driftfleet | (no subject)

[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?]

[She appreciates that. Actually Erik said something very similar. And it's nice because two days from now Kara will be wondering how she's not over it yet. She lets out a breath.]

Thanks. [Of course part of the problem is herself. Because she doesn't like being the person making someone who might actually be a good guy feel awful when he had no part in any of the wrongdoing.]

I did say that. [Realizing they hadn't actually talked about Erik. At least not the one here. There was certainly mention of him being her husband.] Um, do you know who I mean? [She's aware that he's going by Blade here and she assumes he looks different than Rogue remembers from home.]

Think so. [Again, there's an almost disconnected quality to her tone, a sort of careful emotional disengagement.] Blade, right? We've talked a bit.

[So Kitty didn't need to worry, Rogue wasn't going to shove him out of an airlock either.]

That's the guy. We were talking before and I asked about other mutants he knew. McCoy's name came up then and I told him all about my world's version, so he knew I'd be upset. He called to check in on me. They're from the same world. Even the same place before this one.

[Rogue nods.] Little bit eerie, that. How many folks show up from places they were before.

[But that was besides the point, really. The point was:] You trust his perspective?

As much as I trust anyone. [Except her Kurt. He's in his own ring.] I feel like he's honest with me. [He's told her things that couldn't have been easy and while she's sure there are things she doesn't know about him there are also things he doesn't know about her. They're still at a good place for how well they really know each other.]

He said he'd kill him himself if he started doing the things I described.

A place like this, the only folks that can get away with things like that are the ones we can't touch. [Like the Malnosso. Though what Kitty describes sounds... worse.]

[An exhale.] I knew - two versions of a young Erik an' a young Charles in Luceti. Knew a young Raven too. It's weird, they're -- very young. But if Erik an' Hank have both been in a pressure cooker before, what ya see might be what ya get. Waitin' it out will be rough, though.

[So. Her sympathies.]

Well, I'm more inclined than most of you to see Erik on the right side of things too. [He was the leader after all. The founder. The one who ultimately took her in even if Logan trained her and Piotr saved her. At least...before unsaving her.]

How did things go in Luceti with the young Eriks?

[A shrug.] Didn't cause any real trouble. Weren't around long. Nothin' really of note one way or another, except...

[Well, she was PRETTY SURE that one time Erik and Charles were "sharing an apartment", but that wasn't really her business and still hurt her brain a little, considering that Charles and Erik were Two Grumpy Old Men in her mind forever.]

...well, he an' not-bald Charles were real close.

[She finds the hair strange still.]

They were close in my world too. [Managing to completely miss the implications Rogue is dropping.] He named his s... [She cuts herself off sharply there.]

[...yeah, that's not a trial she's going to follow. She has too much on her mind and has managed to completely compartmentalize the whole 'married to Magneto' bit. It's packed and and shifted far, far to the back of her mind.]

Yeah, it's a weird frenemy thing I've never really understood. [She takes a swig of her water.]

[She's not sure if Rogue is choosing not to think about it or if she just missed, but it does remind her of her suspicions that more was on the other's mind.]

You know it felt like you had some things to work out too. I'm guessing that's not about Charles or McCoy.

Nah, they're... curiosities, almost. [It might be cold, but that was how she felt.] Maybe it's 'cause they're so young. They get X-Men courtesy, but... I can't say I feel like they're tried an' true.

[It's a little sad, and she's really not happy about it, but it's how she feels.] They're more like strangers with similar names an' histories than the professor and Beast.

[What, that totally answers your question. Rogue shifts her water bottle back and forth in her hands.] Almost feels impossible ta take them seriously.

[Kitty is quiet for a moment, feeling a little like she could be lumped into the same category even if Rogue has never treated her that way. But why should she be any different? She's met her world's Kitty and they aren't much alike. But she doesn't want to talk about herself right now. Rogue skipped the important part of what she said.]

Mystique then?

[It's helpful that you're not supposed to be over thirty, Kitty.

Rogue makes a sour face at that name and takes a swig of her water.]

Ya saw that, then?

[Good. She'd hoped to avoid having just such these conversations, letting the fact that she hadn't hidden their dispute speak as enough of a warning.]

I saw her change and talked to her. I didn't look through her other conversations. [Though now she's wishing she had. She'd broken some of her network tendencies back at the prison.]

Mmm. [A grunt, really. Logan'd be proud.] She's mine. [The words felt as though she was chewing on broken glass.] You'll know she's lyin' when her mouth is movin', so watch your back.