"Every New Beginning" and "Blackout"

[chickpea.livejournal.com]

BIG DAMN TABLE.

Claim: X-Men Movieverse, Rogue
Title: "Every New Beginning"
Author: M Jules at mjules.
Characters: Rogue/Bobby, Wolverine
Prompt: 38. Betrayal
Rating: PG
Length: medium
Brief summary: This story, also written for xmmficathon this year, is set after X2 and has so many loose ends to address, but manages to do it peripherally in an intimate conversation between two people. In this story, the smallest of actions betrays Rogue's real feelings about Bobby and Logan. Bobby's reaction to this betrayal is subtle but completely realistic. There are no bad guys in this story, which adds to the conflict and pathos in the story.

Rogue’s attention wavered for a moment, like air in desert heat, as she heard footsteps in the hall, the sound of someone heavy walking very lightly. She listened hard, trying to decipher whether it was Piotr or Logan. They’d both taken to prowling the corridors, unconvinced that the walls would not be breached again at a moment’s notice. She had to admit that she had begun listening for odd sounds herself, waking in the middle of the night at the slightest flicker of light through her window, even if it was simply the moon emerging from behind a cloud.

The footsteps paused and she heard Bobby’s voice fade in again.

“...didn’t know who his dad was, but his mom had died the year before in an apartment fire and he’d been living on the streets ever since. I don’t think he knows, still, if he started the fire that killed her or not. All he knows is that he stopped it. So Mr. Summers and I...”

The prowler in the hall began walking again, this time away from the library, and Rogue wanted to call out for him to stop, to come back, so she could see who it was. She felt safer when she could see Logan.

Link to the story: Every New Beginning




Claim: X-Men Movieverse, Rogue
Title: "Blackout"
Author: Jamie at The Nightowl
Characters: Wolverine, Rogue
Prompt: 40. Confession
Rating: PG-13
Length: medium
Brief summary: Rogue joins the X-Men, but they run into trouble when a new mutant shows up and isn't exactly subtle or peaceful. It all comes to a head on New Year's Eve on a rooftop, with an awesome confession and surprising consequences. Plus, there's a hysterically funny recounting of the events via Logan at the X-Men debriefing. Logan's swearing and Scott's laughing had me snickering; the characterizations are spot-on and realistic.

Despite the fact that it was mid-November, the temperature was pretty pleasant, and Logan and I settled on the bench with our hot chocolate, my blanket tucked around us. I propped my feet up on a giant flower pot and sipped my drink.

Logan quirked an eyebrow at my slippers. "Cute," he said snidely.

"Do not mock the elephant slippers," I warned. "I've been practicing hand-to-hand combat, and I might have to kick your ass."

He smirked. "That'll be the day."

"Well, everything I know I learned from you."

"Hmmm?"

"You know, when you touched me, I got a big dose of Logan up here." I touched my head, and he nodded. "A lot of it faded. But on my first day of physical training, these ... instincts were just there. I knew when to hit and where. How hard. When to duck. ... Everything."

"My instincts."

I nodded. "Had to be. I never fought a day in my life. 'Less you count the time I pounded Billy Douglas on the playground in second grade. I got sooooo grounded for that." I batted my eyelashes at him. "Nice young southern ladies do not use physical violence."

Logan grinned. "I can't wait to see you in action."

"I'm telling you, I kick ass," I said smugly. "All over the place."

Link to the story: Blackout