Rogue tucked a stray hair behind her ear as she followed Mystique into the boarding house for the Brotherhood of mutants. The whole place looked like it might fall apart at any minute and there was a funny smell coming from the house that smelled vaguely like a polluted swamp.
"Welcome home, Rogue." Mystique said and gestured her inside.
Rogue paused for half a second before following the blue shape shifter inside. It smelled worse and she was tempted to turn around and run. "What's that smell?" She asked and pinched her nose in an attempt to rid herself of the odor. It didn't help.
Mystique frowned as she looked around. "I'm gone for two days and they've turned my house into a dump." She seethed and glared at some green goo stuck to the wall. "Toad! Avalanche!"
A boy about her age with shoulder length brown hair walked into the foyer eating from a bowl of cereal. He looked like the type of dime store bad boy that was in every school across the nation.
"What happened to my house?" Mystique demanded, fisting her hands and planting them on her hips.
"Don't look at me." He scoffed. "Toad's the pig around here."
A boy who could only be Toad hopped into the room and the smell intensified. Rogue gave up holding her nose and instead tried her hardest not to gag. Didn't he know what a bath was?
The Toad's eyes landed on her and he stood up to his full height which was still a foot shorter than her. "Name's Todd, sweetie." He said and made to wrap his arm around her shoulder but she pulled back with her lip curled.
"Meet Rogue, your new team-mate." Mystique introduced. "It would be in your best interest not to touch her."
The barb was directed at the boys but it still stung her. Toad gave her an assessing look and backed off wearily.
"So what's your power?" The boy with the cereal asked.
Were these the only two people in the Brotherhood besides Mystique and Magneto? The way Mystique had talked she had thought there were a lot more mutants in the world than this.
"Ah absorb other people's powers and memories, what's yours is mine." She told them. Toad took a few more steps away from her.
It didn't seem to bother the other boy as much. "I'm Avalanche." He said and then with his free hand balled into a fist, his eyes rolled into the back of his head and the ground beneath them started to shake.
Toad was clearly not as balanced as the rest of them and fell to his but with some odd sort of high-pitched noise.
She looked back up to Avalanche who was watching her expectantly. Rogue realized he was waiting for her to say something. "Nice." She complimented, who knew that boys had such fragile egos.
He gave her a satisfied smirk. "Yeah, its alright. You can call me Lance by the way."
She didn't comment and instead turned back to Mystique who was glaring between Lance and the newly formed crack in her ceiling. "Where's my room?"
"Up the stairs, last door on the left." She said and Rogue picked up her duffel bag and headed upstairs. She pretended not to hear Mystique rip both boys a new one.
This new chapter in her life wasn't looking up like she had hoped it would. Maybe it would get better, hopefully it wouldn't get any worse.
She found her room and opened the door, at least it was clean even if it was a little bare. She missed her home with Irene already but this would be good for her. She needed independence and this was her opportunity to gain it.
Setting her duffel bag on the floor she shrugged out of her duster, laying it on the bed. Walking over to the dresser she took a good look at herself in the mirror. Her dark make-up was something Irene had encouraged to prepare her for her mutation. Now that it was here and she knew not to touch anyone she didn't need it anymore.
A new chapter in life deserved a new look. She could still be Rogue without looking like Dracula's Bride. Fingering her short locks she decided to let her hair grow out again, she had always liked it long. But the curly hair didn't exactly fit in with a goth image and so had chopped it off and fried it with in an inch of its life to ram rod straight.
She actually did favor darker colors in her wardrobe so it wouldn't be too difficult to change it about. The studded dog collar and cuffs would have to go though and so she removed them. She followed that up with getting rid of her boots and stockings (which she had always hated), and finally her mesh over shirt and gloves.
It was nice not having to cover up, in fact she enjoyed showing off her skin. If she could get away with walking around naked she would.
A knock at her door shook her from her thoughts and she walked over to open it thinking it was Mystique. It was not the Mystique but Lance and when she opened the door in nothing but her short little skirt and her low-cut midriff top his eyes grew to the size of saucers.
A little embarrassed and a little irritated at being stared at the way she was she snapped at him. "What do you want?"
He blinked and looked back up to her face. "Just wanted to make sure you were settling in alright." He said and sent her what she supposed was a flirty smile.
"Yeah, I'm just fine." She said and made to close the door but he stopped it with his hand and leaned in toward her.
"Maybe we could go get a bite to eat together."
Was he asking her out on a date? Surly not after she told him her power. The way he let his eyes travel down to her cleavage told her that, yes, he was indeed asking her out. This wouldn't work out in anyone's interest, she needed to nip this in the butt.
"I don't think so, Lance." She said hoping he would take the hint.
Apparently he didn't. "Maybe tomorrow then?"
"No." She deadpanned.
He faltered. "If you already have a boyfriend-"
"Look," she cut him off. "The last guy I kissed is still in a coma. When I absorb someone it hurts and I can't turn it off." She gestured between them. "This ain't gonna happen, sugar."
Lance frowned and took in all the skin she was showing off. He took a step back out into the hallway. "Right." he managed to say looking very awkward.
Rogue rolled her eyes. "See ya later, lover boy." And closed the door.
The last thing she needed was for everyone to start pawing at her with her deadly skin. She could see the headlines now The Bayville Massacre.
Rogue rolled her eyes at the thought and reached into her bag to pull out her diary. Irene had given it to her before she left saying that it would be good for her. She had only written a few short passages in it so far but had the feeling she would be filling it up in no time.
September 22
Arrived in Bayville today with Mystique. Met my two house mates, both are boys. One is some sort of toad/human hybrid and is in serious need of a bath. The other is a rock tumbler and a little too flirty for my tastes. Here's hopping he takes a hint.
A/N
This is just a fun little fic that I'll be working on from time to time and will be covering possible pairings with Rogue in the Evo verse. Anyway I hoped you enjoy and please leave a review.