PI LOG: Backup Power -- Eris and Remy
Eris calls Remy in to let the Cajun know of her cold-turkey plan, and to assign him the essential duty of being the on-call emergency specialist.
Ogori's -- Chinatown
The restaurant downstairs is quiet - there are a couple of girls still cleaning up in the kitchen, and Michiko is going over the menu for tomorrow, checking items against ingredients. Upstairs, all of the lights are on, and the sound of pacing can be heard the moment the door to the stairs is opened. Eris had called earlier Remy earlier in the day - sounding jittery and nervous, asking him to come by as soon as he had time. From the sounds of things, the way she's moving back and forth over the floor, she's still jittery. Her laptop sits open on the small table in the center of the room, but she's not listening to it, simply pacing up and down, rubbing her arms with both hands.
Remy LeBeau's life works in sweeping, broadbrush strokes of irony. The one day that someone other than work calls, needing his attention, is of course the day he's off doing things all day, and can't find a moment to break a way. It's again afterhours when he finally arrives at Ogori's, looking just a little stressed around the edges but otherwise in a relatively good humor. He actually tries the door, this time, before resorting to picking it, darting his eyes around again as he finally enters. "Eris?"
Michiko looks up, putting a jar of something that looks remarkably like tiny pickled squid back into the fridge. Her expression is cold at first, but warms as she sees who it is walking through the previously locked door. "Upstairs," she tells Remy, darting a look at the closed door that leads upstairs. Without asking, a platter of gyoza is put on the counter, where he'll pass it on his way up. Michiko won't say anything else until Remy is nearly to the door upstairs, before her speaking, her voice mild. "Remy-san? Should I give you a *key*?"
"If you don' wan' me doin' dat, prob'ly." The door was relocked before it even swung shut. Remy grins--and there's most distinctly food missing from the platter once he passes it--before he pauses at the bottom of the staircase and looks over his shoulder at Michiko. "You know what's wrong wit' Eris, Mama-san? She didn' sound so hot on de voicemail." He can hear the pacing from here.
Michiko looks over at the stairs, and then away again, and for the first time, probably since Remy's known her, she looks extremely hesitant. "No, Remy-san. She like that all day. Not eating, nothing. Just walking and walking."
"Huh." Remy says, all thought and articulation, before he nods to Michiko, briefly thumbing the side of his nose as if to assure her that he's on the job. He takes the stairs carefully, quietly, calling ahead again to keep from surprizing Eris. At the moment, his shields are firmly in place. "Hey, Eris?"
Even with the warning, Eris jumps, her hands tightening briefly on her arms. Thankfully, her shield is still holding - nothing of her stress is spilling out, but it's easy to read even without empathy. "Up.. up here, Remy?" she calls back, her voice tight. She hasn't even finished talking and she's pacing again.
He appears out of the stairwell immediately, and shuts the door behind him, tilting his head a little as he watches Eris pace. "'S wrong, petite?" Remy asks, his voice subdued. Although she won't be able to *feel* it, won't be able to feel *anything* from Remy but that omniprescent 'hum', there's concern written all over his face.
"You know.. we've been talking about how.. how I can control my shields more?" Eris asks Remy suddenly, turning a little too quickly, and walking over to close her laptop. "Remy - I need to find a way to make sure I *can't* get through them. Or.. Or shut this stuff off, for a little while."
"You been doin' real good, lately. What I can tell, anyway." Remy says, staying where he is just for the moment so that he can watch Eris and get a better understanding for the reasons behind her obvious agitation. "I don' know dat it shuts off, 'dough. Why? What's goin' on?"
Hugging her arms, Eris stares down at the laptop, chewing on her lip. She doesn't answer Remy right away, but she does reach down to open the laptop up again. "I.. Scott came by today."
Restless fiddling with the laptop, noted. Remy adopts an expression of faint, bashful chagrin, lifting a hand to rub at the back of his neck. "Yeah? Left me a note. Said I wasn't s'posed to bring Warren 'round no more. Didn' realize I wasn' s'posed to be bringin' him 'round in de firs' place."
