Remy & Danielle

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Danielle & Remy meet in the grocery store. Yes. The grocery store, but fortunantly, they do not argue over the last loaf of bread.



Danielle didn't normally run into town for errands, there was no need, but tonight Lorna ran out of spices
that she needed for dinner and had sent the younger girl out to get them. The grocery store wasn't that far and in the early afternoon there probably weren't too many people there, so there was less of a chance she'd lose control. Just in case, she'd slipped an inhibitor bracelet on, but with the power off.

Remy walked along the icy sidewalk, his hands in his pockets and eyes on the street. He didn't have a chance of slipping, even with the amount he'd already had to drink. He briefly considered returning to the mansion, but the memories crept around the edges of his thoughts more easily there, and he cut around the front of the store to make a beeline fore Harry's.

"Hey! Watch it!" Danielle muttered, nearly colliding with the auburn haired man in front of her. He wasn't watching where he was walking and had almost walked right into her.

Remy pivoted around the girl, coming extremely close but not quite touching her. His mutant power unconsciously had made him move on instinct, but a normal person could never tell the difference. He sighed, and shook his head.

"Relax, chere. Remy not about to run you down."

Eyes narrowed suspiciously, she looked him over. Ripped jeans, sweater, tenchcoat, hair hacked off, probably with Forge's multitool, she thought laughing to herself and one eyebrow missing. "You look like I feel."

"Bullshit. No one can feel dat good, chere." He said, a smirk tracing across his features. Remy vaguely recalled the new recruit, Dawnie or something, on the journals, but he'd been barely reading them.

"Oh haha, you're as slick as snot," she retorted, crossing her arms over her chest. This guy was too suave for his own good.

"Early to go right to de pillow talk, chere." Remy scrubbed a hand through his cropped hair. Her attitude was obvious from across the street, and upclose, he was almost amused by it. This one thought she was as tough as old boot leather.

Snorting in derision, Danielle looked him up and down carefully, "Oh you wish, whiteman."

"Whiteman? Well, dat puts a new spin on it." Remy said, finally clicking. This was the knocked up native chick charity case Xavier had taken on. Waifs and strays and killers and outcasts. It was like a bad musical cast. He lit a cigarette and sneered at her. "Got any other names to go wit' dat?"

"Excuse me?" Danielle asked, still on guard, a voice in the back of her mind said she was crazy to be talking with this guy still, but she ignored it. He was interesting, "You ain't said your name, either."

"It matter?" Remy said, a nasty edge to his voice. He took another drag to soothe the frayed edges of his brain.

Danielle wondered if she should turn on the inhibitor or not. Her powers might be the only thing to help her, if she could use them in time, but a scene at the grocery store wasn't a good idea. "If I see you again, it might," she replied evenly, taking a few slow breaths. Discreetly, she placed her thumb on the switch, but didn't press it.

"LeBeau. Remy LeBeau." He said finally. Her entire body had changed, tightened, and the trained part of his brain had already figured out how to kill her without her being able to hit her sadly not discrete panic button, or having any passerbys know. He fought back the thoughts brutally, pushing them back down.

"Danielle Moonstar," she answered voice wavering slightly, sticking her hand out. She was feeling...weird. Tense but yet anxious and she didn't know why. Almost like she didn't want him to touch her, but at the same time, she did.

Remy took her hand lightly, almost as if he was going to kiss it, but stopped before, simply nodding over it. "Sure dat I'm charmed and all dat. What you doing in town?"

"Grocery store?" she asked, waving her hand at all the shopping carts. She was grateful he hadn't kissed her like he had been about to, she didn't think she could handle that right now. "Hungry teenagers at Xavier's and all that."

"And Lorna won't let dem order pizza like normal people." Remy nodded, and turned. "Well, we should get what she needs."

Danielle stayed still as Remy passed her going into the store, "Wait...how do you know Lorna?" she asked, recovering and catching up.

"Feckless youth. Dat summer in Paris. If only I didn't have to leave for de front. After de war, we looked everywhere for each other, but it was no use." Remy said, completely straightfaced as he collected a basket.

"What the..." Dani followed, confused and somehow trying not to laugh. "What are you talking about 'war'? You ain't talkin' sense!"

Remy gave a long suffering sigh. "I live in de boathouse, chere. Lorna is--" He paused for a long moment, staring off into space. "She's a friend."

"Oh...this way," she led him towards the spices aisle, "We're appearantly out of everything useful," she explained, throwing bottles in the basket, "There's a boat house?"

"Down by de lake. Me and Cain live out dere." Remy nodded, falling into step beside her as she pulled out the items that were needed. He could feel the dregs of the alcohol burning out of his system, which was a worrisome thought.

"I think I saw the lake, through the trees?" she asked, unsure. She hadn't been out around the school that much, but she was pretty sure she remembered a lake somewhere, "I don't remember. I got pelted by snow though."

"It's out back. Quiet, mostly." He muttered, suddenly overly conscious of the situation. "Sure dat one of de students take you around sometime to see it. Not dat impressive."

