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[x-shinobi.livejournal.com]

Backdated to July 2nd, another casualty of e-mail logging. Immediately before he goes to talk to Sarah, Pete spots Shinobi having a smoke, and stops to chat and help burn a hole in the ozone layer, one cigarette at a time.



Pete was on his way to get himself a coffee when he spotted Shinobi outside having a smoke. Figuring that the coffee would wait, he headed outside instead, reaching for his own pack of fags, and lighting one with a fingertip as he stepped outside.

"Wotcher. How was Boston?"

Shinobi looked up from his habitual surveying of the grounds, blinking once before he offered Pete a grin. Inclining his head, he lifted both shoulders in a shrug, one hand rising to scratch at the back of his head in thought.

"It was.. Boston-y. A good enough time that I wouldn't mind taking a drive out there again, eventually."

"Eventually? You figuring, you and your other half for fixtures around here for a bit, then? I mean, she's not going to pitch a shit-fit about being expected to obey the law and behave with - nah, fuck it. I really don't give a fuck why the pair of you left. I hope it's for better reasons than it looked like. What I give a fuck about is why you're back. Figured Sarah had decided that this place was pointless for her." Pete raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Still need to discuss it with Sarah, but I wouldn't mind sticking around," Shinobi nodded, with a wry smile at the rest of the older man's words. "If you don't care why we left, I won't bore you with it. But, as for why we're back.. well, the X-Men went to save her ass, and I came here to make sure it was still in one piece when it arrived. It probably wasn't, but by the time I could go in and see her, it probably healed up enough to fool me." He shrugged helplessly.

"That's not quite what I meant. I get why you're back right now, this minute. I don't, on the other hand, quite get what's going to keep you hanging about on Sarah regrows her bloody knees. I mean, it ain't like she's suddenly going to find that she's allowed to do as she pleases if she hangs about..." Pete took a drag on his cigarette.


Shinobi nodded, with a sheepish grin for misunderstanding the question. "Oh. Well, I can at least answer that for myself - even I don't claim to understand how her head works well enough to wager a guess here."

Shrugging, he thumbed over his shoulder to indicate the door. "Plenty of things to keep me here, really. Got friends, which is nice, and still a spot of a novel experience for me. Not used to bein' missed when I skip out for a few weeks." He paused, and amended, "Missed in a *good* way, at least. And I've got responsibilities, which is even nicer."

Pete nodded. "Makes sense. I know Amanda'll be glad to have you back. But since you're hanging about, I may need your help with your girlfriend. I dunno yet - maybe this has knocked a bit of sense into her, but just in case it hasn't, I may need you to convince her to go for the deal I'm going to put in front of her. It's going to mean that I get to pick who goes after these bastards with her next time, and she's going to have to start taking some lessons off me. In exchange, I'll start looking for these bastards properly."

He took another drag. "Like I say, she may go for it. But if she doesn't, I'd like you to do your level best to change her mind."

"It sounds like it could go either way," Shinobi replied thoughtfully, head cocked to one side. "If nothing else, you're talking like there willbe a next time, and she'll likely respond positively to that."

He eyed what was left of his cigarette before deciding it was a lost cause, frowning mournfully at it before moving to put it out in the porch's tray. "Believe me, if I can do or say anything to convince her to give her training and help so that the next run-in with those people goes better, I'm all for doing it. She's at least willing to have me along next time, which is a bonus.. she can't say no, now that I can play the revenge card on them, too." He looked over his shoulder, grinning. "I'm in no mood to go in half-cocked. If you can't help her prepare for it, you can sure as hell help meprepare for it."

"Oh, there's going to have to be a next time. If they figure out that she's not dead, then the school is a target. Crow's one of Essex's boys, and Essex did some pretty thorough work on her mutation - more than anyone else has, and if anyone can figure out that she can recover from that shade of fucked, then he can. I ain't saying that I expect them to work it out soon, but I think there's a reasonable chance that they'll twig that she might not be dead at some point, and then I expect them to come looking."

Pete sighed.

"Don't mention this to her, by the way. There's a time and place for that, and while she's still fucked off and recovering ain't it. But yeah, there's going to be a next time, and I'm more or less going to blackmail her into going along with my terms, because otherwise I'll find the bastards and take care of them without her."

He gave Shinobi an assessing look.