"I did," Eris says quietly, tilting the laptop a little, so that Remy can see the website she's looking at - one of your standard medical information websites.. except this one has information on withdrawal on it. Alcohol and drug withdrawal. "Except.. I was pretty messed up last night. I didn't remember. And - Scott was pretty upset about it."
"An' he don' want you bein' messed up no more." Remy says, his voice suddenly flat--not with irritation, but with understanding. "I shoulda known somet'in' was up when you touched me." The Cajun takes a deep breath, briefly, thinking. "An' you're 'fraid of what your power's gonna do to de DTs."
Eris nods slowly, her own expression tense. "I promised him I'd stop, Remy - but I've been looking at this stuff and - I'm scared. I - I have trouble with some of this stuff even.." Her finger taps the list. Hallucinations, paranoia.. I'm just - I don't know.."
Remy takes a few steps closer, to crouch next to Eris in clear view of the computer. "It goes 'way," He points out, watching Eris more than the screen. "An' den you feel a lot better. You don' need it, to keep control. You been doin' real good lately."
"Yeah. Lately." Eris is still scared - but a lot of that is due to the fact that she hasn't had a drink all day, and it's starting to show. Licking her lips, she pushes away from the table, standing up to pace again. "But.. but what if I lose control? What if.. what if it goes bad? Remy - Scott's *linked* to me. If I really lose it.."
"Firs' off, gettin' uptight 'bout it *now*, b'fore it really hits, ain't gonna help. Siddown. Calm down." And there, it starts; the insiduous swell of Remy's own empathy, a wash of faint but strengthening calm. It'll be okay. "An' I don' know. But I don' t'ink it's gonna go bad. You're strong girl an' damn stubborn."
Eris allows herself to be steered towards the couch. She sits, but not really still, she's shifting and restless, her fingers tapping on the arm, then lacing in her lap, hands rubbing and squeezing together, only to repeat it all a moment later. "I have to tell Michiko," she says suddenly. "And - and Remy.. listen. They said.. I read on that page. They said valium can help, if it gets bad but.. I have some. But I won't be able to.. to do it right. If it's bad. And I can't keep that stuff here. I can't. I want it so damned bad." That last is a shamed whisper, out of a throat so tight it almost can't let the words out at all.
Remy watches Eris, carefully, without judging. "What d'you wan' me to do wit' it? I can get rid of it, if you wan'. Gettin' rid of DTs wit' what you're tryin' to drop ain't gonna work." Staying still makes it easier to radiate calm, but the Cajun does move enough to be sure that Eris will be caught in the fledgling range of the power.
"I.. I don't know." Eris stands suddenly, walking over to the counter, and opening the cupboards doors in the top. Shifting aside piles of clothing and books and notebooks and other assorted junk, she pulls out a couple of small cloth bags, zipped up. "This - I put it all together, earlier. When it wasn't bugging me so much, being around it. Just.. just take it. Don't let Michiko see it, okay? She - she knows about.. how much I drink but.."
"I'm gonna give you one more chance t'tell me 'xactly what you wan' me to do wit' dis. If you tell me t'do what I t'ink is right, you gotta promise me you ain't gonna hate me for it." The Cajun reaches out to take the bags from Eris, carefully wrapping his fingers around them. Remy's expression is dead serious.
Eris stares at Remy, torn between looking him in the face, and looking at those bags. She licks her lips again, nervously, forcing herself to meet his eyes. "What - what do you think is right?" she asks finally, wrapping her arms back around herself again.
Without breaking Eris' gaze, Remy lets the charge he's been holding back simmer through his fingers, and into the cloth of the bags, into each and every item inside. They leap to life, with just the barest, faintest sound of a distantly cracking whip and a hiss-whine of sudden, angry magenta energy. He doesn't say a word, although he does glance significantly to the balcony, after a long moment.
A pained look crosses Eris' face and then she nods, quickly - turning away so that she doesn't have to watch - and so she doesn't have a chance to change her mind. "Do it. Just.. do it."
Remy nods, and turns for the balcony, the bags still in his hands. The timing is all innate--this is, after all, what he does--as he tosses the bags into the air. They explode, harmlessly, high above the roof of Ogori's in a lightshow of magenta, and before all the bits of ash have fallen Remy is back inside. "Dere. Now you ain't got de temptation."
