(Untitled)

[girlverine]

WHO: Logan and Laura
WHERE: The Dojo
WHEN: November 23rd
WARNINGS: Probably none?
SUMMARY: Laura has been avoiding Logan, and he comes looking for her.
FORMAT: Paragraph to start, then whatever.

Comments

I'm so sorry this is late! Thanksgiving took over

[damnrunt]

There was a lot of things Logan didn’t like about alternate universes, not least among them the fact that it was a damn alternate universe: things were changed, not usually for the better, and there was never any sense to be made of what was going on. The two weeks since his arrival had been spent in mapping out the City and trying to figure out what he was doing there, and he hadn’t come to any satisfactory conclusions. The explanation that they were all pulled in to act as super cops was at least half bullshit, as far as he could tell. Some of the ‘Ports did, some didn’t, and the Porter didn’t seem to give a damn either way. The only other explanation he had been able to think of was Mojo-but if it was Mojo, somebody else would’ve figured that out already and done something about it.

It was annoying. Two weeks, however, had given his initial anger time to fade to a low-level frustration, and he had begun to turn his attention to other things-among them, Laura, whose presence in the city had whispered to him like a half-forgotten, unperformed duty as he went about the work of making sense of things. Her apparent independence was one of the few good things the city had to offer, but the separation nagged at him-it wasn’t much different from back home, but back home, she’d had Gambit.

It was coincidence, really, that he was visiting just before the holiday. Logan glanced over the dojo as he entered it, gaze lingering for a second on the group of kids blocking together on the mat. He hadn’t expected her to start teaching.

“Nice place.”

No worries.

[girlverine]

Laura didn't say anything to Logan as he approached, her green eyes just watching him quietly, uncertain. She hadn't been avoiding him...not exactly. Maybe a little bit. She just didn't know what to say. The last time she had spoken to him, he had thrown her off X-Force and told her to go make her own decisions.

And she was trying, but...she wasn't sure she was doing it properly. She turned away after he spoke, just for a moment, watching the class before her gaze was back. "Thank you. It is not mine, I just teach here. It belongs to a friend."

She knew that was completely irrelevant and yet filling the air with something unimportant felt necessary.

[damnrunt]

Logan followed her gaze to the class. Judging by how they were doing, she'd done a good job teaching them, but he hadn't expected any less. He continued to watch them in silence for a few seconds after she finished speaking. From what he was hearing, Laura was established here: friends, job, apartment, the complete package. That was good. She was getting it together here like she was back home. What disquieted Logan, though, was the length of time that implied; she seemed to have been stuck in the City for a good long while, and however well she was doing, that bothered him as much as the apparent purposelessness of it all did.

He turned slightly toward her, focusing his attention away from the class. The mention of a friend reminded him of Tom, and that there was more to be done when he got through here. "How long've you been teaching?"

If he'd picked up on her uncertainty, he didn't show it.

[girlverine]

"Several months," Laura answered, her eyes still on the students. One of the girls, smaller than the others with big red pigtails, was obviously the best in the class, and her gaze settled on her for a moment. "I did it because Cassandra was away for a week, and I..." She wasn't sure why she was explaining. Or why she wasn't sure what else to say. "...I like doing it." She finally finished, almost seeming slightly exasperated with herself.

"I have been here since the beginning of the year," she knew that question was coming, it came up every time she spoke to a new arrival from home.

[damnrunt]

January to November added up to eleven months, almost a year. It wasn't as long as he'd been expecting--not as long as Kurt--but it was still a long time. Too damn long. The fact that Kurt had been there was something, though, and she'd have come in after Hank, maybe Scott.

Logan's jaw tightened minutely, and almost automatically, he looked out over the kids again. "You're good at it, darlin'." If nothing else could be said for the place, it'd done some good for X. This was the closest to "okay" he'd seen her. "Cassandra the one who owns this place?"

[girlverine]

"...Thanks," she didn't know what else to say to that compliment. She never knew what to say to any compliment, frankly. But it was nice to hear, anyway.

"Yes, she does." Laura paused. "Sort of. Ownership can be fluid at times amongst imports." She was pretty sure Cass owned it, but if Danny ever came back he'd just...take it back. Laura didn't really approve of that.

"...How are you?"

[damnrunt]

That was interesting. It made sense, though, given how people seemed to be popped in and out without warning.

The class was winding down a little; the children were still going through their exercises, but a couple of them kept glancing toward Laura, and it didn't seem to be out of curiosity at the man with her.

He gave her a glance at the question. "Good. Been looking into some things." He didn't ask it back. There was no need to do so; Laura was obviously doing fine. "Your class about over?"

[girlverine]

"Yes. I told them they can leave when they finish." In fact, several of the students were already setting off to change or head home, giving Laura friendly waves or shouts of departure than she generally returned with little nods.

"Did you need something?" This was directed at Logan again, as she turned back to him.

[damnrunt]

"Wanted to take you somewhere. You got another class after this?" The waves and shouts of the kids were another reminder of how well Laura was doing here--but Logan hadn't planned on checking in and leaving.

[girlverine]

"No," Laura shook her head. "I am finished now. I was just going to go home."

What? Laura doesn't really do socializing.

[damnrunt]

Some things hadn't changed.

"Good." It wasn't really a smile. "I got a place in mind. Think you'll like it."

[girlverine]

"I need five minutes to make certain the students leave and get my jacket. I will meet you outside."

She didn't move for a moment though, watching him, before she turned her attention back to the class, doing what amounted to silently shooing them away as they finished before she went to retrieve her jacket.