milliways_bar | (no subject)

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X slips downstairs after her shift in the nightclub, half-glancing at the back door before she decides to forgo training for the moment.

It is more important to eat something. Just in case.

The fact that X-23 (and her soup) are settled at the bar instead of her usual booth is entirely unrelated to anything.

Except that she refuses to be uncomfortable in what is, for now, her home.

This is just proof of that.

[ooc: This post is open until it falls off the front page or X gets another EP, whichever comes first. Thanks!]

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"Hey," she murmurs.

Artemis leans away on her stool, trying to give X as much space as she can without fleeing herself.

"Are you okay?"

X tilts her head, though she does not frown.

"It is relevant?"

X is not sure.

"Maybe not," she admits.

"But I'd like to know, if you'd like to tell me."

"Okay," X says easily enough.

Then she falls silent.

And eats a spoonful of soup.

"I do not know."

"Did something happen that made you not sure?"

X's focus is fixed on her soup.

Eventually--

"Yes."

Artemis considers her sandwiches.

"Do you want to talk about it at all?"

"I do not know," X repeats.

At least she doesn't sound frustrated? Just dull--a little.

"I do not--"

She cuts herself off, then looks up from her soup bowl.

"I am not good at talking."

That's not a 'no'. Not really.

"Me neither."

And after a very slight hesitation, "Not when it comes to feelings, anyway."

X flinches, the movement barely perceptible.

"Yes."

It's hard not to curl her hands into fists, or press them into the bartop.

Very hard.

"Then we don't have to, if you don't want," she says, picking up a neglected piece of sandwich.

"Only if you think it will help."

"I do not know."

And this time she does sound frustrated.

"I do not--"

Again she breaks off.

"I did not mean to fight."

"Of course not.

Who was it you fought with?"

"He comes here. Sometimes."

Beat.

"He is like me."

He doesn't really have a name.

Artemis has met him briefly, though she doesn't know it.

"What did you fight about?"

"I do not know."

There's bewilderment there.

"He does not like when I talk."

That is--about all she can figure.

And it hurts to say.

She doubts that's all there is to it, but at the same time...

"Boys are weird.

Talk about anything, or something in particular?"

"Lilly says that, too."

X kind of misses her. Especially at times like these. She was good at advice.

"I do not know."

Beat.

"Sometimes he pretends. To be normal. It is confusing."

Definitely confusing; Artemis mulls this over along with another bite of sandwich.

"Does he want to be normal, or just for people to think he is?"

X tucks her knees up, shifting to rest her cheek against them.

It's--more comfortable.

For this.

"He likes to fight."

Beat.

"Normal people do not."

"Does it bother you that he likes to fight?"

"No."

Beat.

"I like it, too. When it is sparring."

The other kind of fighting--

X just doesn't get it.

And it hurts.

"But he likes it when it's more than that," she hazards.

X looks startled.

"No."

Beat.

"I do not think so."

She shrugs.

"I do not mind killing."

"But you mind..."

She pauses, thinks, starts again.

"Do you like him?"