Eris winces at sound, flinching though she can't see it, except as it's reflected on her wall. "I - okay. I can do this." She doesn't sound particularly convinced but she's trying. "Scott - he got rid of the alcohol, up here. Those are gone. I - I just have to make sure I don't go get more. I can do that."
"Michiko can help. Sho' she will, if she knows what's goin' on. If you wan', an' you ain't hatin' on de dog, I can go get Jolie an' help you out de firs' coupla nights. Or I coul' get Rogue to take care of her f'a while. Sho' she's understand me sleepin' somewhere downstairs if I was helpin' you out." Remy isn't sure how much good he will do, particularly if Eris really gets going--but he's willing to try.
"Scott - he's gonna spend nights here when I need him," Eris says, trying to make herself relax. "I'll talk - I'll talk to Michiko first thing in the morning. But - just.. if I need - I can call, right? You think.. Rogue would mind maybe picking up a few extra shifts.. just until I'm through this?"
Remy's eyes slide up, and to the side, as he thinks. "I don' know if she's still workin' at de diner or de gas station--I'm t'inkin' mebbe no to de firs', an' yes to de second? 'S hard to keep dese t'ings straigh'--but if she ain't, I'm sho' she won' mind de extra 'dough. Last I heard she was still makin' noises 'bout gettin' her own place an' not shackin' up wit' Kitty." Also, not moving in with him, much to the Cajun's chagrin.
"Talk to her.. if you don't mind?" Eris is pacing again, up and down the room. She'll probably do that until she's exhausted enough she has to sleep. "Just ask her - she can call, talk to me or Michiko. We - we'll work something out if she can't. It's no problem."
"I will. Meantime, you get some rest. An' for God's sake, eat somet'in' b'fore you're too sick to do it. De better care you take of y'self, better you handle it. Mebbe you use candies for ev'ry time you wanna put somet'in' in your mout'. Hear it works okay for smokin'." Not that Remy has ever tried to give *that* up. At least, not seriously. He gives Eris a smile, opening the door at the top of the stairs and pausing, just a moment. "Gimmie a call, any time. I come as quick as I can." And then he's heading back down, probably to steal more food and share a few words with Michiko before going back home.
Finis!
Ogori's -- Chinatown
The restaurant downstairs is quiet - there are a couple of girls still cleaning up in the kitchen, and Michiko is going over the menu for tomorrow, checking items against ingredients. Upstairs, all of the lights are on, and the sound of pacing can be heard the moment the door to the stairs is opened. Eris had called earlier Remy earlier in the day - sounding jittery and nervous, asking him to come by as soon as he had time. From the sounds of things, the way she's moving back and forth over the floor, she's still jittery. Her laptop sits open on the small table in the center of the room, but she's not listening to it, simply pacing up and down, rubbing her arms with both hands.
Remy LeBeau's life works in sweeping, broadbrush strokes of irony. The one day that someone other than work calls, needing his attention, is of course the day he's off doing things all day, and can't find a moment to break a way. It's again afterhours when he finally arrives at Ogori's, looking just a little stressed around the edges but otherwise in a relatively good humor. He actually tries the door, this time, before resorting to picking it, darting his eyes around again as he finally enters. "Eris?"
Michiko looks up, putting a jar of something that looks remarkably like tiny pickled squid back into the fridge. Her expression is cold at first, but warms as she sees who it is walking through the previously locked door. "Upstairs," she tells Remy, darting a look at the closed door that leads upstairs. Without asking, a platter of gyoza is put on the counter, where he'll pass it on his way up. Michiko won't say anything else until Remy is nearly to the door upstairs, before her speaking, her voice mild. "Remy-san? Should I give you a *key*?"
"If you don' wan' me doin' dat, prob'ly." The door was relocked before it even swung shut. Remy grins--and there's most distinctly food missing from the platter once he passes it--before he pauses at the bottom of the staircase and looks over his shoulder at Michiko. "You know what's wrong wit' Eris, Mama-san? She didn' sound so hot on de voicemail." He can hear the pacing from here.
Michiko looks over at the stairs, and then away again, and for the first time, probably since Remy's known her, she looks extremely hesitant. "No, Remy-san. She like that all day. Not eating, nothing. Just walking and walking."
