"I fully understand that Jean is of marriageable age," Xavier began, choosing his words carefully as Pietro mimicked his action and took a sip of coffee as well. "However, even so I can't help but be a little surprised that you wish to marry my daughter, and so suddenly as well." Considering how erratic your courting and position as a suitor has been, his unfinished sentence hung heavily in the air, while Pietro smoothly shifted his features into an expression of utmost sincerity.
"I can understand your uncertainty toward my position as a suitor," he began honestly, at which Xavier cut in hastily, not wishing to offend the boy's father, "It's not that I don't trust you, Pietro. It's just that...well...I have to admit I can't remember how often you have called on my daughter." Hah, about once every other month; God forbid I break Scott Summers's record of every other day, Pietro thought smugly to himself, being careful to keep these arrogant feelings from showing on his face.
"I understand, especially considering how several of Miss Jean's other suitors have been courting her for almost three years now, as opposed to only one year by myself." Pietro then decided to play his trump card. "Of course, I've talked this matter over with my father, and he's already given his blessings..." He let his voice trail off meaningfully there, watching Xavier's reaction with barely concealed interest. It was no secret that Pietro's father and Jean's father had been business partners in their youth, before having a fall-out that had left bitter feelings toward the latter from the former. Xavier had spent the better part of his life afterwards trying to rebuild at least a courteous relationship with his former friend, and both he and Pietro knew that forbidding the marriage was probably one of the most foolish things Xavier could do at that point.
"Ultimately, it will have to be my daughter's decision," Xavier finally said, keeping his voice carefully neutral as he spoke. "But either way, you have my blessings." Pietro grinned, standing up and bowing with a flourish.
"Thank you very much, sir," he said modestly. "This is all I am asking for right now, and--"
Whatever other extravagant
thanks Pietro had been planning were cut off short, when the doors to the
room creaked before suddenly falling wide open, dumping a girl dressed
still in only her petticoat rather unceremoniously onto the floor. Pietro
grinned when he recognized her, fighting down the impulse to laugh at her
high-pitched little squeal as she fell, before opting to simply greet her
with, "Ah, and a very good morning to you too, Miss Rogue. We really ought
to stop meeting each other like this, you falling into my presence like
some angel sent by God." Xavier couldn't help but dart a brief yet suspicious
glance at his potential future son-in-law when he heard the lavish praise
for his daughter who wasn't set to marry said son-in-law, but Rogue hastily
cut him off before he could question Pietro's intentions toward her.
"Ah believe Ah already told
you that flattery won't be getting you anywhere," she muttered, keeping
her eyes steadfastly on the floor so that her dark red hair covered most
of her face and her blush. Pietro gave her his most innocent look.
"Well maybe it won't, but
I was under the impression that you liked your acquaintances to be truthful,"
he whistled in that maddening tone of his. Rogue couldn't help but turn
pink at his words, and she began to stammer, "But you're not even an acquaintance
of mine..."
Thankfully, Kitty showed up to bail Rogue out again for the second time that morning, albeit inadvertently this time, as she rushed over in a whirlwind of sky-blue water silk and jasmine-scented perfume and exclaimed breathlessly, "There you are, Rogue; Miss Ororo and I have been looking all over for you; what were you thinking sneaking off to eavesdrop on--Oh, Papa, Pietro...um, good morning." She abruptly cut herself off when she realized that the two people Rogue had been planning to eavesdrop on were right there in the room, but her unexpected entrance had already served the purpose of getting some of the attention off the humiliated Rogue, as the two girls' father arched his eyebrows at the eavesdropping part but chose to remark mildly, "Might I suggest, Rogue, to go upstairs so that Miss Ororo can help you get dressed? After all, it isn't appropriate for a young lady like yourself to appear in only her petticoats in the presence of a man." Rogue's face was positively crimson by then, and the delicate Kitty herself couldn't help turning pink, before the former quickly gathered what little dignity she had left and replied with her head held high, "I understand, Papa. I'll see you after breakfast." Kitty, after blushing and darting her father a guilty look, scurried after her sister, and the two quickly made their way up the stairs.
"I still can't believe you
snuck off like that when I went to the kitchen to see if the cook needed
any help," Kitty complained, daintily lifting up the skirts of her silky
blue dress as she walked up the stairway. Rogue rolled her eyes, grumbling
something incomprehensible under her breath before deciding that it would
be best she answer lest Kitty suspect something was going on between her
and Pietro--which couldn't be any farther from the truth, she told herself
forcefully.
"Ah just wanted to see what
kinds of dirty tricks Pietro would use to sweet-talk Papa into letting
Jean marry him," she defended herself, grateful that Kitty couldn't see
the guilty look written in her eyes.
