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xp_logs2014-10-14 10:57 am
x-traction.livejournal.com) wrote in xp_logs2014-10-14 10:57 am
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Rogue and Garrison -- Letting it all out
In which Rogue and Garrison start out working out, and end up having a heart-to-heart...
Some days it wasn't even worth getting up. For once, she was awake by noon but that didn't matter: she was back in bed by 1.
In that one, magical hour, she'd managed to stain her favourite gloves, rip her tights, lose a shoe, drink tea when she wanted coffee, get into a fight (and lose) with a coat rack and basically fail at every conversation she'd had.
Yup. It was better to lay in bed, curl up in the dark, and listen to Lionel Richie. Screw life. This is why she quit being an adult.
"Beulah! You've got a Danger Room session in, like, twenty minutes." Kane rapped on her door. Marie was never late for her workouts before. "You still alive in there?"
Danger Room? Rogue groaned and pulled the covers even tighter over her head. Now she remembered: after her disastrous attempt with Scott, she'd gone looking for a shoulder to cry on. Garrison had found her and had promised to whip her back in shape, but now that she was faced with it, she couldn't make herself get up.
"Rogue doesn't live here anymore," she called out loudly. "In fact, I think she went back to Canada for poutine and hockey, eh? You better go and find her and let this random person sleep!"
The door wasn't locked, so Kane just let himself inside. He was relatively sure that Rogue would be decent (her habits were almost instinct at this point). He spotted the lump on the bed and sighed.
"Really? It's the afternoon. The last time you slept into the afternoon involved a lot of Crown Royal, which I know you didn't have last night. So get up. Otherwise, I will dump you into the Danger Room naked, film the whole thing, and mistakenly leak it to the students."
She sat up in bed and glared. "Try it, Mister, and I'll leak that blackmail tape I've had locked at the bank. Oh yeah, that's right -- I filmed the ice cream incident. There are specific instructions left with Kurt to release said tape in the event of my utter embarrassment." A pause passed before she spoke again. "I feel we are at an impasse."
"First of all, I still have those webcam shots, so I'm not likely to be the embarrassed one. Secondly, and more importantly, you're wallowing. I can tell because it's the same that Logan does when he gets all feral and Batman and needs to chase rabbits for a weekend. You don't have that excuse. So get up." He kicked the edge of the bed.
She growled when her bed was jostled. "Why can't you be like a normal person and leave when you're told? Is it because ridiculously good looking people don't know how to listen?” She threw her sheets off in a huff. "And besides," she continued, getting out of bed, "wallowing is good for the soul. My Aunt Louisa always said that it was better to sit in bed with your thoughts than forcing the rest of the world to deal with them.” She went over to her dresser and pulled out a pair of yoga pants, a sports bra and a sheer cover. “Now are you gonna let this lady change in peace or are y'all gonna supervise?"
"If only... but I don't think I'm allowed. I'll see you down in the DR in five minutes." Kane closed the door as he left. It only took him a few minutes to reach the elevator and then open up the Danger Room. The room came to life as he walked in and started the holo-interface.
She cursed his name as she searched for an elastic. She cursed his parents for his existence while she tried to find matching socks. By the time she'd reached the DR, she was cursing evolution for allowing the primordial soup to become single celled organisms, and by extension, to create Kane.
Blah.
"So is there a plan or should I just curl up in the corner and die now? I'm really no good at this anymore. Scott looked ready to die of embarrassment the last time I tried this. No joke."
"Scott gets impatient. I, on the other hand, could watch you get beaten up over and over by Danger Room. It's like old times in Toronto, when Eugene used to beat the snot out of us together." He tapped a couple of buttons. "Now, did you want to whine some more, or are you ready to hit something?"
"I can do both, thank you very much," she retorted, trying not to let herself get anxious
It was a good thing Kane was there, because she was starting to feel doubts. Is this how panic attacks start? "If I fail miserably, THEN do I get to wallow?"
"Only if it involves a bikini and a wrestling ring filled with mud." Kane stepped back. "We're going to start with something basic. Your old favourite; force spheres. Try not to get hit too often."
Moments after he spoke, the wall spat a blue globe the size of a cannonball at her.
She shrieked and shot up in the air, narrowly missing the sphere. Embarrassed that that was her first reaction, she floated down, and this time was able to time her moves so she avoided the next sphere with some ease but little finesse. "Easy peasy," she said, trying to hide her discomfort. "It’s just like riding a bike."
