2014.06.02 - Breakfast Can Be Hell

Daimon woke up a few hours after Rogue fell asleep. They were on different schedules right now. Which was funny to Daimon as he looked at the sleeping Rogue. Normally he'd be asking why she was here, but he understood why.

He walked past her, in his terry cloth robe gets closed as he walks to the kitchen. He looks at Isaac, watching his stories as he does and smirks at him. He knew Isaac was just watching his stories now. Isaac was addicted to those stories, those Soap Operas. If Daimon didn't speak, then that was it.

No order would come from Daimon's mouth. He was tired, he wasn't worthy of Isaac's servitude. Instead Daimon would head to the kitchen. He got a skillet, turned on the gas stove and reached into the refrigerator and pulled out some ingredients and started to make breakfast for two. In all honesty, Rogue could probably sleep for several more hours. Likely she could sleep an entire day away. But it was hard to resist the ever succulent scent of bacon.

She rolled out of the guest bed, and checked a mirror. Awesome she looked terrible. She found a ponytail in her pocket and tossed back her hair. Rogue wondered if she smelled. Brimstone? Something worse?

She made her way down to the kitchen and gave a small smile to Daimon, as she found a stool to sit on at the kitchen counter. "Mornin' 'Sug."  Sif has connected.

Fortunately the smell was just bacon being cooked over hickory wood, the stove was old. Daimon looked back at Rogue and smiled a bit, "Rough night I take it. I mean, I find you asleep on my stairs I assume that it must have been a rough night."

Daimon set up another skillet and said, "I don't have any grits, but I do make a mean scrambled egg."

He was trying to make light of the situation but he knew that things were not good, especially if she was here. Rogue smirked and rubbed at her arms through the sleeve, still waking up. "What you think just because I'm southern I just love grits?"

Of course she does. But any sort of edible homemade food sounded like heaven at the moment. However that thought alone didn't put her at ease.

She unzipped her hoodie and placed it aside, still wearing the outfit from the previous day underneath, in just a tank, vinyl skirt, boots and gloves. Not covered as much as she usually was, and because of that her band was showing.

Before she dove right into the obvious topic, she gestured towards Isaac, "He's really sweet, by the way. Pretty sure Ah would have slept on yer steps otherwise." "He's... not what he seems that's for sure," Daimon said with a smirk. Isaac was a dear, even if he was disobedient at times, still you couldn't ask for a better butler. Daimon started cooking the eggs as the bacon started to sizzle.

As he mixed the eggs up he looked at Rogue and then to the brand of the Dark Soul on her chest, "Yeah, I just noticed it myself. Funny how this has been going on for a while and neither one of us saw it." Rogue looked down at her brand and shifted uncomfortably. She jumped out of her stool to find something to do with her hands, and wound up brewing a fresh batch of coffee, "Ah just found out last night with Jamie. So that went real well."

She let out a sigh and touched at Daimon's arm through the robe, "There is a lot about this we need to talk about. But you need to know...Ah think we should skip ever meeting each other's family. You catch my drift?"

She rubbed at the back of her neck, thankfully she couldn't remember all of the dreadful sounds from where she was last night. She had a feeling she might remember more and more later while dreaming. "You'll get no arguments from me on that one, Anna," Daimon said, he'd already heard all the stories about pious Kurt and terrorist Mystique and wasn't really all that quick to meet either one of them.

He dropped the eggs in the other skillet and took the simmering bacon off the stove. Going back over to stir the eggs up as they cooked he said, "I didn't even notice until a death god caught me retracing my steps in Great Kills Park trying to see if that fight with the druid had weakened me somehow."

He chuckled and said, "Funny how we could both miss something that big." "It don't exactly surprise me. Ah remember once, this X thing. The professor explained how he was keepin all the normal people in the room from noticin' somethin' that should have been easily seen. Something like that, I bet but you know magic not telepathy. If that makes any sense." She let out a sigh and leaned her back against the counter, "Not that this really has to make sense. Told you from day one Ah'm bad news."

She looked down at the ground and slumped her shoulders, "Ah'm sorry. Really. But Ah know we can take care of this ourselves, and maybe with the team without getting your dear old Dad involved. Again." "You're bad news? Please! I'm the one who has more or less made you half-demon just because I..." Daimon trailed off for a second and then went, "Shit!"

