1Chapter Fifteen
"I don't know, Warren." Joanna sighed, "I just got back from seeing Lance at the hospital, and he was sitting here."
"You can't be here." Warren told Avalanche.
"The hell I can't. I came here looking for some help! I think you guys should at least give me half of a chance!" He stood up, putting his hands on his hips.
"Help for what?" Warren asked.
"I need a place to stay, alright?" He repeated, "You can even stick me back in a containment cell if you want, and place me under twenty four hour surveillance."
Warren looked at Joanna, and raised his eyebrows, "I suppose we could get the Professor..."
She closed her eyes and held the bridge of her nose, "Go get him. Meet us in the Study." She sighed, and took Alvers by the arm, "C'mon Earthquake."
"Hey, I kind of like that...it's catchy..."
Joanna's POV
"What do you mean that kid is staying in the school?" Logan asked, leaning against the head board of his bed, my head against his side, fingers straying against his bare chest, "Didn't he try to you kill you?"
"I don't think that Avalanche is really like that, Logan. He's just...lost. He needs some guidance." I looked up at him, "We've got to at least give him a chance, right?"
Logan grunted.
"C'mon...don't be like that." I sighed.
"Sorry, but I don't trust very many people, much less people who've tried to kill my girl."
I smiled, and snuggled closer to him. I loved it when he acknowledged the fact that I was his girlfriend, "C'mon Logan...go to sleep... Tomorrow is Sunday, which means that we have the entire castle almost all to ourselves while our religious counterparts are off at mass."
Logan gave me a malicious sort of grin, "You know...we could probably stand to be a little more...spiritual."
This time I groaned, and slid under the blankets, my forehead against his bare hip, "But this is so much more fun."
"Oh well...we'll both end up going to hell eventually anyway..." Logan shrugged, and joined me under the covers.
"Jo...Joanna." Logan nudged me awake.
"Hmm..." I acknowledged him weakly, listening but not willing to open my eyes.
"You gotta get up." Logan nudged me, pressing kisses against my neck. I groaned, moving closer to him.
"No...keep doing that." I told him.
"Sorry... I want to too, but the Professor wants you to talk to that Alvers kid."
I sighed, "Earthquake can go shove his problems up his ass...I'm staying right here." I moved up closer to him, and kissed his jaw.
"You can't. I'm kicking you out." He pulled away.
I moaned, a high pitched cat like noise of distaste.
"Then get up, Jo." He coaxed.
I sighed, "Give me five more minutes." I opened up one eye at him.
He gave me a slow, sly grin, and shook his head, "I would, but I can't. It's already late morning."
I sighed, and stretched, "Alright...alright, fine." I gave him a last kiss, and reached over the side of the bed where some of our clothes had ended up the night before.
It wasn't long before I was sitting in a conference room with Professor Xavier on one end of the table, I on his left, and Lance Alvers on his right.
"Now, I would like the two of you view this as a lesson... Avalanche, you are going to be a ...guinea pig of sorts. Sundry, I believe you know what you're going to be doing."
I nodded, and raised my hand to Avalanche's forehead, my fingers on lightly touching his forehead. My eyes closed, and I could feel out certain parts of Avalanche's memory, things he had probably locked away, never to even think about ever again. Within minutes, I had seen every morbid detail of the boys life. I put my hand back down and shook my head."You are some piece of work." I told him.
"What is that supposed to mean?" he asked.
I shook my head, and turned to the Professor, "Did you get all of that?" During the transfer from Avalanche to myself, I had also been filtering highlights to Professor Xavier.
He nodded, and leaned on the arms of his chair, his fingers pressed against his chin, thinking over his options. Avalanche looked confused, looking between the two of us.
"What just happened?" He asked.
"I read your memory." I told him.
He looked unmoved, "And what did that tell you? What I've been trying to tell you?"
"Hardly." The Professor shifted in his chair, "I need to think this over a little longer...until I make a decision about you, Mr. Alvers, you are free to roam the campus. I'll let you know my decision soon. You're both dismissed."
After our informal goodbye, Lance followed me out of the door, and down the hall.
"So, what did you read, or whatever?"
"Everything, Lance. Do you really think this is some kind of a game? You are a major threat to our security here." I turned on him, "Stop following me, alright?"
He stopped, and shoved his hands deep into his pockets as I walked away.
I turned in early that night, in my own bed after Logan had become immune to my animal-like whimpers and my nuzzling, and tossed me out of his room...well, not really, but he wouldn't let met stay, reminding me that it was a school night.
