13611/New Lots Old Pots

New Lots Old Pots
Date of Scene:	20 December 2022
Location:	somewheres
Synopsis:	Gambit gets in some trouble, as usual, but this time a unusual helper appears out of no where to get him a little less banged up!
Cast of Characters:	Remy LeBeau, Maria King

---

Remy LeBeau has posed:
Remy has had a lot of work on his hands, someone had tried to ruin what he'd managed to scrape together, and it had worked. He'd had a new life in Westchester, a girl he cared the world for, and a life he was trying to build, while run from the old one. It caught back up with him though, and now he was trying hard to figure out who'd done it to him. With very little results thus far.

A door on the back of a bar is thrown open, a shout is heard, and Remy is sent stumbling out in to the alley behind the bar. In his leather trench coat, he stumbles out in to the snowy alley, as four men come stalking out after him.

"You're a dirty cheat, LeBeau." The largest of the four says, cracking his knuckles. "And we're gonna make you pay for what you've done to our kind...."

One of the other three men doesn't wait, he'd had a desire to get Remy since he walked in to the bar that night. He thrusts his hands out and sends a wave of kinetic energy flying at Remy who is turning to face the four men, blood already dripping out the side of his mouth.

The kinetic energy wave hits Remy and sends him flying backward in to the brick wall across the alley! He slams in to it, and starts to crumble down to the ground at its base...

The four men snort, laugh, snicker and start to walk toward the crumpled-up LeBeau.

"Lets not kill him. Lets just rough him up, let the others decide his fate." The biggest of the fource says as his hands turn from pale skin to dark scaly armored mitts.

Maria King has posed:
The competition among the homeless for castoff food increases with the worsening weather. Though food kitchens and shelters do their best to help people out, there are always those who avoid them for reasons real or imagined.

Maria King had waited in a back alley for a bakery to take out their burnt and old fare. Only to have a pair of men that she recognized as rather aggressive show up a few minutes before the bag with the castoffs was brought out.

She'd had to stay back in her hiding place as she watched them make off with enough food to have gotten her through a day or two. Rising and kicking at a lump in the snow, the petite teen hurried over to the trash bin, her hands tucked under her arms for warmth. The dark-haired girl dug through the refuse, which thankfully was mostly bagged.

Score! It was just a box of donuts, stale by now, and only half full. But it would ease the black hole that her stomach had seemed to have turned into for the last few years.

Tucking it under her coat, Maria hurried away, down the alley and taking the turn at the next one. Though the sounds of the fight spilling out from the bar gives the teen pause, and she hides at the corner, peeking around it to watch.

Remy LeBeau has posed:
What Maria's eyes behold are a series of kicks, stomping motions, and general ass-whoopery unfolding before her just down the alleyway. At least she has donuts to enjoy the show with! The four men really let loose on the guy that they're trying to teach a lesson to, and as he just lays there, crumpled on the floor in a heap of his own leather coat, and snow all over him now, he just takes it.

When the four men stop and take a breather, they back up, and the largest one flexes his scaly hands. He looks at his companions, and then back down at Remy's form in the snowy filth of the alley floor.

"Eh, fuck it. Who cares if he dies." The big man says as he lifts up his right foot and aims to smash it down on Remy's head.

Then the show picks up in its CGI budget, as the prone man on the ground flips over on to his back, and his arm waves out, fanning out above him, and following his arm motion are a series of bright pink and purple energy beams that lance out from the man's form! Each one screams in the alleyway, like fireworks, they scream loud, and sizzle hot as they each strike the four men assaulting Remy, each one blasting in to the four men's chests. Each one bursts, explodes, and sends the four men flying backward across the alley back toward the bar! One of the men even flies through the kitchen window, sending shards of glass spraying inside the bar's interior!

It's quite a show for the young urchen girl!

Maria King has posed:
Maria King's arms are huddled about herself for warmth, the donut box secure beneath her coat with her arms wrapped around it for extra security. She winces as she watches the kicks and other blows land on the outnumbered man.

