16027/An Unbe-leaf-apple Outing

An Unbe-leaf-apple Outing
Date of Scene:	07 October 2023
Location:	Annandale - New York
Synopsis:	A wholesome scene in idyllic upstate New York. Rogue endures the Grey-Bailey-McCallisters. Also, its going to be apple everything on the menu at Xaviers for the next month...
Cast of Characters:	Jean Grey, Rogue

---

Jean Grey has posed:
There is a side of Jean Grey that most students and even a few of the teachers don't know too well. Not the headmistress of an elite Westchester academy, nor the leader of a team of powerful, idealistic mutant superheroes. Nor even the cosmic firechicken. It's the girl from small-town upstate New York, Jean Grey of Annandale-on-Husdon. And going back as far as their earliest winter sports rivalries, it is a side that she's tried to show Rogue more of.

It's an autumn weekend, and class is out. There are Halloween parties to plan for, but she can do that next week. Sometime in the late morning, they pack in the big SUV and make the drive North. It's an hour and change, a fairly direct drive that brings them up past scenic Lake Carmel and its tourist draw, past Poughkeepsie, and the popular German-settled Rhinebeck, which is having its own Oktoberfest. The whole way, the roads are flanked by the endless expanses of forest in this still fairly underdeveloped part of the state, aflame in their popular variety of fall colors.

When they pull into the driveway at the Grey residence, there's already a bustle of activity out front, and several other cars. Technically, Annandale is just a pit-stop on the outing. They're here to meet with Sara and other members of the extended Grey-Bailey clan. Why? Well, they're doing about the most stereotypical upstate New York fall activity you can imagine -other- than looking at the leaves:

They're going apple picking.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue's favorite element of Jean was the girl from Upstate New York. The Cosmic Fire Chicken was something Rogue couldn't really wrap her mind around, and the Headmistress... well, that's more of a strange element when you consider Rogue used to attend school with Jean AS her Headmistress! Don't think about that too much! Nope, this side of Jean was the side Rogue could find an endearing level of interest in, because it was something she could connect directly with. Family, fun, wholesome living. Even if Rogue's family had been broken since she was six, she still yearned for that kind of thing. Plus, any reason to see Jean get grounded a little more, and pulled away from the Cosmic Fire Chicken stuff, it just felt right.

Throughout the road trip, Rogue had declared she was in charge of the radio, and thus been subjecting Jean to all manner of 70s, 80s and 90s rock, alternative, and lesser known stuff that she and her father had been exploring lately, and since Rogue's dad was living in Salem Center in a apartment over the Music Center store... music wasn't hard to find!

When they arrive in town though, the music is turned down, and Rogue's sunglasses are lifted up. She starts peering around at all the sights, a grin spreading across her lips as she eyes the idylic countryside.

"Now it all just makes so much sense." She says in her thick southern accent as she looks to her left, to finish that thought. "How you ended up in Manhattan, goin' all Fifty Shades of Grey in your modelin' career. This place is as storybook as I think I ever have seen..." She tells the other, her voice really playing up that southern sass curve there at the end.

She takes another sip of her tea, before setting it down in the center console. "Course, obviously I've been here before. But I dunno, it looks different now. Peaceful, and..." They pull up in the driveway and Rogue can see the hustle and bustle already going on.

"Oh god, it's like Home Alone. I hope someone remembered to get Kevin his cheese pizza." She says, reaching for her seat belt to unclip it and let it sweep across her form back toward the shoulder of her leather seat, a grin given to Jean aside her.

Jean Grey has posed:
"I did not!" Jean objects to the Fifty Shades line, before conceding: "...mostly!" Yet she can't do much but agree with Rogue's assessment of the town. "Oh yeah, Fall really supercharges the whole Hallmark quality. Doesn't get much more quaint and picturesque than this." She pauses. "Hmm. Well, then again, wait 'till you see it for Christmas, with all the lights up it's awful pretty too. Although I bet some of the enjoyment hinges on one's appreciation for a noteworthy proliferation of baby Jesus."

