driftfleet | .04 Scars are just places where I used to bleed

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.04 Scars are just places where I used to bleed

Who: Rogue
Broadcast: Text
Action: A corner table in Varrick’s bar on the Iskaulit
When: January 17th

[Around 10 this morning as time is measured, this text goes live across the network, the numbers set to anonymous:]

**Wanted** Pilot with a pilot augment willing to risk a little trouble. If interested, interviews will be held at the Space Bar from approximately 3-6 today. Compensation for time and trouble to be negotiated.

Action
[Rogue sits with her back to the wall with a decent view of the door. She’d asked the bartender to inform anyone who came in and inquired about interviews to point them in her direction, and Nami had graciously agreed. This had been in her mind to determine for a while, but Loki's disappearance had just given her the proper motivation to try it. There is a determined set to her shoulders even as she tries to relax and nurse her drink. This would be what her friends would call reckless if they were feeling kind about things, which would be why she didn't plan on telling them.

...Ugh, waiting for interviews was not the best. Maybe she should have brought a book. She pages absently through her communicator instead.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

You, [Rogue pointed a finger at him] don't know jack 'bout the girl I was 'fore I got here.

[There's no real bite to the sharpness of her tone, more a firm sort of sureness Rogue rarely displays.] I was your enemy, an' then I was your mark, an' that was it. But I think ya did learn a thing or two 'bout me, maybe, in New Orleans. So why don't ya take a sec, think 'bout what ya learned there, an' then see if I really would kick your skinny butt ta the curve if ya came callin' 'round the mansion.

[Right, Remy, think about it. Think about the girl who had been so broken and torn up inside but who still fought you inside the train, the girl you bet (and won the bet) wouldn't touch you to verify why you'd kidnapped her when you offered her trust. Think about the girl you showed around the Big Easy, the girl who found out you'd betrayed her and walked away... and then came back.

The girl who was so very glad to see her family.

Are you sure, really, that she wouldn't welcome you - maybe a little warily, but wouldn't have been genuinely glad to see you if you came around again?]

I didn' mean it like that, I don' doubt ya bein' kind hearted 'nough to give me a chance, hell, even defend me joinin' to the rest of ya crew. 'm sayin' if ya should. That girl ain't been through what ya have, she hardly got to see how dark life got to be, ya have, many times over. It ain't a case if I would join the X-Men, it's if I should. X-Men suppose to be 'bout hope 'nd helpin', I wouldn't have either to offer.

[Rogue laughed quietly, a brief laugh. She disagreed with his assessment of her pre-Luceti: sure, Luceti's wars had been... hell, and they'd taught her an awful lot, but there were some lessons Luceti hadn't needed to teach her, not at all. She'd seen plenty enough of the darker side of life, lived it through a hundred different eyes.

But that was less important than the main point:] Of the two of us sittin' here, which one of us has actually murdered their parent? Ya think the only way ta offer hope an' help is ta be perfect? Hell, Remy, I can't think of a thing more depressin'. Who'd qualify if that was so?

[She ran a hand through her hair.] I ain't tryin' ta throw a sales pitch at ya. I just think you'd have plenty ta offer - if ya decided ta try.

Neither of us. [Everything else was suddenly less important than correcting that. It was so easy to forget she was from a time before his, considering the years she had spent in Luceti before he even got there.] Neither of us have.

[She gave him a surprised look.]

Did ya somehow miss that bulletin?

'ssume ya talkin' 'bout Mystique. [It's the only 'parent' Remy knows Rogue has.]

She ain't dead Rogue, she was with Apocalypse, against her will 'm guessin' since Mag's, Xavier, 'nd Storm was as well, but she be very much alive.

...she shattered into a thousand pieces.

[What was he saying? He wouldn't - he wouldn't be making this up, would he? Rogue knew that Apocalypse was powerful, but there was no putting that back together again. There was no even finding all the pieces.]

'nd Mag's exploded or... whatever happened to him. Trust me, Johnny replayed the video of it 'nough times, 'nd yet somehow he was put back together as well.