He started stirring the eggs again as they were almost starting to burn, "Well obviously this conversation is going to have to wait a few minutes more, considering cooking eggs and deep conversations don't seem to mix very well on my side of things."

He was happy for that convenient little excuse for everything, "And don't worry about my Dad, I haven't heard from him since this whole thing started. Can't even find his contact info in my phone. I doubt he even cares. Probably glad to be rid of me." "Sure, but Ah'm in his top five now. Never would have known the devil was such a texter." She couldn't help but laugh however as they hopped onto the angst train and the eggs nearly suffered the consequences. Rogue found some coffee mugs, and grabbed a third one for the butler. Everyone drinks coffee right? "No intelligent conversation can be had in the mornin' without coffee anyway."

Daimon nearly dropped the eggs when she said that last bit of throwaway dialogue, "Wait! Are you saying my Father is calling and texting you!?"

There was a palatable nervousness in his voice. "Sug." She moved to look at him over her shoulder, "Ah've already met him. You think Ah just fell asleep on your steps because Ah was drunk?"

She poured out coffee for the three of them, as at least these two were going to need it. Rogue held up her coffee and blew at it, watching the smoke, "Gave us an ultimatum. Either we fix it, or he will. Like Ah said, no more family stuff." The thought of his Father directly interacting with Rogue made Daimon's blood run cold. And to hear an ultimatum was given made him even more fearful, he was glad the eggs were done or he'd probably burn them by now.

He marched over to Rogue and put his hands on her upper arms, "You didn't agree to anything did you!?"

He shook her slightly, "Did you!?" "Let go!" Rogue yanked herself out of his grasp, as his hands touched at her bare skin. Satan himself probably knows what would happen if she absorbed more of Daimon at the moment. She wasn't about to risk that. Rogue stepped back and placed the drink aside, having spilled some on herself just then. "Shit. No Ah aint that dumb, didn't agree to anythin'. Before all that Ah got ambushed by Balor, and some no-face guy. And dragons."

She checked in a couple cabinets to find some plates. It was either that, or cry on Daimon's kitchen floor. And she didn't have time for that. Daimon cooled off for a moment and then facepalmed, "Please tell me by Balor and a no-face guy you don't mean, a thirteen year old who needs their mouth washed out with soap and the Question? I really, really didn't want either of them involved in this."

He was sure that Rogue didn't make a deal intentionally, but who knows what she made have accidently agreed to. The Devil, as they said, was in the details. But it wasn't something he could do anything about right now.

"Hun I hate to break it to you, but you've got some kinda social circle. They came after /me/, so Ah do hope they're friends of some kind. Otherwise I should have just kicked their asses. Ambushin' me, like ten minutes after Ah got into a fight with Jamie." She prepped herself a plate and slid onto the stool. Rogue really didn't feel entirely hungry, but after she took the first bite she felt like she could be a ravenous beast. She kept her lady-like demeanor in front of Daimon. "Put me in a mood. Ah'm always in a mood lately like...PMS times a thousand. Ah have no idea how you keep yer cool all the time."

"Balor is a friend... as much as you can call a Death God locked into to mortal form 'a friend.'" Daimon said with a sigh, "The Question, he's just a city shaman and conspiracy theorist I showed Hell to once to prove a point so he'd stop interrupting my lecture."

He spun his finger around his ear a few times, "The Question is a little Cuckoo for Cocco Puffs. But he's mostly harmless."

He smirked at Rogue's problems with anger, "I've had the dark soul in me since I was born, so that means I've had 28 years to learn how to keep it in check. Only time it gets out of me now is when I use to much of its power. Or let the beast inside out."

He considered for a moment and then said, "Though I do think it has a lot to do with the womanizing, the living life on its edge and the nasty sarcasm. Don't seem to do much of that since I lost it." Her eyes looked to the side as she recalled her behavior from the previous night, "Yeah it uhm. Get's intense. Ah'm gonna have to be careful. Hot headed and angry normally, so"

She took a few more bites before speaking again. "This is good by the way. Needed that. So apparently you're better at more then just magick and uhm, womanizing."