When they've arrived, she puts it in park and then turns the key, shutting the whole thing down, music and all. Then it's one last encouraging look back to (she knows her family can be 'a lot'! The Home Alone thing isn't really all that far off...), before she pushes the door open on her side to step out. While the weather the last week has been an absolute roulette wheel of near summertime highs and frigid lows, for now, nature is playing up the best seasonal hits: the air is cool and crisp, just cold enough to justify Jean's turtleneck, puffy vest and jeans ensemble without requiring anything bulkier.

As she gets out, one of the busy figures out front steps back from the open hatchback of another car where he was loading stuff. The brown-haired man is Paul, Sara's husband, and lifts a hand to hail them down. "Heya Jeanie. You made good time." He glances over his shoulder back toward the house. "Sara's still in there wranlging the kids."

Naturally enough, Jean starts up toward the house. "Well, I oughtta say hi to mom and dad anyway, hit the restroom. Then maybe we can help her with the little monsters. Paul, you remember Anna-Marrie?" Then back to Rogue. "Paul, Sara's husband."

She knows there's a lot of them to keep track of!

Once they've made it up to the house, they're welcomed inside by warmth, the smell of coffee and baked goods, by Jean's parents (her mom eagerly pushing said food and drink on them, while her dad sits stoically in the midst of it all), and of course by the kids as they run around while Sara tries to get them properly dressed for the weather and the trip. "Hey you two," she calls, in passing, as she chases them from one room to the next.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue is all grins as she steps out of the vehicle's passenger side door. She reaches inside the SUV to grab her jacket off the back of her seat, and her phone out of the center console, before she shuts the door and starts around the front of the vehicle while Jean greets the Paul fellow.

Rogue's leather jacket is being pulled on over her shoulders, with the lapel sorted out over the form-fitting green sweater she's wearing tucked in to a pair of blue jeans, that equally fit her waist and thighs with a perfect blend. She is dropping her phone in to the inner pocket of her jacket as Jean gestures toward her, and she offers a light smile toward Paul, along with one gloved hand to shake his. "Mistah Paul." She says in that flirty way of hers, that generally lands well with most people. "Nice ta get ta see ya again, lookin' forward to the apple pickin'. Hope ya been well too." She'd tell the man before she'd move along with Jean toward the house. Her heeled boots clicking softly on the pavement as they go, another grin cast to Jean as she fusses a bit with her hair around her jacket collar.

Again, Rogue lets her eyes roam over the exterior of the home. "Place looks like it's in good shape now. Glad ta see that." She notes, of course referencing the alien attack that had ravaged the joint a couple years back now. "God, this is a lot like how I picture Kitty's family place in Chicago, based on how she has described it in the past." Rogue idly adds as they're approaching the front door.

Once passing through the threshold, she just stands inside the home, smiling to all the faces she sees, and offering a wave of her right hand to those familiar visages. "Howdy, ya'll." She says, playing up the southern charm, even though internally things like this make her feel a bit 'off' since her own family was such a disasterous failure of a thing. It's very unfamiliar to her, and Jean's surface level telepathy likely even picks it up radiating off of Rogue's thoughts like a space heater in the dead of winter.

Jean Grey has posed:
Whatever Rogue's unease, Elaine Grey is a very experienced mother of five and grandmother of a bunch more. And so for the brief time that they're at the house, she makes sure that she feels very at home. There's nothing that can be done about the buzzing energy of all the various people running around... but there are muffins, freshly baked. And that counts for a lot! Evidently, she's counting on all of them to bring back a proper apple haul so that they can make a whole lot of pies.

Jean is in and out of the room, but only briefly: she also knows enough not to leave Rogue to flouner on her own too long, as friendly as her family may be. "What's the final count for everyone coming?" she wonders, when Sara finally marches the kids out. "Because I can't help but notice you've got a couple that aren't yours."

Sara, indeed, has wrangled more than her own kids. "Just me and Paul and all the youngsters, and Liam I think. Julia dropped her kids off but she's got a catering job, and we'll see Roger for Thaksgiving." The names are all probably too much to keep track of by a mile. Sara and a bunch of kids. Some of which are hers. Some of which aren't. Liam's the youngest brother, a pastor! He was at the cookout.

"You know Derry's coming this year, bet you two will get on. Could be sisters with those accents." This is mama Grey talking, to which Jean corrects: "She's from Mississippi mom, but close enough."

