9216/Bonfire of Vanities

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Bonfire of Vanities
Date of Scene: 22 December 2021
Location: Swimming Pool / Patio Deck
Synopsis: Jimmy has a drink station setup in the backyard. Rogue and Jeepers stop by to mingle.
Cast of Characters: Jimmy Hudson, Rogue




Jimmy Hudson has posed:
    It had been nice, that small gathering with the cider and the people wandering out from the mansion. A handful of people coming by now and again. If they were students they were given a red solo cup of cider with their own little cinnamon stick. If they were faculty? Well they got a touch of brandy from the bottles that were brought along. Two bottles, to be fair, one empty now and the other half full.
    But it had been a fine holiday thing, small though it was. Yet the evening had grown long, the stars had made a slow trek across the night sky. Still the fire burned, but subdued. More just enough to give an orange and yellow halo around that silver stove. Still a good amount of cider in the cauldron, and several chairs had been brought around to form a half-circle around that flame. Empty now, however.
    Save for one that held the man known as James Hudson, covered in his coat and wearing his beanie cap. It was cold out, sure. But the fire was a fine thing and it was nice enjoying the peace that was there for now.

Rogue has posed:
While Jimmy sits there alone thinking about an episode of Fuller House.

Rogue and Jeepers appear on one of the walking paths. She's wearing a dark grey navy peacoat with a dark green wool knit hat on her head holding her brown and white hair down against her head as she trundles up the walkway with her yellow lab dog wagging his tail as he walks just ahead of her.

The two approach the fire and Rogue snuffs in a breath through her nose before she lets out a breath of puffy white steam between her lips.

"What we got goin' on here then?" She asks, as she and the dog come to a stop, Jeepers staring at everything before wagging his tail wildly at the end of his leash whilst staring upon Jimmy.

Jimmy Hudson has posed:
    The approach is heard, his head turning slightly to the side to bring them into his peripheral vision. Recognition, then he looks back. It's only when she gets close enough that he lifts his voice. "Worked up a couple batches of cider. Holiday cheer and all."
    Then he turns and gives Rogue a half-smile before nodding to one of the nearby chairs. That's all the recognition she gets at first though as Jeepers entirely steals the rest of it. "Hey there, boah."
    Which has him leaning to the side to lean over and give Jeepers a pet and a ruffle of his head, scritching the ear and some strong pat-pat-pats, "How're you doin'? You bein' good? You need ta be a good boah. Don't let me hear otherwise, you got that?" All as he pats and scruffles the dog.
    "There's still some left if ya want, solo cups in that brown bag across the way."

Rogue has posed:
Instantly, Rogue goes to the cups and starts to get her some of the drinks. She offers Jeepers leash to Jimmy when it becomes clear that he's a dog person. Jeepers, only starts to wag his tail faster and progressively starts to gnaw on Jimmy's sleeve a bit playfully too. He gets more and more hyped the nicer people are to him after all.

Rogue gets a cup and sits back down on the chair beside them. "Oh my god, this smells delicious." She says after whiffing the cup between her hands.

She takes a drink since hot beverages don't really hurt her. It makes her close her eyes for a moment before she looks over at Jimmy then. She just stares at him, then grins.

"You're like Logan... only... just... pure zen. It's weird, in a way." She says then as her eyes go to the fire pit and she leans back in the chair then, one hand sweeping her hair out of her face as she indulges in another sip.

