It's obvious to Rogue that St. John is jealous. Now that she has begun to hang around Evan again, he's more and more likely to sit apart from the two of them, mumbling small quips under his breath in response to their conversations. She tries to bring him in, but he shrugs off every attempt with the expression of a martyr.
It's even more obvious that Remy is jealous of someone horning in on his crony. He does everything he can to coax Evan back to his permanent fixture at his side with Fred, but still, on occasion, Evan strays back to Rogue.
Evan is feeling much of the same things Rogue is, it turns out. There's a sense of longing for the X-Men and his family, mixed with the guilt of actually liking his forced home. Of course, she has St. John and Piotr, who, unlikely as it seemed initially, are probably the best friends she's ever had. Therefore it makes sense that she'd like it here in Genosha a bit, but she's never understood what he sees in Remy. He has to explain it to her:
"He acts like a jerk sometimes, yeah but there's something about the way he talks. He'll tell a story, and by the end of it we're bustin' up laughin'. Later, when I think about it, I can never really remember what was so funny about it. Or he'll say we should do something, and Fred and me both know it can't work, but he can always talk us into it. When it's done, it HAS worked, maybe just 'cause he was in on it."
Evan hesitates, then shakes his head.
"I don't know. It's hard to explain."
The others just don't understand this sudden stretching to loyalties, why Rogue has held out a hand and why Evan has so eagerly grasped it. They don't understand what it is to truly know loyalty, and how it feels when loyalties are severed.
They don't understand how it feels to be an X-Man.
***
More and more now, Rogue is finding the newspapers and magazines, so casually left around the house, with articles missing. She'll read a nice little piece about a potbelly pig that saved its owner from a fire (this is the local Genoshan news, of course; nothing of real importance is ever going on in the area, at least not publicly), then turn the page to find an empty space, information precisely cut out.
There's no reason to ask, really; they all know what the subject of these missing articles must be, and there's no reason to make the air even more uncomfortable.
***
"I wonder what they're doing," Evan says hesitantly.
"Somethin' big, ah guess," Rogue replies. "Important nuff ta get inta the Genosha papers."
"Yeah. You think their pictures get printed?"
"Ah dunno."
"Jean's, at least, probably. The camera loves her."
"Well, an' Jean loves the cam'ra."
"Yeah."
There is a silence of more than a minute. It's still hard to talk, especially about this particular subject. Evan reaches up and tugs at his hair, which is thick now, unruly and clearly bothering him. It's a nervous habit, like Rogue fingering the collar on her throat. She wonders how he can resist doing the same.
"Do...ya miss 'em?" she asks eventually.
"Yeah," he says with a shrug. "My parents mostly, but Auntie O too, and the guys, and everyone else. What about you?"
She sighs.
"Yeah. Ah didn't think ah could, but ah do. A lot."
There is a sudden shuffling sound, and Rogue looks up just in time to see St. John walk out the dining room door, where apparently he'd been standing the whole time. She moves to follow him, but instead merely shifts in her chair.
***
"Tell me," Rogue begins later that afternoon.
The sun is high in the sky, and the breeze lacks chill. She and Piotr are enjoying the weather and their own quiet company in the garden, he with a sketchbook and pencil, she with hands empty. They needn't anything else.
"Tell me 'bout yer sister."
He doesn't look up from his drawing, which, from where Rogue is sitting, appears to be a large and gnarled tree.
"Illyana? She is little, not as old as you or me. She has yellow hair and blue eyes."
Since he's begun actually speaking English with her, although covertly, his vocabulary has improved a lot and his words are coming with greater ease. Still, at the moment, he has misunderstood her.
"No, ah mean, tell me 'bout her personal'ty. How she acts."
"Oh." Piotr's brow furrows; apparently, it's easier to describe the physical than the mental. "She is good. A good girl. Mostly. Sometimes she is trouble."
"Well, ah guess bein' the youngest, she's allowed to cause some trouble."
He smiles.
"Yes."
"Is she yer only siblin'?"
The frown returns.
"'Siblin''?"
"Er, ah mean, do ya have any other brothers or sisters? When ya have siblin's, ya have brothers and sisters."
"Ah. I have one more...siblin'. My brother, Mikhail."
"Is he older or younger?"
"Older. He is home. He takes care of Illyana."
"Whatta 'bout yer parents? Yer mother an' father?"
Piotr eyes lower, fixed onto his drawing.
"Gone."
Either way, she knows she'll feel terrible, but she has to ask.
"Ya mean, they left? Or they died?"
"Died. We are alone."
"...ah'm sorry."
"I know."
