Not From Around Here, Part 2, 9/8, mid-morning/Rogue and Gambit

[Gambit]

\\Continued from Not From Around Here

Remy prided himself in keeping his cool, no matter how dire the situation. It was a trait borne out of necessity for any thief, and he felt like he was about as good as they came in that department. Stepping out onto the grounds, though, Remy was reminded that, though, he knew there were stables out there somewhere, he hadn't the foggiest just where they were.

He remembered the tour he'd been given of the mansion pretty well. He remembered his self-guided tours even better. Truth be told, though, he'd managed to escape the outdoor portion of the tour when something more important popped up, and Remy hadn't bothered to ask for a rain check.

The baseball diamond, basketball and tennis courts and the docks were all immediately apparent, upon striking out onto the massive back yard of the mansion (albeit stretched out over a few acres of softly flowing, carefully manicured lawn). Remy had walked with Rogue over the soft grass, talking casually and continually, trying to hide the fact that he had absolutely no idea where he was going. Until, at last, he spied a trail cut out of the line of trees at the edge of the yard.

Remy's eyes glinted and his smile spread a little wider. "And now," he said, cutting off the idle chatter they'd been engaged in, "the pièce de résistance." They walked through the trail, and it was soon apparent that the path was longer than he'd anticipated. "Wait for it..." he said with a quick smile.

[Rogue]

She'd figured that the outside parts of the Institute were huge. She could see that much from the windows. But being out there, it felt even bigger. A swimming pool, hedge maze (they had a fucking hedge maze. Who has a hedge maze?), a lake. It was even bigger than it looked. It seemed to stretch on forever, and she wondered just how far into the woods on either side of the yard itself the property actually went. Things were a lot more cramped at the Brotherhood's place. Maybe. She still couldn't remember where exactly it was, but she knew that it was in the city somewhere.

Definitely didn't have anywhere near as much space. As they walked through the grounds, she tried not to get too caught up with just staring at it all, contributing to the conversation with hopefully semi-interesting opinions and comments. It really was a lot to take in, though, and she had an incredibly childish urge to try everything. Maybe not try playing baseball by herself, but the lake, the pool... that was all do-able.

"And now," Remy began, bringing her full attention back to him and the grin on his face which... she wasn't sure if it was the kind of thing that she should be happy about or worried about. "the pièce de résistance."

And then they were on a trail. She glanced back a few times as they headed deeper into the woods, unsurprised as the mansion and its well-kept lawn disappeared completely from view. It was hard for her to keep her brain from reminding her that the middle of the woods, on their private land was the perfect place to both kill her and hide her body, but she did manage to block out the majority of the voices that had taken it upon themselves to remind her that nobody would even go looking for her if she disappeared. She was going to keep thinking positive things, even if it killed her.

Or... even if he did. Whatever.

"Wait for it..." She looked over at him, smiling a little bit in return. Wasn't exactly the most comfortable she'd been in... actually, it was pretty close to the most comfortable she'd been in the past couple days, but that said more about how crazy her life had become than about how she felt right then.

"Waiting," she informed him with a nod as she resisted the urge to slip her thumb under the fabric of the glove on her other hand, just in case she needed to use it. She wasn't going to. It was probably not a take her into the woods and shoot her scenario, as much as her brain kept on telling her that it was and the sooner she learned to stop thinking that everyone was spying on her or waiting for the right moment to kill her, the better. Dammit. The guy had been nothing but nice, and there was no reason to start suspecting things.

[Gambit]

Remy noticed Rogue checking behind her and imagined she was growing more and more uncomfortable. He knew he certainly was. He wasn't exactly sure why, though. Taking a girl he'd just met and leading her into a secluded area where the two of them might have some privacy was just the kind of thing that came naturally to him.

There was something about being in and around the mansion, though, that made his more rogueish ways a little more difficult to follow through with. He'd pondered the potential source of his newfound hang up, and believed it stemmed largely from the fact that any girl he might have attempted to woo would still be his housemate the following day... Gambit preferred to live his life free and unbridled. Everything about being an X-Man meant having strings attached.

They took the fun out of everything.

Getting physical with Rogue wasn't even a possibility, though. That, too, he imagined, added to his discomfort. A beautiful, seemingly intelligent and funny young lady (with a some great knockers) was walking with him, alone, and while Remy would have been sidling right up to her under normal circumstances, he knew that his well-being depended on keeping a safe distance. It was all very disheartening.