"Except it involves huge sphere hurtling at you. So, actually, not like riding a bike at all." Kane upped the tempo and hit the predictive program. Now not only would it spit multiple balls at her, but if she fell into patterns dodging them, it would anticipate for it and try to hit her.
Cursing his name, she tried her best to tune him out while she focused on the balls. It was hard to try to avoid setting a pattern as she dodged every ball that came her way. Before too long, she was breaking a sweat, exerting effort to stay afloat and not get hit. "I-thought-you-were-gonna-try-too," she huffed, taking a paused between each word.
"I'll be there in a minute. I wanted to let you get warmed up." He said affably before stepping into the target range. The balls that targeted him were fired so fast they blurred, but the Canadian was able to keep ahead of them. The two moved back and forth like a demented game of dodge, staying just out of getting hit.
It took some to me, but soon, she was able to move without getting hit. That being said, she was sure she would be bruised the next day. "I don't think you dragged me here for a demented game of dodge ball, did you?”
A sphere hit her arm, and she pulled it in close, wincing visibly. "Cause I just thought you should know, I always failed gym class."
"I dragged you out here because you've been hiding in your room and doing everything possible to re-qualify for active status with the X-Men. I figured it I dragged you out here and beat you up some, you'd end up telling me why?"
His answer caught her off guard, enough that a sphere struck her in the head, and knocked her on her back. "Et tu, Kane," she said. Once she'd regained her breath. "What does it matter if I'm making efforts now? A girl can pout, you know."
"Yeah, but it's a little out of character, Beulah. And you are the queen of stuffing anything worrisome down as far as you can."
She had to give him that point. "Well, maybe I like the idea of being a volcano. Get me some attention, at least." Still lying flat on her back, she sighed. "I gave up, okay?" she blurted out. "I gave up. I stopped searching for answers, I just stopped. I even changed my name and you know what? It felt fucking amazing. And I didn't care if anyone would miss me. I didn't."
She sat up slowly, raised her knees, and hugged them to her chest. "Only now I'm here and every single day, I'm reminded that of what I gave up.... And for what? This is where I belong, this is where I should've always been, and I left. And no one seems to fucking care! It bothers no one that I disappeared! And I don't know why!"
"If it wasn't such a cliché, I'd toss you in the lake right now. Also, people would assume I was just trying to get your clothes wet." With a wave, he stopped the simulation and sat down beside her.
"People worried, but when you said you were going off the grid, they respected that. They respected your ability to handle yourself and to reach out when you needed help. People cared, but they trusted you more."
"Well, maybe they shouldn't have," she replied, angrily. "Maybe I still needed people, maybe I needed to be reminded what I was doing. I'd never been under that long before. It's always just me in the end...and now I'm back, and I don't know what I want. Tell me what to do, Garrison. I can't figure this out"
"You need to ask, Marie." Using her name was a sign of concern. "You need to go up and prod people for what you want instead of hiding in your room and waiting for them to show up. You know that."
"I don't even know what I want." She looked around the room, the program having been paused. "I'm painting again though... trying hard to reconnect...it's just so hard. The first time I came here I had Logan, and everyone wanted to know me just to get close to him. I don't have him now.” A pause. "It's harder than I thought, doing this all by myself. Is this what growing up is like? Because I don't like it too much."
"Sadly, it's one of those things that we're all stuck dealing with. But I think you're getting to much inside your head, babe." He nudged her with his foot. "Come on. Got have a shower and get changed into something cleavage-y. I'll take you to the Hideaway for beer and wings, and you can make yourself feel better by teasing the townies bending over the pool table to 'get the best angle'."
She smirked, and reluctantly got up. "Fine, but only if you promise to be my gay friend. This girl's single, remember?"
"I'll see if Adrienne can come out and play. So she can be the girl with the single friend to all the guys."
"I can live with that," she said with a smile. "Worst case, Adri and I leave together. Everyone wins."
"The only way you get to have sex with my girlfriend is if I'm present. Which, you know, I'm not vetoing..."
"You're terrible," she giggled, heading out of their session. "And this is why I love you. Give me an hour to get ready.”She turned to leave before stopping and swiveling to look at him. "Thanks, by the way. Guess I needed to get that off my chest."