***
Afterwards, Rogue goes back inside, climbs the stairs, and turns the corner into St. John's room. The door is open already, and he sits hunched over a notebook. Pieces of paper ripped from it are scattered all around him, the writings on them scribbled out, and there's no surprise where that pained expression on his face came from.
"Hi," she starts softly.
He looks up at her.
"Hey."
"Still wanna color?"
A small, strained smile forms on his face, but she can tell it's still genuine.
"Sure. Could use a break."
St. John puts down the notebook and takes out some coloring books and crayons. They are without words for most of the time, but it's a comfortable quiet, one that speaks of forgiveness and understanding.
Rogue uses all the brightest, boldest colors in the box to cover her page and blot out any traces of white; it's a shade she can never be fond of again.
To be continued...
**Not long Author's Note...
Pyromaniac - Well, we'll see about Fred. I think this chapter's given a hint of where Evan's loyalties lie.
amber-goddess - I HATE fics where Piotr's all violent and weird! I read one years ago, and it was so OOC that it haunts me to this day. *shudder* And for the record, I always want to give St. John a hug. ;)
Now do me a favor and update The Lonely Ones.
UnknownSource - Who said that she'd be leaving St. John? He could go with them. And it always astounds me when my readers predict precisely what I'd planned for next anyway; here's a little bit of insight into Piotr's past, written before you'd even reviewed.
Anyway, the Author's Note isn't very long because, well, I didn't get a lot of reviews last chapter. Oh well. No matter. Mayhap that will not be the case for this one.
SBS's first birthday came and went, and while I acknowledged it on my LJ, I obviously didn't update, as planned. I actually wrote my first "Pirates of the Caribbean" fic that night instead. I've written four works of fanfiction for it so far. Oh good Lord, I love that movie. I WOULD LIKE TO MARRY THAT MOVIE. Okay, enough insanity.
But anyway, SBS did get a brthday present, in the form of absolutely gorgeous fanart. The wonderful Elle of Acolytes 'R' Us (which is one of two sites on which SBS resides, the other being "Wolverine and Jubilee") bestowed me with a beautiful pic of Rogue in the first chapter. I adore it. Now, I'll probably have to clean her room for the next few months, do her homework, be a surrogate mother to her unborn children, et cetera, to show my gratitude. Here's the URL so you can all see it:
http://www.kyuushi.net/~acolytes/elle/rmarvel.JPG
I'd have posted it on my LJ, but I'm clearly not the brightest person, and can't figure out how to do it.
To wrap it up, I think I kinda know where this is going now, so hopefully, an update should be soon, in early August sometime, before I go back to school. Arrrrg.
It's even more obvious that Remy is jealous of someone horning in on his crony. He does everything he can to coax Evan back to his permanent fixture at his side with Fred, but still, on occasion, Evan strays back to Rogue.
Evan is feeling much of the same things Rogue is, it turns out. There's a sense of longing for the X-Men and his family, mixed with the guilt of actually liking his forced home. Of course, she has St. John and Piotr, who, unlikely as it seemed initially, are probably the best friends she's ever had. Therefore it makes sense that she'd like it here in Genosha a bit, but she's never understood what he sees in Remy. He has to explain it to her:
"He acts like a jerk sometimes, yeah but there's something about the way he talks. He'll tell a story, and by the end of it we're bustin' up laughin'. Later, when I think about it, I can never really remember what was so funny about it. Or he'll say we should do something, and Fred and me both know it can't work, but he can always talk us into it. When it's done, it HAS worked, maybe just 'cause he was in on it."
Evan hesitates, then shakes his head.
"I don't know. It's hard to explain."
The others just don't understand this sudden stretching to loyalties, why Rogue has held out a hand and why Evan has so eagerly grasped it. They don't understand what it is to truly know loyalty, and how it feels when loyalties are severed.
They don't understand how it feels to be an X-Man.
***
More and more now, Rogue is finding the newspapers and magazines, so casually left around the house, with articles missing. She'll read a nice little piece about a potbelly pig that saved its owner from a fire (this is the local Genoshan news, of course; nothing of real importance is ever going on in the area, at least not publicly), then turn the page to find an empty space, information precisely cut out.
There's no reason to ask, really; they all know what the subject of these missing articles must be, and there's no reason to make the air even more uncomfortable.
***
"I wonder what they're doing," Evan says hesitantly.
"Somethin' big, ah guess," Rogue replies. "Important nuff ta get inta the Genosha papers."
"Yeah. You think their pictures get printed?"
"Ah dunno."
"Jean's, at least, probably. The camera loves her."
"Well, an' Jean loves the cam'ra."
"Yeah."
There is a silence of more than a minute. It's still hard to talk, especially about this particular subject. Evan reaches up and tugs at his hair, which is thick now, unruly and clearly bothering him. It's a nervous habit, like Rogue fingering the collar on her throat. She wonders how he can resist doing the same.
