Here's a quarter, call someone who cares - OTA

[movetheearth]

Having your powers drained by someone you consider to be more like a sister than a friend is annoying but live-able. It was an accident and Ric doesn't blame Rogue in the slightest, anyway he lived and really wasn't all that bothered by the consequential trip to hospital (he was unconscious at that part), transfer back to the base (awake by this

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[marauding_miss]

She didn't like talking about it because of the sheer invasiveness of it all. While Rictor might believe that she only had a few of his memories, she's got a lot more than that. It's hard to explain just how much of her personality today is Carol, just how much of her drive is from Carol. Now she's got a large part of Rictor floating about her head, just like Cody, she's got his wants and part of his personalty there too.

There's enough of him there that she's seen her father killed in front of her, and it's a battle to remember that it's not her father, and it's not her grief. She's got all these memories of a man she's in love with but isn't, she's got this need to blot out pain with the only thing that works, and she's dying for a cigarette already.

"'m managin'," but she'll carry on lying, because she really doesn't need Rictor to look at her the way she sees Carol looking at her. "Ah guess it's just luck of the draw or somethin'. It's weird, but Ah never really got sick in school or nothin', figures that this'll be the one t' knock me on mah ass." Which it really had. Rogue felt like hell, and it wasn't just the psychological hell she put herself through after hurting Rictor.

"Um, how're you doin'? Y' okay there? Has- Ah mean, y'know, Mark stopped by t' see ya?"

[movetheearth]

If Ric had any inkling just what Rogue was able to know about him from their accidental contact he'd probably freak out. All of his feelings, thoughts, emotions, memories, fears... gods the list could go on. There is so much to him that Ric has learnt to bury deep down inside, all of which Rogue is going to have to learn to deal with. Those coping mechanisms all in place to help keep up that facade of a happy go lucky Mexican with very few cares in the world beyond his next cigarette and where his makeshift family are.

"We're in the right place now at least and the medical staff around here are pretty amazing." Ric knows probably 90% of them on a first name basis now from all the time he's clocked up coming in and out of the place. He's even got a room he's usually put into, he jokingly calls it his second home.

"Me? Yeah I'm alright, frustrated that we're stuck here for a longer but it's not so bad really." At the use of Martini's real name Ric frowns, unaccustom to hearing anyone else using it. That said though with Rogue having absorbed his memories from camp it's probably one of those things that'll wear off eventually. "Y'know Mark he's not such a fan of hospitals. He's been by once I think though it was when I was asleep and he left a couple of random items from my room... and took my iPod back so he's good I'm guessing. He swung past you yet?"

[marauding_miss]

She's got a few ideas on just how deep Ric runs now. That outward façade being nothing but a show and really, she feels horrible for him while loving him all the more for his strength.

"You'd know, wouldn't yah, querido." And because of that, so does Rogue. She even flirted with two of them, apologising for the slip and explaining she was Rictor's 'sister' and sometimes, things just rubbed off. It was slightly embarrassing.

"Me? No, Ah don't think he will, sugah. Ah mean, after Spokane, Ah don't blame him. Y'know. It's one thin' t' know what Ah do but-" but to see her actually drain someone, to watch her drain someone that he cared about, Rogue wasn't exactly expecting to see Mark at all. And it upset her a little, okay, more than a little. But she had to be understanding. "It's okay, really. Ah just, Ah was just wonderin' if y'd talked t' him, how he was doin' y'know."

[movetheearth]

"Hey now esta bien, te perdono hermana. It wasn't your fault Ruby and it's not like anything more serious happened. Look I'll tell him to drop past if I see him because ignoring you won't reverse the situation." And of all people Mark should be the one to understand just what it was like to have Rogue's powers. Okay sure, he hadn't drained anyone or done any damage but when she'd been in his shoes she'd been respectful and kind about it afterwards. Anyway he didn't want his sister and his lover falling out over something petty.

"Man I could do with a cigarette." Ric fidgets as he reaches for the bedside unit where he has various thngs stashed including his cigarettes. Shimmying off the bed he keeps the phone pressed between his ear and shoulder as he eases the window wide open and leans out to light up. "If the fire alarms go off you'll know who is responsible."

He takes a drag and exhales slowly out into the crisp air, breathing in deep as he takes a drag. "They found my flask and confiscated it but the cigarettes I kept better hidden, thank god for the little things."

[marauding_miss]

Perhaps it was because Mark understood the effect of Rogue's powers that she believed he'd feel the worst. She knew that Rictor didn't fully comprehend just what she had taken from him, what she'd copied and learned from just that touch, and she wasn't prepared to lose him with the confession of just how serious things were.

"That'd be nice," because she really wanted to see Mark, she had an inkling why, but she figured she could manage it all, control it all, if she just got to see him and know he was alright, "Ah mean, if he dun't wanna, it's fine. Don't push him none, okay? But, Ah'd like it."

