16928/La vie, c'est Paris... et la morte aussi

La vie, c'est Paris... et la morte aussi
Date of Scene:	15 January 2024
Location:	Rogue's Bedroom
Synopsis:	A day playing tourist mixes joie de vivre with a touch of the morbid and contemplative.
Cast of Characters:	Jean Grey, Rogue

---

Jean Grey has posed:
After enjoying a rather sumptuous and decadent night at their fancy hooker (themed) hotel, the following morning comes with the most essential of conundrums: the desire to remain forever in such a luxurious, welcoming, comfy bed versus the need to get out bright and early to work in all the busy-business of touristing.

Fortunately, hard-working Headmistress-y lady that she is, Jean is pretty good about keeping early mornings and being productive on a schedule, vigilant against procrastination. Although the hotel has its lush bar and serves coffee and the essentials, the concierge recommends a cafe down the street for the authentic breakfast experience. It is precisely what everyone thinks of when they think of Paris, with the warm fresh-made pastries of delicate and buttery goodness.

After that, the day begins in earnest. Jean has something of an itinerary (which she may have researched online from various sources), with the major sites planned. The much-compressed two day version has them doing the Ile de la Cite and its surrounding historical area on day one, saving the afternoon for the Louvre and then the Eiffel Tower after that, as the twilight-turning-night views are supposedly the most breathtaking way to enjoy it.

But! That means the early part of the day is a fairly loose stroll, one where they're free to enjoy simply walking through the historical city. Rather than immediately touring the sights along the Seine - Notre Dame, the bridges, all the MOST known stuff - they go a bit further east first. Here, there's a happy accident: Jean wants to the Place de la Bastille monument (she likes all that historical stuff!). But the square surrounding it is also the starting point of another sight that Jean had missed in her research but Rogue had helpfully suggested: the Coulee Verte Rene-Dumont.

Alternately The Promenade Plantee, it is a walkable raised garden that runs further southeast from the large open square. Built on old abandonned raised rail infrastructure, the top has been converted to a long green belt, a line-shaped garden divided by reflecting pools and planters, while the arches below have been filled in with many small shops. Along the way, it passes through enclosed tunnels, between buildings, and provides many other unique views of the city.

Rogue has posed:
Many might jump to the conclusion that Rogue was the type of person who would sleep in, or just generally be a bed bug. And there might be some truth to that, but that part of her mind was beaten in to submission when she took in Carol Danvers' persona. Danvers had worked Rogue in to a freaking machine, so to speak, in a lot of ways. One of them was Rogue barely needed any sleep. She could perform at high function on four hours of sleep, and thusly she was often one of the first people awake in Xaviers mansion back home. She was always one of the first in the locker rooms prior to Danger Room training sessions in the wee hours of the morning, and today? She was already awake when Jean stirred. She'd been in bed, reading the screen of a tablet computer and eating an apple from a bowl of fruit on the table. "I got plans." Had been her first words to the redhead upon knowing she'd awoken, and they'd been followed with a wicked smile. And an apple crunch bite.

The cafe had been enjoyed, with Rogue speaking fluently to the wait staff, and to the couple beside their table. She'd always been better at speaking French, rather than reading it, but in the past five or so years she'd really improved her ability to read it too.

She had images of the locales she wanted to visit, ones 'off the beaten track', which included this unique garden and even a cemetery, not to mention those damn infamous catacombs. Rogue had a dark side, a Goth side, even if Carol Danvers had beaten that down out of her too, way back when... much to the chagrin of the redhead with her today!

"I'm lovin' this." The American southern Belle says as she sweeps her way around one of the reflecting pools, hustling over to one of the viewing areas to look out over the city. Her two toned hair flowing behind her shoulders, as she holds on to the railing, her green eyes blinking rapidly in the wind, before she looks back to Jean, squinting her eyes a bit in the sunlight. "How about we move Xaviers School here? You're in charge, we can tell the old man what is and isn't, right?"She asks the other, grinning with a happy energy about her spirit.

Jean Grey has posed:
"You better be!" is Jean's prompt, joke-y reply as they find a moment to pause amidst the walk and enjoy the view off the raised parkway. Of course, there's plenty to see: the most common are just the classic Paris-style rooftops of so many six story buildings, with their distinct architecture, many small balconies, window turrets, and the like. Although these aren't ancient structures like the Cathedrals, everything has that distinct 'Old World' feeling, where it is just a bit more storied. Glimpses between the buildings where major streets cross the greenway allow glimpses of the river, which they more-or-less parallel for much of the distance. A view further southesat than they're going proves that not ALL Paris is old, however, as they get glimpses of a modern concert arena in the distance.