"Rogue, just because Pietro's
so charming and handsome doesn't mean you should assume the worst and brand
him a heartbreaker," the youngest sister chided, then brightened up and
remarked, "Personally, I think he's delightful." Rogue, her own embarrassment
forgotten, turned around to give her sister a suspicious glare.
"You sound quite taken with
him yourself," she accused none too gently, and Kitty's eyes immediately
widened into cornflower-blue saucers at her sister's words, as she gasped
and stammered, "N-no! Of course I'm not, why would you think that? I'm
just saying that Pietro's a very charming gentleman, and I for one wouldn't
be terribly upset to have him as a brother-in-law."
Rogue huffed something incomprehensible
under her breath as she finally reached the second floor and headed to
her bedroom, where Ororo was already waiting for her with a green crinoline
dress in hand and a disapproving frown on her lips. Kitty, seeing the look
on the housekeeper's face, quietly ducked out and laughed airily, "I, er,
will go see that one of the servants sends up a breakfast tray, kay, bye
now!" leaving Rogue to stand Ororo's chastising alone. Rogue internally
cringed, already knowing that she was going to receive hell for appearing
not once but twice in front of a man in only her petticoats, in addition
to eavesdropping on her father's conversation, and briefly wondered which
of the maids had ratted her out. Squaring her shoulders as though entering
a war zone, the normally petulant fifteen-year-old bravely walked up to
Ororo as the latter held out the mountain of green skirts and ribbons and
began helping her get dressed.
"You know I don't approve
of your actions just now," she began to reprove sternly as she laced the
stays on Rogue's corset. "Such behavior is most certainly not suitable
for a wealthy gentleman's daughter with a dignified reputation such as
yourself; how will you ever expect any suitors to respect you as a lady
if you just prance around them in your underskirts?" Rogue nearly gasped
with indignation, beginning to breathe with difficulty now that the corset
was being tightly laced.
"Ah wasn't prancing around
Pietro in mah underskirts on purpose," she defended herself. "Besides,
he ain't--isn't--mah suitor, he's marrying mah sister so Ah don't see any
reason to try and impress him with all those charms and formalities Ah
find so irritating." Ororo sighed, a look of sympathetic understanding
beginning to override the disapproval etched in her features.
"I understand some of these
practices may be taxing on you," she murmured quietly, "but try to realize
that like it or not, you're a Southern lady, and as such there are certain
expectations placed upon you. Just try to handle it with grace like your
sisters." Rogue scowled at the mention of her sisters, especially the always
perfectly dressed, perfectly made-up, perfectly well-mannered Miss Jean,
before replying sulkily, "Are you done yet, Ah feel like I'm suffocating
under all these endless yards of crinoline." Ororo bent her head to hide
a smile, knowing that the old Rogue was more or less back, as she finished
with some last minute adjustments and answered, "I'm done."
Just then, true to her word,
Kitty did indeed send up a young maid carrying a breakfast tray for her
older sister, but Rogue breezed past the girl and stepped out of her room,
beginning to head down the stairs while tying her bonnet over her hair
at the same time. Ororo rushed after her, wanting to know, "Hold on, Miss
Rogue, where are you going?"
"I have to talk to Papa,"
Rogue lied with a straight face, flying down the stairs as fast as her
dainty slippers would carry her and making it to the door just in time
to see Pietro get up on his horse and begin to leave.
"Pietro!" she called after
him, nearly breathless from the running and her tightly laced corset crushing
into her ribcage. The silver-haired youth turned around upon hearing his
name, that ever present cocky smile already on his lips as he tipped his
hat smartly at her and remarked in a snide tone of voice, "Well, if it
isn't my feisty little eavesdropper...I hate to embarrass you so, Miss
Rogue, but I must point out that your bonnet's been tied on backwards!"
Rogue's hands instinctively shot up to her bonnet and yanked it off, allowing
some loose strands of dark auburn hair to stream around her face as she
hurriedly reworked the ribbons while the amused Pietro watched on.
"Ah didn't come out here
just to get jeered at by you," Rogue began huffily, retying her bonnet
the right way this time. Pietro smirked in that maddening way, drawling
lazily, "Really, could have fooled me...although, it is nice to
see that you finally bothered to put a dress on over all those petticoats."
Rogue bit down on her lower lip, just in time to prevent a stream of loud
and highly unladylike curses from flying out, forcing herself to calm down
enough to seethe in a deceptively calm voice, "Ah just want to know one
thing, Pietro--why are you so interested in marrying mah sister all of
a sudden?" In response, Pietro flashed her one of his famous smiles, replying
smoothly, "Well, there was a rumor going around that Miss Jean might
accept Scott Summers's proposal, and I couldn't let him get a victory over
me, now could I?" Rogue's eyes narrowed in fury when she heard him speak
so casually of a lifelong commitment to Jean; granted she might be envious
of Jean's popularity, but she was still her sister and Rogue wasn't about
let anyone speak in that way about her family.
