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The penthouse apartment of Warren Worthington the Third is still accessible by Thea. She has had a key for a long time, and he has never once requested it back or changed any of the locks of security protocols. Warren is currently not expecting company and as such is lounging like the bachelor he is. Silk 'sleepware' pajama bottoms adorn his frame as he lounges on the couch watching football on the large TV in his living area. A tumbler full of some amber liquid, likely scotch, being rotated in his had as it swirls the contents. He lets out a little grumble as one of the teams score, apparently not the one he is rooting for.
Thea is not the sort of girl one generally would worry about doing anything too rash to one's apartment…especially not when there's a security team downstairs. Since she doesn't have wings, she has to come up the old-school way in the elevator. Warren will likely hear the key in the lock, the door opening to admit the blonde once-nurse. Since there is a wrapped box sticking partially out of her bag, he might surmise the reason for her visit.. and that she hadn't expected him to be home by the way she starts as the door closes behind her.
"Warren! Hello. I wasn't sure you'd be home. Just wanted to drop this off, before I forgot…again." There's a quick smile, as she advances towards the couch to air kiss his cheek as is proper before handing him the wrapped box. It's liquer, of course, from Greece.
Warren glances up from the couch as he hears the keys in the lock, arching a brow for a moment as Thea makes her way inside. He glances from her to the package in the bag, and rises from the couch as she approaches and returns the air-kiss greeting. "Hey Thea." he says as he glances again at the wrapped box, lifting a hand to scratch at a spot on his chest before taking it from her as it is offered.
"Ouzo" he says as he opens the box, lifting a brow as he removes the bottle from the box. "I still can't believe you drink this stuff to be honest. Anise is such a strong flavor that people can barely stand black licorice in general, let alone drinking it. That being said though.."
He moves from the couch towards the kitchen area to grab a pair of tumbler glasses from the bar, and opens the bottle. "So, how are things?"
"I thought you liked it. I can get you something else." She will hold a hand out, brows lifted. "I was raised on the strong stuff, Worthington." She teases with a smile.
She will set her bag down and slip out of her coat as he moves to get glasses in the kitchen. "Things are…things. Lots of things I can't talk to you about, I'm afraid. Nature of the beast with my work." A hand will smooth down the full black skirt, tug at the hem of her purple sweater, then toy with her amethyst earrings.
She'll stop fidgeting to sink to sit on the couch, a glance at the television. "How about you? How are things with you?"
"I don't mind it. Just not a flavor many people enjoy." he says with the shrug of a blue shoulder. Warren goes about to uncork the bottle and starts to pour some of the clear liquid in each glass. "Nursing is so secretive." he says with a hint of humor in his voice. "I mean, I get client patient privilege, but surely there is something you can talk about? Hell I've probably let you know more than I should have about my 'work' both at WI and at Xavier's."
He pauses a moment, and then shrugs his shoulder again, "Or Logan has." He takes a sip, which turns into a full downing of the glass of ouzo in his hand before he refills it again, bringing the bottle and glasses over back towards the couch. "As for me, same old shit. I'm blue and waffling about letting people know it." He smirks, "Frankly, I need to shit or get off the pot, to use a crude phrase."
"It's not just nursing. I'm involved with several organizations that I can't really be at liberty to discuss. As for Xavier's…well, you're not the only one I know there." She'll cross her legs, watching him. "I quit the hospital. I'm looking towards working to get a clinic or something in Mutant Town."
She'll murmur a thank you, as she accepts the glass, brown eyes watching him. "Logan and I don't discuss Xavier's much. Of course.. Logan and I aren't discussing much of anything these days. I haven't been able to see him much, lately. He's been out when I've gone to see him, he hasn't come to the city.." There's a shrug as she sips at her ouzo, pretending indifference.
"I can't tell you what to do, Warren. I'm not the captain of the ship, in the way you are. It's easy for me to talk big and brave, but it's not like I'm out there telling the world I'm a mutant.." She pauses, a smirk. "Not that anyone would care, I'm no one."
"People care." says Warren as he sips at his glass. "If people didn't care, then it wouldn't be a big deal if you did come out as a mutant, or John Q Smith came out. But the problem is that if or when they do, they get people who want to see them hurt or worse. Being someone like me only makes things worse." He shrugs his shoulder again, sipping. "Being a public figure comes with a price. Everything is great when you are the 'golden boy." The flip side is that when you no longer are, you have so much further to fall and people line up to push."
