| It's a Trap | |||||
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| What: Rachel Summers ambushes Pete Wisdom for advice on buying gifts. She’s had better ideas. | |||||
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Rachel has a problem. A problem that she's fresh out of ideas to solve. A problem called Kwabena Odame.
And what she needs to solve it is someone who knows the man. And she knows just the person... or so she thinks.
She didn't tell Doug /why/ it was so important that he call Pete Wisdom and arrange drinks at Harry's with him, or even how she knew that he'd be able to pull that off. For the latter, though, it's probably safe to blame Kitty Pryde.
All of which goes hardly anywhere at all to explaining why Rachel is sitting at the table in Harry's that has the best view of the door, a drink on the table in front of her, very much lying in wait.
Why Doug Ramsey had to call up his old SHIELD partner and drag him to Harry's Hideaway was relatively simple: "Meet up for old time's sake, and by the way, this bossy redhead wants to meet you."
Why, on the other hand, he had Laura Kinney with him could be summed up thusly: "You still need more socialization practice. No SNIKTING. Okay?"
After all, if Laura could manage to make it through a session without the urge to SNIKT Pete Wisdom, she could make it through anything.
Odds are Pete might just cause Laura to roll her eyes. At most. After all, just what could he do to make her want to SNIKT him?
Pause.
Don't answer that.
Anyways, since she was told that this was 'training', or at least 'practice' she does come along. but she also remains quiet. As eerily silent as always as she stays near Dougs side.
For now anyways.
So when Pete comes in the door, he's faced with three young people who are attached to Xavier's, and he slows and stops just inside, expression and body language infinitely wary. "Look," he starts defensively, "if this is some kind of-- whatever it is, I didn't do it."
He's not in his usual suit right now; apparently he's quite off-duty. Jeans, Joy Division t-shirt, leather jacket, that purple silk sash wound around and around his belt and tied off, gun under shoulder and chip on top. And squinting. Can't forget squinting.
Rachel could have been more subtle in staging her ambush. She could have hidden herself and Laura in a booth while leaving Doug in the middle of the place as a lure. The thought did occur to her, but it's not like she has anything really /bad/ planned for Pete, so that thought was quickly dismissed.
When she sees Pete's suspicious expression, though, she finds she can't help herself. She grins at him - and the door closes firmly behind him.
Probably just the wind.
Having amused herself, Rachel gives Pete a bit of a wave and stands up. "It's a trap, and Doug's the bait." She tells Pete cheerfully. "Sorry about that." Her grin broadens. "I can't remember if we got properly introduced last time, but I'm Rachel. And I need your help. Nothing dangerous, and I'll even buy you a drink just for listening. What do you say?"
"Pete. This is Rachel Summers," Doug grins, as he stands up to offer a handshake. "Silent girl's one of the students, trying to get her used to people. Laura Kinney, Pete Wisdom. Pete's a former co-worker of mine." That he'd worked at SHIELD probably shouldn't surprise Laura... the question was what her reaction to it would be.
Rather than wait too long for Laura to think about it, though, Doug goes on. "Sorry 'bout that, but I figured I could kill a few birds with one stone. Show you what I've been up to with the students..." Doug motions to Laura. "... and uh, well, you just don't argue with a redhead."
Trap?
No snikting?
If there's any reaction to that from Laura, she doesn't show it. But odds are she is a little confused by what she hears.
Then again if she knew that Pete was SHIELD, and that Doug was ex-SHIELD... Odds are there'd be more of a reaction.
With that said, she just sort of sits there, unmoving.
Comedy equals startling a paranoid combat veteran when you're Rachel Summers and can control any overreactions said veteran might have to startlement.
Fortunately, it's not tested-- Wisdom only freezes in place, one hand halfway lifted, halfway turned bodily toward the door. And then he scowls and relaxes, fishing in his pocket to pull out a cigarette, despite the indoorsness of the place. It's Harry's. Logan comes here. No one's hassled Pete for smoking here before; he obviously assumes this is still the case, and lights up.
Finally, he steps forward and shakes Doug's hand, then reaches up to slap the blond lightly upside the head. "You know better, mate. Hullo, Miss Summers, Miss Kinney. I'll listen; I'll drink. What's this about, then?" he asks as he takes a seat.
Rachel looks slightly surprised at the reaction her little trick with the door provokes in Pete, but since her sense of humour doesn't actually get her into any trouble she doesn't say anything about it, letting Doug handle the introductions, and smirking when Pete gives him a slapping. "I'm not THAT bad!" She tells Doug quietly, in an aggrieved tone, before returning her attention to Pete.
