| Destiny's Diaries: Flying Blind | |||||
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| What: Gambit makes one of his periodic unscheduled visits to Xavier School for Wacky Mutant Kids. But according to one of Xavier's students, his arrival wasn't unscheduled... it was foretold. | |||||
There's only so long one can stay at a Cabin before they go out and explore their new found surrounding. Laura, who has by now mended her black catsuit, has set foot inside the Mansion, and following her nose, she makes her way to the cageteria, sniffing, as she approaches the fridge.
Ruth was in the kitchen letting the chocolate chip, cookies with apples, cranberries and orange bits cool. Then pulled out three mugs from the microwave of hot cocoa. Turning around to smile at Laura "Hello there, welcome yes thank you.If I might ask please would you like some hot cocoa? Mr Lebau should be along shortly, yes thank you"
'Mister LeBeau.' No matter how many times he hears it, it always sounds a bit unnatural. Perhaps that's one of the reasons that Gambit doesn't frequent the Institute as often as perhaps he should? Maybe he doesn't feel that he quite deserves the respect that (some of) the students show him when he's here?
Or maybe he's just too busy drinking...
As he shuffles into the cafeteria, it's pretty clear that whatever his normal reason is for avoiding the place, this morning he's very much wishing he was still in bed. Dark circles are under his eyes, and he looks a bit paler than usual. It seems to be all that he can do to drag himself into the X-Men's Danger Dining Room. But he manages to be juuuust friendly enough to grunt, in his trademarked Cajun accent:
"Coffee."
Laura stops as soon as she enters the Cafeteria, her emerald green eyes setting directly on Ruth, and her peculiar blindfold. "Something is wrong with your eyes," Laura states rather than asks, before tensing at Ruth's mannerism and words, "you were expecting me?" Laura is a bit unnerved at the idea. She was specifically trying not to be noticed, and yet Ruth was well aware of her arrival despite moving silently. "Hot cocoa? Yes." Laura murmurs, moving towards the table where Ruth sets the cup, "who is Mr. LeBeau?" Laura asks as she places her hands around the cup of hot cocoa to warm them. She had never heard of a Mr. LeBeau and yet Ruth seems to think of him as someone who should be expected.
Sure enough, moments later and said Mr. LeBeau happens to walk right in. Laura turns to look at the entrance, wondering how Ruth knew this man was coming. "You are Mr. LeBeau?" Laura asks though she expects as much, "you are lacking in sleep, you can be bested by inferior foes in this condition. Sleep deprivation is bad."
Blindfold smiles at Remy and goes to the fridge to bring him a small glass of lemon juice with sugar "This first, yes sorry, you want to be around kids, you have to learn how to deal with them. Drink this then you get coffee because you also need to know how to eat like a kid, yes please, you can't go around drunk and drinking around kids and be respected, no sorry" she then smiles back at Laura "No sorry, nothing wrong with my eyes, I don't have any, but I see better then most, yes thank you. I see without eyes, the past and the future, thank you yes"
"Please, p'tite. Nobody calls me Mr. LeBeau anymore. In fact... how did YOU even..." It's true. NOBODY calls Gambit 'Mr. LeBeau.' NOBODY even knows his actual last name. At least, none of the X-Men do. The fact that someone is using his last name is enough to wake him up far better than the coffee possibly could have, as a cold sweat starts to form on his back. Anyone with enhanced senses could clearly see that his fight or flight reflexes are getting kicked into gear... How does this girl know his name?
But then Gambit sees the cafeteria's other lurker, and everything suddenly makes sense. "Oh. Right. She knows... pretty much everything. Which, I gotta say, is all manner of creepifying." Clearly, Gambit still hasn't quite gotten used to Blindfold's peculiar mannerisms or unsettling insights into his 'needs.'
Taking the glass from her, he holds it a bit apathetically, inspecting the contents suspiciously. "But yeah... Gambit. That's what everybody calls me. Let's stick with that, and I won't ask how you know so much about my sleep habits."
"No eyes? See better?" Laura seems a bit confused by the concept, until Blindfold mentions seeing the past and the future, and she looks a bit baffled at that. Not knowing what to say, Laura remains silent, turning instead to look at Mr. LeBeau and how responds to Blindfold. Most grown ups don't like kids to tell them what to do.
