19008/In the Kitchen with a Cajun

In the Kitchen with a Cajun
Date of Scene:	05 September 2024
Location:	Main Kitchen
Synopsis:	Remy in the kitchen making his famous gumbo with help from Rogue
Cast of Characters:	Remy LeBeau, Rogue

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Remy LeBeau has posed:
     The smell of gumbo wafts from the kitchen of Xavier's mansion meaning only one thing...Remy is in the kitchen cooking his 'world famous' gumbo recipe. The red-eyed mutant is standing over the pot idly stirring the contents within while he practices some slight of hand manipulation with his free hand, flipping a coin over his knuckles over and over. He's dressed in summer relaxed attire, meaning a t-shirt and some shorts.

Rogue has posed:
It was a new school year, and because of it, there were a lot of rug rats running around the house again. For Rogue, it meant she was an even busier teacher in her second year of teaching. She was the French teacher this year, along with Poetry. It was doubling her work load, even if they only had around a hundred Mutant kiddos that lived and attended school here. Small class sizes were great, but still meant a lot of work to keep everyone on the right path.

The school day, today, was wrapped up, and with dinner rapidly approaching, Rogue was stepping in to the kitchen to see what was on the menu for the night. Remy, may or may not be cooking for a hundred kids though, but the smell was still one the Belle recognized.

"Well, that certainly smells nice." She said, as she stepped in to the room. Dressed in a light blue skirt, with a sleeveless button up top of white, the Belle had her hair well brushed and smoothly draped down the right side of her face. She was in her 'Sunday Best' one might say, but really she liked to respect her job, and always tried to dress nice as a teacher.

"You makin' enough for the whole class?" the Mississippian asked in a coy fashion, as she stepped to the island counter's edge.

Remy LeBeau has posed:
     "If the whole class is about four to six people, then oui. Feed any more than that, I'm going to need to have a vat and a bunch more ingredients," Remy says with a smirk as he looks over to Rogue with a smile. "You look good, mon ange. How have you been?"

     He looks into the pot at his roux, nodding as it seems to be working out the way it should and he starts to prep some of the veggies, "Want to be a doll and help stir this thing? My arms getting sore."

Rogue has posed:
Rogue was wearing a pair of light blue gloves, with white ribbons around her wrists, matching the hues of the rest of her outfit, and when he asked her that question, she smirked softly. "I can, you poor thing." She chided him lightly. As she began to move around the counter to join him at the cooking station, she was pulling her gloves off, and setting them aside, her heeled shoes making quiet clicks upon the floor as she stepped up to the counter. Her eyes looked over what prep work he had to do yet still, and her hands reached out to take the stirring spoon.

"I've just been focused on the school work, an' some trainin' stuff. Was helpin' Hank monitor his own lessons last night in the Danger Room. He is pretty fun to watch work, ya know?" She asked with a sly grin.

Her green eyes dropped down to the pot before her, her right hand taking up the stirring of the long spoon.

Remy LeBeau has posed:
     With Rogue taking over the stirring, Remy starts to prep the rest of the fixings by chopping up some onions, celery, and red bell peppers, tossing the chopped veggies into a bowl to dump into the roux later when it is ready, "You let me know when that roux starts to look like chocolate now. Don't need to be burning it, but we want it nice and dark..."

     After the veggies, Remy starts peeling and de-veining the shrimp he has ready for the dish, placing the cleaned shellfish into another bowl to keep separate from the rest. "Depends on what Hank is teaching, chere. If it's bouncing around the DR dodging shit, then yes. If he is lecturing on the philosophies of Plato, then not so much. That kind of thing just puts me to sleep."

Rogue has posed:
Rogue pushed her long two-toned hair back over her shoulder with her free hand, so that the strands all collectively dangled behind her shoulders. She watched him prep the vegetables, and smiled softly at his work with the knife. At his comment of Hank, she just allowed a smile to blossom across her lips, before she let out a short and soft laugh. "You're sucha cliche." She told him, teasing him of course. "I bet ya like that stuff more than ya let on." She added, as she raised her chin up, and gave him a little smirk.

When her eyes went back to the stirring, she stared down at it. "You want this to look like what...?" She asked.

Rogue was not the best in the kitchen, not by a long shot. She was good with baking, cakes, or pies. But making full on dinners was not her strong suit.

