xp_logs | Marie-Ange, Doug, Domino, backdated to Monday

Marie-Ange and Doug have lunch - very, very fancy expensive lunch - with Domino. They discuss Nathan, and how he is stupid, the kids summarize the pet policy for Dom, and Doug demonstrates that under that shy exterior lies the potential for a very sneaky, underhanded young man.

(There's an unfinished log that comes before this)

Marie-Ange glanced down at the small piece of notepaper she had taken out of her purse. "This -cannot- be the right address." She said, looking at the restaurant she and Doug were standing outside. "This is..." she shook her head slowly in disbelief. "This is -far- too much. "

Doug shrugged. "It's what Domino said, and the Pack did just finish a big job, from what she was saying. Plus, I get the impression she doesn't do _anything_ by halves." He smiled. "We'll go see what the maitre'd says, since she should be waiting for us."

The maitre'd, once they told him their names, practically genuflected. "Ah, oui," he said, gesturing for them to follow him. He led them back through the vast restaurant, past rows and rows of tables covered in immaculate white linen and carefully set with crystal and silver and china that could almost have been minor works of art on their own. Farther back into the restaurant, the decor changed, from soft creams and natural woods to vivid red and deep greens, and the tables grew larger, more obviously arranged for privacy. He led them towards a table in the far corner, next to one of the large windows, and fussed over them as they sat down. "The other member of your party will be with you shortly," he said deferentially. "I believe, a phone call..." A waiter appeared immediately, with glasses of water and bread, and the maitre'd actually bowed as he backed away.

Struggling to not gape like a tourist, because she knew better, Marie-Ange glanced around the restaurant. This was far beyond anywhere she had yet been - even beyond the restaurant she and Doug had gone to on their first date. "I think this is a little more than "does nothing by halves."", she said, quietly. The maitre'd bowing had thrown her off her normally rather poised demeanor.

Doug straightened his suit jacket nervously. The maitre'd fawning over them had been a bit unnerving for him as well. Like Marie-Ange had said, there was "doing nothing by halves", and this was something completely different. He looked at the price list on the menu, as well as the extensive descriptions of each menu item, and whistled softly to himself. He knew the Pack had just finished a job, but obviously that job had paid extremely well.

Coming back into the main part of the restaurant, stepping around the trellis-like partition that screened the entrance to the hallway where the small office where the phone had been, Domino smiled as she spotted Doug and Marie-Ange already sitting at the table. They looked a little taken aback by their surroundings, which tickled her. She strode over, appreciating but loftily ignoring the admiring looks she got, again, from some of their fellow diners.

"Bonjour," she said happily as the kids looked up at her. "Fancy meeting the pair of you here."

Marie-Ange smiled, just a little nervously. Any minute now, all that 'how to act normally in a situation you are completely confused by' instructoin that Ms. Frost had taught in Speech class would kick in. She hoped. She had played poker with Manuel, she could handle one fancy dinner with Domino.

Doug chuckled dryly at Domino's greeting. "Who was it who made the reservation for three again, Dom?" he asked lightly. He struggled to avoid staring at Domino's "little black dress". While he was immensely happy with Marie-Ange, he was still a hormonal teenager, and the dress clung very flatteringly to Domino's athletic curves.

"Just playing innocent," Domino said with a chuckle, sitting down in the empty chair. The two of them had left her with the seat in the corner - she wondered if that had been deliberate, or just accidental. Either way, she was quite pleased. "I'm glad you could make it."

Marie-Ange fidgeted with her menu a bit, feeling just a touch awkward. Doug had still managed to be his normal slightly smart-mouthed self, and she was the one sitting quietly and nervously. That, she decided, was not a reversal of situation she was enjoying. "I am not sure much of anything would have stopped us." she said. "Though, I had to imply to my parents that you had taught at the school for a time. I am not sure they would react well if I was completly honest.."

Doug chuckled dryly. "Yeah. I suppose they probably would have been a bit worried if we had told them that we were going to lunch with an internationally renowned mercenary with a penchant for blowing things up..."

