Rogue and Toby, Tuesday Evening
Dec. 1st, 2015 07:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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om_mainToby meets her new roommate. Rogue isn't precisely happy to be here, but has to admit it was at least a good roommate to get, if she had to get one. Things go well!
And now she had to meet a roommate. Great. Anna Marie--no, Rogue, she was Rogue here, she didn't need annoying teenagers looking her up and finding out what happened with Cody--stopped pulling her lone suitcase just in front of the door to room 112. How the hell she'd gotten here, Rogue wasn't even sure. She still had echoes of that boy from the alley--she was trying to forget his name--and Scott Summers rattling around in her skull somewhere...
But at least neither of them was in a coma.
She gritted her teeth and knocked. Mainly just to delay this whole... thing.
"Go away, Tybalt. I'm doing homework." Okay, so in this case, "homework" constituted filling out a job application for the used bookstore she'd run into downtown - it still involved a pen, paper, the need for some creative editing, and a desire to not be pestered by morons who had the apparently non-mutant ability to show up when they were least wanted. She nibbled at the end of her pen, then listed the number of an empty building in San Francisco in the "former place of residence" box. It wasn't as if they were going to check anyway.
Rogue wrinkled up her nose. Tybalt? So she'd walked into not just a freakshow, but a Shakespearean one?
Either way, she cracked the door open and said, "It ain't Tybalt."
Toby looked up at the door, her eyebrows rising. Given the way the door was cracked, she couldn't see the girl well, but she was pretty sure it wasn't anyone she knew. "So I see. Which I suppose makes you an improvement, at least. Are you lost or something?"
Rogue tried to look confident as she stepped through the door. Her skinny Hot Topic black punk pants with all their zippers, her tiny Ramones tank top, her black lipstick and heavy eyeliner. That was her armor, usually.
And the girl sitting at the desk looked... normal? Wait, no. Those eyes...
Rogue pulled her suitcase in behind her, looked at the empty bed, then back at the other girl. "I'm your new roommate. Name's Rogue."
"Huh. I should check my e-mail more often." Or ever. Toby gestured towards the open bed and desk and she took in her new roommate. She couldn't have imagined someone more different from Alice if she'd tried - hell, the sheer amount of makeup (though not the color) reminded her of Dare. Wondering absently if they'd also shopped for names at the same place, Toby offered a crooked smile. "Toby. Sorry, I missed the memo. The other side of the room's all yours."
Rogue lifted her bag and bounced it down on the empty bed, then tugged self-consciously at her gloves, making sure they were on straight and covered her wrists completely. "It was pretty fast. Wasn't really expected. Sorry."
"Nah, it's fine. Sorry, just doing a job app. I think my brain's broken." Toby set the application aside. "So, emergency thing?"
Well, I got attacked randomly, knocked out Scott Summers, got Jean-Paul all flipped out, and then got dumped like yesterday's garbage by my mothers so, yeah, that's one way of putting it. Rogue just shrugged. She unzipped her bag. "Something like that, yeah. Hell of a first visit to New York, anyhow. Ended up kinda knocking out Scott." She winced. It sounded even worse aloud.
"Hold it, you knocked out Summers?" Toby's eyebrows climbed. "How'd you do that? I've been trying to do that in training for months. The closest I've gotten is scaring the shit out of him with my driving, though I'm still maintaining he called it over so he wouldn't pass out."
Rogue surprised herself by snorting out a laugh. "I can't see him enjoying that much--from what I've seen. Anyhow, it was an accident, and he didn't try to knock me out after, so--"
She cut herself off with a sigh. "I should probably just tell you, since we're in close quarters. I'll keep covered up, but just--be careful not to touch me. My skin. Okay?"
"Okaaaay." Toby's eyebrows rose. "Something powers related?" She held up her hand before Rogue could protest. "I don't need details. I just want to make sure that if your powers are of the 'fuck people up' variety I watch myself around your blood, so I don't pick them up."
