Learning to Deal
I don't own X-Men Evolution (or X-Men for that matter) characters or anything concerning the show, comics, ect. No suing! Be civil in reviews (if there are any).
Yeah, I know, this update has been a long time coming. I've been lazy. Okay, the next update will be June 4th, I have some previous engagements that are making it difficult for me to update sooner than that, but if I can update sooner I will.
Stepping off the bus into the midday sun and heat of the southern states, Remy cursed the bus driver being an overweight, buffoon who the Cajun couldn't smooth talk his way into taking him the rest of the way toward Charleston for free. Cursing his employer for paying him in hundreds and fifties, Remy smoothed back his hair and began to walk along side the road toward this town Rogue was in.
Judging by the last sign he had seen, the town was about a good 75 miles away, meaning that Remy ought to reach the town at about five in the evening, if not a bit later depending on his speed and if someone decided to offer him a ride.
Taking a bottle of water out of his military sack, Remy took a swig and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. It was a bit hot out, but that was no surprise as it was early June, school was going to be letting out for summer break in a week or two.
Well Cherie, you are well worth dis chase. I jus' hope you ain't goin' be so hard t' find in dis town.
"Tomorrow's Timothy's birthday?" Rogue repeated Joe's words as she cleaned the dishes. She had come to the decision for Marian that if the diner was to get more customers it was best that Rogue not be seen, and it worked. With Timothy or even one of the high school volunteers running Rogue's tables more people were eating at the diner.
"That's right, Ah take it Marian hadn't said anythin' to you yet," Joe stated, dicing tomatoes. "She must have bought him somethin' that is meant to be from you already. Ah would have thought that with how close you two were gettin' that Marian would have told you about the birthday."
Looking out into the diner at where Timothy was taking an order for two elderly customers, Rogue inquired, "What sort of things does Timothy like? Like, what is he interested in?"
"The normal things a young man should be interested in; girls, cars, video games, movies…," here Joe chuckled, "explosives."
Rogue sighed, she had no idea what kind of games or movies that Timothy wanted or would possibly like.
"Although," added Joe, "Ah've noticed that Timothy has taken up a few new interests. Like earlier this week Ah found him readin' a couple of Batman comics. Then last week Ah found him readin' this book, Ah think it was a play, 'The Forty Thieves'. He seemed to be fairly engrossed in it."
"Really?" Rogue was impressed to find a young man such as Timothy might actually be interested in plays, especially ones beyond Shakespeare.
"Yeah, Ah personally never cared for comics or plays. Ah detest plays especially, never saw the point in 'em," Joe stated, then noticing Rogue's inquiring look continued, "Ah mean, to me, it seems that plays are exactly like movies but live action. So plays are basically superfluous."
Rogue nodded in understanding at the man's opinion but she shared a different view on plays.
"Then comics are too influential. They're part of the reason young'uns today go around killin' people and committin' other violent crimes," Joe explained.
Personally, Rogue wasn't of that opinion. She thought the whole idea of comics making kids commit violent crimes as some sort escape goat so that people didn't have to take responsibility for their own actions.
Glancing at the clock, Rogue saw that it read 4:40 pm; there was still time to go to this bookstore she had found a week ago and was interested in checking it out. "Do ya think Marian would be upset if Ah asked for a break?"
Pretending to check the clock, Joe grunted, "Ah doubt she'll mind as long as you're back here by 5:30, when the real rush hour hits. We need as many clean dishes as we can get."
"Thanks." Taking off her apron, Rogue hung it on the coat rack on the door before exiting the kitchen. She found Marian behind the counter taking an order from a truck driver stopping in town, just her luck.
Coming up beside Marian, Rogue patiently waited for the driver to give his order and for Marian to take it all down.
"What's up Rogue?" Marian inquired, ripping off the order slip and sticking it onto the ordering wheel.
"Ah was wonderin' if Ah could possibly take an hour off," Rogue stated, causing Marian to spin around to her. This was the first time Rogue had ever requested for a break so it was expected to be a surprise to her boss.
"What do ya plan to do with that time?" Marian inquired, putting her hands on her hips and raising an eyebrow. "Ah hope you're not goin' to sneak off to see some guy because that wouldn't sound like you, Rogue."
