Who: Ned and Rogue What: A dinner date Where: The Musain When: Wednesday, October 21st (backdated) Warnings: Nope Status: complete
Asking Rogue on a date had been a moment of boldness that Ned wasn’t entirely sure where it came from so he was pretty nervous when he arrived at The Musain a few minutes before six and gave his name to the hostess. He’d made a reservation and hoped that their table would be ready on time so they didn’t have to stand around awkwardly and make small talk. At least if they were seated, they would have menus to look at and could discuss their orders.
He was grasping and he knew it.
The night he’d hung out with Kenny and unwittingly gotten high was fun and he’d been surprised to realize that he was thinking about Rogue. Their alter egos had bonded in that other timeline and it made him curious to know if they could have a similar connection here and now. There was only one way to find out.
He smiled when she approached just as the hostess came over to show them to their table.
“Hi,” he said. “Perfect timing.”
Rogue was a little shocked, really. She hadn’t expected anyone to take any further interest in her. And, to be honest, she wasn’t really looking either. She’d had enough heart break in this god-forsaken town to last her a lifetime. But, Ned was nice, they’d bonded and it couldn’t hurt, right?
She smiled at him as she arrived. “I do have that from time to time.” she’d been in town long enough to push her accent back a little, her I’s still sounded more ah’s but, oh well, you couldn’t totally take the girl out of the South, right?
She wasn’t sure what to expect, but, she was trying to go at this with an open mind. It couldn’t hurt, as long as no one touched her, and she could really use the company. She loved Johanna, but she had a life, too.
Ned thought her accent was charming. He also really liked her smile and was glad to see it. “Have you been here before?” he asked. “I haven’t, so I’m looking forward to trying it.” Most days, he would either cook something simple or grab takeout. He hadn’t gotten out nearly as much as he probably should have given how long he’d been in town.
The hostess led them to their table and he waited until she left them with the menus before speaking again. “Thank you for joining me tonight. I hope you haven’t been working too hard this week.”
“I have, a couple times.” she sat down and asked for some water, before looking over at him. She wasn’t entirely sure what was going on in her life, things just felt like they needed some stability, so here she was. Trying to find a little bit. She hoped she wasn’t being too awkward. “It’s good, I like it.”
“Thank you for asking me.” a warmer smile, “I always work hard - Johanna and I run Bad Axe, and I work for Sigrun, which I enjoy. I cook a lot for both work and home, but it’s nice. I like having a lot to do. Sitting around means I think too much.” a smirk, “What about you?”
“I haven’t been to Bad Axe yet,” Ned admitted. “But I’ll admit I’m curious about it. What all do you offer there? And how did you get into that sort of thing?”
Cooking he understood, though he didn’t do as much of that as he did baking. They were very different skill sets in his opinion. Baking was more precise whereas people could be more creative with cooking and he didn’t think that was really his area of expertise. “I’ve been spending most of my time at the tea shop. Adding pies to the menu was the easy part. Learning about all the different kinds of tea has been more of a challenge.” He wasn’t ashamed to admit that he was still figuring all of that out.
"Axe throwing, a dodge archery kind of thing and the like." She laughed softly, "Johanna has a love affair with axes, and I'm good with any weapon you put in my hand. So it was just something fun." She shrugged a bit.
"There are a lot of teas, that is for sure. It's like spices and herbs - there are so many!" She smiled warmly, glancing down at her menu for a moment.
Hearing that she had a lot of experience with weapons made Ned a bit more anxious. Hopefully he wouldn’t do anything to upset her. “I don’t think I’d be very good at axe throwing,” he admitted. “But I’m glad you found something that suits you.” And from reading the network, he wasn’t surprised that there was a market for that sort of thing in Madison Valley.
“What are you thinking about ordering?” he asked.
She smiled a bit, “You’d be surprised. A lot of people find it a good stress relief.” she tucked a strand of white back and thought about it. “Probably steak, it’s my default, and I really am kind of hungry.” she laughed as she set the menu aside to look over at him.
“I know we didn’t really talk a lot about who we are when all that stuff happened before, but, really, is there anything you want to know?” she figured she made a lot of people anxious, it was best to ask.
Ned was pleased that she admitted she was hungry and that she didn’t say something about ordering a salad. That wasn’t the kind of person he would enjoy spending time with. “Oh, uh… not really,” he said. “I mean, I know you ended up with some of my memories, though, right? So do you have any questions for me?”
Along with a plethora of boring memories, she would have also seen all the investigations he did with Emerson, all the dead that he temporarily brought back so they could find out how they died. Those were not always pleasant memories.
Rogue would never in her right mind order just a salad. She’d eat one, of course, and often did, usually doused in a lot of dressing and thrown with meat and cheese. “I did yes.” she waved a hand lightly, “though they’ve mostly faded to the background. Which is a small bonus - we didn’t touch long enough to be a long, long term fixture. I can pull them up, if i try.” she said after a moment.
“They just aren’t loud.” which she liked, because lord, she’d have gone utterly insane. “How did you keep doing it, when it sucked so much?” she asked, because, it hadn’t seemed like a fun thing to do.
That was really not the question Ned was expecting and he gave her a thoughtful look. “I don’t know,” he said after a moment. “I think I just felt like I had to.” Yes, Emerson had done it for the money, but Ned felt more altruistic about it. Like he owed it to the deceased to ensure there was justice for their untimely deaths.
And, yeah, he hated using his ability, though he was grateful for being able to give Chuck a second chance. He shrugged.
Rogue smiled a bit, "I see. I understand that." Leaned back in her seat to look him over. He was earnest, and kind. And it was strange, Rogue usually found herself on the wrong side of the tracks, as it were.
Kind and good were not her usual wheelhouse. She smiled at him, "that's very insightful, actually."
Living a largely solitary existence made one fairly insightful, Ned figured. He wasn’t going to talk about his sad childhood though. That wasn’t appropriate for a first date.
He shrugged. “What were you doing before you ended up here?” he asked.
“Mmm” she laughed softly, “Super hero.” she said with a shrug, “Fighting, mostly, saving people somewhat. Getting into trouble, of course.” she smiled a bit as she shook her head.
“What about you?” Rogue leaned back so she could look at him while relaxing. She was bad at small talk, but she was trying, because she was genuinely interested.
“Wow, that’s a tough job,” Ned said. Before coming here, he didn’t think superheroes existed outside of comic books, but he’d been here long enough that it didn’t surprise him to hear her say it.
He took a sip of his drink before answering. “I was running The Pie Hole,” he said. “And helping Emerson solve cases.” And spending time with Chuck, though he wasn’t going to talk about another woman while he was on a date. He may not be as experienced as a lot of others, but he knew better than that. “Oh, I did find out that I have younger half brothers not too long ago,” he added. “Twins. They’re magicians.”
“It can be for sure.” she said softly, she did not add she’d spent time on the other side of that, too. It was just, how things went really. “Younger twin brothers. That’s a shock isn’t it? Magicians as in stage magic or actual magic? It’s hard to be sure in this place what people mean.”
She looked up as the server arrived and she smiled sweetly, jerking both hands out of the way fast as the woman didn’t give her time. She stared and sighed, people were so exhausting.
“Stage magic,” Ned said, frowning when the server came over and crowded Rogue’s personal space. He was far more aware of the need for personal space and the fear of casual contact than most people, even though his situation was quite different from hers.
Once she’d left and they had their food, he offered her an encouraging smile. “Looks good,” he said. “Shall we?”
"That's pretty cool." She said as she adjusted and smiled at him. She picked up her silverware and started in on dinner. She was used to people getting in her space so it was what it was.