2013-01-09 A Talk

There was a lot on Kwabena's mind. The events of Latveria, his falling in with the X-Men, the death of Bobby Drake, the unexpected incident on I-87. He couldn't possibly guess at what the future has in store for him, but with so many heavy things bouncing around inside of his head, he'd elected to step outside onto the rear grounds for a smoke.

The harsh, biting cold winter air helps serve to remind him that yes, indeed, he's still alive, and this is what his life has become. While the black leather jacket and jeans ward off most of the cold, it bites into the skin of his face where not protected by the hat over his bald head.

Where he stands is far beyond the athletic courts and pool house, out near the place where the wilderness creeps upon the estate grounds. The occasional plume of cigarette smoke might give away who the darkly clad figure is from a distance.

Slowly, Kwabena pulls free the flexible glove covering his left hand, which is just one part of what he has come to affectionately call the 'shift suit'. There, wrapped around his wrist, is what would appear to be a black wristwatch, except where the face of a watch should be, there is instead a blue plate with a stylized '4' upon it. As he studies the device, a fresh plume of nicotine-laden smoke is blown from his nostrils.

Rogue has been spending some time here at the mansion, trying to get used to feeling like she's a part of something again, this 'something' being rather family-like and full of promise. The time she has spent here has been spent trying to acclimate to how things are for her now as well as come to grips with how things went down in Latveria.

The kids have been positively loud, the energetic manner they carry out even the most simple of tasks draining, causing her to flee to the back grounds to get away from the noise, the door leading out opening and closing noisily. "Ah swear... Those children can be so..." Kwabena is noticed and she comes up short, still not ready to approach him. She clears her throat instead, trying to get his attention that way. Maybe he'll come to her instead and she won't have to take a hit to the pride.

The familiar voice, along with the clearing of a throat, is sufficient to draw Kwabena's attention away from his wrist. He turns, letting the sleeve of his jacket fall over the device. "So rambunctious?" offers the Ghanaian in an effort to complete her sentence. "You have to admit, it -can- be entahtaining. At times."

Stretching the glove back over his hand to ward off the cold, Kwabena pinches out the cigarette between his fingers. The fabric of the glove follows his flesh in turn, each finger briefly poofing into smoke that actually snuffs out the cigarette. Lack of oxygen and all that.

"So," he asks, while taking a few steps to close the distance between them. "You are a part of dis now too?" He gestures about with his eyes, indicating the estate as a whole.

"Something like that," Rogue says in response to his finishing her sentence, her mouth curling up to form something of a grin. "Ah don't remember being that spazzy as a kid." Rogue was, of course. Almost all children are, after all. But sometimes she doesn't really remember that far into her past. It's the bad stuff that takes up the majority of her memory.

Looking at the mansion when Kwabena does, she starts to worry at her lower lip, her expression softening. "Ah guess, yeah. Ah'm at least invited to spend time here." There hasn't been any formal invitations to join up given, yet, but at least she can spend time with others on a more regular basis which is good for her.

"I'm not even entirely sure what dis -is-," adds Kwabena. Where she worries at her lower lip, he merely looks upon it with a frown. "Dis is so -unfamiliah-. Not Africa. Not Brooklyn. Not Chicago." He shakes his head slowly. "I shouldn't feel like I belong here, but..."

That thought trails off a bit, and he turns back to face Rogue, his frown softening a bit. "But it is safe. It is nice to have somewhere -safe-, you know?" he asks. "Seems the team has some few things to sort out, though. Guess dat goes with the territory. Probably explains why I prefer to work alone."

If he even really understood what his 'work' was.

Rogue nods in understanding. "Ah always worked with others mahself," she explains while shoving her hands into the pockets of the jacket she wears, her own quite a bit thinner than the one Kwabena wears probably is thanks to how she doesn't tend to feel the cold quite as acutely as others. "But it's nice to be around people who ain't preaching against their fellow man. We might be mutants but if ya look at it, we are all humans despite our differences."

