Emote opened the door to her house outside the town limits. Rogue followed, a little apprehensive. She'd never met another mutant away from the X-Men before. She wondered if she had made a mistake. But something told her this woman would be trustworthy.
//Thanks.//
Rogue looked over at Emote, startled. Emote looked surprised and abashed herself.
"Oops. Sorry… Wait a minute." She looked puzzled. "Think something else."
Rogue shrugged. She thought of the first time she'd met Logan. ~Pain, anger, hurt, fear, hope, love, love betrayed~
//OOOOOWWWWWW! Off, shut it OFF!//
Emote had clasped her hands to her head in a silent scream.
Quickly Rogue thought desperately of something else. Mississippi in winter was one of her favorite memories.
Emote looked at Rogue in awe. "Wow. That's never happened here."
"What?"
Emote looked thoughtful. "When I first moved here, my control was erratic at best. I built this place with special materials to retard my `hearing' other people's feelings. It doesn't hurt them, keeps me from headaches. You must be very powerful to overwhelm the buffers."
"Yeah, but it does me no good if I can't control it." ~Sadness, longing.~ //Wanna LOOK normal.//
Emote winced at the strength of her feelings projected. "Your skin?"
"Yeah."
Emote thought for a moment. "I can try to help if you want. No guarantees though, I'm not a magician. I can't "cure" you."
"How can you help?"
Emote smiled. "Help you work through your feelings of course."
Rogue looked puzzled. "Huh?"
"I'm an empath. I `hear' feelings. You've been conflicted about almost everything in your life for years. You can't find your `switch' to control your ability because, I believe, your feelings are in the way. Maybe-just maybe—I can help you clear out the conflict enough for you to find the control."
Rogue was startled. ~HOPE~ "You really think so."
Emote cautioned. "I can TRY. It may not work. At the least, it might help you release some of those personalities running around your head." But it's up to you."
Rogue thought for a moment. She knew it was a risk. But Emote was right. With every person she touched, there was less room for her in her mind, and she could tell she was getting dangerously unstable. She owed to herself…and her secret… to try.
"What happens?"
Emote smiled. "Well, we'll work in "the Zone" as my nephew calls it. It's the room I use to fine tune my gifts, so it's not buffered. We'll end up with headaches every night, but hopefully, we'll find results. Eating and sleeping will be essential…for all three of us."
"How…"
"It's your hope. It's why you're willing to try this. You want to hold something, hold it."
"Did you tell…"
"No, no one knows but me. I didn't know until I met you. And I won't tell," Angelica said to Marie.
"Thanks." Rogue took a deep breath. "Where do we start?"
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Author's Chapter Notes:
//telepathic conversation// ~feelings~