6454/An empty Leash

An empty Leash
Date of Scene:	11 February 2019
Location:	Xavier's School, Westchester, New York
Synopsis:	Rogue goes to Remy to tell her that she gave their dog away to a family in Salem Center. For his own good, or for hers?
Cast of Characters:	Rogue, Gambit

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Rogue has posed:
Late afternoon. Cold outside. Snow on the ground from a day or so ago. Lake is kind of frozen, not entirely though.

Rogue is walking down the pathway, or at least where she thinks it is, through the snow with black boots up to her knees over her jeans. She's got a hoodie on and her navy peacoat over that, her hair poking out of the hood on either sides. Obviously she's got gloves on too.

As she draws up to the boat house she moves up the stairs and pulls Aces leash out of her pocket, holding it in her right hand as she reaches up and opens the door to the place, walking inside to look around, looking for the elusive and sometimes evasive Cajun himself... scanning about the interior with her pale green eyes.

Gambit has posed:
Remy LeBeau is actually working on something at the dining room table, papers and charts scattered across it. He looks up and smiles when he sees who walked in..then blinks when he sees the empty leash. "Rogue... did somet'ing 'appen ta de puppy?" he asks with obvious concern in his voice.

Rogue has posed:
The expression on her face will likely answer that question the second after he asks it. She nods her head but she doesn't let that linger for long, because that would be rude and likely lead to paranoid thoughts of the dog's safety. "I gave him away." She says then as she approaches where Remy is, her eyes look away down to what he has in front of him but she can't make heads nor tails of what she's looking at.

She reaches out and sets the leash dow onto the table near to him, she looks sad, like she's likely been crying too.

Gambit has posed:
Remy LeBeau looks hurt by that, "Why woul' yah do dat chere? If yah didn' want him any more, Ah'd 'ave taken 'im back." I mean he picked that puppy out for her. His was the first face it ever licked. He shakes his head slightly and shrugs. "I call it X-Men Black Team.. it's a proposal for a covert branch of the team... What 'appened chere?"

Rogue has posed:
The southern gal draws a chair back next to him and she settles into it. She pulls her gloves off of her hand and sets them across her left thigh, so that she can rub her fingers together between one another... needing to feel her own chilled skin for a moment, to warm it up a little from outside.

She shakes her head right to left and looks down from him. "Ya gave him to me. And I'm too dangerous for him. The stuff that I do, the stuff that I get into..." She glances up again at him. "When I got captured, early last month. He got locked outside in the cold for days on end. Tryin' t'find me." She then shakes her head again. "Its not right'a me t'own a dog and put him through that kinda stress."

She reaches up with her left bare hand to stroke at her eyelids and then looks to his little project. Still not quite sure what to make of it... it definitely doens't sound like something she'd fit well on though. She's more of a wrecking ball, after all.

Gambit has posed:
If she were to look, she would indeed find her name conspicuously absent from the people he was considering for his project. He sighs a bit and turns to face her. That faint pinkness coming over his skin ans he reaches out and takes her hand in both of his. Warming her flesh with his own. "Chere, yah can' do dis ta yahself... Yah gotta stop flogging' yahself evey time somet'ing go wrong. Aces was fine. He was concerned about yah, and 'appy ta see /yah/ were fine. He love yah."

Rogue has posed:
Rogue's eyes scan it over and she doesn't see her name, but that doesn't really surprise her either. Sometimes she thinks he leaves her out of stuff like that... for similar reasons as to why she just gave her best friend away. However that pans out in one's head.

Her eyes dart down to his and she seems surprised still by him openly touching her like that, she's not even sure how to make that make sense in her head. Lots of anxiety there... dating back to the first time her touch power came to pass, the look on that boy's face as his eyes rolled back in his head and he fell into a permanent sleep... because she 'touched' him. That kind of thing leaves deep scars, you know.

After a second she tentatively brushes her thumb over the back of his hand. "He's with a family now." She says back. "Former cop. In Salem Center. He arrested me two summers ago. Ya probably remember, you were the one that bailed me out that day. Guy's retired now, but he wanted a police dog for his house. Aces was full trained in that kinda thing... It only made sense."

Gambit has posed:
Remy LeBeau nods slightly but holds her gaze steady, "Ah'm not worried about Aces chere, Ah didn't t'ink yah'd drop 'im off at de pound or somet'ing. Ah'm worries about yah." He lets go of her hand with one of his to take her chin. To make sure she looks him in those demonic red on black eyes. "Yah do dis chere. Yah get scared, an' yah push de people an' t'ings dat love yah away. An' if yah can' do dat, sometimes yah jus' run away yahself. Yah afraid ta be comforted. Afraid of what 'appen if dat comfort is ripped away... But chere, life is a risk, but it's wort' taking."