Monday morning was hectic, everyone seemed to be running late after the exiting Homecoming weekend. Lance was leaning against my car when Rogue, Jubilee, Remy, and I walked out to the garage.
"What do you want?" I asked.
"The Professor said if I asked nicely, you might give me a ride." He uncrossed his arms, picking up his backpack from the ground, "So can I get a ride...pretty please?"
I sighed, and looked at the others, who shrugged, or ignored the problem completely and just got into the car, "I suppose. Get in... The back." I told him when he reached for the doorhandle at the same time as Remy.
He pursed his lips for a second before joining Jubilee and Rogue in the backseat.
Once we had reached school, everyone was talking about the football game, and huddling around Lance, who was back in action, with two casts, and a pair of crutches, as well as the dance, which I had no attended.
"It wasn't that great of a dance, if that makes you feel better." Rogue patted my shoulder, as I jerked my locker open.
"It's not the stupid dance." I told her, "It's just...there is to much going on."
"You need to relax...stop taking on so much." Rogue opened her own locker, and pulled out the books she needed for her first hour class, "Just remember...four weeks until Thanksgiving vacation."
I sighed, and followed her down the hallway where our classes were across from one another, my books held against my hip, "It's hard for me to say no... I mean... I'm popular here...it's weird. Back in New York, I was kind of a lurker."
"I can't imagine you as a lurker." Rogue shook her head, "Look, we'll talk more at lunch. I have to work on something in the computer lab, so I won't see you guys until later."
I nodded, watching her go into her classroom, while I turned to go into mine.
"Still pissed at me?" Lance leaned down on his crutches to whisper in my ear at the lunch table.
"Yes." I snapped.
He sat down, carefully, in the chair between Remy and I, "Alright, so I probably deserve it... But you could at least be kind of nice to me... I am injured."
"Whatever. If you want sympathy, go find one of your adoring fans."
He leaned on the table with his good arm, and looked at me, "What is this really about, Jo? What I said in the hospital, Saturday? Or something else?"
"Just...go away, okay?" I turned away from him, flipping open my Government text book.
"So you're just going to stay mad at me?" He asked.
I didn't answer him, and instead began discussing the assignment with Warren, who was working on the same thing.
Lance sighed, and turned towards the rest of the table, filled with Institute students, "How about the rest of you? Are you all pissed off at me too?"
"We're not pissed at you," Remy told him, "Remy don't even know you..."
"Oh, that makes me feel great." Lance shook his head.
"Lancie...What are you doing over here, with these...people." Saundra flounced down beside his chair, "Come sit with us...please?"
"No, I think I'm pretty comfortable right here." Lance told her.
"Please... I have fresh baked fudge brownies I just made in Culinary class..." She tempted him.
"I'm not all that hot for Chocolate, Saundra, but thanks for the thought."
She sighed, pouting, "C'mon."
"I'm fine, right here." he insisted.
"Fine...fine... whatever. You know where to find me if you change your mind, Lancie." She kissed him, and then flounced back the way she had come. I couldn't help the phlegm-sounding scoff I heaved after she was gone.
Warren held back his laugh, and continued what he was saying about the judicial system, just as Rogue sat heavily in the seat on the other side of Remy.
"What's the matter?" I asked her.
"I was in the computer lab, working on that project, and the computer froze up on me. I lost almost an hours worth of work." She sighed.
"I'm sorry. I'll help you out with it later." I tossed a Raspberry Zinger at her from my binder, "Here, this 'll make you feel better."
She half-heartedly opened the package, after pulling her gloves off to break the first into pieces.a
Lance looked frustrated between all of us, and then struggled to his feet, "Well, I hear some fudge calling my way. I hope all of you have a pleasant afternoon... Jo, I'll call you."
"Don't bother, I don't want to talk to you." I flipped the pages of my book, as he sighed, and walked away.
"Why are you bein' so hard on him? What did he do?" Rogue asked.
"He's just...being stupid." I flipped the Government book closed, and leaned back in my chair, "He won't talk to his parents about...that problem."
"Not all of us like sharing our problems with our parents, Jo." Kitty tilted her head to look at me, "Look at me, the only reason my parents know that stuff about me is because..well...it's hard to hide." She shrugged.
"It's pretty hard to hide my problems too." Rogue flexed her fingers at me.
"My parents are dead, so it doesn't matter." Warren shrugged.