The girl's brows draw down in concern. She's been on the end of a number of those kind of blows in her life. Both before and after she ran away from home. Her heart goes out to the outnumbered man. She looks at the men who outnumber him, a pair of them weighing at least twice what she does. The prospect of intervening doesn't even really occur to her. It would so obviously accomplish nothing to help, beyond adding her to the list of those being assaulted.

She turns to glance back the alleyway. The police are usually anathema to the girl, but maybe she could get one of the businesses to call them and help-

The sudden burst of energy makes Maria jump and give out a tiny yelp of surprise as it cuts through her thoughts. Her eyes widen as she sees the men thrown back, the one shattering that window as he goes through. Maria's eyes settle on the downed man again, realizing he must be a mutant or an alien or... or something special.

Remy LeBeau has posed:
All five men are incapacitated after that energy strike from Remy. Two of his attackers seem to be down and out too, one being the one who flew through that window. The other two are trying to get back up, but are stuck atop a bunch of trash left out for pickup tomorrow.

It's Remy who gets up first, first to one knee, then up to his full height. He mutters something vocally, and as it carries across the cold winter wind to Maria, it is the sound of French words.

Remy reaches his left hand up to stroke at the back of his bleeding nose, then he glances at the back of his knuckles. He says something else in French, then, while the two men make it to their feet. One of them is the big one, with the scaly armored skin that is going up his face now, creeping its way out of his shirt collar, covering his bald head entirely now.

"Cute trick." The scaly-one says as his smaller companion is up on his feet again now too. "You burned my clothes!" He shouts, looking down at himself. "I loved this shirt."

Remy smiles at this, a tired, bloodied-lipped, smile. "You look like a fool." He says in his grumbly Cajun accented English then.

The two men growl curse words back at the Cajun, and rush him!

Remy snaps his right hand out, and a bo-staff elongates up to six feet in length as he twirls it, and engages the two men, fighting them both at the same time, one on either side of him.

Now it's become a real heated fight, truly a good bit of entertainment for Maria!

Remy is graceful in his movements, skilled with that combat staff. He downs the shorter of the two men in short order, and is then left to spar with the big scaly-one. They trade blows, Remy defending himself with that staff, before the big guy finds and opening and just comes barreling down the alleyway WITH Remy over his shoulder!

They smash right in to where Maria was hiding!

Maria King has posed:
The corner where Maria was peeping from has a number of bags of garbage and some old two by fours and other debris piled at it. A dusting of snow covers most of it. As she watches the fight, wincing several times as blows are struck, the kind-hearted teen suddenly gets a bad feeling. Right about the time she sees the scaly man shoot at Remy's midsection like an MMA fighter trying to take him down. Only rather than a take down he appears intent on ramming him into whatever they eventually reach.

Like, Maria and her hiding place.

She jumps out of the way just in time as they come crashing into the pile of debris. The girl hits hard in the alleyway, rolling as best she can. That poor discard donut box beneath her coat gets crushed pretty bad and the contents likely smooshed. Though if you are down to eating stale donuts, having them be smooshed isn't going to stop you much.

She gets quickly to her feet, the feeling of being exposed crashing in on her. Staying unnoticed is one of her main survival tactics on the street. She backs away as she looks to see what the result of them smashing into the corner and the debris was.

Remy LeBeau has posed:
The Scaled Man slams Remy right through all the refuse, and stacked up palettes lining the alleyway wall! It's a mess, it looks painful, and its not good for the Cajun one bit!

When it's all said and done, it's the big scaley one who is standing up over Remy again, this time the Cajun's head is turned to the side and he looks knocked out, or dead. One of the two. The scaled man stares down at the Cajun, and hufs out a snort of a laugh. "That's what you get, for fuckin' with me." He grunts out, having not noticed Maria even once yet. The big guy leans down then, and starts to move Remy's coat open. He starts fishing around in the pockets, pulling out things that he tosses off to the side. A toy frog, a box of playing cards, a photo of Remy and some chick with a dog, then he finds it. He releases a happy chuckle.

The man straightens up then, holding a massive wad of cash. He thumbs through it, fifties and one-hundreds lighting up his eyes. "Who knew a rat like you would have this kinda dough?" The big man says, the scales leaving his body as his skin returns to its normal flushed-white hue. "Thanks, LeBeau. Happy to take your cash any time..."

