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[danzan]

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[danzan]

Caught in traffic.

[snikette]

How much longer do you think you will be?

[danzan]

Long enough you're probably better off going back to bed.

What the hell are you doing up, anyway?

[snikette]

Waiting for you.

[danzan]

[ ... ]

That bad?

[snikette]

You said you would be here.

[danzan]

And I will be.

But you still haven't told me why.

[snikette]

[ she's worried about you, duh. ]

You have been gone longer than specified. I was unsure if something had happened.

[danzan]

Give me ten.

You'll scent me by then, promise.

[ Fuck traffic, essentially. Logan starts speeding through red lights. ]

[snikette]

Why did you leave again?

[ yes, that would be laura speak for asking if it was because of her. ]

[danzan]

[ Is that really something to ask over text? Logan switches between looking ahead of him and looking down at his phone, typing one-handed when he's finally got nothing left but going straight. ]

nightmares

[ That should work, shouldn't it? ]

[snikette]

About the Weapon X Program?

[danzan]

sometimes

[ By this point Logan's a few metres away from where Laura's holed herself up. She should be able to smell him -- smell the gasoline of his bike, everything in between.

He parks, adds: ] Other things.

[snikette]

[ she can smell him long before she sees him, the wind bringing her the scent of logan, the leather he's wearing, and the bike, heightened senses catching them all. she doesn't move out into the open and towards him, though. her mind having changed with the conversation about being face-to-face, the indecision stilling her limbs as she watches the bike slow and stop with green eyes that take in everything. ]

Explain.

[danzan]

[ Logan actually has to take a few moments on that. He's not sure how to explain the complexities of what goes through his mind -- of the things that he has to think about, the things that have begun chipping at his mind. Shadowcat told him about time-travelling too far making the mind snap; he's not entirely sure if his own is still whole or not.

There are winding paragraphs he could write, but he settles, deciding Laura will probably get that words don't come easy. ]

The memories of my life aren't real any more.

[ "Any more". That's the important part. ]

[snikette]

Am I real to you?

[ unsurprisingly, most of the time she doesn't feel like it, and not just with logan but with everyone. the lack of eye contact something she's grateful for right now, words and emotions ever a struggle for her. ]

[danzan]

Yeah.

[ That one doesn't even need thinking. Laura happened after everything -- after the time-travel, after Logan had to see everyone he knew and loved die. Laura might be the only clear person in his life, the only one who his memories of don't split into two separate lanes.

He's just not good at being around people. It occurs to him, then, that maybe that's affected her in the wrong way. ]

You're Laura.

[snikette]

I want to be.

[ but to the others, she's just X-23 — the creepy quiet girl, wolverine's clone, a killer by training and experience. ]

With you I am.

[danzan]

You can be even when I'm not around, you know.

You aren't you because of me.

[ He stops typing and looks up where he knows Laura might be watching. Where she must be watching, if he knows her well enough. ]

Do you still want me to come in?

[snikette]

Yes, I am.

[ without his DNA, she would not exist. ]

I think so.

[ slight uncertainty because as much as she wants to be around logan, it's seldom as easy as she would like it to be. but that's not all on him. she's just as much to blame, what with all her shortcomings. and anyway, it's not as though he had a choice about her arrival into his life. it just happened. and now here she is, part of his life but not. ]

[danzan]

You think or you know?

[snikette]

[ longest … pause … ever … ]

I know.

[danzan]

[ So he goes inside, certain she'll hear him, smell him. He doesn't make any effort to be sneaky about it. If Laura doesn't meet him, he'll find her first.

Logan smells like gasoline still. It was a long ride. ]

Hey.

[snikette]

[ text sent, she leaves her hiding spot to meet him halfway in an attempt to make an effort. ]

Hi.

[ a beat, then: ]

You look tired.

[danzan]

I feel tired.

[ Against his will he always remembers what Xavier told him, how Laura's his daughter. Not like his daughter, but is. Logan rarely feels like a proper father, wouldn't even know how to begin with that (he was raised by a feral brother on his end, after all), but.

He doesn't really smile for just anyone, even if it's cracked a little around the edges with that ever-present fatigue. ]

Sorry. [ He doesn't apologise to just anyone, either. ] For being gone so long.