driftfleet | (no subject)

[Rogue's okay with that. She glances up from a ridiculously flexible stretch and slowly lowers her leg back down so she looks less like a pretzel.]

Hey. Spar first or talk first?

Spar first. [Maybe it will loosen her up first. She takes off the large metal cuff she was wearing on her forearm and sets it down against the wall. She and Erik are still working the kinks out of the design and she doesn't want one of the kinks to be "pops out mid spar accidentally and skewers friend."]

Ready.

Sounds good. [Rogue tosses a pair of balled up gloves Kitty's way. In case Kitty makes contact with her skin, she won't have to worry about getting absorbed.

Then she moves over to the section of the room designated and prepared for sparring sessions.]

[She catches and puts them on, no questions needed. She'd be more worried about Rogue getting a download of her memories for Rogue's sake than she would be about passing out or something.]

I'd ask if we're going no powers, but I guess we kind of have to. [Or at least Rogue should and she can follow suit.]

[...heh.

Rogue shrugged.] Your call. S'long as ya don't phase me into the wall or anythin', I'll match ya. Won't absorb ya. But I figured you might not much be in the mood for phasing.

[Punching, kicking, dodging - the basics. That's where Rogue found the most clarity in a spar.]

[There's always that too. In some ways it might have made more sense for her to be a distance-fighter. How easy would it be to fire a weapon whose ammunition solidifies once it leaves the barrel while she stays safely phased? But no, she gets close, mixing intangible defense with solid offense. Her style is aggressive but smart just like Logan taught her.]

Yeah, no reason to be untouchable. [Not when it only applies to the body anyway.]

[Except if you're born that way.

And they both were, to different degrees and various reasons.

Rogue stepped up.] Let's go.

[And she didn't wait, providing Kitty plenty of chances to let out some aggressive frustration. Likely, they would be well matched. Rogue's own training in hand-to-hand combat has been extensive, from even before she joined the X-Men. She incorporates acrobatics into her moves upon occasion, flipping out of the way of an assault, using momentum to tackle larger opponents - but that's not necessary with Kitty. Her natural style tended more towards being a brawler, but she's had precision beaten into her by the same trainer. She tends to leave herself open if it means taking a lesser injury in order to score an important hit.]

[It was a poor choice of words to make around Rogue, but it certainly suits both women. The sparring is cathartic. Kitty doesn't do much holding back. She doesn't want to hurt Rogue of course, but she's used to powerful, tough X-Men and while she might be more gentle around someone like Kurt Wagner it doesn't feel necessary with Rogue. It's only as the bout is winding down that she thinks to be surprised how much Rogue is putting into the match too. Sure, you kind of have to keep up with your partner, but by the time they are taking a breath and backing off she realizes she probably wasn't the only one with something to work out.

When it came to Mystique Kitty's thoughts had centered more around her own Kurt more than anyone else. She knew how close he was to his Mom. But Rogue had been part of that family too. She wondered if it was that. Rogue has been here so long it could be anything. A fight with Loki. Tension with someone who arrived from her last lay over. All kinds of things Kitty couldn't necessarily guess. Good thing they are here to talk too.]

Better. [She heads over to a bench to sit.] Let's try the part where we make words.

[...eh, they had to. Rogue headed over to the side, grabbed a towel and dumped some ice water on it before slinging it around the back of her neck. She took a swig of the water bottle and picked up the extra she'd brought for Kitty.

Sitting on the opposite end of the same bench, she passed the water bottle over and tried to refocus.]

You've got a nice left.

[She takes the bottle with a nod and drinks before pressing the bottle itself to her neck where it feels cooler than her skin.]

Thanks. You've got a powerful tackle.

[It'd be easy to sit there and continue casually assessing the other's technique; it had been a good spar. But Rogue had experienced enough and been around enough pain that she knew when she was just avoiding the subject, had a keen instinct as to how much good avoiding it actually did.

Quietly, still staring straight ahead and resting her elbows on her knees, she said:] I'm sorry about your folks.

[Breeding pens and experiments and all sorts of things Kitty had left out the last time they'd talked about her home. Rogue wasn't mad at the exclusion; she'd likely have done the same thing. And she didn't think she was going to push Kitty to talk about anything in particular either, but she did want to say that.]

[She's surprised at that even tensing again for a moment. Not that it was a secret but how many other big, non-secrets had she overheard this time and in the past? Did she hear what Kurt said about her being dead?] I really do manage to say some things on the public network, don't I?

[She takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly.] Thanks.