He's about to turn again when he hears a noise from Remy, a word, low spoken.

"What was that?" He asks, looking down at the Cajun on the floor of the alley. "Speak up, Dumb Ass..."

Remy mutters something again, and now the man leans down a little. "In my good ear?" He taunts Remy.

Quickly sitting up, Remy tucks a whole pack of cards in to the pocket on the front of the man's chest, and the cards suddenly burn a bright pink-purple glow! It lasts only a few seconds before the whole deck of cards explodes, sending the Big Man flying away across the alley and in to a dumpster of wet snowy covered trash!

Remy is knocked out by the last, and left sprawled out on the alley floor, and all around Maria...

... money rains down from above... mixed in with falling snow.

Maria King has posed:
Later, if she even thinks about it, Maria will assume she saw the glow and that was what let her dive out of the way of the blast in time. In the moment though her ears are ringing and the whole world is a bit blurry until her head clears and she sits up from where she dove across the alleyway.

She looks around, some of the loose bills still falling though most have settled to the ground by now. The eighteen year old looks around, seeing that all of the men involved in the fight are down.

Her eyes go to a few of the bills sitting right in front of where she's sitting. Her fingers work, fidgeting against each other as she eyes them. She rises a little unsteadily, scooping up a couple of the bills to stuff into her pocket.

Though before she'd done much of that, her eyes go back to where the Cajun is lying unconscious, and then looking back to the scaly mutant who ended up across the alley from him. "His friends are going to come to before they do," she mumbles to herself, looking back at Remy as if envisioning what his fate will be then.

She frowns in indecision only for the briefest moment, before moving over to Remy. Maria bends down to pick up something else, pocketing it, and then takes hold of Remy beneath his arms and begins to drag him away. Thankfully her squat is nearby, and the streets pretty deserted at this hour.

  ------------------

When Remy comes to, he'll find a pair of thin blankets covering him. Not too far away a fire crackles in a firepit made of a few cement blocks, with a metal pizza pan across the bottom helping contain the coals.

The building itself seems to be half-collapsed. An interior room of... where? There are a few desks, pushed to the side, and two of them missing parts as if they've provided wood for the fire. There are two metal filing cabinets, one half-buried beneath a collapsed wall. There are some posters and calendars still visible on a wall which suggest it had once been an insurance office.

At the moment, there's no signs of anyone else there. A hole at the bottom of one wall looks to be the only obvious way in or out, though getting through it would pretty much involve crawling.

There are a few items nearby out of place for a derelict insurance office. A pair of ice skates. Two gallon jugs of water. A thoroughly smooshed box of donuts, the contents pulverized if still an edible source of calories.

Remy LeBeau has posed:
Remy likely felt like he weighed a million pounds, being drug through the snowy alleys to get to where Maria has been hunkering down. But once she has him there, and has him in-place where he's left to recover... the man just lays there peacefully slumbering.

He sleeps for quite awhile, in fact, though he does mutter a few things now and then before fidgeting and falling still again.

Finally though, he does wake up, his eyelids do open, and he just mutters something. "Jeepers, you better not have peed on my boots..."

It takes about three seconds after he says that before he lunges up and sits up straight. He quickly looks around the room, before noting the fire, the jugs of water, then he just groans with a throbbing headache striking him, and a hand going up to his forehead... "Where in da Hell am I?" He asks, his voice grumbly and tired sounding. His hands go up to his chest to search for something, likely the money, right?

"Where my stuff?" He asks next, his long hair falling down around his eyes.

He tosses the blanket off of himself and struggles up to his feet now as he starts to gain his senses and starts to search his pockets...

Maria King has posed:
Unfortunately the objects removed by Remy's attacker are not there. Including his money. The fire is giving off enough warmth that the room isn't necessarily a comfortable temperature, but at least warm enough that someone in it isn't likely to freeze to death.

Not long after he wakes, while he's still taking stock of his surroundings, and possessions, a sound comes from the hole. Something sliding. Not long after a pair of feet emerge from the hole, someone crawling through backwards. Before they fully exit it, that sound of something being slid across the floor in the adjoining room can be heard again.

