[Gaia, Marius] Insurance
Jun. 4th, 2026 08:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsShortly before deployment, an unexpected source offers Marius some last-minute aid.
Marius searched through the kitchen's massive pantry with a frustration that did not match the importance of the activity. It was also, incongruously, occurring whilst he was fully uniformed. He was ready, had been ready since receiving the target coordinates. However, it seemed there were certain logistics to consider in this particular venture, and several of his teammates were now involved in last minute strategizing and off-the-books coordination with various agencies. As he had no such responsibilities Marius had been left to engineer his own distraction to fill the next hour or two. Unfortunately he'd already secured his power slate for the mission, and so he was left with the entirely pointless task of obsessing over his pre- and post-operational rations.
"They not keep any energy gels in stock?" he muttered under his breath. "Knew I should've placed that re-order . . ."
A small cough echoed through the kitchen. Someone who was copying after seeing other people clear their throat to catch someone’s attention. “Marius.”
Marius jumped -- uncharacteristically, as he had long become accustomed to the girl's silent appearances.
"Something you need, Gaia?" he said, recovering himself before turning. His lips curved in their customary smile of greeting, but his heart wasn't in it. All that could be said was that his mouth turned upwards. "Apologies, I'm a bit preoccupied at the moment."
“I have come to offer my… assistance.” This was a mildly worrying statement coming from her. Results varied wildly.
A trickle of confusion permeated the stress. Marius' eyebrows twitched. "You mean the energy gel? No worries there, they're just convenient. Portable, you know. I can order them later. I've got other things in my kit."
Gaia looked at him like he was stupid, which wasn't actually that far from her usual expression. "Let me rephrase. I have come to offer you my powers, so you may add them to your arsenal and 'bring 'em hell', I believe the expression is."
Marius returned the stare. It was adjusted to question not the recipient's intellect, but their sanity.
"Here, that's . . . quite kind of you to offer," he managed, "but not necessary, truly. You're a civillian, yeah? No need to involve yourself in this."
"But-" She seemed to gather her thoughts for a moment. "These people, they hurt Laura. They must be... punished."
The other man blinked. He supposed he knew Gaia as well as anyone in the mansion could, which was to say not well at all. However, they'd interacted enough that he'd become accustomed to detecting inflection in a voice that could charitably be described as "deadpan," and he heard something new there now.
Gaia was angry.
He couldn't explain it. Her speech wasn't pressured, her expression had not changed, but he could feel the anger beneath her words like the heat of buried coals. Gaia did not strike him as a creature of desires: other than the acquisition of her freedom, he had never been able to discern any sort of motivation from her whatsoever. On occasion she would express desire for some trinket that caught her eye or a passingly interesting bit of information, but if she experienced any kind of deep emotional or spiritual need she kept it well-hidden.
She wanted something now. And, as it happened, so did he.
Marius glanced down at his gloved hand. Talk of Gaia being a civillian, of course, was nonsense; Paige had been no more of an X-Man than Gaia, and once he'd considered the probable shape of the mission he'd had no qualms asking her for a donation. It was the memory of that wound on Gaia's neck when she first arrived, livid and familiar, that stopped him. Yet he remembered, too, what she had been capable of that day in the cathedral. Under very particular circumstances, perhaps, but . . .
Marius raised his eyes.
"All right, then," he said. "As . . . insurance."
She nodded, assured that he had come to sense. Gaia began to roll up a sleeve to offer. “Here. I believe you leave soon?”
Marius held out his hands to forestall her. "Er, actually I prefer venipuncture. Marrow extraction tends to leave the donor a bit under the weather. We'll ask one of the ladies in the Medlab for a quick blood draw, shall we?"
“Ah, of course.” Dropping her arm, she added, “You will tell me how it goes, if you do?” Perhaps a glimmer of jealousy could be detected at the concept of someone else using the powers that lay just out of her reach.
Now Marius did smile. If Gaia's anger was a smouldering flame, the X-Man's was as sharp and cold as winter.