She bit at the side of her lip as she considered their situation, "You know all of this more then me. We gonna be okay?" Daimon said, "Well I have been on my own for ten years, you learn how to cook or you life of hot pockets. With abs like mine, it's obvious hot pockets aren't my thing, You should try my jambalaya sometimes, learned it from Brother Voodoo himself."

He laughed for a moment before she brought up the more serious question, "Depends on what you mean by okay. I'll be fine. I'll have to relearn some magics so that I'm not using my own life force every time I cast a spell, but after that it'll be business as usually. You... not entirely sure. Mutants aren't my bag, so I don't know how the magic will mess with you fully. But after you adapt, you should be fine too."

With a more flirtatious look Rogue looked over Daimon, "Son Ah've seen you do a lot of things gloriously, but a good Jambalaya? We'll definitely see."

She placed her fork aside and brushed her fingers through her mess of swept back hair as she gulped, "So we've got a Danvers situation then. We'll at least yer still walkin' about. Ah...couldn't handle if you weren't. Think about you enough without havin' you as the latest tenant of this head here." However Rogue recalled something specifically his father said, it's somewhat a blur of terror but she was remembering, "No it's worse than Danvers. Don't lie to me, Daimon Hellstrom." "Yeah I don't know why that isn't happening. Maybe enough of my spell stayed up that it was just the most passive of contacts. Hell I didn't even think you could absorb my dark soul like that, it's not exactly the same thing as a mutant or metahuman powers. Though I bet you've been doing some stuff instinctually."

"And I'm glad I didn't pollute your head with my pervy ass brain. Last thing you need to know is half the things I think about on a daily basis."

"If anything it almost feels reversed. You're practically all I think about and all you've gone through and how much I..." he trailed off again. Rogue coughed for a moment as she looked a bit uncomfortable, "No Ah can absorb magick. Brotherhood."

And that was all that she was going to say about that. And while it was chaos at the time, feels like a cakewalk up until now. "Yeah, been teleporting a lot, apparently. Didn't really realize it. Few other things too. Ah've got to keep my cool."

But suddenly things wanted to heat up. Like her emotions were always dialed to 11 at the moment. Rogue leaned into him, her lips a little too close to his hear, "Go on..." Daimon moved his head away bit, he could still do the spell he had researched but that was fueled by his.. dark soul... crap. Now he got it, "Well I do know one thing you can do that you don't even realize you can do."

He forced himself away a bit and said, "Hold out your arm and thing about a trident." She couldn't help it, her eyes lit up. Rogue always found his trident particularly cool. If she was more of a 'woo girl' she would have tossed her shirt at him when she met him. Bad boy groupie.

She slid off of the stool and closed her eyes. Rogue held out her hand and pictured the trident, the weight and width of the handle. The might. A proper way to finish one's breakfast. And the shiny metal trident made of netharanium, a psycho-sensative metal from hell itself appeared to come out of her arm and into her hand. Just as if Daimon had done it himself.

"When we were going to take down Jamie's Rogue dupe I tried to summon it and it didn't come. Figured it must be tied to the dark soul. Was right about that much it seems." Rogue stepped several paces away from him and any sort of furniture. She drew in a breath as she moved the trident about, careful not to touch the roof or floor. Looking at her, she was familiar with working with a spear but not perhaps with something so top-heavy like a trident. But with some practice she got used to the weight. "Sorry Ah wasn't there. My dupe was a waste of time. Shoulda been there. Bet y'all were lost without me." "Nah, we had Emma Frost. She's a telepath. Funny enough she sort of schooled Jamie a bit on how a team gets run. But then she's a teacher, what do you expect." Daimon said with a bit of a smirk, "And I know you weren't checking on a dupe. You were in some bar doing jello shots! Damn, girl, you texted me a selfie of you winning the wet t-shirt contest." "Good point. And Ah still should have been there. Might have taken him down before he took that poison." She clenched at her jaw, as she spun the trident around her arm, neck and ended with a pose. When Rogue finished, she brought it in front of her, and concentrated on absorbing it back into her body. As she finished, she looked to Daimon, "We're gonna figure this out. You and Ah. Ah'll even read them books you've got downstairs and pull all nighters if need to. You, and the team aint gonna get hurt. Yer my family, you hear? You..."

She looked to the side as she spoke softly, "What Satan said ain't gonna happen. Not goin' to allow it."

