<<< Some things go together like...., RES: Rusty, Tommy, Skids

[Skids]

Sally made the choice. It really was just that simple. She wiped away her tears and clamped her emotions down to prevent more. Somethings just were and they couldn't be altered. Tommy's words, as heated as they were, made sense and forced her to confront reality. This was about more then the Tulsa kids. It was bout more then the way she felt or what she wanted. Completely unfair, yet still the way it was. As Rusty approached them Skids held out her hand motioning for him to stop. Her eyes were still heavily misted and her face puffy from the crying bit. She had planted her feet and her face had become a mask of concentration.

“Not a word Russel Collins, not a single word. Let's go to that cafe and figure things out. Enough of the crying in the streets, yelling, anger, despair, and grief. This situation is still salvageable and I for one am not going to let it fall apart without a fight.”

Her words were brave and spoken with fierce determination. They showed well the little warrior Sally was at heart. Her voice did not quiver or alter a single note, her body however betrayed her. Her knees knocked and her shoulder shook but she still stood her ground.

“So we'll get something to eat, talk in a more appropriate place, and make what decisions need to be made. This is still one of the best days of my life and I refuse to let anyone change that.”

She gave Rusty a half smile, the token gesture truly was the only thing she could manage without letting her emotions tear through her again. Her piece spoken the fierce blonde skated right past Rusty and increased her speed until she was through the cafe's open door. Part of her hated Tommy right now, a much larger part of her hated the Morlocks in entire, and the largest part of all simply wanted to be held.

[Rusty Collins]

In his heart Rusty was trying to figure out a way that he was going to retract the offer. The worst part of it was that he didn’t want to. But more than anything he didn’t want to see Sally ripped from her life and to watch her burn bridges and destroy friendships. There had to be a better way. His tongue felt like it was swollen to three times its normal size and he felt his mouth go completely dry as he walked over to Sally and Tommy.

It was the longest walk he had ever taken.

Before he could completely close the distance, Sally held up a hand. Her eyes were bloodshot and her lips trembled just a little when she spoke and Rusty felt his heart break in two, but he stopped in his tracks raising his eyebrows with a sort of pained expression on his face. He obeyed her command unquestioningly and did not utter a single word while she spoke.

No sooner had she finished than she sped past him with a strange sort of sliding motion that made it appear that she gliding atop thin blades on a wintery patch of ice. He tried to call out, his vocal cords and mouth refusing to fully cooperate. “Sally!” Hearing his own cracked voice only made it worse.

Rusty put a hand to his head and refused to look at Amara or Tommy. The cell phone felt like a dead weight in his pocket, and he turned and moved past Amara with his head hung low, moving at a half-jog toward the café. Moving through the door he saw her across the room and approached her with his head hung low a little bit.

“Sally?” He cleared his throat and tried it again. “You sure move fast,” he said a little breathlessly. He took another couple of tentative steps toward her, stopping at the table and venturing a shy sort of gaze at her from beneath straggly red bangs. “I never thought I’d see you again,” he muttered. Had he already said that? He didn’t care. “After all those years I still have dreams once in a while. Your station wagon driving away up a dusty road. Your silly face in the rearview mirror.”

His eyes clouded up.

“I missed you so bad it hurt. And I think I’d like nothing more than to not let you go.”

He didn’t add a but.

[Skids]

Joint Post with Rusty


“Rusty...”

The single word was the most honest reply Sally could give. In that word she expressed her hopes, dreams, doubts, desires, and failures. She was doing her best to stand tough and stay in control. It was all about focus and not getting sidetracked.

“It's not as simple as all that, you have to know that. I've missed you every day since I was 9 and they told me we were loosing the ranch. But I'm not nine years old anymore...”

“Clearly not,” he said looking her over with the slightest smile. It disappeared in a flash. “You’ve moved on,” he said understandingly. “Of course you have.” He must have misunderstood where things stood a few moments ago, and right now he felt pretty stupid for it. “It’s stupid…but I always thought it would be us…”

He shook his head.

Sally stepped as close to Rusty as her field would possibly allow her to and stroked his cheek to the best of her very limited ability. Tears filled her eyes but she would not let them fall yet.

