16242/Gone Home

Gone Home
Date of Scene:	03 November 2023
Location:	Vermont
Synopsis:	Rogue comes to Vermont to pick up syrup. Also Logan.
Cast of Characters:	Logan Howlett, Rogue

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Logan Howlett has posed:
Logan was in Vermont, that much could be gleaned from things like investigations with Cerebro, tracking, and a notice that a car matching the description of his pick-up had been sold in the Burlington area. A little poking around would lead to a quaint little bed and breakfast out in the woods. The owner had seen Logan, yes, but he'd left on foot through the woods a few days prior.

And that's where he is now.

When he's not camping or foraging for food, he's moving through the forest in a general northerly direction. He's not keeping to the paths, instead making his own, though he passes through the occasional clearing that means he's not completely obscured.

He has his duffelbag slung over one shoulder. No sign of tent or sleeping bag. He's roughing it even in the Fall chill.

Rogue has posed:
For someone who can fly, you'd think they'd prefer doing that rather than spending hours in a car. But you'd be wrong. Flying got old, which lead to flying poorly, and having nothing around you to keep you out of the elements. A car just made it better to store your candies and chips in, let alone cofffee and... your dog.

Rogue had borrowed a truck from a friend in Salem Center, exchanging it for her classic Dodge, which the guy was more than willing to use to go around 'picking up chicks' with. A good and ffair trade!

The black ffour-by-four spent some time traveling around the nearest town, Rogue talking to some of the locals about where she might find Logan, and eventually she ended up out here, her truck trundling down a nearby road.

The engine was cut, and the Belle stepped out of the truck's interior. She popped open the back cab side door, and soon to follow her was a yellow lab wagging his tail rapidly as he jumped down to the dirt road. Wearing a pair of aviators that match each other, both Rogue and dog now look around at the natural beauty of the American state of Vermont... "It's beautiful." Rogue quietly says.

Jeepers lifts a leg and starts peeing on a bush.

Logan Howlett has posed:
Logan may be far from the road, but not so far that he can't be reached on foot. It wouldn't take Rogue and Jeepers all that long to find him, especially with the help of the young man's keen doggy nose, and not long either for Logan to pick up the sound and scent of them himself.

So, a while later, Logan emerges from the woods by Rogue and Jeepers. His beard has grown in and he appears more shabby and rough than usual. He squints at the pair, clearing his throat.

"First Rien, now you. You're a persistent bunch, huh?"

Rogue has posed:
Rogue and Jeepers ventured down a forest pathway, following a tip of a nearby local resident who said they'd seen Logan coming and going from this point of the woodlands. Dressed in her leather jacket, with a black and green flannel shirt worn underneath it, a pair of blue jeans and leather boots, Rogue looked somewhat city and somewhat rural. Jeepers had his camo vest on with survival supplies in the pockets along the sides, as the pair walked down the overgrown trail.

Jeepers' tail was already wagging before Logan even emerged, and with his big brown eyes locked on the direction that Logan suddenly appeared from, Rogue soon followed to stare at him.

She smiled. "Well hey there, Burly Woodcutter. Rien?" She asks. "Oh, right, I remember her. She found ya too?"

Jeepers lets out an excited bark, his tail still going a mile a minute as he nasaly inspected Logan as close as he could get to him.

"It's only a few hours to get up here, I was in the neighborhood." She lied, she'd been sent here to check on him!

Logan Howlett has posed:
"Never known you to go for casual drives out of state," Logan answers, appraising Rogue with a critical eye, "Least not without a lot of proddin' and more Cajun influence behind it."

The burly woodcutter crouches to pet Jeepers, roughing him up about the head in that way dogs love. As he does, he looks up at the Belle.

"Wanna tell me the real reason? Someone's worried about me? More likely, someone needs somethin' sliced up and doesn't want to worry about the person doin' the slicin' gettin' hurt. Am I warm?"

Rogue has posed:
Jeepers does as a excited, and friendly dog, would. He just gets more excited when Logan engages with him, slobbering and happily pawing at the man before him. Gnaw gnaw gnaw! His aviators even get bumped a bit awkwardly over his eyes.

Rogue grins softly at them both, but her green eyes focus on Logan, and his question. She shrugs her shoulders. "The Professah suggested it. I brought it up though. I was wonderin' iff anyone knew where you were. Asked some'a the students, that Brit included. She said you'd peaced out a bit back. It's not as much fun at the trainin' sessions without ya."

She glances back behind her shoulder, the direction that she and Jeepers had come from, then she looks back to Logan. "People like havin' ya around, ya know?" She asks, quietly adding. "They feel safer when you're there."

She casts a look around the immediate forested area. "You built a cabin out here already, I take it?" She asks.

Logan Howlett has posed:
"Not stayin' here," Logan answers, shaking his head and finally rising back to his feet after he's given Jeepers a suitable welcome, "Goin' north. Back to Canada. Then west once I'm there. Cold Lake. Maybe that's where I'll build my cabin."

Rogue's words cause him to frown deeply behind his beard, thick arms crossed defensively over his chest as he leans up against the gnarled trunk of a maple tree.

