om_main | John and Laura, Backdated to Christmas

John tries Laura for the third time. Things go much better, this time, much to everyone's surprise.

Well, he had the second-to-last gift to give, now, and this was the one that was the most nerve-wracking. The last time they'd spoken face-to-face, he'd... said and done some things that he shouldn't have, and he'd wound up punched in the throat. That was one familial holiday that he'd screwed up; funny to think that it had happened on Thanksgiving. Now, he was hoping that the third time speaking to her would go much better... Deep breaths, John.

Not that he needed to breathe too deep; he could smell Laura on the wind, and he went ahead and fished the small wooden pendant from his pocket, complete on its black cord. He ran his finger over the claw-engraved kanji for 'sister,' once again having a doubt about whether or not she would like it. Or even care.

He could still smell lingering bits of Rahne's scent on him, from their brief hug, from their exchange. That was one bridge he was considering to be on the mend. Hopefully this would be another. He entered the neck of the woods that Laura frequented, tucking the pendant back into his pocket. Best to keep it there, as a surprise. But first, he had to find her. And hope that she was actually willing to talk...

He didn't have to go far. Laura sat on a fallen log, on a little wooded hill overlooking the lake beyond. She had a barely-used backpack sitting beside her on the ground, and a cozy fleece hoodie wrapped around her. New leather gloves warmed her hands, and for the first time since they'd met, she actually looked relaxed. "How is she? She's been out here too long. I thought about telling the headmasters, but Xavier is a telepath, so I'm sure he knows."

John blinked, at first wondering if this was some sort of hallucination, but he trusted his senses. He leaned against a nearby tree, his head tilted down a bit, looking at Laura's feet. "Better, now, I hope," he said, quietly. "I at least got her to come in for some Christmas food. Gave her a present, an apology, and my hoodie to keep her warm on the way back to the school," John said. He almost felt like he didn't have to even tell her that he was trying to do better. She could probably tell, just from what he'd done. Rahne wasn't fixed, not by any means, but they were all broken, here, and trying to get put back together, piece by piece.

She was quiet for a moment, deciding that she should go see the girl herself once things were settled with John. Finally, she looked away from the lake and turned toward him, piercing green eyes ghosting over him, as if checking him over for wounds. "I don't usually celebrate Christmas. It's...I've always been so alone that it didn't matter."

"My adoptive parents tried to push it, but..." He shook his head. "They made me feel too... different for it... Then of course, y'know, all the time in juvie..." He swallowed. "Kinda forgot what it was like, here, on the outside. Off the streets. Out of the cage."

"I'm sorry," she told him, meeting his gaze. She hadn't known what it was like at all - not until she arrived at the school. But in some ways, that was easier than knowing about something and being deprived of it. She recognized that he hadn't had it easy, and that he'd had to fight tooth and nail for everything he had.

"It's my fault, been my fault. That's... y'know. What I've realized, lately." He sighed. "Look, I'm... I've been a damn fool, and I've done a lot of shit I regret, both before and after I got here. I just... I'm sorry." He said it, and he nodded. "I'm sorry," he said again. "For ... for every mistake in communication we've had since I got here. I'm sorry that I was such a damn animal when I showed up here. I wasn't ready. I wasn't ready to be a brother. I don't even know if I'm ready now."

"Neither of us are," Laura pointed out, rolling one shoulder. "Maybe we shouldn't try to be. Yet."

"Maybe," he admitted, tilting his head to the side. "Might just be a better idea to ... y'know. Not force it." He shrugged. "Either way... you're my sister, like it or not, and that means I, uh... I made you something for Christmas, 'cause I'm poor," he said, digging into his pocket and tugging out the wooden pendant he'd carved with his claws. "I ... didn't really know what you'd like, and... like I said, had no real money. I figured I'd be lucky if you even wanted to talk to me."

"I'm not very good at talking to people," she admitted. "I didn't do much of it before I came here. But...I'm not trying to ignore you." Dropping lithely to the ground, she stepped closer, gloved fingers lifting the wooden amulet to peer at the kanji.

He'd carved, rather well on his final try, the kanji for 'sister' on the pendant, and had even done a little border around the diamond-shape of the pendant. "I was... gonna try to do some burning on it, to blacken in the carved areas, but... I didn't want to ruin it. Or start a fire or something. Never did any crafty stuff, before," he confessed. He'd just wanted to do something. Anything, really. She deserved that much.

"It's very good," Laura told him, lifting the pendant to hook around her neck beneath the looping folds of her hoodie. "You should speak to Mr. Jinadu if you want to do more."

"I'll keep that in mind. I'm... I'm glad you seem to like it," he said, quietly. "Maybe some time in the near future I'll be sane enough to hold an actual job, and I can get you something better next year." If she was still around. If he was still around, for that matter.

"I don't have a job," Laura told him, turning back to the backpack on the ground. "But I don't use the allowance they give me for anything. I got you something with it."

