xmutanthigh | [open log] Packing, planning, general running around!

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[open log] Packing, planning, general running around!

Characters: Everyone! Even if you plan for your characters not to go on this trip, they can be doing other things here or talking about what they plan to do while the others are away.
Setting: The mansion.
Content: An open, free-for-all thread for all characters to talk about planning for their upcoming getaway to London (Jono's trip, which everyone else has appropriated for the whole school)
Status: Open and incomplete. Really, just talk about anything!

Jono was in the kitchen of the X-mansion, stocking up on snack foods for the plane ride, but it seemed to surprise Josh how little he was packing. "I'm going to pack for the plane," Jono explained, "and then buy food there. You didn't expect me to bring food to my hometown, did you? I have to eat what I can get over there!"

Meanwhile, some members of the staff were surveying the damage done to the west wing of the mansion during their recent attack by Kimura. "Oh well," Logan shrugged it off. "We'll bill it to the school, and anyway, most of the kids will be gone for the trip. Saves a lot of hassle not having people around for the construction."

Fortunately for the students, most of their living quarters hadn't been damaged, so they were able to pack their still-intact clothes and other necessities. As the days grew nearer to the trip, anticipation and excitement levels were rising.

"What's the deal with you and Gayle, now?" Josh asked Jono, as the two of the paused for a cookie break.

"Dunno," Jono answered with a shrug. "I mean... we'll see." He stuffed more cookies into his mouth and then said for an abrupt change in topic, "I wonder what everyone else is up to."

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Bobby frowned into the distance. "Yeah, I..." He broke off with a sad little chuckle, shaking his head. "I don't know how to feel about it," he said as he faced her, expression troubled. "I mean, everyone's okay, and we're safe... but...I can't shake this feeling, like we've done something wrong."

He sighed and rubbed his hands over his face. "I feel like I did after Alcatraz," he told her, knowing that she understood, because back then, she had been his confidante and he had been hers. "All this guilt. Even though I didn't do anything... I still feel guilty."

She shifted uneasily, pulling her legs up onto the couch. Alcatraz had been worse the Alkali Lake. "There's a big difference between what you thought happened with John and with Kimura," she finally said slowly. "Y'all... For what it counts, I think y'all did the right thing."

OOC:
Ugh that comment was me...obviously. This is what I get for trying to tag on my phone between classes, lol.

OOC: Haha, totally cool! Ahhhh, between-class procrastination...

"I guess you're right. John and Kimura... they're completely different situations," he acknowledged, sinking back into the couch cushions. "And I know the outcome was for the best. I guess I just wish we wouldn't have to make these decisions. That the hardest decision I'll ever have to make is what I'm gonna do when I graduate college. But I guess if I'm an X-Man, things like what happened with Kimura are going to happen again..."

He turned his head to look at her, and even in his current emotional state, he still felt a pang as he took in her familiar, beautiful face. He had to stifle the urge he felt to tuck a few wayward strands of white hair behind her ear.

"I don't know if I could do it, Rogue," he said honestly, and it just felt so good to be talking to someone, talking to her again, about all the things he'd been bottling inside since the attack. "I don't know if I could make that kind of call."

"Look, I know everyone jokes about it but you don't have to be the next Scott Summers. You don't--" She paused, searching for the right words. "You don't necessarily have to be the next one to make those decisions when they need to be made again."

Her grip on her book tightened a bit. She felt like she should reach out and take his hand but she didn't. Couldn't. That wasn't them anymore.

"Yeah. I guess not." He half-shrugged, making an attempt at lightness. "I guess there's time to figure it out. We get involved in some kind of war every year." He gave her a small smile, which she returned, and he held her gaze steadily, fighting the desire to say something, tell her again that he missed her. He knew she wouldn't want to hear it, that saying it aloud would ruin this moment.

As if she had read his mind, she looked down at her book, slightly uncomfortable.

"Hey," he said softly, and she looked up at him again. "I'm sorry for dumping all this on you. I'm sure it wasn't what you were looking for when you came down here."

"What?" Both eyebrows shot up in surprise. "No-- no, sugah, it's fine. I promise, it's fine. It's what--" She looked away for a moment and swallowed hard before meeting his gaze again. "It's what friends do, okay?"

