Breakfast And A Beer[Logan]

[conduit]

Over steak and eggs, Rayen grinned at Logan and shook her head.

"He's really not that bad you know. I know, I know, I keep saying that. You should tell me why you think he's so terrible." She chuckled, pausing in mid-meal for a cigarette. The girl could eat- something to do with all that stamina, she'd always figured.

"Are you afraid I'll be mad?" She smiled.

[logan]

Logan chuckled, shaking his head. "Do you even have to ask? He's overbearing, over-protective, and thinks he knows it all. He reminds me of Scott, actually."

The thought about that for a minute, and gave in a bit.

"Okay except your brother has something close to a personality."

He'd been watching her eat with silent fascination. It was great that she could finish food as quickly and in quantity similar to himself. With him it was his nightmarishly high metabolism - with her, probably something similar. Her body could magnify and control energy - that probably took a lot of calories.

[logan]

(( Written obviously with Conduit: ))

Rayen sighed, pulling one ankle over her thigh and holding it there with a hand as she leaned back in her chair. "Yeah, he's very overprotective. But he really -tries- not to be, you can hear it in his voice. But overbearing, really? You think so?" She tilted her head.

Ashing her cigarette, she thought about it. "You know, he takes suggestions and he listens if you have something to say worth listening to. Maybe he thinks you don't have anything worth saying." Yeah, that would probably end up causing more problems between the two men, but at least it was the truth. Bandero was a lot smarter than Logan in certain ways. Logan had an intelligence that was harder to spot, it wasn't about intellect, it was something else. A kind of instinct she certainly appreciated.

"You guys are very different, I'll admit. But really, don't feel you have to get angry with him over how he is with -me-. I'm sure he does enough to make you mad for altogether different reasons." She winked.

Logan leaned back in his chair, taking a drink of his water. “Ehh I don’t know, maybe I am being a bit hard on him – but he’s certainly got it out for me. I guess I don’t really hate the guy… We have a mutual dislike. He’s got his good points, and to be honest, I think he makes a fantastic X-Man.”

He smirked at her again, then seemed to think about something and his face became more serious.. “You’re not worried I’m going to hurt him or anything are ya?”

Rayen chuckled. "No, I'm not. Well... that is to say, not unless he really deserved it. I think that if you guys were really under pressure, you might get into a brawl. But you know? I think that could happen with any of us." She nodded.

Leaning forward on her elbows, she picked at her eggs. "I mean how is it we don't end up blowing the mansion apart? We all have these angsty pasts, lots of hot tempers, egos..."

Logan was chewing on his steak, nodding. Swallowing, he said “Well never been much a problem before. Once upon a time I was the only one with the angsty past, hot temper and ego… now I’ve got all you hangers on trying to steal my spotlight.”

He grinned, taking a look at her. She had the kind of face you could sit and look at all day, and a casual way that said she didn’t even know it. The latter just made her all the more beautiful.

She laughed. "You're telling me Storm hasn't even TRIED to kick your ass before? Don't think I haven't seen that tension between the two of you. That girl has daggers for you, buddy." Chuckling, she finished off her eggs on top of a few bites of steak.

"So tell me. What's something you've always wanted to do that you haven't done yet- at least, to your knowledge."

“Storm?” he smirked. “Okay, so yeah we’ve had words before… nothin’ major, though. She likes a lot of organization, that’s all – I don’t. I feel my way through things, she thinks her way.” He shrugged a bit, though was clearly reflective.

He looked up at Rayen as she asked her next question. The obvious answer was her, but he decided not to take it. The next one that came to mind was killing that obnoxious Sabertooth asshole from a few years back, and possibly that Juggernaut guy too. But those were sort of off-base answers as well.

“I think… this sounds pretty lame, but I think I’d like to travel abroad somewhere. See more of the world than I’ve seen, having only been to Canada and the States – so far as I can remember.”

[conduit]

Rayen smiled. "Travelling huh. I haven't been many places either. I mean... if I ended up somewhere, great. But otherwise..." she shrugs.

"You know what I want to do? I want to go get lost in the Appalachians or the Rockies. Somewhere high up on government land where I'm not going to run into anyone for miles and miles. Maybe a logging road." She sounded a little wistful, finishing her steak.

"I absolutely love being out in unadulterated, uncontrolled nature. Kind of weird for an electricity spirit like myself, but eh..." She shrugged.

[logan]

He smiled a genuine smile. "Not strange at all. Maybe being out in the pure wild would get you away from any worry about your abilities... and I can truly feel you on the lost in the mountains bit. If you like em' cold, I could take you up to Canada sometime. Lot of places to get lost."

He joined her, finishing off his own food easily before draining his water, then his soda.

He wiped his mouth off with a napkin, and nodded as if there had never been a break in the conversation.

"As for the rockies, never had much of a change to go explorin' em', but I can imagine you get some pretty country up there."

The idea of running off into the mountains with her was heavenly, so he decided not to dwell on it at the moment - he found that whenever he started to let himself daydream about a woman, things ended up going wrong.

"Where was the reservation?"

[conduit]

"Ashland Montana, actually. It's where I'm from." She smiled, remembering home with a bit of a pang.

"And I love it there. It's amazing country. A little dry from time to time, but there's a lot of open space. Makes a girl wish she could fly. And my people are there, my great uncle is pretty much the only family I've had since I was a teenager- if you can call my mom and dad family." She shrugged.

"I miss it... there's a sense of community there I don't think you really have anywhere else in the United States. When it's your people, your blood... sure I'm not directly related to every single one of them, but we share ancestors. Some of us have the same great-great-greats and stuff like that. Most of us are cousins three or four times removed- those that still live on the res that is."

