20338/Road Runners

Road Runners
Date of Scene:	30 March 2025
Location:	Garage and Stables
Synopsis:	Rogue and Rachel set out torrecover a student who left the school following a fight with other students. McFlurries are purchased, and a bit of wisdom is shared along the way.
Cast of Characters:	Rogue, Rachel Summers

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Rogue has posed:
It was a Saturday night at Xavier's School. Well, Saturday evening anyway, as the sun was still up.

There had been word that a student had run off, following a fight with a peer amongst the student body. It wasn't a great thing, to have a Mutant child running away from your prestigious boarding school, and thus Rogue had been tagged with going out to find him, and bring him back.

Who better to help her with that, than a powerful telepath? Rogue had found Rachel somewhere inside the school, and asked her to join her in the garage at her car.

A 1969 Dodge Charger, forest green with a black stripe down the center of it. A true muscle car, for a living muscle of a woman. With the engine revved, and the garage door up, the powerful car sped out of the interior of the car hold, and rumbled down the driveway, as the gate slowly opened up in preparation for the car's departure.

Behind the wheel, dressed in a button up blouse, and a pencil skirt, Rogue looked like she was ready for some kind of a public speaking event, but in actuality she had just been dealing with some school stuff off-campus this morning, and had only just arrived back at the school when the call came out to get out there and find young Nick Stone - the wayward student.

With her feet out of the heels she'd been wearing, Rogue's bare feet were operating the gas and brakes, and a glance was given to Rachel. "You know Nick by chance? He's a Junior, so I imagine he just is like another pimple faced kid in the crowd." She stated, grinning toward Rachel in the seat beside her.

Rachel Summers has posed:
Technically speaking Rachel knew how to drive. She'd never had -lessons- exactly, but well...being a telepath surrounded by people who did kinda helped. The whole flying thing tended to help.

With a few people out and about for partying and Rachel still...adjusting, well, this did seem like a good way to get the time-displaced Summers/Grey heir out of the mansion. Wrapped in her own dark jeans and a bright red off-the-shoulder shirt, Rachel didn't quite match Rogue's asthetic, but she was here none the less as she settled in the passenger seat, shaking her head lightly.

"No...I think maybe I saw him in passing at best."

Rogue has posed:
Rogue's attire had her contrasting quite a lot with her car, really. She was looking all business-woman-like, with her chestnut hair tied up in a bun on the crown of her head, and her white bangs framing her face on either side, her face accented with a light amount of makeup to complete the look.

The Southern Belle's right hand operated the car's gear shift, while her left handled the wheel, the vehicle weaving back and forth down the windy Greymalkin Lane, toward the highway at its end, a number of beaded necklaces and other nick-nacks swaying from the limb of the rear-view mirror on her car's inner windshield.

She cast a light grin over to Rachel on her dusky hued lips, before she shook her head, and looked back toward the road ahead. "It's alright, they all kinda look the same." The southerner expressed, in jest of course, as the wind from her open window made her white bangs dance about the sides of her face.

"How ya been doin, Rachel? Have ya been keepin' busy? Anybody been given ya guff? ya know I'm always itchin' to put guff-givers in their place..." She joked further, each of her words tinged with a flavor of a burnt-end edge to her tone of voice.

Rachel Summers has posed:
"Not in the mansion," Rachel's voice speaks, but she did turn her head towards the window, resting her elbow against the 'shelf' of the door while she peered out into the dark. The young woman with the (sometimes literally) flame-colored hair peered out. No eye-contact, but well...maybe that was less of a habbit for the telepath, especially given her background.

"Everyone has been nice, supportive there...but running across those purifiers in the city? It was...well, I might have almost gone too far. Found them attacking a kid in public and people just...blamed the kid when he used his powers to defend himself." She exhales a breath, flopping back into the seat and staring up at the ceiling. "It's just frustating, to see the points of the same problems my world had, when so much else is better."

Her head turns, familiar deep green eyes fixing to Rogue. "Beyond that? Everything's been great. Suppose that's the typical mutant experience."