“You, Mr. Collins are a dunce. I live under the streets of New York with the most awesome and different family of mutants you could imagine. The tiny version of Rainbow Brite you saw is my closest friend. Further I'm trapped in some crazy bubble thing. Where can you possibly get the idea that I've moved on?”

A smile swiftly took over her face as she looked the confused red head in the eyes.

It wasn’t exactly what he meant, but it was good to hear nonetheless. He could feel sparks of electricity as her hand came near his cheek, and then an odd sort of slippery feel that seemed to block the heat of her touch and the press of her skin against his. It was good to hear that there were no other boys in the picture-but he had meant something totally different by ‘moving on’.

He smiled back.

“But…you can’t leave them. Not like this.” It wasn’t a question. “If they’ve looked out for you all this time you owe them more than that. And Tommy…she seems like a perfect friend for you.” Turning fully toward her he tried to touch her cheek, slowly and cautiously his fingers almost made contact and then were brushed aside. That was something he was going to have to keep working on. “So…where does that leave us?”

This at least was something she could handle. The lack of touch thing totally sucked but at least he wasn't moving away or wierded out by it. Somewhere Rusty was speaking about something but for the moment his beautiful sky filled eyes, his soft sunset hair, and the heat of his skin on hers were the only things she had in mind. This was the closest she had been to anyone in years and the longest contact by far. It was like he had never left, like they had spent all of these years side by side instead of hundreds of miles apart. It was closure, new beginnings, heat, life, and energy. The young 'Lock could not, would not, dare not let it end. For once in her life Sally stopped worrying, stopped thinking, even stopped focusing and leaned forward to kiss this boy that had become a young man.

His question was probably rhetorical, so when she didn’t answer Rusty wasn’t too surprised. But the intensity in the way she was looking at him had him riveted in place. He felt his heart lurch and saw himself mirroring her, leaning in and closing his eyes without conscious control over his own body. When their lips touched he felt a jolt go through his body. His eyes opened up just as her field pushed him away.

Rusty stared at her with wide eyes and red cheeks. “It actually worked!” His proclamation turned a few heads in the cafe, but he didn’t seem to notice.

Sally backed away at once and ended up tumbling over an empty table. She just stayed there hunkered down with her cheeks red and her breathing heavy. She had had no human contact whatsoever in over five years. Worse, the last human touch she had felt was her dad's fists. This was far too much for her to handle. Did she actually kiss him? Was that just her imagination? Did she move too fast and now he was going to up and leave? Way too much, way too fast. This wasn't supposed to happen. She was supposed to be a good Morlock and forsake the World of Up.

“I.... I...” The words tried to emerge but Skids simply let her mind and emotions close in upon themselves. She was the girl in a bubble where no one could touch her and that was truth.

Fumbling into his pocket, Rusty pulled out the cell phone that Amara had given him. He looked up at her as she started to stumble over her words, and smiled-his cheeks still burning as Sally fell backwards over a table. She seemed to bounce and skid and by this time the whole place was looking at them. Rusty came over and knelt by her side, his eyes growing concerned as he looked at her in a panic. Rusty didn’t see or hear anyone else.

“Sally,” he said calmly. It was a voice that had called out to her many times in the past. “Sally, listen to me. You don’t have to keep me out. He reached out to touch her but only slipped off the shield again. People were getting up and forming a circle around them, looking down in concern. “You can trust me,” he said quietly.

He held the phone in his other hand.

Skids had gone deep within herself. It was in fact the same place she went when her dad would come home drunk and talk with clenched fists instead of words. It was also a place she hadn't visited in a long time. Her she was safe and completely beyond harm. No one but her could come here. It was dark and quiet and nothing bad ever happened. Here there was no loneliness, no pain, no choices, and no regret. Here, there simply was no her. Rusty's words registered on some level but they did not penetrate.

Outside her Force-Field became thicker and thicker and the air around her all but shimmered in response. Even Rusty was pushed away as the three inch limit the shield rested at grew to extend a foot in every direction. This now went noticed by the cafe's inhabitants as everything around the almost comatose girl was scattered about.