I shook my head at all of them, "It's different for all of us, okay? He's already gone through his process with his brother once...he doesn't want a repeat of it. He doesn't understand that family is more then his parents."
"Stop making this your problem, Jo." Warren put his hand on my shoulder, "He'll come around, and see the error of his ways soon enough."
Thanksgiving break arrived, and I drove down to see my parents with Rogue as company. They had invited several of their friends, and a few other estranged relatives over for dinner. I had Rogue sit on the end of the table, where she was less likely to knock into someone, and next to me. I introduced her to the people I knew, and my mother took over introducing her to the others in the room.
"Darling, this is simply marvelous..." My Aunt Bethany, your average middle-aged social lite, smooched my mother on both cheeks, "The house looks simply divine -How ever did you find the time?"
"Oh, well, Joey and her friend Rogue have been absolutely essential in all of this. Stephan and I wouldn't have been able to pull it off without their help."
Aunt Bethany turned to us, Rogue slightly behind me to ward off any uncomfortable touching. She enveloped me into a hug, "Darling! How simply marvelous to see you! I hear you're going to school in Bayville now! How is that working out for you?"
"It's fine, Aunt Beth. How's Uncle Herman?" I asked.
"Oh, he's just fine...having a few problems with his hip...he's just parking the car now, actually. I'm sure he'll be ecstatic to see you... Stephan, my favorite brother!" She flew off in the direction of my father who was pouring himself another drink, just as my Uncle Herman came in. Uncle Herman was probably my favorite of my Uncles. He was related only through his marriage to Aunt Bethany, and found her as annoying as the rest of us did, but of course, he loved her, even with all of her annoying (and sometimes embarrassing) tendencies.
"Oh, Christy, it's wonderful to see you..." He gave my mother a loose hug, setting down the large white bags he carried, "I hope you don't mind, but I brought pie... My mother always said, never come empty handed... Oh, and I brought some excellent wine." He pulled the bottle out of the bag for my mother to inspect. I should also mention that Uncle Herman is a bit of a wino.
"How, how wonderful! Honey, why don't you take this stuff into the kitchen, huh?" She asked.
"I'll get it." Rogue volunteered, taking the bag carefully from my mother, and the bottle of wine, before squeezing her way through.
"Joey!" Uncle Herman hugged me tightly, "I haven't seen you in forever, kid! How you doin'?"
"I'm doin' fine, Uncle Herman. How are you?" I asked.
"I'm just dandy... Yer Dad said yer in Bayville now... what's up with that, huh?"
"I'm going to a school for...gifted students."
"That better mean yer smart, Kiddo."
I smiled, "Nothing less then perfect, Uncle Herman."
"That's good, that's good." He nodded, "Well, I better go save yer dad from my wife, before she talks his whole head off."
I nodded, watching him go.
"Well...this is a pretty good turn out, huh?" Mom asked, taking a break from her hostess position.
"Mom...it's Thanksgiving dinner...not a dinner party..."
"I know that, sweetie." She sighed, and waved her hand away, "I'm just saying... It's a good turn out... it's the whole family, and a couple of friends to boot... the perfect meal, right?"
"Sure Mom. I better go see if Rogue is okay."
"You go do that sweetie, she didn't look so good before. She doesn't like people much does she?"
I ignored her, and pushed my way through the people into the kitchen, which was quiet for the first time all day. Rogue was sitting on the counter, with a cup of water in her hand.
"Are you alright?" I asked.
"Yea, I'm fine... I just... I miss home, I guess. My Daddy would always make these huge thanksgiving dinners...even if it was only the two of us."
"You miss your parent's don't you?"
Rogue shrugged, "My Momma died a while after I was born, I never really knew her, except through pictures and stories my Daddy would tell me. He had this one picture of her, sitting on his night stand in a really pretty silver frame...and when I was I little, I'd crawl up on the bed next to him, and he'd put his arm around me, and take the picture out of the frame, and let me hold it, and he'd say, 'Annie...you look so much like yer Momma...you're gonna grow up and be just like her someday'. Well, we all see how that turned out." She shrugged, blinking back her tears, drinking out of her cup.
"I'm sorry Rogue." I jumped up onto the counter next to her.
"Oh, it's not your fault." She shrugged, "When I was thirteen I ran away from home. Daddy was drinking, and my powers were starting to show...I knew something was different when I would touch people, but it wasn't until I moved in with Irene and Mystique... I bet you didn't know that did you?" She turned to me, "That I lived with Mystique, I mean."
