ax_main | Lil and Vance

After the Brotherhood makes the news, Lil goes back to check on Vance and make sure he's okay.

Ugh. And ugh again. Nothing was ever simple in this frigging country. Yesterday, Lil had tried to drop food off to some fellow mutants and got interogated at knifepoint. Maybe that was less an American thing than a ragged-bunch-of-suspicious-teenagers things, but Lil was in the mood to be annoyed at something big. The whole damn United States it was.

At least Lil had managed to get out of the Brotherhood's hangout without starting a fight. She hadn't been able to see Vance, but a tactical retreat had seemed like the smartest thing at the time. Besides, here she was on the doorstep again the day after. No blue chick was going to keep her away from her friend for long.

She swiped a message to Vance on her phone. Hey, you up for a visit?

Vance thought for a moment. Pietro and Eileen were on the mend, and Lance and Wanda both seemed a bit frayed at the edges but both seemed fairly stable, considering. Fatale was with Alex. He had no idea where Mort and Freddy were, which....maybe should make him nervous, but he wasn't particularly. Pyro was with his girlfriend, who had joined them? Maybe? There was a lot going on. Still, he replied back only a couple of minutes later. Sure thing.

Awesome! Because I'm sort of right on your doorstep at this very moment. :D Would you mind escorting me in so I don't piss off any blue chicks? Lil assued he'd heard, but maybe not. Maybe she'd have some explaining to do.

He hustled down the stairs, even as he tried to keep as quiet as possible. So many people were stressed out and healing and everything, he didn't want to be one more thing. Luckily, he had practice sneaking around a house quietly, and he was dressed in sweatpants, a t-shirt, and socks so he wasn't making much extra noise. In short order, he'd made it to the door and flung it open. "Hey," he greeted, smiling at her. There were some bags under his eyes, and he looked a bit paler than usual. But at least he wasn't sporting some new bandages, like some of the others. "C'mon in."

He looked absolutely beat, and the first thing Lil did after she stepped inside was hold out her arms. "Need a hug? You sorta look like you might."

Vance stepped in and wrapped his arms around her tight for a moment. The Brotherhood might be his family now, but not many of them were the hugging sort.

"Man, I was thinking about you." Lil gave him a squeeze and let him go. "You okay? I didnt' hear anything about you getting hurt but... "

"I'm fine," Vance assured her. Certainly when you compared him to Pietro, Eileen, or Pyro. Or, of course, the people they'd killed and hurt. Something in his stomach twisted at that. He started leading her toward his room. "Nothing to worry about."

Lil snorted. "Lots to worry about in my books. Attacking scumbags, blowing up stuff - that's serious shit."

He pushed open the door to his room, and gestured for her to go in. "Sorry it's a bit cluttered. I didn't exactly clean it up."

"Yeah well, I didn't exactly give you much warning." Lil gave it a quick glance, then grabbed a chair ignoring the clothes hanging over the back, and sat down. "I just sort of showed up. I'm not much for thinking things through sometimes."

Vance shrugged. "You followed Lance's rules and waited, so that's pretty thoughtful. And you came to check on me, which....I mean, wow, that's real nice of you. Really sweet," he said, giving her a small smile.

"Eh, I was gonna go crazy if I didn't see you. I tried yesterday but," Lil shrugged, "that didn't work out too well. You got my note from that Mort dude?"

"Oh, right, yeah. It was, uh, kinda smudgy - Mort can be kinda...wet? - so I didn't quite get it all," Vance admitted. "But it was super nice of you, y'know, to bring us all that food. And it was delicious."

"Good! I was sort of nervous about it 'cause I haven't been really cooking for long." She smiled. "I went a little crazy, but hey, it worked out."

"Nothing to be nervous about. It was awesome," Vance promised her. "And since I doubt Mort or Fatale said so....thank you. So much. It was really, really nice of you to do that for us, especially since I know you don't know the others real well."