"Do...ya miss 'em?" she asks eventually.
"Yeah," he says with a shrug. "My parents mostly, but Auntie O too, and the guys, and everyone else. What about you?"
She sighs.
"Yeah. Ah didn't think ah could, but ah do. A lot."
There is a sudden shuffling sound, and Rogue looks up just in time to see St. John walk out the dining room door, where apparently he'd been standing the whole time. She moves to follow him, but instead merely shifts in her chair.
***
"Tell me," Rogue begins later that afternoon.
The sun is high in the sky, and the breeze lacks chill. She and Piotr are enjoying the weather and their own quiet company in the garden, he with a sketchbook and pencil, she with hands empty. They needn't anything else.
"Tell me 'bout yer sister."
He doesn't look up from his drawing, which, from where Rogue is sitting, appears to be a large and gnarled tree.
"Illyana? She is little, not as old as you or me. She has yellow hair and blue eyes."
Since he's begun actually speaking English with her, although covertly, his vocabulary has improved a lot and his words are coming with greater ease. Still, at the moment, he has misunderstood her.
"No, ah mean, tell me 'bout her personal'ty. How she acts."
"Oh." Piotr's brow furrows; apparently, it's easier to describe the physical than the mental. "She is good. A good girl. Mostly. Sometimes she is trouble."
"Well, ah guess bein' the youngest, she's allowed to cause some trouble."
He smiles.
"Yes."
"Is she yer only siblin'?"
The frown returns.
"'Siblin''?"
"Er, ah mean, do ya have any other brothers or sisters? When ya have siblin's, ya have brothers and sisters."
"Ah. I have one more...siblin'. My brother, Mikhail."
"Is he older or younger?"
"Older. He is home. He takes care of Illyana."
"Whatta 'bout yer parents? Yer mother an' father?"
Piotr eyes lower, fixed onto his drawing.
"Gone."
Either way, she knows she'll feel terrible, but she has to ask.
"Ya mean, they left? Or they died?"
"Died. We are alone."
"...ah'm sorry."
"I know."
***
Afterwards, Rogue goes back inside, climbs the stairs, and turns the corner into St. John's room. The door is open already, and he sits hunched over a notebook. Pieces of paper ripped from it are scattered all around him, the writings on them scribbled out, and there's no surprise where that pained expression on his face came from.
"Hi," she starts softly.
He looks up at her.
"Hey."
"Still wanna color?"
A small, strained smile forms on his face, but she can tell it's still genuine.
"Sure. Could use a break."
St. John puts down the notebook and takes out some coloring books and crayons. They are without words for most of the time, but it's a comfortable quiet, one that speaks of forgiveness and understanding.
Rogue uses all the brightest, boldest colors in the box to cover her page and blot out any traces of white; it's a shade she can never be fond of again.
To be continued...
**Not long Author's Note...
Pyromaniac - Well, we'll see about Fred. I think this chapter's given a hint of where Evan's loyalties lie.
amber-goddess - I HATE fics where Piotr's all violent and weird! I read one years ago, and it was so OOC that it haunts me to this day. *shudder* And for the record, I always want to give St. John a hug. ;)
Now do me a favor and update The Lonely Ones.
UnknownSource - Who said that she'd be leaving St. John? He could go with them. And it always astounds me when my readers predict precisely what I'd planned for next anyway; here's a little bit of insight into Piotr's past, written before you'd even reviewed.
Anyway, the Author's Note isn't very long because, well, I didn't get a lot of reviews last chapter. Oh well. No matter. Mayhap that will not be the case for this one.
SBS's first birthday came and went, and while I acknowledged it on my LJ, I obviously didn't update, as planned. I actually wrote my first "Pirates of the Caribbean" fic that night instead. I've written four works of fanfiction for it so far. Oh good Lord, I love that movie. I WOULD LIKE TO MARRY THAT MOVIE. Okay, enough insanity.
But anyway, SBS did get a brthday present, in the form of absolutely gorgeous fanart. The wonderful Elle of Acolytes 'R' Us (which is one of two sites on which SBS resides, the other being "Wolverine and Jubilee") bestowed me with a beautiful pic of Rogue in the first chapter. I adore it. Now, I'll probably have to clean her room for the next few months, do her homework, be a surrogate mother to her unborn children, et cetera, to show my gratitude. Here's the URL so you can all see it:
http://www.kyuushi.net/~acolytes/elle/rmarvel.JPG
I'd have posted it on my LJ, but I'm clearly not the brightest person, and can't figure out how to do it.
To wrap it up, I think I kinda know where this is going now, so hopefully, an update should be soon, in early August sometime, before I go back to school. Arrrrg.