As for moving Xaviers across the pond? "Think they'd let us use a spare palace? I hear they have a few of those around here."

A nice feature of the raised garden is that there are also plenty of little staricases down (and in rarer cases, newer elevators, made to provide more accessible routes). But these let you get down to street-level at any point, to enjoy the little shops, art stands, cafes, and other cultural entities built into the arches. While there's too many to really see them all, they do check out a row of them when they finally make it back down, near a boring and old-fashioned on the ground park that the raised one runs through. Jean, of course, wants to look at a few trendy little boutiques: in a city like Paris, it's easy for the fashion bug to bite her, and remind her of other days!

They lose a little time there, but Jean has diversions baked into the schedule. Here, she seems to take special glee in getting Rogue to help her talk to the salesgirl, since it forces her to translate fashion-y chit-chat. "Fashion week here is next month, ask her what she thinks is going to be trending..." Poor Rogue!

All the same, that marks the end of the greenway. After departiing, they cut back a ways, cross another historic bridge across the Seine (there are... so many!). On the south bank, there's another huge green space - a proper botanical garden, although they have to skip this one for any more than the glimpses from the street allow. Because their next destination is Rogue's big pick: the city of the dead!

Rogue has posed:
Rogue hadn't been taking a lot of pics with her phone. She'd taken some, yes, but not the amount that a person of her age might. She was doing it to further avoid having her face in her device rather than in the moment. That is not to say that there are not a number of pics of she and Jean popping up on her social media, many of which are instantly responded to by her father with a picture of him and Jeepers, eating ice cream, watching cowboy movies, or picking up chicks in the park... his words!

The fashion boutiques were something Rogue may not be in to quite as much as Jean, but she did buy herself a fancy black leather jacket, that she was now adorned in, and happily so! The sights were energy to the Mississippi native, who had memories of her mother telling her all about Paris in bedtime stories, back in yonder years of the mid 2ks.

When it came time to go to the most dank element of their trip, Rogue had a evil grin cross her face. She'd been telling Jean stories all about it on the way there. "There was a famous case of a man who got completely lost inside them, and was eventually found /dead/ only two turns away from the stairs out of the damnable place!" She exclaimed over one such story. "Teenagers use it for sex too." She exclaimed in another story. "Six million dead people, and who knows how many dead other things..." She also said during her very knowledged explanation of it all.

When they arrived, though, Rogue checked her phone several times. "Tours. Ugh. Of course its tours. Where is the fear'a gettin' lost in a spooky dungeon if you're on a tour?" She muttered while angrily tapping her phone to try and find solo exploration options. In the end, though, with time of the essence, she gave in and signed up for one of the sight seeing tours to take them through the more 'safe' sides of the tunnels. Naturally, it was all guided by a French speaking guide, but Rogue was quick to translate anything Jean needed to hear, until the guide himself noted the Americans, and with a sly smile of romantic undertones toward Jean, he began to speak in a suave English for her. this only managed to earn big grins from Rogue, as the guide had a cliche little mustache, and a fancy old world uniform on.

In the end, Rogue's focus was on the catacombs mostly, her eyes going wide at the sight of the deceased remains, and the stories that the flirtatious guide was eager to tell the two women.

Jean Grey has posed:
Jean has a very deadpan response: "Teenagers use everywhere for sex. Normal graveyards too." Is that general knowledge or personal experience?

The catacombs definitely have that creepy vibe still, no matter how much they have been popularized, how many more people visit them now. Yes, there is a whole production where they're selling entry tickets and tour packages of various sorts, for individuals and groups of all sizes. But on the "bright" side? There is also plentiful signage warning people about all the stairs, against heart conditions, etc. It's probably purely physical, but easy to imagine they're warning people away who might be easily scared to death!

"I don't mind!" she reassures Rogue, sensing that she's a bit disappointed that they, too, will not have the chance to get so lost in this place that they literally die. "I'm sure they'll have a lot of good historical info, about interesting people buried down here, the different stages of use, all of that." They do, in fact, have plenty of information of this sort. "Oh it was originally a quarry, and then they moved all the overflowing cemetaries here? Fascinating!" All eagerly preesented by their very 'enthusiastic' guide.

