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Reunion
Sept 18, 2006 17:46:12 GMT -5
Post by recluse on Sept 18, 2006 17:46:12 GMT -5
Tugging at the skirt for about the thirtieth time that night, Recluse looked at her mother with absolute hate in her eyes. Ever since their gang had been hauled into jail - thankfully, she'd managed to not get stuck with the bloody cure - and her mom had bailed her out, she'd been getting stuffed into dresses and dragged around to all sorts of events, apparently in the hopes that she'd somehow change her mind and end up being, you know, a normal daughter again.
"Gracie, stop it. And will you pull your sleeves down? I want you to cover those awful tattoos." This one had puffy sleeves, and she'd pushed them up like a good child to make it look right, but apparently her mother hadn't wanted that. Probably because her left arm said 'Fuck you' in big black letters, among other things.
"Why the hell do I have to come with you anyway?"
God, the woman seemed to be getting through to her. A year ago, there would have been at least three expletives in that sentence. But that was before this cure business, and before she'd been stuck in jail and lost her gang.
It must have been the nostalgic thoughts that had made her mistake that guy for Dom.
Surely.
He couldn't be her old gang leader, it wasn't possible. Surely Dom was still in jail.
But no, there was a flash of recognition in his eyes, and her cheeks turned red when she realised that she was wearing that bloody skirt. And she was with her mother.
She was never going to hear the end of this.
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Reunion
Sept 18, 2006 18:14:52 GMT -5
Post by avalanche on Sept 18, 2006 18:14:52 GMT -5
Dominic was on cloud nine, baby. Not only was he about to get back into the biz, but he was about to advance in the world of mutant gangs to the elite of the elite. The Brotherhood was where the big-boys played. They got shit done.
So he was already planning. He needed some revenue. A little finance went a long way with the high level types – and now that he’d been training for over a year on his own, pretty much with most of his time, his power was ready to be tested.
Damn it all, it’d be easier with a team though. Hell, with even one other person.
Still. He’d find a way. Given enough time, even the ‘slow’ Dom could come up with a pretty good plan.
Now he was walking down the street, in his traditional leather jacket with jeans and t-shirt, shit-kickin’ boots clunking on the pavement, and a philly cheese-steak sandwich being polished off in his mouth. He wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve, and looked up in time to spot a chick walking with her mum.
Double take.
That was Recluse. What the hell was she doing here? Shouldn’t she be in lock up with the rest of the gang?
“Holy shit.” He said, a laugh already on his lips. “Little Recluse walkin’ along in her cute dress with her mom. I’m impressed.”
Of course, then he realized she was probably cured, and an immediate stab of pain jolted through his chest. This one had real talent… freaky talent, but it was real. And to have that wasted by some asshole in a uniform… to have her life taken from her that way. It hurt. Deep.
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Reunion
Sept 18, 2006 18:34:48 GMT -5
Post by recluse on Sept 18, 2006 18:34:48 GMT -5
"Oh, shit." Looking down at her feet, Gracie wished that she'd found him any other time. No, Recluse wished - she wasn't Gracie to anyone but her mom. Anyone that liked their nose the shape it was, anyway. "You've gotta be fuckin' kidding me, Dom, I thought you were in the pen!" Grinning at him, she ignored the shocked gasp coming from her mom and instead walked over to throw her arms around him for a hug. "I'm surprised they let you out, I only got out cause of..." She jerked her head behind her, where her mother was rambling about something. She tugged at the skirt again without thinking - how the hell had her mother managed to get her into this? Polka dots? And tulle God, how did she even know the shit in the underskirt was called tulle? Getting soft in her time off the streets, obviously. Pushing her puffy sleeves back up so that the obscenities inked on her body were more than obvious, Recluse gave him another grin, her tiny fanglets resting lightly on her lip. It was a good thing she was immune to her own venom. Probably a better thing that she didn't find anyone interesting enough to try kissing them with these things in the equation. ... Still, there were things you could do without kissing. Her smile increased. "What the hell have you been doing, anyway?"