They were there because of me. [And there is a bundle of guilt inside her just for that even though the culling of Chicago could have taken them out not long after.] Mom and Dad tried to stop them, but... [They killed them like they were swatting a fly.] Then I ran. I was scared and didn't really know how to use my powers, but it just kicked in, and I don't think they could track me phased. [Because she got away as impossible as it seemed.] It was Sabertooth and Sinister next time, but the X-Men saved me. Took me in. Trained me. I never actually ended up in the pens. I was lucky.

[Rogue was silent for a long moment. That was a lot to carry. She wasn't exactly sure what to say.]

...your parents would be glad ya ran. An' I'm glad the X-Men found you. I'm glad that's still what we do.

[They'd saved her too, just by giving her a place to go. Man. Kitty's world really was awful. She was so strong for being as sane as she was after going through all that, for still enabling her heart to care.]

Me too. [She may have ended up as a "child soldier" in some ways like she was called once in the prison, but she had a home and people who cared about her—a family of sorts. She was as protected as anyone could be there.] Without them I don't even know. If I'd survived the Dark Beast might have brainwashed me into one of their weapons.

Is there a Henry McCoy where you're from?

[Ah, here we go. Rogue nods.] Yeah. [While she'd usually stop there, just out of habit, she's not about to make Kitty ask. She can give her the basics.] He's a teacher at the school. Mutation started out pretty normal an' then evolved to a lot of blue fur. He works with the new recruits an' handles a lot of the medical side.

[She nods slowly.] I guess he wouldn't be teaching there if he experimented on people in his spare time.

He was just one of the worst, you know? [Apocalypse, Dark Beast, Sugarman, Holocaust. There were others too. Lots of people that had made themselves into monsters. He definitely made her short list though.]

[No, no he wouldn't.]

Sounds like it. [Sidelong glance.] If he was the one from your world, I'd help you shove him out an airlock as many times as it took.

[Simple and very sincere. Some people, you had to provide room to change, give them a chance. Other people just needed to die for the sake of the ones they'd killed and harmed, for the sake of others still alive. Death was personal. Justice wasn't. Rogue was no judge and jury, and she knew that her offer had nothing to do with law: It was personal. Kitty's world's Hank McCoy had hurt too many people in too horrible away to be allowed to mix freely with the people of the Fleet -- in that matter, it was protection. But it was also very much for the sake of the girl sitting by her side. ~~Sometimes, Earl just had to die~~.]

[If he was her world's McCoy she had every confidence she and Kurt would be waiting for him the moment he left the Marsiva. She hasn't killed anyone since leaving home and she'd like to think maybe she could leave that behind her completely, but he's definitely an exception.]

Yeah, I already promised Erik I wouldn't hurt this one. No airlock fun times for me. Not that I'd actually need an airlock.

[...]

It wouldn't make you feel any better anyway.

[It hadn't made her feel any better, anyway.]

It never does. [She's killed plenty of times before.] It wouldn't be about feeling better. It would be about protecting people from him. And that's not...applicable here. I guess. [She's still coming to terms with it. Like Erik said, no one expects her to change her perspective in a day except maybe Kitty herself.]

Edited 2016-04-11 02:08 (UTC)

[Rogue nods. She takes another sip of her water and straightens up, leaning back against the wall.]

Doesn't mean ya have ta take it on face value. [Not that she's intending to feed into paranoia, but there was no reason why Kitty should have to feel her her experiences invalidated either.] But this isn't your first time either. You know how alternate universes go.

Yeah, well, but I'm usually inclined to like and trust people I've liked and trusted in my world. [She waves a hand toward Rogue because, hi stranger she let get close pretty quickly. So her inclination is to dislike and distrust with McCoy.]

[Fair enough.]

Killin' someone and not likin' them are pretty varying in their extremes. Pretty sure there's a whole bunch of steps in between, an' a few more before and after besides.

Edited 2016-04-11 02:45 (UTC)

I'm not going to kill him, Rogue. I get it, okay? He's an innocent guy who can't control what another version of him became. [But basically every other version she's met has been pretty close to the "original" in the ways that count.]

Didn't say you were gonna kill him. [Laconic, almost, certainly non-confrontational, but she felt it was important to clarify. She wasn't trying to do more than listen.] Pretty sure I was just sayin' that just because you weren't gonna kill him didn't mean ya had to like him. Or even call him 'innocent' until you're good an' ready.

[Speaking of, back up a bit.] You said ya promised Erik you weren't gonna do anythin'?

[Erik Lensherr? What's his interest here?]