He glances over, "You quit? I really have been out of the loop." He sighs, reaching up to rub at his forehead. "I'm sorry. You deserved better. Sounds like you still do."
"I just meant no one's going to splash me all over the newspaper, if I come out as a mutant. I'll just never be able to work in the regular civilian sector as a nurse, ever again." There's a trace of bitterness in her voice, before she'll tip that ouzo back, reaching for the bottle with the intent to refill.
"As for pushing, I can only promise I'll try to be there to catch you." There's a tug of a smile, a hand out to touch his arm. "You've had a lot going on, my quitting a job when I've got two others is hardly front page news to fret over. You know I'll be just fine. I've got plans, after all."
There's a pause, brown eyes carefully wide as she turns her head to really look at him. "Deserved better as in?"
Warren shrugs again, the movement of his shoulder muscles prominent beneath the blue skin. "Better…relationship I guess. I know we never really put an official label on things, but I can't say I was exactly very good at being a…whatever I was."
He lifts his glass to his lips and drains the rest of the liquid, holding it out for a refill since Thea has the bottle in her hand. "I can make excuses, sure. I've literally had my life torn apart and put back together in a way that I don't even recognize myself in a mirror…but even before that. I should have been…more. I took things for granted that I shouldn't have and I am sorry."
Thea will refill hers, and then tip to refill his, wordless for a moment. "Briefly dating? Even more briefly lovers?" She'll offer, a hint of snark and sass as she sits back on the couch, swirling the ouzo in her glass as she looks at him.
"Warren. We hadn't decided to go official, or be exclusive, or any of those labels, before you got taken. There wasn't a lot of time or me to take for granted. I got to be myself with you, be with someone for the first time. I mean.. " She shakes her head, looking down. "You have nothing to apologize for."
"Then why do I feel like I do?" Warren asks softly, lifting his refilled glass to his lips. "Why am I.." he stops talking and shakes his head as he exhales deeply in a sigh, lifting his glass to his lips again to keep his mouth from talking.
He is quiet for a moment, cradling the glass in his hand, spinning it slowly in his palm as he stares down at the clear liquid inside. "Maybe being taken has messed with me in more ways than I even know. Maybe they did something to make me think there was more there than there really was? Fuck." He lifts the glass again and drains it, leaning back into the couch with a sigh. "Sorry. I guess I don't know where my head is at. i thought I had a handle on things now, but I guess I was wrong."
"Because you're a gentleman, and gentlemen don't take a nice girl's virginity and then disappear? Even if you had no control over it?" She'll offer, looking up at him before she'll sip ouzo.
She'll lean forward, setting that glass down before she will turn to look at him, take his hand. "Warren. You have nothing to apologize for, because I long ago forgave you for hurting me when you never meant to. There was..definitely something between you and I. We got to be exactly who we are with each other. We know the circus and spectable of the society scene." She'll flush, looking down. "And a girl doesn't let a guy take her to bed casually. At least I didn't."
Warren nods almost imperceptibly, as if he doesn't exactly believe he deserves whatever forgiveness is coming his way. He remains quiet for a long time, staring down at the empty glass in his hands. He smirks, shaking his head slightly "At least short, hairy, and grumpy can take you out to dinner without having to hide or put on more makeup than his date to be seen in public. I'll have to give him that point at least."
He glances up at the TV for a moment, then reaches out for the bottle of ouzo to refill his glass. "So, what are these big plans your working on?" he says, attempting to change the subject, "Opening your own clinic? Who is going to back you?"
Thea will withdraw her touch, and withdraw into herself altogether. "He doesn't. I mean, I like the idea of him making dinner at the cabin, but.." She shrugs, reaching for her glass to tip it back. "We don't go out." She says softly. "Not once."
She takes a deep breath, putting the empty glass down and trying to resist the urge to refill it with more. "My grandfather. He's already put the money in an account for me. I.. I'm still researching. I need to find space, and.. well, I need to actually talk to people in Mutant Town. They'll have opinions."
"If you need help…" he says with a slight shrug. "I can make some inquiries. I've done some charity work over there, so I have some connections that might be of help in at least getting building space easier."
He sips at the ouzo still in his glass, and moves to refill it. Apparently he isn't in the mood to resist more.
