xp_logs | Thursday afternoon

x-polarisstar.livejournal.com posting in

Remy drops by to visit Lorna and they talk for a while. He gives her belated Christmas gifts and tells her a little bit about his thoughts regarding his place in the X-world. Pete, optimism and smoking are also covered. They have an odd relationship.

Remy moved through the mansion like a ghost. Even though he'd become a little more comfortable with being here over the last several months, it was still more natural to slip past everyone's attention.

Still, there were a few places he found safe, and that was the door that he was knocking on. "Lorna? You in, chere?"

Lorna looked up at the door from her place on the couch, blinking at it like she could see through it. A quick look around the room established that it wasn’t unsightly. She was rather surprised that Remy had come to see her but didn’t do anything more than click the lock open. “Come on in, Remy,” she called.

Remy opened the door, peering in cautiously. "Guess dat means dat you in."

He opened the door and walked in, eyes taking everything in naturally. Between the lunancy of the holidays and his own trip to New Orleans, they'd barely talked in weeks. "Figured dat you were due a visit dat doesn't involve feeding me."

The room was fairly typically college student sparse, the décor a casual mix of Alex’s Hawaiian interests and Lorna’s own more classic taste. A dark pink track jacket lay on the floor next to the couch. The bedroom door was closed.

Lorna smiled and gestured at the plate of sliced apples on the coffee table, “Only if you don’t want any.” She untangled her legs from under the afghan on her lap and stood to give him a hug. Even though he wasn’t much for shows of affection, Lorna was. She appreciated that he put up with it. “So you just dropped by for a hello?”

"Well, almost." Remy accepted the hug with, if not comfort, a certain determination not to be completely awkward. Sometimes it made him want to scream, the frustration of isolation that his life had pushed him into. He pushed those thoughts away.

"See, de advantage of always wearing a trenchcoat." Remy reached into his volumious pockets, and drew out a fat bottle of spanish wine. "Missed dat Christmas, so figured I get de gifts late." In his other hand was a wedge of handwritten notes.

Lorna accepted the wine and raised an eyebrow over the label, “Swanky stuff. Sit, why don’t you? Alex is out someplace with Shiro, I think, so he won’t be back for a bit.” She resettled herself on the couch, drawing one leg up so she could face him, “What’s up?”

Remy settled in. "De mystic secrets of de world, chere. Dis is deep magic, all de power in history distilled down into supreme knowledge." He passed over the notes.

"De reciepe book of Tante Mattie. Use it only for good, or de crazy old bogwitch come out and took out my eyes."

Lorna took it with due reverence, setting aside the wine and leafing through the pages. She looked up when she was finished, “What is it that you were doing in New Orleans anyway? I looked around one day and you guys were gone.”

"Owned Tante Mattie a debt. She called it in." Remy lounged back, resting his arms back behind on the back of the couch. "De femmes, Marie and 'manda needed her help, and she cut me a deal. Stop de evil mindcontrol bioweapon and avert de biggest gang war in history, and she do some teaching."

“Sounds fair enough. Right wrongs and triumph over evil all at the same time.” Lorna grabbed an apple slice off the plate and nibbled at it. “I assume by the fact that you’re in one piece that nothing happened you couldn’t handle?”

"Got lucky. More and more, dat seems to be de case. Dese problems were a lot easier when 'kill everyone a couple of times' was still a viable solution, you know?" Remy smiled ruefully, catching her eyes. "Just hoping dat de day my luck runs out, no one else gets it in de neck at de same time."

“Luck running out is why you have back up and don’t run off to parts unknown to get shot at.” She smiled back, only half-joking. “It’s why we work in teams and train to cover each other. So that we don’t lose anyone else.”

"'fraid some of de things I do are hampered by de appearance of de leather fetish brigade." Remy smirked. "You not entirely wrong though. Something dat Remy been meaning to talk to de Professor about, but 'course, can't do dat without talking to my chief advisor here."

She tilted her head to the side. “What is it you’re thinking?” she prompted. Remy would, she could easily admit to herself, be a terrible X-men. She also thought that they needed him anyway. In the end, she wasn’t surprised that he had a solution in mind.