The young girl's eyes widened with mortification. "No, nothin' like that, Ah jus' want to…" Rogue glanced at Timothy before lowering her voice. "Ah jus' want to go shoppin' fer a present fer Timothy's birthday tomorrow."
It was Marian's turn to have widened eyes. "Ah take it Joe told ya." Rogue nodded. "Well, Ah already bought somethin' ya can say is from you…"
"No, Ah want to give 'im somethin' that's from meh, somethin' Ah can say Ah picked out an' knew he'd like," Rogue explained in a low voice.
Marian leaned against the countered and glanced at her watch, then sighed in defeat. Who was she to deny the girl, especially since the break was to get something for her son?
"Alright, but ya be back by 5:30. Do ya need any money?" Marian questioned, digging into her pocket for some spare cash.
"No, Ah have some saved up," smiled Rogue, about to take off for the door.
"Whoa, hang on there for a moment, Rogue. Ah want ya to drop this off at home for me while yer out," Marian requested, bending under the counter and grabbing a package wrapped in newspaper. "Go out the back so that Timothy doesn't see ya."
"Thanks," grinned Rogue, taking the package and heading back into the kitchen to go out the back door. Exiting out of the back door, Rogue found herself in the back alley that she had gone down only twice before. Left or right? Okay, Timothy said that home was the direction the dumpster was on and the main street in the direction the trashcans were on.
Looking about, Rogue found the dumpster on her right and the trashcans on the left.
Thinking it best to go buy the present first, Rogue went left, toward the main street. Once on the street she made a right turn and saw the bookstore she wanted to go to down the sidewalk and across the street.
Strolling down the sidewalk, Rogue ignored all the wary glances and distrustful glares she received from the people she passed. Word always got around fast in small towns and this one was no exception. Everyone had heard about how Rogue had hurt Sydney James, they just didn't know how she had hurt him as their kids hadn't seen quite what happened or couldn't explain it.
Upon entering the store, Rogue wanted to turn around immediately but she was there for a gift or two for Timothy and it was the only bookstore that she knew of.
If Ah known that one of Lucas' lackeys worked here Ah wouldn't have come, Rogue thought, hoping that the gothic, blond girl—Rogue was certain she was Carol Danvers—hadn't noticed her entrance.
Slipping as far back as possible, Rogue noticed that Lucas was lounging in the farthest corner of the store in the back, sitting in a leather chair. He appeared to not have noticed Rogue yet, as his back was turned to her and he seemed deeply engaged in reading whatever was in his lap.
Moving between two book shelves, Rogue stood there pretending to be browsing the books while desperately wanting out of the store and to be back in the safety of the diner. Why couldn't she keep away from this particular band of mutations? Why were they so interested in her?
"Can Ah help you?" offered a feminine voice. Immediately, Rogue could sense who the voice belonged to and she was not thrilled.
Turning to the girl, Rogue found her suspicions to be correct, it was Carol Danvers in front of her. "Sure, can ya meh where ya keep the poetry books?" An' then leave meh alone an' pretend that Ah was never here, she added mentally. Rogue wanted to kick herself for forgetting that Lucas was a telepath and could have potentially have heard her thoughts.
Carol smiled one of those friendly, trusting smiles that made people want to trust the person, believe them to be an angel. However, Rogue refused to be deceived by the smile and the girl.
"This way," Carol indicated, leading the way toward one of the more centered rows of shelves that had a bold sign indicating the 'Poetry' section. "Anything in particular you wanted?"
"No, not really," Rogue said, looking at the spines of the plays for anything that sounded like a good read. Having hoped that Carol would have left her when she denied looking for something specific, but she didn't leave.
"You know," Carol whispered, "Lucas is a patient man but he is growing impatient with your indecision. So, what's keeping you from deciding whether or not you want to join us?"
Plucking off one play book, Rogue scanned through it and decided that Timothy might like it; the least he could do is give the play a try.
"Do ya have any comics by some perchance?" Rogue inquired, she had to stall some more time, at least until she was out of the store.