Rogue nodded, shoulders slumping in relief that Toby wasn't the type to push it. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all--the roommate thing, anyhow. "It's all right--you should know. I absorb powers--apparently. But also personality and memories. And knock people unconscious in the process.
"... Do I wanna know about the blood?"
"Probably not," Toby admitted, all the while filing away the information on her new roommate's mutation. "Variation on a theme, maybe - power absorption, check. Some memories, but not many. But I only get them if I drink someone's blood, and most of the time, I don't know what I've got until something happens like I blow up a tree." She made a gesture with her hand. "Feel free to get the vampire jokes out there. Everyone does."
Rogue snorted out a laugh. "I don't know, I kinda like vampires." Predictably enough, she reckoned, what with all the black lipstick. Whatever, all right, sometimes things were popular for a reason. "Still, drinking blood sounds--dangerous anyhow. How'd you even find something like that out?"
She hadn't meant to have this conversation with anyone. Just, her roommate should know the dangers, it was only right, and Toby didn't seem to mind talking about it...
"Thought I'd dripped ketchup on the counter. Turned out my mom had cut herself." Toby shrugged. It wasn't the whole story, no, but it was enough of it. "She wasn't a mutant, but I got about...oh, ten - fifteen minutes of her memories? Didn't find out about the mutant powers part until a couple of years later." She eyed Rogue's makeup and obvious vampire fascination with amusement. "I'd just as soon skip the blood part, but what can you do?"
"Sounds kinda similar," Rogue admitted. Though... also not, since Rogue tended to lose herself to whoever she touched for those ten, fifteen minutes. "Though I guess mine's less gross, yeah.
"So, you ever, I don't know, try it on purpose?" She couldn't help her curiosity. This place was supposed to help mutants get their powers shit together, right?
"Some. The volunteers aren't exactly flooding in." Toby shrugged off the problem. "Luckily, I found a way around that. Cal's pretty much always willing to donate, and he mimics too.. So...drink his blood, borrow his powers, and go hunt down someone who can fly or blow things up or whatever." She pushed her hand back through her hair, obviously thinking. "Wonder what'd happen if you borrowed one of ours? Other than the automatic nap."
"I... kinda accidentally borrowed Scott's," Rogue admitted. "It was weird. But it worked."
"So, that's how you knocked him out?" Toby grinned. "He must've loved that. He looked like he was going to pass out the time I got hold of his. But no, I meant - let's say you borrowed Cal's. Or mine. Could you pick up extras after, using ours but without knocking the people out? Or..." She paused and gave the other girl an apologetic look. "Sorry. Cal and I have been trying out different combos. Anyway, if you want to try it, I can always use a nap."
Rogue shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other, wrapping her arms around herself. But for all the topic made her want to crawl out of her skin (hell, she'd like to do that anyhow), she had to admit being interested. At least Toby wasn't so into it she didn't notice, anyhow. Rogue nodded slightly. "It ain't just the dirt nap. It's the memories and--everything. They kinda take over." Which she guessed they didn't, with Toby's... either that or Toby was just way better adjusted.
Then again, who wasn't? Her life sucked, okay.
"Ugh." Toby let that sink in for a minute, then made a face. From the sounds of it, Rogue got a full dose of everything, not just the surface memories she picked up. She wouldn't be in any hurry to experiment, either. "Yeah, suddenly? Drinking blood doesn't sound anywhere near as bad."
Rogue suddenly realized that maybe Scott wouldn't want anyone to know she'd taken a ride in his life. Toby seemed friendly with the guy, but--right. No more talking about this. Ever.
Just, she kinda wanted to.
Shit. "Yeah. No fun for me, no fun for them, either. Anyhow, good you know that, too, now.
"And I promise not to leave any blood laying around, looking like ketchup."
