Dismal Angel 2010 - Episode 2
Chapter 6: Over Pool
Remy approached Rogue with his heart thudding in his chest the way it always had whenever he'd been near her all those years ago, and he tried to ignore the memories of holding her close to him as if it were the only thing that would still the anxious beat of his troubled heart.
Rogue was leaning over the pool table, skilfully lining up a shot, one eye closed, her hair dangling over the green felt.
Remy placed the bottle of beer he'd bought for her upon the table edge at her side, and she stopped what she was doing, turned and looked at it, then slightly over her shoulder at him, her expression curious, but she didn't seem as angry as he would have expected her to be.
"Thought you might be thirsty," Remy said sullenly, trying to hide his emotion and succeeding pretty well.
Rogue finished her shot perfectly, and leaned up, placing her hand upon the bottle slowly, looking at him, "thank you…I guess…" she said quietly, she remembered the fight from the night before vaguely but tried to ignore the anger that surged through her when she did. He didn't look in the mood to fight, and she wasn't in the mood either.
Remy watched her take a sip, he lowered his head, looking above the frames of his sunglasses at her, "how good are you at pool?" he asked, taking a cue from the mount on the wall.
"Better than you'll ever be, Gumbo," Rogue smirked.
Remy chalked up the tip of his cue, "how much do you want to wager on that?" he reached into his pocket, pulling out a cracked leather wallet.
"How much do you have?" Rogue put her hand on her hip, leaning on the cue.
"Enough for a hotel room, a hooker and a cab ride home," he responded with a smirk.
Rogue made a face of disgust but took a twenty dollar bill from her pocket and slapped it onto the corner of the table.
Remy wasn't impressed, "that it? You sure aren't convincing me of your supposed skill with mere pocket money," he looked to her with a raised eyebrow.
She took another twenty from her pocket and placed it down, he shook his head.
"Fine, how much," she sighed, but composed herself, winning at pool might just be a good way to put this guy in his place.
"How much do you have?" Remy queried curiously.
"I don't carry much money," Rogue responded haughtily, "I only brought eighty with me."
"Fine, eighty it is," Remy said, "tell you what, I'll throw in a hundred and sixty, if you win you triple your profit," he smirked.
Rogue smirked, she was going to enjoy wiping that confident smirk off of his face, "I'm looking forward to it."
Rogue was as good a player of pool as she'd let on, which gave Remy the distinct impression she'd been spending too much time with Logan in Bars learning every trick she could. Fortunately, Remy had about as much knowledge of the game than she had, which made for an interesting challenge from across the felt. And soon, as the game went on for longer, the X-Men who were in the bar soon found themselves surrounding the table, watching, and betting on who they thought would win.
Soon, the last few shots were coming into play, Rogue was pressed against the table, stretched out, cue in her hand, lining her shot.
"Take your time," Logan mentored her.
"I never knew you were good at pool, Remy," Kitty said to Remy as they watched Rogue carefully lining her shot just right, her expression focused.
"What you don't know about me could fill a warehouse," Remy responded, he took a swig of one of the many bottles of beer he'd had within the hour, he watched Rogue take her shot, she'd sunk all her balls but one, the eight ball remained near a corner – a perfect opportunity to win the game.
"You've almost won, but don't get too confident, remember, just because it looks like it's gonna go in easy don't for one minute assume it will," Logan warned Rogue.
"Right, I get it," Rogue rolled her eyes at him, she glanced up to Remy curiously to see what he was doing. He was watching her, he'd long since taken his sunglasses off and he was looking at her with those incredibly intense eyes of his. She felt strangely drawn into them, and tried to come to her senses as she took her shot, the eight ball slammed against the very edge of the corner pocket but missed and sped away. They all heard her swear under her breath, and watched her down a shot of whisky that Logan had brought for her.
Remy grinned, "got too confident, did you?" he asked, he stretched across the table, without even lining his shot carefully, he sunk his two remaining balls effortlessly in one go. An applaud rung out around them, he grinned.
"How could you have missed that shot?" Logan muttered near Rogue's ear.