Marie-Ange laughed and shook her head, finally relaxed. "It says something that we are not bothered by having lunch with an internationally renowned mercenary. I am not sure what it says, but it definitly says something."

"Well, small white lies aside, here we are," Domino said amiably, sipping at her glass of water and then reaching for a piece of bread. "And at the very least, this will give you some away-time from the parents, no? Time to regroup?" she teased lightly.

Doug nodded. "Actually, meeting Angie's parents has been a lot of fun. Her mom has been nice, and hasn't pushed us about going to church with her all that much. I admit I've gotten a bit nervous a couple times when her dad has looked at me oddly, like he's about to ask me something, but other than that, it's been a nice relaxing vacation."

"Glad to hear it," Domino said, her eyes flickering from Doug to Angie and then back again. A little bit of discomfort, here, she thought. Perhaps she'd been a little over-the-top with the restaurant? "You'll have to forgive me for this," she said, gesturing around at their surroundings. "I get a little extravagant when I come off a big job."

Finally deciding that there was just no likely way she was going to offend Domino with bad manners - this was the women responsible for making Dr. Pym stop sending random packages to Dr. MacTaggart, Marie-Ange grinned. "You could make it up to us by not mentioning to the very nice waiter that technically I am not suppoesd to order a glass of wine?" she asked, laughing a little, and eyeing the wine list.

"I'll just order a bottle for the table," Domino said blithely, picking up a menu. "I'm open to recommendations, Marie-Ange... most of that wine looks local."

Doug sat quietly, perusing the dinner portion of the menu, and deferring to the ladies' discussion of wines, as he was nowhere close to being a conniseur.

Marie-Ange smiled happily, and examined the winelist for a few minutes, trying to remember which she had actaully had, and which simply sounded familiar. If she was going to be put on the spot, she was going to do her best to rise to the occasion. She made a few little 'hrmming' noises, before finally quietly pointing out a selection mid-way down the list.

"So now that we've got the really important issue settled," Domino said with a bright smile, "what looks good to the two of you on the menu?" She pursed her lips, scanning it herself. "I'm in a very red-meat sort of mood."

Doug chuckled. "Why does that not surprise me, Dom? I just can't picture you as a vegetarian. You're too...barbaric, or something." He grinned and winked.

"This is what happens when you spend too much time in places where you eat what you can get," Domino said with a wink. "I think I'm going to have the beef tartar. Possibly a salad, too."

"I somehow feel like I should be stereotypically French, and get the fois gras." Marie-Ange said, smiling. "Except that, quite honestly, I do not care for it." She examined the menu a bit more, debating between several of the veal dishes.."

Doug browsed the menu himself, before finally settling on a seafood dish in a cream sauce. He handed his menu to the waiter when he returned to the table, and all three ordered their entrees.

"So," Domino said briskly, deciding to satisfy her curiosity. "How goes the TAing, Doug?

Doug shrugged. "Nathan has been pretty easy-going as a teacher, so far. TAing mostly consists of helping grade quizzes, and then trying to rein in his usual hardass nature so he doesn't work everyone too hard." He turned to Marie-Ange. "You're taking the classes, so how well do you think we're doing so far?"

"I am -not- the best judge of that, Doug. I am biased, and if you ask some people, I am plying the TA with favours for good grades." Marie-Ange smirked. "I think you are both doing fine though. The quizzes were not that hard." She paused. "No one failed, at least. I would have heard grumbling about you and Nathan both if they had."

"Hmm," Domino said thoughtfully. "That's good to know. Wasn't expecting to hear that they were going well, after how stressed Nate's seemed the last couple of times I've talked to him..."

Doug nodded thoughtfully. "I'm a bit worried, honestly, between talking to him the other night, and the post he made on the journal system today. He's not sleeping well, I think."

"I know he's not sleeping well," Domino said wryly. "Just not sure why, and he's being typically close-mouthed." She shook her head, lifting her water glass again. "Glad to hear the classes are going well, though. I always thought he was a damned fine language teacher... he certainly helped me pick up a number of mine."