Whatever, ['ya did.' No, that wasn't right.] Happened Rogue, it didn't last. I donno what happened to her after the battle, but she be alive.

[Rogue Did Not know how to deal with that.

She leaned forward, very definitively in his space and held his gaze.] You sure?

'nough to know she was there when ya'll go after Apocalypse. [He didn't react to the space invasion. He was never put off by her powers and knew she was more than in control of her own personal space, even if it had shrunk for the moment. Quite the opposite in fact, feeling that closer link as friends that she trusted him within arm reach range, let alone this.]

She very much alive from when I be from.

[Rogue didn't break off his gaze, didn't move out of his space. She searched his gaze, still processing.]

How d'ya know 'bout this?

[Rubbing a thumb against one of his brows, Remy glanced over at her.] I... wasn't there for the final show down, but I got 'nough contacts 'round the place to get an idea of what happened once it was over. [A bit of a shrug of his shoulder to go along with it. Yeah, he missed the big fight, but he had friends in it, concerned for Piotr and John... and maybe a little for her. And there were certainly a few associates he knew that had it out for SHIELD, or anything remotely government connected. It hadn't taken much for him to find out what had happened.]

[Rogue clamped down on her emotions, hard. Hard. She was ice. Ice. A wall of ice.

Hell no, who do you think is sitting here, Emma Frost? Rogue gripped the bar so hard it made suspicious creeking sounds, and still that wasn't enough, she shot to her feet.]

Are ya tellin' me, all this time, ya knew what happened, how it ended, an' ya never said a word?

[This. Was so not the issue. It wasn't even half-way part of the issue, not even the forth most important issue here, but it was the easiest thing to say.]

[Maybe so, but Remy was still learning this about her, still getting to know what was important out of all of this. And as far as he could see, the fact he hadn't been truthful had been the main problem. The fact was, he didn't really think about it past his first month or so at Luceti, having wondered if it was worth giving any insight to the future of most of the X-Kids who showed up. After that, well, they had more important things to worry about; fighting for their kidnappers, dealing with shifts, trying not to tear each other apart while trapped in a limited space. Home seemed to unimportant after awhile.]

It's ya future, 'nd I may not get time travel, but I didn' wanna mess 'nything up. [His glance was kept downwards, turning his semi empty glass around between his hands.] Know we think that we go back with nothin' of the places we been, but we don't know for sure. I say something 'nd it could ruin what's to happen, make things worse.

Plus, didn't even know for sure that for ya she was dead, or whatever she be. Thought she was just bein' herself 'nd vanished off somewhere after ditchin' the Loserhood boys again. I just know she was at that fight, didn't know for sure 'til ya said 'nything.

[...Ugh, why did he have to be so sensible? Rogue wanted to wrap her arms around herself and shiver.] Then why are ya sayin' somethin' now?

[Somehow having pushed back the original topic of conversation and focusing on Apocalypse.]

'cause that ain't something ya should have to shoulder, it ain't something ya deserve to have eatin' ya up, Rogue. [Remy had moved to put his feet down on the floor, half up from his seat to join her in standing, but it depended on what she did next.] If it ends up fuckin' things up, then... I guess it should had by now for the time 'm from. [There was a shake of his head, not wanting or thinking he can really get into the whole idea of how time travel is suppose to work.] Or something like that.

[--deserve!!]

Of course it's somethin' I deserve -- alive or dead, it doesn't change what I did! Even if--

[Alive. Goddamnit, how was that even possible? What -- what did she even do with that?

She swallowed, hard, and turned away.]

[That was it. Getting to his feet in and instant Remy reached out for her arm, knowing it wasn't a great move and expecting her to pull back and go into an ultra defensive mode, but it felt like the right thing to do.] One bad act don't make ya a bad person, like one good act don't make a bad person good, 'nd ya ain't no bad person Rogue. I know that.

[And that was exactly what she did, pulling her arm away from his touch.]

