I imagine you've other means of persuasion at your disposal."

"That's just my sparkling personality, you flatterer," she replied with a smirk. "I do find them less concerning, and having to use the tried and true methods of persuasion keep me from getting lazy. And being more friendly with my tech just makes other parts of the job easier. Amanda was actually the person that figured out the energy projection. I kept shorting out the lights when I'd have strong emotions."

"Powers drift," Marius mused. "As I understand it Amanda herself has experienced something of that sort, though hers was repurposed for magic. One does wonder if your lifestyle had any influence on how the secondary mutation manifested, the affinity for technology and that . . . though that is a nature vs. nurture question for minds more informed than my own."

"I have always been good at making friends with tech. Although I was also dating Doug by then, and his unease with technopathy is well-known amongst the long-term set, I believe." Darcy lifted one shoulder. "Couldn't possibly tell you why that's the direction it went, but it's incredibly useful."

Marius filed away the information on Doug to pursue at a later date. "Unfortunate that Laurie didn't suffer similar consequences during your confrontation. Then again, had she burned out she might have simply evolved into an even more obnoxious form, so perhaps it was for the best.."

"She was... not in a great way when she was brought back to the mansion." Darcy's nails tapped a beat on the countertop, clicking sharply against the coolness as she turned over what she remembered. "Stroke-like, almost. It was brutal. But she's an adult, so checking herself out against medical advice was allowed. Whatever Essex did repaired her to something better than her baseline had been."

Marius' mouth moved in another smile, this one sharp and brittle around the edges. "I once made a similar decision. Logic dictates that should drive some manner of sympathy towards her, but in fact I find it to be rather the opposite. Based upon the similarities of our transgressions I feel rather uniquely positioned to stand in judgement." The older man's fingers curled against the tabletop in an unconscious response to Darcy's own. Something hard entered his amber eyes. "A part of me regrets she found herself against the wrong Death."

"Oh, I know that regret too well." Her own smile was no less brittle. "She keeps turning up like a bad penny. I'm sure you'll get a go if you want one. I suggest range, even if it isn't your usual. Her pheromones are mean, her claws belonged to Kyle first, and she can do something with them that amps the pain and kicks you in the face with nausea later." She'd stopped tapping, and she pointed at the faint scarring down the edge of her eye and cheek before rotating her right hand so Marius could see the scarring tracing across it. "My last mission before... well, you. She was there too, and she likes to play with her toys. Especially the ones she's discarded. The rest of the scarring isn't visible until I put on a bikini, so you'll have to wait a few months to see it."

"Has Kyle enlisted you to provide me with further reasons to live?" Marius smiled, the ice in his tone thawing before he leaned back in his chair with a sigh. "However, I am in agreement with you regarding range. If I'm not on my guard our powers can make for a nasty combination. But then, nothing about Laurie ever was easy to deal with, eh?"

"Are you in need of further reasons to live?" One of Darcy's eyebrows raised just slightly. "I suppose revenge is decent, as far as incentives go. I'd offer to flash you, but I imagine look-but-don't-touch isn't as compelling." She let out a hum of thought. "I do have some mutant-friendly acquaintances I could introduce you to, should you like an evening out. And I bake, if there's a particular sweet treat you enjoy. Unless it's something finicky like macarons, and then you're better off asking Warren."

"Nor shall I ever touch the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, but I appreciate it nonetheless. No worries, Kyle exaggerates. It transpires that living is a difficult habit to break. I-"

The Australian's phone vibrated with the insistence of an actual phone-call. Marius pulled it out of his pocket to discover half a dozen new texts and, more urgently, his mother's name on the called ID. He shot Darcy a look that was half apologetic, half pained.

"Please excuse me," he said, already wondering if the impending conversation was going to be bad enough he'd need to find a less treacherous stylist, "I need to take this. As it turns out, disappearing for half a year tends to make one's family a bit hypersensitive."

Comments

[xp_longshot]

That's just my sparkling personality, you flatterer.

Flirty and fun, until it wasn't — nice to see the back and forth between two characters who can (and will) use a charm offensive when need be. Nice to see Darcy a little more comfortable (at first), and especially great to see her power bleed start to drift from the communications channel.

I adore the two of them considering the best way to deal with / take down Laurie.

Nor shall I ever touch the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, but I appreciate it nonetheless.
A great little quip.