"Great!" She says, almost too happily, when he chooses to stay. "And it's Rachel." She says firmly in answer to his formality. "Hold that thought." She adds as he sits down. "Payment in advance." She pauses, looking at Doug in silence for a couple of seconds, then nods and disappears toward the bar.
Getting served quickly has never been much of a problem for Rachel, and it's only a matter of a few minutes before she's back with a neat Scotch for Pete, whatever drink was uppermost in Doug's mind and... a bottle of Coke for Laura. Sorry Laura.
Sliding back into her seat, Rachel sits forward, folding her arms on the table and fixing her attention on Pete. "It's about Kwabena. Your friend and my... friend." Rachel very pointedly doesn't look at Doug as she takes a breath. "I need to buy him something. A gift. And don't say hookers or blow."
Yes, she heard the message, and yes, she remembered.
"... wait, you had me drag Pete down -here- so that you could get advice on getting Kwabena a -gift-?" Doug is incredulous. For all of about half a second, he considers just telling Laura to go slash Rachel's belt.
And then the Amaretto Sour pops up in front of him. Mmmm...
Taking a swig of his drink, Doug lifts his eyes towards Pete, and offers a shrug. "You know, I don't know why she doesn't just try and read his mind... but my theory... there's no mind to read."
Another swig. "Laura, what do you think Shift would want, if you remove hookers or blow?"
And as the bottle of coke is set down in front of the lone 'student' here, she doesn't even blink.
Nor does she move to open it right away. Instead, she just sort of accepts that it's there, as she blinks at what Rachel says to Pete...
And more importantly what Doug asks her.
That is before she does something.... Odd.
It looks almost like she's about to shrug, when she instead pauses, jerks a thumb at Rachel, and then says in her usual deadpan and emotionless tone, "A redhead in his bed?"
There's about a YEAR of incredulous silence from Pete. He -- for reasons Wisdom -- doesn't actually move to drink from the tumbler given him until Rachel's done, but then he waits again because of Ramsey speaking up, and after what he says, Pete's about to say something--
--and then the reason for him waiting to drink his Scotch becomes clear with what Laura says. The SHIELD agent bursts out laughing.
"ASSUMING," he says, wiping his eyes, "what Kinney here says is, for whatever reason, inapplicable, I've a few suggestions. The first's putting his bike back together, if you haven't yet, or getting him a new one, if you can't. Else, what sort'f budget you working with?"
Ash in the tray; drink from the tumbler. Then he points with the drink-holding hand at Doug, lifting his eyebrows. "And she probably figures it's about as good an idea as reading mine."
"... Good luck getting Jean to agree to that. Though I suppose... Pete, is Natalia still around...?" Doug chimes in, a grin growing on his face.
Laura Kinney is still deadpan as she says, "Maybe her and Jean at the same time?"
Rachel did, indeed, conspire to get Pete to Harry's just so that she could get advice on buying something for Shift. That she doesn't see any problem with this at all just goes to show that her priorities are still a bit... off.
She's still studying the silent - and incredulous - Pete, as if the answer to her question is going to be written on his expression, when Doug suggests reading Kwabena's mind. "Last time I did that his bike ended up in pieces." She tells him absently, not really having thought before she spoke. She picks up her drink and takes a sip as she waits for Pete to collect his thoughts.
And then she's completely blindsided by Laura's comment, and ends up inhaling her drink. She's coughing so hard that she has to hang on to the edge of the table to make sure she stays in her seat, and as a result she's completely defenceless as first Doug chimes in, and then Laura expands on her idea. Finally, though, she manages to stop coughing and remember how to breathe.
"Laura." She says, still wheezing slightly. "No. Definitely not. Just... no. Particularly... no!" Rachel shakes her head, trying to rid herself of Laura's LAST idea, and looks daggers at Doug. She's sure this is his fault somehow. "Don't encourage her." She tells him.
Attempting to gather some shreds of her dignity, she ignores the fact that Pete's clearly had as much fun at her expense as the others, and tries to answer him. "Let's just call all those ideas inapplicable, OK?" She says, hopefully, before taking a breath. She knows she's not heard the end of this, but it's too late to back out now. "Right. Bike. He already fixed it. And bought me a helmet. So..." Rachel shrugs helplessly.
Holding his hands up, Doug reaches out. "Bad Laura. Bad Laura." A pat on her head, which is completely at odds with his words, especially since there's no particular malice or anger in his voice, and all his body language seems to be more complementary of the young girl. "Anyway, since you have a helmet, just go for a ride with him somewhere. Visit some place that's not the mall. While you're at it, get him a leather jacket. I bet he blew them all up by now."