Truthfully, Rogue wouldn't mind her own cigarette around about then. But she didn't smoke, or at least she wasn't supposed to, and the memory of nicotine craving was driving her a little mad. Worse yet was the desire to find a bottle of alcohol. "Yeah, sure, y' just mind y' don't go fallin' outta the window sugah."

She was tempted to go off in search of that confiscated flask now.

[movetheearth]

"I could never bully Martini into doing anything he didn't really want to do, just sometimes he needs a little convincing. It's easy to know if he does or doesn't want something." As dysfunctional as those boys were their relationship was very much about give and take. They fought, argued, bickered and grumbled but it was always out of love, passion and a need to make each other safe, happy and content.

Rolling his eyes Ric flicks the ash of his cigarette out the window, blowing smoke rings into the air as he watches the world pass him by. "So you been tempted to try out my powers yet? Or have they faded already? I mean I'm not like Carol was so I'm guessing it wasn't as bad right?"

The questions aren't asked out of spite, just genuine curiosity on Ric's behalf and a need for entertainment.

[marauding_miss]

Rogue already knew the balance in Mark and Julio's relationship. She knew that they had to give and take, she knew that they were constantly balancing each other out and taking sort of turns to be the strong one for each other. She knew that Ric had his girlish moments and that Mark often had to be the strong one. Most of the things she knew were about Mark; his strength, his humour, his laugh, his low points, his issues, his vanishing acts. But she knew he always came back.

"Ah know darlin', just- if he says no, don't push it." The last thing she wanted was a somewhat sullen Mark visiting her because he had to, or felt like he had to.

Shifting the phone to the other ear, Rogue sighs slightly. "Naw, after the mini-golf place, Ah'm keepin' a lid on 'em. Ah mean, y' were out cold so, y' probably didn't get t' see what Ah did t' the place, an' Ah was pullin' it back." She tore the place up, the ground shifting out and unevening, the walls of all the buildings and obstacles crumbling under the vibrations. "It's lucky Ah can deal with y', else Ah might'a done worse." The fact that Rictor had been there, in her head, helpful where Carol never was, it assisted Rogue in pulling the power back, in stopping from turning Spokane into another Japan.

"But Ah ain't really feelin' up t' much of anythin' just now, Julio. Not even experimentin' with powers." Because mostly, she enjoyed the thrill of other powers, of learning how they worked, of toying with them, of having something else for a while. "Y'd probably be amused but, right now, all y' do is fight with Carol. 's kinda funny when it ain't givin' me a headache."

[movetheearth]

Ric hums in amusement around his cigarette filter, wondering just what kind of state Rogue had left Spokane mini-golf course in. Ah well, at least she didn't go haywire and level the place like he had in Japan which earns her a big thumbs up in his head. Still it's a shame to have missed out on seeing his powers from another point of view.

Though it's her wording that catches Ric's attention most of all. Comments like 'it's lucky Ah can deal with y'' make him wonder if she means knwoing how to unwind him and then it hits him. The use of his real name and the comment about how she can hear him fighting with Carol. Well last time Ric checked he didn't have an imaginary friend called Carol he'd been arguing with so that can only mean... "So I'm in you head now? Like a copy of me? A mini-me in your brain telling you how to use my powers? That's kinda cool... I guess."

Biting at the corner of his thumb Ric worries the skin there as he discards his mostly smoked cigarette out the window and ignores the burning sensation in the middle of his chest where he's still feeling ill. "It's good though right? Having a mini-me running around you head kicking Carol's ass?"

[marauding_miss]

"Kinda," she picks are the skin around her nail, worrying her own lip between her teeth. "'s more like a shade, like a little part that sounds an' acts like ya. Y'know, like some mirror image, imprinted on mah mind while Ah've got y'r powers." Although the powers would fade long before the voice did.

"Part o' yer personality got locked in there a little, makes me flirt with them nurses, they probably got a lil' confused at that." She's never explained how her powers truly work, only that she steals powers, memories and parts of personalities. She's worried that, if she explains it fully, Ric will pull back. She knows almost everything there is to know about him, and more. It's those intimate details that shouldn't really be shared.

"Don't worry, it'll fade out, an' then Ah'll just have Carol bitchin' 'bout the Mexican prima donna." Trying to joke it off, trying to deflect from the fact that she had Ric's memories and feelings and his thoughts; Rogue just wanted to step away from it all.

She felt that pang of loss when she thought about Victor, she felt awfully protective of Miss Frost, she didn't like Wade more than before -worse still, she had memories of being in a fight with Wade and losing. She felt guilty over Ophelia and this animosity that was almost like jealousy towards Remy that she knew wasn't her own, because she liked Remy.

The worst of it was probably how she felt about Mark though. And she really didn't want Rictor to find out about that.

[movetheearth]

Ric is totally lost in the thought that there is a mini version of him running around and causing chaos in Rogue's brain that he almost misses her first comment. He tunes back in just as she starts to explain about the fact that she has part of his personality imprinted on her brain. It's equal parts freakish as it is kind of cool.