She moved to stand in front of Daimon and looked into his eyes, "Ah just need you to have my back, and help me sort the gaps of what Ah know. But if Ah slip, and trust me that can very easily happen, remind me of who Ah am. Do you understand, Daimon?" No Daimon didn't understand Rouge at all to be honest. Well not entirely true, he understood her desire to learn how to control herself, to learn how to harness the Dark Soul for her own uses, rather than the uses it wanted to do. That made her better than his sister to be honest who left because she preferred the more 'unrestricted' lifestyle.

He understood what she was saying by calling him family as well. And the concept of having each others back.

The part he didn't understand was, "Wait, what did my Father tell you was going to happen?" Her eyes connected with Daimon's there was no backing away from this, no being shy or coy. It was time to be direct. "If you don't get it back you'll die. Yer tired, different right now. It's gonna take time, but it will."

Rogue looked to the side as she seemed like she was about to burst into tears, "That won't happen, no matter what it takes. Either we or your dad fix it. Option three aint even on the table."

She stepped away into the kitchen, discreetly whipping her eye as she grabbed the third coffee cup and gave it to Isaac, "Thank you for last night. Real hard to find nice people like you. Please, take care of Daimon he's gonna need it more then he knows."

She rushed back into the kitchen and grabbed her hoodie, "Thank you for breakfast and the bed." Daimon shook his head, "My Father told you this. Satan told you this. You know, the Father of Lies? That guy? That's the guy you're going to believe. Trust me if I was going to die he isn't going to lift a finger to help. He. Hates. Me. He hates me so much that he took my six-year-old sister to Hell to train her and prepare her and left me to rot on Earth."

As she handed the coffee to Isaac Daimon shouted, his voice reverberating unnaturally,  He almost sounded like his Father at that moment.

Isaac was in the middle of taking his first drink and went, "But my.. Yes sir!" and with a single swoop of his wings he was in front of the front door. The 5' 10" gargoyle expanded his wings out to their full ten foot wing span and he stood up straight and strong, "I am sorry M'lady. But if Master Hellstrom wants you here. You aren't leaving." Her eyes were connected with Daimon's as she responded to Isaac, "It's not your fault he doesn't know how to talk to a woman. Don't even have bus fare anyway."

Her body language shifts from Rogue's normal, casual demeanor. Her head tilts to the side as she paces about him, like she's circling for prey. Rogue doesn't realize she's doing it, but she doesn't realize a lot of what she's doing lately. She appears aggressive, "You just mad Ah'm not stayin for lunch? We've got work at X-Factor. Our 'Leader' is about to ship off and collect the rest of his dupes. And Doug. Well he's Doug. What about the other lost souls in need of help. You ever think about them? Ah help Jamie at the front desk. Ah see em." Daimon walked forward as Isaac continued to block the door, "Internal lost souls matter more than the one, maybe two people a day that X-Factor gets. We put practically everything on hold so that we could figure out this problem with Jamie and his locked door mystery that he -knew- since day one was him. Well one of his dupes, but him."

He was almost to the door now, "X-Factor is a lovely group of detectives, and lovely idea in spirit. I particularly love the noir elements. But you know the funny thing about a lot of noir stories."

He shook his said, "A lot of noir stories are personal, the dame at the beginning of the story is always someone the detective used to love. The guy who gets shot before he can tell you what money he was talking about, always knows the detective."

"I think Jamie made that business to solve his own problems just as much as he wanted to solve other people's problems. Even in the stories where the detective doesn't know the client, it all gets personal by the end."

He stops about ten feet away from Rogue and said, "So Jamie's got his story. Time to deal with our story, Anna." Rogue shrugged back off her hoodie and just tossed it towards the coat rack near the door's opening. One of the differences she's had since gaining Daimon's dark soul is she feels hot, all the time. Not a good mix for a gal with her powers.

A quick puff of Hellfire and Rogue is just next to Daimon, her hands placed at his waist and her face just next to his, "Ah've never seen a man so determined in just a bathrobe. Terrycloth isn't so intimidating. But fine. Time to focus."

She looked up at him with as a wicked smile spread across her plump lips, "Ah'm all yours." "Well you should see me when I want to be really intimidating. It's not pretty." He thought a second, "Well you'd probably think it was, but you're Anna Marie Darkholme. You're special."

