(Untitled)

[prettymorlock]

WHO: Skids and Sabretooth
WHERE: a random cafe in the City
WHEN: Saturday at around lunch time
WARNINGS: it's Sabretooth
SUMMARY: Sabretooth and Skids run into one another. Oh joy.
FORMAT: Para to start.

Comments

[fangsmile]

He still had a room at the MAC, but he'd spent the last couple of nights sleeping outside, just in case. Creed's hand was still amputated, but it was healing. Little by little it would grow back, good as new, maybe better.

Itched like hell, though.

When he started to get hungry for something besides meat, Creed snagged a pair of sunglasses to guard himself from the light (and maybe to hide from the world how wretched he felt), and headed out with tags and a makeshift sling, to get some grub. Something soft and warm... and comforting, like a croissant. And a big-ass black coffee. Mmm, fuck yeah. And like five of those pussy-sized bottles of water, so he could drink until his lips stopped bleeding and his throat quit feeling like sand.

When he walked into the nearest coffee shop, and saw the length of the line he'd have to wait in to get those things, it was all he could do not to starting kicking every barista in the throat until he was satisfied. But that would get him the opposite of what he wanted, which was some food, drink, and god damn peace and quiet for maybe thirty minutes so he could think about something other than how much he wanted to scratch his arm-stump wrapped in rags.

So instead of resort to senseless violence (this time), he just stood at the back of the line, tapped his large boot a few times, and sighed impatiently behind his sunglasses.

[prettymorlock]

Sally didn't notice Creed. She was alternating between being lost in her own thoughts and deciding if she wanted turkey or ham for the day. Maybe she would splurge and buy a fruity drink too. It was kind of nice to have most of her daily decisions be like this instead of worrying about where she'd be able to scrounge up food. Sure the City liked to throw random craziness, but at the moment she was satisfied that there was no one attacking the little shop.

She even managed to start a conversation with the older woman in front of her, and tried to smile politely at the array of grandbaby pictures that she was suddenly being shown. As far as Sally was concerned, life was pretty good.

[fangsmile]

Sabretooth's tongue was like a thick piece of sundried driftwood by now. What the fuck was taking so long? He'd rather snap the necks of both the ditz in front of him and the old bag in front of her, and drink their blood, than have to stand here and listen to them yammer away for one more word. Then again, that was probably just because he was hungry, so he refrained for now, and focused instead on the guy at the front of the line.

He was an old man, probably only half-aware that he was even in a coffee shop, let alone what he was going to order. Actually, he seemed more interested in making playful banter with the 20-year-old barista, who was smiling politely and attempting to briefly answer his various questions about her studies, how long she'd been working there, if she liked living in the big City...

That was it.

"Hey Gramps," he snarled, "Entire civilizations have died in the time it takes you to order a cup of coffee. Let's go."

See, for Creed, that was darn near polite. He hadn't even cursed at him or threatened his life. Yet.

[prettymorlock]

Sally froze at the voice. She knew that voice, had heard it on the network before, and knew it wasn't one she liked. She couldn't quite place who it belonged to though so she glanced behind her.

And there he was.

God, she really hated this city sometimes. It seemed to enjoy taking really nice days and turning them into horrible ones. Otherwise Sabretooth wouldn't have come into the shop she was in. There had to be another coffee place right down the block. Fate hated her.

"You," she growled, and narrowed her eyes.

[fangsmile]

Creed had only ever seen Sally on the Network once, and he'd never had her scent before, so it was difficult to remember where he knew this chick from. Wherever it was, he obviously had been naughty.

"...me." He agreed, a little confused as to what was happening but figuring he probably deserved it.

[prettymorlock]

Sally just stared at him for the longest moment. This was the man who had helped kill the Morlocks, who had hurt her friends, who had apparently hurt Tabby really badly in the future. She hated him with all of her being, which was probably why all of her commonsense went right out the window.

"You murderer," she muttered, not surprised he didn't seem to recognize her.

There were civilians around though and she didn't want to cause a panic. The barista, the little old man, and the older lady in front of her were already curiously watching them, and that was more than enough. That didn't stop her from chucking the bottle of water she was holding at Creed's head.

"You can just turn around and get out of here."

[fangsmile]

"Oof--" The bottle was full, damn it, and heavy. He hadn't been expecting it, and it hit him right in the face, popping out one of his sunglass lenses and leaving him looking like he had an eyepatch on. He blinked down at her with a deep frown, and, very, very calmly... took the glasses off, folded them, and put them in his coat pocket. Then he leaned down, picked up the bottle, and slid that into his other pocket.

He moved deliberately, and calmly, never taking his eyes off of her or even blinking. Clearly he wasn't going to leave. He just wanted her to be able to absorb the full meaning of what she'd just done. Of the fatal mistake she may have just made, picking a fight with Sabretooth on one of his rare good days.