"I'm guessing that explains the occasional slip into Spanish then huh?" It could be that Ric trusts Rogue to tell him if there were more to it than just a glimpse of who he is, that she knew more than she should about him, that means he doesn't pry any further. Others might well call Rogue on her vague answer but Ric? He's too loyal and trusting at times, especially of those he loves so he takes a step back and just let's it go.

Snorting at the prima donna comment Ric settles back into the bed, coughing into the sleeve of his hoody and clearing his throat of the catarrh that lingers. "You tell Carol that she's lucky to have me up in that head of yours! She should consider it an honour to be lucky enough to get a chance to meet me, all be it fleetingly."

He's teetering on the edge of a precipice and he has no idea.

[marauding_miss]

She relaxes just a little, and maybe it's sort of nice, talking about it. "Yeah, Ah mean, Ah know Japanese cause Ah got a lil' carried away with Sunspot a couple years back, an' then with Daken. It's sorta why Ah growled a little jus' after touchin' him." And why the claws were comfortable for that short while, and why she couldn't stand to be around Logan.

"But with you, it's a lil' different. Ah mean, Cody, he's still in there, but he's just a meek lil' lamb, and that's alright. But Carol," Carol was bitter and resentful and full of rage. Carol had been ripped from her life and Rogue had stolen everything she was. "Carol ain't exactly all sunshine an' roses, querido. Cody an' Carol don't fade, they just ain't always talkin'."

Carol's personality made Rogue nicer, less reckless. Cody made her more social. Ric, apparently, drove her to drink and fall in love with her best friends lover. "Ah'll muck through." After she got a drink, damnit.

"Ric, hun, what was in y'r flask?"

[movetheearth]

It's interesting to learn this about Rogue, it being something that she seems to want to disclose about her powers rather than Ric prying it and forcing it out of her. Actually ask Rogue asks the question Ric is currently rummaging in the bag that was brought by for him from his room.

"In the flask? Some cheap ass vodka I won in a poker game. I mean it wasn't as good as the stuff I could get hold of in Russia but it did what it needed." There is the distinct sound of someone rustling their way through clothing and various over items that have been haphazardly crammed into a bag before Ric crows in triumph. "I knew I'd left that in here!"

Tucked safely between the bag and the inner lining Ric pulls out a bottle of half empty bourbon. He ditches the bag back on the floor and unscrews the cap, swirling the liquid around in the bottle before taking a mouthful. "¡Caramba!"

The nurses won't be needing to take Ric's bloods again anytime soon, they said as much which is a blessing and seeing as he's been pretty much detoxing off of the alcohol whilst he's been here the nightmares and memories have been coming back ten-fold. The warm burn of alcohol sliding down his throat is just one part of the comfort Ric finds from the drink. It reminds him that soon the keening edge of those memories will soon be dulled and silenced for a little while.

[marauding_miss]

She's tempted to hang up the phone, pad through the medical center and beat him over the head with the bottle. That might be Carol's frustrations or her own concern, she can't tell for sure. But in a bid to stop herself, she winds the cord for the phone around her wrist a few times. "Right, course."

There are all these little facts about hiding places that she knows now. She's tempted to break into the kitchen to sift through the back pantry to find one of those good bottles of vodka. But she really shouldn't give in to those thoughts.

"Darlin' Ah'm gonna catch some sleep, okay. Y' behave y'rself an'" she wants to bring up Mark again, but it's probably not a good idea, "an' maybe y' could come visit me if y' get the chance, hmm? Bring y'r cocktail bar." And she means Martini, but hell, if he brings some alcohol she actually won't refuse.

[movetheearth]

Rogue will know that there are bottles stashed in Phe's, Mark's and even her own room for Ric to discover. As well as hidden in the tank of the toilet in his own room amongst other locations. The word alocholic should spring to mind if Ric sat down and listed all of the bottles stashed away and hiding locations he has.

"Alright Ruby, sleep well." Ric settles back the bottle of alcohol tugged firmly into the sleeve of his hoody and out of sight. "Hey! That's a great idea. As soon as I can I'll come over to keep you company and haul Martini with me if I he can be convinced to enter the building. Hell knows he's got to have gotten used to places like this by now thanks to me."

And yes there is a part of Ric that feel guilty to subjecting Mark to so many visits to the medical center but none of it has been all that intentional really. "Love you Ruby."

[marauding_miss]

"Ah love you too darlin'."

When she hangs up the phone, Rogue settles back into the bed and sighs. She knows for a fact that it's going to be difficult to get any sleep. She's got Carol rattling around, louder than usual thanks to the addition of Rictor in her mindscape, and then there's Rictor. All these horrible thoughts and memories and Rogue's own guilt at hurting Rictor mingling with his guilt for the people hurt.

It's loud and annoying and Rogue wished that whatever had taken her powers had taken the noise as well.