"I don't know…I had it lined perfectly…" Rogue blushed and she folded her arms stubbornly as she watched Remy slip the cue behind his back for a trick shot that sunk the eight ball in the right corner pocket. She looked away, pursing her lips together in anger.
Remy smirked, "You were good, but I'm better," he put the cue away, and grabbed the wad of money from the corner of the pool table, "keep practising," he shoved the wad into his pocket, and headed for the door.
Rogue watched him go, "hey, I'm gonna go home, I'm kinda broke now," she said to the others, she picked her brown leather jacket up from a chair she'd left it hanging on.
There was a soft laugh and people chided that she shouldn't have bet all her money, but she shrugged nonchalantly, and replied "it's only money" with a smile, then headed outside into the cold winter night. Remy was walking down the road, she headed after him.
"Where did you learn to play pool like that?" she asked as she caught up with him.
"I have friends who own a pool hall in the Big Easy," Remy replied casually.
"Don't you have a jacket?" Rogue asked of him, she was in the middle of pulling on her own.
"All my stuff is back in Illinois," Remy responded, "And there's no point in sendin' for it, is there?" he pointed out.
Rogue looked at him, "you aren't staying then?" she buttoned her jacket up, and smoothed it down a little.
Remy shrugged, "I got places to go, people to see, houses to rob," he said, with the kind of general malaise that seemed to suggest he didn't want to leave at all.
Rogue rolled her eyes at him, walking beside him, staggering a little in her drunkenness, "still a thief, huh?"
"Once a thief, always a thief," Remy reached into his pocket and pulled out the wad of money, "here…" he took a hold of her hand and dropped it into her palm, he pushed her fingers around the money so she held it tight, then he let go and continued to walk.
"What…??" Rogue looked at him confusedly, then to the wad of money in her hand.
"You should have won," Remy remarked, "I cheated."
"You didn't cheat…I watched your every move…" Rogue trailed off, she thought back quickly, trying to determine if there had been any clue of his cheating, but she'd been watching him like a hawk all night, he'd definitely never had any opportunity to cheat whatsoever.
"I charmed you," Remy seemed rather satisfied.
"You what?!" Rogue demanded, her mouth dropping.
"When you looked at me, I charmed you with my eyes," he said, "distracted you so you'd miss the shot," He walked heedlessly along, crossing a road still busy with traffic, and managing to successfully get to the other side without being hit.
"Why you—" Rogue frowned, she took to the sky and flew across after him, landing upon the paving behind him as he walked. "I should kick your ass!"
"We're even now," Remy responded, his voice thick.
"For?"
"Well, you nearly got me
killed this mornin'," Remy shoved his hands back in his pockets against the
cold, "And I embarrassed you by having you lose at pool in front of your
friends," he smirked, "and maybe I taught you a lesson too."
"Oh, and what would that be?" Rogue folded her arms again, standing crossly, frowning at him, her anger building up.
"When you get over confident, you lose," he looked at her, "I believe a lesson you need to learn before you try to teach others the same thing, wouldn't you agree?"
Rogue just stared at him, he was lit up by the street lights, his breath was misting against the air. Despite his arrogance, and despite her hatred for everything he'd ever put her through, the man had never looked so attractive in all the time she'd known him. Her heart began to thud rapidly in her chest until she thought it might explode its way out. Butterflies swooped and fluttered lightly in her stomach, and her mind filled with memories of holding onto him as he held her back, remembering how it felt with her head pressed against his chest.
Rogue stepped forward, tentatively, until she was inches away from him, and she slid her hand behind his neck drawing him a little closer, so their lips were a mere centimetre from touching.
Remy pushed her away exasperatedly, moving backwards as he did so, "what the fuck are you doing?" he asked in a voice of complete bewilderment that was tainted with something reminiscent of anger.
Rogue stammered, "I…I…uhm…I thought…"
"What, you thought that I wanted you back?" he asked, "You labelled me a murderer. Not exactly the romance of the century, is it?"