A slight blush rose on Lil's cheeks, and she tried to wave off Vance's compliments with one hand. "They look after you, so it doesn't matter if I know them or not, right? They're your family. Besides, I sort of fucked it up yesterday. Probably should have warned people or sent you a text or something."

Vance shrugged a little. "You were trying to do a good thing. And, if I had to guess, I'd guess Mort and Fatale weren't exactly the most receptive or welcoming. Not," he was sure to add, because they were his team and because it was true, "that they didn't have a reason to be confused or something, but they're both naturally kind of suspicious."

"Oh, it makes sense. You guys had just gone through shit and stuff - no wonder." Lil leaned back in the chair and gave the room another look, mostly to give herself a way to change the subject. "You know, this is okay. It's a nice room."

He looked around, taking in the slight messiness and the painting he and Fatale had done on his wall when he'd moved in. The patch job he'd done with Pyro looked pretty good, if he did say so himself. It was...well, it was a weird room, to be sure, but it definitely felt like his at least. Which was nice. "Thanks. Fatale did the painting with me."

It was hard to think of the girl who'd threatened her at knifepoint helping Vance out like that, but everyone had more than one side, right? "That's pretty cool. She just helps out like that?"

"Well, she threw a knife through my wall?" He pointed at the opposite wall from where the painting was, which had the patch job showing (though only slightly). "By accident, I mean. And when she came in here to get it, she said my room was too bare. So we went and found some paint and painted it."

It had been really nice of Fatale, and had done a lot to endear her to Vance.

Lil couldn't help laughing at that. "Okay, that's something that hasn't happened at the school yet! No knives thrown through walls. God, you guys have exciting lives here."

"We definitely do have that, for sure," Vance agreed, grinning. "How's, uh, how's stuff at the school? Also exciting?"

"Umm, I guess so. I sorta got kidnapped last week, so there's that." Lil held out her hands as if she didn't know what to make of the whole thing. Which she didn't. The whole Murderworld fiasco hadn't quite settled for her yet.

"Whoa whoa whoa." Vance made a time-out motion with his hands. "You got kidnapped?"

She nodded. "Yup. Me and a friend were out shopping, met some others from the school and next thing I knew I woke up strapped to some dentist's chair sorta thing." No need to tell Vance about the bunny suit. Ever.

He blinked as he processed that. "Who did it? And why?" Vance wondered. It didn't sound like the Right, or the Friends of Humanity; he figured that'd be less nonchalant, even for someone invulnerable.

"Some crazy guy called Arcade? He was trying to sell some weapons or something, infomercial style, and we were part of the show." She smiled, trying to show Vance that it really wasn't that big a deal, even if she wasn't sure of that herself. Fun in some ways? For sure, but maybe a bit more disturbing than she wanted to admit. "You know how they pour the wine on the carpet and then spray on the miracle cleaner to show how awesome it is? Well, we were supposed to be the wine."

"Whoa. That's some, like....straight-up super villain stuff," Vance marveled. Not that the FOH or the Right weren't villains, super villains in fact, because they were. They did terrible things and were awful people; that's why the Brotherhood kept going after them. Someone needed to. But Arcade sounded like something out of one of his comic books.

"You don't ever know the half of it! Like, the setup was that most of us had to race through a sort of game thing before one of us, the 'poppet', was killed in some sort of cartoon setup." Lil smirked. "But guess who they made the poppet?"

"If it's not you, this is a terrible story," Vance teased.

Lil chuckled. "Definitely me. I mean, not that we didn't get out with people getting hurt, but I'm glad it wasn't one of the others stuck in the chair."

Vance frowned slightly, sobering at that. "Who got hurt?"

"Jean-Paul for one." Which disturbed her more than she would have thought. Maybe she didn't like the guy much, but nobody deserved the fucked up crap Arcade had been dishing out. "This kid, Percy, too, but everybody's okay now. Reminds me though, how are your guys doing?"