Unfazed, Carol nodded and led Rogue to the front of the store where there were several crates of bagged comics, all in excellent condition, as though they had been recently bought. Each box indicated what publishing company the comics were from and a separate two boxes with the label 'INDEPENDENT' on them.
Flipping through the DC comics, Rogue found more than just single issues of comics but some trade paperbacks, such as 'Superman: The Red Son'.
Well, if Timothy likes to read Batman maybe he'll read Superman too, Rogue decided. "Ah'll take these."
Handing the book and comic to Carol, who took them and tried not to seem exasperated with Rogue. Going over to the cash register, Carol punched up the numbers and made a note about the Superman comic.
"Your total comes out to be $27.76," she informed Rogue, then leaned over the counter to try and catch her eye. "I know that we may seem like a group of bad kids but we're not. We don't do anything bad like vandalism. We just all have each others' backs in case the people start getting hostile toward us, then we can defend ourselves. Surely you can understand that, especially with what's been happening on the news and in DC…"
"Here's thirty," Rogue interrupted, handing Carol a two tens and two fives.
Taking the money, Carol slid back behind the counter and punched the amount given.
"Two twenty-four's your change," Carol reported, collecting the change from the cash register then handing it to Rogue. Bagging the book and comic, Carol handed the bag to Rogue, but before Rogue could snatch the back Carol caught her forearm. "Listen, just make certain that you don't wait too much longer in giving us an answer. Lucas is growing very impatient with you, and when Lucas is impatient he may do things."
"Thanks fer the advise but Ah'll let y'all know when Ah'm ready to tell ya," Rogue returned, yanking her arm out of Carol's grasp and taking the bag.
Exiting the store, Rogue walked with longer and faster strides until she was turned into the alley and was heading toward Marian's house. Once in the alley, Rogue slowed her pace and glanced down at her watch, it was nearing five. She had spent almost a half an hour in the book store and with one of Lucas' lackeys, Rogue felt she needed a bath.
"He may do things."
"What kind of things was she talkin' 'bout? What could he do to meh? He doesn't even know meh or anythin' 'bout meh!" Rogue growled, kicking a random rock down the alley. "The condition Ah made wit' 'em was that they weren't supposed to hound meh fer an answer."
With a scowl on her face and her eyes narrowed into a glare, many people watched Rogue with a mixture of apprehension and cautiousness when she turned onto the street Marian lived on.
Why am Ah so important to 'em anyways? What do they actually want from meh? Mah powers? Surely they know how dangerous mah powers are, so why do they want meh? wondered Rogue, walking up the driveway of Marian's house until the houses blocked the sun.
"Hey Rogue!"
Jumping slightly, Rogue quickly composed herself before she turned around to see Morph across the street waving at her.
Glancing up and down the street to make certain that no more of Lucas' posse was about, apparently Morph had sought her out on his own. So, Rogue raised her hand lamely and returned the wave.
"Watch this, I finally got you down!" cried Morph as he shamelessly took on Rogue's form. It was amazing and yet creepy, Rogue felt like she was looking in a mirror that wasn't really there. "'What are ya doin'!"
He sounded exactly like her! Rogue was surprised. Sure, she had seen and experienced Mystique's ability to become others but she had never seen anyone become her. It was a bit awkward yet impressive, especially since Morph had her southern drawl correct.
As Rogue opened her mouth to comment, someone moved into her line of sight, blocking Morph. The person was wearing a familiar dark brown trench coat and steel plated boots, and the person had his back to the real Rogue.
"Dere you are, mon chere, I have finally found you," the person stated.
Oh crap, that's Gambit! Rogue realized, biting her lower lip. What was she to do? Hide in the house, she decided, making her way to the back door quietly but quickly.
Once she was certain she was out of sight, Rogue let out a sigh of relief, but still opened the doors and closed them quietly behind her. She didn't want to take any chances of the Cajun coming up the driveway and possibly seeing her.
"Oh mah gawd, what is he doin' here?"
Thank you to: enchantedlight, IvyZoe, roguewanderer, Minnaloushe, Shaishe, Chica De Los Ojos Cafe, jat, and TheDreamerLady. Thanks a lot guys.