"Fair enough." Toby's lips quirked just a little. "I can pretty much tell the difference now, anyway." She tilted her head. Right, she knew a change of subject when she heard one, but it'd be a shame not to take advantage of Rogue having had an up close and personal look at Scott's memory. "Summers owes me two questions - anything I want, and he has to answer them honestly. Any suggestions on what I should ask? I'm not above getting insider information."
In spite of herself again, Rogue blurted out a short laugh. She totally shouldn't--it was embarrassing to her just how much of an invasion her powers were to others, and really embarrassing to think how she was going to have to look Scott in the eye and apologize real soon.
But one thing did come to mind. "Ask him about--that little dog. Ask him who picks out the sweaters."
"He dresses the gerbil?" Toby gave her roommate an incredulous look, then let out a snort of laughter. "Oh man - okay, definitely asking him that one. He swears up and down he doesn't care about the thing, and I knew that was bullshit, but I never guessed he buys the thing's clothes." She smirked. "The look on his face will so be worth wasting the question. Especially if I ask it with Lydia around."
Rogue ignored the pull of memories in the back of her mind--especially about Lydia. And 'the gerbil'. She just smiled and turned back to her unpacking, what there was of it. "Just don't mention me--I don't think he's mad, but he has enough reason to be. And--let me know what he says." She shot another quick smile over her shoulder.
"Deal. Fuck, if I can manage it, I'm getting pictures." Toby smiled back, then paused and eyed the other girl's unpacking with interest. More than she'd come with, granted, but not by much. "Anyway, you doing anything later? I need to take this job app into town, and I was thinking about stopping by the second hand store, if there's anything you forgot to pack."
Rogue had a feeling this was charity, on Toby's part, to invite her along. But she chose to shrug it off and say, "Sure. Better figure out what all is around here soon, anyhow, right?" Irene had at least handed her a roll of bills before abandoning her to the mercy of strangers. Their little problem child.
"Cool. Give me about a half hour to finish this up?" Toby glanced back at her application with distaste. "I'll show you where we can catch the bus."
"Yeah, all right." Rogue nearly smiled, there. Sure, she got dumped and left in damn New York, but at least the people here didn't completely suck. Yet. "Thanks."
And now she had to meet a roommate. Great. Anna Marie--no, Rogue, she was Rogue here, she didn't need annoying teenagers looking her up and finding out what happened with Cody--stopped pulling her lone suitcase just in front of the door to room 112. How the hell she'd gotten here, Rogue wasn't even sure. She still had echoes of that boy from the alley--she was trying to forget his name--and Scott Summers rattling around in her skull somewhere...
But at least neither of them was in a coma.
She gritted her teeth and knocked. Mainly just to delay this whole... thing.
"Go away, Tybalt. I'm doing homework." Okay, so in this case, "homework" constituted filling out a job application for the used bookstore she'd run into downtown - it still involved a pen, paper, the need for some creative editing, and a desire to not be pestered by morons who had the apparently non-mutant ability to show up when they were least wanted. She nibbled at the end of her pen, then listed the number of an empty building in San Francisco in the "former place of residence" box. It wasn't as if they were going to check anyway.
Rogue wrinkled up her nose. Tybalt? So she'd walked into not just a freakshow, but a Shakespearean one?
Either way, she cracked the door open and said, "It ain't Tybalt."
Toby looked up at the door, her eyebrows rising. Given the way the door was cracked, she couldn't see the girl well, but she was pretty sure it wasn't anyone she knew. "So I see. Which I suppose makes you an improvement, at least. Are you lost or something?"
Rogue tried to look confident as she stepped through the door. Her skinny Hot Topic black punk pants with all their zippers, her tiny Ramones tank top, her black lipstick and heavy eyeliner. That was her armor, usually.
And the girl sitting at the desk looked... normal? Wait, no. Those eyes...
Rogue pulled her suitcase in behind her, looked at the empty bed, then back at the other girl. "I'm your new roommate. Name's Rogue."
