Sarah Connor is cursed to be ever vigilant (ever_vigilant) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2012-09-04 18:00:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, alleria windrunner, jubilation lee (jubilee), moira mactaggert, neena thurman (domino), sylvanas windrunner, ty lee |
I'll have some o'that, lad.
Who: Neena, Moira, Alleria, Jubilee, Ty Lee and Sylvanas
What: Mistake Identities!
Where: Alleria’s coffee shop
When: Saturday - Sept. 1st.
Status: Complete
Rating: PG-13 for kissing the wrong twin. Warnings for girl kissing, switchblades and guns?
It was 2pm, and Neena had just dragged herself and her doctor - who was becoming more like a friend at this point - through dress shopping at several locations. They'd stopped to pick up some shoes and various things to match along the way, as well, and the past few hours were starting to feel more like a whirlwind to Neena than a shopping spree.
Exhausted and looking for a chance to relax before drinks with Thane that evening and the pizza and husband that awaited her at home, Neena had driven Moira to her absolutely favorite coffee place. She locked all of their stuff in the trunk, just in case, and headed inside, grinning at the scottish woman as she went, "You'll like this place, it has coffee with viscosity to it, just like you like it."
It was a joke, mainly.
Inside, Alleria was manning the register. Saturday wasn't her normal shift, but she'd ended up working it to make up for the fact that she'd tossed coffee at a patron last week. Her manager was still sore over it, and since she still needed the job for the next few months, she had no choice but to come in.
Thankfully, it was slower than usual for a Saturday. Unfortunately for her, that meant that she noticed the woman who walked through the door the moment she entered. And stared.
Moira had been having a good time, something she hadn't been expecting when they'd set out. But Neena, despite her deaging, was one of the few women Moira's age that she felt she could talk to - and certainly the only one from that other world.
She hadn't tried on so many dresses since prom. She shot Neena a look, "Och, lass, that's enough out o'ye about me coffee. Keep that up an' I'll be comin' by daily with a brew."
The de-aging was entirely physical, really, and hadn't done much for her face really but lessen the severity of some of her deeper worry lines. Neena liked to call those lines 'squinty gun-making lines' anyway. Because honestly, what did she have to worry about?
Only everything, but hey.
She chuckled a bit as she headed up to the counter, "You know I love you and your coffee. I'm just teasing you. What's a little teasing between friends, eh?"
The woman hadn't quite managed to drop the bit of accent she'd picked up while she'd been in London. Alleria wasn't even paying attention, but the accent would have fit better for Danika, who'd had a slight accent every time she'd seen her lately.
She couldn't breathe. What was she doing here, of all places? And why today? Why this week? She wanted to crawl under a rock and die, or maybe stare at the woman for even longer. Or any number of other things.
Neena didn't even notice the way the person behind the counter was staring at her. Until the person behind the counter was leaping over the counter with unexpected grace, and planting their lips against hers.
It was the type of passionate kiss that said things one couldn't manage to say sometimes. I Love You. I missed you. You've been gone forever and you're suddenly here. I'm extremely acquainted with the way in which you like kissing with tongue.
Stunned, Neena didn’t do much in her own defense at first. Her mind was trying to figure out if she’d ever seen this girl before, why she was being kissed so very fondly by her, and how in the hell to politely get away from it. To Alleria, the shock didn't even register. The lips were familiar enough to be convincing, and it might have been a full 30 seconds of kissing before Alleria realised that the woman she was kissing might not have been kissing her back.
Moira tilted her head, amusement surging through her at the display. Neena's hands were out in a sort of confused warding gesture while the blonde enthusiastically greeted her. She turned towards one of the other baristas, a cute man with bronze skin, and said, "I'll have some o'that, lad."
The guy behind the counter had, of course, been appreciatively watching this display. He owed one of his co-workers a 20, but right now? He so did not care. He grinned at Moira and laughed, "Maybe you should get in line."
Alleria, meanwhile, had realised by now that the person she was kissing really wasn't kissing her back, despite how enthusiastically she'd been kissing her. So she broke it off and stepped back a bit, looking Neena over with a confused and somewhat hurt expression, "You can't keep doing this, you... Your hair and ... eyes and... It's some kind of disguise, but I know it's you, and you can't keep DOING this to me."
Her eye caught the shining ring on Neena's finger then, and she looked even more hurt, "You're MARRIED now!? When did THAT happen?"
Neena's hands had still been up in some kind of warding-this-woman-off position, so the ring was very clearly in sight. What wasn't clear to Neena was the entire rest of this conversation.
Then, suddenly, she realised where she recognized the blonde from. And why it was that the blonde recognized her. Only it wasn't her. One of the hands she'd held out to ward the woman off with flew up to Neena's face, and she frowned, "Oh god... You think I'm... Oh god."
"... I think you're... What kind of game are you playing, Danika!?" Alleria glared at Neena, then glanced behind her at Moira, "What, is this your new woman? You went to Massachusetts or Canada or somewhere and married her, did you?"
