Jean Grey is a marvel (phoenix_down_) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2013-10-18 03:27:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, jean grey (phoenix), logan howlett (wolverine) |
Who: Jean Grey and Logan Howlett
Where: a deli
What: catching up
When: 10/13
Warnings/Rating: PG
Status complete
Jean smiled as she got out of her car. The deli next to Logan’s shop looked the same as she remembered. It was hard to believe she’d stopped coming here over two years ago. She grabbed her purse and locked the door, pushing her way inside. She had an appointment right after lunch, but for now she finally had the chance to catch up with Logan.
Logan walked in a moment later. Jean’s scent hit him like a brick to the face, and he leaned against the wall for a moment, before he was able to recover. It was different, from both his primary dreams and the fucked up set that had come after. But it was unmistakably Jean.
Jean went up to the counter and ordered, turning to look at the door when it opened. She smiled at Logan and waived.
“Hey darlin’.” He came over and took a seat. “Glad I finally caught you.”
"Guess I'm still pretty busy." Jean said with a sigh. She took her seat across from him. "But your life is all different now." She smiled again, glad he was doing well.
“You got no idea. Half the shit would make your hair stand on end an’ the other half would have you laughin’ at me.” He ordered a whiskey. Because he could. Even though it was noon.
Jean was surprised at the fact that the deli served alcohol, and that Logan would begin drinking so early in the day, but that wasn’t her problem. “I doubt I’d laugh at you.” She said with a smile. “Congratulations, again. I’m glad to know you’re happy.”
Logan grinned. He drank booze like a fish but it seemed to have absolutely no effect on him. "Thanks, how are things with you "
“The same.” Jean said with a shrug. “My practice is growing, and getting close to the number I can handle. I finally taught Jacob how to play soccer.” Nothing too exciting. She was kind of seeing a guy, but talking about it so early seemed likely to jinx the relationship.
“Glad to see you kept it up. You’re growing in jus’ the right place where people really fuckin’ need it.”
“What else could I do? I don’t regret what I did, but I’m aware of the fact that I purposely isolated myself socially for professional success.” She just loved her job. “I’m glad that I’m able to help people, and I really want to decode what the dreams are all about.”
“I think there are a dozen people I’d like to point your way,” Logan mused. Kitty and Dani were at the top of that list.
“Everyone has a list.” Jean said with a laugh. “Half the dreamers I see talk about how the people close them are affected as well. It’s a really wide spread phenomena. I’m quite interested to hear your experiences with it, actually.”
“Depends on how willing you are to be shocked. They’re pretty extensive, an’ traumatic.” He sounded bored.
“Logan, I specialized in treating PTSD. Listening to people talk about their traumatic experiences is literally my job description, and one I’ve worked hard and sacrificed a lot to claim.” She took a bite of her sandwich.
Logan waited until she had a big bite in her mouth before he lifted his hand and popped three metallic claws. They scraped against the metal in his forearm, creating a distinctive sound. “This is just the top of the pyramid o’trauma.”
Jean eyed them, one eyebrow lifted. She swallowed her sandwich and took a drink. “Cute trick. Would have been better if you could have gotten rid of the sound of the mechanism.” It was pretty elaborate, really. “So when will you get your own show in Vegas?”
Logan shrugged a shoulder and then picked up a knife and cut into his arm. It started to heal almost immediately. “Can’t use the ones in my hands ‘cause the metal retards the healin’ process.” He retracted the claws. “See, I woke up one day with that shit in me. Completely lost my minds, nearly killed someone I cared about jus’ cause she was in the wrong place an’ I had no control over myself.”
Jean screamed and tried to stop Logan from cutting himself. He’d always had an edge to him, but she’d never in a thousand years peg him for someone who’d hurt himself like that, especially not in public in front of her. She had a good look at the cut as it healed. “How did dreams cause this?” She frowned and let go of his arm, handing him a napkin for the leftover blood.
“I’m a mutant. There’s somethin’ in my genes that acclerates my healin’. Gives me advanced senses too. Tougher, faster, stronger. Next stage o’evolution an’ shit like that. Big thing in the dreams.” He shrugged a shoulder and picked up his drink again. “Ain’t the only one granted a gift from those dreams. An’ if Summers don’t tell you your part in all o’this, I will. But he made me promise to let him tell you first an’ I kinda owe him after the stripper thing...”
Jean absorbed all this information for a moment. She grabbed a notebook out of her purse and took down some notes. She had a weird sense of deja vu, which she couldn’t explain. "Which Summers, I know there's more than one." She wondered if that was what Emma's husband wanted to talk about. Emma kept saying she would dream, it made a certain amount of sense. "Also what stripper thing?" That story sounded like more fun.
“Scott. Kind of a stick in the mud though he’s loosened up.” Logan scratched at his jaw. “Me an’ Neena sent over a bunch of strippers to his place once as a joke.”
"You're still friends with Neena?" That was pretty cute, actually. "It's hard to keep friendships for so long."
“Been through some hard shit but I ain’t gonna ever cut her loose. Even if her man gets pissed.” He only pretended to like Thomas. They could get along fine, but some of the man’s way of dealing with Neena just rubbed him the wrong way. Logan generally didn’t believe you needed to check in with your lover over most shit. You either trusted your person or you didn’t, and if you didn’t, well there was a problem.
“Is everyone dating but me?” Jean asked incredulously. She’d kind of assumed Logan and Neena would date after she stopped seeing Logan, but she couldn’t imagine the two of them meeting completely new people to commit to in just two years and change.
Logan snorted. “We almost dated each other but decided we worked better as friends with occasional benefits. Wasn’t expectin’ to meet Vel. Started as jus’ fuckin’. Then we started developin’ strings..”
