Leathers - Rogue and Jay
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xp_logsJay and Rogue meet, fly, and Rogue tells Jay about the X-Teams.
Some days, you just wanted to get on the back of a motorcycle and ride away.... so that's what Rogue had decided to do. It was so nice to zoom around the back roads, purposefully going faster than the speed limit. After all, she was nigh invulnerable and her X-men leathers were so protective, she could probably crash and be okay.
Not that she would. It was Logan's bike after all, and he'd probably lose his mind ... maybe. Maybe not. She wasn't too sure. Either way, she didn't want to test it.
After a solid hour or so of just cruising, she came back into the Mansion, and propped the bike next to the garage before taking off her helmet. Her hair had come out of her ponytail, so curls spilled out onto her shoulder, causing her to shake her head a bit to get it out of her face. Turning around, she saw someone standing there, for, what she assumed, a walk.
"Some days, I wonder if I should jus' shave my head and get rid of all this mess," Rogue said, referring to her thick hair. "And then I remember I like being pretty so I put up with it. Y'all are luck, with that straight hair."
He'd just been cleared to fly again and had been just getting ready to take off when he saw Rogue in all her leather clad glory and well. Jay was a widower (more-or-less), not blind. He barely held back from jumping at being spoken to by a beautiful woman who was wearing all leather- and much more form-fitting than the sort of leathers he'd seen people wear for riding motorcycles before. (He would feel guilty about this all later, even if he wasn't actually attracted to her and just had been surprised by it. But it felt like cheating, somehow).
"Well it is pretty," he agreed automatically, carefully looking only at her face. He didn't want to be rude about the leather, even if he was curious. "Seems like there's enough bikes in that garage for a gang," he said then, curiously, added. "You from Alabama?"
Rogue looked at him curiously. "Mississippi, sugar," she said after a while. "Good catch though. Our accents are fairly similar. You must be from down yonder too then if you're able to pick that out. Been a while since I lived there, so my accent is pretty soft at this point." She placed the helmet on the bike and carefully got off of it. She extended a gloved hand. "Have we met yet? I'm sorry if we have an' I'm forgetting your name. What with all the new ones and the journals and phone calls ... hard to keep track of who I've said hi to yet. I'm Rogue."
"Kentucky," he confirmed for her and shook her gloved hand briefly. "I don't think we've met, 'nd if we have neither of us remembers so it don't count anyways, I reckon. I'm Jay." He caught, without really meaning to, the X's on her collar. Xavier branded motorcycle leather? Huh. "I only come up here in January and ain't met many folks yet."
"Oh, that's fair. I remember when I came in, so many years ago. Was kinda overwhelming going from a trailer to this here mansion, all these mutants everywhere, loud and proud of their powers and li'l ol' me, tryin' to figure it all out. If it weren't for my teammates, I don't know what I would've done. Probably wouldn't be as well adjusted as I am now," she said with a laugh. "I wanna get out of my leathers but I'd love to talk to a fellow southerner some more if you got time? Can we meet out here in like ... 15 minutes? Go for a walk or something?"
"Don't suppose you fly?" Jay said it as a joke, since she didn't have any wings that he could see but then again, he had a brother and a sister who flew with nothing else so he wouldn't be surprised if she did. And, he couldn't help it but add the question, "The X's on the jacket- do all safety gear here got the Xavier's name on 'em?"
"Oh! Yah, I fly. Wanna do that instead? Then I'll just stay in this. Keep me warm." She lifted herself up easily, hovering a bit off the ground. She reached into an almost invisible pocket and took out a scrunchie. A few twists later and her hair was out of her face.
"And this ol' thing ain't safety gear, Sugar. It's my X-Men leathers. Shows the team I'm on. Been an X-Men since the moment I could and really, no matter how many times I leave, I just keep coming back."
Jay gave himself a few steps to kick off into the air, just since he wasn't sure what he could do with his newly properly set wings but it hurt a whole lot less to be in the air. He hadn't realized he would be able to fly without it being slightly sore.
Jay had no idea what the X-Men were.
"That the group that dealt with the incident in the city?" He asked, making an educated guess. He knew his brother's boyfriend was some sort of superhero- was it possible there was a whole superhero team operating out of the mansion? That'd be something wild.
"One of," Rogue responded, easily flying into the sky. She could fly both vertically and horizontally, so she matched his position and speed. Because they weren't going that fast, she was able to just chat with him. "There's lots here. Ain't you part of one yet or you too young? You must be in Gen X then ....and no, I ain't talking about your birth generation. I'm talking about the group of young'uns who are just learning their powers and where they want to fit in to help out around here. Do you know about all the groups?"