You don't know that 'bout me. How could you know that 'bout me? [Old thoughts, old habits of thinking.] Ya don't wind up with skin that saps the life out of everyone who touches ya an' be some kinda saint.

I do know that. [This brought Remy fully to his feet and it only took a stride or two to be in front of her and, without any really thought in his head other than needing to convince her she was wrong about this, that she was a good person, he shot out a hand to cup her face.

It was stupid, not only because he was well within her personal space than he had ever been before but also because even with his normal gloves on his fingers were exposed. This was something that once upon a time would lay him out for the next few minutes, her powers kicking in and draining enough energy off him to knock him out cold. Yet that was months ago, before he had his powers unlocked, before he and Jean had been practicing to find a way for him to let off that extra energy so it wouldn't blow him or the surrounding area up, before he had learned to make a shield around his body to burn off that energy. Now, now it was just warmth, too much warmth even for someone like him who naturally had a higher body temperature than most. Like holding a hand too close next to a heater, it lingering on the edge of being too hot to stand.]

I know the femme who reached out 'nd helps others despite what may had happened in the past, that swallow down her own issues to do the right thing by others, to try 'nd make others around her 'nto better people. Ya may not be a saint Rogue, but who the hell is? 'nd absorption or not, this merde with Mystique, ya a good person 'nd I ain't goin' to stand here 'nd let ya say or believe otherwise.

[Okay, what in the actual hell?

Rogue was a good fighter, her reflexes honed and sharp, but she knew that Remy's skills in hand-to-hand matched or surpassed hers, and she was far too surprised that he was actually doing what he'd done to move out of the way of his touch even if he'd given her the chance.

He touched her skin and his own was hot and he touched her skin with his and he was still standing there, speaking to her, but--

She jerked her head out of his grasp and stared at him, not responding to his words but to his actions, her eyes wide.]

What the hell, Remy?

[How did that happen?]

[Oh crap, that... that wasn't suppose to happen. Nope! Not at all!]

Ah, ahhh, [As much as he tried to get an answer nothing was coming to mind for Remy to say as he very quickly pulled his hand back. Oh he screwed up, didn't he, majorly screwed up.

Quick! Diversion! Or at least that was a ~~stupid~~ great idea if only he could figure out something to actually say.]

[Rogue knew, for a fact, that she could not touch Remy LeBeau. She'd kissed him once, under mind control, and the faintest brush of her lips had knocked him unconscious. She couldn't touch him.

She also knew that her powers were still very much intact. She could feel Logan's low growling in the back of her mind, Ororo's quiet resolve, Kurt's inner jubilation at just the thought of Mystique's being alive.

She was a mess with the news he'd delivered, her emotions rolling all around, but they focused into one thing, one present thing in front of her -- something was wrong. She shouldn't be able to touch him.

Rogue took a half-step closer.] You tell me what just happened.

[She wasn't going to give him a chance to back out of this, this was -- this was important.]

[Still trying to find the right words, that look from her, that step forward, it made him just let out a sigh, getting out of that moment of pure panic.]

Of all the times 've said this, this be the one 've hated to the most; it ain't ya, it's me. [It would be so much better if that wasn't true, that it had been her to learn her powers enough to control the ability to touch, not his warped logic that lead him to undo what had been done to him.]

[Ha ha, very clever. She's on the verge of a breakdown and he's throwing a line at her.

At least his expression was sincere. She didn't punch him. She reached out, gloved hand gripping his shirt and pulled him down to her eye level. She leaned forward, more decidedly in his space than would be anything other than a threat or within distance for a kiss, but neither of those things were going to happen -- because he could touch her, and she was furious - freaked out - deeply concerned. Too many of her foundations had been shifted in the past few minutes and Rogue did not respond well to that sort of thing.]

Don't ya think. I know that. I hear 'em now. Any time. Every minute. Every day. [She swallowed, refocused.] What just happened.

[She might not have the right to even ask, and normally she tried to respect that, as she tried to respect the space between them, but Rogue was flailing, frightened, and trying to grab onto something solid.]

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