capeandcowllogs | read an unwritten warning / saying I'm still mourning [INCOMPLETE]

WHO: Logan (

sunfire_ii)
WHERE: just outside the Tower.
WHEN: Monday afternoon, after Mariko's first post.
WARNINGS: EPIC SAD. Otherwise none.
SUMMARY: Mariko arrives in the City. Logan needs to see her.
FORMAT: Quickpara whatever.

Logan's day had started off bad and gone downhill from there. If it wasn't the missiles being fired at the City from god only knew where, it was the damn monsters crawlin' up outta the gutters. And now this.

Mariko. Seeing her there on the tiny video screen of the commuicator had made his heart turn over in his chest. She looked younger, harder, like she'd been fighting half her life just to keep running. She spoke English like a native, her Japanese accent caught like burrs on her tongue. But she was still Mariko. Hearing her say his codename --

Not this. Anythin' but this. Skrulls. Galactus. Anythin' but this.

He drew the bike up outside the Tower. Everywhere there was chaos -- people shouting, screaming. The crackle of machine gun fire. Bolts of energy flying through the air, shattering the plate glass of a window somewhere high above him and sending it spilling out like snow, or cherry blossoms.

Logan barely noticed.

He could smell her. For a moment he stood by the bike, one hand on the pommel, just smelling her scent. Different, but the same. She smelled like more Shiro now, that weird popped-match stink.

Different, but the same. And goddamn, it hurt. Why did it always hurt?

He didn't have to walk far before he found her. Had to clear his throat before he could say her name. Last time he'd spoken it, he'd been standing by her grave.

"Mariko," he called, softly.

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She'd felt a little more at ease when Selina'd given her some information on this Wolverine being alright, though she certainly wasn't at ease. She'd met too many versions of too many people to think she could trust any of them completely yet. That she'd have to judge on her own. She'd spent the last half of her life doing what she needed to do to survive; the X-Men and Exiles had let her go soft in a way. It gave her a set of people she felt she could trust without question.

Here, like before, she was very much reminded of how on her own she was.

She didn't know what Wolverine wanted with her; he'd been a former teammate, and in one world apparently a lover. She was starting to get the somewhat awkward feeling that perhaps this Wolverine was the latter.

This wasn't going to end well. Or probably even start well.

She turned when she heard his voice, offering him a smile. "Logan." He used her first name, after all. That made it fair game, right? Her Wolverine and her hadn't been the best of friends, but they'd gotten along well enough.

Hearing her say his name felt like a physical blow, like he'd been punched in the chest. He bared his teeth a little and looked away from her.

"Do me a favour, darlin'," he growled. "Don't call me that."

Her eyes widened a fraction and she took an actual physical step back. Whatever reaction she'd been expecting, that hadn't been it. He'd been the one to meet up with her, after all, and now he was acting like her just being here was somehow offensive.

"Alright, fine," She bit off, a mix of irritation, confusion and fear making her accent more prominent than usual. "Wolverine."

He caught the anger in her voice: couldn't blame her for it. She'd only been in the City a couple hours at most, dropped into a warzone and now some guy she hardly knew was.. was..

What? What was he even doing here? He'd wanted to make sure she wasn't the Mariko he knew; the Mariko who had loved him at a time when he barely knew how to love himself. She had sacrificed everything because of him; for him. This girl standing in front of him -- she wasn't his Mariko. She never had been. Never would be.

So why wasn't he leaving?

He grunted, bitterly amused. One time in his life he'd rather be called that.

"Better. Sorry, it's just -- " he pushed out a breath, and raised a hand to scrub across his face under the mask. "You ain't exactly who I expected."

"Yeah, I get that sometimes," She said, still a little tense. No matter what she'd been told earlier, this Wolverine seemed far from "fine."

It felt like being trapped across from a wild animal, only not quite as feral as one she'd met before.

At least this one was dressed. Sort of.

"You aren't like any of the other Wolverines I've met either, if that helps." Shit, this is the one Morph was talking about, isn't it? She shrugged a little. "Angel told me that in his world I was a guy, for one."

Wolverine studied her for a moment, head tilted slightly to one side.

"Yeah," he said eventually. "Sunfire, right? Back where I come from, guy that wears that name was your cousin. The version of you that I knew, anyhow. She didn't -- "

He scowled suddenly, glancing away at the Tower that loomed above them. His fists tightened and loosened reflexively at his sides.

"Fuck, I hate this stuff."

Edited 2009-03-17 16:10 (UTC)

"Yeah, Sunfire. I don't have any cousins. Or, well, I guess I might, but I haven't exactly kept in touch with my family for awhile. I really doubt any of them are mutants too, though." She snorted indelicately. Given the way she'd been treated when they found out the wouldn't have survived. She was positive that she'd now be the cautionary story of her family. Be careful or you'll end up a deviant like Mariko! She's been cursed for disrespecting her family!

She folded her hands lightly over her stomach, rubbing a little at her arm. After that little outburst she was left feeling more awkward than angry. "... you must be the one where I-- someone told me. Sorry," She added a little softly. She hadn't expected to ever have to meet this one. What were the odds?

It was all Wolverine could do to stop himself reaching out to her, putting a hand on her arm or her shoulder. She looked so damn young.

"Ain't your fault, darlin'," he growled. The heavy thud of an explosion two blocks over had him glancing up the street, eyes narrowed, before turning his attention back to Mariko.

"This ain't exactly the best time to be standin' about talkin'. You got somewhere to go?"

She was young, she supposed. Or at least had pulled her out of her family and their rigid traditions before they made her grow up faster than she should've.

Mariko glanced in the direction Wolverine turned to with a small frown, pushing herself up off the ground with a small burst of heat to get a better view.

".. yeah. I was talking to this Angel guy a little earlier, sounded like he could use some help. I thought I might head over that way."

She hesitated, glancing down at him after a moment. "Are you.... gonna be okay?"

It was more'n a little strange, seeing Shiro's powers manifest in his cousin's body. Wolverine watched her for a moment, feeling the warmth of the flames against his body, like a lover's touch.

He grinned, though there was no humour in the sharp white points of his teeth and the expressionless glower of his mask.

"Darlin', that's what I'm best at."

She knew better than to trust that grin. She'd never been terribly close to Wolverine but it didn't take a genius, or Wolverine's nose, to sniff out this particular lie.

But what could she do about it? Mariko had the sinking feeling that just being around him was making it worse. Something told her that giving him a hug and a pep-talk would be just this side of useless.

"Alright," She said, though she didn't bother to hide the doubt from her voice. "Just.. take care of yourself, Wolverine."

If something happened to him after this-- somehow, she thought, it would be her fault.

read an unwritten warning / saying I'm still mourning [INCOMPLETE]

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sorry for the late reply saldjdf

ITS OKAY IM JUST EXCITED THAT YOU DID <3

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sdaflkjweo my turn to be slow orz and holy shit Mariko's in the new X-Men cartoon