"I know my powers pretty well- it's instinctive. Spread wings, fly," Jay joked as he wrapped his head around what she was saying. How many super groups where there were? And one for the teenagers? Hell, was the detective agency Sam worked for a front? ...Was his job part of a front? "I know 'Yana watches that portal in yer chapel with some other folks and I know people helped out around the city."
"Yeah, it's like ..... we want to help but we all got different values and ways to help. I'm an X-Men -- I kick ass and save the day. Heavy hitter and all that. 'Yana and the portal folks ...that's Ex-Cal. They do magic and other dimensions and stuff that will destroy this world and universe. I think. I never quite understood that ... and I understand Snow Valley even less! They're the top secret group so I have no idea what they do but they look fabulous doing it. I think honestly the most public one other than X-Men is XFI, the detectives. They take on cases that the local law don't wanna, but they're not law enforcement. Just private eyes, trying to help." She tilted her head. "I think that's it? I mean, I've been gone a long time, so this could all be different now...but I think that's about it."
Jay tucked his thumbs into his belt loops and did a spiral in the air so he could face her before his his turn completed. "I suppose I'll have to pick one eventually," he said. He just wished that Sam had mentioned that there was this condition to being here so he could have started thinking about it- then again, maybe his job for Warren counted as work for one of those groups. "And y'all do real good work, but I'll leave the X-Men to people who likes to fight or got the powers for it."
If it wasn't for the hovering in mid-air thing, it would look like they were just chatting around a water cooler, catching up. "Oh, no pressure, sugar. Don't gotta do nothing you don't wanna. The groups are just ways for us t' focus and really work on our skillsets while makin sure mutantkind and humankind are holding hands and not punching each other." She let out a little laugh. "Staying here ain't contingent on that. You got lots of years ahead of you anyways, so relax."
He believed her. He whole heartedly believed her. For some reason he felt like, just for a second, he actually could relax. Jay gave her a small smile.
"Now I don't know about that. Mutantkind's a family ain't it? There's gonna be a little fightin' and punchin'." He turned his face to the sun. "But not too much, that's good."
"Jus' need t' get through Thanksgivin', don't we.," Rogue grinned. Her accent was getting stronger and stronger as their chat continued on. "Is your powers just flying, or there more there?"
Jay couldn't help the face he made at the question, thinking back to his disagreement with Sam about whether or not his speaking in tongues was due to a mutation or angels. He still believed it was angels, of course, but the questioning reminded him of his brother's doubt. "Just the flying, mostly," he said before remembering something else. "Doctor says a little bit of healing too, enough to have not permanently fucked my wings up. You do strength too, I think I heard before."
Rogue hemmed and hawed before answering that. How did she kindly say it would be easier to list all the power she hadn't had before? "I got me some ....super absorbent skin. It's why I'm usually covered up. I can take powers..memories..feelings.... took me a looong time t' get real good at controllin' it, an' some days, still think it's easier to jus' cover up. Again, another reason for the leathers," she added. "Kinda makes me pretty untouchable, but I've gotten to use lots of fun powers before...and some not so fun ones. I guess if'n you're askin' what I got now? I can fly, super strong, invulnerable and got my poison skin. I got some low-level healin' factors and some added agility cuz of my connection with some people gettin' ..topped up on the regular." She tried to give a smile. "It's a weird life, so if wings all you got, that ain't too shabby."
It was a lot to take in, and Jay wasn't entirely sure he fully understood what she was saying but he quirked his lips and turned his face to the sun. "Wings let me fly, and flying ain't too shabby at all," he agreed. "All that other stuff just sounds like icing on top to me."
"Mmhmm." Rogue matched him and smiled. "It's a good life, when you look at it. I mean, who else gets to enjoy this kinda thing, right?... and hey, is it your brother then that was picklin' things? I mean, I'm making assumptions but I know there's loads of you guys here an' there ain't many Southerners sooo...."
Jay laughed a little, feeling almost like he and Sam's roles were reversed here. Sam was the one interacting with the community and here Jay was not even knowing there was a bonafide superhero team more than once over. "Yeah, that was Sammy. He's good at it too. We still got some in the suite if you done ran out already."
"I'm going to have to keep that in mind," she responded with a grin and a sudden rumble of her stomach. "Um, that might be my cue here, sugar. I'm famished. Wanna go hit up a can and just eat it? Don't need nothing else with those yummie veggies."
"Woman after my own heart," Jay said and ignored the pang it made him feel. Sharing pickles with someone wasn't replacing anyone. He started towards landing, getting a head start on her. "Might even share the cucumbers, if you catch up."