[Amara Aquilla]

(JP Tommy and Amara)

There she was, alone and standing in the street as her closest friend simply skated away in some righteous huff as though she had every right to abandon everyone who cared for her these past five years. An oddly intoxicating sense of frustration began to spread throughout Tommy’s body with zealous ferocity. It seemed to begin at her brain stem, slowly working its way along her nervous system while it electrified the nerve endings with a shaking vexation in its course. With a trembling hand, the multi-hued maiden wiped away the moisture from her tear-stained cheeks as she walked towards the café with hesitant steps, but stopped within a few feet of the doorway. She couldn’t bring herself to enter. Not now anyway.

Amara simply watched as Rusty headed off towards his huffy little friend, relieved that he was willing to express some sort of empathy towards those others that Sally might be neglecting. Life decisions were never easy to make. She knew that aside from what she was already doing, there was very little that she could do to control the situation. It wasn't hers to control. She just wanted them to think about what they were doing.
Within a moment she was walking towards the cafe, the colorful girl already standing a little ways away from the door. She paused for a moment before slipping carefully by, opening the door for her.

"If you're up for it."

Amara’s gesture was well-appreciated, but Tommy shook her head in a gentle manner so as to respectfully decline the offer.

“I don’t really want to be around them right now. I mean, I hope that doesn’t come off bitter or anything. It’s just… This really isn’t what I was expecting to happen when I woke up this morning, you know?” She took a deep intake of fresh air to calm her quivering nerves. “I can’t believe the things she said to me. The ridiculously nonsensical stuff that just spewed out of her mouth. It… It sucks to know that your friend would abandon you for the promise of a simple kiss. Like, tentacle-level suckage.”

The rainbow-tinted maiden stopped herself from speaking anymore on the subject lest she make Amara uncomfortable wither venting. She barely knew the fiery beauty, only meeting her once or twice in passing during her short time at Xavier’s.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to unload…”

Amara nodded with a bit of solemnity towards the multicolored girl, feeling sympathy for her plight. Perhaps it was the difference in cultures but she just couldn’t seem to be able to understand Sally’s reasoning on this note. She tried to consider what it would be like if she had been in the similar position, but even so there were factors that she would’ve considered. Tommy and the other Morlocks would’ve been one of them. It didn’t help that she couldn’t explain just how far away this jungle paradise was.

“I will agree with you on that. I hope that with a little bit of space they will be able to consider how they want to pursue their lives instead of skipping about like they were rowdy little eight year olds. In my culture they are old enough to be married and thus should be able to think through their decisions properly.”

A small smile graced her features at Tommy's apology. "Truly it isn't necessary. I guess at the moment we are both in the same boat, as they say."

“I guess we are,” she replied with a weak smile. Bracing herself for the conversation ahead, the pastel pixie took a dainty stride towards the entryway and Amara. “Okay, let-“

A crash had interrupted her. The clattering sound of metal and porcelain shattered upon a wooden floor.
Sally?
It was her one thought as she catapulted her diminutive self through the doorway to see Skids collapsed on the floor with an audience of confused patrons. What was this unnecessary scene about?

Amara understood cursing and at this moment as she followed Tommy into the café to find the scene of the two teens. There wasn’t a person in the place who wasn’t now looking at this scene. Stepping quickly over Amara set her hand lightly on Rusty’s shoulder feeling oddly…adult as she asked him what had happened. It was a good thing, a damn good thing that they were in Mutant Town.

[Rusty Collins]

Whatever was happening was completely freaking Rusty out. He stood there with the elation of having kissed her rapidly evaporating while he watched her curl up in a somewhat catatonic state of mind. Trying to get close to her didn’t work, whatever that force field was seemed to be expanding, pushing him further and further away. Even his words seemed to have no effect on her as he tried to talk her down. Raking a clawed hand through his hair, he stared down at her helplessly, hoping with desperation that it would all just go away.

When Amara and Tommy came into the room he scarcely noticed them. With torment in his eyes he looked over at Amara. “I…I don’t know. I think I broke her,” he said to Amara. And honestly that was what it came down to…the kiss. It had to have been the kiss.