Rather than whisper, she thinks across an explaination: <<Niece. Lives in Texas. Don't think you've met her yet, but she's a riot. Closer to your age, too.>>

The chaos continues, all through the process of loading the kids. But they manage. And packed into two cars (Rogue and Jean fortunately just get Liam while Paul and Sara bring the kids), they're soon off on their way.

-----

New York has a lot of farms, and makes a shit-ton of apples.

For those who know that the state is more than the city, this isn't news. But even compared to Westchester (which is idyllic by comparison to its own southern neighbor), it gets rural fast as you go north, and that's very obvious on the drive out from the Grey family home to the particular Orchard. It could be hard to believe an area like this was within driving distance of New York City. And yet, there they are, passing wide fenced pastures, barns and grain silos, and of course, massive orchards with endless rows of fruited trees. Amidst such bounty, it's only a short drive to the particular place that's hosting the picking. They park in a dirt lot and pay the basic admission and are handed their baskets: at the end, they'll be charged by the half bushel for what they actually pick.

"So what's the strategy here?" Jean wonders, with a bit of a grin, looking between Rogue and her sister.

Rogue has posed:
Elaine gets the most attention from Rogue back at the house. She'd been happy to get to share a few words with Jean's mom, as she enjoyed her presence. Jean's family on the hole had a good feeling about them, one that Rogue did her best to try and reciprocate, though it's one of those moments where you internally wish that you had a drink... or something to take the edge off. It's funny how they can go from fighting alien creatures on a far away planet that looks like a giant fat person's head, to this.. and yet this still can cause nerves to raise up. But it does.

Rogue is a confident gal though, and she takes it in stride. She laughs at the bit about Texas being confused with where she's from, and just plays along with it even though she's never actually spent any time at all in Texas in any of her years of traveling around.

"We're gonna pick that apple place clean, with this kinda army inbound for its loot." She'd said mere moments before their caravan set out.

While traveling, Rogue tried to strike up a conversation with Liam too, as she knew every little interaction counted in the long run, and made people ease-up around you in-turn. Afterall, she's smart enough to know new people feel weird around you just as much as you might around them!

She even offered some of her pistachios she'd gotten at the gas station after they'd left the mansion earlier this morning.

"I'd like ta have a house like some'a these." Rogue comments as they pass by some of those lovely farm houses, completely unaware that Carol Danvers has one up here somewhere, and that they might have infact just driven right past it. Carol never invites Rogue over, if you can believe it!

Once they arrive at the orchard, Rogue walks along with Jean, her sunglasses back on over her eyes, and her white bangs flowing across her face in the perfectly temperatured wind. "What a day for this, really." Rogue even softly commented as she looked around at the pickings. "I'll get the ones up high." She jokes, knowing most of Jean's family probably doesn't even know she can fly, though some may actually know her from her exploits as 'Mighty Woman' prior to the firing this past summer.

"We gotta go to the least traveled places. Find the best ones that everyone else is too lazy ta venture out an' get." She declares, though she leans toward Jean and speaks softly. "I'm just gonna stand still an' let you fill up my basket, ya big ol' cheater." She teases, envisioning Jean just stripping the trees of all their apples with her mind alone.

That'd probably freak the locals out a bit though!

Jean Grey has posed:
Liam may actually be more Rogue's speed. First, the whole man of the cloth thing means he thankfully doesn't have a wife and kids to add to the long list of names she has to learn! So that's an improvement already. Plus, despite said profession, as the youngest brother and thus a bit closer to baby Jean, and very much has something of a 'cool pastor' vibe going. He's eloquent and poetic, charming and very easy to like. Maybe it's for the best they didn't let this one loose on the ladies!

And pistachios are a quick path to friendship!

At the orchard, there is a bit more organizational wrangling to do, various adults getting assigned to manage various youngsters in turn - because you can't REALLY just have five kids swarm a single tree like locusts and expect anything but a disaster. So they have to spread them out a bit. Paul and Liam are both putting in extra duty here, so that Sara can get a break. What good guys!