Finally the person exits the hole, pulling a small beat up knapsack with her. It looks like it could have served on Korea it's so old and faded.

The person is a girl in her late teens. She's wearing a jacket, but one that doesn't look heavy enough for the current weather. A sweater is visible beneath it. Her brunette hair got mussed up crawling through the hole, and she finger combs it back away from her eyes as she spots Remy already on his feet.

There's a bit of nervousness, but not enough to hold her tongue. "You... you fought some men outside a bar. And you were knocked out," she tells him quietly. "You and the other guys. I dragged you here before they could wake up," Maria tells Remy quietly. After a moment she adds. "They are awake now too. But I covered the tracks of dragging you. I don't think they'll be able to follow," she says sheepishly, looking down, only stealing glances up at the taller man now and then.

Remy LeBeau has posed:
Under his leather coat, Remy was wearing a dark red vest over a black dress shirt, some black slacks and a pair of thick leather boots with deep treaded soles, he was dressed nicely, all things considered, but the clothing got pretty dirty during that fight earlier.

He eyes the body as it slinks back in to the den, then sees her pushing aside her hair to stare at him, to speak to him more easily.

"You did wha--" He trails off and looks toward where she'd come from. "Dey not followin' you?" He asks, to make sure.

Apparently not.

"You get any'a my stuff before dey got it?" He then asks of her, before he eyes that sack she was dragging in to this little hovel...

Maria King has posed:
The man's calm enough reaction puts her a little more at ease. He hadn't seemed like he was likely to be the aggressor in that fight. And she had a good feeling about him. Or more like, she didn't have a bad feeling about him. Which for Maria often amounted to the same thing.

"Only a couple of dollars that landed near me," she says. She crouches down, unfastening the top of the small knapsack, which doesn't have much in it at the moment. "I spent it on this, for you," she says, pulling out some aspirin, and bandages, and some antiseptic lotion. She offers them up to the man before setting the small knapsack over beside the water, ice skates and her other possessions.

"Yeah, they looked around, but then went off the other way eventually," the pretty girl tells him quietly, her eyes peeking back up at Remy. "I only went to get the bandages after I was sure they weren't able to follow," she tells him.

"Do you want some water? And, I have some... very smooched donuts," she says, eyeing again the box that she landed on twice.

Remy LeBeau has posed:
Once Remy is fairly certain this girl isn't 'one of them' he settles a bit. His hands go to his hips and he just shifts his weight from one foot to the other. He curses in another language, and looks away toward what remains of the fire. It's her words about the stuff she'd brought that draws his weird black and red eyes back down toward her. He stares at her for a lingering moment, like he's trying to figure something out.

"Why you helpin' me?" He asks her then, before he turns to the fire, steps over to it, and crouches on one knee to stoke the flames some, to get the fire going hotter again since she'd last tended it. He spares another glance over at her. "Who you, anyhow?" He asks further.

Maria King has posed:
When the larger man crouches by the fire, seeming to accept what happened, it also seems to put the smaller teen more at ease. She opens up the box, getting some of the crumbles of donut in hand and dropping them into her mouth as she tips her head back. Their staleness is evident even in their demolished state, but she isn't slow in getting a second handful to eat. She sets the box near enough Remy can get some of it if he wants.

"I... don't know. Just you... the other guys I figured would be up first. And, I could tell from what they'd said during the fight you wouldn't have made it if they did," she says, looking down shyly.

As Remy starts stoking the fire, she reaches over to where there's a modest stack of wood. Not firewood, mainly bits of broken pallet, lose boards, a leg from one of the desks. Whatever wood she's been able to scrounge. She passes two of the pieces over to him. "It isn't enough to get warm, but enough to not be cold anyway," she says of the small fire.

She looks back up to him then, a hand moving up to brush back stray locks of hair that had again tumbled in front of her eyes. "I'm Maria," she offers meekly. After a moment, she asks, "Why were you fighting with them?"

Remy LeBeau has posed:
Remy accepts the junk to throw on the flames. He does his best to get them in as good a spot as he can whilst he listens to her short response. "I better at cards den dey are." He fires back. "I took all dere money, and dat make them angry..." He gives a few more pokes to the flames before he sits back on his right foot and drops his hands down to his left knee. He then looks back over at her.

