2013.10.01 - An Impromptu Reunion at Henry's

Remy's a regular down at Harry's lately. When he's not dealing blackjack at a back table, he's teaching the older students how to do some serious drinking, play darts, and hustle pool. He even goes behind the bar and serves up liquor when Harry gets slammed- mostly because it takes too long to get his own drinks when the bar's packed.
Tonight seems fairly slow. Remy's playing darts by himself, his jacket hung from a chair behind him. He's throwing darts left-handed, just to make it a bit more interesting. He's still scoring bullseyes. With a frown, he takes four more steps back- and throws the darts from almost thirty feet away, but still giving them enough zip that they fly more or less true.
"Harry, wanna bet me a drink ah kin peg de bullseye wit' my eye close?" he calls over to the barkeep, flicking his wrist at the dartboard again.
When Gambit had suggested meeting at Harry's Hideaway in Westchester, she frowned at her phone. She had responded with a simple, "Sure."
She took a bus all the way out there, with a feeling at the pit of her stomach. Rogue could hear Mystique whispering things into her ear. While she had only been there a few times before, it was always a popular hangout for the older X-men."
She stepped in, and felt a smile appear on her face when she saw Remy. Rogue was dressed in a thin green sweater that was off shoulder, with a pair of black cutoffs and torn stockings. She wore her normal pair of leather gloves. "Always are a showoff."
Remy grins at Rogue, and makes the last shot without bothering to look at the board. Dead center. "Bonjour, mon cherie," he greets the woman. He walks up and almost brushes her chin with his fingertips, but at the last moment, checks the motion. There's a moment of awkwardness, and then a lopsided grin works onto his face. He spins a chair out on one leg, bringing it to a neat stop for Rogue to sit on. "Care to join me? Was jes' goin' t' have a drink. Bourbon?" he offers, wagging two fingers at the bar in a beckoning gesture for the waitress.
Rogue sat down at the seat, looking a little awkward herself, "Rum and coke. And it's real nice to see ya, sugah'."
She glanced around to see if any of the others were there, Logan especially. After their meeting the other day she wouldn't be surprised if he short Canadian suddenly popped out of the mens room. Rogue ran her fingers back through her curly hair, "Funny meetin' ya here. Better bars in the city are better you..."
She looked him over, suspicious. "With the X-men?"
"Oui," Remy says with a smile and a nod. "Ororo foun' me facedown in de guttah out back. Got me back to de mansion, chucked me in a bed, sobered me up." He settles into a seat opposite Rogue, smiling at the waitress as she brings over Rogue's cubra libre, his bourbon neat. "Talk me into bein' de head chef, of all tings. So ah cook up some gumbo for de chillin's, make some nice dessert, an' dey give me a place t' stay, bed t' sleep in."
"Jes' temporary, min'," he adds, flicking a finger. "Don' know dat ah wanna stay somewhere lon' term, savvy? But it nice for a while have a place park my Indian, do some engine work, dat kind of ting," he says, waggling a hand back and forth.
Rogue was really going to need that drink. She swallowed a hard lump in her throat and a small blush was on her cheeks as she felt more awkward than ever, "Oh! Ah um..see. Ororo? You and Ororo. That's um. Nice."
That's just fantastic. She really did scare the guy off with her 'skin condition', and there was no way she could compare to an African Goddess like her. She turned her eyes to the side, "She's always been nice. Tell em Ah said hi."
She mentally debates on whether to go visit. It certainly didn't help that just the other she just finished getting guilt tripped.
"Will do," Remy says. A confused look flicks across his face at her expression- reading poker faces is one thing, but Remy looks a bit confused at Rogue's sudden flush. "Dey been nice to me, der," he says, his tone earnest and a bit pleading. "Ah'm friends wit some of dem," he says. "Been frien' a long time. Dis jes... dis jes seem like a good move, y'know?" he tells the woman.
Remy takes a long sip of his bourbon, putting back perhaps more of it than one should strictly consume in a 'social' drinking scene. "You look like you stitched up ok since Vegas," he says, gesturing towards her stomach with a playful look coming over his features. "You feelin' like you back on de mend now? Could go to Atlantic Beach, if you want. Play some slots." He grins at Rogue irrepressibly, letting his bourbon linger under his nose for a moment before taking another sip.
Rogue tapped her fingers at the table for a moment, he was clueless as he was equally cute. She took a quick drink from her glass and let it out, "LOOK. Ah'm really sorry about my uh, issues. And Ah think you and Ororo would make a nice couple. And the X-men are really nice and some days Ah get really sad that Ah left."
She said that all seemingly in one breath and then added, "Yeah Logan found me, and he let me borrow his healing to patch myself up. Good as new now, you know mostly."
