Bourbon Street [Gambit, Jubilee]

[Jubilee]

"Is there a building in this town that isn't haunted?" Jubilee inquired as she looked cynically at the sign in front of an old inn that claimed it was haunted by numerous unhappy spirits. She stood on Bourbon Street, an ice cream cone in one hand, the other hand fingering the necklaces of green, gold, purple around her neck.

They'd arrived earlier that morning, having ditched their latest car--Just parked it in front of someone's house and walked away, into the heart of town. They'd perused the shops that lined the streets for hours, into the midafternoon. Jubilee had begun to eye the only thing which outnumbered the cheap souvenir shops--the bars. She wondered if Gambit was planning on going to one or many that night, and if he thought he could leave her in the hotel room, he had another damn thing comin'. He could charm her into any place in town, and she wasn't going to let up until he agreed to.

Unless he wanted to stay in the hotel room and talk. They'd talked a lot on their many various trips over the last couple of days, having shared everything from a train compartment to motel rooms to towels in those motels when they ran out. Jubilee had grown to trust him--Not a trust that she'd bet her life on, but a trust to the point that she had become comfortable sitting next to him without keeping her hand firmly on her fannypack at all times. Even if Bobby hadn't returned her call.

Taking another lick of her ice cream, which she'd been delighted to learn was actually vanilla, though it was bright blue and pink, Jubilee twisted the purple necklace around a finger as she turned to Remy for an answer.

[Gambit]

"Ain't nowhere in Nawlins that ain't haunted."

Remy hadn't spoken an awful lot since their arrival, and seemed more on edge and tense than she'd seen him - and he'd been tense several times before now. He walked with his head down and his sunglasses in place. He'd taken his hair out of its usual pony tail and it hung around his face effectively blocking his visage.

"I gotta go visit th' old homestead," he said, his tone more than a little morose. "Not 'zac'ly somethin' I'm lookin' forward to, but if I want some of my things back, gonna have t'go there sooner rather than later. An' it's not like I can break in. Poppa would have my head on a stick an' display it for eternity."

He ran a hand briefly through his hair.

"Gon' go across there tonight," he said, smashing any idea that he might be going into any bars. "You stay in th' hotel where you be safe, cherie."

[Jubilee]

Jubilee brushed the condemnation to the hotel room aside as she moved closer to where Remy stood, alert and on-edge. She came to a stop and peered at him curiously. Something about his 'Poppa' was obviously bad news.

"You can't charm the folks like you can everyone else?" She asked, speaking curiously and with a hint of teasing, but it was clear that she understood that there was something serious on his mind.

(ooc: at some point I want to have her tell him her name's not Annie, in a kind of...'i trust you enough to tell you this now' way. So whenever he calls her Annie, at the right kind of time...)

[Gambit]

"Jean-Luc Le Beau don't take no charm of nobody, lest of all his sons. Son." The correction was unconscious and barely noticeable. "No, he'll already be expectin' me, chere. He's put at least three people on our tail as it is. They think I ain't noticed 'em but I have."

He stopped walking for a few moments and made something of a show of rolling a cigarette. "See th' girl on th' corner over there? The blonde with th' baby? She's one of Poppa's best agents. The guy with th' paper in th' coffee shop over there is known in these parts as Chomp. And th' li'l guy with no hair over other side of th' road wearin' th' really bad Hawaiian shirt is Poppa's cousin, Pierre - and that's just for starters."

[Jubilee]

As Remy pointed out the many people around them that his father had following them, Jubes shuddered visibly. If was unnerving, to think that she had been being followed and hadn't even known it. She'd even made fun of the guy's awful touristy shirt to herself just minutes before.

At first, she stared, just for a moment. She quickly ducked her head and turned away from Mr. Bad Shirt, looking carefully ahead with as nonchalant a look as she could muster. She stepped up right next to Gambit, sliding her arm around his in an effort to keep him close enough to speak quietly and yet look casual. If the gesture looked romantic, whatever. He'd have to deal with Cousin Pierre's awkward questions later, not her.

"Are they dangerous?" She paused only a moment before asking a second, rapid-fire question. "Are you going to be okay tonight?" She sounded truly concerned.

[Gambit]

"Are they dangerous? Are you going to be okay tonight?"

"Of COURSE they're dangerous," said Remy, sounding faintly offended by the suggestion that members of the Thieves Guild might be harmless. "If they work for my Poppa, then they're th' best of th' best, cherie. An' as for tonight...je ne sais pas." He shrugged his shoulders easily. "Depends on th' kind of mood I find Poppa in an' whether he's pleased t'see his li'l boy back from his travels or not."

He knew exactly what Jean-Luc's reception would be like. You could use that sort of frostiness to keep a side of meat for a month. "There's every chance that we gon' need t'make a damn quick exit from town afterwards, though, so don't start unpackin' anythin'. We're stoppin' briefly in Nawlins, we ain't stayin'." His tone dropped to wistfulness.