The next bit was launched at Moira, "Did she even tell you about me? About where she COMES from?"
"I'd rather get it from ye, lad." Moira gave him a wink, before ordering coffee for both herself and Neena while Neena disentangled herself from the blonde barista.
"Och," She said, holding up her clearly ringless hands as Alleria turned on her, next. "Lass yuir clearly mistaken. I am not an' never will be sexually attracted to this bonnie lass. Nae offense, Neena." Or Danika. She raised an eyebrow.
"An' who's Danika?"
"Neena? Neena!? Is that the name you're going by now? It's some kind of false identity, isn't it." Alleria squinted at Neena and lowered her voice a bit, "It's not some kind of witness program, is it? Or are you on the lam?"
Being on the lam sounded more like something that would happen to Danika. She arched a brow, "And your friend obviously doesn't know who you really are."
The hand on Neena's cheek was still there, and now Neena was rubbing it in place a bit. It'd been such a nice day so far, too. She wasn't sure what to say, here. She'd barely learned about her sister, herself, and now this.
Over at another table, a pair of jubilant eyes was watching this with interest, while stuffing cake into her face like popcorn.gif. Jubilee and Ty Lee had come down in order to get smoothies - it was close enough and nice enough that they felt somewhat safe here.
And she'd started feeling cooped up again, so there was that need to get out. She was already txting the video to Kitty.
Moira, meanwhile was shaking her head in disbelief, "Och lass, I think yuir mistaken. I've nevah heard o'Danika."
Next to Jubilee, Ty Lee was staring at the whole thing, smoothie straw dangling half out of her slack-jawed mouth. She'd never expected to run into a scene like this while getting smoothies out somewhere, and it was turning into a mess!
She felt like was watching a soap opera. Who was Danika? Was this person really Danika in disguise? What would happen next? Would Jubilee let her have that last piece of cake?
Still in the middle of rubbing her face with her hand, Neena was certain her entire life was becoming a soap opera, at this rate. Finally, she grunted a bit, and waved the hand she still had held up, "Danika is... I'm not her. I'm not who you think I am."
Alleria had both of her hands on her hips, and was glaring at both women like she was almost certain she was being lied to. If Danika WAS on the lam she'd probably say something like that. And she sounded just like her, too...
But the other woman was obviously mixed up in all of this in an unpleasant way, too, so she glanced at Moira again, "I'm sorry. This woman... she'll run in and out of your life and break your heart a million times and never looks the same any time you see her. It's no surprise you don't really know her."
Jubilee split the cake, 50/50. Fair is fair, yo!
Moira ran fingers through her hair as she studied the situation. It was clearly a case of mistaken identity, but the reasons why eluded her. She just shrugged a shoulder and proclaimed, "M'just a doctor, nae a lover."
"You!" The soap opera just got worse, because Sylvanas had walked in, to rescue her sister from her boring work shift and take her someplace fun. But no, there was the bitch that broke her sister's heart and she reached into her pocket and pulled out a switchblade, "Leave her alone! You only hurt her!"
"Oh for..." Neena let out a long sigh, and drew her gun. The other hand reached into her pocket, and pulled out her CIA credentials, mainly so that the owner of the restaurant didn't kick her out of there.
She pointed the gun at Sylvanas, and arched a brow, "Let's all just be reasonable, shall we? I was about to explain the situation. This woman here is obviously confused and I happen to know why that is, but my name is Neena Thurman ... Wisdom... Just check the badge, would you?"
Alleria didn't look all that thrilled, neither by Sylvanas showing up and pulling a switchblade on her... ... she didn't know what, nor the fact that it might actually not be her at all.
Which was confusing. What in the hell was going on here?
Ty Lee wanted to know, too. She leaned forward in her chair a bit as the woman with the switchblade entered the scene, then looked over at Jubilee and raised both of her eyebrows, then back to the scene in question. She hoped Jubilee was taping the whole thing!
Jubilee was taping the whole thing, and it was going right onto youtube for THE AWESOME! She glanced at Ty Lee, "Told ya goin' out was a good idea, chica!"
Sylvanas eyed the gun, then the badge, then furrowed her brow as she put her knife away, "Okay seriously what's going on?"
Moira said, "Her name is Neena Wisdom, an' ye have the wrong woman."
Alleria took a look at the badge as well, and her heart sank into her feet. At that precise moment, she would have been quite happy to keel over and die, or crawl under a rock and never see daylight again, "Neena ... Wisdom?"
Neena nodded her head slowly, and holstered her gun, "But I know who you're mistaking me for. Well. I don't know her. Not personally. It's ... kind of a mess, actually. Or a really funny story, depending on your mood?"
But I know who you're mistaking me for..., Alleria mulled over that in her head a few times, an extremely disturbed look on her face, "... My mood is not tempered by how amusing you think this is."