The frown grew a bit more, thinking about it. "Pietro got shot. Eileen and Pyro got hurt," he said, clearly distressed by it. "But, uh, I heard your guys' doctor-guy said they would be okay? They're resting now, mostly. When they can." None of them were exactly the staying still type.

Lil leaned forward and put her hand on Vance's, just for a moment, just to let him know she'd noted how he felt. "That's good news. They didn't deserve to get hurt, no matter how many of those fuckers got blown up."

He smiled at her, just slightly, in gratitude, before shaking his head a little. "The explosion. It was an accident. We weren't trying to kill anyone," Vance explained.

"I believe you. I don't know the others, but no way do I think you'd be part of anything where you thought you'd be killing people. Still," Lil straightened back up and folded her arms, "I can feel bad for your folk that got hurt. Can't say I got an ounce of sympathy for the others."

That was it, what was getting him. They'd been bad people. And they'd been doing bad things. But, still, "They were people, though. I mean, yeah, I'm glad my teammates are alright. And I know these guys werent' good guys, and would've hurt any of us in a heartbeat," he had no doubt, there. "But...they were people, you know?"

"Yup, and you're a better person than me for letting that mean something, but some people are just piles of rotten garbage, and if you guys managed to take a few out, the world isn't gonna be any worse for it, and might even be a bit better."

"Oh, I....I didn't mean it like that," Vance was quick to explain, looking even more distressed.

Shit, she wasn't helping at all, was she? Lil got up and moved to the bed to sit beside Vance. She nudged his leg with hers. "Sorry. You talk, I'll listen, okay?"

"No, I mean...it's fine. You're fine. Nothing to apologize for," he promised.

"Maybe, but I can't take any chances. I'm sorta like a bull in a china shop when it comes to stuff like this." She smiled and resisted the urge to put an arm around him. She wasn't sure how he'd take that. "But what you're feeling about the people that died... is that bugging you a lot?"

He shrugged, looking a little uncomfortable. "I mean...I don't know if it's a lot, but...I mean, they were people."

Barely. But this time Lil kept that thought in her head. "Yeah. I wish I could tell you not to worry about it, but brains don't really work that way."

"Yeah," Vance agreed softly. "And, I mean, we didn't do it on purpose. And I'm glad that my teammates are going to be okay."

"And I'm glad you're okay. Shit, you should have seen me when I found out - I was like a fucking chicken with it's head cut off. That's part of why you got the mountain of food too - good way to keep me sort of sane." She groaned. "I'm so much like my mom, oh my god. She used to do that too when I got into trouble. I'd get in a fight at school and after she ragged me out she'd go make a bunch of shit to stuff in the freezer or like, clean the kitchen 'til it shone."

He smiled slightly at that. "Did you get in trouble much?" He asked curiously.

That sounded like he wanted a distraction - maybe Lil was getting better at this people thing - so she decided it was okay to go on about herself. "Oh fuck, Vance, I was ALL trouble. Elementary school and junior high I was the big kid with a temper so I'd get pushed around until I started yelling so, yup, trouble then. Then I learned I could push back and sorta turned into an asshole for awhile so I got detentions and suspensions and all that shit."

"I wouldn't have guessed that," Vance said, looking interested.

Lil fixed him with a narrow-eyed glare. “Seriously? That’s usually not something that surprises people.”

He shrugged. "You've always seemed really nice, to me," Vance said.

“I sorta can’t help it with you? You one of those people who’s like Nick, you just bring out the best in people.”

Vance sincerely doubted that; he knew what he had seen of his parents hadn't been there bests. Or...maybe it had been, and he was just expecting too much? He didn't want to dwell on that. Instead, he smiled at Lil. "Thanks," he demurred.

“No problem. Speaking of Nick though, you gonna come by for movie night soon? Might be a good way to help get shit back on track?” And Nick would like to see him. He hadn’t been any less concerned for Vance than she had.

