On the Patio

[The Man]

::The Professor was proud of her for that, remembering vividly the conversation they had shared on the topic months ago. Knowing that she had already resigned, he understood the implication, that she had spoken with Erik on the topic, informing him of her decision.:: "I hope that went without difficulty."

[Shade]

Shade nodded. "It did." she assured him. There had been nothing beyond verbal aggression luckily. "the way that conversation went reassured me. He started off just as charming and kind as he always was, interesting how quickly he can change his mood once you start talking against him."

[The Man]

::That had always been one of Erik's least attractive features and the Professor agreed with her in that.:: "It is, although it is unfortunately a fairly common quality."

[Shade]

"Unfortunately, yes." Shade agreed, watching her right hand as she let the skin around the voodoo bracelet vanish in spyral patterns. "Even though it makes me roll eyes at my naive self some months ago even more."

[The Man]

::The Professor had experienced his share of those moments, many directly involving Erik as well.:: "That is the nature of hindsight."

[Shade]

Shade chuckled slightly. "It´s good I met Gambit." she said. "I know we talked about the whole Brotherhood issue, but I only started feeling...good in my life again after I met him. I don´t know what I would have done had Erik returned early and had I had this conversation with him before I met Gambit." He saved me in more than just one way, she added to herself, in thought. She had told him so once, that he had saved her from her gloominess as trashy and clichée as it might sound, but that was nothing but the blatant truthh. They had been through a lot, she had grown to accept a lot, but she wouldn´t want to reverse any of it. And part of that rooted in a deep affectionate greatfulness, even though she knew Gambit would likely have commented a thought like this with things being chance and him appearing in her life as part of the current it was. Could have been another. Or maybe not. Definitely not.

[The Man]

::The Professor could read her thoughts, so close to the surface. Her feelings for Remy ran deep, and he, too, was glad that she had found someone in her life who provided such a support system for her. Remy, despite his thieving ways and his often amorous behavior, he was a good person, a former X-Man, after all.:: "It is good you met him, and that you have him now. As for what you would have done, that will reside forever in the land of hypothetical questions."

[Shade]

Her lips curled into an amused smirk. "And there it can stay." she said. "cause for once that´s a what if that I don´t regret having turned out the other way."

[The Man]

::The Professor nodded in agreement.:: "We will let it stay there, and close the door on it."

[Shade]

"Better build a wall to close it." Shade said. "Most doors aren´t save from being picked." It was an easy comment, hinting at nothing criminal, not at more than the fact that she would know something like this, dating a thief. Comments like this were more common with her now, not rousing any suspition, but merely showing that her outlook on things had widened, that she saw more loopholes now. In speech, but also in what people did.

[The Man]

::The Professor could see Remy's influence on her, but he did not comment.:: "Walls can be knocked over, or phased through in the case of some mutants."

[Shade]

It had been a metaphor to show she wanted to store that what if scenario somewhere safe where she did no longer have access to it as in where it would not bother her and where she would not be tempted to dig it up again. And in that metaphor where she was refering to herself, she was more capable of getting a lock picked with the relations she had, then phasing through it or knocking it down. It seemed totally logical in her head. Maybe it wasn´t for others.
Shade smiled. "Oh well, got to live with that risk then." she said.

[The Man]

"We always do," ::The Professor replied with a nod. He had understood the metaphor, but enjoyed banter in his own right, and thus had decided to volley it back to her.::

[Shade]

"Yeah." Shade said, leaning back a little to support her upper body while she was looking across the grounds. "Well, on the other hand, when things get too tough one could always imagine how it would be without any what ifs or alternatives. And then again one could think that a life like that might get boring after a while."

[The Man]

::The Professor contemplated the various situations that would arise. One of his own habits, which was linked to his burden of knowing the problems of others, and the guilt associated with it, was that he often thought "what if?" Late at night, and not in a way that would paralyze him, but it occurred nonetheless.:: "It would, I should think, because if nothing else, hypothetical situations help us with critical reasoning skills."