[prettymorlock]

If Sally had been thinking clearly she would've called her team right then and there, or possibly not have thrown the bottle in the first place. Unfortunately, she wasn't thinking clearly and let her force field settle around her. Hopefully it would offer some sort of protection for the people behind her.

"Ex-boyfriend, honey?" the woman with the grandbaby pictures asked, and Sally made such a face. Ew. There was not enough brain bleach in the world to erase that comment.

"No. He's a really bad man who likes to hurt people," Sally replied, and threw the bag of chips she'd been holding at Creed as well.

She was pretty sure she heard the barista on the phone then, but her focus was on Creed.

[fangsmile]

Oh, now he recognized her. That girl he liked to poke fun with, who hated him for his time with the Mauraders. The only relatively non-ugly Morlock girl.

Well... the only one left alive.

Creed scowled as he swatted the chips to the ground, "Are you out of your fucking mind? Quit throwing stuff at me. Christ, I can't even get a fucking pastry in this City without some imPort brat coming at me with a gun or a whip or a bag of junk food. You CALM THE HELL DOWN, and either get your coffee or step out of line. You're just wasting my time right now."

[prettymorlock]

Sally crossed her arms, glaring at him. "I'm not going anywhere. Maybe people wouldn't be throwing things at you if you didn't go around killing innocent people. Ever thought of that?"

She really shouldn't have been arguing with Sabretooth. Clearly she wasn't thinking straight.

[fangsmile]

Creed pinched the bridge of his nose with his good hand. Fuuuck, he wasn't in the mood to waste an uppity little X-Ho right this second. "Girl, from what I've heard, there's about a billion universes around, most of which probably contain me. But as far as either of us know, I haven't killed a single innocent person in this one. So how do you even know you're yelling at the right guy?"

Not the most convincing argument, but you always had to keep shit like that in mind. Not every Victor Creed was an ex-Marauder, after all.

"Look, you seem like a perfectly nice, if confused and whiney, little superhero-in-training. I didn't come here to kill you, in case you were wondering. I'm tired, I'm thirsty, and I'm nursing a pretty little scab if you haven't noticed," he waved his arm-stump at her in greeting, "So what do you say you cut your losses, pick up what's left of your dignity, and get the fuck out of my sight?"

[prettymorlock]

The look Sally gave him clearly stated that she didn't believe a word he'd spoken. She also felt no sympathy for the stump of an arm. Most likely he deserved what had happened and she hoped it hurt.

"I'm not leaving until you do." There was no way she was letting him be alone with people who couldn't defend themselves. At least she had her shield. "You can just turn yourself around and go somewhere else."

This was definitely going down as one of the stupider things she'd ever done.

[fangsmile]

"That's exactly what I'd like to do," he explained with a growl, "But first..."

He took a couple of strides in her direction, just enough to make her nervous, but really he just wanted to brush past her and get to the front of the line. With a rifling left-handed motion he fished a filthy five-dollar bill out of one pocket and slapped it onto the counter, then leaned over and reached his long arms around the sneeze guard to grab a goddamn croissant.

When he turned back around, everyone in the shop looked like they'd been holding their breath. A few were watching him nervously, but the hilarious thing was that more than half were watching the girl.

[prettymorlock]

Sally readied herself to attack, but didn't strike out. Instead she watched him carefully, fists balled at her sides. She couldn't believe that he was just going to grab a croissant and walk calmly out of the place. This was Sabretooth, wasn't he supposed to start throwing things and killing people. Why the hell were villains so damn confusing.

She noticed the way the people were looking at her. She was never going to be able to show her face in this establishment ever again. Sally just knew it.

God, she hated him.

[fangsmile]

Creed took a bite of his croissant and chewed thoughtfully, watching her curiously like the others were. Then he unscrewed the top of the water bottle she'd chucked at his face, and gulped it down with the zest and gratitude that only someone with severe dehydration can manage.

When he was done, he crushed the bottle and tossed it casually back to her. Poor little pup was seething, her knuckles practically white, like she was trying to squeeze her own blood out of her palms.

Aw shucks, now he felt bad. Might as well leave her satisfied by giving her a little taste of what she was expecting.

The villain leaned down then, bringing his face close enough to hers and lowering his voice so that only she could hear him: "I don't care what school you go to, or what I did to you. If you ever come at me like this again, I'm going to cut all that pretty yellow hair off your hot head, and make you eat it. Have a nice day."

With a smile and another bite of his warm, buttery croissant, he strode out of the coffee shop. Suddenly the sun didn't feel so bad.

[prettymorlock]

Sally watched him go and tried to remember to breathe. Of course no one else had heard his threat, and they were all looking at her like she was the monster. The barista and several others were on their phones, most likely calling the police.

It was just not her day.

She hurriedly left the shop before anyone could say anything, heading for the jazz club. Once inside, she took out her own phone and dialed Sam's number. The City didn't look as promising as it had earlier in the morning. Stupid Creed. This was all his fault.