At some point, when they've stopped in a larger chamber with some kind of lamp at the center (and walls made of thousands of bones! wow!), the group spreads out a bit, giving them a moment away from the guide, wherein Jean sneaks in closer so they can quietly chitchat (see? she coulda just 'thought' it across, but she's playing tourist!). But what she says is a reminder of what she's avoiding: "Wow his thoughts are -super- dirty. 'I need to concentrate and filter harder'-level dirty. Forget teenagers, -he's- done it down here."

Sex and death, always a popular pair. And the French really go in on it!

Rogue has posed:
Rogue was actually recording some of this with her phone, breaking her own rule to not overly use it. She was doing it because she wanted to show it to several people when they got home, like Ellie. Ellie would love this place, right? Nevertheless, Jean approached, and confided in Rogue the dirty thoughts of their tour guide, and it caused the Belle to openly laugh loudly, garnering the attention of some of the others gathered around. Rogue showed some of them a flirty smile of her own before she looked back over her shoulder at the Guide, then over to Jean. She leaned over to her, shoulder to shoulder. "Want to ask him for a private tour tonight? Then jump him, and leave him down here in his undapants?" She asks, keeping her voice sultry, and low. She sparkles a grin before her green eyes go back to the wall of the dead.

"I don't wanna end up in a place like this when I'm done for." She says softly. "I wanna end up somewhere with green grass, a tall tree, and maybe a view of a lake... with lil birdies fluttering around all the time. I kinda feel super bad for the people who ended up here, whoever they were..." She states, with a more somber tone to her Mississippi Magnolia voice.

With a little exhale, she shut her phone off, and slipped it back in to a pocket on her jacket. She turned then toward Jean, and took one of her hands, offering it a firm squeeze. "Don't let me end up in a place like this, okay?" She asks, grinning again.

'Pierre', as Rogue has called him, appears beside the two women. He speaks with a grin of his own, and a heavily accented voice. "Are you two well?" He questions, his blue eyes bouncing from one of them to the other. "Should you wish it, we have more tours available later tonight, that I shall be in charge of. I can show you the best places that most do not get to see."

Rogue swept her eyes from 'Pierre' to Jean, her dark eyebrows raising up, a super huge happy expression appearing on her face. She mouths 'Undapants' to Jean, giving her hand another squeeze!

Jean Grey has posed:
"Oh yeah, she'd love it down here." There's no doubt that some of their spookier or just simply more edgy students would quite enjoy the whole thing. "The whole city would make a great field trip. So much history, art, culture... of course, if I told them that, they'd probably be way less enthusiastic about it." Darn contrary kids!

However, while she can think back to the school and their various current and former students, with all the mischief they're capable of and simply smile at the thought, the image Rogue conjures for her about their tour guide, spoken at such close, intimate proximity... causes her to sputter in an attempt not to laught out loud more plainly. And she really has to be careful, because the whole bone-lined underground sepulcher thing makes for quite an echo! So she covers her mouth, half coughing to keep in the laughs.

She's still recovering a bit as Rogue's thoughts turn to more morbid topics, and the whiplash from one to the other has her looking over in surprise, once she has her wits again. One might say, it's nothing the two of them should have any reason to think about. But Jean's already BEEN dead, at least in some sense of it. So maybe it isn't quite so distant a thing. Maybe it's a little more real, for them. She squeezes back on Rogue's hand, before matching her own final grin with a shift to something more joking: "Don't worry, we'll just find a spot in the back yard."

No doubt Pierre is quite lost as to what the women might be chatting about, in his own single-minded interest. Oh, you better believe she can already get a preview of what his 'late night tours' are like! With that in mind, it's a little too much as Rogue mouths that word back at her, and this time, she loses out the battle of wills.

Elsewhere in the catacombs, the sound of distant, echoing laughter gives another tour group the chills!

----

Later, they've emerged again, the tour having concluded with minimal further damage to poor Pierre's pride, assuaged by some vague promises that they'll 'definitely' be back. "Oh god," Jean exclaims, once they're finally away and she doesn't have to hold it in. "You know, he tries that with every tour. And people are into it enough that one out of every dozen groups or two, he manages to find a taker. I think we must have looked like the jackpot of his lifetime."