"De X-Men serve a specific need, oui? But sometimes, de situation involves a need for something other den toppling buildings and explosions." Remy shrugged. "Sometimes de sneaky bastard in front is what de job needs. Just a thought dat been running around Remy's head. Decided dat spending all my time running away from Gambit might not be de right solution."

“By yourself?” Lorna tried to sound curious but heard the concern anyway. “Not that I don’t think you’re right. Subtle is not one of the X-fortes. But, Gambit worked alone. We don’t.” Not that there weren’t certain stubborn elements of the team who hadn’t figured that one out yet, she thought pointedly in a couple directions.

"Not sure. One of dese days, have to sit down wit' dat Summers and talk 'bout it. Worked in small teams before, rarely. Been a while." Remy said. "Working for Wisdom is good, but Remy worried dat one day, someone's going to get hurt in a situation dat I should have been in, and wasn't because Remy never offered."

That was so much like Lorna’s own reasoning for joining the team that she had to laugh even though it wasn’t funny. “You’ll need a small team. People willing to get their hands dirty. Not me,” she said, reluctantly but honestly, “I wouldn’t be very good, I don’t think. Too recognizable for one and I’m just not that disciplined. You’re going to need the unremarkable ones.”

"'cause dis place is full of de unremarkable. Think dere's something up between de mutant gene and good looks?" Remy smirked, and spread his hands wide. "Case in point, chere."

She snickered, “I’ve often wondered that myself. I was referring more to the obvious mutations. Green hair, even dyed, is risky. Kurt is risky. Most of the team hasn’t exactly been low-profile.” Even if the press hadn’t had a field day with the random appearances of the team, the CNN tour through the mansion had comprised many of the staff.

"Vrai. Maybe it best dat I'm running around in de dark right now. A pair of sunglasses, and remy just your average, gorgeous man on de street." He joked.

She grinned back, “Or you’re Corey Hart.”

"Dere's no need to be dat mean, chere." Remy shook his head. "Which of course brings up Remy's problem number two; de fact that I'm not much of a person. I don't mean dat in a 'pity me' way. It's just dat de life experience of government killing tool doesn't 'xactly teach you de best social skills. You likely de best friend Remy got, and I can't even hug you properly."

“We’re working on that. Being a person takes time, learning to be a person takes more. Some people never get there, look at Paris Hilton for example.” Lorna shifted closer and offered Remy her hand, “I think you’re doing a good job. I told you once before that you weren’t as mean as you pretend. I still think that’s true.”

Ramy took her hand, covering it between his two. "Dat's what keeps me here, chere. Dere's parts of me dat are always going t' be Gambit, but as long as de important ones are me, den maybe dere's a chance." He smirked. "'sides, dere always hope dat de pretty femmes find my attitude to be dat deep introspective artist type. Dey get all de love."

“You’re a rogue and a scoundrel and the pretty women will know it.” Lorna corrected, with a smile. “Luckily, some women like that in a man. I just think you need hobbies. What is it that you do all day?”

"I live wit' Cain. Between de sponge baths and de cable four Westerns, my days are pretty full." Remy smirked. "Most of de time, I spend reading. Working on Wisdom's stuff. Actually, right now I'm dealing wit' all of Wisdom's stuff."

“Thanks for the mental image. I’m officially traumatized and I’m having Samson send the bill to you,” Lorna replied, deadpan. She sighed, “God, poor Pete. Have you found out anything else?”

"Non. Got a bad feeling, though. De la Rocha sent a DVD to 'manda a week ago; little home video about a gangbeating back from de Hellfire Club days." Remy scrubbed his face with his hands. "Think dat dere may be some connection. Working de edges of de mansion, hitting dose were dey vulnerable maybe. Going to see what I can find over in Europe."

“Dear God.” Lorna curled in on herself reflexively, wrapping her arms around her knees. “Are you going alone?”

"Oui. Like a said, dere are somet'ings dat Remy need to do alone." That same rueful smile came back. "Things dat it better off other people don't have t' do."