He blinked at that. Vance honestly hadn't been sure how many people at the school would really care - they seemed to think the worst of the Brotherhood, after all.

This time their suspicion might even be deserved, though he shoved that thought away.

"Oh, uh, are we...still allowed to do that?"

“If you’re not, the Professor is a useless windbag.” Which, in her worst moments, was something Lil suspected anyway. “He’s fine with JP and Warren telling the world who they are and Shen going out and protesting and... “ She paused for a moment because she didn’t want to indict a friend with the rest, but hell, being a hypocrite was worse, wasn’t it? “And he doesn’t say fucking boo about Tamara’s Youtube stuff. So if he’s not willing to let you have some time with friends because he thinks you put us at risk or some fuckery, he’d better check himself.”

Vance wasn't entirely convinced. His life experience didn't exactly suggest that adults saw or appreciated their own hypocrisy, and Professor Xavier kind of scared him. Still, Lil would know better than Vance, so he nodded a little. "If you say so."

"I do, I just hope it means I'm right, and if it doesn't... " Lil shrugged. "Maybe I'll just move in with you guys." She managed to keep the smile off her face for a couple of moments. Honestly, sharing space with the blue murder girl was probably not the best of ideas.

Vance couldn't help chuckling at that. "I promise they grow on you," he offered.

Lil narrowed her eyes. "Even that Mort dude?"

He laughed in earnest now. "Even Mort," he promised. "It's all a weird act, with him."

“I think I believe you. He laid it on a little thick, thick enough that the creep alarms-“ Lil held up her hands beside her head and wiggled her fingers- “weren’t going off. Might sound stupid but it was just too much to take seriously. Plus, he tried to help me out. I think.”

Vance nodded. "Exactly. Like, he's a weird kind of guy," he thought that was a fair description, and not even one Mort would be all that offended by, "but he means well."

Lil snorted. "He sounds like my kind of people. I'll have to meet him one of these days."

That...Vance was a little less sure of, but he'd let Lil be the judge of that. "He's usually around."

"Good enough. I'll catch up with him one of these days." She sighed and clapped her hands down on her lap. "But I'm glad I got to see you. You got people outside this building who care about you dude, just remember that."

People cared about him. It was nice, Vance reflected, to be able to think that without any caveats. His parents had loved him, maybe still did he guessed, 'but they had a unique way of showing it.' There were provisos. Here, and with Lil, there weren't. "Thanks," he said earnestly. "Really. That's...really nice of you to say."

"Eh, it's not be being nice; It's me being honest." She smiled, trying to let what she felt about Vance show through. He always seemed like the kind of kid who didn't get much of that.

He smiled slightly, his cheeks warm, and awkwardly cleared his throat. "So, uh, what else are you up to today?"

“This was it. I probably should have planned it a bit better, but planning and me don’t really go together.” That was an understatement. “But hey, if you want to get out of here for an hour or so, I’ll buy lunch.”

He looked surprised. "Really? Where?"

“McDonald’s? Or wherever’s nearby and good.” Lil patted her stomach. “It’s been like, two hours since I last ate and that’s waaay too long.”

"Oh, yeah, that'd be great. We, uh, we're supposed to keep a low-profile, so I'll just...be quiet?" He offered.

Lil nodded. “Gotcha. Dark booth in the back of whatever place we go to. Everything hush-hush.” She stood up and stretched. “But point taken.”

Vance stood and began the quick hunt for his shoes. When he found them near the closet, he floated them over to his hand. "Thanks."

"No problem," said Lil as she watched the shoes. Definitely ones of the coolest powers ever. "Gotta look after my friends, right?"

He held out his hand for a fistbump. "Gotta look after our friends."

Lil bumped his fist and then resisted the urge to give him a hug, pulling the door open instead. She’d hoped she’d proved by now that that was a commitment she took as seriously with Vance as she did all her friends, even if where he lived and who he hung out with made it a little more difficult.