"There are a lot of problems, the sickness of alcoholism and the gambling industry. But if you are just there to be peaceful, it's a great place to live." Nodding again, she smiled faintly, looking almost a little sentimental.

[logan]

Logan listened to her with a smile on his face. She seemed to really long for her home country, a feeling he could relate to.

“Sounds incredible. I can’t even begin to imagine what that kind of community must feel like… cept maybe sorta like Xavier’s. Sense of family, has its problems. The academy is the only place I’ve really found that’s really like a home.”

This was completely true. If he had to name a place what was home, it would be the school – and he hadn’t even been there that often. It felt like his sense of solidity, it was his base of operations… in every way, his home. Even if it was more like a retreat.

“What about Japan? Ever feel the need to go back there?”

"Go back? No." Her answer was quick, reflexive.

"My mother... I don't know. It would be really hard. I've never really felt a connection with that half of my history the way I have to my american indian half. Maybe I should? What do you think?"

“I think that you can’t live with a partial history, at least not as fully as you can with a whole one. Trust me, you’re talking to someone who speaks from experience.”

He seemed reflective, looking off to the left at a family who were arguing about what kind of pie to get, and then looked back at her with a smile.

“I mean, if it has no draw to you at all, then there’s really not much of a reason to go I suppose… but if you’re even slightly curious, it may be worth checking out. You may find a whole other aspect to yourself you were unaware even existed. I know the Asian culture has a draw for me, at least, but I think I’ve had some martial arts background before I lost my memory.” He shrugged, completely unsure as to any credibility in that statement.

She smiled slowly. "Are you saying you want to go to Japan with me?"

He chuckled. “I’m saying if you wanted to go, then yeah, I’d like to go with you. I think it’d be great. I get out of the country, get to see some Japanese history, you get to visit half your heritage. Seems like a winnin’ combination to me. ‘Sides, you and me on overseas adventures? What could be more fun?”

Rayen laughed- and reached out to hold his hand. Her thumb drew along his and she sighed.

"You're awesome, you know that?" She smiled, then looked down, blushing a bit.

"I think it would be a lot of fun to travel with you. I just don't think it's likely we'll get a chance to, what with all the shit going on with the X-Men lately."

Logan smiled, but felt the age difference between them for a moment. It was easy to forget just how old he was when he only had 17 years worth of experiences to draw from… but still, he often felt old. Not physically of course, his healing factor prevented that from happening, but on the inside.

He nodded. “Likely not, at least not soon. Seems like we’re getting more and more X-Men lately though, or people wanting to be X-Men. Once there were four of us, and it worked out. I’m sure in due time we’ll get our chance to do some turnpikin’.”

He grinned at her. “You know, I don’t think anyone’s ever called me awesome before.” He squeezed her hand. “You’re awesome yourself, Rayen. I’ve been havin’ a better time since I met you than I’ve had in quite a while. I like your style.”

Rayen laughed. "I have a style? Wow." Her smiled lingered. "Thanks."

"I really want a chance to see how far I can take my power. When that tiger monster... thing.. jumped on me in Baltimore, I let out a blast I haven't managed since I was in high school. It seems to be a lot more potent when I'm panicked, but there has to be a way to harness that." her eyes shifted sideways a bit.

"Hey. Did you maybe want to get out of here and go for a walk or something?"

He looked around, sarcastically measuring the quality of the place, then chuckled. “Yeah, I think that’s a good idea.”

He picked up the tab this time, grabbing the ticket as soon as it left the waitress’s hand. As he put some cash with it at the register, he turned to Rayen.

“So about enhancing your abilities… that’s something they do there, at the school. You should see the progress Bobby’s making, it’s pretty amazin’. From what I gather, most mutants who have controllable abilities can learn to do more things with em’ if they practice at it.” He paused a moment and grinned. “and yeah, you blew that Tiger to dust… it was pretty impressive.”

She smiled a bit, chuckling.

"Did you see that girl he's been with recently? That blonde?" It was nice that he'd found someone, if that wasn't his sister or something. She'd felt a little bad since Bobby had shown some interest in Rayen before Baltimore... after Baltimore she only had eyes for Logan. From what she'd been told that had happened before too.

“Yeah.” He said, somewhat gravely. “Apparently she was raised in some kind of lab where they keep mutants. She’s a cute kid from what I’ve heard. Hannah, I think her name was.”

[conduit]

"Hannah?" She chuckled. "No not the little girl. There's an older one. I don't know her name, I just caught them in the hallway. On each other like it was going out of style."

They walked out into the parking lot and she tucked her wallet in her back pocket. "Where to?"

Logan looked over at her and shrugged. “Don’t much matter to me. Let’s see…” He took a glance around, up the road both ways. “On road or off, is the better question. So is his girlfriend a looker? Bobby’s a good kid, but he’s sort of a dork.”

Rayen walked to him and slipped her arms around his waist, pulling them together. Her fingers locked at the small of his back.

"She's gorgeous, actually. That's why I was curious. I mean, Bobby's alright..." she laughed. "Yeah exactly."

“mmm” he murmured as he put her hand around him, and slid his own around her waist, sliding them into her back pockets – one under her wallet. She really did have a nice butt.

“Well hopefully she’s not trying to use him or anything… remind me to look into it when we get back to the mansion.” He smiled down at her. “whenever that happens to be. So, on road or off?”

"What road?" She said, mirroring his grin perfectly. Bringing their lips together, she let that inclination lead them where it wished.

[end]