"I'm sorry." he says again, "I guess he wouldn't go out, would he. He isn't exactly mister social or personable. Truth be told I…" He shakes his head, "Nevermind. I need to just keep my mouth closed, or filled with something so I stop talking." He sets the empty glass down and just brings the lip of the bottle of ouzo to his lips instead.
There's a smile, soft along the edges. "Thank you for offering. I may call on you someday, but right now.. this is something I want. I want to build something, do something on my own. Call it stubborn, or headstrong, or.." She shrugs, chuckling.
"Not your fault. And.. well, there was once. We met at Harry's. But he didn't pick me up, or anything like that. It didn't feel like a date date, if that makes sense?" She shakes her head. "I don't know why I'm.." Brown eyes watch his face. "We're friends. I'd appreciate your honesty."
"I sound like the jealous ex…which I guess I am." says Warren with a shrug, taking a heavy pull from the bottle before setting it down. "I am not exactly sure I can be impartial in my opinion of the man. I was never a fan of his, and he isn't a fan of mine. We 'work' together, if you want to call what we do work, but even that is a tenuous relationship. If it wasn't for me being more like him now, I don't think I would ever speak to him really."
He eyes the bottle, but manages not to reach out for it again. "He's a killer, Thea. But then again, so am I."
There's a flush, a hand up to push blonde behind her shoulder, shaking her head. "Logan is not easy for most people to get along with, I don't think. Maybe it's just me that he's not difficult with, I don't know." She shrugs.
"I know he is, Warren. It's no secret." Her hands fold in her lap. "He tried to keep me at arms length, because of it. Truth is? I…" She'll pause, her head tipping. "Warren. When you look at me, think of me.. what do you see?"
Warren nods, "Just as long as you know what you are getting yourself into."
He looses the inner struggle he is having with himself and reach out once again for the bottle. He takes a sip from it and lets it dangle from his fingers by the neck as he looks over at her. He is quiet for a moment before he starts to answer, "I See someone who cares about others before she cares about herself. Someone who does everything in her power to help whomever she can, even at the cost of her own happiness or well being. Someone who is selfless and spent way to long trying to be the savior of so many that she barely has any time to take for herself." He tips the bottle back again, looking at the remains of the liquid inside and snorting to himself as he sets it back down. "I miss being able to get drunk…at least get drunk easier. I can still do it, but I have to drink so much more and it only lasts a short time. Stupid healing factor."
"I tend to not have blinders on, even for those I care for." Thea says softly, about what she's getting herself into. "Though I don't know so much as it is what I'm getting into, anymore."
She'll rise, moving to look out a window. "You see, Warren.. that's just it." She'll turn to look at him, light filtering over blonde hair in an almost halo effect. "You see the nurse, the healer, unselfish. I can be those things,.. but that's not all I am." She'll move towards the couch, fingers reaching to run over his cheek. "I am selfish. I didn't wait for you, did I? I live in Hell's Kitchen, so I don't have to travel to heal poorer people, and maybe push someone else out of a place that they could barely afford." She'll look at the bottle, then the man.
"You want to know how Logan ended up getting close? He didn't see the pretty. He didn't see the good I want so badly to be. He saw that I, too, could be a killer. I would just be much neater and prettier about it, than either of you."
Warren is quiet for a moment, then nods his head slightly before he casts his eyes to the ground. "I see."
He sets the bottle down onto the table and stands up, moving over towards the window to stare out over the city scape, crossing his arms over his stomach and holding himself. "So is he trying to recruit you into our little 'black ops, wet work' team too?" he asks quietly, "I mean, I guess you could be the perfect assassin. If you can get in and out without being scene, that is. Just give someone a heart attack and nobody would be the wiser." He sighs, lifting his hand to brush the blonde locks from his face as he continues to look out at the lights. "As long as you're happy, I guess."
Thea moves to set a hand on his shoulder, before she starts. "Recrui.. Logan?" She blinks. "He's not trying to recruit me for any such thing. I'm sure he would have a fit if you even suggested I do such a thing. He would probably prefer I don't ever kill. Not that I'm exactly inclined to let anyone else make such choice for me."
Her chin lifts, looking up at him. "I would be a very, very good assassin. You'd think someone else would try to recruit me for that." There is a dry humor in her voice that she will not be able to elaborate. "Warren." Just his name, before she'll lean her head to his arm, her arm sliding around his back to anchor at his waist in a half hug. "I'm not so sure I am. I mean.. I thought I was."