"That is untrue, she just did," Laura corrects Gambit's claim that nobody calls him Mr. LeBeau, she was even there to witness it. When Gambit has this weird tense reaction to Ruth calling him by his last name, Laura cocks her head towards her shoulder, looking at him with fascination. "I will not let you harm her," she notes as if to dissuade Gambit from beating up Ruth for something as benign as calling him by his last name. She knows people exhibiting Gambit's response may at times lash out at random targets. "Gambit. You fond of taking risks?" Laura immediately follows up with another question.
Gambit's words put a goofy smirk on Ruth's face for some reason "Gambit wouldn't hurt me and even if he would I would see it before it happened, yes thank you" then laughs at Laura's question to Remy "Well, he's not called Gambit for no reason, no sorry" but to clear at least some things up for Laura, Ruth reaches up a hand and slides her blindfold up onto her forehead to show the other girl before sliding it back into place.
"Who me? Harm this... charming young lady?" Gambit seems to almost choke on the word 'charming', as if it takes all of his might to actually be complimentary.
He'll come around in a few years (probably).
"You've got me all wrong, Scary Spice. I'm a lover, not a..." He suddenly rethinks finishing that sentence around two (apparently) high school aged girls. "... I'm not a fighter, is what I mean."
When Laura gets a glimpse of Ruth's lack of eyes, she asks, "they were not cut out? You never had them? You carry on as if nothing is different for you, I respect that perseverence," she notes, and then turns to look at Gambit. She frowns when she notes the strain in his voice as he tries to call Ruth charming, she doesn't like it. "My name is not Scary Spice, my name is Laura." Not that Gambit had a way of knowing, unless of course he heard Logan's report on his encounter with X-23.
Blindfold grins at Gambit "Except when you have a bo staff, yes please" then nods at Laura "Yes thank you, I was born without them, though my great grandmother went blind from having one of my powers. Sorry, my apologies for my manner of speech, one of many side effects from an altercation with my brother but he is still my family. No please, Scary Spice is the name of a girl in a girl rock band, she was very forward and strong, independent and fearless" reaching a hand out to put on Laura's shoulder with a soft gentle squeeze, like a friend would "Thank you yes for the respect, it is very much appreciated" it had been so long since a stranger respected her on first meeting, she'd almost forgotten how it felt, oh what her demon brother did...
"Man, I haven't even had my coffee yet and this girl is already bringing up the reason I came to visit her. That's... I mean... it's super unnerving, but talk about handy, amiright?"
Gambit quickly polishes off the drink that Blindfold handed him, though he makes a bit of a face. Clearly the idea of 'drinking like a kid' isn't something he's really into. But Blindfold is probably right. After all, she seems to know more about what he needs than he does.
Heading over to the coffeemaker, Gambit stares at it for a second, as if expecting it to magically make coffee for him. Everything else here is automated, right?
"Your uh... great grandmother is kind of the reason I'm visitin', little one. I guess by now you've sussed out who she was, and how important she was to figuring out... whatever it was that Mystique was trying to figure out. But her trail's gone cold, and I'm flying kinda blind right now. Uh... no offense."
He presses several buttons, before finally figuring out that he needs to actually put a cartridge in the machine. They must not have Keurigs in the Brotherhood Headquarters.
"So uh... you know... I'm here to see you. For like... advice. You seem to enjoy giving me advice for some reason."
Laura nods as Blindfold explains more about herself and her lack of eyes, looking a bit surprised as Blindfold mentions Scary Spice is a girl in a rock band, that doesn't sound like something Laura might do. She looks surprised at the friendly squeezing of her shoulder, but doesn't shy away from it. "No need to thank, I only respect those who deserve it." Then she hears the exchange between Gambit and Blindfold, and notes, "this is a personal conversation, I will not impede with my presence," and just like that she hurries out. Very much used to not being appreciated as someone to take part in conversation, specifically about personal, not at headquarters. And this was sort of her new headquarters.
Blindfold smiles at Laura and nods "I understand, yes thank you but I hope to see you more often" then nods to Gambit and goes to hand him a empty mug "Well two hot cocoas for me then yes please. Yes, Destiny, thank you, don't worry though she didn't brush you off purely for the reasons she gave you, she was Mystique's lover, she leans toward that gender, yes sorry. She went blind and insane from all the information she saw, she never found an off switch for it, I won't have that problem though, thank you yes. Giving you advice helps you and it makes me happy to help, thank you yes"
"Yeah, totally. I mean, obviously she couldn't have resisted me if she didn't go for men." Gambit knew about Destiny's reputation obviously, though he'd never really pressed Mystique for too many details about their relationship. "I mean, that doesn't explain how she has a great granddaughter... but... moving past that."
