rogue. (absorptions) wrote in age_of_miracles, @ 2008-01-22 00:42:00 |
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Entry tags: | iceman, rogue |
Log: Iceman and Rogue
Who: Marie Allerdyce and Bobby Drake
When: January 16, 2008 [slightly backdated]; morning
Where: Salem Center
What: Bobby and Rogue run into each other in Salem Center. This is, of course, after Rogue sets fire to the front of a store and Bobby stops it. And yet that doesn’t stop them from having a civil conversation.
She wasn’t under house arrest exactly, but Rogue had barely left the Lehnsherr house since she’d been brought there, half-hysterical, half-catatonic, in December. She was putting off going back to the Lair, finding the above-ground house in Salem Center quiet and peaceful. She was actually sort of dreading going back to the Lair and having to deal with anyone she’d dealt with while she’d been… out of control.
She’d decided to throw on a coat and go for a walk today, though, figuring the fresh air would be good for her and that it would show some progress on her part if she got out of the house. Besides, she wanted to see the Church, or what was left of it anyway. Rogue didn’t want to go too close to it, not wanting to risk running into any of the X-Men, which was why she’d stayed away from it at first. But she could see what was happening from a distance. Which was what she ended up doing with a cup of tea from the Coffee Zone cradled between her gloved hands.
What a mess, and she could help but feel somewhat responsible for the whole thing. Rogue was worrying at her lower lip, looking troubled, when the same itchy feeling on her palms that had been bugging her all day started again. She hadn’t given it much thought, but now that she was out and her hands were covered, it was driving her nuts. Taking her tea in one hand, she rubbing her palm against the side of her jeans like that would help… which was when her hand sparked and caught fire.
Startled, the tea went flying and she started shaking her hand, which only caused the fire to spread as she literally threw it in the direction of a storefront, where the awning went up in flames.
Bobby, knowing it was is duty to assist at the church given that he was part of the X-Men and all, had been helping where he could and cooling down any simmering embers that looked to threaten any small bursts of flame. They didn't need more damage than had already been caused. People seemed genuinely grateful for their help and it was making things just a bit easier regarding his brother being part of the terrorist group that deemed slaying mutants some sort of twisted justice.
He had taken a moment to detach himself from the rest of the group to simply collect his thoughts. He was a bit tired, but still awake and alert enough to take note of the sudden burst of flames in front of near by building.
"Damnit..."
This wasn't the time for the FOH to attack again. They were there, yes, but he was sure they wouldn't be prepared. Sure they had abilities, but the FOH fought dirty.
Without a moment of hesitation, Bobby threw his arm out and immediately froze the burning awning. The metal bars holding it up creaked a bit, the weight of the frozen fabric bending the support a bit, but they were quickly restabilized with thick layers of ice. That would hold for the time being. At least until it melted and someone was able to fix it properly.
His first thought instantly went to John and he turned, ready with an icy first to try and land a good punch in his face, only to stop quite suddenly at the sight of Rogue.
"...Rogue?" He paused and made a face, lowering his arm. "What the hell? That was you?"
Rogue had been in the process of tearing off her coat in an attempt to swat it at the fire to put it out ---- after all, she wasn’t out to cause property damage… it had just happened ---- when the awning froze over and she stopped dead in her tracks. Oh, crap. The last thing she wanted [or needed] was a fight over this, but she doubted that any of the X-Men were going to see her as anything other than an enemy.
Worse still was the ice, which told her that if she was about to face any of the X-Men it was going to be Bobby. She turned, an almost guilty expression on her face, and shrugged her coat back over her shoulders. The last time she’d seen Bobby she hadn’t exactly been in her right mind. “Accident, okay? It was an accident.” Rogue held up her empty hands as if to say ‘see? no fire’ which she quickly realized probably wasn’t the best idea considering that if her hand flared up again it was going to be taken as a challenge.
He eyed her for a moment before relaxing and shaking his head. "Fine. But why are you here? If you're here, you could come over and help or something." Which probably wasn't the best suggestion or the best thing for anyone in Rogue's position to do all things considered. But help was help an extra hands were always appreciated.
Unless, of course, they caught on fire again.
"Scratch that. There's enough damage over there and considering the awning..." Bobby trailed off, motioning to it and crossed his arms. "So? Is John here, too? Here to shake your heads and say how useless we are or something?" Yeah. The last meeting between the two had gone pretty sour, but Bobby knew why. He hadn't exactly been the nicest guy even if he swore he had been trying to help.
“Yeah, I’m sure they’d all love that,” Rogue said softly but not without a bit of a sarcastic edge to it. She really didn’t think it was smart to go offer to help. Even if it was accepted, and even if someone didn’t try to jump her for it, it would likely just cause unneeded tension that would work against the clean-up efforts.
She rubbed at the ruined remains of her glove; her hand itself felt fine, not burned at all. But her glove was another story altogether. Wonderful.
Her mouth twitched and she shook her head. John wasn’t here, thank God. Or, at least, he was in town but he wasn’t right here in town. Because while she didn’t want to pick a fight, she doubted the same would hold true for John if he and Bobby met up. “No, he’s not here. We’re not ---- I’m not here to shake my ---- I was just seeing if there was anything that could be done to help. But you all seem to have it covered. And then ---- ” She gestured vaguely at the awning. “I’m really not here to start a fight, Bobby. I’ve been staying in town. That’s all.”