Sighing, she turns away from the lavish building to look at him, her expression faintly troubled. "Care to explain why ya did what ya did while we were fighting that metal guy's robots in Laveria?" The wording isn't exactly graceful but she's trying to be tactful. Thankfully she's no longer mad at him but she's still a bit hurt by the way he apparently betrayed them all.

"We're all people, yes," agrees Kwabena. "Perhaps the genetic differences are a bit more den black and white, but, we are -people-."

Then, the subject changes to what he knew was inevitable. He'd heard that she was angry with him, of course. Seems they have something to sort out of their own. Understanding flashes across his face, suggesting that he's not holding her hostage to the misunderstanding, but there is a certain heaviness that falls over him.

"You know I was once prisoner to Victah von Doom, in Latveria," he reminds her. "Given my situation, and de way I was released from him, it made sense for me to act as what people like to say, a 'double agent'." He gestures with his hand, as if it might help to explain it better. "Doom had given me rights to return to Latveria any time I wanted his help. So... we used that to our advantage. So dat I could get deep inside de castle, I told him about de othah team, the one dat was attacking from the front. It was all part of the plan."

His tone wavers a bit, as if suggesting that it was certainly not an easy thing for him to do.

The subject of genetics can wait as they are now discussing something vastly more important in Rogue's opinion. "Ah get that but why didn't ya tell me before hand, Kwabena? Ah thought we were friends?" There's a quick glance up and then she takes a keen interest in her feet, it now entirely too difficult to look him in the eyes. "Y'all jus' let me thought ya had betrayed us. That was... it hurt."

A long and potentially painful silence lingers between them. How could he explain everything that had happened since she'd stumbled across him overdosing in his apartment, to the operation against Doomstadt? He's just not sure what to say for a very long time.

"I... I couldn't," he eventually stammers, awkwardly. "I wanted to, but, dey had to keep me sequestered until I was ready." He shakes his head. "It's difficult to explain."

And shameful. His affliction was the -reason- he'd been kept silent, off the grid, secreted away until it was time to go to Latveria.

"You remember how sick I was, when you found me in Brooklyn?" he asks, waiting until she acknowledges him before offering anything more. Perhaps it might strike her that he's -far-, very far, from how sick he was such a short time ago.

She gets it. She understands why he had to do it but it doesn't keep her from feeling angry and like she had been lied to. And... even used. The range of emotions she feels flickers across her face and eyes, the flashes between one and another lasting only a second or two before the storm stops entirely, leaving Rogue standing there looking defeated. "Ah remember." How could she not remember that night when she happened upon him in his apartment. "Ah..."

Not sure what to say, she falls quiet, allowing Kwabena to continue with his explaination.

"I had to go," explains Kwabena, his eyes misting over just so. "Someone very dear to me had been left dere. I couldn't sit here, -waiting- like some... like some -cocka-roach-, while everyone else got to play hero. But dey wouldn't let me go until I'd gotten healthy. I had to get healthy."

A torrent of emotion and angst comes over him as he speaks, but he catches it before it can go too far, and quiets himself.

-Himself.-

Had he really done all of this selfishly? Could they have accomplished the mission without his help? One might never know, but he'd gone for Betsy. He'd felt that he owed her that much, especially after saving him from being lost forever. But how could he ever explain to Rogue that he was the reason she was there? That he'd provided Logan with her phone number, so that she could be contacted and recruited for the operation? Could he, especially after never going so far as to explain to her what his role would be?

It strikes him like a sack of sand, and his shoulders slump. "I could have. I should have sent you a message." He shakes his head, feeling so shameful that he can't help but look away.

"I apologize."

And then, with that, his eyes seem to ice over with a particular coldness, a coldness that is Kwabena's way of shutting himself down, of locking himself away. He still has so much to learn, for even shutting himself off... that is yet another act of selfishness.