"That's what I'm here for." He took a step and stopped. "But if you need helping getting anything else off your chest, like, say that sports bra, just let me know."
Some days it wasn't even worth getting up. For once, she was awake by noon but that didn't matter: she was back in bed by 1.
In that one, magical hour, she'd managed to stain her favourite gloves, rip her tights, lose a shoe, drink tea when she wanted coffee, get into a fight (and lose) with a coat rack and basically fail at every conversation she'd had.
Yup. It was better to lay in bed, curl up in the dark, and listen to Lionel Richie. Screw life. This is why she quit being an adult.
"Beulah! You've got a Danger Room session in, like, twenty minutes." Kane rapped on her door. Marie was never late for her workouts before. "You still alive in there?"
Danger Room? Rogue groaned and pulled the covers even tighter over her head. Now she remembered: after her disastrous attempt with Scott, she'd gone looking for a shoulder to cry on. Garrison had found her and had promised to whip her back in shape, but now that she was faced with it, she couldn't make herself get up.
"Rogue doesn't live here anymore," she called out loudly. "In fact, I think she went back to Canada for poutine and hockey, eh? You better go and find her and let this random person sleep!"
The door wasn't locked, so Kane just let himself inside. He was relatively sure that Rogue would be decent (her habits were almost instinct at this point). He spotted the lump on the bed and sighed.
"Really? It's the afternoon. The last time you slept into the afternoon involved a lot of Crown Royal, which I know you didn't have last night. So get up. Otherwise, I will dump you into the Danger Room naked, film the whole thing, and mistakenly leak it to the students."
She sat up in bed and glared. "Try it, Mister, and I'll leak that blackmail tape I've had locked at the bank. Oh yeah, that's right -- I filmed the ice cream incident. There are specific instructions left with Kurt to release said tape in the event of my utter embarrassment." A pause passed before she spoke again. "I feel we are at an impasse."
"First of all, I still have those webcam shots, so I'm not likely to be the embarrassed one. Secondly, and more importantly, you're wallowing. I can tell because it's the same that Logan does when he gets all feral and Batman and needs to chase rabbits for a weekend. You don't have that excuse. So get up." He kicked the edge of the bed.
She growled when her bed was jostled. "Why can't you be like a normal person and leave when you're told? Is it because ridiculously good looking people don't know how to listen?” She threw her sheets off in a huff. "And besides," she continued, getting out of bed, "wallowing is good for the soul. My Aunt Louisa always said that it was better to sit in bed with your thoughts than forcing the rest of the world to deal with them.” She went over to her dresser and pulled out a pair of yoga pants, a sports bra and a sheer cover. “Now are you gonna let this lady change in peace or are y'all gonna supervise?"
"If only... but I don't think I'm allowed. I'll see you down in the DR in five minutes." Kane closed the door as he left. It only took him a few minutes to reach the elevator and then open up the Danger Room. The room came to life as he walked in and started the holo-interface.
She cursed his name as she searched for an elastic. She cursed his parents for his existence while she tried to find matching socks. By the time she'd reached the DR, she was cursing evolution for allowing the primordial soup to become single celled organisms, and by extension, to create Kane.
Blah.
"So is there a plan or should I just curl up in the corner and die now? I'm really no good at this anymore. Scott looked ready to die of embarrassment the last time I tried this. No joke."
"Scott gets impatient. I, on the other hand, could watch you get beaten up over and over by Danger Room. It's like old times in Toronto, when Eugene used to beat the snot out of us together." He tapped a couple of buttons. "Now, did you want to whine some more, or are you ready to hit something?"
"I can do both, thank you very much," she retorted, trying not to let herself get anxious
It was a good thing Kane was there, because she was starting to feel doubts. Is this how panic attacks start? "If I fail miserably, THEN do I get to wallow?"
"Only if it involves a bikini and a wrestling ring filled with mud." Kane stepped back. "We're going to start with something basic. Your old favourite; force spheres. Try not to get hit too often."
Moments after he spoke, the wall spat a blue globe the size of a cannonball at her.
She shrieked and shot up in the air, narrowly missing the sphere. Embarrassed that that was her first reaction, she floated down, and this time was able to time her moves so she avoided the next sphere with some ease but little finesse. "Easy peasy," she said, trying to hide her discomfort. "It’s just like riding a bike."