"As for helping you out as well, yeah, OK. Summers probably won't be thrilled at the idea, since you're supposed to be getting the good kids training for those that wear the pervert suits, but that's between you and him. We'll work something out when I'm less, y'know, shot."

Shinobi arched an eyebrow, his grin replaced by a brief, thoughtful frown. "Essex.. that's the bloke who worked on Miss Braddock, isn't it?" he asked, making a face. "Oh, lovely. I wonder if there's been a crisis around here that can't be linked to him somehow. Christ. No worries, won't breathe a word of it to Sarah. It definitely wouldn't be a good idea just now."

Raking a hand through his hair, he nodded, locating himself a clear portion of wall to lightly lean against. "The good kids training is fine, and all, but the bad kids seem to have a bit more luck in the arsekickin' department. More practice at fighting dirty, I reckon. If Slim's going to take offense to me wanting to be better able to protect myself, I'll play the 'and better able to protect my team-mates' card, see if that'll make him like it a bit more."

"I ain't sure he'll buy it. See part of the reason I ain't part of the X-men is that my reflexes are all wrong. Summers'll teach you to take people down as painlessly as possible. Minimal damage to them and everything else around them, being really nice and careful. Defensive. I won't. I want someone alive, I can do it, but most of the time, I ain't bothered about whether or not they regain full use of their limbs later on. And hurting 'em a lot can be useful, too. But it's a different set of reflexes, so we'll have to work on making sure you can work with both, just so he doesn't take away your fetish gear."

He grinned wryly.

"Somehow, I think I'll be working on discipline as much as technique with the pair of you, even if it is for different reasons. I hate doing discipline work. It makes me sound like fucking Yoda."

"Jubilee's taken to calling me Obi-Wan, so at least you aren't alone in the realm of Star Wars references," Shinobi chuckled, inclining his head. "The more training I get, though, the better. It's bloody obvious I need it, and in a great many things, so I'm definitely not about to turn away the chance at getting some. Some occasions will inevitably call for the quick-and-painless X-Men approach, but to think that more drastic measure will never wind up being necessary? I'm only willing to be naive to a certain point, and that's well past it."

He shook his head, and made a face. "What would be brilliant is if, say, you and Scott sat down and discussed a nice middle-ground, in terms of training. Balance is meant to be a good thing, isn't it?" He paused, and snorted. "Christ. Now I'm starting to sound like a Jedi. Guess I can't deny the nickname's appropriateness too much, when I stop to think about it."

Pete blew smoke upwards, looking at the sky. "I'll have a word with him. I don't intend to explain *why* we're doing this, though, so keep your gob shut on the details, eh? We'll leave it at telling him you'd like the benefit of some of my experience as well as what the team's getting, just in case."

"I'll not utter a word. Even if we weren't doing this as a preventative measure, I'd probably still ask you to help round-out my training. The more tools at one's disposal, and all that rot." Shinobi grinned, tucking his hands into his pockets.

"Good. I'll let you know what we come up with when the doc passess me fit again. I just hope I can teach Sarah to reign the naked agression in a bit. I don't much care what happens to Crow in the end, but I want a chat with him at some point." He ground his cigarette out with a bleak look on his face. "I get the feeling that he's going to have some answers to questions that've been bugging me for a year or so."

Shinobi frowned slightly at the expression on Pete's face. "That sounds rather ominous. Well.. I don't know if it would work," he began slowly, casting a thoughtful look back towards the door, "But if you tell her you need to talk to him, to get some answers out of him, she might be more agreeable to not just slashing his throat the first chance she gets.. something can be worked out, I hope." A pause, and he added, "And if all else fails, tell her that you get to talk to him first, or she doesn't get to go. She won't like you afterwards, but you'd get your chance."

"Yeah. I'll save it for a bit, anyway. Wait until I've had a chance to see how well the lessons in thinking ahead that I've got planned take, anyway. She's not stupid, and it ain't like I'm going to stop her from doing him if that what she really wants, just get her to hold off for a bit. We'll see."

Pete turned to head back inside.

"Anyway, I've got to go see the Doc, so I'll stop in with Sarah on my way down now. Nice talking with you. Oh, and, surprised as I am to say it, it's good to see the pair of you back here."

"Ta. Good to be back here," Shinobi agreed, refraining from a pleased grin at the unexpected welcome-back until Pete's back was turned. "Nice talking with you too, Pete. Give a shout if you need me for anything."