Skulking

[conduit]

Rayen had listened to the man move through the trees, followed after him at quite a distance until he left the mile boundary around the mansion. He hadn't returned for a few hours, but when he had she'd sensed him on another side, as if he'd made a circle or spiral about the place. It set her on edge. She didn't like her forest disturbed.

*Her* forest. She was turning into a hermit already.

Watching him from the treeline for a few minutes as he lit a cigarette on the back porch, finally she decided to confront him and find out if there was some purpose to his trek, or if he just had a thing for wandering.

She stepped across the lawn towards him in a straight line, calling off the dogs in her body language by lighting a smoke before she reached the concrete edge of the porch- which she didn't step onto.

"I haven't seen you around here until this morning, and suddenly you're wandering through the trees." She looked up at him with her dark mix of asian and native american features in a bit of a frown. "Any particular reason?"

[Gambit]

He shrugged slender shoulders. "I like trees," he said, with a sly wink. "They don't answer back, they don't comment on bad habits..." Here, he brandished the roll-up that he was smoking. "An' they don't try t'tell you how t'live your life. It's...peaceful out here, non? When you come from the swamps an' bayous, after a while, bein' inside...merde." He mock-shuddered. "Like bein' in jail or somethin'."

He drew on the cigarette easily. "Been here a couple days," he said. "Just good at...keepin' myself outta sight." He tapped the side of his nose. "Ol' habits die hard, see."

Tipping his head slightly to the left he surveyed the young woman in front of him in that easy, non-offensive way with which he looked over every female who came into his line of sight. "Remy LeBeau," he introduced. "Pleasure to finally meet you."

[conduit]

A slender eyebrow raise as she offered her hand. "Finally? Does everyone know me around here by now?"

Ashing into the grass, she didn't other to look him over, having done so from the treeline before she walked up. He was a good looking guy but hell- who wasn't, around here?

Just another smartassed loner with an attitude problem. She was beginning to be able to read these people so easily she understood now why they were constantly getting their asses kicked by the Brotherhood.

[Gambit]

"Finally? Does everyone know me around here by now?"

"Maybe," said Remy, with one of his one-shouldered 'unishrugs'. "Makin' conversation is all. Seen y'around, jus' not had th' chance t'say hello." He returned his attention to the cigarette and continued his strange vigil of staring out through the forest.

There was a pause.

"You're Rayen, right?" he said, eventually, for once feeling a little uncomfortable by the silence between them. "Overheard you talkin' t'Forge - you guys related, non?"

[conduit]

She nodded, feeling a little bad for giving him a bit of a brush off. "Rayen Tandaka. Forge is my half brother. Seems this sort of thing runs in the family, yah?" She smirked at her own joke.

Her eyes shifted to the forest. "You're looking for something. I heard you out there this morning. I'm a good tracker, but you're a better hider." She looked back at him. "What do you think's coming our way, Remy." Her almond eyes almost narrowed on him.

[Gambit]

He flicked his unusual eyes to her and considered her for a little while. "Ain't sure, chere petite," he said. "Could be somethin', could be nothin'. Th' way I grew up, you checked your boots in th' mornin' before puttin' your feet in, an' you always let th' dogs have a bite of your dinner first. That's th' way of things."

The cigarette finished, he did his usual trick of tapping into its latent energy and flicking it at one of the nearest trees, where it detonated with a tiny WA~CHOOM!

"Had a few people on my tail wantin' t'talk t'me 'bout some ol' town stuff," he said. It was close enough to the truth, anyway. "Ain't right keen t'speak t'them jus' now, so keepin' a close eye on their whereabouts. Don't want 'em t'turn up here unexpected. You with me, chere?"

[conduit]

"Yeah..." she nodded, watching the exploding cigarette with a bit of interest. "I hear you."

For a few minutes they just listened to the sounds of the woods and the echoing noises from inside the mansion interrupting it all.

Finishing her own cigarette, she exhaled smoke and gestured it as if she were to flick it. "So can you do this one?"

She sent the cigarette flying across the yard, waiting to see if he could make it ka-foom the way his had.

[Gambit]

"Not unless I pick it up first, or at least touch it," he said, with another of those shrugs. He glanced over at the smouldering butt-end and crossed the short distance to it. He hunkered down into a crouch and held out one forefinger.

The cigarette end glowed with an almost pinkish tinge and then he stood back a little as it popped in much the same way as the first one had.

"Everythin' has latent energy in it," he said. "Y'just gotta find it, is all."

The smile he gave her was a rare one. It wasn't the charming, seductive smile that worked so well with the ladies, but it was a warm, friendly, open smile that spoke of an offer of friendship if she was interested.

[conduit]

She let a subtle smile creep across her face. It was wary, but open to the idea.

"I can't sense that. I'm an electropath. But Lorna says she's picking up on a bit of it."

It was the first time she'd really spoken of the woman trapped inside her in a way that wasn't filled with hate or fear; somewhere in the forest she'd decided to treat it as if it were entirely normal. Maybe then she'd begin believing it, and get some sleep at night.

"Is that all you can do? Turn cigarette butts into firecrackers?" Her voice teased, and she put her hands on her hips as if in a juvenile dare.

[Gambit]

He laughed warmly. "Non," he said, shaking his head. "Th' whole thing with th' cigarettes is just a trademark, if y'like. Findin' th' latent energy in larger objects makes 'em pretty deadly on impact. Plus there's a few things I'm good at that don't need my X-gene. Like sneakin' into things I probably shouldn't, gettin' into trouble, that sorta thing." His red-on-black eyes sparkled at her.

