(no subject)

[un_gloved]

Rogue's room had the air of one that was unlived in. It had been almost half a year since she'd begun sleeping at other people's places. Mostly Spike's, a few times Wolverine's, but almost never in a room alone. She spent time her in her room, and kept things there, but it didn't feel the way it had when it had been constantly a mess and fully hers.

That kind of thing seemed to be going around. At least, her room wasn't the only thing that felt half-alien and unfamiliar.

After more than two hours of not moving, Rogue's eyelids twitched. Her lashes fluttered open and she took in the room with a calm, steady gaze. Not sedated- not any more- although a certain lethargy clung to her initial movements, turning her head and and shifting against the mattress, pushing herself up on her elbows and frowning a little as her head fell forward, heavy.

"Mnh."

Comments

[missingthekeep.livejournal.com]

"Most o' the day now, from what I hear tell," Sean says with a small, hopeful smile, heading over to the side of her bed. "Gave a whole lot o' people quite the start, ye did. Glad ta see ye're alright."

[un-gloved.livejournal.com]

She tilted her head slightly to one side, and seemed to consider his words as she scrutinized his face.

"...Do I look all right?"

[missingthekeep.livejournal.com]

That gives Sean a moment of pause, but he doesn't bother dwelling on it just yet. "Ye look awake," he says instead, shrugging. "That's a step up from where ye were a couple o' minutes ago, right?"

[un-gloved.livejournal.com]

"Understatement of the year," she drawled, and attempted to smooth her hair back and away from her face. It seemed to be bothering her. It didn't usually.

"Sweet o'you to be checkin' in, though."

[missingthekeep.livejournal.com]

"Ach, ye know me, biggest sweetheart around," Sean jokes, shaking his head. "Honestly, I call few enae people friend 'round these parts, I wasnae 'bout ta wait 'round f'r the grapevine ta let me know how ye were doin'." Whether that bit about his number of close acquaintances is still as true as it once was or not doesn't change the sentiment any as far as he's concerned.

[un-gloved.livejournal.com]

Rogue stared at Sean for a prolonged moment, before she shook her head once and started to extricate herself from the bed.

"You're easier to withstand when you're barking out threats like a good little Interpol agent, Cassidy" she said, voice suddenly and drastically devoid of accent.

"This saccharine garbage is too much."

[missingthekeep.livejournal.com]

Sean's reacting to her movements, heading closer in case she needs help, before he even processes her words, at which point he slows considerably.

"Excuse me?"

He knows that voice. It's a pretty rare thing these days that he can say that when somebody recognizes him, so when it actually happens, it doesn't take long for it to be obvious.

[un-gloved.livejournal.com]

"You heard me," Mystique replied, "every syllable. Don't pretend like you didn't, it does us all a disservice. Yes," she added, smiling thinly as she fished around for and grabbed up something resembling a sweater.

"The last time I saw you, you were a pup for Interpol. It's nice to see you mature, of course, but only in an abstract, promise-of-the-future sort of way." She finished slinging the sweater on and looked at him with a narrow, leery gaze.

"She's better than I thought, really. You have no idea, do you?"

[missingthekeep.livejournal.com]

It only takes a few more words before Sean makes the connection, stunned recognition flickering quickly across his features before he replaces it with an all-business scowl, his back straightening.

"I'm sure we both could've done without e'er crossin' paths again," he says, trying to remember that, whoever's words those are, it's still Rogue saying them. Not another person, just some shadow left over from that baffling curse of a power of hers. "What in the hell're ye talkin' 'bout, Darkholme?" he asks, carefully keeping the question from bleeding into how he spits the name, hiding any scrap of doubt he's got about it.

[un-gloved.livejournal.com]

"That Rogue is my daughter," she replied, with a calm born of a desire to really savor the exchange.

"That I raised her to be everything that I was and so much more, with that gift of hers. And that we were doing just fine until Charles Xavier and his X-Men," she said, spitting the name right back at him, "stole her from me. If you think we had bad blood before, boy-o, oh, now it's personal."

[missingthekeep.livejournal.com]

"An' why in blazes should I believe you over a woman I've known f'r years?" Sean asks, body instinctively relaxing while his guard goes up, ready for anything. From the few scraps he's gleaned of the last few years of his life, what little he's managed to piece together into something that makes sense, it was already personal between them. "This is what ye do."

[un-gloved.livejournal.com]

A very slow smirk curled her lips and she planted her hands on the end of the bed, leaning against it.

"Not a reason I can think of. The beauty of it is, it doesn't matter. Believe me or don't, it's still true. And you can't touch me, here."

[missingthekeep.livejournal.com]

"Says who?" Sean grits, glowering. "Rogue's a tough lass." An empty threat unless she forces his hand, to be sure, but they're all that he's got right about now.

[un-gloved.livejournal.com]

"I know," she said without blinking, "just like I taught her to be. Believe you me, Sean," she continued, drawling, padding around the bed back to the side he stood on, "you should count your blessings that I'm the strongest one in here, as opposed to, say, your cousin."

She smiled, slowly, clearly amused.

"Because he is in here with us, Sean, and I'm sure he'd love to say hello."