Free of the catacombs, they resume their journey through the city. There's a LOT more on their plate, including some of the biggest ticket items, as they turn back north, walking past the Luxumbourg Palace and its own extensive gardens, to return to the banks of the Seine just across from the island and the sight of Notre Dame. Crossing on the famous Pont Neuf bridge, they have a while to enjoy the sights of the river, its many scenic crossings as featured in a gajillion movies, and the cathedral itself.

By now, it's about mid-day. Much of what's planned now is the time it will take them to manage the Louvre, which is no doubt far more crowded than even their last ticketed destination. But before then? "We should get lunch before we start. I wanna do the whole famous bread and cheese and wine thing... although it's a little chilly to do a proper picnic. What do you think?"

Rogue has posed:
"More power to him, I say." Rogue had responded with regard to their randy French tour guide. "If that is somethin' people wanna do, I guess it makes sense. Like, those people who go tour the Japanese forests where the people do the... sad stuff. Though I dunno if the two things are comparable, really." She'd stopped talking after that, and instead just moved on to enjoy the rest of the tour, before smiling to 'Pierre' and giving hima flirty wave when they left.

Ellie did get a text with pictures from the tour, though, and Rogue had laughed at the thought of a school field trip here. "They'd all just complain, ya know it, I know it." She fired back.

Once they'd reached that famous bridge, with the view of Notre Dame, Rogue simply gazed upon it. She brushed some of her white bangs from her face, and glanced over at Jean. "Ya know, I heard some gaming studio helped rebuild it after the fire. Because they had all these huge scans of the place prior to it catchin' flames. What a lucky thing that was, for an otherwise unlucky situation. havin' full blown computer scans of a place, t'make rebuildin' it that much more accurate to how it'd been before the damn inferno." She took a few pictures of it too before her phone was slipped away again.

"I took a virtual tour of the Louvre about a year ago, so I feel like I've already seen it. But, that shouldn't stop us from seein' it for real." She told Jean between thumb swipes that took her aross their travel itinerary. "There's a show playin in a little Chinese Pagoda too, it plays late, I think we could make it there in time. I dunno what it is, it's just some local movie. I dunno if it even has subtitles, but I'll tell ya everythin' they're sayin' if ya'd like." She said with a big grin, whilst pulling a little cap from her head and pulling it down over her two-toned hair. "I'm okay with the chill, a picnic in Paris is definitely somthin' I can handle a bit'a cold for. We just gotta get warm drinks, and we'll be golden."

Jean Grey has posed:
For a moment, Jean turns around to rest her butt against the railing of the bridge, facing backward toward the isle and the cathedral, with her red hair whipping briefly in the wind. The view is still impressive, even with all the extra scaffolding. She looks contemplative. "Oh I think - was that from the one where you're some kind of time traveling assassin, right?" She laughs at the absurdity of it (despite the absurdity of her own real life!) "But that's really lucky. Just another wild thing about the world we live in, I guess. How they built things then... versus the technology we have to try and preserve it now."

As for the museum? She looks as Rogue as if she's Ellie. "The virtual tour? You heathen. You philistine." Then a laugh, light and airy. "I know, it's probably... not a whole lot more to see, and the lines and everything. But I don't know. It just feels like a thing you have to do, you know? One of those bucket list things." The last bit fits the gloomy, morbid tone that has persisted since the necropolis. "As a human being. You know, in all the universe, full of stars and planets and crazy bugs and bird aliens, it's still something... unique and important." Is she baiting Rogue to get into conspiracy theories about if it's even the real one?!

Regardless, the plan is set. And it includes grabbing a bite before they go. This they can enjoy the little triangular spit of land at the tip of the isle past the bridge. Its a popular informal hangout place, even though it lacks in real seating- just people sitting on the bare cobblestones under the large tree with their legs dangling out over the water. Some hot coffee has replaced the wine - though they bought a bottle of that too, for 'later.' It's less busy in the winter, but they're not the only brave ones down there. Nice place for a nibble!

---

The Museum is as expected. Incredibly busy, and yet, at least to Jean, clearly still worth it. When she gets to 'the spot,' she stands there several minutes in pure silence, holding hands. Meditating, maybe, on beauty, on time.

---

Later, Jean is chatting as they put the glass pyramid in their rear view and set their sights on their last big stop. "It's not far, actually, it's basically on the way from here to the tower. Though we ought to go after, since we're trying to time this for the light." It's another happy coincidence of the compact nature of the city, that this random place is hardly out of their way. "We'll see whatever's playing, I guess. I wanted to take you for a show near the hotel, but we can do that tomorrow night. Feels like we'll be a way more free, after getting all these big-ticket items off the list."