"Huh." Remy says, all thought and articulation, before he nods to Michiko, briefly thumbing the side of his nose as if to assure her that he's on the job. He takes the stairs carefully, quietly, calling ahead again to keep from surprizing Eris. At the moment, his shields are firmly in place. "Hey, Eris?"
Even with the warning, Eris jumps, her hands tightening briefly on her arms. Thankfully, her shield is still holding - nothing of her stress is spilling out, but it's easy to read even without empathy. "Up.. up here, Remy?" she calls back, her voice tight. She hasn't even finished talking and she's pacing again.
He appears out of the stairwell immediately, and shuts the door behind him, tilting his head a little as he watches Eris pace. "'S wrong, petite?" Remy asks, his voice subdued. Although she won't be able to *feel* it, won't be able to feel *anything* from Remy but that omniprescent 'hum', there's concern written all over his face.
"You know.. we've been talking about how.. how I can control my shields more?" Eris asks Remy suddenly, turning a little too quickly, and walking over to close her laptop. "Remy - I need to find a way to make sure I *can't* get through them. Or.. Or shut this stuff off, for a little while."
"You been doin' real good, lately. What I can tell, anyway." Remy says, staying where he is just for the moment so that he can watch Eris and get a better understanding for the reasons behind her obvious agitation. "I don' know dat it shuts off, 'dough. Why? What's goin' on?"
Hugging her arms, Eris stares down at the laptop, chewing on her lip. She doesn't answer Remy right away, but she does reach down to open the laptop up again. "I.. Scott came by today."
Restless fiddling with the laptop, noted. Remy adopts an expression of faint, bashful chagrin, lifting a hand to rub at the back of his neck. "Yeah? Left me a note. Said I wasn't s'posed to bring Warren 'round no more. Didn' realize I wasn' s'posed to be bringin' him 'round in de firs' place."
"I did," Eris says quietly, tilting the laptop a little, so that Remy can see the website she's looking at - one of your standard medical information websites.. except this one has information on withdrawal on it. Alcohol and drug withdrawal. "Except.. I was pretty messed up last night. I didn't remember. And - Scott was pretty upset about it."
"An' he don' want you bein' messed up no more." Remy says, his voice suddenly flat--not with irritation, but with understanding. "I shoulda known somet'in' was up when you touched me." The Cajun takes a deep breath, briefly, thinking. "An' you're 'fraid of what your power's gonna do to de DTs."
Eris nods slowly, her own expression tense. "I promised him I'd stop, Remy - but I've been looking at this stuff and - I'm scared. I - I have trouble with some of this stuff even.." Her finger taps the list. Hallucinations, paranoia.. I'm just - I don't know.."
Remy takes a few steps closer, to crouch next to Eris in clear view of the computer. "It goes 'way," He points out, watching Eris more than the screen. "An' den you feel a lot better. You don' need it, to keep control. You been doin' real good lately."
"Yeah. Lately." Eris is still scared - but a lot of that is due to the fact that she hasn't had a drink all day, and it's starting to show. Licking her lips, she pushes away from the table, standing up to pace again. "But.. but what if I lose control? What if.. what if it goes bad? Remy - Scott's *linked* to me. If I really lose it.."
"Firs' off, gettin' uptight 'bout it *now*, b'fore it really hits, ain't gonna help. Siddown. Calm down." And there, it starts; the insiduous swell of Remy's own empathy, a wash of faint but strengthening calm. It'll be okay. "An' I don' know. But I don' t'ink it's gonna go bad. You're strong girl an' damn stubborn."
Eris allows herself to be steered towards the couch. She sits, but not really still, she's shifting and restless, her fingers tapping on the arm, then lacing in her lap, hands rubbing and squeezing together, only to repeat it all a moment later. "I have to tell Michiko," she says suddenly. "And - and Remy.. listen. They said.. I read on that page. They said valium can help, if it gets bad but.. I have some. But I won't be able to.. to do it right. If it's bad. And I can't keep that stuff here. I can't. I want it so damned bad." That last is a shamed whisper, out of a throat so tight it almost can't let the words out at all.