"Huh. I should check my e-mail more often." Or ever. Toby gestured towards the open bed and desk and she took in her new roommate. She couldn't have imagined someone more different from Alice if she'd tried - hell, the sheer amount of makeup (though not the color) reminded her of Dare. Wondering absently if they'd also shopped for names at the same place, Toby offered a crooked smile. "Toby. Sorry, I missed the memo. The other side of the room's all yours."
Rogue lifted her bag and bounced it down on the empty bed, then tugged self-consciously at her gloves, making sure they were on straight and covered her wrists completely. "It was pretty fast. Wasn't really expected. Sorry."
"Nah, it's fine. Sorry, just doing a job app. I think my brain's broken." Toby set the application aside. "So, emergency thing?"
Well, I got attacked randomly, knocked out Scott Summers, got Jean-Paul all flipped out, and then got dumped like yesterday's garbage by my mothers so, yeah, that's one way of putting it. Rogue just shrugged. She unzipped her bag. "Something like that, yeah. Hell of a first visit to New York, anyhow. Ended up kinda knocking out Scott." She winced. It sounded even worse aloud.
"Hold it, you knocked out Summers?" Toby's eyebrows climbed. "How'd you do that? I've been trying to do that in training for months. The closest I've gotten is scaring the shit out of him with my driving, though I'm still maintaining he called it over so he wouldn't pass out."
Rogue surprised herself by snorting out a laugh. "I can't see him enjoying that much--from what I've seen. Anyhow, it was an accident, and he didn't try to knock me out after, so--"
She cut herself off with a sigh. "I should probably just tell you, since we're in close quarters. I'll keep covered up, but just--be careful not to touch me. My skin. Okay?"
"Okaaaay." Toby's eyebrows rose. "Something powers related?" She held up her hand before Rogue could protest. "I don't need details. I just want to make sure that if your powers are of the 'fuck people up' variety I watch myself around your blood, so I don't pick them up."
Rogue nodded, shoulders slumping in relief that Toby wasn't the type to push it. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all--the roommate thing, anyhow. "It's all right--you should know. I absorb powers--apparently. But also personality and memories. And knock people unconscious in the process.
"... Do I wanna know about the blood?"
"Probably not," Toby admitted, all the while filing away the information on her new roommate's mutation. "Variation on a theme, maybe - power absorption, check. Some memories, but not many. But I only get them if I drink someone's blood, and most of the time, I don't know what I've got until something happens like I blow up a tree." She made a gesture with her hand. "Feel free to get the vampire jokes out there. Everyone does."
Rogue snorted out a laugh. "I don't know, I kinda like vampires." Predictably enough, she reckoned, what with all the black lipstick. Whatever, all right, sometimes things were popular for a reason. "Still, drinking blood sounds--dangerous anyhow. How'd you even find something like that out?"
She hadn't meant to have this conversation with anyone. Just, her roommate should know the dangers, it was only right, and Toby didn't seem to mind talking about it...
"Thought I'd dripped ketchup on the counter. Turned out my mom had cut herself." Toby shrugged. It wasn't the whole story, no, but it was enough of it. "She wasn't a mutant, but I got about...oh, ten - fifteen minutes of her memories? Didn't find out about the mutant powers part until a couple of years later." She eyed Rogue's makeup and obvious vampire fascination with amusement. "I'd just as soon skip the blood part, but what can you do?"
"Sounds kinda similar," Rogue admitted. Though... also not, since Rogue tended to lose herself to whoever she touched for those ten, fifteen minutes. "Though I guess mine's less gross, yeah.
"So, you ever, I don't know, try it on purpose?" She couldn't help her curiosity. This place was supposed to help mutants get their powers shit together, right?
"Some. The volunteers aren't exactly flooding in." Toby shrugged off the problem. "Luckily, I found a way around that. Cal's pretty much always willing to donate, and he mimics too.. So...drink his blood, borrow his powers, and go hunt down someone who can fly or blow things up or whatever." She pushed her hand back through her hair, obviously thinking. "Wonder what'd happen if you borrowed one of ours? Other than the automatic nap."
