ʀᴏɢᴜᴇ has a (dangerous_touch) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2017-03-21 16:08:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | !complete, anna marie (rogue), logan howlett (wolverine), xena |
Who: Rogue, Logan & Xena
What: Bar Fights are love
Where: Out a ways
When: Evenin'
Status: complete
Rating: Bar fights nuff said
Rogue leaned on the wall outside the taste of home, she'd changed from work clothes to leather pants that had probably been painted on and a tank top under a leather jacket. She'd pulled her hair up into a loose ponytail. One heel of her boot rested against the wall. This was only going to fuel Jean teasing her. She knew it. But that was alright.
Logan roared up on his motorcycle. He was dressed simple. Jeans and a t-shirt that was probably a little too tight, but not many people would complain. “Goin’ my way, darlin’?”
Rogue wouldn’t, never. She pushed off the wall. “Sure am, suga’” she crooned as she walked over to him, that grin that meant trouble settled on her lips. Sometimes she forgot her very nature, burying it under paperwork.
Logan had missed that grin. He missed a lot of things from the dreams, but the comradery and friendships were highest on that list. It was good to see Rogue looking like Rogue. “Hop on, let go find some trouble.”
Rogue rarely felt more alive than when she was on the back of a bike. Something that was born from both her dreams and this place. She'd missed this, though. “Sounds like the best plan I've heard all night.” Rogue slid on behind him, comfortable as could be.
The engine rumbled, and Logan took off down the highway. His bike was comfortable,the kind you took on a nice long drive. If he wanted, they could just keep going and not look back. More than once he’d thought about it, going alone. Might be better for people. Might be worse.
Rogue rested her head against his back. She was good at running, but she'd been getting good at sticking around too. She liked a good ride on the highway, the feel of the wind against her, it gave her time to think usually. Tonight she was kept out of her head, distracted by the man beneath it and the curiosity of where they were going.
The bar Logan picked was quite a ways away. By the time they got there, the evening was in full swing. People in leather and jeans, the kind of place a biker might fit in. He got off his bike and headed in.
Rogue trusted his judgement. She was capable of playing any part she needed to get herself into a little trouble. She judged she'd picked the right outfit but shed the jacket, leaving it behind. If she was being honest, it was her kind of place too. With a smirk at his back, she followed him in.
Someone waved them over, a statuesque brunette in tight leather, with a cute blonde in her lap. “Hey, Logan! Been awhile. I’d like you to meet...what’s your name, sweetheart?”
“Lucy.”
“Lucy.” What, Xena had a type. Spunky blondes and enigmatic Chinese women.
“Hey darlin’. This is Rogue. Rogue, this is Xena.”
Rogue rested a hand on her hip and couldn't resist teasing Logan. “I never meet your friends, I'll have to mark it on my calendar.” She smiled as innocently as possible.
“Nice to meet you, Xena.” She inclined her head to both the woman and her friend.
“I’m a special occasion, what can I say.” Xena held out her hand for Rogue. “What brings you to this side of the tracks.”
“We’re lookin’ for trouble,” Logan said.
Xena looked around. “Well, wait an hour and trouble’ll find us. Rival gang’s been edging into my territory. Their leader is showin’ up tonight.”
Callisto would be mad she missed a brawl but Xena would make it up to her.
Rogue hesitated. Then put her hand out to grasp Xena’s, old habits died hard and she had come out of her own head with better control. It wasn't perfect but it was better. She took her hand back before it slipped.
“Sounds like just my kind of special occasion.” She grinned again, confidence right back in place. The slip had been there for only a few seconds but she wasn't going to let it ruin her night. Eyes flicked to Logan, lip curling a bit further up.
“You know exactly how to get my mind off work.”
“I can think of a few other ways,” Xena suggested, eyeing Rogue up and down. The girl in her lap rolled her eyes and slipped away. “...guess she got jealous.”
There’d been some hesitation in Rogue. Rogue had a story, and Xena was suddenly curious.
Logan shrugged, taking a seat and eyeing the other people in the bar. He recognized three of Xena’s people, “No Callisto?”
“Pretty sure she’s on a date,” Xena said. “Ain’t gonna interrupt that for the world.”
“Huh.”
Rogue settled onto a seat, relaxing easily. Well appearing to, for the most part, but she watched her surroundings carefully. She trusted Logan, and a smidge of that trust was extended to his friend, but not enough to let her truly relax.
She was used to extra scrutiny. And was aware that Xena noticed the hesitation, but she didn't cave. It was a story freely given. She was baring enough skin to make the entire group of worrywarts happy.
“Plenty of ways, few of em backfire more often than not.” She hadn't retested her control in other situations in months. She offered a one shouldered shrug to Xena, eyes sliding to look at the woman.
“Ain’t that the truth.”
Xena’s eyes shifted as a man entered. The entire mood of the bar suddenly grew icy, as if everyone was waiting for something to happen.
And then Xena stood up and approached the man. “Guess who’s finally showing his ugly mug. Don’t know you, this is Godslayer territory?”
Logan downed his beer. “This is gonna get good.”
Rogue leaned on her elbows, eyes half closed, watching. She shuffled through the memories looking for a good one, having evicted all but one from her head, it was much easier to recall, and more organized.
Even if it brought a pang of guilt. She'd evicted the one who she'd fought to stay with in her dreams and let her best friend, best distraction, stay. She wanted to see if she could draw off an echo. If not well, she'd just cheat and refresh Logan in her head.
“Good”
It wasn’t clear who threw the first punch, but the leader of the rival gang was thrown across a table, breaking it on his landing. Xena let out her trademark war cry and leapt through the air as if on strings, punching and kicking her way as she did so.