Kwa will be surprised to find himself suddenly hugged, most likely, as that's exactly what Rogue does. It is one of those clingy kind of hugs that friends give others they haven't seen in a long time, the act borne of desperation along with the need to... well, be affectionate, probably. She's careful not to put much of her strength into it, however. No, she holds back a lot in that way so not to hurt him.

"Apology accepted, Kwa. And Ah'm sorry, too."

Thehug is released and she turns to face away, her shoulders slouching. "Ah should've believed in ya. Known that ya weren't gonna betray us. But..." She reaches up and covers her eyes, trying not to let her tears get the better of her. "Ah don't trust people easily and when Ah thought ya had..."

Kwa will be surprised to find himself suddenly hugged, most likely, as that's exactly what Rogue does. It is one of those clingy kind of hugs that friends give others they haven't seen in a long time, the act borne of desperation along with the need to... well, be affectionate, probably. She's careful not to put much of her strength into it, however. No, she holds back a lot in that way so not to hurt him.

"Apology accepted, Kwa. And Ah'm sorry, too."

Thehug is released and she turns to face away, her shoulders slouching. "Ah should've believed in ya. Known that ya weren't gonna betray us. But..." She reaches up and covers her eyes, trying not to let her tears get the better of her. "Ah don't trust people easily and when Ah thought ya had..."

Kwa will mostly likely be surprised to find himself suddenly hugged, most likely, as that's exactly what Rogue does. It is one of those clingy kind of hugs that friends give others they haven't seen in a long time, the act borne of desperation along with the need to... well, be affectionate, probably. She's careful not to put much of her strength into it, however. No, she holds back a lot in that way so not to hurt him.

"Apology accepted, Kwa. And Ah'm sorry, too."

Thehug is released and she turns to face away, her shoulders slouching. "Ah should've believed in ya. Known that ya weren't gonna betray us. But..." She reaches up and covers her eyes, trying not to let her tears get the better of her. "Ah don't trust people easily and when Ah thought ya had..."

When he is suddenly and abruptly hugged, Kwa almost staggers back a bit, but a boot strikes the frozen ground and he stays put. He closes his eyes and drapes an arm around Rogue's shoulders until she draws back away.

Relief is evident upon him, and he makes to look her in the eye again. "It's okay. I have a difficult time trusting peopahl too." After a moment, his signature grin starts to spread across his face. "I was so nervahs, but I have to admit... it felt damn good to trick dat son of a bitch."

Whooops! Maybe she did put a little too much ooomph into the embrace but hey, at least he was able to stay upright which is a good thing. Blushing, she looks at her friend and smiles, unable to keep from smiling. "Ah'm jus' glad it all worked out. But importantly... are ya a'right, now?"

"A few bumps and bruises from dealing with de robots," he answers, "but nothing dey couldn't handle in the medicahl bay. More importantly, we got our friends out, and didn't start intahnational war." Breathing another sigh of relief, he reaches to take Rogue's hand in a friendly way, then begins leading her back toward the school. "Dere are more important things that must be done now," he says. "One of de teachers was killed recently, and a mutant clinic was attacked. An investigation is forthcoming." He looks over to Rogue, perking an eyebrow. "I hope you stick around, Rogue. You're clearly good in a fight, and it might come to dat."

Rogue's smile slips some while he takes her hand and speaks. "Ah'm good for more than a brawler, ya know. Ah'm good at lots of things. Like bein' a friend." Kwabena didn't mean anything by his statement but it still stings a bit but it passes quickly and she soon is able to grin once again. "But if ya need me for a fight jus' let me know. Ah've got yer back, ya know."

"Of course you are." Kwabena's answer comes as if that didn't even need to be said. He didn't make friends easily, but once he trusted someone, that trust ran deep. Then, when she speaks of having his back, he recalls it wasn't the first time she'd used that phrase. "And my side, and my front," he quips, jesting a bit. "Seriously, Rogue, I didn't know you could move so fast!"

For a brief moment, his hand tightens just so. "I'm learning some few things, as well. About what I can do. I can't -wait- to show you."

And with that, they walk off toward the mansion, and what ever future awaits their friendship.