Rogue has posed:
The sun was setting behind the western horizon, and the long shadows of the trees lining the road outside were casting over the Dodge, as it rumbled down the road. Once they reached the highway, Rogue paid a glance to Rachel, and offered her a knowing-smirk, along with a light nod of her head. "We're never safe." She quietly said, as she took the car out on to the main thoroughfare, headed south. "I imagine Nick is headed toward Salem Center, which is just down here a small ways..." She said, as they passed Harry's on the left, along with a service station and a donut shop named 'Hole in One' in the same little lot.

"That's why we gotta keep the students from runnin' off like this. One second, it's a beautiful Spring evenin'. The next? Some damn Mutant killin' robot falls outta the sky, an' starts murderin' without a care in the world. We live in a fucked up timeline, Rach."

There were lights up ahead on the right, and a turn-off to Salem Center.

"He's been gone about a half hour? I think? He could've made this walk easy, but I'd think I'd see him somewhere. You got any signals on any minds, by chance? maybe nerdy little teenage boy-minds?" She said in her husky voice, as she was scanning the horizon for pedestrians of a boy-shaped variety.

Rachel Summers has posed:
"Plenty of them, but let's see if I can find the correct one..." Rachel murmurs before folding her arms under her bust and settling back into the chair. It was fucked up, just like Rogue said...but she had lived through the 'final form' of that timeline, and being a 'hound'? Well, she'd take fighting killer robots over that every damn time!

Her telepathic senses reached out, sweeping like a caressing breeze mind-to-mind as they sought one familiar...or at least one that 'fit' the missing student.

"What's the plan when we do find him?"

Rogue has posed:
A car headed in the opposite direction flew past them on Rogue's side, its radio up so loud that its Mariachi music could be heard even through the wind rushing by. On Rachel's side, a turn off lead down a small incline toward a big puddle of water that sat outside the parking lot of a McDonald's, and as Rachel asked her question, Rogue shot her a grin. "I dunno, offer him a McFlurry if he comes back to the school?" She proposed.

"You ever had a McFlurry before? I bet I could get you ta come back ta the school for a free one." She teased.

Rachel might feel it though, up ahead, the sensation of a kid's mind, a kid who felt a bit lost and confused, with the waning touches of anger still inside his emotional mental waves. He was headed down a side path toward Apple Park, which sat between Salem Center and the highway that they were driving down.

"I don't know what the fight was about, honestly. I probably shoulda asked, but I just grabbed my keys, and saw ya on the way out..." Rogue was muttering, as her eyes were up on the turn-off in to Salem Center, and not the pathways to the park space that Nick seemed to be headed down.

Rachel Summers has posed:
Colorful music aside, Rachel does indeed give a little soft laugh and a shake of her head. "No...why is it called a flurry? Is it made in a rush or something?" Rogue's teasing comment earns a shrug, a quiet laugh from the girl despite herself as she gets the surface impression of what the treat was. "Bribery with icecream? I suppose I'm open to trying any..."

She pauses, blinking and holding up a hand to cut herself off. "Over there!"

It took a second to point, relating physical back to mental, but Rachel was on the money. "Down the side, heading towards the park. I think I've found him."

Of course there was the urge to reach out, speak to the kid mentally...but a psychic intrusion might not be the most reassuring thing for an upset teenager right now, so instead she'd gently probe, trying to learn what it was that had sparked the runaway.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue's mouth fell open, when Rachel indicated that she didn't even know what a McFlurry was. "Oh my god..." She quietly responded. "I get ta introduce you ta Oreos an' ice cream....?" She questioned, the look of unbridled excitement touching the young southerner's facial features. She sobered up a second later, and looked forward again. "Assumin' we find this dang kid, anyway..." She said through gritted teeth, as her ungloved hands tapped thumbs against the steering wheel.

She was about to speak again, when Rachel casually interjected with where Nick was; and with a glance toward her, then toward the park pathways, that had lamps lit up for the night flanking them, Rogue tilted her head for a second. "really?" She questioned, then knew better of it.

