xmutanthigh | [closed log]

[Logan's got a stack of training profiles, Danger Room simulation summaries, some SHIELD field reports as well as a few incident reports from the local cop shop. He's swamped with all of it and needs a drink. He finds Emma in the kitchen, a welcome distraction. He sits down across from her at the island and cracks a beer. He looks at his papers, then at Emma's stack.]

What have you got? Wanna switch? I've read these over a dozen times already.

[Emma leans back with a sigh, one hand automatically moving to her temple.] Currently? Development summaries and proposals for my company. However, that pile should be more to your interest. [She gestures to the appropriate set of papers as she gives the business papers a less than amused look.]

[Logan grabs for the papers, looking at them for a moment before setting them down. It's moments like these when he really misses the simple life, before he joined the X-men.]

Time was I used to be able to have a drink without a stack of papers in front of me. Can't even remember what that's like anymore.

Darling, I haven't looked at a pile of papers without a drink since I was a part of Hellfire. It's just the number of drinks I need that's changed.

Never used to have papers, darlin'. Weapons don't do office work.

Welcome to being a teacher, dear. [She raises her wine glass in a mocking little toast, an amused smile on her face, before downing a good half of it.]

[Logan just grunts and drinks his beer, turning his attention to the training profiles again, sorting through them and arranging them according to the teams he and Emma has previously chosen for leadership exercises.]

Have you picked up anything lately from Rogue? Any improvements?

[Emma nods, looking down at her papers again as she replies.] It seems to have helped a bit so far but I think any opinions you form during training sessions with her will probably be a far better indicator.

Yeah. [He nods, reassuring himself. He had been concerned when he hadn't picked up on his protege's troubles before. Feels almost like he's failed her in some way.] Just makin' sure.

How's training with Dazzler going?

You didn't. [She answers his unvoiced concerns, looking him straight in the eye as she does.] You and I both know that girl is far too stubborn for her own good. As for Alison, she's certainly showing promise. Her mental discipline needs work as does her power endurance but all of that is curable with enough training.

Stubborn's the name of the game with these kids. [He doesn't say so, but he feels a bit better for her words.]

What've you got planned for her?

Mmm, just the normal, I suppose. Push her to the breaking point and hopefully form an X-men when the pieces are put back together. [Emma's voice is rather nonchalant in comparison to her smirk as she refills her glass of wine from the bottle beside her.]

Old tricks are the best tricks, eh?

Generally speaking, yes. Although new ones can always be... interesting.

That they can. [Logan's eyes fall on an old, old profile of Pyro's. He considers it for a moment, passing it to Emma.] If we're shifting him to active training, we should probably have a talk with him fist.

[She reads over it, idly twisting the stem of her glass between her fingers.] Mmm, yes. That would probably be a good idea. Things will be hectic enough that morning without having St. John's confusion in the mix. [She looks up from the paper as she finishes reading it.] These profiles are in desperate need of updating.

I keep the actives up to date. [Logan's a bit touchy about having to do paperwork in the first place, let alone being criticized for his upkeep.] I dug this out of Chuck's old files last week. Haven't had anything to add to it yet. Had to have Summers help me find it.

[She hides a look of amusement as his indignation behind a well manicured hand before it vanishes again in favour of mild indifference.] I can deal with this one later then. [There's a pause as she sets the profile aside.] I have the feeling that Charles wouldn't approve of some of the changes we've made in the past year.

I have a feeling you're right. [Logan peers down at his empty bottle and goes to retrieve a fresh one.] But Charlie's not here now, and desperate times... [His grip on the handle of the fridge is white, tension splayed across the muscles of his back. He wonders if they'll ever live up to the spectre of Charles Xavier.] We do what we can for these kids.

[Emma's spine goes just a bit straighter. Charles Xavier may have given her a second chance but she is no where near as beholden to him as many in the mansion. The man wasn't a saint and she will always refuse to treat him like one. But she nods anyways in agreement with Logan.] We do, of course, but if some of them were perhaps just a bit more prepared... [She doesn't even need to finish the sentence. It's a conversation they've had multiple times before.]

[Beholden is not a word that applies to Logan, his loyalty to Charles isn't one born out of debt but out of friendship. They've had this conversation so many times, it's true. It never changes. His voice is tense, he does not agree.] Emma, not everyone who came from the Academy is a shining student just the same as some of the kids that have been for years are lagging. Whether they were yours or Charles', all these kids are our kids now.

[He cracks his neck and turns back to her.] There's only so much we can do for them in preparation anyway, some of these kids just don't take to training. Frankly, I don't know what to do with some of them.

[Her eyes grow hard at his comments and she hones in on the first half.] I hardly think that all of my former Academy students are shining stars, dear, and I care about the welfare of all of these children. You know quite well that my problem here is that we are still without a proper team. You know just as well as I that if there is a new Brotherhood forming that we must be prepared for them. Our enemies are forever multiplying and we simply do not have time mollycoddle the students, especially the older ones.

[Mollycoddle. This is the Wolverine we're talking about. He does not mollycoddle.] We are still without a proper team because we are recruiting from the ranks of children. I know that we need to train them, and that's what we're doing. I will push every limitation I think they can handle, but taking them too far, too fast is something I want no part in and I'll fight you on it if I have to.

[His jaw clenches. He meets Emma's eyes. He doesn't enjoy fighting with her, sometimes his one ally in the whole mansion, but...