His heart sank as he realized the overwhelming truth of it. He looked at Tommy. “She’s…you have to take care of her,” he said. “This is all my fault.” He gripped the phone tightly in his hand as he looked at her. “Promise me one thing,” he pleaded with her, and then reluctantly held the phone out to Tommy. “Let me know how she’s doing.” Knowing Tommy didn’t owe him anything made this seem a little dicey on whether or not she would actually feel like helping him out. His guess was that if he was in her shoes he might not…

He searched her eyes for a moment as the realization of just how stupid and foolish he really was crashed down on him. He thought for a moment that he knew enough about Sally to be able to take care of her. No…he actually had thought he knew more about Sally than any Morlock could possibly know. He thought he could do a better job of it.

And he was dead wrong.

Rusty took another look down at Sally, his heart breaking all over again. How much did he know about her at all?

[Skids]

Sally had gone deep into herself, almost the deepest she'd ever gone. She was terrified and desperately did not wish to deal with it. In her world problems that couldn't be handled could be avoided. That was the purpose of her shield. The exterior one that was the gift of her x-gene was gossamer film compared to the one she had built up around her heart.

It had become second nature for Ms. Blevins to believe when things went good, that was great and to be embraced, when things went great however, that was simply a prelude to disaster. Yet another of her father's mantras flitted through her mind “Nothing good comes free”. The person she cared for most just kissed her. For a moment her shield was gone. It was a daydream fantasy brought to life. So now the bad had to happen. Somehow she would loose Rusty. Perhaps the kiss had been terrible, or the X-Man he had with him would be his actual love. Tommy would put her foot down and declare Rusty unfit for Sally. The Morlocks would turn her out for loving a student of Xavier. Something bad was just around the corner.

As the force-field grew in response to Sally's fear and the onlookers gawked, memories started to flow through the young mutant's consciousness. Images of Tommy from the 5 years of unrelenting kindness and friendship she'd shown were intermixed with Sally's childhood spent with Rusty always at her shoulder. Good things had happened all the time both back then and recently with no disaster in sight. The scene at the night club slid into view and even that had a happy ending. Slowly Skids won this particular war with her inner demons.

As her emotions adjusted and she started to climb out of the recesses of her own mind, her field stopped expanding and swiftly returned to it's normal dimensions. Her eyes opened though nothing was clearly defined yet. She looked at a vague shape nearby and prayed it was Rusty Collins, the boy that had finally touched her far deeper then just a kiss. She opened her now quite dry mouth and slowly brought forth a few slow words.

“He was wrong. My father..... he was wrong. He may have..... been wrong about a lot.”

With a little of her confidence returned Sally took note of three shapes around her and noted the differences between them. Finally things moved back into focus, though she remained sitting as she didn't trust her legs yet. With an awkward smile that she wasn't sure she felt Skids addressed all three though she really only had eyes for Rusty.

“I'm sorry guys, I'm just not ready to go anywhere yet. I love you Rusty Collins, think I always have, but I'm not ready to leave my family. We'll get other chances right? When we do we'll take them.”
She paused hoping others believed the words that she was starting to. “Amara, thanks for letting Rusty make his offer, that was really kind. Sorry I reacted like that, it's like, um, complicated.” Lastly she gave Tommy a shy, hesitant glance from the corner of her eye. “I'm a jerk aren't I?”

[Tommy]

Tommy took the cellular phone from Rusty’s outstretched palm, though hesitantly and with a slightly mystified look as she did so. She wasn’t sure of what was happening, but the pained expression so wretchedly painted across the man’s face was very telling of his feelings for Sally. A twinge of guilt bloomed inside of her for disliking him so intensely those few minutes ago.

“I… Um, sure... Sure,” she muttered, voice growing meek upon the last note.

She turned to Sally as the blonde’s kinetic buffer began to revert to its normal state and retreating into itself.

“I'm a jerk aren't I?”

“Pretty much the biggest one I know,” she said with a hint of playful sarcasm. “Can you get up?”

Taking a quick look around the room, she noticed that a majority of the patrons were still very interested in their little scene. They whispered amongst each other in concert, blanketing the café with a veil of hushed murmurs. Her cheeks felt hot as embarrassment settled in. Even though she wasn’t the true source of their peaked interest, her adjacency to their stares was discomforting. One of the waiters in particular was glaring at the quartet with marked disdain.