"I…" Rogue looked down, "Yes…I did call you a killer," her cheeks flushed hot despite the cold air around her.
"And you think that after you came in fumin' ready to beat the shit out of me for a crime you didn't even check I really did commit first…that now just because you know I'm innocent that everything is okay?" he looked at her, a little hurt, "what makes you think I'm so eager to take you back? What makes you even think I could still love you after you ratted me out to the police for murder?" he looked to her.
Rogue swallowed nervously, "I…uhm…" she tucked her hair behind her ear, she couldn't look at him, she felt so foolish as to think for one moment that he'd be alright with her being near him. She wondered if she hadn't had so much to drink tonight perhaps if she would have moved so close to him at all, thinking maybe alcohol had clouded her judgement incredibly.
"Maybe you shouldn't drink so much," Remy seemed to pick up on what she was thinking just by her expression, he turned one again and began to walk ahead, footsteps loud against the empty street.
Rogue followed him, "like you haven't spent the last four days drinking non stop!?" she demanded.
"Maybe I have reasons!" he stopped and spun around, glaring at her spitefully, he stood in shadow, his eyes glowing vividly against the darkness, "I've had to live seven years with the label 'murderer' above my head."
"That's no reason to drink like a fish," Rogue folded her arms.
"What business is it of yours why I drink like a fish! I'm not the one throwing myself all over someone who up until four days ago, was the bane of my existence, am I?" He pointed at her accusingly.
Rogue drew her breath, the cold air filling her lungs, she tried to calm herself, but she wanted to scream at him, "don't start with the woe is me crap again!" she yelled at him, "I had enough of that when me and you were going out!"
Remy turned and walked away, "you can never stand it when you're not the only one with 'problems', can you?" he kept walking, shoulders hunched against the cold.
Rogue followed quickly, and reached out to grab his bare arm to stop him – she had a few things she wanted to say to him that might put him in his place. In her haste, the exposed skin of her wrist brushed against the bare flesh of his upper arm and she felt almost as if she were being electrocuted, her body seized and images began to rush before her eyes like a badly edited film with pointless blank frames spliced in.
Her powers began to kick in with fierce intensity. At first, it was like watching a movie on fast forward, everything going by so fast it was impossible to distinguish what the images were, then it slowed considerably. Dark faceless figures looming in a doorway, dark grey walls, bad lighting, heavy breathing, gasping, panic surging, dizziness, delirium, cold cement against her back. Voices she couldn't make out that didn't seem very familiar at all, maniacal laughter ringing out as if echoing in a large room. Liquid silver dribbling through a keyhole, and then the memories faded almost as quickly as they had manifested in her head.
Rogue yanked her hand away breathlessly, holding her wrist where it was still stinging from the sparks she'd felt from him, Remy was holding his bare arm, looking at her as if she'd just tried to kill him, his eyes – still glowing – were even wider than before.
"What was that…?" Rogue whispered, realising they'd been his memories she'd just seen inside her own head, as if they might have once been her own.
"What was what?!" Remy snapped, he was breathing heavy, he looked jarred and distressed.
Rogue wasn't sure what to think of what she'd just seen from his head, none of it made sense, "What was that in your head…?"
"Nothing was in my head, nothing…" he tried to soften his voice, "don't try to touch me again…" Remy warned.
"I felt sparks, Remy…" Rogue winced, her wrist still smarting, "How did you do that…"
"It happens…I don't know why," Remy responded, "when that happens, best thing to do is to not touch me," he uttered coldly.
"Are your powers evolving?" Rogue asked, gasping for breath in the cold.
"I don't know, can we drop this already?" he demanded impatiently, "I'm cold, I'm tired, your powers leavin' me feelin' weak and I just wanna get off these streets," he began to walk ahead. Something in his voice sounded so anxious and panicked that Rogue felt there had to be more to this than his evolving powers. But to be honest, she wasn't in the mood to ask him any more questions while his mood was so unstable. She walked along in the hope to catch up with him and walk aside him, but he'd disappeared into the shadows of the night, leaving her walking alone.