Whether she ever enjoyed the company of men or not, Destiny certainly didn't have any interest in Gambit.
He seems to be cool with simply accepting her help, for now. But it doesn't take a telepath to notice that Gambit's all manner of suspicious about what her motives actually are. His aura is practically screaming suspicion, and his normally guarded features are surprisingly open today. Perhaps he simply feels comfortable letting his emotions play out on his face in the presence of someone who can't 'see' them the way others can.
Taking the mug, Gambit presses the button on the machine, and the coffee quickly starts to fill up the container. "Yeah, sorry chere... but you can't add whiskey to hot cocoa. Or... maybe you can?"
Blindfold nods with a smile "Course you can yes sorry, it's been done with bourbon, why not whiskey, they call them bourbon balls, chocolate balls like the lindt company makes but filled with bourbon" and an 18 year old from NJ would know this how? Then ruth's shrugs at the question of her family "How can I have a, yes thank you, demon brother? Please yes, or that he got brainwashed by a zealot priest with human first beliefs? But that's not what's troubling you, you still don't know if you can trust me, yes please. I keep alot of things to myself, but for you I'll do my best to nullify your suspicions, just ask, yes please"
"I got a bunch of questions for you. But most of those can wait. I guess the question I got right now is... why me?"
Gambit thinks about the way the question that he just asked might sound, and quickly rephrases it. "What I mean is, you showed up out of nowhere, and you know all this stuff about me, but you don't treat me the way everyone else does. It's almost like... you think I end up being the Mayor of Mutant Town or something."
He takes a sip of his coffee, but quickly realizes that he doesn't like that either. Oh well, perhaps today just isn't his day. "So what's up, chere? Why are you so interested in a shifty poker player from New Orleans?"
Blindfold smiles tenderly at him "Because unlike others I can see past that and see the potential in you, I can see what you can become, yes thank you. People can only see you as you are now but I can see you as you will become and because you could use a bit of help along the way, everyone needs it from time to time, yes please. I'm no fame chaser or gold digger like your ex-wife Remy, I just want to help make this world a better place when I leave it then when I came into it, I want to stop the bad things that I see from happening, yes please"
"Hey, stop looking at my ex-wife! Or... er... you know what I mean! Stop learning all my secrets!"
It's a sudden outburst, but Gambit is only half serious. Yes, he finds her creepy. Yes, he can't help feel a bit violated by the way she knows all about him. But despite all that, he's starting to see the humor in the situation, he's actually smiling.
"About ninety percent of my sex appeal comes from being mysterious. You start going around telling the ladies all my secrets, and next thing you know I'll be trolling for dates on the internet and telling shut-in cat ladies that I'm really a 'nice guy.'"
Blindfold visibly flinches at his outburst and then looks like a sad guilty puppy before she turns her face sternly up to him "Hey now, please yes, don't you yell at me like that! I'm not creepy, no please...I just can't always control what I can do, please yes. My appologies, sorry but your ex-wife is a piece of work." this coming from someone who didn't insult people. I haven't read your mind, I just see things, yes you're welcome" because everyone at school knew quite well that Ruth had a strong habit of poking round in people's heads without their permission, but maybe it was something she couldn't help, like her speech. Then she smiles at him "Sides, none of those things will happen, you actually wind up home schooling your own kids and they take after you quite a bit,please yes. Your sex appeal has a lot less to do with your secrets staying that way and more about how you act, you have a particular flair that not many do, yes thank you"
"Particular flair? I like that. It'd make a good band name." Gambit doesn't seem to take her all that seriously, if anything he seems a bit uncomfortable discussing his 'sex appeal' with her. But he definitely seems to be warming up to her a bit, or at least he seems less guarded than he did when he arrived.
"Now I know you're pulling my leg, chere. Me? Homeschooling kids? That's rich. I can't even imagine ever getting married again, much less having a whole passel of critters underfoot."
He sets down the mug, which he barely touched, and reaches out to touch the top of her head. As affectionate gestures go, it's perhaps a bit awkward, but he couldn't imagine that trying to shake hands with a blind girl would go well.
"Thanks for the laugh, anyway. But I figure I've probably kept you from your homework long enough. Lemme get outta here before that Bobby guy starts giving me the stink eye. I'll holler at you later, Ruth." His hand drops back to his side, and he turns up the lapels on his coat as he turns around and heads out the way that he came.