"Was a time I thought folks needed me around. To help show 'em how to deal with the monsters livin' under their beds. You were one of 'em, remember? But you don't need that anymore. Jubes neither. Rhona can look after herself better'n most."

"Don't think teachin' is what I should be doing. I'm not a teacher."

Rogue has posed:
At first, as he responds to her, Rogue is just looking around the forest, her aviators resting up on her white bangs atop her brow. But it is what he says that draws her attention back on to him fully, when he suggests he's not a teacher. Slowly she smirks at him, and just gently nods her head a few small times...

"The teachin' thing is just a cover anyhow. You're there cause you're a big tough guy, and mosta these kids need that kinda presence in their lives. Like I said, people feel safer with ya around. But, I get it. It's hard for me too, ya know?"

She huffs out a exhale in the crisp autumn air between them. "I thought I'd be a wanderer in life too. I still wanna cut loose, get out there and see the world. But, I dunno. I like havin' a home too. A real one. Even if it is full of annoying fat kids, and a buncha adults with more problems than they got hairs on their heads..."

Jeepers stares at a nearby tree where a squirrel is running around a branch, gathering nuts for the winter most likely.

"Well. I was told to bring ya back. But I ain't gonna fight ya over it either. Ya know I'm in debt to ya, even after all these years, yeah?"

Logan Howlett has posed:
"Like their pappy? Hell, I've never been a good father to my own kids. Not sure how I was ever expected to be that for someone else's."

He lets out a sigh, reaching up a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose. Where Logan normally looks reserved and defensive, for the first time in a long time he now looks worn. He may not know how old he is, but to look at it now it could be the weight of centuries weighing down on him.

"You don't owe me nothin'. Nothin' worse than livin' in debt, kid."

He follows Jeepers' gaze to the squirrel.

"They told you to bring me back. What do you think I oughta do?"

Rogue has posed:
Rogue holds on to Jeepers leather leash, the dog now moving on to looking at something behind Rogue, sniffing at the edge of the trail where a deer likely ran by this morning. Rogue switches the leash from her right gloved hand to her left, as she listens to his response. It garners a light grin from her as she looks toward the north, then back toward him. "I feel like you mostly just listen to the 'Call of the Wild.'" She calmly says back at him, before her shoulders shrug inside of her leather bomber jacket, marked with those X's on the apex of either shoulder.

"Chasin' happiness. That's what we're all doin, ultimately, right? If your happiness is at the end'a that path you said you were gonna step out onta, then... maybe that's what ya should do. Buuuuuut... if you're happiness is in that overly packed mansion in Westchester, well... it's almost Thanksgivi', ya know. That means turkey and cigars with the Professah out on the patio. You seem happy every time I've seen ya doin' that."

Jeepers snuffs at a rock sitting off the side of the pathway, then hacks out a cough.

Logan Howlett has posed:
Logan seems to consider what Rogue is saying for a long time. He doesn't respond. He keeps his arms crossed over his chest, his eyes staring past her at something that seems like it might as well be a million miles away. Enough time passes that, had they not known each other so long, one or the other might be compelled to fill the silence with words.

Finally, Logan speaks with a voice that is unusually thick.

"Figure you didn't fly too far since you've got the man with you."

He gestures towards the woods.

"Lead the way."

Rogue has posed:
Rogue knows Logan well enough to know that he often lives inside his own head, his true 'log cabin' is somewhere inside there! She glances around the woods, a fan of the wilderness herself... maybe not as much as him though. When he talks, she looks back to him, a slow smile showing on her pretty facial features. She nods once toward him before slapping the end of the leather dog leash in to the palm of her right hand. "I brought a friend's truck. Gas mileage sucks, but I didn't know how hard it'd be t'find ya. Rhona offered her Tesla, but ... those things still give me a weird feelin. I prefer gas vehicles." She sparkles with a little grin before she nods with her chin upward past his shoulder. "You don't got nothin' you need to pick up?" She asks, as she starts to turn back the way they'd come from, giving a gentle tug to the leash, but Jeepers is already moving just at the gesture of her legs keying him in to the plan.

"We can stop somewhere an' get some food too. You know I love me some roadside diner food." She says with that continued grin back over her shoulder toward him.

Logan Howlett has posed:
"Nope, carryin' everything with me," Logan answers flatly, patting the duffel bag he wears over his shoulder, "And if we're gonna stop, I need to pick up a razor. This beard's itchin' the bejesus outta me."

He noisily scratches the underside of his chin, as if to make his point.

"So, what else is new besides bein' sent on a rescue mission?"

Rogue has posed:
As they fall in line together side by side on the pathway, with Jeepers trotting along ahead of them, Rogue looks over at him when he speaks of his facial hair growth. She grins at it, "I like it." She notes with a little nod of her head. "But I saw a general store in town. Jean wanted me to pick up some syrup too. In fact..." She digs in to the right pocket of her leather jacket and pulls out a rolled up slip of paper that she hands over to Logan.

On it, there is a list written down...

Pick Up:
Logan
Syrup

She smiles at him as a forest wind brushes her white locks across her face, causing her to shift her chin to push the strands aside, her hand chasing them behind an ear. "Extensive list, I know>" She softly says as they head down the sloped decline back toward the mouth of the woods.