Daimon looked a bit away at the wicked smile she gave, "And I know you're all mine. Cause, I'm all yours."

A confession he'd never live down, so that means change the subject fast, "So what did my Father tell me, be specific." That tactic was getting old real fast. As soon as they were making some traction, dramatic subject change. At least the topic at hand was an important one. Rogue stretched out her harms as she walked past Daimon, admiring a portrait that was hanging in the hallway, "Not gonna be subtle here, here was intimidating as shit. Anything Ah can forget is for the better. But. From what Ah remember he wants you back into the fold, and if Ah can help him with that all the better."

She rolled her eyes and slipped off both of her gloves, letting them both drop onto the ground. "He also had something to give to my Mom, the naughty one Ah assume. Which is only more unsettling but hopefully not an issue right now."

She turned to look at Daimon, "From what Ah know about big, scary horrible men (for which Ah know a lot) he wanted me to feel helpless, alone except for him. Hence why Ah woke up here. Wasn't goin' to otherwise. He wants to be our only hope." "You seemed to think I'm going to die, Anna." Daimon said seriously, he heard everything else she said, and he even had a clue who his Father was talking about when it came to Rouge's mother. But there were things he needed to know if he was going to research.

"Why do you think that. As far as I know, I just need to be careful with the black magic and start working on learning the other kinds of stuff. I'm mostly an exorcist anyways so that's not a big worry."

He concentrated and there was a small glow coming from his hands and he to her hands, "What did he tell you that made you think I'm going to die."

He smiled, "Tell me and I'll answer three questions for you, without being evasive. Son of Satan's honor." Her eyes turned to Isaac, while she liked the gargoyle she did prefer conversations like this to be private, if possible. "Fine. But this only goes to show that you prefer a woman in power Mr. Womanizer."

In this house, her favorite room was one room in particular. The first. She sauntered over towards the living room, if Daimon followed then good. Once he did, she looked at him over her shoulder and found a nice pile of pillows to make herself comfortable on, "He said it straight up. You might not die today, tomorrow, or even next Tuesday. But you will before your cycle naturally would. Ah'm not in a position that Ah'd allow that to happen. Yer dad isn't one of..evidence. If that's enough Ah'll take your three questions. If not well, at least Ah told the truth from what Ah know."

She looked Daimon over as her suddenly constant smirk faded, "It's a weak answer. Don't need to play yer 3 question game. Hell what Ah'd give if you could have what Ah'd do, Ah'd let you just feel me up to know everything Ah know, skip the middle man."

She crossed her legs, "At least it would be fun." Daimon heard what she had to say about it and nodded, "Fair enough. Honestly, I was worried about that a bit myself too. But since I never though I'd make it past forty with my current life style, I wasn't too worried about it. Dying by thirty-eight seems right. I hunt demons for a living, eventually that'll catch up."

"And yes, that was worth the straight answers. I hate giving straight answers, you'll recall even my job interview with Jamie I didn't give it straight."

He looked over to Rogue and said, "But you deserve them. Three answers to three questions. We made a contract, that's how it works." "Do ter dates normally require signatures? Then again, Ah guess we kinda sidestepped the dating stage. Ah'm awful at it anyway."

The corner of her mouth twitched at how comfortable he was at the idea of dying so young. Sure they both had ridiculous high threat lifestyles but still, it wasn't right. Too many more things to do.

She beckoned him towards her, and patted at a pillow just next to her, "Ah'll make this simple tonight. Ah want one. Ah get the other two later, at times you wouldn't feel inclined to be honest. How do you /actually/ feel about me?"  Sif has disconnected. Daimon smirked, "It's the typical arrangements. And here's the kicker... you don't need to sign, you just need to agree."

He sat next to her as she gestured for him and said, "But if you are going to hold off the other questions you need to make it very clear to mean you are calling in that debt. Otherwise I can make any question you ask be one of you questions."

As he sat he said, "I'm not like others, I won't abuse what I made. But if you are going to live with that Dark Soul, you need to know about how most demons and devils actually work."

