There was something special about getting ice cream or froyo or whatever out of a machine, letting it swirl around into the bowl, mixing the flavors and then adding a bunch of ridiculous toppings. It was different than scooping it out of large tubs. Probably because Rogue got to determine how big or little the swirl was, a measure of control that just wasn’t there with scooped ice cream. Plus the flavors were back to their wacky fun ones which made coming to the yogurt shop fun again.
“Do ya ever get tired of the flavors considerin’ you’ve had them over a billion times by now?” she asked as she headed back over to Eleanor.
"No," Eleanor said with a grin. "I haven't even tried all of them, actually. Wasabi… Mother's Love are a couple. I only tried Cilantro when Vallo made the flavors disappear and it wasn't good. I had regrets." She ate a spoonful of Caller Doesn't Leave a Voicemail and enjoyed the feeling of relief that settled in. "The afterlife was weird, man. Now that I have all my memories, they didn't always use frozen yogurt. Once they used soup and there was this clam chowder fountain… It was disgusting."
She laughed, because as long as she didn't think too hard about the fountain she was fine. Michael had outdone himself with that one. "That's what happens when you have a demon trying to find new ways to torture us."
It was hard for her to think of Michael as a demon anymore. Not with the way he had changed over the years and years she'd known him.
“A soup place sounds like it’d be nice.” Even if Rogue knew there would have to be some sort of ridiculous twist on the thing. She had to agree that a clam chowder fountain sounded pretty disgusting though. Was it cold? Perpetually hot? Did it stink up the place? There were far too many questions she could ask about that one.
“Last I saw him he was workin’ hard to try and make things right back in Texas.” But that had been over a year ago and who knew when in the timeline it had been for Eleanor. “Memory updates are always a tricky thing. Comfortin’ and annoyin’ all at once. Regina made stopper potions for them back in the last place. Mine still seems to be workin’ alright at keepin’ them at bay.”
And Rogue was glad for that because she really didn’t care much about what was happening back in her own world. Any brief moment of happiness would just end in chaos and death. It was an endless cycle.
"It was all soup all the time," Eleanor said. "Everything was soup themed, just like everything was frozen yoghurt themed more than once. Oh man, I could get nostalgic for all the things they tried. But probably best to avoid that train of thought."
Eleanor was feeling better regarding Chidi, able to see the more positive side of things after a week at the spa. But reminiscing wasn't necessarily her best option at the moment.
"Anyway, you mentioned Michael and Janet had been in Texas before. Just them or were there more of us?"
Rogue was well versed in pushing away talking about one’s past. It didn’t necessarily have to do anything with one’s here and now. Especially once they were away from it long enough. “Tahani was around too. You. Jason. Some longer than others. Some more than once.”
It was just how this sort of thing worked. Sometimes they remembered, sometimes they didn’t. Rogue didn’t think there was any real rhyme or reason to any of it. At least it didn’t seem like anyone was pulling the strings in Vallo like it did sometimes in Texas.
“I reckon that was all I ever met from your world though.”
Eleanor smiled at the thought of Tahani somewhere like this. She'd jumped into the fake good place without hesitation, she'd probably do well in Vallo. "But what was I like?" she asked. "Did you know me?"
Because this was news to her, and she wanted to know. "Unless, you know, I showed up before I died because then I probably shouldn't hear about it." She couldn't think of any time Marina had mentioned her being around in Texas, but then again, she met Marina here early on when she was still somewhat freaked out about being yanked into some alternate world in the middle of a blizzard.
Who knew what was said then? Not Eleanor.
“You weren’t around long. I think Jason was around the longest.” Had it been about a year or so before she’d blipped from Texas to Vallo since she’d seen Eleanor? It had to be something like that. “You did a lot with Michael. Who was trying to figure out humans.”
Other than that Rogue didn’t know too much about the Eleanor who had been in Tumbleweed. “Tahani liked throwing parties.”
"I would kill for one of Tahani's parties right around now," Eleanor replied with a grin. "I thought she was so fake when I first met her. And she ended up being one of my best friends." She liked the thought of them all being together in Texas, even if that was some multiverse version of her.
And she smiled at the idea of Michael trying to figure out humans, and her assisting with Michael figuring out humans. "So have you been anywhere else? Because this is still weird to me, and I've been here…" She counted out the months on her fingers. "Half a year already? Really?"
“First went to a future world, then the Lost island before headin’ to Texas for a few years, and now we’re here.” Texas had brought about it’s own various worlds as well, but Rogue was grateful that Vallo didn’t have the damn cruises. She’d had her fill of that particular brand of chaos to last several lifetimes.