"Except it involves huge sphere hurtling at you. So, actually, not like riding a bike at all." Kane upped the tempo and hit the predictive program. Now not only would it spit multiple balls at her, but if she fell into patterns dodging them, it would anticipate for it and try to hit her.
Cursing his name, she tried her best to tune him out while she focused on the balls. It was hard to try to avoid setting a pattern as she dodged every ball that came her way. Before too long, she was breaking a sweat, exerting effort to stay afloat and not get hit. "I-thought-you-were-gonna-try-too," she huffed, taking a paused between each word.
"I'll be there in a minute. I wanted to let you get warmed up." He said affably before stepping into the target range. The balls that targeted him were fired so fast they blurred, but the Canadian was able to keep ahead of them. The two moved back and forth like a demented game of dodge, staying just out of getting hit.
It took some to me, but soon, she was able to move without getting hit. That being said, she was sure she would be bruised the next day. "I don't think you dragged me here for a demented game of dodge ball, did you?”
A sphere hit her arm, and she pulled it in close, wincing visibly. "Cause I just thought you should know, I always failed gym class."
"I dragged you out here because you've been hiding in your room and doing everything possible to re-qualify for active status with the X-Men. I figured it I dragged you out here and beat you up some, you'd end up telling me why?"
His answer caught her off guard, enough that a sphere struck her in the head, and knocked her on her back. "Et tu, Kane," she said. Once she'd regained her breath. "What does it matter if I'm making efforts now? A girl can pout, you know."
"Yeah, but it's a little out of character, Beulah. And you are the queen of stuffing anything worrisome down as far as you can."
She had to give him that point. "Well, maybe I like the idea of being a volcano. Get me some attention, at least." Still lying flat on her back, she sighed. "I gave up, okay?" she blurted out. "I gave up. I stopped searching for answers, I just stopped. I even changed my name and you know what? It felt fucking amazing. And I didn't care if anyone would miss me. I didn't."
She sat up slowly, raised her knees, and hugged them to her chest. "Only now I'm here and every single day, I'm reminded that of what I gave up.... And for what? This is where I belong, this is where I should've always been, and I left. And no one seems to fucking care! It bothers no one that I disappeared! And I don't know why!"
"If it wasn't such a cliché, I'd toss you in the lake right now. Also, people would assume I was just trying to get your clothes wet." With a wave, he stopped the simulation and sat down beside her.
"People worried, but when you said you were going off the grid, they respected that. They respected your ability to handle yourself and to reach out when you needed help. People cared, but they trusted you more."
"Well, maybe they shouldn't have," she replied, angrily. "Maybe I still needed people, maybe I needed to be reminded what I was doing. I'd never been under that long before. It's always just me in the end...and now I'm back, and I don't know what I want. Tell me what to do, Garrison. I can't figure this out"
"You need to ask, Marie." Using her name was a sign of concern. "You need to go up and prod people for what you want instead of hiding in your room and waiting for them to show up. You know that."
"I don't even know what I want." She looked around the room, the program having been paused. "I'm painting again though... trying hard to reconnect...it's just so hard. The first time I came here I had Logan, and everyone wanted to know me just to get close to him. I don't have him now.” A pause. "It's harder than I thought, doing this all by myself. Is this what growing up is like? Because I don't like it too much."
"Sadly, it's one of those things that we're all stuck dealing with. But I think you're getting to much inside your head, babe." He nudged her with his foot. "Come on. Got have a shower and get changed into something cleavage-y. I'll take you to the Hideaway for beer and wings, and you can make yourself feel better by teasing the townies bending over the pool table to 'get the best angle'."
She smirked, and reluctantly got up. "Fine, but only if you promise to be my gay friend. This girl's single, remember?"
"I'll see if Adrienne can come out and play. So she can be the girl with the single friend to all the guys."
"I can live with that," she said with a smile. "Worst case, Adri and I leave together. Everyone wins."
"The only way you get to have sex with my girlfriend is if I'm present. Which, you know, I'm not vetoing..."
"You're terrible," she giggled, heading out of their session. "And this is why I love you. Give me an hour to get ready.”She turned to leave before stopping and swiveling to look at him. "Thanks, by the way. Guess I needed to get that off my chest."
"That's what I'm here for." He took a step and stopped. "But if you need helping getting anything else off your chest, like, say that sports bra, just let me know."
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