"I'm sure it is," she disagreed, "The whole place is impressive! And a lake! Can we swim in it when it gets warm? Or is it yours?"

"De only thing Remy owns are de clothes dat I'm wearing. It's all Charles', or Cain, actually. I haven't looked at de actual property. One of dem own de lake."

Danielle paused, looking him over again, "Me too. The clothes I'm wearing ain't even mine. Mine don't fit. They take a lot of charity cases in, ain't it?"

"Just like any good cult, I guess." Remy shook his head. "Non, dats not entirely fair. De Professor likes to help people, I guess. But his way of doing things and Remy's don't always mesh."

"Yeah..." she mused, turning down another aisle, "The professor seemed surprised that I'd want to work to help pay my tuition back."

Remy shrugged, stretching his neck side to side. "He grew up rich. Doesn't think 'bout money much. Never had to."

"Lucky him," she said sarcastically, scanning the shelves for the last bottle, "Not everyone's as lucky as he is," throwing the last bottle into the cart, she headed for the checkout.

"Dat's right. Most of us have to walk to get to where we're going." Remy said quietly.

Dani handed the school debit card to the cashier, not comfortable spending school money, even if it was on food for the school, "This guy is walking down the street one day and he sees a beggar with no shoes. He feels bad, so he buys the beggar some shoes and gives them to him. Ten years later, he sees the beggar in the street again, only this time his feet are bleeding. 'Why are your feet bleeding?' he asked, 'I gave you shoes!' 'Yeah,' the beggar said, 'but the shoes fell apart and now my feet are too soft!'"

"Dats why if you teach de bugger how to knock a man unconscious and still his shoes quickly, he'll never be shoeless again." Remy nodded, deliberately mangling her moral message.

"Give me those," Dani muttered, trying to take the bags away from him as they headed back to her truck. She ignored his reply, "This the point of coming out here? To 'help' me?"

"Chere, didn't even have a clue you were here. I was drinking my lunch across the street before you tried to run me down." Remy turned his wrists, subtly denying her the ability to grab the bags without either dropping her own or dragging on his hands.

She followed his gaze across the street to the bar, angerly trying to wrench the bags from him still, "So you're a drunk now, too? Xavier picks up all sorts of strays, don't he?"

"Non. I was a drunk last night. Tomorrow night Remy be a drunk again. But right now, chere, I'm just de delivery boy." Remy grinned, enjoying her flashes of anger. There was a lot of pride laced with it, and he could hear the hooks she keep throwing into the argument. This was one looking to fight the whole world.

"Can't drink your problems away," she hissed, angry at his drinking. At least that explained the odd pain and yet not sensation he'd been broadcasting on and off. She wasn't entirely certain though. "Ain't you learn nothing from us Ind'ins?"

"Not 'specially. I'm Cajun, chere. Got to learn our lessons in some different places den your people." Remy put the bags in the car. "Den Remy learned his own. Truth of it," Remy leaned close, "mostly involves crayfish."

"I don't think I want to know about those truths," Danielle wrinkled her nose, trying to imagine a crayfish. She climbed in the car, starting it up, "You want a ride back or you gonna go kill yourself some more?"

"Wouldn't do to disappoint Lorna on dinner. 'sides, bet dat Cain needs someone to empty his spit cup, so maybe Remy head home for de night."

"Grace us with your presence? Oh, you're too kind," she waited for him to get in before gunning the engine and shooting out of the parking lot. She and Forge drove the same way.

"Non, Remy grace Lorna with his presence. You can eat with de rest of them." Remy said, needling her.

Eyes narrowing once more, she pulled off to the side of the road, "You know I help cook your dinner, right?" she asked. "'Cause I can just as easily mess it up. I don't have Lorna's high expectations of food."

"You do dat, and you don't get any of Tante's work." Remy rested his head on his arm, braced up against the window. "Besides, since you de one who keeps saying how little dat Remy's company means, why should dat worry you whether I'm there or not?"

"Tante?" she asked, puzzled, "And I never said I didn't like your company, just your friends. Like Jack, Jim and Jose."

"Remy never offered to share, femme." Remy said, closing his eyes. "'sides, lots of us all grown up. Make dose decisions ourselves."

"You bring them, you share them. That's how it works, even if you don't mean to," she said with conviction. "Yeah, you're old enough to make the decision, but that don't mean it's a good one. Ain't nothing worth the problems of drinking."

"Heh." Remy laughed, coughed and started laughing again. He put his hand over his eyes as he did, deep laughter right from his gut. "Chere, dat is de one thing dat Remy never expected to hear from anyone." He said, still chuckling.

She glared at him darkly, waiting to be let in on the joke. After a minute or two, she asked, "Is this a private joke or are you going to share with the rest of the class?"

"Non. Remy sure dat one day dey will fill you in. I think meeting de irresponsible drunk whiteman is enough to absorb for today." Remy said, a grin still on his face.