8106/Creek Confessional

Creek Confessional
Date of Scene:	03 October 2021
Location:	Pugsley Creek
Synopsis:	Remy confesses, what he considers to be, his worst sin to Rogue, with Ororo's support and encouragement. ...and Rogue didn't turn her back on him like he expected. Instead it kicked up an entirely different problem. How to get to Sinister before she can so she's not the one that ends up hurt in the by the madman in the end?
Cast of Characters:	Remy LeBeau, Rogue, Ororo Munroe

---

Remy LeBeau has posed:
    Remy vanished, again, but he promised Rogue he'd be back in his note. Here he is, back. He's actually been back for a few hours truth be told, just down here at his favorite spot with all the best skipping stones... well, skipping stones. About ten minutes ago, he finally got the nerve to fire off a few text messages.

    Text to Rogue: Home, Cherie, need to talk, at the creek.
    Text to Ororo: I have to tell her, 'Ro. I can't do it alone. I'm at the creek.

    Once it was done, it was done, no turning back. Remy went back to skipping rocks across the broad stretch of water at this particular stretch in Pugsley's Creek. He's off his game, half of them only make it half way across.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue was out in her truck when the text came in, but she wasn't far from home. They had a busy school weekend this weekend, involving the local Rennaisance Festival in Salem Center. She was driving her truck back with a bunch of stuff in the back picked up from the festival for the school and for Halloween this year.

Her phone reads off her text to her when it hits the device and she just glances at the road and then applies a little more gas to get home faster....

The truck comes to pull in down the driveway and park off outside of the multi-car garage before she steps out and tells two of the Seniors waiting outside the garage to carry the stuff in the back inside.

Rogue hits the skies a few moments later and curves northeast toward Pugsley Creek which is just an offshoot of Breakstone Lake behind the school...

She lands not long after that and starts to walk down the pathway toward where Remy likely is waiting....

Ororo Munroe has posed:
    Ororo doesn't respond to the text, not with Remy clearly so concerned. Instead, she simply heads to the creek, even if she does it with her own unique panache. Which is to say, there's a pick up in the breeze, if Ororo could control the birds too there'd probably be a chorus of chirps. But instead, there's just the rustle of leaves in the trees, before Ororo comes sailing down from the sky, white hair tied back in a simple ponytail, faded blue denim cutoffs and an unadorned black t-shirt with a pair of well-loved sneakers.

    She comes down above the creek, gracefully gliding in towards the shore... and sure, under other circumstances it would be a tactical flanking maneuver. But this is just two friends coming to help their friend. So it's... tactical friendship.

    Really, Ororo only looks like 78% as serious as she does going in to fight off a Sentinel attack.

Remy LeBeau has posed:
    He turns, ears void of buds this go, at the sound of Rogue approaching and his blood runs a little cold. All sorts of doubts swell to the surface. What was he *thinking*? He can't do this... nope, can't. Just can't. He looks a little like a deer in the headlights trying to decide which side of the road is safest.

     Remy hasn't had much time with Ororo since his rescue. He should be happy to see her... and he is, but there's a heaviness to that happy that shouldn't be there. Even when he steps forward once she's close enough to pull her in for a hug. ... a long, HARD hug, but even then the affection is clearly cut away from being 'intimate' in the sense of the word that might apply to someone like Rogue. This is a desperately afraid 'little brother' holding on to his sister.

    When he finally steps back again, he swallows a lump rising in his throat. "So..." He shoots a glance in Rogue's direction than back to Ororo. ... can't do this. But he has to. But he can't. But he has to. How can he move forward without doing it? But he can't.

    It's there, clear as a bell, written all over his face. For the first time since he was but a tiny little thief on the streets of New Orleans, Remy LeBeau's poker face has utterly failed him.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue arrives just a few moments before Storm swept in. She glances to the woman and tips her chin up in a upward nod to her. Storm is one of the people at Xavier's that Rogue respects most, like in the top 3 in fact... Why she's here though? that's a bit of a unknown yet still.

Her eyes go back to Remy then and she stuffs her hands in to her hoodie pockets as she stares at him.

"So whats up?" Rogue asks. "Ya wanna have the three of us sleep out here tonight, and let me wake up by myself again?" She quips because... hey... she's got a edge to her! Nobody is gonna forget that if they ever upset her!

She doesn't have much else to say though so she just puts her weight on her left booted foot and looks between the two of them again.

Ororo Munroe has posed:
    Ororo lands and steps directly into Remy's hug, just in time to return that nod to Rogue. She hugs Remy back tightly, but perhaps not quite so 'desperate sailor lost at sea' strongly as Remy.

