InsaneJournal

Rogue had left the mansion early that morning to go for a walk. Between the constant fluctuating of ages in the city - particularly at the mansion and especially with the man who would someday be known as Magneto - she'd needed to get away and clear her thoughts for a while. It had worked, too. By the time she'd finished following the jogging path in the park and had cut across the town square, she was feeling more like herself again and not like some creep who had unneeded hostility toward a small child. Yes, it was weird, but she could deal with it. It would be easier, of course, if there were others from home that she knew besides Kitty, of course, but Rogue was certain she could hang in there until just such a thing happened.

As it turned out, though, she didn't have to wait too long. It wasn't three seconds after that very thought crossed her mind that she heard the telltale snikt! that was far too recognizable to ever be anything other than what she thought it was. Sure enough a quick glance across the street, toward the Grand Library, confirmed what she already knew. Going still, Rogue felt a smile slowly begin to cross her face as she watched the man to whom she owed her very life charging back at the closed library doors with every intention of reopening them and teaching the guards within a lesson or three. Everything else seemed to fade into the background as Rogue stared, with building hope and giddiness, at the sight before her eyes.

Then she was on the move. Across the street without even really looking either way, halfway up the walkway, before finally she stopped. Maybe, she realized despite her excitability, bum-rushing a man with a short temper and sharp knives that came out of his hands wasn't the smartest thing she could do. So rather than cover the last few feet then the stairs to where he stood, she instead took a second to try to compose herself. And finally, keeping in mind that not everyone in the city was who they appeared to be, called out hopefully, "Logan? That's you, right?"

Please let it be him, please let it be him... The thoughts flickered through her mind as she waited with baited breath for him to turn around and either confirm he was her Logan or prove to her that, yet again, this city could be downright cruel when it wanted to be and had sent another version of Logan who didn't know her in his place.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

The second he said her name and turned around, Rogue was all but running up the stairs toward him, the smile on her face positively brilliant. "I am so glad you're here!" she exclaimed in a rush as she tossed her arms around his neck in a tight hug. "I kept hoping you'd show up and here you are! This is great!"

Releasing her hold on him, Rogue practically danced from foot to foot in happiness as she beamed up at him. "How are are? Are you ok?" she questioned, looking him up and down as though to confirm it really was him. Then she went still, smiling brightly once more. "I can't believe you're actually here! Just wait until you see this place. It's crazy."

And okay, so she was babbling but she really couldn't seem to help it. With Logan there, she finally felt safe, finally felt as though things were going to work out. Yes, she knew that was a little ridiculous and, really, she was a bit old for the unrequited crush, but she couldn't help it. Out of everyone she'd ever known, Logan was the main one she knew she could count on, no matter what. He was like the big brother she'd never had and, in a place as crazy as Colligo, that was something she desperately needed.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

Slow down. Right. Rogue could do that. Sure it was a little tricky considering how thrilled she was at the moment but she also knew, if she didn't, Logan was only going to stay just as confused about the situation as he already was. And anyone who knew him knew that was not a good thing. So she stopped speaking, drawing in a breath to buy herself a few seconds to organize her thoughts. The smile remained, as bright as ever, but when she spoke again she was at least making a little more sense than before.

"Right. Sorry," she began, the smile turning a touch sheepish for a second. "This place is called Colligo. It's..." She paused, realizing just how ridiculous what she was about to say sounded but not knowing any other way to say it. "It's a city on a planet that... well, it's not Earth. And I know how crazy that sounds but it's true as far as any of us can tell. Time moves weird here, too. I've been here for months now."

Another pause before Rogue added, "It's safe, though. Or, at least, safer than back home so far. Nobody even cares about the whole mutant thing, here." And that's where she stopped, resisting the urge to hug him again and instead waiting, sure he would have questions and hoping she could answer them without confusing him too much more.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

She knew she sounded crazy. She'd even said how crazy she knew she sounded. However that didn't make any of this any less true. Granted, she had spent the first few weeks in the city convinced it was some kind of telepathic prison she was trapped inside but all of that had slowly eased over time, after meeting enough different people, and had evaporated fully by the time the 'Christmas in July' had run its course. Which, she realized as Logan did his best to try to discreetly check that she wasn't being manipulated in some way, she had the very same thing that had convinced her with her right now.

Her smile turned a bit softer as she peered up at Logan. She trusted he wouldn't touch her skin-to-skin. If anyone understood how much she hated having that happen to her, it was him, and she knew if he ever did touch her it would be for a damn good reason. Still, she stayed still as he examined her, just in case. When he'd finished, she simply slipped two fingers into the collar of her shirt and drew out the present the city had given her less than a month before.