"I really do love this stuff, when ya make it though..." She softly said, as she drew the spoon around the pot's edges, then through the center to keep the stirring evenly distributed.

Remy LeBeau has posed:
     "Cliche?! Me?! You wound me, chere. Down to the core." Remy says with mock indignation as he looks over to the Southern Belle. "Since when have you known me to like philosophy? Nah, the only smarts I have or need are street ones, chere." A pause as he tosses a couple more shrimp into the bowl, "Well that, and a kick ass gumbo recipe."

     He moves over to look down into the pot, brushing close to Rogue as he does. "Chocolate. Dark, rich, creamy...but we don't want it burnt. I'd say a few more minutes, but it's close now. Real close."

     He looks back over her way and smiles, "So, how you been? We ain't talked in...days?"

Rogue has posed:
The response that she got from him for the 'cliche' comment, had her smiling again, whilst watching the steam rising up out of the pot she was stirring. "Real close." She quietly repeated, after he gave his instructions. Her arms were bare, thus him getting up close on her had her doing the little thumb gesture that Emma had put inside her mind to act as a switch for the mental barrier. Remy knew all too well what it meant, that she was safe to touch, but also that she was setting herself up for a reaction later, when she brought the barrier down again.

At his quesetion of how she has been, she shrugged her bare shoulders, and took a second to sort out a response in her mind.

"Helped Bishop and some Avenger chick break up a Mutant experimentation lab the other night. It... was pretty awful. It's like a game'a whack-a-mole, Remy. These damn things are goin' on everywhere, an' nobody is stoppin' it from happenin', cept us... with force, and guns. I feel like the whole damn world is fallin' apart, an' nobody really cares."

She said all that while staring at the pot, though she did spare a glance his way, and offered a weak smirk at her own words. "So, the 'usual', is my answer for ya, I guess..."

Remy LeBeau has posed:
     Remy watches her do that trick of hers and frowns lightly with a shake of his head, "Don't be using that on my account, chere. I ain't going to go touching you, and if I do, well, it's my own damn fault. Last thing I need is to be the cause of you getting more of those headaches from doing that...at least for this particular reason. You want to make that trick worth it, you know where to fine me."

     He winks over to the Belle and then turns to grab the bowl of veggies to dump them into the pot, "Stir those in, about five minutes. Then we are going to add the sausage salt, spices, and a whole lot of chicken stock."

     He purses his lips and nods. "Oui. The usual. Kind of makes you want to head off and get lost sometimes, don't it? Just raise up a middle finger and walk away from it all rather than fight it anymore...but if we do that, nobody will fight."

Rogue has posed:
Truth be told, Rogue didn't know Gambit was aware of that hand gesture, but then again... his perception was a lot higher than most people's. She looked over at him, with a bit of a wide eyed stare when he called her on it too, with that realization that he'd figured it out coming over her. Meant he's been watching her for awhile, and deduced it. She smirked softly, and shook her head side to side. "I gotta do it. I don't want t'accidentally hurt ya, let alone all the damn kids." She noted, glancing over her shoulder, as a pair of them had run past the kitchen mere moments ago, even if 'No Running Indoors' was a long standing rule within the School.

When she looked back at him, the suggestion of coming by to make the mental barrier count some time, just had her smiling. "Sometimes the headaches are worth it." She said, her voice sounding a bit extra husky, with how lowly she kept those words in pitch and volume.

When he gave her the further instructions, she raised her chin again, and smiled once more. "Yes sir..." She fired back, in her more typical teasing fashion.

Her eyes went back to the stirring, as she started taking the spoon counter clockwise. She shook her head side to side again, as she considered the running away part. "I mean, yeah. But... if ya do that, then you find out that someone ya care about gets whacked, cause you weren't there t'help'em. Though, I mean, I was there with Quentin, and we still lost him. So maybe there is more futility in it than some black and white on paper idea of bein' around, actually makin' a damn difference..."

Remy LeBeau has posed:
     Of course he watched her, he probably knew more about her than she realizes. Like she sways to put her weight on the left when she is nervous, or the right when she is about to deck someone. Things like how she nibbles he lip or other little tells in her movements or way she speaks. It's been his job to notice these things as a thief, and as a poker player, but it's only upped a notch when taken into account how he feels about this particular woman.