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Reunion
Sept 18, 2006 18:39:22 GMT -5
Post by avalanche on Sept 18, 2006 18:39:22 GMT -5
Dom took the hug heartily, and returned it with strength. He was as street-hood, sure. A criminal, yeah. But he loved his family. Once you were his family, you were his family for good. Recluse was good peoples. Well… to her real family anyway.
“You thought they caught me?” He asked, eyebrows raised. It never occurred to him that the others would assume he got the slam too. “Shit naw, I escaped. I’ve been in the wood, working on my power ever since. You should see some of the crazy shit I can do now.”
He looked at her more seriously. Somewhat uncomfortably.
“You uhh… get the cure? I heard some of the guys got it?”
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Reunion
Sept 18, 2006 18:48:09 GMT -5
Post by recluse on Sept 18, 2006 18:48:09 GMT -5
"That's awesome. Man, if I'd known that, I woulda come looking for you." Instead of staying home like a good girl.
Hey, it had kept her fed for the last year, right? And clothed, even if she totally hated the clothes.
Her smile grew as she shook her head.
"Naw, not me. Most of the guys did, but they didn't stick me. Wouldn't even swing back, gave one of the cops a massive shiner." Her fists clenched just a little as she recreated the scene in her head, chipped black nails curling in to dig into her palms.
She might have let her mom stuff her into dresses, but at least she'd managed to keep some of herself.
Speaking of whom... "Mom, I'll be home later. Fuck off, will ya?"
Looking absolutely scandalised, her mother stalked off, muttering about ungrateful children.
"Best go back there soon, she's liable to shred all my clothes. I'm not wearing this shit for the rest of my life."
It didn't even occur to her to ask Dom. Recluse just assumed that she was leaving home again, coming back to the streets with him. It was just the way of things.
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Reunion
Sept 18, 2006 19:11:49 GMT -5
Post by avalanche on Sept 18, 2006 19:11:49 GMT -5
Dom didn't even give the old lady a second glance, instead he turned and started walking across the street, Recluse next to him.
“You've got no idea how glad I am to hear that... your powers are sometimes inconvenient for you, yeah, but I know you'd wanna die if you lost em'.” He couldn't help but grinning. It was as if his whole year of training had really paid off, and he hadn't even done anything yet! “Damn it's good to see ya.”
He looked down at the toughest bitch he'd ever known. “We got a job to do. Remember that kid John? The little guy I used to call Sparky or Sparks – I hung out with him for that month or so? Yeah – that's the fuckin' new leader of the Brotherhood. We're signed up.”
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Reunion
Sept 18, 2006 19:28:46 GMT -5
Post by recluse on Sept 18, 2006 19:28:46 GMT -5
Shrugging, Gracie grinned again. "Inconvenient? Psh. Fun!" He was right. She would have been totally lost without them. When you had something for so long, it was hard to imagine it being gone. God, she felt so sorry for all the guys that had gotten poked.
"Sparks? Yeah, I remember him. Little skinny kid with the fire?" That was a pretty cool power, too. And now he was leading the Brotherhood? "Cool shit. Where are they at?"
She needed to get home and get a bag together so that she didn't end up stuck in this stupid dress for weeks. And steal her mom's purse again - she couldn't count the number of times she'd done that, for some reason the old lady never mentioned it. Maybe she thought she was forgetful or something.
"What's the job, anyways?" Damn, it was good to have him back.
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Reunion
Sept 18, 2006 19:38:29 GMT -5
Post by avalanche on Sept 18, 2006 19:38:29 GMT -5
“That's the kid.” He said, crossing to his beat up Chevy parked illegally on the curb. He took the ticket out from under the windshield wiper and tossed it on the ground, opening the door. “It's unlocked.”
The two of them in the car, he continued.
“Aight, first things first. Let's get you back to your mommy's house so you can ditch the Strawberry Shortcake getup. Good God, what happened to you?” He asked with a smile, and knew better than to prod much more than that. Recluse would punch you in the face even if she knew it'd kill her to do so.