"Oh trust me, I don't think it's amusing right now," Neena shook her head, "I have reason to believe that Danika Thatcher is my sister."
"Ten bucks says the word whore gets used," Jubilee said.
"You have reason to believe?!" Sylvanas approached, putting an arm defiantly around her sister. "Alleria doesn't just kiss strangers at random! You look just like that whore."
Moira held up her hands, "Nae calm down, lassies." She feared this might escalate to actual violence.
"I only just came across some paperwork that linked us. Beatrice Thatcher is my mother, and ... a certain agency ... was very interested in my--" Neena sighed, "Listen, can I please get some coffee? And then maybe we should talk about this somewhere that isn't right here?"
But now Alleria had another heart-sinking moment. Beatrice Thatcher was her mother, too? And she wasn't Danika? She stared at Neena, a bit deadpan, then whispered, "It's some kind of evil twin scenario isn't it?"
Over in the back, Ty Lee slipped Jubilee a twenty.
And that was how Ty Lee paid for smoothies. The end. Jubilee gleefully took the money and stuffed it into her bra, before returning her attention to the scene before them. Could it get any juicier? Could it?
"Danika is the evil one," Sylvanas decided. That wasn't hard - she was already biased.
Moira handed Neena a cup of coffee, "We could go back tae my lab. It's neutral territory."
Neena took the coffee in her hand, and took a long sip from it, before doing anything else. That gave Alleria enough time for everything to sink in, and she was now suitably horrified. The woman she'd kissed so enthusiastically was obviously married and on top of that was Danika's twin sister.
She didn't want to speak to this woman any more, really. As curious as she was, she mostly just wanted to retreat and think about all of this. She shook her head, "I have. Or had. A work shift to finish, and you probably had a life before all of this too. I think I'd rather not know anymore right now, really."
"I don't blame you at all," Neena replied, now that the fortifying sip of coffee had been taken, "And I'm not sure there's an evil twin, but it does seem like there's a twin, at least. So... if you want to talk about it later..."
Neena looked around for a napkin, and grabbed one of the pens off the register. She wrote her phone number down on it, and handed it to Alleria, "Feel free to call me."
Uncertain where any of that would lead, Alleria stared at the proffered napkin for a while before finally taking it and putting it away in her smock. She didn't say anything else, after that, but nodded her head, before heading into the back room. She only hoped that Sylvanas didn't make more of a scene after she wasn't present.
Sylvanas wasn't in the mood for a scene, but she had some questions and she wasn't willing to leave without asking at least a few of them. She folded her arms, "Do you know where she is? Danika? That woman has come in and out of our lives so much it's like a bad joke. She never stays long, and just keeps breaking my sister's heart."
"I don't, no," Neena shook her head. She'd been willing to give up the search for awhile, even, convinced by Pete that she should hold off on that endeavor until things settled down a bit. Now she was wondering if she needed to change her mind, "I found some... evidence of her, here and there. But nothing that tells me where she is now."
There was another long sip of coffee, and Neena turned to Moira, "Thanks for this. I uhm... ... well, sorry that you ended up mixed up in whatever this mess is."
Moira shrugged a shoulder, "We had an interestin' day, that's for sure. Bein' involved in yuir life is a constant stream o'injuries an' adventure."
Jubilee glanced at Ty Lee, over hearing that, "Yeah. That's pretty much the X-men in general. A constant stream of injury and adventure."
Sylvanas just scowled, then grabbed a napkin and scribbled a number on it, "If you find her, call me."
"What, so you can stab her with your switchblade?" Neena snarked, but it was half good-naturedly, and she tucked the napkin away in her jacket pocket. She wasn't even sure she'd find Danika alive, at this point. Not if Cerberus had been looking for her.
For the sake of the woman who'd been so happy to see her twin, she kind of hoped she was wrong, "I'll let you know. After I'm done getting my answers from her, just in case you kill her."
Over in the back, Ty Lee was making a face, like she wasn't sure getting involved with the X-men was worth it after all. The adventure had sounded nice, but the injuries sounded worse than being involved in gymnastics, even, "I think I'll stick to flipping around on a balance beam."
"You do that, chica," Jubilee said, with a curt nod. Ty Lee belonged someplace else. Hell, they both did right now. She grabbed her cane in one hand and smoothie in the other.
"Lets blow this joint and go shopping, yo."
"Yes," Sylvanas was replying sarcastically. "I just wished she'd stay in one place. She's not a terrible person, just flighty. I can only take so much of watching Alleria's heart break." Seriously, fuck love. Sylvanas was at the point of swearing off sex entirely.
"That's perfectly understandable. Now if you'll excuse me, I think I'm going to go add some whiskey to my coffee, and smoke an entire pack of cigarettes," Neena said, while running a hand up into her hair. She made sure that Moira had her coffee, and then steered her out of the shop, before the owner called the cops or something.
She was pretty sure she was never visiting this coffee shop again, which was sad. It'd been one of her favorites.