"No, didn't." I shook my head, "People don't tend to tell me other people's histories."
"After I ran away, Mystique found me, and helped me out. I was living with her when I kissed Cody, my first boyfriend. He's still in the coma." She turned to look at me, "Sometimes, if I think about it hard enough, I can still feel him in my head, that fright that just flooded him..." She turned away to look out of the window at the snow that was softly falling on the lawn outside.
We were quiet for a few minutes, and I just had to relieve the tense monotony, "So your name is Annie, huh? That is worse then Joey."
Rogue laughed, wiping the tears off of her face, "I told you it was bad... Daddy would call me Annie all the time...in front of everyone, all of my friends. It was so embarrassing... When I ran away, I came up with the name Rogue, and it just...it stuck."
"Oh, Joey, honey...would you check the turkey, please?" Mom stuck her head in through the door, "Oh, hon, what's going on in here?" She asked, "You girls okay?"
"Yea, we're fine Mom." I jumped down off of the counter, "I'll get the turkey. Go back to your guests."
"Alright...just yell if you need something."
After the door shut, Rogue turned to me, "So, why did you bring me this weekend and not Logan?"
"Because my Mom can't keep her hands off of Logan." I sighed, "And besides... I need some time away from him." I shrugged. "And he really needed some space from me." I moved towards the oven, opening it slowly, letting the smell of cooked turkey circulate the kitchen. I basted it while Rogue talked.
"You know...it has been awhile since he went on one of those trips of his... What's going on with that?"
"He knows know that I can tell wither he's lying to me or not. The last time he left, I had a premonition while he was gone that he was swilling beer in a bar... Turned out to be true."
Rogue winced, "Bad for Logan."
I shrugged, "I didn't care...I just... I didn't like that he couldn't tell me that he wanted some time away from me, that's all."
She was quiet for a few moments before a realization hit her, "Jo, do you realize you'll have been at the Institute for a year, tomorrow?"
I bit my lip, "Yea, I know."
"I never realized it before." Rogue tilted her head at me, "What happened?"
I shrugged, knowing perfectly well what she was talking about, "It's a long story, Rogue."
"We have time...the turkey still has another half hour to go, and lets face it...your family...kind of scary."
I shrugged, and moved over to the large white bags with the pies in them, taking them out to place them in the fridge, "I was friends with this girl named Riley, on the Debate team at my old school. She never told me, but she had a telekinetic power. I didn't know about my absorbing power yet, but a few nights before Thanksgiving, I accidently moved a salt shaker on the dinner table when my stepfather and mother were having an argument over something stupid like politics... Last year tonight, Daniel told me that we were going to go out to dinner at a really nice restaurant, and stay in a hotel for the night... That never happened. We were on the freeway, Daniel was driving, I was in the passenger seat, and my mother sat in the back. All of a sudden, in the middle of no where, in the beginning of a raging snow storm, he reached across the car, and opened my door, going almost seventy miles an hour. My Mom was the one who undid my seatbelt, and then both shoved me out of the car." I shrugged, and turned away.
"How can you even in be in the same house with her?" Rogue asked, "She could have killed you."
"It wasn't my Mom's fault, Rogue. It was Daniel's."
"Jo, I'm not trying to turn you against your Mom or anything, but... she is just as much to blame as Daniel is. They both pushed you out of that car."
"It doesn't matter, Rogue. It was a year ago, and...look where I am now, huh?"
"You shouldn't pretend it didn't happen, Joanna."
"Look, Rogue... I've got it pretty good right now... both of my parents, a boyfriend who loves me, great friends, and school with people who understand me... Why can't I just leave it all at that, huh?" I asked.
"Jo, I'm just saying... maybe you shouldn't be so forgiving?"
"How ironic...you tell me on the day we're supposed to give thanks... C'mon, we'll talk about this later. I think I just heard my cousin's come in, I'll introduce you. You'll like Josephine."
Rogue put her cup in the sink, and followed me back out into the busy foyer.
Rogue's POV
"Jinx!" A pretty girl around fifteen with long black hair, and pale complexion threw her arms around Joanna's neck.
"Fina!" Joanna smiled, and flipped the girls long black hair back over her shoulder, "Did you dye your hair again?"
"Honey, I dye my hair once a week." She rolled her eyes, "What's happening? I haven't talked to you in, like, forever! Aunt Christy tried explaining something about it all to Mom, but it got lost in translation. C'mon, gimmie the short version."