And so, her sister is free to hang out with them a bit and thus, to be impressed by Rogue's planning and strategy. "Oooh. She's a natural at this. I like it. We can try, I think the area on the other side of the barn over there? Probably gets less foot traffic, as most people are just gonna head for whatever's most obvious."

Jean is sold! "Sounds good to me." However, she laughs at the image Rogue paints, of apples just 'falling' into their grasp by the lucky coincidence of totally-not-her-powers. "Well, I _could_ do that," she agrees. "But they're charging us by what we pick, so it's hardly even cheating at that point. The farmers would probably be grateful to sell so much, so fast." She seems to weigh the option, and then looks toward her sister. "How much does mom need for her baking spree, you think? Could load the rest up in the car and haul them back to school, I guess. Should we bring some extra baskets?"

---

A bit later, they find themselves out along one of the many rows of trees. All talk of strategy aside, there is certainly no shortage here, and so they're free to pick to their hearts contents, really. However, some trees are a bit thinner on the lower branches, where the very literal low-hanging fruit has been the first to go.

At the given moment, Sara and Jean stand beneath one of them, looking upward. "That branch has a bunch," the older sister points out. Jean looks up thoughtfully. "But HOW to get them. They're SO far...." she complains, clearly teasing the sibling who is very much aware of her powers.

A moment later, she looks around to see where Rogue is presently in their apple hunt, and calls over. "Hey, come give me a lift!" Oh yes. She's not cheating herself, she's demanding Rogue cheat FOR her. Complete with lifted arms in a very obvious 'up!' gesture

Rogue has posed:
Rogue has her basket in hands when she hears the suggestion of where to go. This, of course, draws her eyes to the indicated barn area where she starts to grin almost instantly. She starts to walk along with Jean and Sarah, quietly commenting when they get away from the guys and kids. "The far side'a the barn. That's where trouble happens back where I come from." She states, having to ever be that kind of lecherous humor provider.

She continues to just roam her eyes around the orchard, taking in the ambience of it. "God this place is like outta some kinda picture book. I feel like I'm unworthy'a bein' here. Like the place is judgin' me, labelin' me some kinda word, or phrase that is absolutely unbecomin' and unlady-like..." She further idly tosses out before the trio is in their far off spot. Rogue ends up passing by an old tractor that she spends a few moments inspecting to figure out if its just decor, or actually legit.

"Yep. Just decor." She finally states, before hearing Jean asking for her assistance. Grabbing a few low hanging apples that look like those Honeycrisp ones from the store that she adores, Rogue drops them in her basket and approaches the sisters with a grin. "My time ta shine, huh?" She asks, setting her basket down on the soft grass between the rows of trees. "Alright, lets see..." She says, glancing over to Sarah. "She's so high maintenance, this one." She tells the other with a grin before she is right up there behind Jean. "Hold still now, Sugah. Stop that squirmin' ya do..."

Rogue embraces Jean from behind then, arms wrapped around her stomach to just lean in to her from behind. "Here we go... Get that basket ready now..." She says in a playful whisper to Jean's right ear through her red hair.

The southern gal easily lifts up in to the air, and takes the other flyer up with her, right up to the branch loaded with apples. "It's like ya never even flown before..." She says in a soft voice, a grin crossing her facial features over Jean's shoulder. After a second of hovering, Rogue calls down.

"You're next, Sarah. Get your flight jitters outta your system!"

Jean Grey has posed:
"It's where trouble happens here too," Sara advises Rogue. It seems that barns are universal in their implication! Just like high school bleechers. "Jeannie skipped out on most of that, what with her fancy school, but its still a fine tradition in these parts. I wasn't always Mrs. Grey-Bailey, you know."

Somewhere else, Paul scratches his neck.

"Oh yeah, my oh-so-fancy school where definitely nothing like that -ever- happened. No funny business with a bunch of adolescents with a tendency to get superpowers at the same time they get tits and zits," Jean shoots back, rolling her eyes. "It's still like that, now that I'm in charge. So boring and tame. I've definitely never had to hold a faculty meeting about what to do with a lesbian vampire couple." This sort of banter is frequent between the two of them!