Jimmy Hudson has posed:
    For his part, James is just half-grinning as he sits there on the edge of that patio seat, still scruffing and petting as he makes a few nonsense noises at Jeepers that sounds like, 'uh huh, uhuh, you got that?' while pulling his arm away and getting the dog to chuff and play a little.
    But then when Rogue's giving him the sideeye from some small distance away his smirk remains but his gaze drifts to her...
    And she offers that observation which makes him laugh, "Alright boah, sit for now." Though he keeps the leash around his wrist, taking that responsibility that Rogue gave him of pup control.
    Looking back at Marie, Jimmy exhales a slight sound that might be a laugh if he gave it a little more effort. Instead it's more like a grunt, but a jovial one. He says at first, "Yeah?"
    Then he looks past her shoulder for a moment, as if conjuring the elder Howlett's image to his mind's eye and then shakes his head. "Maybe? Think he's had a tougher life than I have. We both got our scars but his are deep."
    That said he reclaims his solo cup and tilts it back to take a sip, easing into his chair moreso now.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue lowers her cup after another sip, and looks over to Jimmy as he plays with Jeepers. Jeepers is wearing a holiday sweater jacket that has Christmas trees and snowmen on it. It also has pockets that are filled with toys and dog treats, including a pair of sunglasses hooked in to their own pouch.

"I guess so." Rogue responds. "He's like a billion years old, yeah?" She asks as she looks back over at him.

"I was with him when I got recruited in to this place, ya know?" She asks then. "Up near Alberta, Calgary. I ran inta him at a truck stop. It..." She looks down at her hands, then up at the fire. "It wasn't friendly to mutants there."

She clears her throat and lifts the cup up for another sip from it.

She smiles as she looks back a moment later. "How do ya think you're gonna live your life?" She asks then.

Jimmy Hudson has posed:
    The Canadian mutant leaves his hand lightly on Jeepers' back, giving him occasional pats as if to let the dog that there's a human nearby and thinking about him. But his attention is on Rogue as she confides what she chooses to in him and he takes it with that calm expression on his features.
    She cracks wise about Logan's age and it causes him to smile a little and look to the side, then he looks back to her and says. "He's done a lot of livin'." Which might be a politick way of agreeing with her.
    She mentions about her time being recruited, up in Canada. His brow furrows slightly as his gaze drifts to her eyes, then to her hands as her attention lowers. The fire. She mentions the attitudes of people during that time, that place and he nods again slowly. "A fair amount of places like that."
    But when she angles at him with her question, when she offers the smile, it's returned with a half-wry chuckle. He shakes his head and looks away, takes a sip, then looks back to her. "Day by day? S'worked alright so far."
    Though he does bite his lower lip thoughtfully as he falls silent. His eyebrows beetle briefly, then lift as he likely shares some inner monologue with himself. Then out of honesty confesses to Rogue, "Though, to be fair, I should be thinkin' about the future. My place in it. My adopted mother said I had a restless soul, and that I got that from my father. Not entirely sure what she meant by that. Figured mebbe that I was gonna be a hobo and ride the rails or sommich." His smirk grows a little.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue just smiles at Jeepers who is wagging his tail still, even when he sits down and just stares at Jimmy. Eventually though, the dog looks over at Rogue, sees she's drinking something and he stops. He starts to whine then as he stares at her with something he doesn't have.

Rogue has a spare cinamon stick in her gloved free hand that she offers out to Jeepers who sniffs it before biting the end of it.

"Pure Zen answer there." Rogue says back at him with a grin. "But, I get it. I mean, ya got a great job, surrounded by great people, like myself.... What more could ya even ask for?" She asks with a flirty smile at him before she takes another sip of her drink.

Jimmy Hudson has posed:
    Still holding that leash and resting the solo cup on the arm of his chair, Jimmy does seem to be taking his ease despite the chill of the weather. The steady radiation of heat from the fire helps, but it's still a Winter's night and their breath shows up in small puffs of vapor illuminated by the flicker of the fire's light.
    She calls his answer Zen and he feigns a hint of rolling his eyes, but his smile steals that expression of any seriousness. Instead he nods as she regales him with the high points of the job he's currently working on, and then finishes with the zinger about her being one such highlight. Which is a thing that makes him chuckle, but he nods as he agrees.
    "Yeah, I know, what more could a guy want right?" He glances sideways as Jeepers crunches on a bit of that stick, then he looks over at Rogue. "I dunno, I have this thought, in my head." Because it would be somewhere else? Yet he elaborates, "That I'm helpin' here, that I'll keep on keepin' on, maybe some time in the future when there's a lull. Or maybe at some point when I don't feel like I'm contributin'. Then maybe I'll move on."
    He gestures with the solo cup, "Then again, part of me thinks, you know... maybe there's never an end to it. There'll always be some crisis on the horizon. Maybe I need to choose a time to do what I think I need for... I dunno. A life."
    He takes a sip of cider, chews on his lower lip for a moment, then grunts. "Like, some point. I'd like to get some land. Twenty acres somewhere? Maybe more."