And at this point, Laura still hasn't shown any real sign of emotion. Especially as she takes in Rachel's reaction. Nor does she react to the pat on the head. Or Pete's outburst.
Nope.
Instead the 'clone' finally opens her soda and takes a sip.
And oh, Peter Wisdom is just sitting back in his chair, now, grinning. Grinning and smoking and drinking, sprawled out and unbearably charged with the essence of jackass. "So," he says slowly, drawing out the words with a casual preciseness, "getting yourself some truly inspiring lingerie's out of the question, then."
He sits up to ash in the tray again, takes one final drag, then grinds his cigarette out before finishing off his Scotch. "Leather jacket's a good suggestion, though I'd add you might want to have Richards look at it, maybe do some unstable molecule something-or-other so's he can have it change with him. But listen: the way I know him precludes knowing his hobbies, or what he likes aside from his addictions. For a gift? Best I can tell you is really, really good alcohol. I know he likes Blanton's Whiskey, uh-- aged blend. Otherwise, to be perfectly honest, you know him far better than I do. I consider him a friend; he's an ally; I like him. But: the context is wrong."
And Laura...
Is still quiet.
To be honest, she has no clue what to suggest for a gift. So she just sort of sits there. Sipping her drink.
All though maybe for a fraction of a second the idea of 'a supply of replacement shoulders' might flicker in her mind for some reason.
Rachel's eyes flash with annoyance as Pete decides not to let her off the hook, her temper flickering into life - but just as soon quenched as she's forced to admit to herself that she'd be laughing with the others if the target was anyone but herself. Groaning, she drops her head into her hands theatrically and says in a muffled voice, "Screw being good, next time I'm reading his mind."
Raising her head again, Rachel runs her hands back through her hair and sighs, before abruptly directing a smirk at Pete. "He's not been THAT good." It's a joke, and she knows it's not going to help her cause, but something made her say it. Before she can dig herself in any deeper, though, Doug's phone goes off and he hurriedly excuses himself. Rachel follows him with her eyes for a couple of steps as he moves away, again with that strange kind of intensity, then glances back to the others to report, "Kitty." She frowns, and glances toward Doug's back. << Stop telling her about this! >> Rachel projects into Doug's mind, but she knows she's already lost that particular argument.
Shaking her head ruefully, Rachel's grateful when Pete gets down to business, and nods thoughtfully at his suggestions. She doesn't seem to believe his protestations, though. "I don't think I /do/ know him better than you do. But... thanks. That helps." She gets that rueful look again. "I guess I owe you one, unless you've had enough fun to call it even?"
"I've had more than my fair share of fun," says Wisdom with a quick grin. "You're quite graceful under fire. If you really don't know him that well...?" Here's where he pushes his chair back, stands up, adjusts his jacket. "Get to it. Find out. Do it the hard way. Watch him and talk to him, make guesses, throw 'em at the wall to see what sticks. That's the best gift you can give him."
The man glances after Doug, then looks down to give Laura a lopsided smile. "You," he says, "show excellent signs of being the life of the party, Ms. Kinney. Especially if you don't let anyone put filters between your brain and your mouth."
And here's where Laura rolls her eyes at Pete's little comment, before she shakes her head.
And yet, as she finishes doing that, she does cast a bit of an odd look at Rachel. But what ever random thought crosses her mind is not one that she says out loud. Or otherwise broadcasts.
>From Rachel's perspective, they've all had more than their fair share of fun at her expense! But it's Pete's next words that make her pause for thought. She's been inside Kwabena's mind on more than one occasion, very deeply in some cases, and he's been open with her about his past. What, exactly, is making her think that she still doesn't know the man, at least as well as the non-telepath sitting across the table from her?
That answer's inside her own mind, and she knows she's going to have to find it sooner rather than later.
She blinks, having been looking inward, and her eyes focus again on Pete. "So you're saying I should let him take me out on that bike of his again?" Rachel offers a slow nod. "Good advice. Thanks, Pete." She pauses, her tone becoming less serious and more teasing. "I promise not to make you come all the way out here just so I can interrogate you in future."
As Pete makes his exit, Rachel looks over at Laura, for a moment at a loss for what to say, then finally admits. "He's got a point. But seriously? Whatever Doug offers you, NEVER repeat that suggestion in front of Jean." She's grinning, though.
With a nod Laura says, "Understood. I will say it in front of Scott instead."
Rachel doesn't say anything to that. Not out loud. After a long moment where she just looks at Laura in disbelief, her head turns toward Doug, where he's still chatting animatedly on the phone to Kitty, and she reaches out with her mind. The message is a simple one: << You're dead, Ramsey. >>