WHERE: Somewhere between Chicago & Tumbleweed WHEN: Backdated to their roadtrip WHAT: Shooting the breeze and making plans STATUS: Complete VIEW WARNINGS: None really.
Dropping off in Chicago via portal for a drive home seemed like the best option; it gave them more time away from Tumbleweed for a start. Although that came to a close quicker than expected, like time moved faster or some shit like that.
But they got to enjoy some sight seeing, some deep dish pizza that was not the same as the frozen shit in shops, thank you very much, and were apparently returning to Tumbleweed with the prospect of a better living situation. Which, okay their place didn’t suck but it sure as shit wasn’t fancy or anything.
Having boosted a car that was in a parking garage, dust already settled on the dash, so it clearly wasn’t used that often, they had a hell of a long drive ahead of them, likely with numerous stops for fun, food and whatever else came up. Pyro was taking his turn at the wheel, the back seat loaded with the souvenirs from their trip, some contact numbers and emails in the laptop case with Pyro’s work with potential for whatever might come.
It was a good thing that a lot of shit was done over the internet now.
“We goin’ the quick way, or the long way?” Because sure, longer meant they could chill a bit more, but it also meant using more gas too.
“Eh - well we want to make that party that Charlotte lady is throwing in a few days, right? We can take a more direct route.” At least to start with, since Rogue wasn’t really interested in using too much gas in the long run - but she also wasn’t in a big hurry to get back right away.
Sliding her sunglasses down to cover her eyes, Rogue adjusted her seat so that she could lay back a bit, but turned her head towards her boyfriend so that she could still talk to him - at least until she fell asleep, which would hopefully take a while.
“Why are we really even going back to Tumbleweed? You know we could always set up shop somewhere else.”
It was a good question; why were they going back? It was this stupid pull that just seemed to say ‘go back’, and while Pyro was curious about the version of Rogue that showed up, the one from his world, with memories of stuff that happened after Alcatraz, more expanded than his memories of things, he wouldn’t say that he wasn’t wondering what she’d have to say.
“Party central, that’s us.” The woman didn’t seem bad, just a tad outdated. But then that was probably thanks to the portal, and a cushy room in a fancy house for the same rent they paid wasn’t too insane an idea either, “Unless she’s gonna have everyone in like petticoats or whatever, then I’m not going.”
He did not do that type of uptight fancy.
But the shorter route did make sense in the long run, less waste on gas, less likely to miss the party. “I guess we go back because … it’s a second home? I dunno, who knows what might come through that portal, right? Are we gonna miss out on that?” Considering it wasn’t all shit stuff all the time. “Nothin’ that says we gotta stay there forever though.”
“Should be fun. She promised a ton of wine, at least, and gambling.” Which meant that there would be opportunities for swindling others or lightly thievery, and who would want to pass that up, right? Grinning at the mental image of John in a petticoat, she reached out a gloved hand and lightly poked his side. “I dunno, that’d give me some pretty good blackmail material to hold over you,” she teased. “And you might like it.”
When he continued, she gave a soft sigh and thought that over, then finally nodded. “Yeah, I guess it is. There’s just some days that I’m a little worried about what might come through that portal.” With everyone’s idea of giving out second chances all willy-nilly, she didn’t want to think about what might happen if someone like the von Struckers or Colonel Wraith showed up in Tumbleweed.
“True. We can move on someday. Find a place of our own maybe.” It was nice to think about, though a part of her thought that she had as much of a chance of that as she did convincing Xavier that she could be trained in how to control her own powers.
John rolled his eyes at the prospect of dress up, but it wasn’t like he was staunchly against it if the really had to. Halloween was a while away and if people needed a fix then fine, he’d suck it up. He wasn’t really one for drinking or gambling, he’d gotten his fill of that when he was a kid, but Rogue had a knack for swindling people it seemed and it wasn’t like he’d let her miss out on a good time. Besides, he could keep an eye on anyone trying anything if it came to it.
“Hey, the second something comes outta there you don’t like, you say the word and we fry it.” And John totally understood that -he might’ve been a little loose on getting involved in shit, but if that Colonel that tried to kill them on came through, that Striker guy, John would light up the grill in a second. It was weird enough having Jean Grey as a sane and capable mutant around.
“We could always go to Mexico. They got nice beaches and plenty of crime, we’d be boss in no time.” Although it could get old fast for someone that had to wear layers, maybe cooler climates would work better. There was always Canada. But they were driving towards Tumbleweed for now, and it was okay to deal with right now. They’d just keep an eye on when it stopped being okay.