Speaking of. There it is. The biggest of the big ticket tourist destinations, rising ahead of them, a towering latticework of iron. Again, Jean takes Rogue's hand. "C'mon. Last big tourist line!"

Rogue has posed:
At the river, with the coffee, and the nibble food, Rogue had whipped out a poetry book and read off a selection of specific poems in French. She'd had her favorites selected, and whilst taking sips, and little bites, she'd made sure to read them to Jean in her fluent second language. She'd done it with a romantic undertone to her voice, a smile on her lips, and a happy glow coming from within her, as though she was getting to live a wish that dated back to the oldest memories in her mind.

At the museum, she'd simply listened to the tour guide's English rundown, and happily wandered the halls, pointing out the ones she remembered from the online virtual tour, much to the chagrin of her companion, no doubt! After viewing the famous painting, from so far away, she'd been rather quiet, keeping her thoughts to herself. But by the time they left it behind, and were headed away from the Louvre, walking past that famous glass pyramid, she was all in on the conspiracy talk. "I mean, it's obviously that far away so that we can't see it's a fake!" She is saying, walking backwards ahead of Jean, facing her as she explains her theories. "I think it vanished in World War II. I bet it's on the Moon in Heir Mustache's Moon Base office. We should take the X-Bird up there, and get it back!" She declared, raising one hand up in the air as she spun around to fall in to walk beside Jean again. "But, I also hate space. So maybe just let it stay up there." She then followed-up with a more somber tone of voice.

A smirk had been given to the redhead, before she'd fallen in line to head to the next destination. The big one, the one that everyone in the world knows as though it was at the top of their own home's street.

When it first came in to view, Rogue stared out the window, even lowering her chin down to rest upon the sil of the ride they were taking to get to it. After a few silent seconds, she spoke up.

"My mother had a picture of it in the kitchen beside the kitchen table. I can remember this one time, I was eating Mac and Cheese, staring at it while my mom and dad were dancing in the living room to some French music. He'd told her he was gonna take us all to Paris the following summer, cause he'd just gotten a new job in town that would make it easy to pay for the tickets." She paused then, and looked over to Jean. "That was just a few months before they vanished, I think." She said before settling back in to the seat, on Jean's left side.

By the time they reached the tower, she'd been a bit more somber than before, merely nodding her head a few times here and there, and making smaller comments. When they inevitably made it to the top of the tower, Rogue seemed happier, but still reserved. She glanced over at Jean, and exhaled as a thought crept up on her. "We gotta find my mother." She finally said, getting the worm in her thoughts out there. "For my dad's sake, if nothing else."

Jean Grey has posed:
The plausibility of an SR-X missions to the moon to fight zombie maybe-Hitler to recover the Mona Lisa goes largely unaddressed. Jean gets occasional inter-team briefings, and talks with her very close colleague and peer WONDER WOMAN frequently. What's the point of bursting Rogue's bubble by letting her know that the Justice League got there first?

Getting a taxi for the last stretch gives them a nice break for this last stretch, since it's been a long day of walking already... and it's only something like late afternoon, even after the long lines at the Louvre. So it's a nice chance to get off their feet and watch the city roll by outside the windows, even if it's probably only a few mintes worth of drive.

For the moment, she doesn't quite touch on the darker side of the story. Jean knows the broad strokes, if not all the little details, as they've been slowly revealed one at a time like this throughout their relationship. In the moment, she fixates on the positive: "Well, for this bit, I official revoke the phone rule, and you can get all the selfies and pictures you want to send your dad." Not that it hasn't already been happening.

"You know, there's really no reason we can't do this any time, even if we might have to cheat a little otherwise. We could bring him out, too." Its a small attempt, at cheering things back up.

Yet silence persists until they reach the tower, through the elevator ride up. It's a shadow cast over the end of a consistently joyful day. It hangs over them as the elevator shudders to a stop.

Jean takes Rogue's hand again, leading her along, past the windows and out onto the external deck, with its high fences. The wind is honestly a pretty bitter chill, and only promises worse, as the sun slowly sets on the horizon. Once they're standing there, she turns face to face, eventually clasping both hands within her own. "We will. Whatever we have to do, we'll do it. But right now? You're here."

Soon, the sun will sink below the horizon, and as darkness follows, this vantage will offer proof of why they call it the City of Lights. "And I'm sure, wherever she is, she'd be happy for you."