Elemental: deleted scenes
It doesn't look like I'll have time to post the next two chapters of Elemental this weekend. There are an AWFUL lot of nerves to memorize. Instead, I offer two wee tidbits as a form of apology.
This first bit is a part I wrote way back in April. The story seemed to be a lot darker, with brotherly hate going on instead of just your grampa's own case of brotherly passive-aggressiveness. Betsy featured in a good chuck of it. I really really really really really really really want to use Betsy but it's just not going to happen. Maybe I'll be able to use it for something else. I don't know. I just want her to shine for a second.
* * * * *
Sharpening knives didn't fall under normal post-coital activities but Remy figured Betsy wouldn't mind.
"Is that for me?" she asked, taking in the number of tiny blades stacked on the table.
Remy cocked his head to one side. "Not unless you want to grab some towels. Hard to explain blood on the sheets."
Betsy chuckled. "I wish I trusted you more, Remy. You'd make a fantastic long-term lover."
He inclined his head. "Likewise, cherie. Fortunately for both of us, we know the score too well, hein?" He lay one knife down and picked another from the stack. "So, how's Kentucky Fried holding up?"
"Remarkably well this far in the game." She slid out of bed and sauntered to his side, knowing exactly how to display her body to the dim light. One lock on purple hair teased her right nipple. "He's actually convinced you've seduced me."
"Man won't know what hit him." Remy clucked. "I almost feel sorry for him if I didn't think he deserved someone like you."
A knife flashed in Betsy's hand. "Remy, darling, what are you insinuating?"
"Nothing that ain't true, gingersnap." He held his hand out for the knife. Slowly, she released it while her other hand reached out for his hair.
"And your campaign?"
"What campaign?"
She threw him a withering glance. "That precious little magnolia bud you spend all your time with."
"Rogue?" Remy bent down to his knives again. "She's my apprentice, Betsy. Nothing more."
"Oh really?" She drew closer, her hips angled forward. "When why do I read her image in your mind every time you come?"
His eyes glittered. "Drop it, girl."
"Not until you admit you're as perverse as I am. Wanting something that dew-kissed and pure when we're both utterly drenched in depravity." She cupped his face with both hands, leading his lips between her thighs.
"You keep insulting me, I might not want to play," said Remy, his hands solidly on his lap.
Betsy bent down so that her hair slid, silken, across his back. "If you play nice, I'll let you call me 'Marie' when we fuck."
Remy grabbed her by the hips and shoved hard. The edge of the bed caught the back of her knees; Betsy fell back, splayed half off the unkempt bed.
"We are so screwed up," Remy said, almost laughing.
"Yes. Isn't life grand?"
This second one was actually in Part III for months. Bobby and Jubilee were going to feature a lot more in the first draft. I pretty much drove mortongirl insane insisting that they have more scenes. In the end, better (read: mortongirl's) minds prevailed and I dumped 90% of the Bobby-Jubilee scenes. Doesn't mean I'm happy about it. *pouts like a huge pouty thing*
See, the Bobby and Jubilee scenes really helped round-out the Remy-Rogue scenes and would help explain why things in Part III between Remy & Rogue went the way they did. My fangirly shipperness REALLY wanted to focus on the Remy-Rogue subplot as opposed to the Scott-Remy-Alex-Adam main plot. *sigh* In any case, here's one of the scenes between Bobby and Jubilee.
* * * * *
The close quarters were easy to get used to. After the mortar shells and ravaged towns, the greying dead bodies and enraged living ones, it was a comfort to sleep surrounded by friends in their farting, snoring, drooling glory.
Bobby and Jubilee tended to bunk beside each other, out of necessity at first. The other SHIELD members had begun to accept them but at the end of the day, having a fellow Xavier's student was like a security blanket. They could talk about "remember whens" and "when we go backs." They could convince each other that they wouldn't have this existence forever.
"You know what I miss the most about the school?" Bobby whispered this night.
Jubilee shivered as she shook his head. They were in [place] this week. No one told them that the desert froze at night. When she got back to the school, she was going to paff her geography textbook.
