02/02 Instance: Terra Incognita.

[littlebamf]

Current

Rogue sat at the table, fiddling with a pocket knife. Open, close, open, close, open. She put the point on her finger tip and twirled it with the other hand. Can't die. "Not mine."

She took a sip of the water in front of her and ached to be able to freeze it. "No. Not mine."

Tessa took off her shoes at the door and kicked it shut behind her, making a beeline for the kitchen. After much thought she'd remembered how to make the damn drink she'd been wanting for nigh a month. She dropped the cloth grocery bag on the table with a resounding thunk.

"You look like you could use a drink or a good rap on the head with a bat." she said to Rogue. Ordinarily she'd not have said it so bluntly to her without expecting a prompt slap to the face.

Rogue shrugged, "Probably." She kept her eyes on the knife, watching it gleam in the light of the kitchen, "What's in tha bag?"

"A number of things. Glasses, sage oil. Absente." Tessa pursed her mouth at the last bottle to come out of the bag before hanging it over the back of the chair. She rifled through a cupboard looking for the sugar cubes. "It's times like this I like chemistry."

"Ain't that alcohol?" Rogue glanced up then back at the knife, closing it and flipping it over her fingers. Like Grampa taught me. She smiled then realized, that wasn't her memory... Damnit.

"Yes, it is." She pulled the sugar cubes down from their shelf and poured a glass of cold water, adding ice from the freezer. "It happens to be the only alcohol other than ouzo legal in the states that I enjoy. Remotely." She sat herself and all the items down. "Why?"

Rogue calmly kept the knife going over her knuckles, watching it, nearly hypnotized, "Ain't supposed ta drink, Tessa," she said calmly.

"Something about the look on my face ought to tell you I really don't give a damn at the moment." She peeled away the tissue paper that had been stuffed in and wrapped around the reservoir glass, setting it on the table. Next she reached for the sage oil and Absente, pouring out a good measure of the latter into the glass.

"Sorry, haven't really looked at ya face. Wouldn't know. Why don't ya care? Wanna go inta another seizure? F'get more stuff? F'get who ya are? Have ta start all over?"

She paused in what she was doing and gave Rogue a bland look. "Honestly? It might be easier than the current situation." She brushed her hair aside and measured a spoonful or two of oil into the glass, stirring it up with back end. "And it's slightly more pleasurable than slicing myself into oblivion, as with that knife you're fingering."

Rogue held up her wrists, "Ain't got a mark on me, do Ah? Ain't done nothin' that could or would hurt me." She frowned as she watched the knife, "Think 'bout it Tessa, think 'bout all tha things ya cain't remember now an' how upset an' scared that makes ya. Then add on an entire lifetime. Everythin' ya know, ya wouldn't remember. Not who ya are, not ya niece, not where ya came from, not ya powers, not ya Dad. Nothin'."

Tessa stared blandly at Rogue through her speech and promptly went back to what she was doing. "I really, really would not mind that. If I'm lucky, I just don't wake up at all. I'll be sure to put in a good word for everyone in hell when that happens." She would have laughed at herself had she not been halfway serious.

She balanced the spoon and sugar cube on the rim of the glass and dripped ice water over it slowly, every drop making the clear greenish liquid turn milky and white.

Rogue nodded, "Fine by me. Not like Ah can die anyhow." All ya fault. Tessa's gonna be ya fault too. Just watch.

"Good, you can have my chess set then." She gave a half smile and swirled the contents of the glass, taking a sip and deciding on more water. "My books if you're good, maybe."

"Tessa, ya shouldn't be drinkin'." Rogue put the knife down and finally looked up at her roommate, "Ain't good f' ya. Ah ain't 'bout ta sit here an' let ya drink an' watch ya die." All the king's horses an' all the king's men, couldn't put either together again...

"Simple fix for that, isn't there? Don't watch." She caught the last half of a nursery rhyme and shook her head. "You Americans and your children's rhymes. It's no wonder all of you are mad as loons."

Tessa personally felt it was a wonder she hadn't started spouting off morbid French poetry yet. It seemed everyone here was imbalanced some way or another.

"Least Ah ain't gonna drink ta die on purpose. Ah'm smarter than that. Would figure y'all Grecians would be more looney than us with tha way y'all've been actin'. An' not watchin' ain't that simple. Already know ya doin' it. If Ah turn the other cheek, Ah'll still know what ya doin'." Rogue wished she still had Bobby's powers. She'd freeze Tessa's drink and leave it like that.