Some days, you just wanted to get on the back of a motorcycle and ride away.... so that's what Rogue had decided to do. It was so nice to zoom around the back roads, purposefully going faster than the speed limit. After all, she was nigh invulnerable and her X-men leathers were so protective, she could probably crash and be okay.
Not that she would. It was Logan's bike after all, and he'd probably lose his mind ... maybe. Maybe not. She wasn't too sure. Either way, she didn't want to test it.
After a solid hour or so of just cruising, she came back into the Mansion, and propped the bike next to the garage before taking off her helmet. Her hair had come out of her ponytail, so curls spilled out onto her shoulder, causing her to shake her head a bit to get it out of her face. Turning around, she saw someone standing there, for, what she assumed, a walk.
"Some days, I wonder if I should jus' shave my head and get rid of all this mess," Rogue said, referring to her thick hair. "And then I remember I like being pretty so I put up with it. Y'all are luck, with that straight hair."
He'd just been cleared to fly again and had been just getting ready to take off when he saw Rogue in all her leather clad glory and well. Jay was a widower (more-or-less), not blind. He barely held back from jumping at being spoken to by a beautiful woman who was wearing all leather- and much more form-fitting than the sort of leathers he'd seen people wear for riding motorcycles before. (He would feel guilty about this all later, even if he wasn't actually attracted to her and just had been surprised by it. But it felt like cheating, somehow).
"Well it is pretty," he agreed automatically, carefully looking only at her face. He didn't want to be rude about the leather, even if he was curious. "Seems like there's enough bikes in that garage for a gang," he said then, curiously, added. "You from Alabama?"
Rogue looked at him curiously. "Mississippi, sugar," she said after a while. "Good catch though. Our accents are fairly similar. You must be from down yonder too then if you're able to pick that out. Been a while since I lived there, so my accent is pretty soft at this point." She placed the helmet on the bike and carefully got off of it. She extended a gloved hand. "Have we met yet? I'm sorry if we have an' I'm forgetting your name. What with all the new ones and the journals and phone calls ... hard to keep track of who I've said hi to yet. I'm Rogue."
"Kentucky," he confirmed for her and shook her gloved hand briefly. "I don't think we've met, 'nd if we have neither of us remembers so it don't count anyways, I reckon. I'm Jay." He caught, without really meaning to, the X's on her collar. Xavier branded motorcycle leather? Huh. "I only come up here in January and ain't met many folks yet."
"Oh, that's fair. I remember when I came in, so many years ago. Was kinda overwhelming going from a trailer to this here mansion, all these mutants everywhere, loud and proud of their powers and li'l ol' me, tryin' to figure it all out. If it weren't for my teammates, I don't know what I would've done. Probably wouldn't be as well adjusted as I am now," she said with a laugh. "I wanna get out of my leathers but I'd love to talk to a fellow southerner some more if you got time? Can we meet out here in like ... 15 minutes? Go for a walk or something?"
"Don't suppose you fly?" Jay said it as a joke, since she didn't have any wings that he could see but then again, he had a brother and a sister who flew with nothing else so he wouldn't be surprised if she did. And, he couldn't help it but add the question, "The X's on the jacket- do all safety gear here got the Xavier's name on 'em?"
"Oh! Yah, I fly. Wanna do that instead? Then I'll just stay in this. Keep me warm." She lifted herself up easily, hovering a bit off the ground. She reached into an almost invisible pocket and took out a scrunchie. A few twists later and her hair was out of her face.
"And this ol' thing ain't safety gear, Sugar. It's my X-Men leathers. Shows the team I'm on. Been an X-Men since the moment I could and really, no matter how many times I leave, I just keep coming back."
Jay gave himself a few steps to kick off into the air, just since he wasn't sure what he could do with his newly properly set wings but it hurt a whole lot less to be in the air. He hadn't realized he would be able to fly without it being slightly sore.
Jay had no idea what the X-Men were.
"That the group that dealt with the incident in the city?" He asked, making an educated guess. He knew his brother's boyfriend was some sort of superhero- was it possible there was a whole superhero team operating out of the mansion? That'd be something wild.
"One of," Rogue responded, easily flying into the sky. She could fly both vertically and horizontally, so she matched his position and speed. Because they weren't going that fast, she was able to just chat with him. "There's lots here. Ain't you part of one yet or you too young? You must be in Gen X then ....and no, I ain't talking about your birth generation. I'm talking about the group of young'uns who are just learning their powers and where they want to fit in to help out around here. Do you know about all the groups?"