Marie-Ange frowned a bit. "I think sometimes it is a male thing. This one..." She pointed to Doug. "Did not say either, until he was not sleeping at all most nights. " She eyed the bottle of wine as the waiter put it down. In theory, she could see if it was going to be serious. Maybe. But at the table would probably be a bit gauche, and the possibility of the headache might not be worth it. Still, it was Nathan, and after being shot, and having an entire clan of people move into his head, maybe it -would- be worth it.

Doug looked at Marie-Ange very carefully as she examined the bottle of wine. Between the body language skill, and knowing her as he did from dating, he had an idea what she had in mind. "Are you thinking about what I think you're thinking about, Angie?" he asked.

"I am not sure it would work..." Marie-Ange answered quietly. "I do not have anything to work with.. I left the cards at home." She frowned. "Besides, giving myself a migraine at dinner would be terribly rude."

Domino watched the interplay between them with a raised eyebrow. "No, no precognition at the dinner table," she said lightly, smiling a bit faintly. "You two are here to enjoy yourselves. Nate's probably got all kinds of people keeping an eye on him back at the mansion. Doubt there's any urgency."

Doug nodded. "You're probably right, Dom. Nathan made a strange post about not being able to understand English today, but Alison understands Askani, so she's probably helping with taking care of him."

Marie-Ange blushed. "It is an instinct. I have this power, my ... initial response is to use it. It is probably not always the wisest instinct. "

"It's interesting," Domino said reflectively. "The difference between abilities you need to use consciously and those that are always 'on'. Makes for some interesting differences in mindset, I think."

Doug nodded. "I know that a lot of the people at the mansion have a lot of varying reactions to their powers, and different mindsets. Some see them as a blessing, others as a curse." He thought for a moment before continuing. "Also, people approach the use of their powers a little differently. Jamie has become completely used to his power, so he uses it without thinking." He shrugged again. "But Jubilee and Alex...well, they've had some bad experiences, and to some extent they've both been a little scared of their power. It's an interesting thing to think about."

"More so when you start thinking about how people react to everyone else's power." Marie-Ange said. "No one is bothered by Jamie's at all, I think some people forget Doug has one, and everyone is scared of Manuel. And I am not sure how anyone thinks of mine. I am not sure how I feel about it some days."

Domino managed not to blink at the mention of Manuel. "Always considered myself lucky that mine wasn't an obvious mutation," she said. "Makes life quite a bit easier. Theo, for example, has to watch where he goes in public."

Doug raised an eyebrow quietly. Dom had a good poker face, but there had been an interesting spike in her body language at the mention of Manuel. "Is there something you'd like to tell us about Manuel, Dom?" he asked curiously.

Domino gave him her best enigmatic smile. "Be careful, Doug," she warned gently. "I might just tell you."

Doug chuckled. "I think you've said more than I need to know, myself." He shrugged. "As long as there aren't any problems, that's fine by me."

"No problems," Domino said with a dismissive wave, then smiled brightly, seeing the waiter bringing her salad. "Ah, here we go."

Marie-Ange remained quiet through this exchange. Even if Domino was just trying to make Doug blush, even speculating on Manuel's habits was enough to make her faintly uncomfortable. She watched Doug for a moment, trying to silently communicate a request for a change of topic. Relaxing vacation and Manuel de la Rocha were mutually exclusive in her mind.

Deferring to the tension in Marie-Ange's body language, Doug fished about for something to change the subject to. "So, Dom, you going to lay low after this job, or do you have something else lined up?"

"Not for another... hmm, week and a half," Domino said after a moment, mentally reviewing her calendar. "Actually, I thought I would stop over in New York for the night on my way to the next job. I have a couple of men who need their asses kicked..."

"Not Dr. Pym again?" Marie-Ange said, giggling quietly. "He has left Dr. MacTaggart alone since you, um, visited him.."

"No, just Nate and Pete," Domino said with a rueful grin. "They need to stop getting shot. It's very distressing to me. I'm unhealthily fond of both of them, after all." She paused, then decided it couldn't hurt to ask. "There's something else, too... something I thought I might bring Nate. But I'm not sure what the school's policy on pets is."

