Moonlight Visit

[logan]

It took Logan the better part of that evening to figure out his own silly emotions, sifting through the variety of bad news of the day, the strangeness and the let down. He finally came to a few decisions, having calmed himself quite a bit, and decided that he needed to be as proactive as possible. He’d thought back to Jean, and how he was insistent with her, and how that had ended in failure… but only because of Scott. That poor crybaby Scott.

So, he figured now was the time to bring back the insistence. Maybe he'd have to start working for what he wanted. The X-Men had made him soft in a way.

This, naturally, led him to outside Rayen’s window on the second floor. It was around midnight, and she’d finally retired some time earlier… he was now hanging upside down by a rope, just above where she could see out the window. Reaching down, he tapped the glass a few times.

[conduit]

Rayen was laying in bed wide awake, running current through her body from the lamp on her nightstand.

The tap on the window was too rhythmic to be a tree. She sat up, frowning, and walked over to the window, pulling the shade aside.

[logan]

When the shades slid open, Logan took his cue. He dropped down so his head and shoulders was visible. A rose was in his mouth.

On record, this was the single most well thought out thing in his history.

[conduit]

With no other reaction, she simply laughed. Good thing she had a tanktop and boxers on at least.

OPening up the window, she leaned out a bit, her smile radiant, as if she'd forgotten the chilliness of earlier in the day.

"What are you DOING?" She chuckled, and snatched the rose from his teeth. She bonked him on the forehead lightly with it. "Thank you. Or did you mean to drop in front of some OTHER woman's window?"

[logan]

"Oops, I thought this was Bobby's room." He said with a smirk. "What's it look like I'm doin'? I'm courtin' ya!"

His smirk became a grin, and he looked past her to her room. "Any chance I can come in, or you plannin' on leavin' me hangin'?"

[logan]

(( tag team post ))


Rayen laughed again, and looked up the rope. "You're going to kill yourself out here. Yes, yes! Come in..."

Grabbing her gray bathrobe, she shivered in the cold evening air, and stuck the rose into the bottle of water on her bedstand. It was a little awkward, the gesture... she should have been charmed, and it was sweet, but what were his motivations?

Logan flipped in through the window easily, letting go of the rope and landing on the floor with amazingly no noise.

He stood and looked at her, smiling at her smile. It was good to see, after what had happened earlier. She still looked a little unsure, and he was forced to wonder what had happened differently between the two… he was almost certain it had to do with him running off to see Jean. Still, he thought it was unfair to judge him so harshly on that. She was a friend to the X-Men as well.

“Sorry if I woke you up. I had to come up and see ya.” He said, not wanting to take a step closer, but at the same time desperately wanting to. “I, uhh, thought I’d try another approach. Turns out my lady-kill’n skills are a bit dusty.”

He didn’t wince at the statement, but suddenly hoped she didn’t know about what had happened at Alcatraz.

She crossed her arms in front of her- it seemed more a matter of modesty than her being upset, but it did keep distance between them. She had to. If she didn't she'd... do other things, and god knows that wasn't right either.

But Rayen -did- smile. "You do okay, you do okay..." she chuckled. "This was a good one. Every girl loves roses."

"So how did D.C. go?" She fidgeted a bit. "I mean... I know you found her DNA and all. But did you find -her- at all?"

[logan]

Logan nodded, glad that she at least appreciated the gesture. He leaned back against the window sill after shutting the window, relaxed though barefoot and in Xavier Institute PJ pants with a tank top.

“Yeah, we found her alright. Right bitch about it too.” He looked at her, thinking. “Don’t suppose you know much about it – but Jean died a couple years ago. Came back a year later as the Phoenix, a crazy version of herself. Died again. Now she’s back again, looks like. Only this one claims to know nuthin’ about bein’ Jean.”

He shrugged. “So we had to leave. You never heard that story?”


Rayen shook her head slowly. "Wow... no." She looked appropriately disturbed. "Holy shit. No wonder you were all so tense." Wincing, she sat down on the end of her bed, curling her bathrobe around her. "That had to be hard, if she was your friend and all."

Well that pretty much blew the jealousy suspicion out of the water. That pretty much left the idea that maybe that son of a bitch Forge had talked her into not trusting him for some reason. He felt hot anger flash in his stomach, but bit it down like so much bile.

“Yeah,” he managed. “Though not as hard as it once was… at this rate, I’m beginnin’ to believe she’s as hard ta kill as I am.”

So maybe he skirted the issue of his true feelings about the not so late Jean. In truth, they would just complicate the matter right now, when they really weren’t as big a deal anymore.

“We’re gonna get it straightened out – and hopefully have to take down that damn tank she keeps with her to. The super hero.”

"Oh. The guy that was on the television they were talking about? I'm sorry," she laughed a bit. "I must sound like an idiot. I just don't watch television a lot. Forge had to catch me up on half of everything that's gone on with y'all since that big thing at Alcatraz. I mean, EVERYONE knows about that, ya know?"

She only made the whole sounding like an idiot thing worse, but she didn't care anymore. With a sigh, she raised her eyebrows.

"So what's next. In that regard I mean."

“Your brother’s gonna run that DNA test, I suppose, and see if it’s really her.” He said, putting his hands in his pockets. “After that… well, not really sure. I guess we’ll have to go and tell her she really is Jean Grey. Hope she doesn’t disintegrate the building.” He chuckled, but was fairly sure it was a serious possibility.