John blinked again, in a bit of surprise. He didn't really know what to say, he realized. Her buying a gift for him was... unexpected, to say the least. He didn't even know that she cared enough to think about that. Clearly, they'd had difficulty communicating, if John thought that the only thing she'd ever have for him was bitter detachment, and yet here she was buying him something for Christmas. "I'm... I didn't really expect that," he confessed.

She glanced back at him, not answering with words, but with a look, like whatever he was thinking, he was probably wrong about, then drew black leather out of the bag. When she rose, she held the jacket out to him. "I figured you would need it for the cold. It can't hurt us, but it's uncomfortable. I didn't expect you to give your own clothes away."

Nobody had ever given him something that... that nice, before. Ever. He looked at the jacket, and closed the few paces to her, taking it gently from her hands, running his thumb over the leather. "It's... it's awesome," he said, simply, not believing it was his. "I've never had anything this nice in my life," he said, slowly putting it on. It fit perfectly... "Thank you, Laura," he said, meeting her gaze, though he still felt just a bit unworthy of both her eyes and the gift.

Laura's gaze flicked over him, studying the fit and style before nodding in approval, either of his attitude or the way it suited him. "You're welcome. We are blood. And...when I think we're both ready, I will help you find our father."

That he could smile at. "Good. I'm glad to hear it," he said, nodding. "Hey, you know how Midnighter's training me, right?" John asked. "I was kinda thinkin'... if maybe you'd be okay with us practicing. Midnighter's great and all, but... you're a bit different. Midnighter can't cut me unless he's got a knife. And with the school going public, I think we need to maybe prepare for the worst, y'know?"

Her head tilted. "Why do you need to bleed to accelerate your training?"

"I don't." He crossed his arms, and then he spilled the beans as to his real reason. "I thought... maybe it would help us bond, or something. I don't know. It was a stupid idea, I guess."

She shook her head slightly, dark hair falling over her shoulders with the movement. "It's not a stupid idea. I don't know about bonding, I am not good at that sort of thing. But you should seek out more training partners because you want to be able to know how to counter different styles. I will train with you of course. You should speak to Agent, Cyclops, and Psylocke too."

"I don't know about Cyclops or Psylocke, but I got a feeling Agent's out of the question," John said. "He and I didn't have a great interaction when Rahne and I got into that scuffle," he said. "But you're right. I'm trying to better myself. In every way I can imagine. And... thanks. I've been working, with Midnighter, on the anger thing. Among other things." He wouldn't tell her how he'd also done a lot of work on his own. She wouldn't have approved of that. Or of what he'd been plotting to do, and had been doing for a few days before coming clean to the Headmasters. "So I shouldn't be too unruly a partner."

"I...just don't want you to get ahead of yourself," she finally admitted. "I don't want you to have to experience what I went through."

"I know. I understand that. I want nothing more than to break the people who did that to you in worse ways than they broke you," John said, his voice shaking just a bit. "But I'm not ready yet. And maybe you're right. Maybe I never will be. But I gotta try to get there. 'Cause I don't know anything else. I don't think I can know anything, other than that."

"You will be ready," Laura told him quietly. "Just not yet."

"I appreciate the vote of confidence," John replied, just as quiet. "I love the jacket," he said, rubbing his thumb against the leather once again. "I'm gonna take good care of it," he promised. He felt a bit awkward, like maybe he should leave, or maybe he shouldn't. But this was going so much better than he'd thought it would.

If it was awkward for him, it didn't seem to show for her. She was unflappable, giving a nod of approval toward his attitude and his words. The empty satchel was slung up over one shoulder. "You should get your fill of the food they've prepared. I am."

"Yeah, that doesn't sound like a bad idea. I got one last gift to give, though, and I'm gonna have to track her down, maybe." And make sure it was the right one.

"Who?" Laura asked curiously.

"Oh. Ah. Her name's Lu. Luornu Durgo. Well, I've kinda been... y'know. Close with the purple-eyed one. Dunno if you've met her or not. Wild girl. She's great," John grinned. Didn't really want to tell his sister the whole nine yards and everything, but... still. "The uh, the orange-eyed one's kind of the one that helped me out a good bit, but really, I doubt I would've lasted nearly as long if it weren't for the purple-eyed one."

"Tracking her through the house will be good practice for your senses," Laura told him, but nodded before heading toward the trees.

"Yeah, well, I'm real used to her scent," John breathed, as he fell into step behind and to the right of Laura.

"I'm glad," she told him briefly, but honestly, obviously talking about more than just his familiarity with her smell.

"Yeah," he said, absently. "So... I'll see you around, alright? Gimme a holler, if you need anything. That's what... that's what family's supposed to be for, right?"

She nodded to him as their paths split, catching his eye in agreement.

His lips split into a grin as her eye met his, and he gave her a nod. Maybe, just maybe, he had gotten himself onto a better path.