"I know my powers pretty well- it's instinctive. Spread wings, fly," Jay joked as he wrapped his head around what she was saying. How many super groups where there were? And one for the teenagers? Hell, was the detective agency Sam worked for a front? ...Was his job part of a front? "I know 'Yana watches that portal in yer chapel with some other folks and I know people helped out around the city."
"Yeah, it's like ..... we want to help but we all got different values and ways to help. I'm an X-Men -- I kick ass and save the day. Heavy hitter and all that. 'Yana and the portal folks ...that's Ex-Cal. They do magic and other dimensions and stuff that will destroy this world and universe. I think. I never quite understood that ... and I understand Snow Valley even less! They're the top secret group so I have no idea what they do but they look fabulous doing it. I think honestly the most public one other than X-Men is XFI, the detectives. They take on cases that the local law don't wanna, but they're not law enforcement. Just private eyes, trying to help." She tilted her head. "I think that's it? I mean, I've been gone a long time, so this could all be different now...but I think that's about it."
Jay tucked his thumbs into his belt loops and did a spiral in the air so he could face her before his his turn completed. "I suppose I'll have to pick one eventually," he said. He just wished that Sam had mentioned that there was this condition to being here so he could have started thinking about it- then again, maybe his job for Warren counted as work for one of those groups. "And y'all do real good work, but I'll leave the X-Men to people who likes to fight or got the powers for it."
If it wasn't for the hovering in mid-air thing, it would look like they were just chatting around a water cooler, catching up. "Oh, no pressure, sugar. Don't gotta do nothing you don't wanna. The groups are just ways for us t' focus and really work on our skillsets while makin sure mutantkind and humankind are holding hands and not punching each other." She let out a little laugh. "Staying here ain't contingent on that. You got lots of years ahead of you anyways, so relax."
He believed her. He whole heartedly believed her. For some reason he felt like, just for a second, he actually could relax. Jay gave her a small smile.
"Now I don't know about that. Mutantkind's a family ain't it? There's gonna be a little fightin' and punchin'." He turned his face to the sun. "But not too much, that's good."
"Jus' need t' get through Thanksgivin', don't we.," Rogue grinned. Her accent was getting stronger and stronger as their chat continued on. "Is your powers just flying, or there more there?"
Jay couldn't help the face he made at the question, thinking back to his disagreement with Sam about whether or not his speaking in tongues was due to a mutation or angels. He still believed it was angels, of course, but the questioning reminded him of his brother's doubt. "Just the flying, mostly," he said before remembering something else. "Doctor says a little bit of healing too, enough to have not permanently fucked my wings up. You do strength too, I think I heard before."
Rogue hemmed and hawed before answering that. How did she kindly say it would be easier to list all the power she hadn't had before? "I got me some ....super absorbent skin. It's why I'm usually covered up. I can take powers..memories..feelings.... took me a looong time t' get real good at controllin' it, an' some days, still think it's easier to jus' cover up. Again, another reason for the leathers," she added. "Kinda makes me pretty untouchable, but I've gotten to use lots of fun powers before...and some not so fun ones. I guess if'n you're askin' what I got now? I can fly, super strong, invulnerable and got my poison skin. I got some low-level healin' factors and some added agility cuz of my connection with some people gettin' ..topped up on the regular." She tried to give a smile. "It's a weird life, so if wings all you got, that ain't too shabby."
It was a lot to take in, and Jay wasn't entirely sure he fully understood what she was saying but he quirked his lips and turned his face to the sun. "Wings let me fly, and flying ain't too shabby at all," he agreed. "All that other stuff just sounds like icing on top to me."
"Mmhmm." Rogue matched him and smiled. "It's a good life, when you look at it. I mean, who else gets to enjoy this kinda thing, right?... and hey, is it your brother then that was picklin' things? I mean, I'm making assumptions but I know there's loads of you guys here an' there ain't many Southerners sooo...."
Jay laughed a little, feeling almost like he and Sam's roles were reversed here. Sam was the one interacting with the community and here Jay was not even knowing there was a bonafide superhero team more than once over. "Yeah, that was Sammy. He's good at it too. We still got some in the suite if you done ran out already."
"I'm going to have to keep that in mind," she responded with a grin and a sudden rumble of her stomach. "Um, that might be my cue here, sugar. I'm famished. Wanna go hit up a can and just eat it? Don't need nothing else with those yummie veggies."
"Woman after my own heart," Jay said and ignored the pang it made him feel. Sharing pickles with someone wasn't replacing anyone. He started towards landing, getting a head start on her. "Might even share the cucumbers, if you catch up."
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Date: 2024-03-08 12:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-03-08 04:47 pm (UTC)Jay's anxiety about the future makes sense, too. After what he's just lost it must be hard to imagine the next step.