"Dey also think I killed a buncha dere friends... So..." He trails off then, his eyes going to her smooshed donuts.

He's hungry, but not quite that hungry.

After a second or two of silence, he looks back at her eyes. "What are you doin' in a place like dis, Maria?" He asks her then. "You drugger? You some pimp's lovely lil'lady?" He smirks at this, though the weariness in his voice suggests he's just being silly.

Maria King has posed:
Maria sits in a crouch, her bottom resting on her heels. Near to the fire which is where one has to be if they want to feel the warmth of it. She holds her hands out near to it, warming her fingers and palms, working them as if they were quite cold by the time she dragged Remy back to the squat, then having gone back out for the medical supplies after he took his own blast at such point blank range.

"Did you? Kill their friends, I mean?" she asks quietly. The girl's brown eyes hold a reflection of the firelight as she looks over at the man.

She isn't shy about continuing to eat the donut crumbs. From the way she's eating them steadily, one could probably jump to an assumption she hadn't eaten much recently.

The question gets a quick shake of her head in response. "No. I stay away from that stuff. Drugs and... the guys who force women to that," she says. "I found it," she says, looking around the insurance office repurposed into a personal homeless squat. The rest of the building is in worse shape and has been cleaned out, so people rarely come in it. And the only way into here, I have something covering the hole so they won't find it," she says. "The light doesn't make it out either. There's a little hole up there to let the smoke out," she says, glancing up towards a corner where the roof is partially caved in. "A little water gets in over there when it rains, but the rest is dry."

Remy LeBeau has posed:
Remy hadn't given his name back to her, yet. He does stare at her as she replies to him, though he doesn't make any real sense of whether he believes her or not. His eyes look around at the little space she's crafted for herself, the leaky hole, the other parts of it. Finally, though, he looks back at her.

His right hand comes up and he scratches at the side of his face, his mind clearly turning.

"You know.... dis... place..." He flourishes his hand around a little. "It nice'n all... but..." He flourishes his hand toward her then. "But it beneath you. You too pretty for it. It don't add up, Chere.." He says, shaking his head.

Remy looks back over to the fire and moves again to adjust it some. "I done a lotta countin' in my days, an' I know good'n well when somethin' don't add up..."

With a exhale, remy sits back again, but this time up a little on that bed she'd put him on. "Don't know how a girl like you end up in a place like dis... but, at the end'a da day, dat your story, an' none'a my business."

Remy exhales then, and moves his hands to adjust his jacket over his shoulders. "I did not kill nobody neither. I just the fall guy, da one dey blamin' t'clear their own asses..."

Maria King has posed:
The smallest little touch of color comes to Maria's cheeks, having nothing to do with warming back up, as Remy says the complimentary things about her. It's easy enough to read her reaction to it. The tiny look of the compliment being pleasing, but overwhelmed by the part of her that can't truly take it to heart because she doesn't believe it about herself.

Maria doesn't offer any more insights into the discrepancy he sees though, instead focusing on Remy's answer to her question. "It's best to just keep your head down, and not be noticed," she tells him quietly as her eyes gaze at the crackling fire. "When you're noticed that's when the bad stuff happens, like tonight."

She gets another handful of crumbs, giving a little sigh of contentment to have them in her belly after she's swallowed them. Maria grabs the water jug and undoes the cap to take a drink from it. She offers it towards Remy. "Did the blast hurt you? I brought the bandages and ointment if you need me to clean and bandage anything," she tells him. "The other guy... um, he had scales, and... he looked in kind of bad shape. Though he was still alive. There was a bit of blood on him."

Remy LeBeau has posed:
Remy's right hand goes up to stroke at his stubble covered jawline. He eyes the girl as she responds to him, and spares her another small smirk. When the offer of water is given, he reaches out to accept it. He tips the jug up for a sip, then lowers it down to the top of his right knee. "Dat Bruno. He'll be fine. He sturdy, like a brick shithouse." He raises the jug up for another drink before he lowers it and offers it back.

"My name is Remy, LeBeau. Some call me Gambit though, so if'n ya hear that gettin' muttered on the wind, along with cursin' an' flurries'a heinous lies, you know who they talkin' about..."

