It's like paradise, spread out with a butter knife :: [OPEN]

[bonhomme7h.livejournal.com]

Who: EVERYONE
What: Réjean has decided that more people ought to celebrate and help raise a bit of dosh for one of his favourite bars. See: flyer.
Where: The Apache.
When: Misdi night and into the wee hours of the morning.
Warnings: Discussion of Pickman's manky feet.

The Apache is much the same as it always is: dimly lit, with the jukebox playing in the background, and the bartender serving whatever's on tap. Tonight, the bar is packed with people from all across the city, different cantons and cohorts, all out to celebrate surviving the fungal plague. Patrons are encouraged to buy tickets for a door prize with the proceeds going to repair the damage tunnelling ants made to the cellar.

Comments

[bangyoudead.livejournal.com]

Remy is dressed as he always is. Either his white jacket was burned or lost to the ages; truly a tragic loss.

"We're just that lucky, cher." Shut up, Gambit. He slides one arm around her middle, casual, and doesn't bother surveying the room, because he already did when the door opened. (A few people have caught his eye. Maybe later.) "Drink?" He thumbs in the general direction of the bar tender - yes, he will get his lovely girlfriend whatever she likes... okay, he will get her a beer or a well drink, he doesn't expect much more from this joint.

[hexing]

She considers the inquiry, assessing the likelihood of finding anything too exotic--slim to none--and inclines her head. "Rum and coke? I'll find us a place to sit."

There aren't many available tables, but by God, one of them will be theirs. Lady on a mission, right here.

[bangyoudead.livejournal.com]

He grins and gives her a lazy little salute before sidling off to get drinks - her cocktail, a whiskey and coke for himself, and a couple bottles of beer. By the time he gets back through the crowd to look for Wanda, she has presumably found somewhere to sit, and he joins her, setting everything down and sliding her glass over to her before taking his own seat.

"Place is bumpin'," he observes, and then holds out his own glass for a private toast. "Nice to see, no?"

[hexing]

"Well, it's no Mardi Gras--thank you," she teases and expresses her appreciation for the drink simultaneously, "but it's heartening, especially considering everything that just happened. And it seems to have drawn out an awfully broad swathe of individuals."

Like Mr. Xavier, over yonder.

[bangyoudead.livejournal.com]

"Everybody likes a party." Which is categorically untrue, but in this environment, even people who don't - well, they've got to be curious, right? So he's not surprised at the turnout. He raises his glass to hers with a smile that's more private than anything (well, private for her and him, anyway), and takes a drink.

"Yeah?" Remy leans, back against the wall instead of the booth, observing the mingling crowd. "Somebody smarter'n me aught to take notes on all the different worlds, no?"

[hexing]

"I'll find us someone to make the both of us pie charts," Wanda declares, after clinking their glasses together. "Of everything this city could have given us, I don't think I expected an iteration of Charles Xavier that's possibly a decade my junior."

Look, it's weird. And after all the weird things they've been through, that's saying something.

"I'm a little glad not to see the kids here, though. I was wondering if they'd turn up..."

[bangyoudead.livejournal.com]

"S'just weird, he's eternally like Somebody's Dad in my head, you know?" He's sure she knows. It's Charles Fucking Xavier. Even Gambit, with all he's done, will always be a little cowed by the other man - not that he'd really admit it to somebody fresh off the super hero bus, or whatever, no matter who he's an alternate of.

"Well.." he shrugs, trying to look sheepish and not amused. "If they're old enough to save the world..." ... They're old enough to drink?

[hexing]

She exhales a sigh that's more playfully dramatic than genuine, leaning back in her seat. "I know, I know. They're grown up now. In most places, they're legally allowed to be in bars."

But in her head they're still little; it's more than just seeing your babies grown up. She never got to see them mature, so there's an image in her head that's sixteen years old of them as very small. Wanda smiles just slightly, looking over at Remy.

"You've been doing well with having them here with us."

[bangyoudead.livejournal.com]

He knows it's tough on her. She missed a lot - it's startling to him to see kids he knew at the school when it was still a school out in uniform, and those are just students. Her own children, and the circumstances in which they are her children? Remy can't come close to understanding, no matter what his awareness might be. He knows she's hard on herself (like recognizes like), and so he tries to make her smile about it, when he can.

"Yeah, well. They're pretty cool kids." His smile echoes hers, and Remy reaches over for her hand, idle, silently supportive. (It's a small remark, but they both know the significance of how easy he's taking to life with his girlfriend's kids.)

thanks for that lj

[hexing]

"And Tommy is hoping you'll blow things up with him," she says, twining her fingers through his with the relaxed ease of someone who's used to the way they fit together.

After a while, things start to get comfortable -- never truly steady, with the lives they lead, but some approximation of reliable, which is a quality worth its weight in gold and rubies, where they come from. Wanda is hoping they can extend some of that to the boys during their time here, but she's observed enough of Baedal to know that there's still some trouble to be found.

They'd probably get bored without.

[bangyoudead.livejournal.com]

"I promise it won't be nothin' you'll miss." It'll be fine, they'll call it training.

It's somehow more real with the boys; that layer of surreal seclusion is stripped away when they're forced to exist around other people that know them. It could all be over in a second, because of what they do and just who they are, as individuals, but for now, they're better this way.

[hexing]

Learning to accept any major changes to this lifestyle they've gotten started has been difficult for Wanda, a little -- she is aware that the cities that steal are prone to also giving their captives back, once in a while, and is torn between guilt at wanting the boys to stay and simply being happy they're there.

She shakes her head.

"What a family reunion...next all we need is my brother to turn up. Of course, the way things are going, he'll be fifteen years old."

[bangyoudead.livejournal.com]

Routine changes are frustrating for everybody, but this is a bit bigger than that, and Wanda isn't everybody. Remy tries to keep things typical, for a lot of reasons, her mental health included - life is very much out of there control, there.

"Hey, can't be worse than that one guy, right?" He grins at her, teasing.