“You get used to bouncin’ around after a bit.” Though there had been more that had seemed to arrive with her in the other places. It wasn’t necessarily a bad thing not to have that happen this go around. It was like enjoying more of a clean break, some of the bullshit that had built over the last few years left behind.
“Been here about sixteen months now, give or a take a week. This one is my favorite so far.” She doubted it’d be her last. “You seem like you’re settlin’ in pretty well.”
"When you say… the Lost island do you mean like in the television show?" Eleanor asked, staring at Rogue. That seemed completely improbable but so did ending up here with Captain America and Lois Lane so she just didn't know.
"And I am, I guess." She had friends, two jobs, had just spent a week in a spa, was going to learn how to fight killer turkeys… She couldn't really complain, even with Chidi's very brief appearance still raw. Eleanor was feeling better about that, after a week at the spa and Margo listening patiently to her as she got all sentimental.
"I mean, if I leave here and go back home, I'm about to step through the last door and end my existence and I know it so this is all I have, really. Unless I end up in another world."
“That’s the one, yeah. We also went to the settin’ of the Lord of the Rings and a few other places like that as well.” The ones that were calmer had been nice to explore. Dealing with a xenomorph in space or an attack in Atlantis had been less than ideal.
“There don’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to who goes onto somewhere else and who just goes home, but the key seems to be buildin’ a life for yourself wherever you are.” Those that didn’t seemed less likely to end up anywhere else from what she had seen.
"Well you have," Eleanor pointed out. "Did you know Erik before you universe hopped for the first time? I want details on how you got together." She focused on her frozen yogurt to give Rogue time to share.
“I knew a version of him in my world and a couple different versions of him in the different places that I’ve been.” Was it four now? Rogue was pretty sure that was the right number. “Talked on the network here, randomly met up at a bar one night, introduced him to my daughter, who I had with a previous version of him in Texas, and decided to get to know one another.”
She didn’t really believe in fate but her and Erik’s continued connections were hard to discount. “We kind of just keep endin’ up together.”
"So what I'm hearing is that you're soulmates," Eleanor said decisively.
“I don’t really believe in those things.” Not anymore at least. Once upon a time Rogue had but, well, her homeworld and love didn’t go all that well. “Though, maybe a lil at least in these other worlds.”
"I mean I would have laughed in your face if you'd brought it up while I was alive," Eleanor said. At least that, if not worse. "And I don't even know if the concept was really meant to exist in the real good place. I know Michael was just trying to fork with us in the fake good place. But…"
She gave Rogue a helpless shrug, fully aware of how silly the wistful smile on her face was. "It seemed to work that way with Chidi and myself more often than not in spite of all the times Michael reset the experiment and our memories."
She pointed her spoon toward Rogue and then set down her empty froyo cup. "And… I'm just saying, multiple worlds, same guy?"
“We ain’t got the same barriers in these places that we did in my actual world.” That definitely helped because as much as Rogue loved Erik, she just couldn’t get behind the whole world domination for mutantkind thing. Or the various shades of that concept that kept repeatedly cropping up. “Seems to have helped the odds.”
Rogue scooped up the last bit of her froyo. “Maybe Michael was actually onto somethin’. Give people enough chances and they’ll eventually get it right. Even if that wasn’t his intention.”
"Yeah, his experiment totally failed at sustainable torture. Which thank goodness because no one needs that. But it did work, just not at all how he was expecting," Eleanor agreed. "I mean, if you'd known before and then met me now, you probably wouldn't recognize me. Well you would, because I was still this hot before, but I like to think I'm less of a mess."
“Ain’t sure any of us would recognize the people we used to be.” Rogue knew her younger self was lightyears from who she’d eventually become. And not just because she’d been part of a terrorist organization when she was younger. “The second chances this sorta place gives are real nice though.” Because getting a chance to grow and live a life after all of that growth was a nice change.
The second chances were nice, as long as Vallo didn't take a page from Michael's book and reset them all. Eleanor didn't say that aloud though. There was nothing to suggest that Vallo had done so before and if it had, she hadn't remembered it.
"I've been enjoying this one. New friends, and my favorite kind of froyo, now that it's back to normal," Eleanor agreed. "I'm going to try and hold onto it."
“The froyo really does make it all a lil easier to do,” Rogue agreed. People came and went and there was nothing to do about that. But that was true anywhere, no matter the world. All any of them could do was make the best of the time they had, no matter how long that might be.