Remy spills his bourbon and starts swearing. Mellifluously. In Creole. "Damn, girl," he grouses. "No, it ain't like /that/," he growls, mostly at himself and his lap full of bourbon. "Ororo like de ice queen. Wouldn' go near dat for a minute," he says with a shudder. He grabs a napkin and dabs at his lap, beckoning another drink over.
"Well, ain't no one said 'Rogue ain't welcome heah'," he says finally, after a minute of awkward silence. He meets Rogue's eyes with his black and red gaze. He taps the table once firmly. "An' ah done ask 'round. Folk would like to see you back der, mon ami," he tells the girl. "When ah told folk we went to Vegas togethuh, dey were all over me askin' how you was, where you coul' be foun'."
Rogue let out a sigh of a relief and relaxed into her seat, finally looking a bit more like her normal self. "Oh thank god."
She bit at the side of her lip and smiled, "Did they? Ah kinda left suddenly, Ah know. Dick move. Didn't even have a cell phone until just recently."
She looked up at him, a sweet expression in her eyes, "And Ah'm glad they are treatin' you right. They helped me out, when Ah left the Brotherhood."
Remy gives Rogue a wry, vaguely unamused look, but the arrival of bourbon cheers him right up. "Nectar, come to papa," he croons. He takes a long sip of the bourbon- making up for the spillage- and grins at Rogue again. "Look, no pressure, mon ami. Ah'm jes' sayin', if you ever want a place t' crash, ah know dey'd give you a warm bed. An' Remy make sure you git a full belly. You still ain't had my gumbo," he reminds her, tilting the drink her direction.
"Why'd you leave, anyway?" he asks. "Ah mean, ah git wantin' t' roll on, but dat seem like a pretty sweet gig. Hell, even ah'm havin' second thoughts 'bout stickin' roun'. Seem like a good ting to jes' walk out on."
Pepper Potts enters from: Westchester.
Ororo is all but frog-marched into Harry's by Betsy, forced into a chair at a table, and then abandoned as the younger woman receives a call on her cellphone and disappears out the door again. For her own part, the weather witch debates just heading back to the Mansion to get back to work.
Rogue took a long sip from her rum and coke, glad that the bartender hadn't thought to ID her yet. She had a fake one but liked to avoid the confrontation if possible. Rogue sighed as she was just ready to spill her big secret, "Reason why Ah left...well you know how my thing works right? Sometimes if Ah hold too long Ah..."
Her eyes turn to the woman talked about just a moment ago, Ororo. She nearly facepalmed, of course. Rogue called out to her, "Hey! 'Ro! Been a while!"
Remy turns and peers at Ororo as she enters, then grins at Rogue and winks bawdily. Just seconds after Ororo seats herself, Remy rolls his lip in and emits a shrill wolf whistle at the woman's backside.
There's a /dead/ silence in the bar. Storm is... well, Storm. The stories they tell about her probably don't even come close to the reality of what she's capable of.
"Bonjou mon ami, come sit wit' us," he says, gesturing at a free chair at their table. He smiles at Storm in a more friendly fashion, tempering the teasing whistle with an invitation to come join him and Rogue for drinks.
Talk about bad timing. But she was glad to see the weather witch after her leave with the X-men. All they found one day was a note in Rogue's room, stating that something came up and she would see them again soon.
Months after that whenever someone would inquire, there was nothing. Rogue didn't even have a cell phone for a while. But eventually they would have gotten word from Nightcrawler that she was living in Genosha.
Ororo startles and turns almost incredulously at the wolf whistle, her eyes on the verge of going white, but then she hears Rogue's voice alongside Remy's. A couple of blinks bring her eyes back to normal and calming her features to their usual neutrality. She abandons the table Betsy plunked her at to approach the pair who tossed greetings her way. "Remy. Marie. Good afternoon." The circumstances of her abrupt arrival at Harry's seems to have been set aside, as her greeting to them both is her normal level of politeness. When she gets back, though, she and Elizabeth are going to have a SERIOUS talk.
"Sorry, 'roro," Remy says with a mischevious grin. He rolls a glass of bourbon around on the table. "Jes' fun to see you glare like dat. Y'all look like a cat dat got spritzed wit' water. Cheers," he says, gesturing for the waitress to come over with an order pad in hand. "Let ol' Remy buy you a drink," he offers apologetically.
"An' an order of de new chili fries," Remy tells the waitress. "De ones ah help Harry wit'. Ah tink you gals like 'em," he confides in the women. "Bet Harry a bottle of Maker's dat ah could make chili fries better'n his, jes' as cheap. Earned a sixty dollah bottle of bourbon," he says with a self-satisfied nod.