"I... kinda accidentally borrowed Scott's," Rogue admitted. "It was weird. But it worked."
"So, that's how you knocked him out?" Toby grinned. "He must've loved that. He looked like he was going to pass out the time I got hold of his. But no, I meant - let's say you borrowed Cal's. Or mine. Could you pick up extras after, using ours but without knocking the people out? Or..." She paused and gave the other girl an apologetic look. "Sorry. Cal and I have been trying out different combos. Anyway, if you want to try it, I can always use a nap."
Rogue shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other, wrapping her arms around herself. But for all the topic made her want to crawl out of her skin (hell, she'd like to do that anyhow), she had to admit being interested. At least Toby wasn't so into it she didn't notice, anyhow. Rogue nodded slightly. "It ain't just the dirt nap. It's the memories and--everything. They kinda take over." Which she guessed they didn't, with Toby's... either that or Toby was just way better adjusted.
Then again, who wasn't? Her life sucked, okay.
"Ugh." Toby let that sink in for a minute, then made a face. From the sounds of it, Rogue got a full dose of everything, not just the surface memories she picked up. She wouldn't be in any hurry to experiment, either. "Yeah, suddenly? Drinking blood doesn't sound anywhere near as bad."
Rogue suddenly realized that maybe Scott wouldn't want anyone to know she'd taken a ride in his life. Toby seemed friendly with the guy, but--right. No more talking about this. Ever.
Just, she kinda wanted to.
Shit. "Yeah. No fun for me, no fun for them, either. Anyhow, good you know that, too, now.
"And I promise not to leave any blood laying around, looking like ketchup."
"Fair enough." Toby's lips quirked just a little. "I can pretty much tell the difference now, anyway." She tilted her head. Right, she knew a change of subject when she heard one, but it'd be a shame not to take advantage of Rogue having had an up close and personal look at Scott's memory. "Summers owes me two questions - anything I want, and he has to answer them honestly. Any suggestions on what I should ask? I'm not above getting insider information."
In spite of herself again, Rogue blurted out a short laugh. She totally shouldn't--it was embarrassing to her just how much of an invasion her powers were to others, and really embarrassing to think how she was going to have to look Scott in the eye and apologize real soon.
But one thing did come to mind. "Ask him about--that little dog. Ask him who picks out the sweaters."
"He dresses the gerbil?" Toby gave her roommate an incredulous look, then let out a snort of laughter. "Oh man - okay, definitely asking him that one. He swears up and down he doesn't care about the thing, and I knew that was bullshit, but I never guessed he buys the thing's clothes." She smirked. "The look on his face will so be worth wasting the question. Especially if I ask it with Lydia around."
Rogue ignored the pull of memories in the back of her mind--especially about Lydia. And 'the gerbil'. She just smiled and turned back to her unpacking, what there was of it. "Just don't mention me--I don't think he's mad, but he has enough reason to be. And--let me know what he says." She shot another quick smile over her shoulder.
"Deal. Fuck, if I can manage it, I'm getting pictures." Toby smiled back, then paused and eyed the other girl's unpacking with interest. More than she'd come with, granted, but not by much. "Anyway, you doing anything later? I need to take this job app into town, and I was thinking about stopping by the second hand store, if there's anything you forgot to pack."
Rogue had a feeling this was charity, on Toby's part, to invite her along. But she chose to shrug it off and say, "Sure. Better figure out what all is around here soon, anyhow, right?" Irene had at least handed her a roll of bills before abandoning her to the mercy of strangers. Their little problem child.
"Cool. Give me about a half hour to finish this up?" Toby glanced back at her application with distaste. "I'll show you where we can catch the bus."
"Yeah, all right." Rogue nearly smiled, there. Sure, she got dumped and left in damn New York, but at least the people here didn't completely suck. Yet. "Thanks."
