InsaneJournal

Who: Logan and Blake
What: Logan adopts another stray cat
When: This week
Where: Cafe
Warnings: Pretty tame



So far her attempts to look for a job had been a bust. By which was meant some jobs Blake just wasn’t cut out for. Her people skills weren’t the best currently, so she stayed away from jobs where she had to interact with people. Waitressing would probably be the easiest job she could get, but she wasn’t a people-person enough for that job. The stress of that job was not something she was conducive to currently.

She sat on a bench in a park, her backpack sitting beside her. She held the classified section of a newspaper in her hand, reading it over for any job possibilities. She sighed heavily. Blake needed to get a job sooner rather than later, but that was far easier said than done.

It was a pretty shitty day. Overcast and cloudy, with the threat of rain. It was probably not for the best that Logan was on his motorcycle, but it hadn’t looked that crappy when he’d left. After his dreams that morning, he’d needed the air. Needed time to think.

Mutants couldn’t catch a break and it made his heart hurt. Logan always kept those kind of emotions close to his chest. No one could see them who didn’t really know him and even those people took effort to get it out. He didn’t really give a fuck about his own fate, but watching the end of his species was hard.

He parked at a park, and wandered around, stopping to watch a kid play with a dog. The dog ran over like a barrel of energy, and he knelt down to pet it. Logan liked animals. They were always honest.

Blake had gotten lost in both her thoughts and reading the classifieds that she hadn’t noticed the sky seemed to be turning ominous. “Oh, great,” she muttered as she stuck the newspaper into her already-full backpack. She stood up and slung her backpack over her shoulder. It was apparently time to go sit in a library for a while.

As she headed off, she spotted a man petting a dog. She didn’t really pay much attention except for the fact the dog spotted her and decided to shower her with love as well. It went bounding towards her and Blake froze. “Oh no, no no stop. Stay.” Blake said, pointing at the dog. She wasn’t a dog person. She wasn’t necessarily afraid of them, but she just didn’t like being around them. She took a step backwards wondering if she could outrun the dog.

The dog tried very hard to climb Blake. And he was a very, very large dog, with all that entailed. He bowled Blake over, sending her sprawling and her backpack flying, before his owner whistled for him to return. Logan nearly got knocked over on the return trip, before focusing on the poor unfortunate girl. “You okay kid?”

He offered her a hand up.

Blake remained sprawled on her back for some moments after the dog got off her. She shuddered a bit. “Damn dogs,” she mumbled, then sat up. She looked up at the man offering his hand. She eyed him, then his hand, almost expecting one or the other to bite her. But after a moment, she cautiously took his hand and got back to her feet, then brushed her clothes off. “Yes, thank you. I’m fine.”

She turned to retrieve her backpack, one of the zippers having come open enough for clothing to be seen in it. And it was more clothing than one would pack if they were simply going for a day’s hike. She closed it up and slung it back over her shoulder. Though when she straightened again, there was a noticeable haunted look in her eyes. The impact of getting bowled over by the dog brought back some unwanted memories.

He was shorter than her, which was probably going to be a surprise, but Logan seemed to exude confidence well beyond his height. An easy kind, really. But he also had the aura of someone trustworthy. Logan was intelligent enough to know a runaway when he saw one. “Weather is turnin’ to shit. Want to get a warm something? There’s a cafe across the street. Might be able to keep dry too.”

The fact that he was shorter than her surprised her. She blinked momentarily, but pushed it aside. After all, he suddenly was asking her about getting something at a cafe. She looked at him warily. “Why? What do you want?” She wasn’t accusing him of wanting anything untoward, but she wasn’t used to charity. It would take a bit for that trustworthy aura to get through to Blake. She was far too closed up and locked within herself for openly trusting anyone upon first meeting them. Her trust would need to be earned.

“Eggs,” Logan replied, rubbing his thumb along his jaw. “Maybe a coffee.” Logan’s eyes fell to her bag. “An’ getting a young woman who don’t got a place to go out of the rain so she don’t get herself sick.”

