005; CLOSED. and darling, i saw it all.

[norea]

Who: The present anti-CL team.
What: Meeting to discuss.
Where: Lost Society, in the library.
When: Misdi, around midnight.
Notes: plotsss. I'll have three comment sections: one for Rhade showing up early, one for the collective group (we'll have to sort out orders since there are quite a few characters), and one for separate character interactions (one on one or whatever y'all prefer). AND... we will have to copypaste in our tags from LJ, soooo.
Warnings: idk yet.

The spell that Hasibe has worked over Lost Society means that no one is going to remember they were there; service will be a bit spotty, as a result, and the waiters on hand will seem peculiarly disinterested in whomever shows up, only providing them with drinks and necessities when deliberately prodded, but that's an aspect of the magic. She partially chose this location because it's easy to find a secluded area there, and in this case, she finds a table in the library, shrugging off her white coat to rest it on the back of her chair. She is dressed in a sleek, high-collared dark-green dress that is not too flashy, in order to keep with the discretion of the venue.

The other reason she chose this place is that they don't care if you smoke indoors. So that's what she's doing, rose-flavored Black Devil cigarette in hand, sitting back in her chair as she exhales smoke toward the ceiling. She has a couple books open on the table in front of her, and nothing in the way of food, but she does have a drink. Priorities.

Comments

[magnetic]

Erik does indeed notice, because how could he not, honestly. And by the way he looks at her outright, no doubt examining her fortified bones the instant they're sensed, it seems he's decided to give subtlety a miss as well. Since he has yet to encounter Logan in his enhanced state, Laura is the first to come bearing these secret gifts—he has never felt adamantium before now.

The scrutiny doesn't unsettle him, but it does provoke some suspicion and curiosity, too. He figures this girl, like the others he's met, knows him (or of him, anyway) from some other time and place. Some other iteration. It's beginning to nettle him, honestly, for some reason he can't yet name.

He does not smile, but both cants his head and turns it faintly away, still looking. Just so. Is there something he can help you with, tiny?

[23rd]

Whatever she feels about his alternate (which isn't much; she's not had much history with him, by the time she was with the X-men, he was almost consistently trying to be one of the good guys) is... not irrelevant, no, but the Logan that's here is so wildly different from her own and she's trying not to judge him by the one she knows, so it's only fair to apply that same standard here.

Also, he's Wanda's father, and she likes Wanda.

Making an obvious -- almost painful -- attempt to stop scowling, Laura comes within a few degrees of the world's most awkward, Wednesday Addams-esque smile. She doesn't quite make it and instead looks neutral. Good enough. "Hi."

[magnetic]

Regardless of its supposed failure, her attempt is fascinating to watch, and more than a little charming, besides. It inspires Erik to smile, in fact—not too widely—as though he's adopted the aborted expression, picked up easily where she had to leave it. (It does not come naturally to him, either, but he's had practice.)

"Hello." His tone is mild, smooth as you please. "Curious place to hold a secret meeting, isn't it?"

[23rd]

"No." ... well then. That brusqueness of that might be rude if she weren't so obviously making an effort, and in her mind, it's just an answer to a question. She's all sharp angles, clipped speech, ruthless efficiency, regardless of how many spiked bracelets and crucifixes she drapes herself in.

"You are Wanda's father." That is possibly the least horrible thing for someone to recognise him from, over terrorist or madman or genocidal maniac. She's not just stating random facts, either, though it's not quite a question, it's like she's feeling out an idea.

[magnetic]

The least horrible, sure, and by far the least expected. He reacts with a huff of surprise, the kind that tries to mask itself as a sort of aborted laugh, and an overall softening of his expression—it is subtle, and honest, and quite involuntary, and will be gone again soon enough. In the meantime, he breaks eye contact to feign interest in something...over there. Some nonspecific thing.

...And we're back. "How do you know her?"

[23rd]

Laura doesn't understand his reaction at all -- she's not the best when it comes to reading body language, but she's observant, so she catches things that pique her interest but that she can't explain. Her head tilts slightly to one side, like a dog. "I live with her." And with Remy, then, obviously -- well, she did come in with him.

Never fear, though, Erik, this is not another long-lost alternate dimension grandchild. Thank God.

[magnetic]

Yes. Thank god for that.

"I see." It's not a dismissal; since she seems to prefer speaking plainly, Erik figures he'll do so in turn. He appreciates the efficiency, in fact, as a nice little break from the dialed-up charisma thing he's been employing lately (honestly, it's wearing thin). "And how did that come about?"

[23rd]

"Remy is my friend." Not her dad, which is good in that having his genes would make her approximately nine thousand times more alarming. Their relationship is reminiscent of that, though -- the way she follows his lead and looks to him for guidance, even though it's abundantly clear that she's capable of independence. She is not actually a child.

"He and Wanda are --" She falters, there, because she really, genuinely doesn't know the word for it, nor does she know any appropriate slang terms. Her expression as she searches for a way to explain it that makes sense to her is almost funny.

[magnetic]

It is definitely endearing, that little face of hers, and so inspires Erik to rescue her from her search for an explanation. "I know," he says, mildly. "They seem happy together, don't they?"

What. He isn't fishing for a reason to get his back up, don't be silly.

...okay, maybe a little.

[23rd]

"I do not understand it," that's said like a disclaimer -- not... that it isn't obvious with the way she behaves, like she's never been socialized (she hasn't, not really.) She knows Wanda and Remy like each other and are in some kind of relationship but Laura's one foray into that ended disastrously, when Julian got angry that she didn't want to see him anymore and called her an emotionless machine. She barely knew who he was, anymore; certainly not the reckless, driven boy she'd followed around like a curious cat, months before.

So. Not a great basis for comparison.

But, in answer to his question: "Yes."