He touches his forehead where he has a cut, and some blood, along with blood on his lower lip, and some gathering up under his nose that seems dry now at least. "I prolly look like a right mess, na?" He asks of her. "Don't think anythin' is broken though, which is the benefit a fillin' your coat up with random crap. Pads against da beatins'" He flashes her a little grin then, before he reaches out for the bandages that she'd brought.

"So, Miss Maria. I owe you for dis kindness shown." He says next while unraveling the bandage to use it to dab at his cut skin marks.

"Hows about after I get fixed up a bit, I go get us some real food? Pizza an' wings? Ya want some beer? I could use some beer..." He says with a heavy exhale chasing his words. "Course, I thinkin' they got mosta my money, but... I always got more..."

Maria King has posed:
Maria King eats more of the donuts while listening to Remy. "Hi Remy," she says after having been given his name. She seems a bit more comfortable the longer that he's been there, and eventually goes from sitting on her heels, to pulling the blanket over for a seat and then sitting down on it beside him.

She watches as he examines the wounds he took from the blast. "Cold weather on something like that'll leave a scar if not taken care of," she says in a knowing way.

As he starts to unroll the bandage, she comments, "I don't have a mirror. Here, let me help?" If he is amenable to it, she moves over to sit in front of him, off to the side just a bit so the firelight can fall on his face directly. She gets a rag and wets it from the water jug, then shows a very gentle touch as she dabs it to clean away the blood from around the cut on his forehead.

He can probably sense her answer to the offer of food in just her change of posture. Sitting up a little straighter even though trying to not look too excited at the offer. "Yes... if that isn't going to put you out. I haven't had pizza in..." she says, and after trailing off for a few seconds and not coming up with an answer, saying, "... in awhile."

She gently dabs the clean, damp rag against his skin, and says, "This might sting a little bit," as she gets out the tube of antiseptic and applies a little of it to the cut. It does sting. The good ones always do.

Remy LeBeau has posed:
Remy just backs off from tending to the cuts himself. He watches her move to help him, and just keeps his red eyes upon hers. He watches her reaction to the offer of food, and holds a faint smirk at the sight of it. "I figured as much, Chere." He says quietly back at her, his hands resting between his knees now with his fingers lazily interlacing together.

"You know... if you really ain't inta da drugs'n street life, dese streets are gonna force it upon ya sooner or later..." He warns her. "I only say it cause you gotta find a way off'em, before dey corrupt you. Dey gonna turn your life inta a certain kinda Hell, an' you seem too innocent t'fall inta that kinda bullshit... I know you prolly got your reasons for bein' in a place like dis... but... I just mean--"

He's cut off by the pain of that antiseptic being applied. He hisses, winces and just reacts like a general baby might! Some tough guy!

"Damn, dat smarts...." He finally says to it before he relaxes a little again. "What you put in dat, pure acid?" He asks of her with a straight face, but soon cracks a grin, apparently playing it up a little for humors sake....

Maria King has posed:
The talk about life on the streets causes the girl's eyes to lower for a moment before she looks back up to meet Remy's unusual eyes for a moment. "It's not easy," she concedes softly, looking down. But not providing more on why she's there, especially if she realizes the truth of what he's saying.

She applies the antiseptic, which fizzes slightly. Another way you know it's working. That and the man's reaction to it.

His reaction, more than anything seems to cause the pretty girl to relax a little more. "You big baby, it's not that bad," she says in a warm, light-hearted tone. "The acid just lets you know it's working."

For the first time Remy gets to see what a pretty smile she has. She truly could be on the pages of a magazine. The face glimpsed when flipping past that makes one turn back the pages to find her again for a second look.

Though the collapsing building is a far cry from the 5th Avenue modeling agencies. "It'll stop stinging in a few seconds," she tells him, her fingers gently touching his face just below the cut. Her eyes focus back on it then as she applies a butterfly bandaid across it. "So, Remy?" she asks, her eyes going to his again. "How are you able to... to do the things you did back there in the alley?" she asks him.