Then the question was actually asked, "I... I.... " there was obviously an attempt on him to resist speaking. He couldn't though, "Honestly, Anna Marie. And I hate saying this because I know what you've gone through. I know what you are going through right now. And I know what I'm going to say is so fucking complicated. And it. I try to hide it for a reason, okay."

He lowered his head, he was compelled to answer, he made an Oath. He could not answer falsely, "I am pretty sure I'm in love with you. Have been since a bit after I joined X-Factor."

In regards to knowledge she needs to know, at least for right now she adds, "That all aint gonna be answered in a three question format. Ah need knowledge, more then what Ah've absorbed. Might need access to your musty old books. But Ah understand as to the rules of the other questions."

There were several moments of silence after he answered, a blush spread across her face. "Ah shouldn't have asked that. Saw the opportunity, and normally yer so...indirect Ah just. Selfish. Selfish is what that was but."

She placed a bare hand against his face and brought her lips to his, bringing him into short but sweet yet powerful kiss, "Ah love you too. For a while now. Ah'm not ashamed of it, quite proud really. Just means Ah'm gonna fight to get you yer soul even harder." Daimon sighed as the kiss was placed on his lips, he had prepared his hands to touch her, the new glow around his hands was him putting up that shield. And then when Rogue admitted her feelings and kissed him, touched his face, kissed him. He thought he would have to put it up everywhere and he wasn't sure he could do that without his Dark Soul.

And then Rogue's touch and kiss didn't wear him out, it didn't make him feel weak. It was nice, like their first kiss. The kiss before he could let her powers in. And yes. He loved her. He wasn't ashamed, he just didn't want her to tie herself down to the first person who could touch her.

That's why he avoided the subject, hid it behind other things. He didn't want to be a rebound. Or even less of a rebound, the first. But as Rogue kissed him he knew he wasn't the first one to touch her heart. He placed his hands on his shoulders and felt her.

Not like other men would, he felt her as her past. He knew ever person she had touched, her feelings of that, her feelings on everything.

He broke the kiss for only one reason, "That'll be all Isaac!" he shouted to the doorway. Rogue's romantic history was complicated, to say the least. He was among the first who could touch her, but not the first. But even that didn't really matter, it wasn't about timing. It was about understanding, and time. Seeing the good and the beyond, and not just putting the woman on a pedestal (as many like to do). But she felt a genuine companionship with this man from day one, and it only grew. And things only went more difficult from there.

She couldn't help but giggle as the Butler was dismissed. She smiled and waved at him as Rogue laughed. She pushed away for a moment breaking contact, still careful of what she can do. "You're cute when you're honest." Daimon smirked at Rogue. He already had heard the stories of Cody, Magneto, Leo, Remy, Carol, Jamie of course. But using a bit of a magic to feel how she felt about them all made him actually shutter. He barely understood her pain. But he wanted to understand it. He wanted to be able to share his own pain. The pain of rejection, the pain of losing a sister, of losing a father, of losing a mother. Of growing up in an environment that hated what he was, not exalted it as Mystique and Destiny did to her.

She had the pain, he had the experience. She couldn't touch. He was dirty to touch. She had two parents telling her it was alright. He had a suicidal mother and a group of nuns telling him he was evil.

"Nah, I'm always cute. I'm fucking hot when I'm honest and you know it." "Quite sure Ah've told you that often." She looked him over and sighed. Another victim of her touch, one who she actually was able to develop feelings over. Cody, that was so early and blooming. She suddenly regretting tossing her gloves aside. Rogue reached over to touch at his ribs through the cloth, not mentioning how little it was covering at this point, "It's true. You should try honesty on from time to time. But just me, might get jealous and all of that."

She moved to make herself closer, much too close. "Considering everything going on Ah really should just let you me. But Ah have an idea, and after Ah want to pour over your library, suddenly got a real good understandin' of Latin Ah don't want to get rid of."

She leaned in to whisper something into his ear. "Deal. I'll take you to my, Necromanteion, and I'll show you every book you need. Every ritual I know, will be yours. But of course, before I can do all that, there is a ritual we have to do. If you touch my books before it, they turn to ash."

Daimon smirked as he took her to the cellar doors and said, "Not really, but that's what it'll seem to you. Every good magician, hides his secrets."

He lead Rouge to his Necromanteion, it was time to get down to business. Pleasure would be late