"Basically...Daniel is an asshole, he and Mom got a divorce, I'm living in Bayville, but I'm visiting for the holidays while my boyfriend Logan recuperates from Mom's last visit. How about you?"
I was able to watch the two from a ways back, trying to avoid contact with people even though I had on a decent length sweater, a pair of jeans that Jo had helped me to pick out, and of course a pair of sporting gloves. 'Fina' seemed nice enough,
The girl's laughter tinkled like glass, "Oh, sweetie, it's simply been forever, and to much is going on... I'll have to get together with you after dinner, when we can be alone for a few minutes."
"Oh, Fina, this is my best friend Rogue. Rogue, this is my cousin Josephine."
"Nice to meet you Josephine." I shook her hand, watching her fingers avoid my exposed knuckles.
"Oh, please, call me Josie, everyone else does." She shook her head, and brushed her hair back behind her shoulder again, "So, you go to school in Bayville too?"
"Yea." I nodded. I wasn't used to social settings, and I was growing more and more uncomfortable by the minute. This was Joanna's life, not mine -always being in the spotlight, and being adored by everyone. I was the one who would lurk in the background, and pop up when I was needed.
"Not much of a talker is she?" Josie turned to Jo and raised an eyebrow.
"Um...look, Fina...lets go up stairs, and talk for a few minutes... Rogue, why don't you go see if my Dad needs some help keeping Uncle Herman from the bar?"
And I was dismissed. How obscenely typical. I sat in a comfortable chair on the corner, away from everyone, not trying to appear antisocial or unfriendly, but more unapproachable. I picked up a book from the shelf, and opened to a random page.
"Hey," Joanna knelt down on the floor in front of me, reminding me a of a puppy, "Sorry I'm deserting you... It's just been awhile since I saw the rest of my family."
"It's alright. I've been catching up on my... uh...whatever this is." I closed the book, and slid it back on the shelf, "So did you and Fina, have a nice chat, Jinx?" I asked.
"Oh gosh... That's a name I never thought would reach ears at the Institute..." She bowed her head, and covered her eyes with her palms, "Fina and I have pet names for each other. We're really the only kids in the family, so we've had these nicknames for each other since we were like five."
"I understand Fina, but Jinx?"
"Fina and I used to finish each other's sentences all of the time, and I would Jinx her...so I came to be known as Jinx." She shrugged, and looked over her shoulder at her family, still milling around the room, "I told her."
"Told who what?" I asked.
"I told Fina about me, silly!"
"Oh...and?"
"She was okay with it... I mean, I knew that Fina was cool, but... this is a really hard topic for a lot of people...she's really... well...Fina."
"I'm so glad for you." I leaned back in my chair, "You're getting your pants all dirty, sitting like that, Sugar."
"Oh, right... My Dad probably hasn't vacuumed in here for months." She laughed, standing and brushing off her knees, "C'mon...I think the turkey is almost done."
At dinner I sat at the coffee table with Josie and Joanna, deemed the 'kids table' by the two girls, while the 'grown-ups' had their own table in the main dining area.
"So, you both go to this...mutant school, huh?" Josie seemed really into the whole Mutant thing.
"Basically." I shrugged, "I mean, that's not what we call it... We go to a normal high school, just like anyone else...we just have an extra study, that's all."
"So, what do you do?" Josie asked me.
I was quiet for a moment.
"Why don't you show her?" Joanna asked, pulling a piece of turkey apart with her fork.
"I don't want to hurt her, Jo..." I whispered.
"No, not on her! I don't my cousin to end up in the hospital. Do it on me." She looked over her shoulder into the dinning room where the adults were laughing and drinking the bottle of wine that Uncle Herman had provided. She carefully lifted Josie's unused spoon into the air, and held out her bare hand to mine. I shed my glove, and touched our fingers together. The only thing I felt was the surge of telekinetic power surging through my fingers. I took over the levitation of the spoon when Joanna stopped contact with it, held it for a few seconds, and then let it drop softly back onto her napkin.
Josie looked confused, "...So...you can do...what?"
"I borrow a person's life source." I told her, "If I touch another mutant, I borrow their powers for a short time -if their mutation is physical, I take on their form."
"And what is it that you do?" Josie turned to Joanna.