"Why you dirty, rotten,
disgusting cad...!" she began to sputter in outrage. She wasn't sure of
the exact meaning of the word "cad," but she'd heard Wanda Maximoff call
plenty of suitor hopefuls that, so she was at least certain that it was
an insult. Pietro's smirk failed to slip off his face at her words, and
he simply added casually, "Besides, what better excuse to catch a glimpse
of Miss Jean's spitfire sister, right?" Rogue was momentarily shocked into
silence at the possibility that his whole marriage scheme was just a way
to get closer to her, before she shook off that far-fetched idea and pointed
out the logical solution.
"You could have just called
on me, you know," she reminded him frostily, and was again answered with
that maddening smirk.
"Maybe--but just think of
how my reputation would suffer if word got around that I'm courting the
little shrew of the Xavier plantation," he whistled innocently, and had
to duck wildly to avoid the bonnet that Rogue had ripped off her own head
to hurl in his direction.
"You scoundrel! How dare
you call me that?!" she bristled, her anger turning to surprise when Pietro
calmly leapt off his horse to pick up her bonnet and personally deliver
it to her. Clasping his hands around her smaller ones to make her clutch
her silky hat, he advised in that condescending tone used with very young
children, "There, there, Miss Rogue, you'd better put this back on rather
than try to hit me with it--wouldn't want the sun to turn that lovely fair
skin of yours a most unladylike shade of tan, now would we?" And with a
tip of his hat he was gone, jumping back onto his horse and riding off.
Rogue could hear faint laughter as he rode away from the plantation, and
after staring after his retreating figure for a few more seconds, she dutifully
retied the ribbons of her bonnet like he'd suggested and reentered the
house.
Rogue stared out sullenly
from the window of the carriage as it steadily took a group of girls to
town, ignoring the chatter and laughter around her as the others gathered
to giggle and gossip.
"Well, he's very sweet,"
Amara Acquilla was saying about one of her suitors, "but I hardly think
he's enough of a gentleman." At this, Rahne Sinclair rolled her eyes and
teased good-naturedly, "Amara, nobody will ever be enough of a gentleman
for you!" Amara turned around defensively, nearly crashing her deep magenta
parasol against Rahne's own apple-green one in her haste as she sputtered,
"Hey, it's not my fault I happen to appreciate some chivalry and manners
in my beaux--!"
"Come on, you two, let's
not argue," Jean spoke up calmly, playing the role of peacemaker and effectively
changing the conversation topic by mentioning casually, "By the way, Papa
received a letter today informing him of a visit by the son of one of his
old acquaintances." At this, all ears in the carriage perked up, and most
of the girls, with the exception of Rogue and Wanda Maximoff, turned their
attention to Jean and inquired in a chorus of voices, "Really? Who is it?"
"How come I didn't hear
about this until now?" Kitty wondered to herself, as Jean began to explain.
"He's from Louisiana, and
his father owns a spice plantation there," she revealed. "I heard he's
Cajun." Kitty's eyes lit up.
"Ooh, a French gentleman,"
she exclaimed in delight, then wondered with a rather silly smile in her
blue eyes, "I wonder if his ancestors were Parisian." Jean shook her head,
reminding her youngest sister with a laugh, "Kitty, just because he's of
French descent doesn't necessarily mean he's a debonair romantic," but
her good sense was lost on the other girls in the carriage, as Rahne wondered,
"A Cajun? He sounds dashing."
"He sounds exciting," Amara
admitted with a blush.
"He sounds intriguing,"
Jean finally conceded with a small laugh.
"He sounds like my brother,"
Wanda remarked with a sour look, further grumbling, "Shameless heartbreaker."
Jean frowned, and Kitty protested, "Wanda, you are talking about
your own brother and my sister's fiancé there." The perky brunette
then turned to said sister and asked questioningly, "That is, you are
going to accept his marriage proposal, aren't you?" Jean's frown deepened,
and she gave a helpless shrug of her shoulders.
"Maybe," she murmured. "Pietro
is very charming, and he's from a good family, not to mention how
greatly it would help mend Papa's relationship with your father, Wanda."
"But you're not so sure
you're ready for such a big commitment to him, are you?" Kitty guessed,
and was answered again with a helpless shrug.
"I'll talk it over with
Papa and Miss Ororo," Jean mumbled. "I'm sure we'll be able to reach a
decision by next week."
"That's great," Rahne declared
enthusiastically. "Won't it be fabulous if your engagement's announced
at the same time that romantic Cajun arrives?"
"Rahne, he's not necessarily
romantic..." Jean laughed. And the carriage rolled on, carrying with it
four giggling and chattering girls, a characteristically quiet Wanda, and
a sulkier than usual Rogue.