“How the fuck?” Logan moved aside as someone was thrown past, then picked up an abandoned glass of whiskey, drinking it as he waded into the fight.
Rogue side stepped the flying man, snorted, followed Logan's lead and grabbed a glass of whiskey that'd been left behind, tipped it back and dove into the fray. It was inevitable that people would touch her.
She kept part of her mind focused on it while she took stock of who was on what side and got into the thick of things. Rogue got a bottle smashed against her shoulder, glass pricking her flesh. That was the first person she let her power leak out on contact with. She didn't like people who got the drop on her.
Fists were flying, and Xena was in her element. She had a peculier way of fighting that was both brutal and yet strangely merciful. Sure, someone might break an arm or a nose, but there was little chance of accidentally killing someone. She reserved that for people that truely deserved the effort.
Logan, meanwhile, kept his claws sheathed.
Sometimes you just had to hit people in the face with your fist.
If she used her power, it was just used as a distraction. That momentary confusion was enough to drop someone. It was a territorial bar fight not a fight for her life. She was resolving to harass Logan into training more regularly, she was taking enough hits to know she had been a slacker.
She only caught glances of Xena and Logan, but she was glad she was on their side. She'd rather not be on the receiving end of any of Xena’s attacks.
“Hey, catch!” Xena flung a tray like a chakram. It zinged around, ricocheting from wall to wall, into several heads knocking the men out, and then right for Rogue.
Rogue only had a few seconds to realize what was going on and snagged it out of the air, it left her hand a little numb but she was grinning nonetheless. She adjusted her grip and sent it towards another group, it wasn’t nearly as good as Xena’s throw, but it skipped over heads like she’d been skipping a rock on water. That was fun, too.
“That was beautiful!” Xena cackled, then jumped onto the nearest opponent.
Logan picked Rogue up. “Fastball special, darlin?”
Rogue bunched up as he picked her up. “Send me flying!” Muscles ready to go, eyes lighting up.
With a heavy growl, Logan flung Rogue across the bar at surprising speed. It was never obviously apparent, but his mutation did give him super strength, as well as agility. And he put that to good use by throwing Rogue right at one of the enemy ring leaders.
Rogue wasn't terribly heavy, something that someone should sometime harass her over, and she flew with ease over the heads of others, a light touch of a foot aimed her fully at one of the leader’s, and she hit him like a ball of fury. Light she might be, but muscled too, and she broadsided him. She hit a ton of bricks and before he even knew what hit him she was attacking him.
“I think I’m a little turn on,” Xena quipped. She was now sitting on an unconscious man, and munching on some almonds. “We should go.”
“Yeah. I can hear sirens.”
Xena couldn’t hear anything yet, but she trusted Logan. Letting out a sharp whistle, she got to her feet. Her crew quickly vacated and she was right behind them. Logan threw Rogue over his shoulder and followed.
Rogue almost took a swing then relaxed as he threw her over his shoulder. “Oof! I'm not a sack of potatoes you know!” She protested as she poked him in the center of his back. She liked it though, it beat walking.
“Sure you are.” He patted her butt and dashed for the motorcycle. He waited only long enough for Rogue to get settled before he took after after Xena, staying close enough not to lose her.
Rogue kicked him in that face for that. She grabbed her coat and got settled fast, laughing. She didn't care she had bruises, and blood on her knuckles.
Xena eventually led them to a different bar. Quieter crowd, old fashioned rock music. She marched in and announced she was buying drinks for everyone, then settled into a booth and gestured for them to join her. Logan smirked, and slid into the booth across from her.
“Well, that was fun.”
“Damn right it was,” Xena agreed.
Rogue plopped down next to Logan, grinned at Xena then to Logan. “Ten second warning, I actually broke a finger. You're helping. Recall isn't quite working yet” She warned before she laid bare fingers on his cheek. Just enough before she straightened the broken finger and let ‘him’ do the hard work. Call it payback for carrying her like a sack of potatoes.
“My kind of fun, really. Worked off a good edge I've been working on. Thanks for letting me join in the fun.” She smiled at xena.
Logan just rolled his eyes. It wasn’t the first time Rogue had used him like that, and it wouldn’t be the last. He didn’t really mind, better than her sitting around getting hurt. If only he could do that for other people.
“Fun ability,” Xena said. She ordered a beer, then got comfy, stretching out in the both and leaning against the wall.
She kissed his cheek. “Thanks.” She meant it too. She was more careful now, she'd killed him once and She never wanted to do that again. Rogue didn't mind getting hurt, but, she still had work in the morning and a broken finger and a black eye weren't good for business.
Rogue ordered a beer, too, after Xena’s comment. “Not really. Oh it has it's uses. But fun isn't the right word for it. I pay a price. Less now than I used to but it's still pretty high.”
“Most things of that nature have a price…” Xena nodded her head, suddenly more serious. How many people had gifts only for those gifts to turn out to be curses.
“No shit.” Logan knocked back his own beer.
Rogue rested her head back. “They sure do. I could be less bitter about it if I'd asked for it.” She huffed out a breath and looked down into her glass after a long moment she smiled a bit.
She still avoided touch like the plague, scared she'd lose the focus of the touch would go on past her limit. “It is what it is though. Couldn't give it up now for all the money in the world.”
“Would you want to?” There was no trace of judgement in Xena’s voice or expression.
She thought about it before. Agonized really but she'd come to the same conclusion her dream counterpart had. “Nope, it's part of what makes me me.”
Xena nodded, and raised her drink in toast. “To being you.”
Logan lifted his beer. Maybe just because, or maybe because he agreed. Probably the latter.
She lifted hers, “To being us, weirdness and all” she drained half of it before setting the glass down.