     "Ain't going to be any kids in the kitchen, and I'm a big boy. I'll take the chance if it saves you from a migraine...sides, chere, you already have your insights into me. You want my memories these days I give them to you freely, touch or no."

     He reaches up an scratches at his chin, moving to toss the sausage and other fixings plus the liquid stock in, "You can't hold off on stirring it now. Doesn't need to be constantly watched like the roux did."

     Remy nods, "I know. It's one of those rock and hard place kind of things, mon amore. Fight, don't fight...what does either one really change in the end? Only way to know is pick a path and walk it to the end."

Rogue has posed:
The small smile on the Belle's face remains, as her green eyes watch him slip the ingredients in to the pot. "Do I need ta turn the heat up, or leave it where it is?" She asked, glancing over him, and smirking at him, as she waited for him to run with that inuendo she'd just lobbed up for him.

When her eyes return to the pot, she ran the spoon through the bits he was pouring in, making sure to get them distributed throughout the rest of the pot in an even fashion, her motions smooth and graceful, not overly quick or erratic.

"But then again, is stayin' on this path settin' ourselves up to the same fate of Quentin? And is that what we want?" She asked, as she glanced back over at him, and let her eyes linger on his stubble covered face. "I mean, I'm not sure that is what I want. Not entirely, anyway..."

She drew in a breath, and pushed her tongue against the side of her cheek, causing it to dimple out as her green eyed stare dropped back to the pot, her fingers adjusting position on the spoon's handle.

Remy LeBeau has posed:

     Remy casts her a sideways glance as she comments and smirks in his own right, "Chere you turn the heat up anymore and things gonna get spicy. You know just how hot I like things, and there are very few who can keep up. You think you got it in you?" He clucks his tongue against he teeth and smiles as he starts to work on the chicken, getting that seasoned and ready to go.

     He's quiet for a moment but ultimately nods. "We all gonna die someday, chere. Hopefully when we go we get to go on our own terms. It's what we do till then that is gonna matter I guess. As for what you want, the only person that can honestly answer that is you. You having doubts? I'm listening."

Rogue has posed:
That inuendo certainly got her attention, and drew her eyes back over and up to his. Since the both of them were utterly incorrigible, she fired back in French."Oh, je l'ai en moi, et plus encore..." Letting him know that she certainly did have it in her, and then some. They were both troublemakers, and her grin she gave him following it only punctuated it.

She dropped her eyes back to the food, and leaned forward ever so slightly to peer inside the pot. "I should make some Succotash sometime, t'go along with this. It's straight up pure Mississippi culinary contribution t'American history. Plus, I think it'd go well together."

She leaned back again, and smirked over at him softly for just a moment. Her head shook side to side. "I dunno. I mean, we're at war right?" She quietly asked him. "It isn't like some traditional thing where we all go to a empty field and shoot each other to decide who wins the argument, but we're... still soldiers, right? Don't some soldiers, who fight enough, get ta lay down their arms, an' just go retire? Idealy to some idylic location, where the horizon looks pretty, and the serenity is your blanket to cover you over after bein' exposed to the terrible shit of the war you fought in? Cause this place... the other night? It was experiments bein' done on kids. I told Bishop I dunno how he finds these places, but I also don't know how he keeps goin'. Talk about soldiers, that guy is a General. I'm not sure I'm as strong as he is..."

Remy LeBeau has posed:
     Remy looks back over to Rogue and raises his brow. "Continue comme ca, mon amour, et je vais arreter de me soucier des sentiments de Jean." he retorts back in French as he looks hard into her eyes.

     The Cajun clears his throat and loos back to the food, adding the chicken and then grabbing the lid to the pot, lowering the heat to a simmer and slapping the lid on top. "Now we let that do it's thing for a couple hours...let the flavors mingle." He pauses and looks over, "Know any way to kill a couple of hours, Chere? I can come up with a few..."

     He goes back to being serious and sighs, turning to he can look at her and lean against the kitchen counter. His arms come up and fold over his chest, "I don't know, Anna-Marie, and that is the honest truth. I'd like to think at some point there is an end, that eventually we can give up being the soldiers we are, but then I look at the team, or hell everyone that has stepped foot in this place, and have you seen anyone retire? Go off to live in peace somewhere, absolved from the responsibilities we have here? I don't know of any, but you've been here longer. Maybe you know someone I don't."