Rogue has posed:
With the hot beverage ingested, Rogue breathes out even steamier puffs of breath as she listens to his response. "Sounds like your adopted mother was right about you then." She responds with a grin. Her eyes go back to the fire, she swipes her white bangs off of her cheek and then takes another drink.

Her head shakes then as she lowers the cup. "Who knows what's comin' next." She says with a glance toward the stars. "Some alien punks might come by and just blow the whole planet away, Death Star style. I mean... at this point... anythin' can happen, right?" She asks as she looks back at him.

"I'll tell ya my plan." She says then with a big smile. "I wanna save up some money. Go t'Paris like my mother always wanted... explore it until I'm bored, then come back and work until I can buy a two story house with a wrap around porch, a tree outside with a swingset, and maybe a barn nearby with a old ass tractor inside'a it." She smiles brightly then.

"Spend the resta my days in sun dresses on the porch. Lemonade and maybe a guitar."

Jimmy Hudson has posed:
    There's a small bit of curiousity and a hint of incredulity at first as Jimmy listens to Rogue, his eyes following her gestures, the movement of her lips, meeting her eyes at those moments they light up. He chuckles a little at the first part about the alien punks and sort of tilts his head to the side as if to say, 'well, yeah.' Since such a thing is entirely possible.
    "Paris?" He says as if trying to imagine what a Rogue would do to the City of Lights. He chuckles again looking at his solo cup and then puuushes himself lazily to his feet. Standing up he takes a step or two up to the cauldron and gets the ladle to refill his drink. An eyebrow cocks her way as he lifts that implement and gestures with it, in case she wants a refill. Then he's walking back and drops into the patio chair causing it to complain with a metallic creak.
    Only he's not done and fishes around to the side for the bottle of brandy and spikes his own cider, just with a few sloshes before he sets it back down. Then when she finishes speaking... he had been smiling, but at the word 'guitar' his smile broadens all the more as he murmurs. "Now see, you had me up until 'guitar'." He takes a sip of his cider, "I've heard you sing." As if that was all the explanation needed. But he grins and then adds, "But seriously, that sounds like a good dream to have. At least you've got more put together than I do. I think I've narrowed it down to..."
    A hand lifts as he gestures, "Somewhere without as much snow?"

Rogue has posed:
Rogue holds her cup up to accept a refill. "Thanks." She says quietly.

She smirks at his words quite a bit but then just shakes her head. "Well, maybe you'll come up with a more detailed plan in the days t'come." She says then with a grin before she reaches out for Jeepers leash.

The dog is laying down on the ground and just looking around now as he pants because of the fire heat. He stares off at squirrels or birds or vampires in the darkness, and just layscalmly.

"And I promise ya, ya haven't heard me sing." She says then in that sassy sorta way that she has perfected in her young years.

Jimmy Hudson has posed:
    "Oh you mean really sing." James says just before he takes another sip, chuckling to himself. He may have his father's healing factor, but he doesn't have the man's history of drinking, so he still gets a nice little buzz that lasts only a bit, just enough to color his cheeks slightly. "So not that yodeling I hear coming from the women's locker room?"
    Which, to be fair, Rogue doesn't need enhanced senses to tell that's a lie. He's just teasing and being contrarian. But he has a good deadpan delivery, though the grin doesn't sell it very well.
    Slouching in his chair now he takes a deep breath and looks across the snow-covered yard, letting his blue eyes wander before he returns them back to the Southern belle. "I do feel like a third wheel around here though at times. T'be fair."
    A hand lifts to gesture back toward the mansion. "Or fourth or fifth, considering how you look at it. Logan and his other munchkins he's got going. All of them are more useful in a lotta ways." Mainly in the stabbing people department.