He thinks of X, shaped and molded into a ruthless weapon. He thinks of the childhood that was stolen from her, the abuse that she's suffered, how difficult it's been for her to integrate with others her age. He stiffens further.

These aren't throwback from Charlie's old rule that Logan's fighting for, they're his own code. Since becoming a mentor, a father-figure, he's spent long hours laying out rules for himself, an outline on how to do his kids justice. When the Wolverine's decided on something like this, there is no swaying him.]

I will not force these kids into becoming soldiers for our war simply because it's what we need, Em. [He shakes his head somberly. His words are soft and passionate.] The cost in innocence is just...too high.

[She isn't enjoying this any more than he is. Xavier's first class tends to too frequently recall her villain days and usually err too far on the side of caution. Logan is often her only ally here as well. That doesn't mean she won't fight him right back on all of this.]

And what were any of us doing at their age? Scott, Ororo, Hank, and Jean were all here, training. I was with Hellfire and God only knows what you were doing during the Industrial Revolution. I don't want to break them, Logan, I want to make them better and I will push them just as far as you in order to do so. But I want them ready for what's coming.

[Emma's not the same person she was as Hellfire's White Queen by far but she learned early in life that this is a dog eat dog world and nothing this important comes easily. She hates the person she became with Hellfire, cruel and ruthless for the Inner Circle's gain. She's worked hard over the years to become a more better and morally acceptable person but she's never lost that hard edge. She loves her students, she really does, some more than others. She's willing to do anything to protect them, no matter what the cost.]

Like it or not, these children are a part of our war simply because they have the x-gene. These groups who hate us? They don't care who wants to be a part of this and who doesn't. They'll kill them without a second thought. I couldn't-- [Admitting failure is difficult for Emma.] I couldn't protect my Massachusetts Academy and I'll be damned if I watch the same thing happen here.

They'll try. But what happened in Massachusetts won't ever happen here, Em. These kids are more ready than ever, they won't let it. We won't let it.

[Logan touches her wrist, just briefly, he knows the pain she feels over the loss at her Academy is deep and lancing. He feels something similar every time he looks at X, every time he glances out of the wide bay windows in the foyer that look out onto the cemetery. To Charlie. To Jean. What kind of school has it's own cemetery?

The anger between dissipates a little as he holds Emma's gaze. These arguments always run the same course, falling apart in the end because a slight difference in ideology can't negate the fact that their practices are essentially the same. He sighs, but it comes out a low growl.]

I know they need to be ready, I know that. But I look at X, at Pyro, even Rogue and...they've been used so badly in the past, I look at what we're doing sometimes and wonder. How different is it, Emma? What we do to them compared to what was done to them elsewhere. Sometimes, I feel like it's not so different at all...

[The brief touch helps remind her that they have, in fact, been here before. Perhaps the argument has never been quite so heated but they've had it before. They both know that the other cares deeply about the well-being of the students.

Emma sighs, a hand coming up to massage her temples for a moment before dropping again. She's calm again, the anger from before vanishing. She takes a moment to take a drink of wine before speaking again.]

It's different because we care about them, darling. We don't train them from birth for the sole purpose of being a living weapon and we don't use them for our own purposes and then leave them to die. We teach them to defend themselves and we give them a choice.

Hn. [He nods, bracing his palms on the counter. He's still tense, not from anger, but from the burden of over a century of guilt. He's seen how little caring for someone can make a difference, doesn't know if he can believe that it's enough. The training they provide is beyond merely self-defense, but...

He takes a drink, shoving down the guilt and pain and anguish as he swallows. He thinks of the changes that have gone on within the walls in the past year.]

Is that enough?

Charlie wanted to change the world for these kids, make it so they wouldn't need to live lives like ours. Now, we're just changing them to fit into a world that hates and fears us. I can't help but wonder if there isn't more we can do...

[She finishes off the rest of her wine as he speaks, savouring the taste as she thinks about what he's saying. She's no happier with the world they live in than he.

Emma rises to her feet and walks over to the cabinet specially reserved for faculty, giving the handle sensor a moment to id her before pulling it open. She pulls two glasses and a bottle of scotch from a shelf, not saying anything as she pours the amber liquid into the glasses. Her face is expressionless as she replaces the bottle and returns to where they'd both been sitting, extending one of the glasses to him.]

What else can we do but train them, Logan? There are other... options of course but I don't think either one of us are willing to explore them quite yet.

[Logan's eyes grow dark, looking down at the rich gold in his glass. Other options. If it were him, only him, he knows what he would do. His knuckles itch, adamantium longing to be unleashed. He takes a drink.]

No, you're right. If it were only us, then maybe but...not if it involves the kids.

[There's a dry yet amused look on her face as she takes a drink from her own glass.]

We're good, darling, but even we aren't good enough to take on all of our enemies on our own.

Darlin', never took you for one to underestimate me. I'm the best at what I do.

[He has a fond look for her and leans in to flash a grin. They share a chuckle, Logan leaning back as Emma shakes her head at him.]

You know what I meant. Those extremes, they change a person. Once it happens, you never go back. [He sobers, darkens.] There's no going back for us, Emma. Some of these kids have a chance for something different.

[She takes another drink of scotch before replying. ]

Some of them, maybe. Others though... I'm afraid that chance is gone.

[closed log]

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Won't somebody please think of the children?

...that icon is making me giggle way too much. I couldn't even look at it while I tagged.

I'll switch to one less ridiculous for you, then.

Much appreciated, love.

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