Matt and Rogue -- Staying Dry

[x-traction.livejournal.com]

In which Matt and Rogue disagree about music, but agree about life

One bonus to living at the Mansion was all the space. It was easy to find a space to go to when all she wanted was to relax. It was even easier when it happened to be at an odd time of the day. Classes had already started, so most of the school was busy. Not her. She was a lady of leisure. A true Southern belle, lounging around in silk pjs, while others busied themselves around her. In fact, she slept in most of the day, relishing the opportunity to be a true night owl again.
She was waiting for the lecture from the Professor but until that happened, she was happy to do whatever.

So shortly after the beginning of classes found her lounging by the indoor pool well past curfew, her old boom box playing "The Sign" while she pretended to herself she was on a beach somewhere, getting a tan. At least here she could wear a bikini in relative comfort. After all, who would come in?


One of the nice things about being blind was that he could study anywhere without turning on lights and disturbing others. Wanting to get out of his room to do his reading outside, Matt headed to the pool area with his ereader, headphones and the chapters he needed to cover before next class.

As he approached, he didn't recognize the heartbeat by the pool, but there were a few new people around too, so he didn't worry. Not too many invasions involved a single person by the pool, though night was generally popular for unwanted people.



"Hey," Matt said, not wanting to surprise her as he arrived.

Lifting her head, she saw a face she vaguely recognized. Another drawback to sleeping at random times was that she wasn't as social as she should have been. "Well hey there," she responded. "Don't mind me. Currently on the French Riviera, about to scold my manservant for daring to serve me a cold latte. Feel free to join in. I think Jacques likes the abuse."

"Sounds personal to me," Matt replied, liking her attitude right off. "But isn't the French Riviera a topless beach?" He couldn't tell if she was wearing a bathing suit or a mummu, but it seemed unlikely that she was topless. "You're entirely over dressed," He had on jean shorts and a t-shirt.

"You're never over dressed when you have poisonous skin, darling," she stated, leaning up on her elbows. "That being said, since this is all happening in my imagination, I suppose I could also pretend that I don't have any powers. Just a regular rich gal, with a wicked tan."

Rogue looked at the man and cocked her head. "Wait -- are you Matt? We talked before. Didn't we?"

"Point," Matt agreed, not suggesting that she cover up, but making sure he wasn't too close either. He used his hands in place of his eyes an awful lot, even with his powers and that could be a Very Bad Thing. "Yeah. I'm Matt. You have questionable taste in music," as evidenced by what she was currently playing.

Rogue gasped. "How could you say that about the third most successful Swedish group after ABBA and Roxette?". She shook her head, sadly. "I feel that this could affect our budding friendship.". Leaning over to turn down the music slightly, she continued. "Also the fact that you can't tell that I'm glaring. How're y'all supposed to know when I'm annoyed, being blind and all?"

She always did like to get right to the point.

Laughing, Matt pushed an errant lock of hair from his forehead. He needed a haircut again. "Your blood pressure rises slightly and your breathing shifts," He explained, "but your tone is pretty telling, too. Don't worry, I get by."

"Well, hey now, that's a cool power. I was always jealous of Logan, able to hear stuff that no one else could.". She thought for a moment before smiling and sitting up. "Too bad you can't hear how cute I am. You truly are missing out."

She stood up, and pointed to his gear, forgetting again that he couldn't see. "Am I bothering you? Looks like you have work to do. Seems I'm the only one with nothing but time on my hands."

Oh, he could tell. It wasn't all about the physical sometimes. "I'm better than Logan," Matt bragged. No healing factor or claws, but when it came to hearing, he won.

He shrugged, "I'm kinda a nerd. It's just reading for class. I'm a sophomore."

"Then how can you be better than Logan who is older than time itself AND the best at what he does?" she retorted cheekily. "He has a catchphrase. You need to work on that, sugar."

Sophomore. Man, it was hard to remember she was an adult when she had zero responsibilities. Maybe she'd get around to doing something about that.

Tomorrow.

"There's nothing wrong with reading. If my book wasn't all the way in my bag, I'd be reading too. Although," she added, "if it's a Star Wars book, then I reserve the right to judge you all I want."