Rogue has posed:
The Belle lowers her cup then as she leans forward on her knees and just shakes her head side from side. "That's not yodling. Those showers have the best massage sprayer." She says back at him with a growing grin. Ever the tease, she is.

At the other part of his words, Rogue just lowers down her silliness level a bit, does another stroke of her white bangs to get them out of her way of drinking, and takes another sip.

When the cup comes down this time she tips her chin up at him. "Third wheel feelin' is often a sign of just bein' self-conscious. If you wanna mean more around here, then you gotta step up, be confident and make yourself mean more. If ya wanna be sheepish and stand off t'the side, well then... roll on, you extra wheel."

Rogue states as her pale green eyes go down to her drink, her hand reaching out to get another cinamon stick that she puts in her mouth like a cigarette.

Jimmy Hudson has posed:
    A snort comes from Jimmy, but then she draws the laugh from him. Just a deep rumbling thing that is given life for a moment, then he stifles it since it's late at night. But he tilts his head to the side while nodding at her, eyebrows raised as if granting her that point that she just scored.
    "Massager. Got it."
    Still he shakes his head, chuckling a bit as he leans to the side. Another sip.
    Then she imparts her wisdom and he crinkles his nose, "Ehn, s'not easy as all that." Even though some might take such words to be sharpness, he knows what she's angling. "Steppin' in to whatever role, I figure..." His head rolls a little left and right as if digging for the right choice of words. "Not entirely my place, the old man's earned his place here, wouldn't be right to go takin' something all presumption. Piss and vinegar."
    So maybe that's more it, not wanting to give Logan that vibe, the others not quite as prominent. Though he does add, "Not that I could ever replace him, to be fair. Just mean for the role of mutant ass-kicker, he's got that job down."
    Then he laughs a little again, soft this time as he murmurs. "So I make cider."

Rogue has posed:
Rogue just falls quiet for a bit after he says all of this. She takes another sip of her drink and finishes it off as she tips the cup and pours the last bit down in to the grass. Jeepers stands up and looks at Rogue with expecting eyes. The Belle holds his leash now, and shakes it a little, making his collar and vet tags jingle some.

She looks back over at Jimmy then. "Sounds like a buncha bullshit excuses t'me." She says at him in a calm, happy, quiet voice. She lets that linger for a moment before she stands up. Her free hand reaches up to adjust her hat on top of her head as she stands there in front of the fire. She looks back over and down at him.

"Some'a us aren't leaders. There aren't enough good leaders in this world. I like t'think I know Logan, t'some degree. He could be a good leader, a great one, if he could let go of his anger. It's in his DNA." She shakes her head then as she glances out at the darkness.

"It's in your DNA too. But you gotta find your confidence in yourself." She says as she looks back at him and grins then.

"Thanks for the cider. Me an' the pooch are gonna go get some sleep." She says then as she starts to walk off with Jeepers doggy-jogging to catch up with her.

Jimmy Hudson has posed:
    As Jimmy endures that, he watches her, listens. At times tempers the burns with a sip of cider. At one point his eyebrows raise near the end. But when she offers her thanks he gives a nod, lifting his free hand to give a small wave as she begins that departure. No more words. Not for now at least.
    It's only likely when she's fairly far on her way in, having headed off and left the Canadian to his own devices that he takes a moment to look at the bottom of his empty red solo cup. As likely many men have done so over the years such things have existed. His gaze searching for what wisdom it must hold in its depths, or mayhap considers it something like a symbol. Of cheap intoxication and fleeting times.
    Shaking his head he looks up, squinting into the distance. "Note to self. Avoid heart to hearts with Rogue."
    The words linger there in the silence of the dark, no smirk or smile this time. Just their presence hanging at the edge of his senses as he looks at the snow on the yard. His eyebrows raise and he grunts, then adds. "Or grow a damn pair, ya lazy fuck."