Shaking her head after a gulp of said milky liquid, Tessa chuckled and shook her head. "Quite true. We've been raving lunatics for centuries. Any culture that dreams up a creature with a woman's head, a lion's body and an eagle's wings has to be considerably, as you say, 'fucked up'."

She leaned her chair back and balanced it on two legs, still halfway between chuckling and giggling. "Or hadn't you noticed?" She was beginning to feel the effects of the sage oil and it made her giddily morbid.

"Tessa. Stop. Ya shouldn't be doin' this an' ya damn well know it." Rogue walked over and grabbed the absinthe bottle, "What tha hell's in this stuff anyway? Makin' ya more looney than usual. This ain't y'all, Tessa. Just leave tha drink on tha table, pour it down tha sink, somethin', but stop drinkin' it."

Tessa leaned back on the chair, arms raised and bent back over her head. "No. Just because you won't drink it doesn't mean I shouldn't." She kicked at the leg of the table and made the glass and bottle scoot away from Rogue. "It's got a lot in it. Good stuff. Makes you think."

"Nevah said Ah wouldn't, sugah. Now ya puttin' words in mah mouth. Said y'all shouldn't. Ah ain't in much condition ta fight with y'all tanight. So how 'bout ya just put it away until Ah can fight with y'all 'bout it, huh?"

Couldn't put Tessa together again...

Tessa didn't stop giggling. "No! Want a drink." She nearly tipped the chair over leaning too far back and downed the rest of the glass. "Too much to waste it. And it makes...makes everything funnier." She nodded almost solemnly and pulled herself forward to make another.

"Nothing's funny anymore. Nothing's funny. Everything can't be funny anymore." She let her head drop back and smiled crookedly at the ceiling.

"Alright then, sugah." Rogue sat back down in her chair and started to play with the knife again, "Fine by me. Ain't ya keeper." She gave her a smile then went back to the knife.

"Yeah. My keeper. Be lost without a keeper." Her expression changed to a sullen one in no time at all, and she kicked the table hard, scattering sugar cubes all over it. "Get lost, and no one finds you cause they don't care!"

Her voice escalated to a yell and the legs of her chair slid out from under her, leaving her laid out on the floor.

Rogue rolled her eyes and moved to pick Tessa up off the floor, sitting her in another chair before moving to pick the other one up. "Ain't goin' no where, sugah. Don't hafta. Ah live here too, remember?"

Rogue casually sat back down and propped her feet on the table, playing with the knife again, watching it flip through her fingers as she took a drink of her water.

"Christ I don't want these stupid things." She set her head down on her arms and twirled her fingers on the tabletop, leaving streaks in a rambling design. "Wish I didn't have any of these stupid powers. None of them are any use."

She shoved the reservoir glass off the table, where it spilled and skidded on the tile floor. "Didn't do a damn thing to get anybody back."

Rogue arched an eyebrow and looked over at her, "Ya couldn't have, sugah. 'Sides which, even if ya were well, ya still would been here just monitorin' shit. An' yeah, Ah know, that's one of tha most important jobs. Keeps us all aware of shit goin' on. What Ah mean is, ya wouldn't have been able ta go in tha lab with us."

Sunshine... Mah only sunshine...

"An' ya powers are plenty useful. Ya think Professor Xavier got ta be head of all this 'cause he's a normal human? No. He's a telepath just like y'all. An' y'all got somethin' he don't have."

"None of us are worth anything. You think people would hate us if we were? Experiment on us like we're nothing but rats?" Tessa reached for the alcohol bottle and managed to yank out the cork, tilting her head back and drinking. "Why would you even want someone who couldn't do anything?"

"No wonder I'm here. No one wants someone stupid and useless." Her fingers dragged over the paper label on the bottle, hitching on the edges. "Not even family."

Rogue put the knife down and just sat for a moment, "Ain't true." Yes it is. "We're better off than normal humans in tha ability department. They're just scared. Don't understand us." She calmly reached over and took the bottle from Tessa.

Tessa snatched the bottle back and gave Rogue a look that tried to be angry and failed. "Really. Care to explain why they hate us when they can't even tell we're different?" She wasn't in the mood to think, and the only other option was getting drunk enough to turn off for a while.