The Dodge suddenly decelerated for its path toward Salem Center's turn off, just fifty yards up ahead, and instead it made a fairly drastic turn in to the parking lot for Apple Park's highway access.

As Rogue navigated the Charger toward a parking space, Rachel's mind probe found the boy's mental state being one of reflection on the day's events. It was a myriad of memories of the day, from going to class, to having lunch in the student dining hall, to being outside after class, and arguing with some of the other students. Over what? A girl, of course.

Nick was reflecting on all the different ways that he could've better stopped the older boys from teasing one of the girls, a girl who he had a crush on. He'd tried to ask the older kids to cool it on her, and instead they just hit him with insults instead, which sent Nick in to a rage. he'd used his wind manipulation Mutation to knock one of the boys off the stone rail, and caused him to fall down in to the pine bushes beneath the patio. In a fit, Nick stormed off, as the other kids were yelling about him being done, being expelled for using his mutation against another student.

And thus, here we are...

Rogue killed the engine in a corner parking space, and reached for her shoes on the floor mat beneath her knees.

"He alright?" She asked Rachel, who'd be able to see the kid seeming was fine. Just worried and unsure of where he was even going, though he was counting his money on some phone app, and thinking about the Burger Joint in town.

Rachel Summers has posed:
"I'm sure," Rachel offers, with the certainty Rogue probably had heard from her 'Alternate universe mother' many a time before. Coming to the parking space, Rachel was already unbuckling herself from the seat and preparing to step out, zeroing in on the reflection of the previous events and the escalation that had resulted in this.

It was all so....normal.

Sure there was powers involved, but bullies, crushes, trying to stand up and do the right thing like that? It was the sort of normalcy that seemed...sweet. The kind of thing Rachel hadn't really experienced personally thanks to her timeline.

"Huh...he's upset, scared...thought he was going to be kicked out." Rachel lists as she begins walking once Rogue had claimed her shoes, though odds were Rachel's boots were going to fair better crossing the park than Rogue's own heels. "Seems like it started over a girl he liked being bullied. He stood up to them, things got heated and powers got used."

A breath, a beat, she shakes her head before slipping a hand up to brush a stray bang of her loose red locks out of her eyes. "Seems like a good kid, probably just needs us to reassure him he's not getting expelled, seeing us looking for him should help....and he's hungry. Maybe the 'Flurry' is a good idea."

Rogue has posed:
Once she stepped out of the car upon bare feet, Rogue did not even bother putting her shoes on. Instead, she just tossed them over the back of her driver seat, and in to the small back seat behind it. She shut her door with a thud, and stepped around the front of the car on bare heel and toes, toenails painted a deep green on the left foot and a golden yellow on the other.

She cast a grin toward the redhead, when she gave the rundown on what caused all of this. "Welcome to Mutant high school, right?" She asked, knowing full well that this world was likely weird to Rachel. The two of them had never had a lot of time to talk, but she believed that Rachel came from a future not unlike Cable, who she knew a bit more about, when it came to specifics.

"I see him." Rogue said, peering through the trees, and toward one of the pathways headed toward the middle of the park, where they branched out with some leading to town, the others toward the lake, or skate park area.

"Come on...." She said, glancing to Rachel, as she made for one of the entry paths that swept between some tall hedge bushes.

"Not quite killer robots, and laser guided robot dogs, yeah?" She jest, as she glanced to the other woman to her right, her blouse shifting a bit in the evening wind.

"Honestly, this kinda thing reminds me a'my early days at the school. I was a pretty quiet newbie back then, felt really outta place. Seemed like all the other students were laughin' at me. I wanted t'get the hell out myself..." She explained, as she walked on heel and toes down the winding pathway, avoiding the little sticks and broken acorns that littered the pavement sidewalk.

"Nick!" Rogue called out, her voice echoing across the park, and causing the kid to halt in his tracks. He paused, and awkwardly looked around, before he looked toward the two.

Rachel might pick up the thought from him, 'Oh shit, Miss Grey and Rogue.'