Doug rubbed a hand at the back of his neck, slightly embarassed. "I, uh, sortakinda hacked it as a joke, so I know what's on it. What'd you have in mind?" He paused for a moment. "Also, if you're not up to anything at the moment, how would you feel about a little, ah...pro bono job?" he asked delicately.

Marie-Ange stared openly at Doug. "Douglas Ramsey, don't you -dare-." she said sternly. She had a very good idea of what he was hinting around. "They said they would not bother me, and until they do, I cannot disbelieve them."

Domino's eyes narrowed. "The pet stuff can wait," she said, sipping her wine, as she felt her 'game face' descend over her features. "What's going on?"

Doug read more than a bit of apprehension coming from Marie-Ange, but after hearing some of Nathan's stories (and knowing there was more he wasn't being told), he judged it was better not to remain quiet on this issue. He spoke quietly, choosing his words carefully. "An official from the French government approached Angie the other day," he explained. "He said he was from the Quai D'Orsay, but that didn't seem to wash. I mean, what good is a precognitive to diplomats?"" He paused before continuing. "He also seemed rather interested in me, once he realized where my own abilities lay. He said he wouldn't bother Angie further, but I'm not sure I trust that."

Domino raised an eyebrow. The cool expression was taking rather more work than it usually did. "Did he give you a name?" she asked Marie-Ange, as if inquiring about how she found the wine.

Marie-Ange scowled for a moment, and took a long drink from her glass. "Jean-Francis Mieux." Marie-Ange smirked as she said the name. "Which is probably about as common as your John Smith. I do not entirely expect that he expected us to believe that was his name. I am not even sure how he found out. France does not have a mutant registry, and I was never tested. I manifested my power, and my parents simply assumed I was a mutant." She sighed. "He had identification, but I have no idea how to tell if it was valid or not."

Domino's eyes glittered dangerously, and she set her glass down carefully. "I haven't done nearly enough pro bono work lately," she said, her voice very even. "Bad for the soul. I'm assuming you had something in mind, Doug?"

Doug shrugged. "Get in, see what they've got on Angie and me, see if they've got anything else on other kids, purge the files, get out with nobody the wiser." He paused, then chuckled dryly. "I imagine you can fill in the specifics. You're the professional. I just read too many Robert Ludlum books." He leaned forward and shrugged. "I think that about covers it. What do you think?"

Marie-Ange ribbed the bridge of her nose. This was going to end badly. She knew it. If not for Domino, if not in this specific incident, then eventually. This was not her sweet, faintly nervous, occasionally shy boyfriend. This was the man who was going to get himself shot, that she had seen die in her nightmares.

"Database copy and wipe," Domino murmured, low enough for only the three of them to hear. She had discreetly swept their immediate vicinity for bugs when she'd first arrived, just out of habit. "Simple enough. I've done it a hundred times, quite literally." And if she happened to find this 'Mieux' and off him on the way out, so much the better. Would be a warning to the Quai D'Orsay about fucking around with mutant kids. "But this is where the two of you stop, when it comes to this," she said warningly. "I'll let you know when it's done, and probably send Charles any files I get, but you need to let me handle it." She smiled humorlessly, spearing some of her salad a bit more vigorously than absolutely necessary. "Nate would be chewing on the furniture if he heard this, you know."

Doug chuckled wryly. "You mean the furniture he hadn't already vaporized when he found out about the French government approaching Angie?" he asked as he too-casually buttered a piece of bread.

"Nathan is not being told anything, if I can help it. My parents were upest enough, and they -believe- that we will be left alone." Marie-Ange said, frowning. "He has enough to worry about already." She crumpled her napkin a little, and frowned. "And neither of us -" she looked over at Doug "Are going to go and try to break into any government computers." Oh no. There would be no more Doug Hacking Government Anything, if she could help it.