Blake’s eyes narrowed slightly. “What makes you think I don’t have anywhere to go?” It was true, she didn’t have anywhere to go, but she wasn’t sure she liked the fact that he’d picked that out so easily. It made her feel a little uneasy.

“Backpack full of clothing,” Logan pointed out. “Your hair hasn’t been washed recently, your clothing is gettin’ threadbare. I been there, I know what it’s like. Had family and friends that been there too.” Blake wouldn’t be the first person he’d picked up, brushed off, and helped stay on their feet.

Blake’s hand on the strap of her backpack tightened a bit and she lowered her head. “I’ll be fine,” she said. It wasn’t precisely an affirmative statement, but she didn’t deny it either. Blake would be fine, she just needed to find a job first. Then she’d move on after a little while. Staying on the move was safer. Sometimes she felt like her ex-boyfriend was behind her, coming for her.

Logan could tell she was running from something. Not what, of course, but she had all the classic signs of someone who was escaping something. It wasn’t his place to pry, but he still wanted to help. Lightning crackled in the sky, and he raised an eyebrow. “Sure about that? They got damn good pancakes. Waffles, if you like that sorta thing.”

The crackle of lightning made Blake jump about a foot. Sometimes she was far too skittish for her liking. Blake drew in a breath, glancing up at the sky, then back to Logan. “Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to be indoors until the storm passes,” she relented.

“Probably not.” Logan gestured with his head for Blake to follow him. He passed his bike, stopping to pull a tarp out of a saddle bag to cover it, then continued on to the cafe. There weren’t many people, just another person taking shelter from the storm. They were lead to a table, and Logan took a seat. “Name’s Logan.”

Blake followed along quietly. She eyed his motorcycle as he put the tarp over it. At least it wasn’t that crowded inside the cafe. Too many people made Blake nervous. She took a seat, setting her backpack down under her chair. “Blake.”

Logan nodded, and nudged at the menu that was placed in front of Blake. “Don’t be shy.” She looked like she needed to eat a bit more anyway. Just a slip of a girl. Logan wasn’t a grandma, but he still liked to see people fed.

Turning her attention to the menu, she couldn’t deny that she was hungry. Blake could probably stand a few good meals currently, but she had been getting enough to not starve, which was really all she could hope for of late. Even with that, she looked the menu over before glancing up at Logan. “Are you sure?” She needed added reassurance that it was okay.

“Positive.” True to his word from earlier, he ordered eggs and a coffee, though he added bacon, because you couldn’t go wrong with bacon. “Pancakes are good, they’ve got a fish chowder if you want something like that. Had it once or twice. Good if you like that sort of thing. But I really recommend the pancakes.”

Upon hearing that there was fish chowder, Blake pursed her lips. She liked fish. She liked fish a lot. So she ended up going with the fish chowder. She also ordered a cup of tea to go with it. “I can’t pass up fish chowder.”

“All right then.” Logan nodded, picking up his mug as it arrived. It wasn’t entirely black, but close enough. He was trying not to weird her by adding beer to his breakfast. “Was back east a few years ago. They ain’t lying when they say you can’t beat Boston for chowder.”

Upon receiving her tea, Blake curled her hands around it, holding it as though it were a precious commodity. Which it was to her. Blake needed tea just as much as she needed air. Her ears perked up a bit at the mention of chowder. “Really? I’ll have to go there some day and find out.”

Some day, Blake’s ears might perk up literally. Logan nodded at her. “I can name a few other places if you like fish, but they’re gonna be a lot harder to actually get to. There’s this little village in southern Greece, a town on the west coast of Japan, Rio…I’ve been all over. Usually look out for a good steak, though.”

“I suppose it’s just something to dream of. I’ve heard that Japan has really good fish, though. I would like to try sushi there sometime.” Though it wasn’t exactly news that Blake knew about Japan’s propensity to make good fish considering she was of Japanese heritage. “Sounds like you’ve made the rounds on the Earth.”

“I spent a long time trying to find my place in the world. Done some bad things, and some good things to make up for it. The folly of youth.” Logan snorted. “Sometimes wonder how much of it actually matters. But then my kid visits, or one of the students.”