“As for the Brotherhood – I dunno. They're stationed somewhere, he didn't say... I guess being international terrorists changes your opinion on what you can say over the phone. As for our first task – other than getting you out of that dress – (and into other clothes!) is to steak out that Xavier academy. Though honestly I want some revenue first... so you and I? We're gonna knock off an armored car.”
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Reunion
Sept 18, 2006 20:02:01 GMT -5
Post by recluse on Sept 18, 2006 20:02:01 GMT -5
Yeah, she knew he was never going to let her forget it.
"You don't shut up about the dress, I'm going to stuff you into it and put pictures on the internet."
Oh, wait, that might not have been the best thing to do. Giving him ideas, you know?
"Armoured car sounds fun." She gave him a grin that clearly said, 'You're crazy - fuck I've missed you.'
What the hell did Sparks want with the Xavier Academy, though? Wasn't that just a place for prissy mutants to go learn to be all noble with their powers and shit?
As Dom drove them down toward her mom's apartment, Recluse couldn't help but smile at him. God, it was good to be back with him. Good to be doing something again, not just being paraded around by her mother as an example of what law enforcement could achieve.
They arrived pretty quickly and Gracie kicked her shoes off in the car. "I'll be five minutes."
Of course, it would have been easier to just take the lift, but that was no fun.
Just under five minutes later, Recluse returned to the car in a much more comfortable checked-pants and white wife beater combination, with a backpack slung over one shoulder.
"Alright, so where's this armoured car?" She finally felt like herself again.
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Reunion
Sept 18, 2006 20:21:49 GMT -5
Post by avalanche on Sept 18, 2006 20:21:49 GMT -5
That wall-climbing stint was pretty cool stuff, and Dom knew it would come in handy. Particularly for what he had in mind on this armored car gig.
He smiled approvingly when she got in. She was a neat chick, tough as nails and twice as rough – very good to have at your back. Probably why they never got together – just a bit too much mutual admiration and toughness. Generally speaking, someone had to be softer than the other in a relationship for it to work. They usually interacted more as team-mates, possibly siblings.
“I've been considering it for a while now, actually, just accounted it too dangerous to fully get done by myself. Now that you're here, it all works out nicely. There's a car that makes it's rounds from bank to bank downtown. It passes through some relatively unpopulated areas at one point. There happens to be a decent bit of old downtown sewer that runs through that area too – normally not accessable, but I ain't normal. So tommorow afternoon, we hit it, and make a break through the sewers.”
He spoke pretty casual, even though it was a bigger job than either of them had ever actually done. Much bigger. The prize was in the six digits.
“I gotta cheap room at the old run-down near the mill. Remember that place? Could hide a damn army there and nobody would care. Bunk there?”
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Reunion
Sept 18, 2006 20:38:02 GMT -5
Post by recluse on Sept 18, 2006 20:38:02 GMT -5
"Yeah, I remember. Sounds like a plan." Seemed like he had everything all worked out - which was a good thing, cause she wasn't much of a planner, nor was she much of a leader. She'd look after herself, yeah, but she didn't want the responsibility over other people, that wasn't where she got her kicks.
"Maybe I've gotten soft to actually be thinking this, let alone saying it, but damn I've missed you."
Yeah, definitely getting soft. Trying to recover from all the nostalgia, Recluse turned to him with an amused grin.
"Oh, and if you start spooning me, you're going to wake up with a dead arm." Of all people, Avalanche would know that she didn't mean from a hard punch when she said that. There was a very good reason that she was called Recluse, but her bite was like that every time - not just when people were over-sensitive.
Picking up the shoes she'd kicked off, Gracie looked at them with derision and then shoved them into her bag. She wasn't going to admit it, but she'd actually shoved the dress in - who knew when you'd need something like that? Pulling out a pair of sneakers, she pulled them on quickly and smiled up at Dom.
Sure, for the moment they were only a gang of two, but of all the people she'd wished got out without being cured, Dom was top of the list.
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