Rachel Summers has posed:
"Think it would make himm feel better to know he has more experience with romance than -me-?" Rachel jests before stepping forwards to follow, arms crossed at her chest when Rogue saw him enough to take the lead, before she'd second-guess that the posture would only serve to make it look like they were there to get Nick in trouble or punish him. Still, she listened to the other woman as they spoke, a little soft exhaled 'huh' of agreement.

She knew what it was like to be the quiet newbie feeling out of place, that -was- her right now, but there was one key difference: "I suppose it helps to be a telepath. It can be noisy, confronting and crowded...but at least you -know- if people are laughing at you. Most of the people at the mansion care, and those that don't are wrapped up in their own thing."

The shift to address the kid, she lifted her hand to wave Nick down, a non-hostile greeting. "Hey Nick, glad we found you."

Rogue has posed:
Rogue was giving Nick a 'come here' hand gesture, to which the boy relented and turned to his left to walk down the pathway toward the two women coming toward him. While they closed the distance, Rogue looked over at Rachel, and cast her a grin. "Hey, Sugah," she started. "You're with us now. If you're ready for the flame'a romance, I can put the word out. I think people have been givin' ya some distance, for fear'a makin' you even more uncomfortable in a world that may not feel like your own. But if you're lookin' to turn this place in to some Rom Com? Well, we're about t'get to the summah months, and there ain't nothin' better than a Summah love." The saucy edge to her southern drawl came out a little thicker, as she playfully reacted to Rachel.

her green eyes went back to the incoming kid, though, and she upnodded at him. "Nick, my dear. What are ya doin' out here? You should be at home, gettin' your meat loaf on." It was meat loaf night afterall.

Nick paused a few paces for them, and he glanced between them. "Miss Marie... Miss... uh, Rachel." Apparently he knew she wasn't Jean, when he got up close enough. "you two didn't come here to find me?" He asked, sounding surprised.

Rogue just shot him a grin, and glanced between him and the redhead on her right. "Okay, I'll admit, we did. But we also came out for a treat, an' figured we'd come ask ya if you'd like to come with us ta pick'em up?" She inquired, being vague about it to let Rachel fill Nick in on the plans. Meanwhile, Nick had noticed that Rogue wasn't wearing any shoes, and his cheeks flushed a bit, before he looked up to the two women again.

Rachel Summers has posed:
Rachel would have to ponder what Rachel said...when she stopped laughing and blushing at the thought. Still, topic moves back to the kid and she gives a little nod of her head in agreement.

"I wasn't much feeling like meatloaf," she offers in light distraction and a little deception. "So I am going to try this 'McFlurry' before we head back. Feel like riding along? A lot quicker than walking back to the mansion."

Hell, maybe Rogue was right and Icecream -would- be the problem solver.

Rogue has posed:
Nick's blue eyes lit up when the redhead and the... brown and white haired head ... spoke of McFlurry. Rogue saw this, and waggled her dark eyebrows at him, and accompanied the gesture with a smirk on her dusky painted lips. "My treat, no less. I had a good day, I might as well introduce you-- well, introduce Rachel here, to the wonders of the McFlurry."

Since neither of them brought up the situation at the school, Nick felt instantly more relaxed with them, and he just grinned at them, as he raked a hand quickly through his mop of dark hair on his head. "Sure, that sounds great." He said, before his eyes went to Rachel, and he looked surprised again. "You've never had one?" He asked, before quickly adding, "Guess that's why you're in such great shape." The boy tacked on, giving her a grin.

"Oh, someone's got game." Rogue responded, with a laugh, as she turned back the way they'd come. "Lets go then, before the Vampires come out. They run this park at night, ya know?" She eluded, giving a quick look around their immediate area, her white bangs fluttering across her face in the early night wind.

"Nick, you wanna drive?" She asked the boy, dangling her keys in front of him. "We're a school, right, ya gotta get used t'drivin'."

The lanky teen seemed tentative to take the Southern Belle up on this offer at first, but he rose a hand up and snatched the keys from her after a moment of hesitation. "Your Charger? Hell yeah..." He quietly expressed, as he turned the keys over in his hands.