Up until recently, Blake had thought she knew her place in the world. She’d been very wrong, and now she didn’t know where she belonged. She wasn’t even certain that she wanted to belong anywhere. “At least you are trying. I suppose that is more than many would do.”

“Everyone likes to think they know everything already,” Logan said. “And they rush through head long without stopping to see the good things life has to offer. Or they get so wrapped up in causes they forget to live.” He’d seen that so much in the dreams. He’d done that, so much in the dreams. Forgot to live. What was the point of fighting if you didn’t live? “Knew a man once. Told everyone to slow down.”

Blake sipped her tea, listening to Logan. “Or they’re just blind to everything and everyone around them.” She’d seen that, experienced it. Tunnel vision to an extreme. The mentality of ‘if you’re not with us, you’re against us’ was not an easy thing to be in the middle of. Scientology made the world into black and white, but Blake was starting to see that was far from the truth. Everything seemed to be various shades of grey.

“Tunnel vision,” Logan agreed. Something else he knew, especially when a battle was heated or he’g gotten caught up in something much bigger than he was. Most of that he could blame on Xavier. Maybe he wouldn’t change the beginning, but he’d like to change a lot of those missteps along the way. “An’ confirmation bias. Just look at the idiots watching Fox News. They’re fed blatant lies an’ propaganda, but because it already fits their world view they don’t question it.”

“They aren’t the only ones spewing propaganda here. Some people are just good at spewing it where the public can’t see.” Blake was referring to Scientology. Since she’d been kicked out, Blake had been able to reflect a bit on her experience within it, and what the church really was like.

“There’s that too. Ran into my share of cults. They attract vulnerable people, an’ then it’s just a matter of wearin’ them down until they actually want to drink the koolaid.” Once, he might have judged someone. But he’d seen too many good people brainwashed to be willing to blame them any more.

Blake looked at Logan. “Sometimes they don’t have a choice. Some of us are born into it and that’s our world view.” Blake hadn’t been asked if she wanted to be part of Scientology, she was a part of it because her parents had been. That was how she’d been raised. And now she was lost with no idea of what to do with her life.

“And that’s when it’s the worst. Kids don’t know enough to make a choice, just have it made for them. They’re shown and told that the world is one way.” And a lot of the time if the kid wants to know more they get punished for it. Logan wondered what Blake had gone through.

“They had me thinking that we were working to save humanity, that we were doing good around the world. But the instant one’s faith is called into question, you become the enemy. And now I’m alone, but it’s probably better that way.” Blake said, taking another sip of her tea.

“Ain’t gonna sugarcoat it, kid. A lot of religions are like that. Don’t mean religion is bad, just means you gotta be willing to look at the bigger picture. But take it from someone who’s been there.” Logan took a moment to savor his bacon. “It ain’t better to be alone. People aren’t made for that.”

“Getting kicked out kind of took away my ability to believe in much of anything.” Blake responded, pulling the chowder closer as she inhaled the aroma. It definitely smelled really good, and she ate a spoonful. She couldn’t help the yummy noise she made in response to it. “Maybe some of us are. Some of us should be alone.”

Logan nodded, not arguing with her on faith. If she wanted to find faith again, she’d have to do that on her own. Another lesson from his long life. “You’ve obviously been through a lot, and that’s a damn shame. Do you want to be alone? What you want, that’s important too.”

“No, it’s not. What I want isn’t important.” Blake responded, turning her gaze to her food. She was saying too much. She actually expected to be hit or to be told to shut up, and was actually surprised neither had happened yet. So she figured she should stop herself from talking before it got to that point. She focused on simply eating her chowder in silence. At least until a crack of thunder made her jump in her seat.

“What you want is one of the most important things.” For a man that was clearly gruff and rough, he had a surprisingly gentle tone to his voice. “The hard part is gonna be teaching yourself to understand that. Helpin’ other people is important too but you can’t give all of yourself. It’s like a doctor, gotta heal yourself first.”