It was hard for Bobby not to trust Rogue. Despite being on opposing teams and being pitted against each other so many times, he had a good deal of history with her. John, too. And he was sure that, deep down, they all still had some sort of friendship bond that everything else just seemed to keep buried. But it was just easier that way. It simplified fighting for their own causes without putting emotion and thought in to it.
"Here." Pulling off his uniform leather gloves, he handed them over to her. "I don't really need them. Hard to get cold when you're partially made of ice anyway, right?" He laughed a bit, trying to make light of the situation. It was obvious she wasn't here to start anything and John wasn't anywhere to be seen. It made it a bit more bearable when he wasn't around.
"Listen. About what happened a few months ago...look. I'm sorry I was such a jackass. Just thought I'd throw that out there." Since, you know, he had been.
Rogue looked at the offered gloves distrustfully for a second. Truthfully, she didn’t really know what any of the X-Men would do with her, of any of the other members of the Brotherhood, if they had a clear shot. It probably depended on the X-Man. Hesitant distrust was a step up from the psycho-crazy-bitch she’d been a few months ago, though, so that was something. Finally, she reached for the gloves, tugging off her own and slipping on the leather ones. “Thanks…” The glove that wasn’t burnt was soaked with spilled tea anyway.
She blinked, focusing on the gloves. “Yeah --- I… I really wasn’t in the best state of mind then. I know that sounds like a cop out, but I was doing a lot of… stuff… and saying a lot of things that I wouldn’t normally do.” Rogue hesitated, then decided to add, “But you should have just told me the truth to begin with, you know? Instead of making something up.”
"Yeah. I know. There's a lot of people who needed to know the truth that I didn't tell when I should have." He paused and shrugged, rubbing at the back of his neck. "It's not a cop out, Rogue, so don't worry about it." Well at least the conversation was going a bit better than the first attempt. Then again, he wasn't trying to play a bad smooth operator or being a douche bag. Clearly that was helping the situation.
He was quiet again, keeping an eye on the awning. He knew it wasn't going to come tumbling down or anything, but it made for something else to idly stare at when the conversation went stale.
"So, how's things going now for you since Magneto's in charge? I'm sure it's going pretty well, huh?" He didn't mean for it to sound so bitter. He really didn't.
It was almost difficult to remember that there’d been a time when she’d spent more time with Bobby than anyone else in the world. So much had happened since they’d been Bobby-and-Rogue that it seemed like a lifetime ago and it had her chewing on her lip and shoving her hands into her pockets. It didn’t help that he was asking one of the really difficult questions.
To be honest, Rogue hadn’t really had a change to examine how she felt about Magneto’s new regime. When it had come about, she’d been under the influence, as it were, of her own powers. And since gaining her sense of self back, she’d been so focused on getting her footing back and so sequestered that she hadn’t completely faced the fact that Magneto was in charge. She knew that Magneto had pretty much screwed John over when it came out to handing out responsibilities in this new world order and she got the feeling that John was Not Happy about it, but, otherwise, she hadn’t broached the subject, either specifically to that topic or generally about the way things were going around the country.
“Uh --- I’ve sort of been dealing with some personal things. And less with…” she gestured vaguely to the town around them. “Are things… I’m sure there are people at the school who don’t like what’s happening. Hell, I mean, you know how I feel about Magneto. But… I don’t know if all of this is bad. I’m sure there’s plenty not to like but… I guess I’m just sort of hoping that none of you do something stupid.” And get yourselves killed was the unspoken add-on to that.
"Stupid. Right." That was really the last thing Bobby was going to do around someone like Magneto under his rule. He didn't want to end up with the entire mutant population hating him or anything like that.
"I'll admit that there is some good coming out of this--" Bobby paused and shrugged a bit, crossing his arms. "--but it can't last, Rogue. I know there's a lot of people who did wrong my mutants, but there's a lot of good people who wanted to help mutants who are suffering just the same. I just don't think that's fair." But Bobby had always thought that way. He knew that what people did to mutants was unfair to his kind, but usually the good out did the bad.
Usually.
“And there are a lot of people who were suffering before all this. Just different people… the sap--- the humans who are suffering now are the ones who weren’t suffering before. I’m not saying it’s right that they’re suffering… but the only big difference now is that a different group of people is being persecuted. And any humans complaining are being hypocritical.” Rogue sighed, a little frustrated, and pushed back her hair.
“I’m not going to argue or debate with you about it. Things sucked for a lot of people during both regimes. But the X-Men wanting to fight us… it doesn’t help anything. And it doesn’t help mutants at all. If we could all just stop fighting with each other…” She sighed again and shrugged. “We’re probably going to all be at each others’ throats until something worse happens.” It was a bad thought, but probably the truth. “I should get home. And you probably have a lot of work to do.”
"Yeah." And he really did, but Rogue had a point. It was a good point, but Bobby wasn't about to admit that. Part of him was happy that he didn't have to walk outside and worry about getting gunned down or beat up for what he was. At the same time, though, it wasn't what they had been working towards. Bobby shifted his weight from one foot to another and sighed. "Let's just hope that maybe, one day, we can all actually come to an agreement. Maybe we will. Maybe we won't." It was never going to happen. Bobby knew it was useless to even try and hope for it, but it was sometimes nice to consider.
He gave her a wave and started to turn. "Be safe heading home." Because he didn't want to be responsible for Rogue not coming home or something. But he stopped in mid-step, fiddled with his ungloved hands in front of him and turned, dropping something on the ground. "Here. Call it a peace offering or something." At least, for the time being it would be.
Bobby gave her another wave and started back towards the crumbled and destroyed cathedral, the neatly sculpted ice rose sitting behind him.