Warren shrugs his shoulder, the movement lifting her hand and lowering it. "I'm surprised he isn't. As you said, you would be good for it, and he doesn't seem to have any qualms about me getting my soul dirty with someone else's blood. But I suppose I just don't rate enough fucks to be given over it. It's good to hear that he has at least some sense of morality."
He turns to look at her as she says his name, his eyes glowing a burnt-orange color. At the hug he tenses just a bit, but then slowly places an arm around her as well. "You should be. Someone needs to be."
"You're also not some pretty girl, honey." Thea will tease him, though there's something flat about the tone. "He worries someone is going to sneak up and kill me, someday, because of him. But I'm already at risk, so.." She shrugs.
"You deserve to be happy, too." She'll say softly, leaning into him just a bit. "There has to be someone, somewhere, who is truly happy, right?"
He turns his head to look back out the window, "I'm sure someone out there is. Probably some guy or gal in some one horse town in Idaho who care for nothing in this world but their crops or herd, wants for nothing because they live off the land and what they grow or raise for themself and family. Probably doesn't even own a TV, or know what a mutant is, or if they do they don't care because to them if just doesn't matter."
He takes in a deep breath and lets it out slowly, "No, i'm not a pretty girl like you, or Jean, or Scarlett. I guess that makes me expendable."
"Sometimes I wonder what it would be like. To just.. leave town. Maybe go to Greece, live on one of the little islands, have a garden, buy my fish fresh.. " She'll say quietly, before there's a chuckle. "I'd go nuts in no time, no doubt."
Her head lifts, and she'll move to shake him a bit. "No. No you're not. You're not expendable, certainly not to me. You're just.. harder to kill."
"We could too. You know, just buy an island somewhere? It's not like we couldn't afford it. But you're right…we would probably end up going stir crazy after a while." Warren says as he looks out over the city. "Hell, I live in my own little ivory tower here in the middle of the greatest city in the world, and I'm miserable."
He smirks, moving his head to glance down at her, "Only because they made me this way. I don't think they did that because they were trying to 'better my life', Thea. No, I was 'built' to be a weapon. Hard to kill, but still expendable. I don't think anyone would shed a tear if I hadn't have made it out of there, aside from you. You might have spared a couple."
"You're miserable because you're constipated, Warren. Because, to use your phrase, you need to shit or get off the pot." Thea will counter.
Brows will lift. "I never said they did it to make you a better person, or give you a better life. I'm not defending what was done to you at all. I'm only saying that it would be a reason Logan would recruit you. I can kill, but I'm just as easy TO kill." Her jaw will clench. "I spared more than a couple for weeks after you were gone."
Warren sighs. "Sorry, that was unfair." He shakes his head and leans over to place his lips tentatively on top of her head. "Apparently they made me into more of an asshole too."
He looks back out to the city, "You're probably right. I need to decide what to do with my life, one way or the other. Until I do, I am just going to be a prisoner in my own home. In my own life."
"It was unfair. And you have a lot of right to be an asshole about some things. But not about that. Never about how I felt about you." Her voice is still pitched low, quiet.
"I want better than that, for you. I want you to feel free, Warren. I want you to be happy. I just don't know what I can do to help you on your way there."
"I don't know if that is possible, Thea." Warren says in a quiet voice. "I don't think I will ever be 'free'. I don't think the world will ever let someone like me be free. You at least can hide, nobody will ever know you are what you are unless you want them to."
He moves away, letting his arm fall from her waist and heading back over towards the bottle on the table, reaching out to pick it up and taking it towards a collection of empty bottles on the bar counter. "For what it is worth, I do hope that you and Logan can find whatever happiness you can get. If you need me to kick his ass, let me know. I'm not sacred to bloody that runt's nose."
"I have to hope. Because I know you deserve it. You deserve to be happy, and have the good things in life. Not just the ones money can buy." Thea says softly.
There's a hint of a frown as he walks way, her eyes watching him. "I'm not pinning my happiness on Logan." She says softly, heading towards her coat. "Nor do I need anyone to do my fighting for me, Warren. What I do need, is to go check in with work." She'll scoop up her coat and bag, before hurrying over to kiss his cheek. "Call me, huh? I'll come make you dinner or something."
Warren glances over at Thea and nods. "Probably a good bet, but if you aren't pinning it on him, then why be with him?" He shrugs and starts to toss the empty bottles into a trashcan, "I'll call soon. Hell, if I come out I may need a couch to crash on."