    But then, her face is a brief mask of concern, hidden from Remy, but exposed to Rogue as Ororo's eyebrows lift in silent question. Not that she really expects an answer. After all, there's not _always_ a telepath around for literal silent communication.

    Still, her concern's briefly whisked away as Ororo lets out a soft little noise, "Why, Remy! Did you leave our poor friend to wake up _alone_? I can understand not having breakfast made, but really now..."

    Still, as much as she teases, her lips press into a stern little line of concern as she pulls back from the hug to eye Remy. Teasing is one thing, but she's still clearly concerned. "But really, if you're planning for the three of us to camp out, you get to go get the marshmallows while we relax, just for being cryptic."

Remy LeBeau has posed:
    Remy stoops to pick up a rock and bounces it in his hand, that weighing thing he always does before flicking it out across the water. But he doesn't flick it, not yet. "Never mind, it not important."

    Chickening out last minute it seems?

    No snarky comebacks, or light-hearted silly returns, just... nothing. He finally lets that rock go and it skips a dozen or so times all the way to the other side.

    "We should do sometin' fo' dinna', oui?" he asks, deflecting.

    Little bit by little bit, it's almost possible to see the armor going up, the wall he'd almost torn down being rebuilt from the bottom up. "I think dere still some of Tante's stuff lef' back in the kitchen."


    Was it the teasing or just cold feet? Something has his mind switching modes from 'come clean' to 'nope' in two point two.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue keeps her hands in her pockets and smiles as Storm approaches her to hug. She leans in to it affectionately but keeps her dangerous hands in her pockets. She straightens again then to see Remy doing his thing with the rocks once more which has her smirking faintly. Her hand clutches the pendant he gave her in her hoodie pocket, turning it over in her fingers as she stands there quietly for now.

"I dunno if we're gonna go campin' again. But.... yeah, we do gotta figure out what t'do for dinner t'night." She idly adds before looking down at a rock at her feet. She toes it a bit and then nudges it to roll toward Gambit's boot.

"Your mind weighs a million pounds right now, Cajun. Come out with it already." She tells him then.

Ororo Munroe has posed:
    Ororo gives Remy a _very_ serious frown as he begins to clam up, reaching out to rest a hand on his shoulder and squeeze. It's a friendly squeeze... and any sound of distant thunder is definitely totally a coincidence. Just a looming autumn storm. The weather goddess is torn between not wanting to push Remy too hard, and risk him running off, and knowing that whatever's weighing him down is clearly too important to leave.

    So instead she crosses her arms imperiously, and lifts her eyebrows pointedly at Remy, standing next to Rogue. "She's right. You texted... both of us, I'm assuming. And not nearly as charmingly and flippantly as I'd expect for a simple evening together."

    One eyebrow stays arched, those bright eyes intent as she murmurs dryly, "But, if you explain what's going on, and we handle this, you'll feel better. And then I'll steal some of Logan's beer for us, yes? And we'll get... something for dinner. Don't worry, Remy. Whatever it is like a bandaid. You'll feel better once you rip it off."

    Her voice is drifting less and less from 'warm friendship to 'Serious big sister energy' as she speaks.

Remy LeBeau has posed:
    "Remy not what ya think he is, Cherie," he blurts out in Rogue's direction. Oh, there's that *ridiculous* third person thing. It must be bad. He takes one step away from the Belle that puts him one step closer to Ororo. "He a murderer."

    There it is, in that instant, Ororo might catch on to why this is soooo difficult, why he's seems so out of sorts, so scared. It's *that* confession he's making.

    He stoops to pick up another rock, but this one he just throws with all he has. It's a lot, considering he's still wearing that color. It pings off a tree on the other side of the water. The veins in his arms alight with that weird purple glow that's been happening since his rescue. The collar gives a little warning 'jolt' against the surge of power that causes him to wince and jerk a little, but it also lights some sort of fire in him.

    "*Ah*", not 'Remy'. If he's going to own it, he's going to own it personally. "...led dem, the ones dat killed all dem mutants."

Rogue has posed:
Rogue pulls her hands out of her pockets and folds her arms over her stomach causing the fabric of her dark grey Xavier's School hoodie to rumple lightly against her form beneath it. She smiles over at Storm's words about beer and having a fun evening before she looks back over at Remy.

Normally Rogue thinks she can understand him pretty well, but something about how he just throws this one out there on the table causes her to question herself. She keeps her eyes on him but kinda looks at Storm too now. "What's he talkin' about?" Rogue asks the weather Goddess in a not so quiet tone.