Rogue has posed:
The spoon was given a few gentle taps against the rim of the pot, before Rogue set it aside on one of the towels folded upon the counter's edge. She heard his return volley in his own style of Cajun French, and it caused her to grin for a moment, and gently shake her head. Along with the question of how to spend the hours left until the food was ready, Rogue stepped to the sink, and ran the water over her hands. She let out a gentle laugh, and a heavy exhale. "Oh, I can think of a few things..." She said back at him, her voice ever sultry, as the dance that these two often did would forever stoke this side of the Belle's personality. It was just plain fun, like a true dance of words, and suggestive ideas.

At his question of if any Mutants who had gotten in to the war, ever found a way out of it, Rogue simply dried her hands off, and shook her head from side to side. "I know of some who try to stay out of it, but they always seem t'get drawn back in eventually. Even Warren, with all the resources anyone could ask for. He still came back for a month.." She set the clean towel aside, and turned to lean back against the counter in front of the sink, her bare hands resting on the edge of the marble top on either sides of her hips. She stared at Gambit, and showed him a little grin. "A'course, I was the one who asked him t'come back by and hang out for awhile... So maybe that particular example is all on me. I got a power, ya know? A power of persuasion." She smiled in a warm fashion, letting her playful ego accompany her response to his question. "Really though? As long as the kids get t'have good lives, that's all that matters t'me."

Remy LeBeau has posed:
     Remy just smirks as they banter back and forth, reaching up to run his fingers through his hair as he looks over to the Southern Belle with a grin. "Yeah...I bet you can. Probably the same things as me, I'd wager, and not any of them good for our long term health either." He sighs, shaking his head slowly as he starts to clean the kitchen from the mess he can currently clean up.

     "That's the thing though, staying out. War's usually end and the survivors get to go home to their lives, forever changed or scarred...but I don't know if this war is ever going to end. Not really." He looks up, looking to Rogue through his lashes as a small smile comes to this face, "Oui, that you do, chere. No denying that. You could persuade me to all sorts of things... Not surprised you can get flyboy to do something." He looks out the kitchen door to where the 'kids' are. "Here's hopin'"

Rogue has posed:
While he spoke, Rogue crossed her arms over her stomach, rumpling the fabric of her sleeveless shirt, her fancy fancy teacher attire. She shifted her weight upon her heeled shoes, and her eyes went to his, as he ran that hand through his hair. She just smirked faintly at him, and raised ran her eyes over the casually dressed man before her.

"I have my ways." She quietly said, before she uncrossed her arms, and stepped over toward him. She put a finger up with her right hand, while her left took hold of her gloves from the counter she had left them on. "I'm gonna go get changed, and find that silly dog, wherever he is." She tapped him on the chest a couple of times. "you're welcome t'join us for a walk around the lake." She paused to smirk in a faint way. "It is a good way to spend some time too, ya know."

Her grin returned, as she raised her finger up to very briefly poke his nose.

And then she was moving again, her heels clicking on the kitchen floor again, as she walked toward the exit, her bare hand briefly gliding along the polished granite counter's edge.

"thank ya for makin' dinner too... I'm lookin' forward to it." The Belle said, looking over her shoulder as she moved toward the door.

Out in the hallway, those two kids came running by again, but this time, they had Miss Marie catching them, and giving them a scalding 'No runnin!' command as she went in to the hall.

Remy LeBeau has posed:
     Remy goes crosseyed as he watches Rogue poke his nose, keeping his eyes on the finger tip all the way till it touches his flesh. He doesn't flinch, either trusting Rogue

Remy LeBeau has posed:
     Remy goes crosseyed as he watches Rogue poke his nose, keeping his eyes on the finger tip all the way till it touches his flesh. He doesn't flinch, either trusting Rogue's technique and block or simply not caring if she ends up touching him. He's a gambler, and he's always gambled like that. He sighs, looking over to the pot of gumbo before he presses off the counter and moves to follow, but didn't she say she was going to go get changed? He doesn't seem to have taken that into account. Or did he? "Sure, I just gotta be back in a couple of hours to finish this up, but I can take a quick walk with you and the furball. At the very least it will get me out of the house."