Rogue relaxed just a little at his declaration regarding if someone or something came out of the portal that she was against, oddly charmed by the vague threat to a currently non-existent foe. Reaching over, she lightly squeezed his leg in thanks, then reached into the back seat for the map.
“Mexico’s not a bad idea, for a someday kind of thing. When it’s a little cooler, or not the middle of hurricane season, at least.” Opening the map up a little wider so she could study the rest of the U.S., she idly traced a route back towards Washington. “Or maybe Seattle. It’s rainy, but full of coffee. They might have something that we could look into. Or start, crime-wise.” Because she wasn’t against that idea one bit.
“Could even head east and hit Atlantic City.”
In this messed up world, where people came and went like the weather, John was really only bothered with one or two people, people that were easy enough to talk to, and Rogue. The moment she was fed up with anything that was going on, he wasn’t going to think twice about saying fuck it.
“I would very much like to avoid hurricanes,” he really wasn’t looking to add natural disasters to the list of things to deal with, he was sure they’d hit Tumbleweed eventually. “But Seattle could work, in the long run. It’s ideally placed for quite an empire to build from.” Plus, coffee was a good enough draw for businesses.
“You’d clean up in Atlantic City, not as heavy on the security as Vegas, but just as many tourists and enough casinos to make a killing.” And it wasn’t like they needed to stay in any one of those places long term. Nothing wrong with travelling too. “We’ll make it work, whatever we do, yeah?” It was smooshy and shit, but John was pretty sure he could make anywhere work if he was with Rogue.
There were times that Rogue waffled on staying in Tumbleweed. She’d made a few friends, but overall she didn’t feel all that welcome. But she’d work on that, because it was time to find something that stuck, right? And for now, John stuck - which was good. Rogue wasn’t looking forward to the day she might wake up and he’d be sent back home, and so for now she planned to enjoy what she had while she had it.
“Hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, and volcanoes - those are all on my list,” she said as she shifted to reach into the back seat for a bag of pretzels they’d picked up before hitting the road. “Any and all acts of God.” Which might even include mutants, depending on who you talked to. Settling back into her seat, she pulled one of her gloves off and opened the pretzels, digging in for a few before holding the bag out to him.
“Maybe we could make it a real empire and have a base in both places,” Rogue mused with a grin, then gave a nod. “Yeah, we’ll make it work.” She hoped.
“I mean, once you’ve done a civil war and fought with Atlaneans, do we really need to add natural disasters to the mix?” It definitely didn’t rank high on shit to deal with. And while John wasn’t as all in on the mutant supremacy shit right around now, given who all was in Tumbleweed, it wasn’t too out there to think on one or more of them causing some huge disaster.
There was a sense of inclusion given how many mutants were around, but that didn’t mean everyone was going to be all happy to embrace them forever. It just took one mutant with one uncontrollable power and they were all a menace again. But that was tomorrow’s problem.
Shoving a handful of pretzels into his mouth, John didn’t think to eat them before talking, “You wanna be the new Kingpin?”
“Not really.” They were more of the kind of thing that Rogue wanted no part of, really - though there were a couple other things she’d been thinking of getting into recently, but she’d wait and see how that worked out when they got back to town.
“I’d rather be an Empress, I think,” she mused, then grinned over at him, a teasing glint in her eyes. “Sounds more powerful. Or wait, what’s the one from that show with dragons and softcore porn? Khaleesi? Yeah, that sounds better. I’ll be the Khaleesi and you can be my concubine.” Stretching out, she yawned a little, then shifted the bag so it was between them so he could get to the snacks better.
“I’m going to take a nap. Wake me up when you’re ready for me to drive,” Rogue told him, leaning over to lightly brush a finger across his thigh, then curling up on the seat.
Natural disasters and civil wars could stay to themselves, they’d find something else somewhere, and there was always something happening in Tumbleweed that kept the restless sorts, well, resting. “If it was good enough for the Romans?” John gave a half smirk and shrug, Empress sounded better than Kingpin; since that sounded like bowling. And really, who was scared of that?
“I have no problem with that,” he’d read that book series, not the show, because deep down, St John was a literary snob, and he made no apologies for it when people knew. But luckily few people knew.
They had a good road ahead, and he checked the gas just to be sure that things were good. She’d get a good few hours nap at this rate. “No worries, snuggle down. I’ll give you a shout in a while.” Even if he’d make a point of going as far as possible before waking her.