"I miss Mr. Summers' shop class," he said. "If we were there right now, I'd have that [car] totally fixed up. He said I could have it as a graduation present."
"I miss the professor's Sunday dinners," said Jubilee. "And the way Storm looked when I came down in a totally inappropriate dress."
"You dress up like that just to piss her off, don't you?"
"One day, I'll make her crack."
They lay in silently for a while, face to face, listening to the night time shuffling and the occasional wild animal in the distance.
"How's your wound?" Bobby asked.
Jubilee shrugged. "It's fine. I've told you that already."
"I know, I just... Someone has to be Cyclops around here."
"Dude, not even if you tried." She tried to smile but, quickly, it wobbled out of place. "I'm scared, Bobby."
"Shhhh, it's okay." He wriggled a hand out of the sleeping bag and stroked her cheek, cautiously at first, unsure of how welcome he would be. "We're not only SHIELD, we're Jr. X-Men. We kick so much ass--"
"It's not that," said Jubilee. "I'm afraid... I'm afraid we're going to be stuck here with these people. That we'll never go back to the school and see Kitty and Rogue and Pete and everyone and we'll have to keep fighting and dying and watching other people die and sometimes I swear I can still smell the--."
"Shhhhhh." Bobby shifted closer. "That's not going to happen," he said firmly. "Cyclops will find us. He's good at that."
"He couldn't find his brother." When Bobby didn't have a retort to that, Jubilee angrily said, "Never mind. That was totally callous of me."
"No!" Bobby quickly interrupted. "No, sometimes... sometimes I think that too, y'know. I feel like shit afterwards but... well, Cyclops' never let us down before, right?"
Slowly, Jubilee nodded. "I'm still scared."
"So am I." His fingers twitched near her cheek. "But when we're together, it's not so scary any more."
She pulled her hand out from her own sleeping bag and reached for Bobby. The kiss, when it came, was frighteningly natural. What came after the kiss was a lot more so. It was hard to be scared of death when you were busy celebrating life.
Note: Anything in [square brackets] are things that I mean to fill out later. Maybe they just needed a bit more research and I couldn't be arsed to look it up just then. Also, do you all see what I mean when I said that Part III has so much sex? Gah!
This first bit is a part I wrote way back in April. The story seemed to be a lot darker, with brotherly hate going on instead of just your grampa's own case of brotherly passive-aggressiveness. Betsy featured in a good chuck of it. I really really really really really really really want to use Betsy but it's just not going to happen. Maybe I'll be able to use it for something else. I don't know. I just want her to shine for a second.
* * * * *
Sharpening knives didn't fall under normal post-coital activities but Remy figured Betsy wouldn't mind.
"Is that for me?" she asked, taking in the number of tiny blades stacked on the table.
Remy cocked his head to one side. "Not unless you want to grab some towels. Hard to explain blood on the sheets."
Betsy chuckled. "I wish I trusted you more, Remy. You'd make a fantastic long-term lover."
He inclined his head. "Likewise, cherie. Fortunately for both of us, we know the score too well, hein?" He lay one knife down and picked another from the stack. "So, how's Kentucky Fried holding up?"
"Remarkably well this far in the game." She slid out of bed and sauntered to his side, knowing exactly how to display her body to the dim light. One lock on purple hair teased her right nipple. "He's actually convinced you've seduced me."
"Man won't know what hit him." Remy clucked. "I almost feel sorry for him if I didn't think he deserved someone like you."
A knife flashed in Betsy's hand. "Remy, darling, what are you insinuating?"
"Nothing that ain't true, gingersnap." He held his hand out for the knife. Slowly, she released it while her other hand reached out for his hair.
"And your campaign?"
"What campaign?"
She threw him a withering glance. "That precious little magnolia bud you spend all your time with."
"Rogue?" Remy bent down to his knives again. "She's my apprentice, Betsy. Nothing more."
"Oh really?" She drew closer, her hips angled forward. "When why do I read her image in your mind every time you come?"
His eyes glittered. "Drop it, girl."
"Not until you admit you're as perverse as I am. Wanting something that dew-kissed and pure when we're both utterly drenched in depravity." She cupped his face with both hands, leading his lips between her thighs.
