xp_logs | Amanda and Rogue - Smoking Buddies (backdated to February 11)

Backdated to before the X-Force mission that went kablooey. Amanda meets Rogue on the smoker's porch, and has some useful personal philosophy to offer. Plus cigarettes.

It never failed: a Logan absorption led to an invariable desire for a cigarette, cigar, anything that she could light and inhale.

Hell, even a joint would be appreciated.

Heading to the back steps, she hoped to find a smoker, and to her luck, there was Amanda. "Can Ah bum a smoke, sugah," she asked the other woman. "Ah got a cravin', somethin' fierce."

Amanda raised her eyebrows - Rogue wasn't a usual visitor to the smoker's porch - but dug into her jacket pocket and offered her a beaten up pack. "Channelling Logan again?" she asked with a grin.

"You know it," she complained good-naturedly. "Ah don't know why that's what mah brain clings to." Accepting the cigarette, she then sighed. "Light too please? Ah really gotta prepare mahself better after a session with him."

She wasn't going to start putting on gloves though. The idea that someone had no fear of touching her, no matter how short, was too much of a luxury.

Plus, it was Logan. The man could touch her whenever he wanted.

Amanda passed over her Zippo. "Amanda," she offered. "I figure with the Swiss cheese brain I'd better introduce myself. I'm Kurt's sister."
Rogue gave an embarrassed smile. "Ah was hopin' Ah'd figure it out in conversation." She lit the cigarette and took a deep drag. How strange how satisfying a smoke could be. "Pleasure ta meetcha, Amanda. Ah feel ah cam safely assume we're friendly else ya would've told me off when Ah asked ta bum a smoke." She tilted her head and smiled. "Care ta give me the Cole's notes of our friendship? Highlight reel, even?"

"Well, you're not the first amnesiac I've dealt with. Or even the second," was Amanda's wry reply. "This place is kind of a magnet for all sorts of crazy shite." She leaned back against the railing, pulling her jacket closer around her as she took another drag on her own cigarette. "Short version - you sort of took me under your wing when I came here, back as a teen. Since then, we've been mates - a bit on again, off again with travelling and shite, but mates all the same."

Rogue had to laugh at that. "Everyone sure do take things in stride heah, Ah'll give it that.". She contemplated her burning cigarette for a moment. Kane's words still echoed in her mind, and she wondered again about it. He was the only one so far who had had a strange reaction to her. "So it doesn't bug ya that even though we were close, Ah can't remember ya now?"

Amanda gave the question some thought. "Perhaps a bit," she admitted. "But like I said, I've done this before. The first two times... it was my boyfriend. Powers-related shite, sort of. At the time, it totally wrecked me. But then his memories came back." She shrugged. "Maybe it's a bit callous of me, but I figure you'll get your memory back too, eventually. And why make us both miserable in the meantime?" She gave Rogue a sympathetic look. "Then again, I s'pose it's not like that for you. Sorry."

Rogue gave a tired smile. "Nah, Ah hear ya. Ah've been doin' everythin' Ah can to figure out who Ah was, and Ah've decided to stop stressin'. Sure there's days when all Ah wanna do is cry, but what's that gonna do? 'Cept make mah eyes all swole up.". She wrinkled her nose. "Ah've been studyin' my books, and gettin' back into the counselling thing. Ah think that's helped centre me. Plus, y'know, workin' helps. Been helpin' Adri and Scott amf that keeps me busy.". At this she gave a big smile. "So really. Ah'm too busy ta be sad."

"Speaking as someone else who does the whole tomato face thing when I cry, I totally hear you." Amanda chuckled a little. "Whatever happens, you're in a safe place here. So you do things in your own time, in your own way. The rest of us will deal."

That was nice words, and exactly what she needed to hear. Relaxing visibly, she smiled deeply as she brought the cigarette back to her mouth. "Ah like the way ya think, sugah. Got an ease about ya that helps things." She looked around the lawn, and flicked her ash into a waiting ashtray. "Is it jus' me, or are folks pretty down and low lately? Ah mean Ah get that ...things...happened...but yah. It's jus' been so quiet."

"M-Day was...hard." That was the understatement of the decade. "People lost a lot that day and it takes time. People are mourning." Herself included. "It'll get better, over time."

Rogue was quiet for a ‎moment. "Ah feel like Ah cheated,y'know? Ah don't grieve because Ah don't remember. An' maybe Ah never will. Ah don't know what happened on M-Day. Maybe that's why some people ain't comfortable around me?". Like Kane.

"Partly." Amanda took a long drag on her cigarette, blowing the smoke out meditatively. "Everyone's got their own ways of coping - or not coping, for that matter. And there's those who weren't..." In this universe. "...involved, who don't know what's going on either. So there's a lot of eggshells." The witch gave Rogue a half-wry, half-sad sort of smile. "Then again, it wouldn't be the mansion if things went smoothly, would it?"

Rogue snorted. "Aah, the days of our mutant lives," she said with a giggle. "We have our mysterious event, ‎beautiful people living together, evil doers....what else are we missin'?"

Amanda counted off Rogue's points on her fingers. "Mystery, gorgeousness, evil... Nah, I think you've got the lot. Unless you want to include the Prof as our generous benefactor?"

The skunk striped woman nodded her head. "All's we need ‎is a baby to become a teenager in only two years and we're set." She finished her cigarette and looked for the ash tray.

Amanda nudged the sand bucket, kept out there for this purpose, towards Rogue with her foot. "Don't tempt fate," she said with a grin, but it was short-lived as she thought of Rachel. Another of the disappeared, and likely to not exist at all in this world. "Any way, it was good talking to you. We should do this again sometime. Well, maybe not the smoking, unless you're channelling Logan's healing factor as well."

Rogue smiled widely. "Ah get it allllll. ". Her tongue peeked out from between her teeth. "You can only imagine the memories in mah brain." She placed her cigarette into the sand and wrinkled her nose. "And the enhanced senses. Bleh. Gotta go wash mah hands now. Catch ya later, 'Manda. Thanks for the cig."

"Cheers, Marie," was Amanda's reply. She didn't even notice using the old name. "Catch you later."