“Sally… Do you think we should… um, maybe go now? Like right now?”

[Amara Aquilla]

Amara felt oddly rediculous standing there, holding handfuls of bags and trying to figure out why Sally was causing such a big scene. Rusty seemed to have very few answers for it, stating only that he 'broke' her. It seemed doubtful that he would've hit her or even tried to, considering her force field. She would probably try to get an explanation later.

Within a few moments she seemed to be recovering. She clearly wasn't in a solid state of mind with whatever it was that she was spouting on about. By this point Amara's patience was worn thin. It seemed that Sally finally caught onto her name and the blonde simply nodded in return to the girl's thanks. Amara was just trying to be helpful but this was far more complicated than she had anticipated dealing with today. She let Rusty finish handing off the phone to Tommy before glancing around the restaraunt. The multicolored woman had the right idea there.

"Rusty."

Considering the situation she doubted she needed to explain to him the point in leaving and simply motioned lightly towards the door with her hand.

"It was ...nice... to see you two again."

Amara stated politely, picking up the rest of her bags and stepping through the door, oddly relieved at the thought of getting back to Utopia.

(exit Amara)

[Rusty Collins]

At first Rusty wasn’t sure whether or not Tommy was going to take the phone from him. He tried to imagine the whole thing from her perspective, and seeing how heated that argument with her and Sally had been in the street it wasn’t too hard to imagine just exactly how she felt about the whole thing…or possibly about him. He wouldn’t blame her if she did hold a grudge. He was the guy coming in and trying to steal away her friend without any warning.

To his surprise she eventually did reach out and take it, holding it in her hand uncertainly, glancing between the phone and him and finally giving a somewhat reluctant acceptance to his request. “Thanks,” he said quietly, and Sally began to stir.

Turning to her, he wrinkled his brow in confusion at her random comments about her father. It just drove home how much he had lost in her these crucial past years. And then she spoke the words that he had been ill-prepared to speak to her. This wasn’t the right time. They would get another chance sometime, but right now wasn’t it.

And he was hung up on those three little words she had spoken. He didn’t know for sure what they meant to her, but to him they meant everything, including the fact that he was wrong about the kiss being traumatizing. He didn’t say it back, but he looked at her intently before nodding his head a little.

He waited until after Amara left before saying anything.

“You’re right,” he said. “This isn’t right. Not now…” He looked at Tommy. “At least I know you have good friends here looking out for you.” Turning back to Sally he felt weak. It was going to be hard to just walk away, but that’s exactly what he had to do. He dug deep into the reserves of his resolve and swallowed a lump in his throat. “I don’t know when, but I’ll come back for you Sal-“ Stopping himself short of the childish nickname, a pained look came over him.

With one last look at Tommy he turned and headed out the door. He couldn’t bring himself to say any parting words.

One painful goodbye was enough for a lifetime.

[Skids]

Her head was spinning at speeds that had to be impossible. Her heart raced and she felt as nauseated as a girl can be. However she did not cry. She would be just as tough and untouchable as the energy bubble that surrounded her. This was A good bye, not THE goodbye. Things were going to change because of this and she would be ready for them this time. As ever a mantra from her father loomed up in her thoughts, “If you want something, you have to give up something else.” This time however something was different for Sally.

“You're full of shit dad.” she quietly whispered under her breath as she got to her feet. Sally took in a deep breath before looking at her pastel friend, thus refusing to watch Rusty walk out. Her face was tighter then any drum and her words were almost a snarl. “Yeah, it's time to go. These people her have obviously never seen romance before.”

With no other warning Skids slammed forward knocking one said person to the ground as she flew out the door at top speed. She wasn't sure of her destination at that exact moment but she wanted to be away from everyone who knew her. This time her ability enabled her desires and she swiftly found herself lost in a crowd of people. As long as she moved slowly, like a normal, she was one of them. The shiny happy populace of the World of Up.

The young, hurting mutant knew she would return to her family, the Morlocks. Like her love life though, now was simply not the time. For a few hours she wandered Mutant Town, simply being one of the crowd. For a time there were no hard choices, no second guesses, most of all no sacrifice for some abstract greater good.


END