“Well, good for you.” Jean said with a laugh. “I know that story pretty well, I think.”
“Yeah. Wasn’t lookin’ for feelin’s an’ found ‘em anyway. Kinda got sick of everyone fawnin’ over me havin’ a girlfriend.”
Jean nodded and finished her sandwich. “So that’s it for the dreams? They’re horrible and they change you?”
“Not really all of it. Some o’them are good. Mostly the people.” Logan knocked back his drink. “Scott’ll fill you in on that, I’ll just say we know you from ‘em. Both of us. A lot of us.”
Jean sighed. “I don’t see why it’s such a big deal who tells me what, but okay. I’ll contact him and see when he’s available.” And probably recommend he start seeing herself or Ezio in the process.
Logan shrugged a shoulder. “You’ll understand after he tells you. Really, it should come from either o’us, an’ not many other people besides.”
Jean made a note, but there was a strong urge to roll her eyes. “Why would it come better from a stranger?” Especially one whose wife was a former patient, and who likely needed her help as well.
Logan wasn’t sure how to explain that without sounding a little crazy. “You ain’t strangers in the dreams. You go back aways. There was a man called Xavier an’ you were both some o’his first students.”
“Hmmm.” Jean noted that down as well. “Learning what?”
“Lotta things. Was a private school.” Logan hated hedging, but at least it was the general truth.
“This is all strange and frankly a little unbelievable. I’m still trying to think of a way for that healing trick to be fake.” She admitted, covering her notebook to prevent him from seeing her notes.
“It’s not even my main power. It evolved ‘cause of the claws. Needed to be able to heal up from poppin’ them,” Logan explained. “Without it, I’d be dead after the metal got bonded.”
“So the metal is sharp or poisonous or something?” Jean asked, a little worried about his health, now.
He nodded his head. “Both.” He popped one, and cut the steel knife in half.
“You should be more careful using them in public.” Jean noted. “You’re going to get into trouble, and then what’ll happen? Do you know how people would react to a guy with metal claws who can heal from injuries?” She was very nervous at the idea. Logan was an ex, but he was also someone she liked and thought she could trust.
“Oh, I have some idea of that.” There were some things that he wasn’t proud of doing. And other things he was proud of. “But there seems to be a kinda blinder on people out here. Intentionally or unintentionally.”
“Hmm,” Jean said, her expression thoughtful. “I wonder. . .” There was something on the edge of her mind, like a ghost in her own head. The more she tried to understand what it was the less it made sense.
“What is it, Jeanie?” He raised his eyebrows at her, as she tried to find a lost thread in her mind.
She shook her head. “Nothing. Just something I’ve half forgotten but can’t remember.” She shrugged. “So Velma’s family is pretty well known, how have you been adjusting to dating a socialite?”
“Gotten real good at dodging the paparazzi,” he replied. “Especially after I started punchin’ them.”
“You should be careful, they can sue you if you rough them up too much. It’s ridiculous, but even jerks don’t deserve to be beaten up, I suppose.” She didn’t sound entirely sure about that, and the mental image of Logan beating up camera wielding stalkers was actually pretty amusing.
Logan rolled his eyes. He wasn’t too worried about that. “Oh, they deserved it.”
“You still have problems controlling your temper, I see.” Jean smiled softly. At least some things were constant.
“It’s not as bad as it used to be. Learned a few things about myself an’ other people. Makes it a lot less appealin’ to be pissed off at everythin’.”
“I’m glad to hear that, too.” She sipped her drink, sighing softly. “If you could give up the dreams and everything they gave you, for good or ill, would you do it?”
Logan actually had to think about that. He looked down at his hands, then sat back in his chair. “In a heartbeat. There’s so much blood on my hands from ‘em. So many people I loved that got killed ‘cause of me. It was bad enough with Mariko here, you know? But not even that...It’s not even that that makes me want to give them up.”
He looked up at her. “I’m damn near immortal, Jean. I don’ age fast. I’m goin’ get to watch Vel an’ our baby grow old an’ die, an’ I’ll keep chuggin’ along. I’ll have Laura, an’ Eli...but everyone else…Gone.”
He probably should elaborate, so he added. “Laura’s like me. Claws an’ healin’. Eli is immortal in a different way. Knew that when I adopted her.”
“Laura is another friend, I presume. You adopted Eli because she’s immortal?” Jean had to admit that she found this whole thing perversely fascinating.
“Laura is my biological daughter.” The clone thing was too confusing to try to explain. “Adopted Eli because she needed a family. She lost hers.”
“Wow.” Jean said with a laugh. “I’m happy for you, I know that you were hurting over your other daughter when we were together. I’m so glad you have a family.” She put her hands on top of his, smiling brightly. “Honestly I was worried about you. How we ended was so cold. I always wanted to apologize, but I never knew how to say what I meant without sounding bitchy. I’m so glad you have people who love you, and even if the dreams are bad it sounds like your waking life is so much better.”
“I’m sorry too, darlin’.” If only he’d known, things might have been different, but he wasn’t upset about that idea. The way things had turned out, he was happy about.
“Don’t be. I’m happy with my life too. I needed to put my attention on my patients and my business, and because I did it’s doing very well. It’s my life and I couldn’t be happier.”
“Good. That’s all I really wanted for you.”
Jean nodded, and sat back, taking a deep breath. “Alright, why don’t we get a beer and talk about your family, and maybe I’ll get drunk enough to tell you about the guy I’m seeing.” She was teasing him, assuming he’d be as interested in playing her father figure the same way he’d protected his other girls. It amused her that she’d probably knocked herself down the ladder from being his equal, but that was okay. Relationships were all about adapting to change, and she was willing to be patient.
“Tell me enough about him so I can kick his ass,” Logan replied, cheerfully.