It hadn’t exactly been about helping other people in Blake’s experience. It had been doing what they wanted her to do. Blake had been conditioned to think and act in certain ways. Now that she didn’t have the guiding hand of someone telling her what to think or do, she was lost. She shrugged a bit. “That wasn’t what experience has taught me.”

“Experience taught me that there are men who like to use and abuse other people because they want money, or because it amuses them. And then experience taught me it was possible to fight back.” Logan leaned back in the booth. “You’ve only got the first kinda experience. The other will come with time, if you let it.”

Lightning flashed outside the window, and it started to pour.

Again, Blake shrugged. “If you say so.” She wasn’t going to argue the point because she was conditioned to not argue it. Even if she was doubting it was possible to fight back. She flinched a bit at the flash of lightning and she glanced warily out the window. This was going to be a loud storm, and she didn’t take loud very well.

Lightning cracked again. Logan finished his coffee, then nodded at Blake. “Wanna hear a story?” And then he launched into it without any prompting. “Knew a girl once. Grew up in a bad place that made her do really shitty things. None of it was her fault, but she blamed herself for everything once she got out. It took a few years, but she found friends again, a new family. She came to understand she wasn’t a bad person.”

Blake finished her chowder as she listened to the story. She could sort of see why he was telling the story, but Blake hadn’t actually had to do bad things. She’d just had bad things done to her that made her think very low of herself. “At least she got a happy ending.”

“She didn’t think she would.” There were no more eggs or bacon to be had, and precious little coffee. Logan glanced past her, to the storm. “You got a place to go, kid?”

Not everyone got happy endings, though. Blake didn’t really have expectations of her own life currently. She’d just have to see how things played out. At the question, she glanced out the window momentarily. “The shelter,” she replied. It wasn’t a lie, the shelter was a place to go.

“Nah,” Logan said. “You don’t want to go there. Especially in this kind of weather. Real crowded.” He figured he might as well offer, and hope she was willing to accept the idea. “You can come back to my place if you want. I think Laura is home, if she ain’t at her girlfriend’s. You two might get along.”

He was going to miss Laura when she moved out.

At the offer, Blake eyed him skeptically. “Why? What do you want in return?” Because of course she didn’t think he was making the offer out of the goodness of his heart and didn’t expect anything in return.

“Nothing.” He’d even been making an effort of keeping the place clean, mostly for Laura’s sake. “Just put shit back where you found it, an’ find a job if you need to stay awhile.” Logan house rules were pretty lenient. “An’ replace any beer you drink.”

Except when it came to beer.

“I don’t drink.” Blake wasn’t legally old enough to drink yet. Even then, she didn’t really have a taste for it. “I’m looking for a job currently. But, are you sure? You don’t know me and I don’t know you.” Blake wasn’t certain which one seemed to be worse. But she couldn’t deny that being in a house, or wherever it was Logan lived, would definitely be better than a cheap motel or a shelter.

“Positive. You ain’t the first kid I brought under a roof an’ you won’t be the last. Even own a place where kids on the road to Juvie can turn it around an’ stay out of the system.” The Ranch (Outreach Center but he still thought of it as the Ranch) was a school as well as a rehabilitation center. “You don’t know me, an’ I know it’s hard to trust. But let me help.”

Blake looked at him, taking some moments to consider what he said. After all, she’d like a better place to stay for the time being. And he seemed to help other kids, too. Not that Blake was much of a “kid” anymore, but she supposed she counted as one to some people. “Alright. I don’t really want to stay in a shelter. Or a cheap motel if I can help it.” Only time would tell if she’d grow to trust him. Or anyone else. But for now? This was probably the better option to take.

“All right.” Logan smiled at her. They were going to get soaked on the ride, but there were towels at his apartment and he was sure Blake would like a nice warm shower. “If we’re lucky, I packed some ponchos in my saddle bags.”

“I could use a good shower, anyway, so it’s fine.” First the cold shower of the ride to Logan’s place, then a warm shower to get warm and change clothes. Though her first order of business would be to wash her clothes after taking the shower. “Thank you,” she said, remembering her manners. Blake would do her best not to be a bother to him, and to try and get out of his hair as quickly as she could.