"Much as I miss it."

[Jubilee]

It was then for the first time that Jubilee found herself wishing she still had her powers for a specific purpose. 'I could have gone with him,' she thought to herself. After the initial idea, she realized that she couldn't have helped much; and she didn't want to help, not in the way he might need help. She'd never wanted to hurt people with her powers. Well, rarely. But she could have at least stood at the door or something.

She knew that he wouldn't have let her. And she knew if she did still have her powers, and she offered to go with him, she'd have been relieved when he refused to let her go. But at least she could have offered. Now she was just baggage he'd have to risk his ass to stop by the hotel and grab on the way out of town.

It sounded as though Remy had had such run-ins with his father before, and he was still in one piece, so Jubilee tried to ease her own mind. Outwardly, she nodded obligingly. "I'll be ready for yah."

She hesitated, but the words came spilling out of her mouth anyway. She managed to say them casually between licks of her ice cream as she looked into shop windows. "You sure you're gonna have time to get me?"

She couldn't shake the nagging doubt in her mind, that kept making her picture him just disappearing and stranding her in Sometown, USA. Especially if he was running from--whoever, the mob or something. She popped the last bite of her cone into her mouth as she glanced sideways at him, once again wishing he didn't have those glasses on which masked his expression so well.

[Gambit]

"You sure you're gonna have time to get me?"

"Sure, chere," he said, easily, pushing his sunglasses a little way down his nose so he could see her over the top of them. He gave her a totally unexpected and very disarming smile. "Me an' my poppa got our differences, sure, but he gon' give me th' opportunity t'get a head start. Ain't no fun huntin' static prey, after all."

She was almost sure he was just joking.

Almost.

He pushed his glasses back up his nose. "Ain't gonna lie none to you, petite," he said, with a heavy sigh. "Told you I didn't really want t'come back here, but since I am, may as well look in on th' old man an' tell him what's what, pay my respects, y'know? He ain't gon' kill me. Not tonight. That I promise you. It's th' other gangs you gotta watch out for - an' all th' time we're on Poppa's patch, we're under his protection. Much as it pains him. I ain't gon' jus' leave you here, no sir."

That smile again, and a definite sense that what he was saying made perfect sense.

[Jubilee]

Normally, Jubilation Lee would have been put on edge by the things Gambit had said. But though she heard and understood everything that he said, it didn't alarm her at all. She understood that they would probably be followed after leaving town, but the fact that Remy's father wouldn't kill him comforted her, and her worries drained away with one look from him.

What he'd said last echoed in her mind: 'I ain't gon' jus' leave you here, no sir.'[/i] She had no doubt that that was the truth, and she was no longer worried that he would strand her in the unfarmiliar town--or anywhere, until they reached Westchester.

She nodded to show that she believed him, and was quiet a moment. She seemed to study a brightly lit sign outside a restaurant, but was inwardly deep in thought.

Turning to face him again, she crossed her arms and fixed his dark glasses with a look. "My name's not Annie," she said, not speaking apologetically, but plainly. "It's Jubilee." Since she'd come to feel that she could trust him, he deserved to not be lied to, at least about her name.

[Gambit]

"My name's not Annie, it's Jubilee."

"Oui," he said, easily. "Jubilation Lee. I know this." He grinned wickedly at her. "I ain't stupid," he explained. "You got your name on th' inside of your wallet, an' I seen it a couple times when you opened it. So I figure that's either gotta be your real name, or you stole th' wallet." He shrugged. "Don't matter none to me if you usin' a fake name, you t'ink I don't?"

He reached over and ruffled her hair. "C'mon," he said. "Gon' take you to dinner in this li'l restaurant that does THE best jambalaya in Nawlins, then back to th' hotel." He straightened his shoulders, turned to one of their followers and flipped a lazy salute. The man shuffled away slightly, looking guilty.

The restaurant was indeed small. Bijou, was probably the word, and they did indeed serve an impressively delicious jambalaya. Remy downed several bourbons but didn't appear to be in any way affected by the alcohol. As night fell, he glanced at his watch.

"Right, chere," he said. "Gotta get this show on th' road." He reached over and patted her hand, threw down the money for the food and took her back to the hotel.

* * *

He was gone for four hours in total.

When he showed up, he looked dusty and angry and sorrowful and more than a little the worse for wear. One eye was blackening nicely, and there were several small scrapes and grazes on his face. He refused any assistance, merely suggested to Jubilee that she start her packing as they'd be leaving first thing in the morning.

He did, however, pass one comment on the visit to his father.

"That," he said, "went well."

[Pyro]

[[Moving this thread to Flashbacks, 'cos that's where it should be just now]]