Ororo Munroe has posed:
    Ororo freezes up, there's a moment where her eyes widen, her teeth clench on her lower lip, and she practically looks as much like a deer in the headlights as Remy. But it's just a moment. Because hey, she reassured Remy into this, and so she has to put on that stoic front for him, to keep him calm.

    Her voice is hesitant, "It's... not that simple, Remy. And we all have... mistakes. Traumas in our past."

    She chews her lower lip pensively once more and exhales slowly, "It's... not my place to tell, darling. I'll just... do my best to correct Remy when he gets too self-critical and paints things as entirely his fault."

Remy LeBeau has posed:
    One more step away from Rogue, one step closer to Ororo. It's as if he thinks maybe she won't see him as the monster he thinks he is if he's further away when he tells it? "It was afta' Sinista' fixed me." Because yes, he still thinks he was broken before that, out of control... he'd accidentally killed someone then, but that's a story for another day.

    "Ah owed him. When he came ta me an' asked if Ah would get a team together. Ah couldn say no. Ah did it an' Ah led dat team into th' tunnels." It all comes out rapid fire, one word tumbling over the next because if he pauses, he won't be able to start gain.

    "...an' dey killed dem, Cherie, all o' dem, but one. But one..." The one he saved, the only one he could save.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue keeps her eyes on Storm for a lingering couple of seconds before Remy's follow-up statements has her looking back to him. She doesn't say anything immediately there-after though as she has already brought up her initial concern with him on this matter before...

So no, this time she turns to look at Storm. "Do we have any intel or information on this Sinister person?" She asks. "Remy has talked about him a couple times now, and each time it has only sealed my interest in sealin' his coffin." She says then in a emotionless voice.

She does look back to Remy though and stares at him for a second before speaking again. "Unless you're leavin' out some serious details, I don't know why you're nervous about tellin' me this kinda stuff. You've been experimented on, manipulated and coerced inta workin' for some guy with a stupidly accurate name. Why are we not goin' to his house and kickin' his damn door down? I don't get it."

She looks between both of them now, confused because she's been with the X-Men for four years now, and this 'is what they do'.

Ororo Munroe has posed:
    Ororo sighs softly and shakes her head slowly, "I'm not sure what all we may have access to. But he's clearly powerful and dangerous, and not someone we should confront without plenty of planning and ensuring we have the resources needed to defeat him. He seems like an individual we don't want to take our shot at and fail, yes?"

    Ororo cocks her hips a little and _stares_ at Remy as Rogue speaks about holding this back, her eyebrows perking... because Ororo won't say 'I told you so', but she'll totally use that raised eyebrow game to scream it silently.

    "Although, with things the way they are now, perhaps it would be a good time to look into our options. Unless I'm missing out on any crises that have sprung up in the last couple weeks, but I haven't seen any alien fleets in the sky or the like."

Remy LeBeau has posed:
    "Because day all dead because o' me," Remy replies quietly. At the end of the day, that's what's held him back the entire time. His own guilt, his own thoughts, his own belief that he's responsible for all those deaths.

    "Dey call it a massacre an' *Ah* led th' team dat caused it." Another rock scooped up and tossed across the water to bounce off a tree on the other side. He should be relieved, part of him is truly, but he's also conflicted and confused.

    He's spent so long believing it was all his fault, it's all but impossible to shift gears and suddenly believe it wasn't. "Non, no... we don' mess wit' him," he states after one more tossed rock. It's firm, almost an 'order' which is sort of comical coming from his barely old enough to drink, little boy self and aimed at Storm.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue had been standing there listening to Storm and then Remy both talk. She watches him toss the next rock and watches it fly across the water before he reaches for another and throws it.

That rock doesn't get the chance to soar.

It is caught, right in Rogue's hand as she moved rapidly forward and is floating a foot off the ground. She catches the rock in her palm and wraps her fingers around it.

"Are you Sinister?" Rogue asks Remy. "Is this a joke?" She then asks as she glances to Storm, but shoots her stern green eyed gaze right back to Remy. "Unless you're Sinister and ya got a double life, then I'm not buyin' this crap." She says as she tosses the rock under handed behind her (It skips three times!)

"I've been on this team at Xavier's since I was eighteen. We ain't been afraid nothin' that we couldn't kick the ass of... I'm not gonna just believe that some jackass with a dumb name is suddenly somethin' we should be afraid'a." Those who know Rogue well know that she's young and hasn't faced a lot of combative trouble since garnering Carol's powerset when she was 16. The X-Men training has only made her more arrogant in fact...