That wasn't awkward at all.

"Yeah. Friends." Friends. Was that all they were now? On the one hand, it meant they could still depend on each other, help each other, talk to each other. On the other hand, they were just friends, nothing more. And it still felt strange.

Bobby tried to smile. "Thanks, Rogue. I really..." He trailed off into a slightly awkward chuckle. "It's just really good to talk to someone who knows me. Whogets me. So... thanks."

"You're welcome," she replied with a small smile. She could see the pain he was trying to hide and was instinctive as she reached out across the space between them to take his hand. It was then she realised that they didn't know how to be just friends. They'd never been friends- just together. And now they weren't and this was probably crossing the friends line.

"I-- I'm sorry," she said, letting go hurriedly and retreating back to her side of the couch. "That was not what I meant to-- I shouldn't have done that."

The touch of her gloved fingers had felt simultaneously so right and so wrong. That one affectionate gesture, made so naturally, was a reminder of earlier, happier times. Reading together on the couch, her head on his shoulder. Cold evenings spent wrapped up in blankets and each others' arms. Quiet conversations and laughter as they walked hand-in-hand down the hallways. The first time she'd told him her real name. The electricity of their cautious first kiss.

But the fleeting warmth and surge of emotion he had felt at her touch immediately died when she shifted away. The distance yawned between them, something that appeared to just be physical space, but Bobby knew it was more than that as he watched her withdraw.

This 'ex' thing sucked.

"It's okay," he tried to reassure her. "I don't... mind." Before she could open her mouth to respond, he sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "But I guess that's not the point."

"No... no, it's not."

The 'ex' thing really sucked.

She couldn't look at him as her hands wrung anxiously in her lap. She didn't have to be a telepath to know that one touch had made them both miss how comfortable and easy things used to be between them. "I'm sorry, I keep screwing this up. You don't need me making things worse right now and I... I'm sorry that I keep doing this."

"You don't make it worse," he told her quietly, gazing at her as she stared at her hands. "Rogue... what we have-- what we had," he corrected, the past tense feeling thick on his tongue, "was real. And yeah, sometimes remembering what we had... it hurts. But when it comes to you, I've always thought the pain was worth it. And it is."

"I'm sorry," she repeated softly, finally look up and meeting his eyes. The words were a general apology for all the times she had hurt him in the past and how she was hurting him now. "You don't deserve to keep getting hurt like this even if you think the pain's worth it."

He shook his head. "You don't need to keep apologising," he said, voice gentle but firm. "It's not like I'm the only one who's hurting. I know this has been hard for you, too. I just..." Trailing off, he tried to figure out what he wanted to say. He pressed his lips together. "I'm glad we have the memories that we've got. All that time I got to be with you - I wouldn't trade it in for anything."

"Me too," was all she could manage to say before she turned away for a moment, biting her lower lip before looking back at him. The awkward tension between them was starting to get to be far more than she could deal with. "I uhh... I have to go talk to Logan," she murmured the excuse, uncurling her legs to stand up from the couch.

"Oh. Okay."

He recognised what she was doing - running away - but let her go. It was awkward enough already; he didn't want to make her even more uncomfortable.

"I'll, um, I'll see you later," he added, attempting to give her an easy-going smile.

She nodded, corners of her lips turning up in a tiny smile, though her eyes didn't match it.

He sank back into the couch as she made a hasty exit.

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[open log] Packing, planning, general running around!

Re: How about another serving of angst? Or some angsting out...

Re: How about another serving of angst? Or some angsting out...

Re: How about another serving of angst? Or some angsting out...

Re: How about another serving of angst? Or some angsting out...

Re: How about another serving of angst? Or some angsting out...

Re: How about another serving of angst? Or some angsting out...

Re: How about another serving of angst? Or some angsting out...

Re: How about another serving of angst? Or some angsting out...

Re: How about another serving of angst? Or some angsting out...

Re: How about another serving of angst? Or some angsting out...

Re: How about another serving of angst? Or some angsting out...

Re: How about another serving of angst? Or some angsting out...

Re: How about another serving of angst? Or some angsting out...

Re: How about another serving of angst? Or some angsting out...

Re: How about another serving of angst? Or some angsting out...

Re: How about another serving of angst? Or some angsting out...