When she mentioned 'Lorna', the sparkle faded slightly and he considered her.

"I kinda pick up on things here an' there," he said, conversationally. "One of my talents if y'like - I'm a damn good listener. I did hear tell that y'got some passenger sittin' up in that pretty li'l head of yours - what's th' deal there, chere?"

[conduit]

How was it he was able to make the whole thing sound almost... pleasant?

She frowned a little, the look skeptical. "When Lorna was attacked, we think her mutant powers ejected her from her own body. Held her in some sort of field out near the murder site."

Rayen ran long, slender fingers through her straight hair. "I picked up on it, because of my own abilities, and went to investigate. Walking into the field... well, I guess it took up with me because I'm a conduit. In fact that's what they call me."

"So... she's here. For better or worse."

Now's the time when you get weirded out and exit the conversation.

[Gambit]

"Now, I often sit an' talk t'myself," said Remy, his tone anything but weirded out. In fact, if anything, he sounded faintly fascinated by the whole thing. "But t'actually have someone else inhabitin' th' same space? Merde. Can't say as I envy you, petite." He reached over and squeezed her shoulder sympathetically, and with a surprisingly easy familiarity.

"Any ideas 'bout what th' prognosis is? Y'gon' have her there f'rever, or is there some way of gettin' her out - without destroyin' what she was?"

[conduit]

She smiled a bit as he squeezed her shoulder- to her surprise she wasn't offended by the motion. In fact it almost felt natural, as if they were friends, or long-absent cousins. The thought made her smile a bit more.

The frenchman and the asian-indian. Right.

"My brother has some good ideas. I haven't found a good reason to go back into the house since I killed him-" she had better explain. "-Lorna and I's powers kind of reverberate off each other and I more or less electrocuted him- but once we get a chance to work a bit on it, he thinks he can isolate where her field is versus mine, and go from there."

Rayen shook her head. "It's enough to make someone go insane, I won't lie to you. Lorna and I had to make a deal that she stayed quiet unless I needed to talk to her. At first we fought for space, and well... it just doesn't work out that well."

[Gambit]

"Well, I don't make any claims t'bein' a scientist, or even t'understand even half of what you said t'me," said Remy. "But I grew up havin' to share a room with an older brother. An' findin' a middle ground is the key, so in that respect, I reckon as y'doin' th' right thing, non?"

He took out his tobacco and began rolling himself another cigarette. "Want one of these?" he asked, his fingers shaping the cigarette with practised ease.

If he was even remotely disturbed at her revelations, he didn't let it show on his face. He was surprisingly easy to talk to. Maybe what he said was right - he was in possession of the talent of listening without commenting over-much.

It was the best way to find out about what was going on around you. "Remy," his poppa had always said. "Remy, y'got two ears an' one mouth. Use 'em in proportion, boy."

[conduit]

"Heeey.... you know I do," she smiled then, though it wasn't particularly cheery, it was comfortable.

"So you from Louisiana? You mentioned the bayou. I'm from Montana myself, the mountains. I don't think you can get much different there." She chuckled.

She could likely have said more, or maybe...just gone back into the forest. But this was the most relaxed she'd felt in a week, and she wasn't about to start back up with feeling like crap if she could help it.

[Gambit]

"Oui," he affirmed. "Jus' a good ol' Nawlins boy, through an' through, that's me. Been t'Montana, of course. It's...very tall. Been pretty much everywhere this country has t'offer. I...travel a lot. Itchy feet, chere. Don't sit in th' same place for long without startin' t'get hampered by th' need t' move on."

He took a look around the forest and sighed a little, before brightening himself up again.

"Maybe I'll stick here a li'l bit longer, though. Th' view remains tres belle."

He said the last bit of his sentence whilst looking straight at her.

[conduit]

She let herself smile a little slyly as she held his gaze, and accepted a cigarette.

"You know Logan, right? Wolverine. We were dating until a few days ago." He had likely heard about the man's sudden run away Sabertooth, and let Remy make his own connections there.

Pulling out her lighter and starting the cigarette before he had a chance to go all gallantry and charm by lighting it for her, she stuck it back in her pocket and looked out at the trees.

[Gambit]

"Oui," said Remy nodding. "Met with Logan. He wasn't here th' first time I stopped by th' old place, so I didn't know him so well, but I figure he's like me. Wand'rin' feet, chere." He lit his own cigarette and leaned against the trunk of the tree he was closest to. "Don't reckon as he meant anythin' personal by it. He will have had his reasons. Th' man convinced me t'stay. Must've been somethin' pretty pressin'."

He fell silent and contemplative as he smoked his rollup. One day he'd quit.

Maybe tomorrow.

He'd been 'quitting tomorrow' for about five years, now.

[conduit]

A wanderer. Why wasn't she surprised?

Smirking in a way that told him she didn't really want the whole wayward loner bit even slightly amusing- fresh wounds being what they were- she took a drag and nodded.

"Yeah. Well... once bitten twice shy, right?"

Stepping out towards the grass, she gestured the rolled cigarette. "Thanks. I'll see you around, hey..." Turning towards the trees, she wandered back in the direction of her camp with a frown on her delicate features.

[Gambit]

"Thanks. I'll see you around, hey..."

"D'you know, chere," he said, softly, "I reckon as y'might jus' see me around a lot more than I thought I'd be here."

As long as the La Croix Hunters didn't get him first.

He watched her walk away and a thoughtful look crossed his face.

After she'd vanished, he pushed himself off the tree trunk and headed deeper into the trees for another pass of the perimeter. You could never, after all, let down your guard. Not if you wanted to stay alive, anyway.