Ororo Munroe has posed:
    Ororo puts on her best 'I'm shocked, but not actually shocked' look as she glances to Rogue and fights back a grin, "Oh, I don't know, Remy... he's definitely a bad man. And if our more impetuous members are planning to bring him to justice I'm afraid it's really only responsible for those of us in authority to ensure they are fully prepares and supported."

    Ororo shifts and steps up behind Remy, lightly tapping a finger atop his head. "You cannot hold yourself responsible for Sinister's actions. And you _certainly_ can't feel you deserve punishment for what happened while refusing to allow your friends to deliver justice to who was truly responsible."

    She lets out a low noise in her throat and murmurs dryly, "And really, the X-Men exist precisely to handle threats like Sinister, dear." Still, those cool eyes glance to ROgue, "As a team. Not running off alone in an impetuous rush."

    Because as much as Ororo appreciates the desire to simply find Sinister and smash him with a mountain, it's important they approach that smashing responsibly and with a plan.

Remy LeBeau has posed:
    Remy's odd eyes shift from one woman to the other, back and he just shrugs and says, "Oui den, okay." ... oh that was too easy, way too easy. But his poker face is back so it's hard to say what, if anything, is brewing behind those red eyes.

    "We should head back den, see if dere any o' Tante's cookin' left?"

    He picks up one more rock and, this time, he skips it rather than just throwing it. Remy shoves his hands into the pockets of that tattered old duster he loves so much and starts off in the direction of the mansion.

    "If Ah stomp ya at th' pool table, 'Ro, den ya have ta do the dishes!" he calls over his shoulder.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue glances to Storm as she walks up behind Remy and says those words. She cracks a brief lopsided smile before she looks back to Remy. She listens to them both and then steps forward to place one gloved hand against his chest. "We'll figure this stuff out, LeBeau." She says back at him. "As a team." She grins because even she knows how corny that sounds.

When he steps away though she just drops her hand back to her side and lets him start to walk off. She glances toward the water and then back to Storm before she trails after the man.

"Seriously though, someone has t'give me this Sinster's freakin' address or I'm gonna lose my shit here soon." She jests.... sort of before jogging over to pick up Remy's sleeping bag she left out here when she thought he'd run off on her in the middle of the night!

Ororo Munroe has posed:
    Ororo sighs and rolls her eyes, "Listen, just because you send a cryptic text to me and then do some _small_ amount of grappling with things, Remy... doesn't mean I'm going to fall for being hustled at pool. Not unless you're going to offer a very very tempting stake!"

    And then she's falling into step, arms stretching above her head, arching as the dark mood breaks away, and it might even be just a little sunnier.

    She shakes her head and exhales an exaggerated sigh, "Okay, so now we need to distract our dear friend here from flying off and getting all rambunctious. But dinner first."

    And then she falls into pace next to Remy, arm looping around his shoulders for a brief little reassuring squeeze. Because she's sure he needs it.

Remy LeBeau has posed:
    "It not hustlin' if ya opponent know dey suck," Remy quips in return. He walks along in silence for a moment before pulling away from Ororo and turning around to walk backwards. He flashes that little half smile, the one that dimples just his left cheek. He could con a nun out of her Habit with that smile.

    "How 'bout dis? Las' one back has ta do the dishes, no powahs!" Because that wouldn't be fair even if he had his! Of course, it's a little less than fair that he turns and hits it at a dead run before the last words are even out of his mouth either.

    Too easy. He definitely switched from brooding to grins and foot races way too easily.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue folds the sleeping bag over her forearms as she walks to where Storm is. She moves side by side with the other woman while Remy places his challenge down to both of them, then starts to run off. Rogue just stares at him as he goes and just waits a second before speaking over to Ororo.

"He just wants us t'run after him, so he can pretend there are girls chasin' him." She says with a small smile. Her eyes go back to Remy's back as he goes though.

"If that was his big secret, I can't believe he held on to it this long. It sounds like this Sinister guy needs t'get his ass stomped for once..." She mutters as she keeps walking!

Ororo Munroe has posed:
    Ororo sighs and nods to Rogue, putting every bit of feigned suffering into that exhalation she can, "He really does, doesn't he? We could chase him. But it's not like doing the dishes is _so_ terrible anyhow!"

Her shoulders shrug and she shakes her head, "And I think he just holds himself far more responsible for it than anyone who hears the story would."

Her eyebrows perk high as she snickers softly, "And, yes, we definitely need to add him to the list of people who deserve a swift kick of heavy boots... but now... Remy left you _all alone_ waking up, hm? I think I'm going to have to ask for details. You know, so I can make him squirm in exchange for all these dishes I'm about to do."