"It'll be taken care of, kids," Domino said, mustering a thin smile. The salad was quite good, and she wasn't going to let a sudden bad mood interfere with her enjoyment of it. "No further need for worry."

Marie-Ange sighed. "Except that I will." She frowned. "How did they find out? How did he know about the precognition?"

"Any number of ways," Domino said almost wearily. "Governments tend to go for recruiting straight-on psis first of all, and there's a lot that can be ferreted out that way."

Marie-Ange blinked. "Psions, precognitives, people with quiet powers that do not make a big splash." She sighed. "That makes too much sense. I am still worried for my parents. I do not want them to get hurt... I never thought my being a mutant would hurt them.."

Domino leaned across the table, meeting Marie-Ange's eyes levelly. "I won't tell you to not worry," she said steadily, "but I'll do what I can to remove this particular problem." If she could find this Mieux, make him tell her who else knew about the girl... yeah, that would work.

Doug was a bit surprised at how intent Domino's body language was, how seriously she was taking this "pro bono" job. Obviously there was something else behind this, but it wouldn't do for him to press. It was good enough that she was taking this seriously, and devoting all her attention to it. With luck, it would go off without a hitch, and the information would be purged.

Marie-Ange watched Doug and Domino quietly. The all-business intense expression on the older woman's face was so bothersome. What was bothersome was the nearly identical expression on Doug's face. All business, focused on a goal, and definitly unsettling to see on the face of the boy who had outright pouted at a lack of overly sugary cereals just that morning.

Domino leaned back in her chair, deliberately putting it aside for now. She wasn't going to get anything accomplished on it tonight, and the kids were obviously worried, so dwelling on it wasn't going to do any good. A change of subject was most likely in order. "So now that we've got that settled," she said, more lightly, "about that pet policy?"

Doug grinned. "Let's see. "If it craps in the house, you answer to Mr. Marko. No badgers. Nothing poisonous." He snickered. "And if it appears in the Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual, and has any extraordinary or supernatural abilities, the answer is a definitive no."

Marie-Ange giggled, despite her worrysome mood. "And no cicadas." she said. "Doug, was Dr. McCoy -really- that upset with you? He left that part in the file, so he could not have been that mad, yes?"

Doug grinned. "No, I got down to his office, and he was too busy snickering to give me the lecture I don't think he planned on giving in the first place."

"Well," Domino drawled, amused despite herself, "Bella craps only in her cage, and has no special abilities other than the ability to swear in about seven languages."

Marie-Ange raised an eyebrow. "Bella? Who can talk... " She snickered. "You are getting Nathan a -parrot-? " She wrinkled her nose in an effort to keep from laughing too loudly. "Unless there is another animal that lives in cages and can swear?"

Domino grinned. "Don't laugh. It actually makes a lot of sense. Bella - she's a hyacinth macaw, which is incidentally the biggest kind of parrot there is - belongs to the old couple that ran our Rome safehouse up until recently. They decided to move to a nice retirement community that doesn't allow pets, so they're looking for a new home for her." She lifted her wine glass again, taking a sip. "This bird adores Nate, and I'm not exaggerating. Vice-versa, as well, if to a lesser extent. If he's going to be in one place for a while, she might as well be with him."

Doug snickered. "A foul-mouthed parrot? That's...bizarrely appropriate, I think. It'd be even more appropriate for Mr. Wisdom, considering how foul _his_ mouth is."

"Bella's very sweet, actually. Hyacinths usually are. She's just spent too much time around people like me." Domino snorted softly. "They say pets are good for your stress levels. Further reason to give her to Nate."

Marie-Ange laughed. "So she is a sweet, foul-mouthed parrot who loves Nathan?" She grinned. "Dr. MacTaggart is either going to hate her, or conspire with Bella to make Nathan sleep more."

Domino waggled her finger at the two of them. "Now, don't go spoiling the surprise. I want very much to see the look on his face when I show up with a crate that's shrieking his name in ecstasy."

Doug snickered wildly. "Oh, that's going to be great. I want to see it too."

"Not a word. I promise." Marie-Ange said, smiling. "I want pictures of this."