"I absorb power. When Rogue touches a person, she takes their life force...if she was to touch you, even for a few seconds, she could take years off of your life and put you into a coma. With mutants, she borrows, she immobilizes the person from whom she borrows from... I however, absorbing a power, can call on it at any time, and I have no ill effect on normal persons."
"Right..." Josie nodded, "I'll never understand this, but okay." She shrugged.
I pulled my glove back on, "It's pretty complicated, don't feel bad. I don't even understand it sometimes."
"And this school you go to..."
"The Xavier Institute. It's a place where we learn to control our powers." Joanna began to mix some of her foods together on her plate.
"And what kind of other powers are there out there?" Josie asked.
"Fina, what's this sudden interest in mutations?" Joanna asked.
"I'm just taking an interest in your life, Jinx... Fine, we don't have to talk about it anymore. Tell me about your boyfriend... What was his name?"
"Logan."
"And...is he cute?"
Normal girl talk. Something I had never been able to participate much in before. My only real boyfriend had been Cody, and look what had happened to him? Sure, I was taking a liking to Remy LeBeau, but that could never lead anywhere. I couldn't ever have what Joanna had with Logan. My power suddenly seemed to suck, a lot.
I listened to what Joanna was saying about Logan. I was envious about what she had with him. I was envious about everything Jo shared with people. I was cursed to be this bystander in life, and a lonely bystander at that.
"How about you?" Josie turned to me, snapping me out of my pit of self-loathing, "Do you have a certain someone?"
"It's kind of hard to have a...certain someone when you can't touch 'im." I told her. I didn't mean to snap at her, but I'm sure I sounded rude.
"Rogue... That's not true... You just went out with Remy."
"Oh... Remy, huh? Interesting names...sounds like quite the catch."
"Remy is a thief and a liar -two things that I don't want to be associated with."
"That was before, Rogue. Remy is one of the good guys now..."
"Oh really? Then why is he torturing Jubilee all of the time? They can hardly sit in the same car with each other."
"You don't seem to have a problem sitting in the same car as Remy LeBeau..."
"Alright, fine... So I like the guy, but that doesn't mean anything's gonna happen with him. I'm not going to put him in a coma like I did the last time I kissed a guy." I sighed. "So I went to the Homecoming dance with him, and we saw a movie last weekend...big deal."
"And he also asked to the Nondenominational Winter Dance..."
"I didn't say yes though, did I? And look who asked you? Half of the senior class."
Joanna leaned back against the couch behind her, "Alright, so I'm popular... that doesn't mean I'll go. I'll end up going to the dance with Lance Hang anyway."
"Am I missing something?" Josie asked. I realized she was still sitting through our tennis match, "Whose Lance Hang?"
"Lance Hang is Joanna's version of a 'school boyfriend', where as Logan is her 'everywhere else boyfriend'."
"He is not my boyfriend at all." She shook her head, "And besides, I still haven't completely forgiven him from homecoming."
"Oh, the one person you could probably stand to give some forgiveness too, and you won't let go." I rolled my eyes.
"Hey, he was being a total jackass, okay?"
"...I think I'm going to go get seconds...when I come back, can we have this little spat resolved? 'Cause I'm lost." Josie stood up, picking up her empty plate as well.
"Sorry, Fina. We'll try not to fight." Joanna called after her as she exited towards the kitchen, "I'm sorry Rogue."
"It's not your fault." I sighed, "I'm the one picking the fight. It's not my business."
"It is your business... Everything I do affects you too, even if it doesn't seem like it does. I'm sorry." She looked at me sympathetically, "Can we call a truce? At least until we get back to school?"
"Of course." I nodded, "I can't fight with you anyway, you're my own source to the outside world."
When Josie came back and made herself comfortable at the table, she spoke up, "So...we have to give you a fun nickname too... Welcome you to the family and everything."
I raised my eyebrow at Joanna.
"Fina is big on nicknames. Everyone she knows has one...even if they don't know it."
"I suppose Skunk is totally out of the question, huh?" Josie tapped her chin.
"You could say that..." I nodded, "I don't think I want to have someone yelling 'Skunk' at me across a crowded room...anywhere. And besides," I pulled a lock of white hair out in front of my face, "My white streaks are on either side of my face, not down the part."
"True..." She nodded, "I think I'm going to have to think on this one... get to know you a little better."
"You know, Rogue already kind of...is a nickname...why don't we just leave it at that?" I asked.
"Oh, poo...you're not any fun at all." Josie shook her head, her long hair falling over her shoulders again.