She wanted to protest but just shook her head. “Be careful. I’ll be very upset with you if you get yourself killed. There will be hell to pay and I’ll find a way to make you pay it.” She leaned forward and hugged him, holding on despite his stiffness. “Got it?”

"Got it. Never want to disappoint a femme." Remy touched her hair, running the strands through his fingers. "'sides, dis trip is mostly Remy doing unfortunate thing to other people. Dat makes it a little safer. As long as Wisdom keeps hold of his sanity for a few more weeks, we should be alright."

Lorna eased back and curled up again, “I don’t know. I don’t know what Pete is going through right now. Do you think it’ll be all right?” She looked at him, trusting him to tell her the truth.

"Non." Remy shook his head. "I think dat when he finds out who killed his father, Wisdom's going to kill his way to dat person, and make dem die in inches. For all he seems, Pete Wisdom is a killer. Not a sadistic like I was, but certainly not far off. When dat happens, dere are going to be questions asked dat have some ugly answers."

“I was afraid you were going to say that. Still, forewarned is forearmed, right?” Lorna sighed and rested her chin on her knees, “When are we going to catch a break around here? I swear it’s like we get a single month of sanity about once a year and then it’s back to this madness.”

"I don't know, chere. Be honest, but some of us got more breaks den we deserve." Remy shook his head. "Dats de whole madness of dis place, Lorna. Gives de kids de best place to learn how to handle dere powers, but also puts dem in harms way. I guess dat's what we have to expect."

“Welcome to the madhouse.” Her traditional greeting was accompanied by a rueful sigh and a shrug. “This was supposed to be a safe place. It was until Stryker showed up and outed us to the whole damn world. And yet, I don’t know how many of these kids would say it wasn’t worth it. To be someplace where they aren’t freaks.”

"It's a double-edged sword, chere. Only way to look at it." The expression on Remy's face was mostly frustration. "Just means dat sometimes, we going to be useless. Dere's no way to protect dem all, all de time."

“Just means we have to do the best job we can when we can.” She straightened and dropped her legs into a crossed position. “And work on minimizing the damage when we can’t stop it.”

"God. Depressing when you think about it." Remy shook his head. "What are dey? De labours of Hercules. Tasks dat don't have a solution?"

She shrugged back at him. “Hercules completed the labours. There is always a way. Sometimes it’s harder to see, is all.” She smiled wryly, “Listen to me, all optimistic.”

"One of us needs to be." Remy grinned. "And I'm just too damn irresponsible for it most of de time."

“Now I have to be responsible and optimistic? Man, my job sucks.” She grinned back at him then reached for the plate of fruit, “Apple?”

Remy took one, slipped the whole slice into his mouth at once. "Merci. See, being de dark and brooding one means dat all anyone expects Remy to do is drink to much and smoke four thousand cigarettes every day."

“Cigarettes,” she said primly, like the Californian she was, “are going to rot your lungs out one of these days. Can’t you just satisfy your oral fixation with gum or something?”

"Chere, Remy perfers to satisfy his oral fixations in ways dat are a lot more fun." Remy smirked. "Cigarettes just make me look cool."

“Cigarettes aren’t cool. They haven’t been since the seventies when, I will remind you, it was also cool to wear polyester leisure suits.” Lorna was amused. It was always odd to be reminded how different the rest of the world was compared to So. Cal.

"Dat's more of an evening look, don't you think?" Remy finally stood up. "Speaking of evening, dat time is fast coming, and Remy got work to do before I leave. 'sides, people might start believing all de rumours 'bout us having an affair dat I keep starting."

“Is that where they’re all coming from? I thought they were unusually persistent.” Lorna got to her feet as well to walk him to the door. She gave him a third hug. “Be careful out there. I expect to see you back in one piece so I can start breaking you of your smoking habit.”

"If you're offering a replacement for dis oral fixation, den we can talk, chere." Remy winked at her, before slipping out the door.

“I’ll buy you gum,” she replied. “See you later, Remy.”

OOC: Let this be a lesson to all. Check your work before you flop into bed. *nods*

Current Mood: contemplative
Current Music: What You Own, RENT OST