“We’ll see if Chamber’s got any more bright ideas, or Storm. Chamber was the one that suggested we snag the DNA.” He added. “Maybe he’ll come up with something…”

Then he looked at her. “So… what’s next for us?”

Dammit. He had to go there.

Rayen's eyebrows raised. "Us? Oh..." she blew air through her lips. "You're great, you know that." She smiled a bit. "I've really had a good time hanging out with you these last few days." She nodded. And wasn't sure what else to say after that.

Just don't kiss him Ray. No kissing.

He cocked his head to the side. “Well… yeah. I’ve had a good time too. Look, I’m not saying we should run off and elope or nuthin’, but we’ve been enjoying our company a lot over the past couple of days. I’m not looking for some drastic drippy commitment or saying you’re my long lost soul mate, only asking because we were here when I left.”

He held his hands a few inches apart.

“And now we’re here”

He moved them about a meter apart.

“Just wondering what the hell happened.”

Rayen looked down at her hands. Why did he have to choose NOW to be perceptive?

"Logan...." She sighed. "Look." Another long pause as she tried to figure out what to say.

"I don't want to have my joining the X-Men be about dating you." Her hands rubbed together slowly. "I mean, I can't imagine what people think of me right now." Rayen didn't look up.

"And I know you don't like him and you think he'd got something against you, but my brother's an alright guy, and he loves me. He brought up some good point. I just... don't think the school is a great place to find someone to have a crazy fling with." Her dark eyes tilted up to him in the dim light of the room. "As much as I would like to. This is my life now, and I can't go mucking it up just because I'm attracted to you."

He considered it for a moment, looking her dead in the eyes. A frown creased his brows, the lines all too commonplace. His eyes glanced down at the carpet, thought seeming to take over for a moment.

“Okay, so we keep it in the dark for now.” He shrugged, looking back up at her. “I don’t give a damn what the others think, and neither should you… but if it’s really a concern, we could just keep it behind closed doors.”

Logan really, really disliked popular opinion as a motivator in anything that would make him unhappy.

Rayen made a face. He was asking her to screw but not tell anyone. Fucking GREAT. "That's... not really what I had in mind. It's about my own self respect too you know." She sucked in a breath, grinding her teeth together.

"So... what happens when you decide to take off." If he wanted an clear answer, she'd shoot him straight. Sure. Let's give that a fucking try. She was starting to feel a little angry at him for being such a good looking jerk.

“The X-Men and anything to do with us are completely separate issues.” He said, not quite annoyed. “You can do whatever you want to do without worrying about being under their watchful little eyes. You can still live your life how you wanna live it…”

He shrugged.

“And if I wanna take off? You’re more than welcome to come with. Why wouldn’t you be? If you wanted to walk about, I’d tag along if you’d let me – if you wanted to go alone, then you’d go alone.”

[logan]

She ignored the jab about the X-Men, feeling that one cut deep. But the rest. What did he think this was?

"Look." she put up her hands, standing. "I don't think we need to argue about this. I don't know you, and you don't know me. What I'm saying is," she spoke a little more slowly. "I am not interested in being fuck buddies that come and go as they please. That's not what I'm about. I know you're kind of a free spirit, and I totally respect that, but I just don't think-"

Her fingers ran through her hair. "I don't think I can date you and not sleep with you, and I'm not going to sleep with someone I'm not serious about."


Logan considered that, and slowly, he nodded. That much was true… he couldn’t see them dating and not sleeping together. It was just how the two of them worked with each other… and if she wasn’t serious about him… well. Truth told he wasn’t sure how he was supposed to feel. All he knew was that he cared for her, and was very attracted to her. Was that not enough? She was saying quite simply they couldn’t just date. What did that leave? Marriage?

The whole thing was getting complicated. They couldn’t even try anything because they couldn’t not be serious – and they couldn’t be serious because they couldn’t try anything.

“Well, what is it, exactly, that you want then? Seems like we can come to a compromise here. Don’t need to be attached at the hip, don’t need to be long distance either. I want to be with you, I know that much. I feel it. Is it the leavin’ thing? Is that the problem?”


Rayen nodded. "Yeah! Actually, that's the most important part. To me. I'm not asking for a contract or anything, I mean..." She held her arms around herself again, feeling very exposed for how little they knew each other. "I'd like to get to know you. It's definitely a fear that you'll take off. If you do... well, and you know what I mean, this isn't about needing my permission to go to D.C. It's about you leaving, for a WHILE, like you have. Bandero -has- the records, he pointed it out. It's a decent concern when you're trying to keep your head straight, you know?"

"Fuck... talk about pressure." She laughed softly. "Thanks.... for the rose. It was really sweet." She nodded, looking down. "I like you, Logan. I'd like to go out again some time."

He knew her issue. If he decided to prove her brother right, then so bet it. But it wasn't REALLY fair of her not to give him a chance to prove her brother wrong, was it?


He smiled, genuinely feeling it. That seemed to be the root of the problem then, and Logan really enjoyed working his way to the roots. If there was a clear problem, the man could find a way through it… even if that A-hole Forge were behind it.

“Well okay, then. We’ll go out again sometime.” He said, and turned to the window, unhooking its lock. He paused, and turned back halfway.

“Tell ya what. Give me a shot and I won’t go anywhere, okay?”

Rayen smiled, looking a little bashful. "What, you're just gonna... leave? A rose and an argument and off he goes?" She grinned.

One really has to be careful with what they say to the Wolverine. He paused, and started to cross the room towards her, casually. “I’m sure I can think of a few reasons to stay, actually.”


(( End scene. ))