His dogtags. They clinked together lightly as she pulled them from her shirt. "These showed up a few weeks ago when whoever is running this place decided we needed a Christmas in July," she said quietly. She pulled them from around her neck, holding them out for him to examine. "They're yours. The same ones you took back when you showed up at the school before Stryker attacked."

It wasn't until after she'd said the man's name that Rogue realized Logan might not even be from that point in time. He could be from before all of that happened, from the time he spent on the road after leaving the school the first go-round. Desperately she hoped that wasn't the case, otherwise her having the tags wasn't going to seem strange to him at all, yet another part of her hoped that was the case because if he was from before Stryker came after the school that also meant he was from before Jean had died. And Rogue would give anything she could think to give to keep him from still experiencing the pain he'd felt at that particular loss. Even if it did mean he was going to keep right on thinking she was insane for however long he stayed in the city.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

There were parts of it Logan didn't have quite right. Most of those parts, Rogue would admit, were due to her own mindless babbling before finally taking a moment to think about what she was saying. However his misunderstandings still brought a smile to her face, a sort of reassuring grin that made her admit just how glad she was to see him despite him not quite grasping the situation.

"It's not that no one bothered to tell you," she corrected as delicately as she could manage. Which wasn't much, truth be told, when there wasn't any easy way to really say 'nope, you're wrong, try again!'. However rather than tacking on the last, Rogue instead tacked on what she hoped was at least a somewhat helpful, "Like I said, time moves weird here. So it's not that folks didn't tell you I was missing but more like whenever I show up back at the school, they won't ever know I was gone." She paused again, head tilting slightly to the side as she studied the man in front of her for a second. One of the problems, though, with pinpointing Logan's age is that it was all but impossible to do so. He simply didn't change. Ever.

Which is precisely what prompted her next question. A few hesitantly asked, "What is it that you remember last? I mean, as far as the school goes, and stuff. What's the last thing that happened?" Not always an easy question to ask someone who suffered from amnesia but Rogue could only hope that he would realize she wasn't asking for that reason, necessarily, but for another reason entirely.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

'After the whole mess with Stryker' was all Rogue needed to hear to know exactly when Logan happened to be from, timeline speaking. Anything beyond that would wind up discussing Jean, or the chaos that had followed Jean's demise, and Rogue would rather avoid all of that if at all possible. So instead of pressing for more information, she simply nodded knowingly with a touch of sympathy and knowing shining in her eyes. "Right," she replied softly, her expression flickering ever so slightly to reveal the sorrow at the losses that would follow Jean. Then she forced it away, focusing back on how happy she was that Logan was finally in the city.

"Well, when you go back, you'll go back to the same time you left. Same as me." Another pause, with Rogue trying to decide what next to add, before finally offering, "Like the Professor. He's here, but younger. Right now he's really young but normally, here at least, he's still pretty young compared to what we're used to." Which, again, Rogue knew wasn't all that informative when Logan was used to dealing with a much older version of the man, but she held out hope he would be willing to at least suspend a little disbelief and trust her on this one.

And, if not, she figured she could always tell him about the man who would some day be Magneto. Or Mystique. If the two of them being so young didn't convince someone, she wasn't sure what would.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

Rogue grinned, unable to help herself. She knew this was a fairly serious situation and knew, without a doubt, that Logan did need to be brought up to speed before coming across somebody who was liable to say something he didn't like, but she couldn't help but smile. She had just missed him too much not to be beyond thrilled that he was here, even if it was going to take him a little time to adjust to everything. However even with the grinning, she still did her best to explain.

"Okay. Time moves weird here. I already said that. Sometimes people show up from our time, sometimes from the past, sometimes from even further along than us." She paused. "Well, that last one hasn't happened yet but it's possible. The point is, the Professor's in his late twenties, early thirties. So's Mystique. Who goes by Raven and isn't, you know, evil." She paused, a slight crease in her forehead appearing as she tried to say the last part without any hostility. "And Magneto. He's younger and not evil yet, either."

She knew that Logan would realize how hard it was for her to admit something like that, considering her history with the metal-controlling mutant, and could only hope that Logan would also realize if she was saying it, it must be true. Not wanting to dwell for too long on that, though, she moved on by adding, "And it's not just us. There are others here. People from different realities or something. So far, there's a lot of us at the school but the only one I really know from our time is Kitty. And we all stay here for however long, then when we go back home nobody even knows we were ever missing. At least, that's what I've been told by people who've left and come back."

Rogue stopped there, having more she could say but not wanting to overwhelm the guy too much. So rather than press forward she instead grinned once more and asked, "With me so far?"

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

(Reply to this) (Parent)