Rogue has posed:
Rogue's hood is still up, so her hair is still framing her face... white as the snow on the ground outside and her chin is practically just as cold. Her eyes stare over at him, she's got black eyeliner on (like she does) which makes her stare all the more intense and strong... she's fond of her stare for that reason, she's been told its 'intimidating' in the past. She likes being intimidating.

But what he says to her makes her shiver a bit, not becuase she's still shaking off the chill from outside, but because he's right. She flutters her eyelids and looks down. "You're right. I do. Its cause... I don't wanna lose people. Anyone. I lost my parents, I don't wanna lose anyone I love, so I'd rather... make them go away." She shakes he rhead then and reaches her right hand up to rub at her forehead, along her white hued hairline. "Aces has kids t'play with now, a yard'a his own... Its better this way."

Gambit has posed:
Remy LeBeau nods a bit but says softly, "Ah'm not saying he won' be taken care of chere. Dat he won' be loved. Ah won' even say dat it's bettah foh 'im dare... mah question, an' if yah c'n look me in de eye an say yes, Ah'll call yah a lier... is Are /yah/ bettah off wit'out 'im?"

Rogue has posed:
Rogue looks back up to him, its a quick dart of her eyes back of to his far more mysterious stare and she listens to the question... takes a handful of seconds to process it and she looks away again, staring down to the leash and then to the papers and documents he has for his project. "I'm... supposed t'be the tough one." She says, staring her reply. "The god damn Avengers hired me, because of that. I was supposed t'be the tank... the one who handles all the... hits." That last word took a second or so for her to think up before she said it. She darts her eyes back to him. "But these powers I have, they're not mine. I stole them. They're not natural for me... Just my mutation, the rest is... stolen goods." She looks down at her hands again. She'd avoided his question. Mostly anyway.

Gambit has posed:
"Yah de tank alright chere. Yah de strong one. De fast one. De one dat can' be 'urt even if yah get punched t'rough a wall. But chere yah still a woman. An' yah vulnerable on de inside as anyone Ah've evah met. Yah wan' so badly ta be loved, but are terrified of de t'ought even when dat love come from de simple, undeniable loving trust of a puppy. Yah /not/ bettah off wit'out Aces. An' somet'ing tells me yah came 'ere tonight, a lil piece inside of yah 'oping dat Ah'd consider de fact yah jus' give 'im away an unfohgivable sin."

Rogue has posed:
Rogue's lips press together and rub together, firmly, after she hears this from him. She nods her head once and then looks away to the far side of the room... even if she's not quite focused on that exactly, more-so just her thoughts.

"I took the powers from Carol Danvers." She says back then. "She's far stronger than I can eve'ah hope t'be. Even if I know she struggled with it too, cause I can see the mories'a that inside'a my head. But still, she handled it... handles it... better'n me."

Rogue looks back to Remy then. "I'm sorry, for givin' him away. I know ya gave'im to me because ya wanted me t'have someone I could... care for, and vice versa... all close'n such. I just... if he died cause'a me, I'd be way worse off, ya know?" She shakes her head and glances down at her hands in her lap again. "This would be nothin' compared t'that."

Gambit has posed:
Remy LeBeau does what he should have done when she walked into the room. He brings his faintly glowing hand up to her chin, tilts her head up ever so slightly, and brings his faintly glowing lips to her's. They've kissed before of course. Once or twice when they lost their powers... but those were always heated...rushed... as if they knew they were stealing moments. Or there were...other consequences of those kisses. But this time it's not like that. It's slow...it's tender...it's comforting... it's the way a man is supposed to kiss the woman he loves.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue and kisses are another one of those things, anxiety driven actions. Kissing the people she wants to kiss? Something she's always wanted to do... well, at least since she was a budding teenaged girl--which she is now no longer--but to have it actually come true at this stage of her life? Its surprising and, tense...

She tenses up all throughout her body, her muscles eeize up as he moves in to kiss her. But its not just a few seconds into it that she starts to loosen up and melt again, and even return the kiss. Her eyes are shut, of course, and her breathing is a bit shallow, but she's into it and she returns it, her left hand even reaching out for his forearm to hold on to him.

Gambit has posed:
Remy LeBeau takes it slowly. Patiently. Neither pushing the kiss foreword and hard, or pulling back from it. When she begins to respond he lets his fingers trace through her hair and his tounge tease agienst her lips as if encouraging her's to come out and play... as for after that... that is behind the FTB curtain..