Rogue got to her feet, with a smile on her face and drew Ororo in with a hug, careful not to touch any of her skin "Oh c'mon quit being the haughty goddess. Ah prefer street 'Ro. Missed ya girl, been months."
She released the clearly uncomfortable woman, and hoped she wouldn't say anything about her drink, "Guess yer charm doesn't win em all over Remy. The poor guy."
She tossed him a wink, feeling much more relaxed than she was a few moments ago.
Ororo accepts Rogue's hug easily enough, letting the young lady set the boundaries of the contact, then accepts their invitation to join them. "Sorry, Marie. It has been... busy of late. Not much time to, cut loose I think is the term?" If she notices the alcoholic beverage she seems to decide against mentioning it. Settling in, she looks at Remy with raised eyebrows. "Chili fries? That sounds decidedly unhealthy."
"Death in plastic basket," Remy confirms for Ororo, but he makes no motion to cancel the order. "But dey /delicious/," he says, rolling his eyes skywards happily. "Made 'em wit' real slow-cooked beans, none of dat refry stuff."
The waitress comes around with a whole bottle of Maker's, Remy's bourbon of choice, and sets it on the table. Remy pours both of the women a fresh drink- still well ahead of the rest of the pack- and sips the smooth bourbon.
"You ever done any serious drinkin', Rogue?" he asks the girl with a bawdy grin. "De real stuff, ah mean. Ah was prac'ly weaned on bourbon," he says by way of explanation.
NOPE. Actually Rogue was 18. And was doing her best to make sure no one noticed it. The only rub was that the owner, Henry probably knew she was under the drinking limit and may be able to spot that her id was a fake, "With Bourbon? Nah, but Ah'm game."
She looked over to Remy, "Didn't realize you had such a love for cookin."
Looking at the bourbon that Remy just poured for her, then looks at the waitress who nods back. There will be a glass of water for her momentarily. When the Cajun asks Rogue if she's ever done any serious drinking, he earns himself just about the strongest frown the weather witch is capable of. Which means her eyebrows furrow and her mouth twitches into what would on any one else be just a little frown. "Remy..." Her tone of voice is even disapproving.
"Ororo, maybe it dif'rent where you from," Remy explains, "but in de south, you grow up drinkin' yoah uncle's still moonshine wit' dinner. De Creole are French, an' dey wean der kids onto wine 'fore dey in grade school," Remy chortles.
"An' Rogue a belle of de South, an' heir to dat proud tradition," he proclaims, hoisting his bourbon on toast. "To de great South, home of refinement an' class," he declares to the bar of Yankees, before slamming the entire glass of bourbon back.
Rogue gently nudged at Ororo's arm, with a gloved hand, "And c'mon, you didn't occasionally have a spot of wine when you were a kid?."
She made herself a glass of bourbon, "Yeah when you say it like that Remy it doesn't quite sound Right."
She slams it back, "Yow! That...kinda tickles. 'Ro."
She turned her attention to the Goddess, "Things been okay around the school, even with this scoundrel hangin about?"
She flirtaciously nudged him in the leg with her foot, "Ah mean, ya'll take me in Ah guess you'll take anyone in."
Ororo Munroe enters from: Westchester.
Ororo Munroe glares back and forth between the two. Rogue should at least have a guess as to why she's seriously not happy with the way Remy phrased that -- her own control of her powers is directly affected by her emotions, and losing control of them because of something like alcohol could be more than just annoying. It could cause serious property damage. "Of course I had a small drink now and again. But not..." her eyes flick toward Remy. "SERIOUS drinking." She's seen Remy eight sheets past pickled, and she really does NOT need to be pouring them BOTH into their respective beds tonight. She still has all that work that Betsy forced her to abandon. "The school has been short on teachers, but otherwise things have been going well enough." She's watching that bourbon like a hawk now, her own glass of the stuff left untouched.
Remy grins and snorts at Rogue. "C'mon, darlin', you still six drinks behind me. That's jes' countin' dis last hour." He pours another round of drinks, then produces an empty cup and a quarter from the air. "Ok, now, you try t' bounce dis quarter into de empty glass," he says, voice slightly slurring. "An' if you make it, ah gotta drink de entire glass."
Remy leans sidelong, arching an eyebrow at Ororo. "Madame Munroe," he says, affecting a perfectly intoned wealthy upper-class Southern accent. "Your charms are as intimidating as they are devastating. Woe betide the young rapscallion you turn that icy gaze 'pon in the school." He snorts and then laughs merrily, slapping the table. "Ororo, you aw'right, y'know dat?" he tells the woman. "Sorry we try you so hard. Must be a half a bushel of frustratin' dealin' wit me."
Rogue made a face at Remy, and tilted her eyebrow. She didn't even see him this far in Vegas. Rogue grabbed Ororo's arm and dragged her towards the restroom, "Time ta powder our noses."