All of this chatter is put aside, of course, as Jean calls upon Rogue for this assist. It is terribly silly, cheeky, and intentional cute, but they're out here having fun and why not. And experienced flyer or not, she doesn't hesitate to let out a suitably high-pitched "Wheeeee!" as the other woman carries her into the air. It's all she can do to quickly grab and balance a basket on the way up, and even then, she goes about it the old fashioned way, grabbing a few choice looking apples with her hand and tossing them into the basket one by one. It'd go faster the other way, but that's... obviously not the point!

"Ugh, you two are too adorable," Sara calls from below. However, it isn't long that she's allowed to maintain this air of 'get a room' before she too is put in the crosshairs. "W-wait, what? No no, I'm fine down-"

"Yeah, get her!" calls Jean, now quite enthused with the idea.

Rogue has posed:
"Come on now, Sarah. What happens behind the barn stays behind the barn." Rogue calls out down to Jean's sister, playing around of course, and her expression shows it. Over the next few minutes, Rogue starts to narrate Jean's motions while picking apples, sharing her opinion on each choice, and whether or not she personally believes that they were quality picks. She keeps the embrace going too, floating around the tree as the duo begin to strip it clean of its best apples from high above. After some of the playful comments subside, Rogue just grins. "We do need to take home at least a couple baskets. Apple pie is my favorite kind, after all. Especially apple cherry." She adds as Jean cleans up the last few up high on this particular tree.

Rogue peering over the redhead's shoulder to see how she's doing on filling that basket up. "Gotta say, Headmistress. Your apples are lookin' mighty tastey." She says with a grin before giving the other woman a soft peck on the cheek.

The duo begin a gentle glide back down toward the earth below, back down toward where Sarah is picking her own off the ground level branches, until their feet touch down on the grass and Rogue gives Jean's stomach a few strokes and pats before she steps back and crouches down to pick up her basket with the three lonesome apples rolling around inside it.

"Must be a Hell of a life t'own a place like this, an' get ta let people pay ya ta come an' clean up your trees every year..." She says with a slight romantic sigh escaping between her lips as she rises up again, casting some of her two-toned hair out of her face as she turns around to stare at the sisters.

"Sarah. You ready t'fly yet?" She asks, grinning at the older Grey, because she is EVER the tease!

Jean Grey has posed:
"What's wrong with this one?!" The commentary track definitely adds a bit of levity to the whole thing. Still, with all the joking around aside, and even taking this considerably less efficient method of flying Jean around into account, Jean is still picking them at a rate that it would be hard for most people who cannot in fact fly to match! Sure, the farm has various solutions of its own - you can get apple-picker tools that are a little kind of grabber basket on a stick, for instance - but none of that is quite going to match up with full 3D maneuverability.

As for her 'tasty apples'? That comment provokes just a bit of a wiggle-shake in the other woman's arms.

"May as well." Ultimately, Jean agrees on the quantity. "Even charging folks for the privilege of doing their work, it's still better than the store price by a good bit, so it makes sense to stock up. Especially since I've got you to carry them." A bushel of apples is, in fact, reasonably heavy, as well as being large and unwieldy. Not unmangable for the average person... one at a time, but awkward or outright too heavy beyond that. So that's another advantage they have over most people out here!

"Oof. Yeah, this one is about done, I think. Take me down!" And soon, verily, Rogue does just that!

Jean leeeeeans forward to set her own full basket down, giving a light 'oof' as she deposits the forty-something pound load without any cheating whatsoever! When it's down, she gives a last little wiggle of her backside, and straightens up, grinning. Sara, meanwhile, does look nervous. "Uh, you really don't have to! I think I see some good ones over there, could probably get them from the ground just fine..."

"C'mon, sis, don't be chicken." This is some VERY universal sibling behavior! Dares and light bullying! "You can clear another tree in no time, and I'll, uh, supervize from down here! Help you spot the best ones."

At length, Sara sighs and gives in. "Fiine. But after this, we oughtta go back and check on the others. The kids'll probably tire out early, and I promised them they could see the animals after." Running petting zoos alongside the picking is not uncommon for these kind of operations, precisely to keep youngsters who might not have the tolerance for a lot of physical labor entertained.