Rogue frowned and took the bottle back and stood up to go sit on the island with it instead of staying in reach of Tessa. "They don't hate us. Until they know we're different. At least, not from mah experiences. People think Ah'm normal, just with cold hands, they're friendly. Find out Ah'm a mutant, some of tha time, they have hatred, other times, they don't give a flyin' fuck if Ah am or not."

Tessa shoved the table hard away from herself and set her hands on her thigh. "Tell that to those bastards back in Greece." She squeezed her eyes shut when she started to tear and played with the neck of the bottle. "Stupid bastards never listened to anything. Sick fucks."

Rogue gave a one shouldered shrug, "'Swhy ya here. In America. We're different here. Ya know that." She hopped off the counter and moved to the sink, setting the bottle next to it, but still keeping a grip on the neck of it. "What's up with y'all lately, sugah?"

"Oh, everything. I'm just bloody peachy." Tessa said bitterly. "Don't pour that out, I might still want it later." Hell, if this was how shit was going here, she might well just take it and see if she could drink to death.

"You know, there's a reason why I got shipped here. My brother doesn't want me around his kid that long...thinks I'm dangerous. You just have to look at him to tell." She would have thrown something but had nothing close.

"Oh that's bullshit. When Ah talked ta him, he an' Ah had a..." Rogue searched for a word as she moved the bottle over the sink, tipping it slowly, nothing spilling yet, "A dispute.. 'bout y'all goin' home. Told him he couldn't take ya back 'less y'all decided that f' yaself. He ain't ya parent an' he needs ta learn that."

"He probably decided to just go back home and sign off on America as a whole. Beter off for him and Danny that way." She swung her hair out of her face and looked up at her roomate. "I said not to pour that out."

"Ain't gotten any outta tha bottle yet, goof troop." She kept the bottle tilting until a bit poured out, "An' now Ah have."

"Ya know that ain't true. Ya brother loves ya very much. Even if he is a lil... ok, way overprotective. Just means he loves ya all tha more."

"Stupid American, I said not to do that!" Tessa picked up the nearest object to her, which happened to be the now sticky absinthe spoon, and flung it at Rogue. "You lie because you don't know him. All he's ever wanted was to have a family and no one else to worry about."

Rogue arched an eyebrow as the spoon hit her in the shoulder. "Ouch," she said sarcastically, "Cain't hurt me, sugah." She tipped the bottle the rest of the way over and stuck the neck in the disposal, letting it sit to drain so she had both hands free.

"An', just so ya know, Ah ain't lyin' 'bout ya brother. He blam near pissed me off ta tha point of flyin' ta Greece on mah own accord ta throw a punch." She lowered her voice and her head some, "An' believe it or not, ya his family too. Not just his wife an' daughter. Ya his sister. Makes ya related. Family."

"And I'm supposed to compete how with his daughter and his wife?" Tessa would have thrown everything else at Rogue but at the moment, it seemed pointless. "Maybe this is some god's way of saying we're the reject bunch. So much for that idea of loving everything."

"That's just tha point. Ya ain't supposed ta compete with them. Ya got a place in his heart just like them." She pulled herself onto the counter and watched the last of the drink drain out, "Ah don't believe that. Ah believe that God gave us all our powers f' a reason. An' Ah don't believe that reason was just ta be hated by other people."

"I don't think god cares anymore. There doesn't seem to be a reason for all this." She gestured out to the room and the corridor past. "Something tells me god gave up on us a long time ago. And yet people still think he cares."

Tessa picked up the reservoir glass and turned it over, watching it drip liquid onto the floor before she pitched it at the wall. "Maybe it'd be easier to just give up. Less problems for everybody that way off."

Rogue frowned as the glass broke, "Ah am so not cleanin' that up. An' what would ya get by givin' up? Not a damn thing. Ya'd probably be worse off then than what ya are now. Way Ah've learned, ya take tha easy road, life'll get harder an' harder. Every easy path ya take, tha next one's gonna pummel ya ta tha ground even harder."

Tessa watched the glass flicker in the light. "That's not what I meant by give up and you know it." She laughed at herself for sounding so surprisingly lucid. "There's never been an easy road."

Rogue shrugged, "Mah not be easy as ya'd like it. But there's always an easy path or a hard path, considerin' tha cicumstances, tha easy might not be what normal people would call it." She picked up the bottle and rinsed it out, swirling the water around to make sure she got all the alcohol. "Life ain' always fair either, sugah. Ya lost memories. Ain't fair. People hate us just 'cause they dont' understand us. Ain't fair. AIn't hardly nothin' fair."