She wasn't mad, but curious when they arrived into the ladies place of solitude, "Alright I've got to level it to you 'Ro. Ah like Remy. Like a lot. So are you two like a thing or like? What. Or should I just not trust him whenever he's had a couple in him?"
Ororo Munroe is actually startled when Rogue abruptly pulls her to 'powder their noses'. She just KNEW the girl was going to ask her something about Remy, but... well, THAT she wasn't expecting. "A thing? Marie, that is completely ridiculous. That is as bad as if I accused you of being overly fond of Logan." In other words, no. She doesn't bother to look at the mirrors in this place, instead watching Rogue alertly, though she's not entirely sure what she's expecting to see.
Remy winks at the waitress and blows her a kiss, knocking back more bourbon while the girls are in the bathroom. No doubt gossiping about him.
Rogue laughed, "Oh god Logan? He keeps forcing himself to be like my older brother, shoulda' seen him the other day. He's got a good heart though, beneath all of that adamantium. C'mon. "
She gestured with her head and led her back towards the table, and spoke quietly as they made her way back, "Sorry 'Ro. Haven't exactly made a lot of 'prospects' or friends lately. If you get my drift."
She smiled at Remy as she returned, "Hey there."
Ororo Munroe simply nods to Rogue with a small smile, then follows her back to the table, where her water glass is waiting and had BETTER be completely untainted. And of course, her thoughts turn back yet again to the work she left unfinished, as well as ... oh CRAP. Her phone. It's likely sitting on the desk next to everything.
"Ears're burnin'," Remy remarks with an indolent grin aimed at the two women. He picks up the quarter from the table and without looking, effortlessly banks it off the table and into the empty glass. "Consume!" he orders Rogue, taking a sip of his own bourbon, unprompted.
"So Ororo, what you tink of dat chicken ah made last night?" he asks the woman. "Chicken braise is sometin' else, oui? Lil' turnip an' some sweet carrot on de side? An' dem lil' raspberry macaroons?" he adds, holding his thumb and forefinger a quarter inch apart. They'd gone down like M&Ms, and there had been no leftovers.
Rogue smiled at Remy, and touched him gently on the shoulder (through his shirt of course) before taking her seat, and looked to them both, "Look you guys are alright with the X-men right? Not sayin' Ah'm opposed to coming back but.."
She looked down at her drink and tossed it back, it took a second for her to respond again, "Somethin's about to go down in Genosha, Ah know it in my gut. So Ah can't abandon it now. Once that is over...ah'll tell you about what's goin' on with me. You know on top of the other crap. My moms there."
It gets a bit quiet for a minute at Rogue's statement, and Remy absently tosses the quarter into his own glass. "Reckon ah'll help Harry clean up de kitchen," Remy remarks. He smiles crookedly at Ororo, then stoops and places a quick kiss on top of Rogue's head, barely stirring her hair. "Y'all ladies have a good night," he offers. "Don' be a stranger, Marie." He nods at Ororo, smiling. "See you tomorrow mornin' at breakfast," he offers. With a wave, Remy takes his leave of the girls.
Ororo Munroe quirks a very Spock-like eyebrow at the quarter and the shot glass when Remy tells Rogue to drink, but then he asks about last night's meal, and she nods her approval. "I suspect there will be requests for more of those raspberry macaroons." She regards Rogue for long enough that Remy takes his leave and she waves lightly after him before looking back at Marie. "Please do tell us once everything is over. There have been too many people who left the Institute for Genosha, and, well, I do not like wondering why." She doesn't press for more details about the girl's mom.
Rogue watched Gambit leave with a bit of a lovingly sigh. She took a few moments before coming back to earth, she spoke to Ororo with a more quieter tone and slid away her drink, "I didn't leave ya'll for Geonsha hun."
And once Remy left she rubbed at the back of her neck, looking much more relaxed, "Ah ran outta money, and it seemed like a good choice. And Ah left because it wasn't exactly safe to be with ya'll. Not cause'a you. It was me. It's always me."
She let out a sigh, "Ah'm fine. But Ah gotta see this through, but Ah gotta take care of this first before Ah return. And when Ah do? Let's have a party. And um. Maybe without liquor, least for me."
Keeping up with Gambit hasn't been easy for an under the limit lightweight like Rogue. She wrote her number on a napkin and slid it to Storm, "Take that, spread it around. Things get tough before Ah finish my business, Ah come runnin."
Ororo Munroe takes the napkin and glances at the number on it before looking at Rogue again. "My number is still the same. If things get tough and you can't run, contact me. If no one else responds, rest assured that at least I will." She takes a sip of the water, the bourbon that Remy had poured for her originally still untouched.
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