Rogue has posed:
In truth Rogue had only been joking about taking Sarah up. But when the sisters seem to hash it out, she just grins and steps toward Sarah. "Ya probably haven't done a lotta flyin' before, it'll be fun." She says, exchanging baskets with her. "Here. Mine is more empty, we can hand this one off ta Jean so she can fill the resta yours up down here."

Once exchanged, Rogue looks skyward again toward the top of another tree that seems like it has been completely untouched. On the opposite side of the lane from the one that she and Jean had been picking. She nods up toward it. "That one should do." She says, smiling down to Sarah again. "Lets do this." She states.

Rogue engages Sarah in a similar embrace to what she'd done to Jean, but one noticeably less... personal. She doesn't want to make Jean's sister feel totally weirded out, but at the same time Sarah can't fly, so Rogue has to be a little more cautious with her.

With a grin cast over her shoulder at Jean, the duo lifts up in to the air. Rogue focuses back on Sarah then as they rise, rise, and rise up past branches. "Oh, get that one." Rogue says on the way up, seeing a big fella dangling from one of the branches that they're gliding past.

Once they're up there, Jean is left on the ground to only hear mumbled words, muffled by the distance. Rogue and Sarah spend some time just chatting with each other, each one asking the other questions as they get to know each other a bit better.

Naturally though, Rogue is making jokes too, and laughter can be heard coming down from the tree top, as well as Jean's name being mentioned more than a few times, the names always carrying further than the other words when it's your own name being spoken!

Of course Jean could spy on the conversation if she wanted, but she'd never do that!

It takes about 10 minutes, a little longer than Jean and Rogue had been, but that'd make sense since Sarah is a little less comfortable doing weird stuff like this than Jean and Rogue are, the two doing weird things professionally.

They make it back down though, and Rogue takes the basket from Sarah, sharing another little joke at whatever the two were talking about, before she hangs the basket at her side, holding it by its handle and moving to crouch down to pick up Jean's first filled load. Eighty pounds of apples is still like lifting a single Klennex tissue to Rogue.

"Think we're good here?" She ask the two redheads. "Should we go check on the Brood now?" She inquires, stepping back toward that lawn decoration tractor near the edge of the pathway leading back around the barn.

She also happens to end up near Jean, and when they get a moment she has to share a story that Sarah had informed her of. "Started a fire in the kitchen that nearly burned the whole house down, huh? Oh the irony..."

Siblings always share the most embarrassing story they can think of about each other.

Jean Grey has posed:
Jean would never! Besides, the whole thing, there is a real point to it. She wants Rogue to be comfortable with these people, to get to know them well enough that she won't feel out of place in the center of what is often a chaotic ginger hurricane of a family.

The proof of her not-spying is her shock and outrage at sibling revenge story. "Hey, I was only nine-"

"-ten!" shouts Sara.

----

Once they meet back up, Sara returns the earlier favor and reclaims the gaggle of kids from the menfolk. They've definitely worn themselves out on the novelty of the repetitive apple picking, but perk right up at mention of getting to see the animals. It's a reliable win, cheap cuteness!

While Sara has the kids, it gives the rest of them time to do a little more picking, in case they really want that big haul. And a chance for Rogue to hang out with Liam and Paul. No 'cheating' this time around, as Jean tends to be a little more circumspect with the in-laws. Still, they can finish filling out a couple more baskets that the kids had only started, before making their way back.

At that point, all that's left is logistics. They have to haul all their bushel baskets to a stand near the exit back to the parking lot. It ends up being a couple hundred bucks (with the bulk of that being Xavier's tab, since mama Elaine doesn't need THAT many pies...), and the attendant is visibly surprised that the group has managed the haul they have. But it's a good sale! Definitely no hard feelings.

All the while, to there and beyond to the cars, Liam and Paul put on a good show of helping haul everything. They're not going to let a little detail like the two women being incredible powerhouses dampen their chivalry. Plus not even Rogue can manage them all at once, more for the... leaning tower type tower-of-baskets that would be needed, than for their weight! They're loading the last when Sara arrives with the kids.

Soon, they're back on the road, the kids napping in the second car. Dinner's set for a little later, and since it's the weekend, the plan is to stay over the night before driving back to Westchester in the morning, perhaps with some extra sightseeing along the way.