"Logan has the healing factor and claws. He's definitely the best still. I just hear better than he can," Matt wasn't nearly as experienced either.

"It's sociology of societal problems," He hefted the bound braille chapters. The book was divided into sections for him. "I'm more of a Bujold or George R.R. Martin fan. Star Wars is kinda meh."

"Ahh, sociology.". She put her hands on her hips and shook her head. "I aways enjoyed social Darwinism, but that gets depressing if you think too hard about it. I'd rather think about altruism. It makes me feel better to think of others as inherently good rather than inherently evil."

She walked over to the pool and dipped her foot in. A little shudder passed her body as she registered how cold it was. "Any reason you're doing college level readings? Or are you just that amazing?"

"I'm just that awesome," Matt bragged. "I'm also a sophomore at Pace University Westchester, studying criminal justice and looking at going pre-law," that was enough bragging for now. "And I'm a giant nerd. But thanks for thinking I'm 14, I'm never shaving again. You probably wouldn't have liked me back then anyways."

"And there's that foot in mouth disease I was talking about." She looked at him sheepishly. "I thought you were a student here. Sorry, darling. If it makes you feel better," she added, "I think you'd rock a beard."

Splashing water with her feet, she looked down at her reflection before looking back at him. "I went to Pace. Got my degree in counselling psych. It's a great school."

Huffing, Matt waved a hand vaguely, dismissing her comment. "Nah, it's nice to know I look 12. Good for people to take me seriously. I was a student here though, I just graduated and stayed on. I can get to Pace by bus, so going there was useful."

"That's why I picked it too. That, and because they were willing to accept my transfer credits, so I didn't have to start from scratch."

She cocked her head and smiled. "Pre-law, huh. Gonna save the world, one mutant at a time? What are you interested in doing?"

Snorting, Matt kicked his feet up on a lounge chair, "Nah. That's the whole X thing. I'm kinda thinking about juvenile law or something. I've got time and choices."

"Juveniles are hard. I was an art therapist up in Canada for a while, and dealing with youth made me so sad. It's easy to forget adults were children once and that so many things led to them getting into trouble. When you gotta listen to lil Timmy tell you bout how his daddy beats him.....". She trailed off. "you could really change a person's life, being their lawyer."

"I'm a recovering drug addict with a sealed juvie record as a violent offender," Matt confessed, giving her an explanation, "I did the foster care route, all that. I'm clean, I'm staying clean, and I wanna help people, yeah. Because I wouldn't be here now without help from awesome people. Seems only fair. I always had the court appointed attorneys and they're crap. Overworked, underpaid, no respect, the whole system's flawed."
"Don't forget, legislation sometimes ties the worker's hands so much that it's a damned jf you, damned if you don't situation." she got up abruptly and grabbed her towel. She sat down in a chair next to him and dried her feet. "But I guess we could get all philosophical and say that that's how life goes. Everything comes with its own catch 22. It's nice that you're trying to give back though. People don't do that enough."
"Yeah, I know it can," Matt agreed, "I just...I dunno. Seems like more could be done still regardless," maybe not much more, but wasn't the point to try to leave the world a better place in some way? "It's the Christian thing to do."

Rogue wrinkled her nose at his comment. Christian thing. Ha! Her parents were good Christians -- church every Sunday, Mama in the ladies auxiliary, Papa helped new immigrants, but when their daughter turned out to be a mutant, they sure were quick to wash their hands of her.

"Sure," she responded abruptly. "Just don't give up when they don't change. Can't always help everyone."

Sadly, not being able to help everyone was something you had to learn and live with whether you liked it or not. Matt didn't like it, but he was learning to live with it. "Yeah, unfortunately," he agreed. "But that doesn't mean you stop trying for everyone else. And who knows, maybe you do make a difference."

She nodded her head. "20 years from now, but hey, we got nothing but time."

"Exactly," they weren't immortal, but they would do their share while they could. Unwinding his headphone cord, Matt slipped them over his ears and turned on his ipod to listen to some of the audio he needed to go along with his reading.