"You keep insulting me, I might not want to play," said Remy, his hands solidly on his lap.
Betsy bent down so that her hair slid, silken, across his back. "If you play nice, I'll let you call me 'Marie' when we fuck."
Remy grabbed her by the hips and shoved hard. The edge of the bed caught the back of her knees; Betsy fell back, splayed half off the unkempt bed.
"We are so screwed up," Remy said, almost laughing.
"Yes. Isn't life grand?"
This second one was actually in Part III for months. Bobby and Jubilee were going to feature a lot more in the first draft. I pretty much drove mortongirl insane insisting that they have more scenes. In the end, better (read: mortongirl's) minds prevailed and I dumped 90% of the Bobby-Jubilee scenes. Doesn't mean I'm happy about it. *pouts like a huge pouty thing*
See, the Bobby and Jubilee scenes really helped round-out the Remy-Rogue scenes and would help explain why things in Part III between Remy & Rogue went the way they did. My fangirly shipperness REALLY wanted to focus on the Remy-Rogue subplot as opposed to the Scott-Remy-Alex-Adam main plot. *sigh* In any case, here's one of the scenes between Bobby and Jubilee.
* * * * *
The close quarters were easy to get used to. After the mortar shells and ravaged towns, the greying dead bodies and enraged living ones, it was a comfort to sleep surrounded by friends in their farting, snoring, drooling glory.
Bobby and Jubilee tended to bunk beside each other, out of necessity at first. The other SHIELD members had begun to accept them but at the end of the day, having a fellow Xavier's student was like a security blanket. They could talk about "remember whens" and "when we go backs." They could convince each other that they wouldn't have this existence forever.
"You know what I miss the most about the school?" Bobby whispered this night.
Jubilee shivered as she shook his head. They were in [place] this week. No one told them that the desert froze at night. When she got back to the school, she was going to paff her geography textbook.
"I miss Mr. Summers' shop class," he said. "If we were there right now, I'd have that [car] totally fixed up. He said I could have it as a graduation present."
"I miss the professor's Sunday dinners," said Jubilee. "And the way Storm looked when I came down in a totally inappropriate dress."
"You dress up like that just to piss her off, don't you?"
"One day, I'll make her crack."
They lay in silently for a while, face to face, listening to the night time shuffling and the occasional wild animal in the distance.
"How's your wound?" Bobby asked.
Jubilee shrugged. "It's fine. I've told you that already."
"I know, I just... Someone has to be Cyclops around here."
"Dude, not even if you tried." She tried to smile but, quickly, it wobbled out of place. "I'm scared, Bobby."
"Shhhh, it's okay." He wriggled a hand out of the sleeping bag and stroked her cheek, cautiously at first, unsure of how welcome he would be. "We're not only SHIELD, we're Jr. X-Men. We kick so much ass--"
"It's not that," said Jubilee. "I'm afraid... I'm afraid we're going to be stuck here with these people. That we'll never go back to the school and see Kitty and Rogue and Pete and everyone and we'll have to keep fighting and dying and watching other people die and sometimes I swear I can still smell the--."
"Shhhhhh." Bobby shifted closer. "That's not going to happen," he said firmly. "Cyclops will find us. He's good at that."
"He couldn't find his brother." When Bobby didn't have a retort to that, Jubilee angrily said, "Never mind. That was totally callous of me."
"No!" Bobby quickly interrupted. "No, sometimes... sometimes I think that too, y'know. I feel like shit afterwards but... well, Cyclops' never let us down before, right?"
Slowly, Jubilee nodded. "I'm still scared."
"So am I." His fingers twitched near her cheek. "But when we're together, it's not so scary any more."
She pulled her hand out from her own sleeping bag and reached for Bobby. The kiss, when it came, was frighteningly natural. What came after the kiss was a lot more so. It was hard to be scared of death when you were busy celebrating life.
Note: Anything in [square brackets] are things that I mean to fill out later. Maybe they just needed a bit more research and I couldn't be arsed to look it up just then. Also, do you all see what I mean when I said that Part III has so much sex? Gah!