Still, Remy'd prevailed over more difficult situations. He could still turn this little trip into something not-horrible. At long last, the trail opened up, revealing a large clearing and a seriously huge barn. Remy's nose curled slightly at the odor of the animals. It wasn't necessarily terrible, but it wasn't pleasant either.

"Whew," he said softly. "I guess we found the stables after all," he said with a smile. "I'll level with you. I've never been out here before. But I thought you might like to see the animals."

[Rogue]

Rogue really needed to work on the whole everyone's out to get me attitude. Even if it was completely justified. If they did decide that they needed to off her, they'd do it. If they didn't, then she was just being an idiot and worrying about something that wasn't there to worry about in the first place. Just because he was taking her pretty deep into the woods, it didn't mean that he was doing it to hurt her. There were plenty of other possible reasons that he could have for taking her there. Truth be told, there were a couple that made her really hope that he wasn't a telepath.

The paranoia was better than the inappropriate thoughts, she decided, and she crossed her arms, looking around and only occasionally glancing up to see if it was a clear shot should she need to escape him by taking to the air. The worry was relatively short-lived, though, as the trees cleared a bit and next thing she knew, they were standing in front of a barn. A very large barn.

"Whew," he said softly. "I guess we found the stables after all," he said with a smile. She raised an eyebrow in his direction. Had they been looking for them? Is that what the wandering through the woods was all about? "I'll level with you. I've never been out here before. But I thought you might like to see the animals."

She looked at him for a few beats before she just plain cracked up. Not for long and not too enthusiastically, but enough to probably communicate that she was a lot more tense than she really needed to be. And, clearly, she was an idiot. They were going to see the horses. He wasn't taking her out to the woods to kill her. She pinched the bridge of her nose for a second, eyes closed as she shook her head and got herself to stop chuckling.

"I'm a moron," she explained, looking up at him. Wasn't going to outright say the killing thing, since she'd agreed to not even say the word but hopefully he'd figure it out. She started toward the barn, definitely interested in seeing whatever animals they had in there. Kurt had told her that there were horses, but he hadn't really gone into detail about them other than to say that he thought they were scared of him. God, she was stupid. Shaking her head again, she looked sidelong at Remy.

"I appreciate you bringing me out here, Remy," she informed him with a smile. Really was a nice gesture, him bothering to risk being in the middle of nowhere with her just so he could show her something that he hadn't actually seen himself. Shit, right. Not dwelling on the whole someone's gonna beat someone else up before the day is over thing. She nodded in the direction of the barn, expression turning to a mix of fake fear and amusement. "You got any idea what kind of animals they keep in there?"

[Gambit]

Remy always enjoyed a good laugh, but the nervous energy behind Rogue's sudden outburst caught him off guard. He'd suspected she was uncomfortable, now it seemed to be confirmed that she really must have expected the worst from their trip into the woods. He watched with a wry grin on his face as she pinched the bridge of her nose and clenched her eyes shut, undoubtedly coping with the relief she felt. Maybe embarrassment.

Remy got a kick out of watching her, after his own slight embarrassment passed. He respected anybody's ability to laugh at themselves, and the absurdity of their situation really was starting to pile up. Like the manure behind the stables.

"I appreciate you bringing me out here, Remy," Rogue said at last. Her expression changed, her eyebrows raising, her mouth widening slightly as she pretended quite obviously to be scared. "You got any idea what kind of animals they keep in there?"

Catching the joke, Remy's eyes glinted. He was beginning to suspect he'd found a worthy foil. "Don't worry, chere. I'll keep you safe." Ordinarily, he would have followed up a comment like that by pulling his prey a little closer. Instead, he led the way to the stables.

He stepped up onto the wooden floor and was immediately hit by a burst of cool air. Air-conditioned stables. Of course. Remy'd been in barns before. Spent more than a few nights sleeping in some. This was definitely one of the nicest he'd ever seen. The floors were clean and the stalls seemed to be spacious, from what he could see.

"Damn," he said mostly to himself, "... And they've got me sleeping in the attic?" He turned around to face Rogue long enough to say, "I'll tell you what, sometimes I think I was born the wrong species." He turned back around, swaggering slightly as he meandered deeper into the stables. "I could get used to bein' pampered."