Rogue has posed:
Rogue just shakes her head side to side at this. "I probably would too. In his shoes." She admits in a low voice. "I still feel a great amount of guilt for what happened between Carol and I. I... don't know the details of this event he's talkin' about either. Maybe if I find more out about it I'll look at it differently... But I doubt it." She raises a hand up out of the rolled up sleeping bag to brush some of her white hair out of her face.

"He's had a raw deal from the get-go in life. Mine wasn't bad until my parents disappeared. I at least had six good years before life decided t'screw me over." She smirks over at Storm then.

At the question of details, Rogue smirks and shakes her head. "He doesn't want me gettin' close t'him while his powers are still actin' up. Which, I mean, it's not like that is a huge adjustment process for me anyhow... I'm the Queen of 'Stay the hell away from me, Rogue!'." She smirks yet once more. Her stare goes forward again as she sees Remy rounding a tree way up ahead of them. "It's tough havin' him forget a bunch about our time t'gether these past few years though. But... hell if I can really complain. My life is a dream compared t'some folks out there..."

Ororo Munroe has posed:
    Ororo lets out a soft little laugh and nods her head, "Yes, I think Remy's just... being very Remy. We've all got our skeletons, but I think he just... doesn't want to burden anyone else with his, and so he convinces himself they're too _terrible_ to share."

    She flashes a grin and shrugs lightly, "And hey, probably best to be a little safe. You know, sort of avoiding figuratively playing with lightning?" She glances ahead to watch Remy's lead growing and snorts out softly. "And that's good. If there's one thing you both deserve, it's a little less stress, and a dream-like life." She shrugs lightly and sighs out, "And maybe his memory will recover in time. He seems... good. I imagine he'll seem better now that he's not going to be worrying about telling you what he just did."

Rogue has posed:
Rogue stuffs her hand back in to the rolled up sleeping bag as she listens to Ororo's response. She purses her lips together and glances out toward the water on her right as they are about to lose sight of it around some trees.

"Well, he better feel better." She says as she looks back to her left to Storm. "Or we're gonna have t'build a bridge so we can go to the other side'a the creek, so he can throw all the rocks back t'this side..." She jokes with a big smirk.

She just exhales big then and pulls out the necklace that he gave her and holds it in her left gloved hand then. She shows it off to Storm. "He left this for me before he disappeared the other day too. I never know where this stuff comes from..." She says as it glints and glitters in the ambient light.

Ororo Munroe has posed:
    Ororo eyes the necklace and whistles softly, eyebrows perking, gaze drifting back ahead of them as she murmurs out, "Oh! Did he give any hints? Did he brush it off and imply he stole it, or got it out of a vending machine?"

    There's another melodramatic eyeroll at those options and she sighs and shakes her head, "Also, you know, if he ever says anything _really_ stupid, you can just threaten to text me it, and watch him squirm. I give you blanket approval for that."

Remy LeBeau has posed:
    Truth be told, Remy didn't make it all the way back. He's still a good distance away when the girls get closer. He's on the phone and speaking in that hodgepodge of Creole and actual French that some call 'Cajun French'.

    <Non, Papa... Nathaniel Essex... Oui... I know, I know... I told you, I'll think about it. Just find out what you can? ... Gotta go, call you later.> That last bit is quick when he sees the his two best girls approaching. He hangs up in a hurry.

    How much did they hear? How much of what they heard did they *understand*?

    "Y'all slow, like molasses in the winta'," he calls out, that smile back in place where it wasn't just a moment ago.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue shakes her head from side to side then. "He used t'tell me that he would only take stuff like this from people who deserved it. For awhile I believed him too, and sometimes I still do. But yeah, I dunno. Feels like I'm wearin' some woman's stuff who is out there somewhere missin' the hell outta it." She wraps her fingers around it gently then and puts it back in to her pocket. "I still think it's sweet, just in a unique sorta way... But don't you worry, I'll text ya the minute somthin' dumb pops outta that mouth'a his." She's grinning as Remy's voice comes up once they round the tree too.

She hears some of what he's saying but just slows her walking down and stares at him with her hands back under the sleeping bag she holds in front of her lap. "Another chat with your, Dad?" Rogue asks him then.

Remy LeBeau has posed:
    "Oui, he jus' callin' ta check in." Ding, first dumb thing that came out of his mouth, if only because it's a *lie*. Of course there aren't many in the world that can sell a like like Remy LeBeau can, is there? "Still wantin' me ta come back ta New Orleans, but non, don' think so."

    He nods his head toward the mansion and adds, "Let's go eat, oui?"