"It's a promise."
Marius searched through the kitchen's massive pantry with a frustration that did not match the importance of the activity. It was also, incongruously, occurring whilst he was fully uniformed. He was ready, had been ready since receiving the target coordinates. However, it seemed there were certain logistics to consider in this particular venture, and several of his teammates were now involved in last minute strategizing and off-the-books coordination with various agencies. As he had no such responsibilities Marius had been left to engineer his own distraction to fill the next hour or two. Unfortunately he'd already secured his power slate for the mission, and so he was left with the entirely pointless task of obsessing over his pre- and post-operational rations.
"They not keep any energy gels in stock?" he muttered under his breath. "Knew I should've placed that re-order . . ."
A small cough echoed through the kitchen. Someone who was copying after seeing other people clear their throat to catch someone’s attention. “Marius.”
Marius jumped -- uncharacteristically, as he had long become accustomed to the girl's silent appearances.
"Something you need, Gaia?" he said, recovering himself before turning. His lips curved in their customary smile of greeting, but his heart wasn't in it. All that could be said was that his mouth turned upwards. "Apologies, I'm a bit preoccupied at the moment."
“I have come to offer my… assistance.” This was a mildly worrying statement coming from her. Results varied wildly.
A trickle of confusion permeated the stress. Marius' eyebrows twitched. "You mean the energy gel? No worries there, they're just convenient. Portable, you know. I can order them later. I've got other things in my kit."
Gaia looked at him like he was stupid, which wasn't actually that far from her usual expression. "Let me rephrase. I have come to offer you my powers, so you may add them to your arsenal and 'bring 'em hell', I believe the expression is."
Marius returned the stare. It was adjusted to question not the recipient's intellect, but their sanity.
"Here, that's . . . quite kind of you to offer," he managed, "but not necessary, truly. You're a civillian, yeah? No need to involve yourself in this."
"But-" She seemed to gather her thoughts for a moment. "These people, they hurt Laura. They must be... punished."
The other man blinked. He supposed he knew Gaia as well as anyone in the mansion could, which was to say not well at all. However, they'd interacted enough that he'd become accustomed to detecting inflection in a voice that could charitably be described as "deadpan," and he heard something new there now.
Gaia was angry.
He couldn't explain it. Her speech wasn't pressured, her expression had not changed, but he could feel the anger beneath her words like the heat of buried coals. Gaia did not strike him as a creature of desires: other than the acquisition of her freedom, he had never been able to discern any sort of motivation from her whatsoever. On occasion she would express desire for some trinket that caught her eye or a passingly interesting bit of information, but if she experienced any kind of deep emotional or spiritual need she kept it well-hidden.
She wanted something now. And, as it happened, so did he.
Marius glanced down at his gloved hand. Talk of Gaia being a civillian, of course, was nonsense; Paige had been no more of an X-Man than Gaia, and once he'd considered the probable shape of the mission he'd had no qualms asking her for a donation. It was the memory of that wound on Gaia's neck when she first arrived, livid and familiar, that stopped him. Yet he remembered, too, what she had been capable of that day in the cathedral. Under very particular circumstances, perhaps, but . . .
Marius raised his eyes.
"All right, then," he said. "As . . . insurance."
She nodded, assured that he had come to sense. Gaia began to roll up a sleeve to offer. “Here. I believe you leave soon?”
Marius held out his hands to forestall her. "Er, actually I prefer venipuncture. Marrow extraction tends to leave the donor a bit under the weather. We'll ask one of the ladies in the Medlab for a quick blood draw, shall we?"
“Ah, of course.” Dropping her arm, she added, “You will tell me how it goes, if you do?” Perhaps a glimmer of jealousy could be detected at the concept of someone else using the powers that lay just out of her reach.
Now Marius did smile. If Gaia's anger was a smouldering flame, the X-Man's was as sharp and cold as winter.
"It's a promise."