Rogue turned back to her, finally starting to get angry, "But we're all dealin' an' survivin'. So where tha hell do y'all get off havin' a fuckin' pity party? Yes. Ah get what ya goin' through. Yes, Ah hate that ya goin' through it. But damnit, Tessa, we all love ya here. An' if ya willin' ta just throw ya fuckin' life away in tha bottom of a bottle tha could possibly kill ya, Ah don't want any part of it. Ah love ya, Tessa. Ah ain't had a family since Ah was 12 years old. Y'all are mah family. You are mah family. An' if ya don't give a rats ass 'bout it, go out an' buy more alcohol. Fuck it."

Tessa scoffed dryly and segued into a laugh. "If I was going to drink myelf to death I'd have started a long time ago, Rogue." She looked down between her knees at the puddle on the kitchen floor. "A lot of people kill themselves and no one thinks twice about it. With any luck that would be me." A tear dripped off her face. "Except I haven't got any luck."

"Drinkin' at all f' you is possibly drinkin' yaself ta death." A line of worried concern creased Rogue's brow at the tear. She walked back over and sat down next to Tessa, "Why don't ya want people ta care 'bout it if ya die? Don't ya want people ta love ya?"

"What answer do you want to hear?" Tessa would have smiled, except it felt like her face might just crack in two if she tried. "I've seen what it does to people. If they care about someone who's died. It genuinely hurts to see it." She shook her head and her hair fell into place around her face, hanging loose towards the floor. "If they don't care about them it's easier to deal with death. And that's only an eventuality."


"Well, f' one, Ah don't give a shit if ya don't want me ta care 'bout ya or not, 'cause Ah'm gonna anyway. An' two just emphasises mah first point. Cain't make people stop carin' 'bout ya just 'cause ya want 'em to."

Rogue leaned forward and looked her in the eye, "An' no matter what, death is always hard. Whether ya really cared 'bout tha person or not." Carol...

"It's easy if you're angry at them. It's always easier to deal with the death of someone you hate." Tessa supposed this was why she'd never had a particularly good track record with psychiatrists. They'd all thought she was irrevocably insane after this point.

"Guess that might be mah problem. Don't hate nobody, sugah. Served me good keepin' it that way so long." Rogue shrugged one shoulder, "So ya just gonna hafta get used ta it an' 'go wit' da flow' as Remy would say."

Tessa snorted. She'd already tried that and it had gotten her precisely jack. "Or go find the barrel end of that gun Sean gave me."

"Oh hell no ya don't. Ain't no good doin' that. We already love ya, Tessa. Cain't make us hate ya now. We're a family. Families love unconditionally. So, killin' yaself won't stop us from lovin' ya. Won't 'make death easier on us'. None of that bullshit."

"Families love unconditionally. That's just what my mother said before she broke my fingers." Tessa sighed and shook her head, standing slowly. "Lot of good that unconditional love did me."

"Ok, fine. Lemme put it this way. Ya know tha depth of ya commitment ta us. Ta everyone here. But what ya can't empirically quantify, an' Ah know it probably drives ya batty sometimes, is our commitment ta you. We're a family. We're a team. An' we're friends. Get used ta it or don't, but it ain't gonna change."

Tessa stopped at the door and looked back at Rogue. "As a matter of course, you take things on faith. For me, that's terra incognita--the undiscovered country. It likely won't ever be discovered."

"So be it. Don't change how we feel." Rogue got up and moved to her, calmly and slowly, and wrapped her arms around her in a hug. "Love ya, Tessa. We may fight a lot, but that's what good sisters do, right?"

[Esynthia]

There is now a scavenger hunt going on in this instance. There are two parts to it. You are hunting for an easter egg in the dialogue. Find one part, you will find the other. If you win, you get to choose a what-if instance between the two. Just no sex. Be it maiming, making-out, raiding the mansion, etc...

Once you guess the easter egg parts, you have to tell us WHY they are the easter egg. And you must give us the unabridged version of the easter egg in order to claim prizes.

U2U Either Esynthia or WingyDing to give the unabridged version of the easter egg so as to not give it away for others wanting to participate.

This contest will go away in 4 days. Use the time wisely


Good Luck!!!
~Esy and Wingy

[Edited on 2/3/2008 by Esynthia]