At the Starting Point [For Logan]

[theycalledmeacurse]

"I saved your life!"
"No, you didn't."

Standing there, in the middle of a snowy road in Nowhere, Canada, feeling the cold seep through her too thin layers of clothing, Rogue had to wonder how her life had come to this. Her mutation, her parents, running out of money halfway to Alaska and ending up hitchhiking with truck drivers and random strangers. She was supposed to finish school, do something with her life. Get married, have kids, live in a house with a wrap-around porch where she could drink sweet tea and watch the sun set.

That perfect life had been left behind in Mississippi and now any hope she had of a new one in Alaska was driving away.

But then he stopped and suddenly there was hope again.

"You don't have anything to eat, do you? ...I'm Rogue."
"Were you in the army? Doesn't, doesn't that mean you were in the army?"
"Wow."
"What?"
"It's just that, suddenly my life doesn't look that bad."
"Well, if you prefer the road..."
"No, it looks great. Looks cozy."
"Put your hands on the heater. ...I'm not gonna hurt you kid."
"It's nothing personal. It's just that, when people touch my skin, something happens."
"What?"
"I don't know, they just get hurt."
"Fair enough. So, what kind of name is Rogue?"
"I don't know. What kind of name is Wolverine?"
"My name is Logan."
"Marie."

People would probably think she was crazy, getting a ride from some guy she'd just seen beat the tar out of someone else, who had metal claws and a definite anger problem. But she didn't really have many other options. Whoever he was, whatever it was he could do, she had to believe that he wouldn't hurt her. They were alike, both of them mutants, and that had to mean something, right?

There was a bit of silence in the cab, more comfortable now that they at least knew each other's names properly, and Rogue let it be for a few minutes, her nervous social chatter taking a backseat as she considered what she would do after this. That probably depended on how far he would take her, what direction they were even going in.

"Where are you headed?" she asked him, glancing over with open curiosity and a bit of worry.

Comments

[godsmistake]

Curiosity got the better of him, and Logan glanced out of the corner of his eye as she opened up - a map. Of course. She probably had an actual destination in mind.

He reached over with his right hand and tapped on the map, northeast of Laughlin along the one thin line that denoted the crappy little road they were currently on. "There. Deerstalk." It was bigger than Laughlin City, but not by much. Used to be a center for trappers in the local area - now trapping was regulated to high hell and illegal without a permit and a shit-ton of red tape, so the place had dried up some, but it was still a respectable size.

[theycalledmeacurse]

She didn't move when his hand came closer, though she was well aware of every inch of skin that was so close to her own. Her hands were covered, thankfully, but if they hit a bump in the road and his hand hit her face--

The thought made her lean back a little, but she nodded slightly. "Thanks," she told him with another glance, before unfolding a bit more of the map. It had become a daily habit of hers to study it, looking over the major roads that would take her where she needed to go, taking note of the various cities along the way that might be good for hitching rides. At least the town they were going to was actually on the map.

It was north that they were headed, thankfully, but east instead of west. Still, better than being stuck in Laughlin City. "Thank you," she repeated, folding up the map again. "For giving me a ride. I appreciate it." She really was lucky he'd changed his mind.

[godsmistake]

Ah, fuck. She had to go and be nice and quiet and respectable, didn't she? All the things that hit his buttons. It would be so much easier to dump her out once they reached Deerstalk if she were loud and obnoxious, or offered to "repay" him for the ride. Not that he'd turn down the offer, but he'd lose respect for her.

"You're welcome," he muttered gruffly, shifting his hands and gripping the steering wheel. It was quiet for a few minutes, which he liked, but again, curiosity got the better of him. "So, where are you heading? I assume you've got a destination in mind." Course, you know what they say about when you assume, but he was used to being an ass.

[theycalledmeacurse]

It was the southerner in her, showing politeness where it was deserved. Kindness and gratitude were things that should never be in short supply, because you never knew when you'd need help from someone else. Those tenets hadn't failed her yet, so she would continue to live by them.

"Alaska," she answered simply, looking down at her gloved hands still holding on to the folded map. "I've wanted to go for a long time, so-- I'm going." As if that were all there was to the story.

[godsmistake]

"A bus mighta been easier," he muttered. A moment later he glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, wondering if she would take offense at that. It was clear she didn't have the money for a plane ticket, and didn't sound like she was visiting friends or knew anybody there, so any money she did have would go to living expenses once she arrived - but if this was just a pick-up-and-go, let-me-run-away-from-home-and-my-problems deal--

Well. He'd been down that road. And she didn't exactly strike him as the type who could tough it out for long.

Do not pity her, he firmly told himself. Drop her off in Deerstalk, deal with your own shit. Do not try to help with hers too. He had his own problems, he didn't need to be borrowing anybody else's.

[theycalledmeacurse]

There was no offense taken at the comment, though she did shift slightly in her seat, turning her head to look out the window so he wouldn't be able to clearly see her expression. A defense mechanism of a sort, against remembering a moment of fear before she'd steeled herself and kept moving forward. "I took a bus," she explained simply. "I could only get as far as Toronto."

Because she didn't have a way of making money that didn't require selling herself in some way to those men who had hands that wanted to wander. Despite what he might think, she'd been careful in who she chose to get rides with. She wasn't an idiot, she knew that even with her poison skin, there were ways people could still hurt her.

[godsmistake]

Logan pressed his lips together, before finally telling her, "Well, tonight you're getting as far as Deerstalk."

Fuck. He'd make sure she got a real meal in her, trick her into getting a crappy hotel bed for the night. He could afford that. He lived simply and sparingly, and he'd made enough cash from the fight earlier that he could take care of things monetarily. It was emotionally he wasn't equipped to deal with her.

Rogue. Marie. Little lamb wandering into wolves' territory. Feisty, and he was sure if she kept going she'd carry on, she'd survive - but this wasn't the kind of life you lived without losing a part of yourself, a part that she still had.

Fuck.