Remy watches Eris, carefully, without judging. "What d'you wan' me to do wit' it? I can get rid of it, if you wan'. Gettin' rid of DTs wit' what you're tryin' to drop ain't gonna work." Staying still makes it easier to radiate calm, but the Cajun does move enough to be sure that Eris will be caught in the fledgling range of the power.
"I.. I don't know." Eris stands suddenly, walking over to the counter, and opening the cupboards doors in the top. Shifting aside piles of clothing and books and notebooks and other assorted junk, she pulls out a couple of small cloth bags, zipped up. "This - I put it all together, earlier. When it wasn't bugging me so much, being around it. Just.. just take it. Don't let Michiko see it, okay? She - she knows about.. how much I drink but.."
"I'm gonna give you one more chance t'tell me 'xactly what you wan' me to do wit' dis. If you tell me t'do what I t'ink is right, you gotta promise me you ain't gonna hate me for it." The Cajun reaches out to take the bags from Eris, carefully wrapping his fingers around them. Remy's expression is dead serious.
Eris stares at Remy, torn between looking him in the face, and looking at those bags. She licks her lips again, nervously, forcing herself to meet his eyes. "What - what do you think is right?" she asks finally, wrapping her arms back around herself again.
Without breaking Eris' gaze, Remy lets the charge he's been holding back simmer through his fingers, and into the cloth of the bags, into each and every item inside. They leap to life, with just the barest, faintest sound of a distantly cracking whip and a hiss-whine of sudden, angry magenta energy. He doesn't say a word, although he does glance significantly to the balcony, after a long moment.
A pained look crosses Eris' face and then she nods, quickly - turning away so that she doesn't have to watch - and so she doesn't have a chance to change her mind. "Do it. Just.. do it."
Remy nods, and turns for the balcony, the bags still in his hands. The timing is all innate--this is, after all, what he does--as he tosses the bags into the air. They explode, harmlessly, high above the roof of Ogori's in a lightshow of magenta, and before all the bits of ash have fallen Remy is back inside. "Dere. Now you ain't got de temptation."
Eris winces at sound, flinching though she can't see it, except as it's reflected on her wall. "I - okay. I can do this." She doesn't sound particularly convinced but she's trying. "Scott - he got rid of the alcohol, up here. Those are gone. I - I just have to make sure I don't go get more. I can do that."
"Michiko can help. Sho' she will, if she knows what's goin' on. If you wan', an' you ain't hatin' on de dog, I can go get Jolie an' help you out de firs' coupla nights. Or I coul' get Rogue to take care of her f'a while. Sho' she's understand me sleepin' somewhere downstairs if I was helpin' you out." Remy isn't sure how much good he will do, particularly if Eris really gets going--but he's willing to try.
"Scott - he's gonna spend nights here when I need him," Eris says, trying to make herself relax. "I'll talk - I'll talk to Michiko first thing in the morning. But - just.. if I need - I can call, right? You think.. Rogue would mind maybe picking up a few extra shifts.. just until I'm through this?"
Remy's eyes slide up, and to the side, as he thinks. "I don' know if she's still workin' at de diner or de gas station--I'm t'inkin' mebbe no to de firs', an' yes to de second? 'S hard to keep dese t'ings straigh'--but if she ain't, I'm sho' she won' mind de extra 'dough. Last I heard she was still makin' noises 'bout gettin' her own place an' not shackin' up wit' Kitty." Also, not moving in with him, much to the Cajun's chagrin.
"Talk to her.. if you don't mind?" Eris is pacing again, up and down the room. She'll probably do that until she's exhausted enough she has to sleep. "Just ask her - she can call, talk to me or Michiko. We - we'll work something out if she can't. It's no problem."
"I will. Meantime, you get some rest. An' for God's sake, eat somet'in' b'fore you're too sick to do it. De better care you take of y'self, better you handle it. Mebbe you use candies for ev'ry time you wanna put somet'in' in your mout'. Hear it works okay for smokin'." Not that Remy has ever tried to give *that* up. At least, not seriously. He gives Eris a smile, opening the door at the top of the stairs and pausing, just a moment. "Gimmie a call, any time. I come as quick as I can." And then he's heading back down, probably to steal more food and share a few words with Michiko before going back home.
Finis!