Remy LeBeau has posed:
The sly Cajun man just smiles proudly at her at his display of manly pain tolerance, or a lack there of. He doesn't comment on it again though, and just stares at her. Her smile does make him gently tip his head to the side ever so slightly, as he sees she's got her all her teeth too, and they're even pretty also. This is a big conundrum to the Cajun, but he doesn't talk on it again... just yet.

Her question does make his hand goe down to a stray piece of paper within arms reach. He gathers it up and wads it in to a ball. He raises it up between them then, and just holds it there, between thumb and forefinger.

Nothing happens. Is she supposed to stare at it? What is---

The wad of paper ignites like a light bulb, illuminating both of their faces in a wash of pink and purple. It glows super, super bright, even starting to sizzle, before it quietly screams out like it's screaming in pain...

Then it bursts, but not in an explosion. It just bursts in to tiny little flecks of energy that fade away as they fall down between where the two of them are seated..

The light, the sizzling, the crackling, and the screaming, fades away.

"I am mutant, hear me roar." Remy says then in a dry tone of his Louisiana accent. "I make things go boom, among other things..."

Maria King has posed:
Maria King has started on another of the cuts on Remy's face, dabbing it clean as gently as she can, before he picks up the bit of paper and starts the demonstration. The petite teen watches it, shying back only a tiny amount after having seen the blast that Remy is capable of producing.

Though when it finally goes off with what Maria considers the colorful light equivalent of confetti, she breaks out in a warm giggle and he earns another of those lovely smiles from her.

Maria reacts to the information he's a mutant with an audible sigh of relief. "Oh, thank God," she says quietly in response, and goes back to cleaning the cut on his cheek. "I was afraid maybe you were from another planet. You know, something that lays eggs," she says while focused on the first aid work.

Her eyes move back to his. "I never really got over 'Alien' when I saw it. You know, the..." she says, and trails off as she moves her hand over to her torso and then has it push forth like the baby xenomorph bursting out of the person's body in the movie.

"I think you're the second mutant I've met," she says as she gently brushes a finger on his cheek alongside the cut. "The first one I've pulled unconscious from a fight though. Just in case you thought that implied you aren't special to me," she says with a bit of a twinkle of mischief in her eye. She gets the antiseptic and applies it. Careflly, trying to not make it sting too much. Then a bandage after.

Remy LeBeau has posed:
Remy falls mostly still up to the point where she mimes the Alien stomach monster. This has him flashing another wide smile. He shakes his head side to side then. "I am a lotta things, Chere, but I am not a Xenomorph, an' you do not need ta nuke me from orbit, just t'be sure things are safe..." He pauses for a mere moment before adding. "Besides, I more of a Star Trek kinda guy anywho..." He glimmers another grin at her.

Then with the kind touch to the side of his face, Remy tilts his head again as he watches her closely. "How long you been out here, Boo?" He asks of her. "Dere a lotta mutants in this area, in this part'a town. If'n you only met just me, an' some other... far less amazin' mutant... I'm wonderin' if'n this lifestyle'a burnin' bed posts, an' crushed up Gas Station donuts is new for you. Might also explain why you ain't ended up bagged and shipped off t'Mexico by now too... as dere may be a lotta Mutants 'round here, but dere also a lotta bad folks, in and amongst them."

Maria King has posed:
The bandage covers the cut on his cheek. "Shouldn't scar now," she says of it, examining her handy work, before her eyes move back over to Remy. "I've seen some before. Or, you know, I assumed they were mutants. But I didn't meet them. Or maybe I have met more but just didn't realize it," she says to him.

The new wood on the fire has caught and had a chance to get really going, a little extra warmth added to the room. Maria unzips her jacket, which is a bit light weight for the worst of New York's winter. Beneath it is a sweater, charcoal grey with some patterns in black. It's visibly frayed at the cuffs and there's a little hole on one side by her belly.

Maria doesn't dodge the question she was asked, just takes a little longer to get back around to it. "I left home when I was sixteen. Upwards of two years now," she tells him. "I've just kind of done my best to keep a low profile. A hood up over my head and baggy enough clothes and a lot of people seem to write me off for being a younger boy. It... it helps, to not draw attention," she says with a little wince.

