Maya and Rogue -- Powers

[x-traction.livejournal.com]

Rogue helps Maya determine what her powers are, but ends up enjoying them a bit too much...

"You sure you're okay with doing this?" Maya asked, hands clenched slightly at her sides.

She'd be lying if she said she wasn't nervous, in some ways having a completely unknown mutant power meant that all this was slight unreal, and that any moment someone would tell her they'd made a mistake and she could go back to her Dad and her Grandparents.
Knowing made everything real in a way that there was no going back from, or escaping.

Rogue tried to give the younger girl a gentle smile. "It's not necessarily if I'm okay with it, sugar. It's more if you're okay with it." Sitting forward, she tried to explain the process. "This is how it'll work. I'll touch your hand with mine, for about 10 seconds. That'll give me about a half hour of your powers, which I think is enough time to determine exactly what it is. You have to be willing, and okay with it, or else, it will hurt." She thought of how Logan had described it to her before. "It'll feel kind of tingly, and ...well, kind of pushy. Like you'll want to give me everything of you. Just be aware, that anything you think of, emotions, memories, thoughts, whatever, I'll have access to. I can't pick and choose what I want to take from you. When it's done, you'll feel tired and rightfully so -- you've been drained of something. I wanna make it clear though that I didn't actually take anything. What I've done is made a copy of it, kind of like a shade of Maya, and that's what I'll be using to try to figure things out. It'll take about 5 seconds for my powers to kick in and when they do, I'll count down for you so you know exactly what's happening. Okay?"

Maya nodded, and then realized she probably had to respond verbally to that kind of question.

"I can do that, um - I guess start counting?"

She held her hand out palm upward for Rogue to touch, wanting to make this as easy as possible.

Rogue took off her glove and nodded. She placed her bare hand ontop of Maya's, her fingers splayed out mimicking Maya's pose. She could feel the tendrils of Maya's self extending into her psyche. She closed her eyes, and focused on the younger girl, trying to draw out powers information, without looking for more. As promised, she counted outloud, and at five, she felt the usual rush of information.

"One"

Scared. Trauma. Nightmares

"Two"

Is this a bomb? What's going on? Dad? The truck...oh god, is anyone alive?

"Three"

Nothing will ever be the same. This Mansion is weird, everyone is weird, why doesn't anything make sense?"

The ten seconds continued with the same theme. Rogue had never really known Maya before this, just had Xavin's perspective (which wasn't very nice). It was obvious to Rogue though that there was an internal war going on in the poor girl's head. It wasn't simply adolescence -- there was post traumatic stress that had infiltrated itself into every facet.

"Ten"

Rogue prepared herself to let go but she was suddenly hit with a very different type of memory -- one of her own. The first time she'd manifested, a memory that was etched into her brain, but this time....it was so clear. She could picture her room with such precision, she felt like she could reach out and touch the map on the wall, move the little pins around. She smelled Cody's cologne, some cheap knock off that he thought made him older. Her mother was in the kitchen, and the sounds of pots clanging were echoing throughout. Holding on a little bit longer, she relished all these crystal memories, before realizing that this was impacting Maya too.

"Oh shit," she said, letting go in surprise. "Are you okay? That was a few seconds longer than I meant to."

"I think so," Maya replied, her eyes tracking Rogue's words via the shapes her mouth made - she had heard the words but it was hard to gather the energy to interrupt the sounds when she was so tired. She wanted to sleep more than anything else right now. "S'kinda sssleepy."

She was losing focus on the room and on Marie, all she really wanted to do was lie down.

Rogue frowned slightly in worry. This wasn't good. "Okay, stay with me now, sugar," she said, hurriedly putting back on her glove. "Got you a nice comfy bed y'all can sleep on, and I'll go make you my grandmother's patented macaroni and Bison soup." Another thing that had spontaneously popped to mind with a disturbing clarity.

She'd process this all later, but right now, Maya came first.

Maya reached up and patted Rogue softly on the cheek as she gave her a sleepy grin but allowed herself to be guided out of the room and toward one of the Medlab beds.

They'd been careful to make sure there'd be backup if anything went wrong.

"Neske'e makes the best soup," Maya muttered, stumbling slightly against Rogue. "Oops. Butter feet."

"I miss Neske'e," Rogue murmured,as she tried to right Maya. As she tucked the younger girl in, she started humming a song, something she remembered from her childhood -- wait, Maya's childhood.

That made more sense.

"I better get to the kitchen while I still got these skills," Rogue whispered to the girl. "We'll talk when ya get up."