Her eyes go back to Remy's. "But you seem to thrive on attention. The card game and all. What's that saying, can shear a sheep as much as you like, but only skin them once. Were you trying to take their money and make them mad? Or just, take their money?"

Remy LeBeau has posed:
Remy reaches his right hand up to gently rub at the handywork she did to his facial cuts. "Thank ya, Chere. Keepin' this face as pretty as it is, is key t'my further successes in life." He jests, boasts, and non-bashfully kids with her. His hand then drops back down to his knee as he watches her shrug off that jacket, and catches the condition of her clothing beneath it. It makes him 'hmm' for a moment, but he doesn't comment on it, as some things are just as they are.

"Well, ya deserve better den dis, Boo. That much I can tell. Ya drug me away from harm, ya nurse me back t'shape an' ya offer me some'a your crumblin' donuts. Dat kinda hospitality is rare, manners amongst thieves...."

He trails off then and shakes his head as he sits up straighter and reaches in to his coat, opening it enough that she can peer inside some, where a NERF blaster gun is hanging inside a net harness, though it looks a little banged up now.

Remy plucks out a leather book, and he thumbs it open. He taps at a page with a list of names.

"Dat big bastard back in da alley? He on my list. He was one'a the mutants who actually did da killin' on dat night I mentioned. Now I'm sworn t'make his life a livin' Hell, for what he'n his have made outta mine.... Takin' all his money is just a perk'a that mission... He's as big as he is a bad card playah."

Maria King has posed:
As Remy tells Maria that she deserves better, she looks down and he earns another of those pretty smiles, even if she shyly shines it down rather than at him directly. "Thank you," she says quietly. She looks like she's about to say more, then seems to change her mind and then says, "I... it's how things are. And, you know, I'm getting by," she says with a little shrug. "Some people have it worse."

The girl watches as Remy pulls out the book. Her exquisitely fine facial features turn into a frown when he mentions the scaly mutant was part of killing others. "Oh. I'm... I'm sorry," she says, the final words coming as if she doesn't know quite what to say about that. "Well, you beat him up pretty good," she says.

The leather book seems to prod something in Maria's memory as she suddenly sits up a little straighter. "Oh, I did get something else of yours," she remembers. "The guy, he went through your coat and was tossing stuff aside, was going to keep the money before you..." she says and then motions with her fingers to indicate the blast.

"Well, when I went over to drag you away, I saw this on the ground beside you," she says, reaching for her jacket and pulling something out of the pocket. She looks at it briefly before handing over to Remy the photo of himself and the lovely girl and the dog. Maria's eyes have moved to his face, watching his reaction to the photo being returned.

Remy LeBeau has posed:
Remy closes the leather journal back up and slips it back in to his jacket inner pocket, one of like thirty pockets on the inside of that thing... He watches her as she retrieves that photograph, and when she offers it back over to him he accepts it, knowing full well what it is. His eyes drop down to it and he stares for a moment before he just looks up at her, past the long dark hair hanging from around his forehead. "Thanks for grabbin' dis." He says to her, before he twirls it across his fingers, making the photo dance over the back of his knuckles, displaying an absurd level of skill with his fingers, before he catches the picture again, and it too is slipped inside his jacket again.

He doesn't comment on it either, he just lets the leather garment fall back down over his chest. "Well, Miss Maria... how about I treat ya t'dat pizza pie?" He asks her then as he moves to stand up, producing out of no where another folded stack of bills... displaying more wild sleight of hand skills.

"I dink it time ya get a reminder'a da sweeter dings in life." He tells her, offering her his right hand, should she wish to take it and rise up again.

Maria King has posed:
The sleight of hand finds an appreciative audience in the girl, and it earns Remy another of those big pretty smiles of hers. "If you'd really rather have a piping hot pizza - and was there mention of beer? - instead of day old donut... powder," she says, looking down at the box. "I mean, who am I to not encourage your dreams?" Maria asks, smiling at Remy and slipping her hand into his and rising with him.

"Have to kind of crawl to get out of here," she says. "Though you fit well enough. You get used to it soon enough," she says of the hole in the wall that leads out. She follows him over, then goes first to slide aside a rusty filing cabinet that is missing its drawers, that covers the hole should anyone come looking in the building.