Tuesday Night
“Aw, come on! It’ll be fun, and it is the perfect time of year,” Bobby teased Kitty with the book on ghosts and seances, flapping the pages at her and implying she was afraid.
“What do you think, Rogue?” Kitty skeptically questioned her friend as they walked between classes.
“I’ve been in seances before. My great-aunt Mildred was a Spiritualist back in her younger days, so I’m kind of familiar with the process. She used to give seances for the kids in the family every Halloween, but nothing ever happened. She gave me a Ouija board when I was ten. It was just ooky-spookiness, ya know?” Rogue tucked a strand of white hair behind her ear, and pondered Bobby’s suggestion. “Yeah, I’d be up for it. What book are you using?”
Bobby handed the book to her, adding, “If you’ve been there and done that, we really don’t need a book, do we? We’ve got an expert on staff.”
“I’m no expert - just had a few nights of boogedy-boogedy fun, that’s all. If you really want to try this, we’d better start reading up on it. It’s been years, but I remember that there were candles and a crystal ball, and maybe some kind of incense...” Rogue’s mind drifted back to the childhood experiences, giggling in the dark, hand in hand with her three younger cousins around the elegant old lace-covered dining room table, candlelight throwing dancing shadows about the darkened room.
“I’ve seen seances on TV; it’s pretty simple, if you ask me,” Jubilation Lee snapped her fingers and her bubble gum simultaneously. “Between re-runs of “Buffy” and “Charmed” and a few viewings of “Practical Magic” and “The Craft,” we’ll be good to go.”
Kitty added, “I’ll hit some web sites and see if they mostly agree with each other, and we’ll all compare notes. We need to get organized; unless I’m mistaken, this stuff is best done on the night of full moon, and that’s only a few days away.”
Jubilee whipped out her cell and logged into an almanac site, “Yeah - five days. That’ll put the full moon on...” she counted distractedly on her fingers, “Saturday night! How absolutely, wonderfully convenient! It was meant to be.”
Bobby grinned his agreement, “Now we’re talking, ladies! Let’s do “Buffy” eps tonight, “Charmed” eps tomorrow, and hit the books on Thursday and between classes. That’ll leave Friday for planning and organizing, gathering supplies, and figuring out who we’ll invite. Then on Saturday night, we’ll go for it.”
“Sounds like a plan. Saddle up and move out,” giggled Jubilee, as the group scattered before class bells rang.
That night, as Kitty popped the “Buffy” DVDs in and out of the player as they scanned for chosen eps, she posed the question, “Does anyone have any hesitation about doing this? You know, like religious stuff or actually believing that we’ll raise a spirit, anything like that? ‘Cause, I’m sort of on the fence about some of the stuff I’m reading on the Net...” Her face revealed her unsure thoughts.
Rogue replied, “My parents were staunch Baptists and gave Aunt Mildred a hard time. I don’t suffer from those feelings now, so... nope. I’m okay with our plans, as long as there’s no sacrificing animals or drinking weird stuff.”
“Same here,” Jubes agreed. “Oh, here’s the ep I remember.”
They draped themselves across furniture and floor, with popcorn, sodas, and notebooks at hand. Three hours later, all were in agreement there was little information of use, and headed off to bed.
Wednesday Night
The evening’s perusal of “Charmed” episodes gave little more than a basic idea about casting a circle of protection, calling in spirits, and generally setting the tone of the seance. Bobby shoved his fingers through his hair in frustration, “Maybe we’re going at this all wrong. Television shows are intended to be fantasy. If we’re going to do a real seance, we’ll need less fiction and more fact.”
The three females all nodded agreement as candy corn disappeared into their mouths.
“Should we even bother watching “Practical Magic” and “The Craft”, since these shows didn’t give us much to work with?” Bobby was getting bored with the viewing.
“Dude, no! I love the aunts. They’re a hoot!” Jubilee’s enthusiasm brought a grin from Rogue. “Maybe if we are very careful, we can mix up some Midnight Margaritas of our own, and pour them into carefully disguised juice bottles.”
Rogue grinned even wider, “Count me in.”
“Okay: two movies, but then it’s hard-core time,” fussed Bobby. “My ass is getting flat from sitting here watching this stuff.”
“Your ass was flat as a pancake long before we sta....” Jubilee started to say, before Kitty’s hand slapped over the Asian girl’s mouth, effectively muffling her words.
“Now, now, let’s be nice, children,” Rogue chided them playfully. “I’m for bed. I’m going into the library tomorrow morning for research, and if I don’t find anything here that works for us, I’ll go to the downtown one, to see what they’ve got in the ‘occult’ section of the stacks.”
“Ewwww!” Kitty wailed as Jubilee licked her palm to get free of the muffling hand.
“Now, as I was about to say,” Jubes whispered, “I already cleaned out the library here. There’s not much that’s useful. I got a copy of “The Complete Book of Magic and Witchcraft” by Kathryn Paulsen, but haven’t had time to crack it yet.”
“Don’t bother. It’s crap,” Rogue huffed. “I read it years ago. Mostly gobbledygook.”
“When did you become the authority on witchcraft?” Kitty asked, wiping her hand on Jubes’ pants.
“I’m not - I just read the book, and didn’t like it. It’s weird. And old...”
“Sounds like Logan, if you ask me: weird and old,” Bobby deftly ducked the popcorn and candy that hurtled toward his head.
“How old?” Kitty asked, as Rogue thumbed through the book’s opening pages.
“Over forty years, but being old doesn’t mean that it’s good,” Rogue admitted.
“Again, with the Logan reference,” Bobby quipped, before diving over the back of the couch as books and shoes rained down on him.
“I heard that!” the graveled voice echoed from the foyer as Bobby yelped and scrambled for the kitchen door, then on toward the back stairs where he fled for the upper level of dorm rooms. Rogue, Kitty and Jubes started picking up the debris as the Wolverine strode into the room.
“What the hell happened in here?” Logan asked as his eyes surveyed the scattering of food, books and shoes over the couch.
“Nothin’, sugar - just a little discussion, with some seasonal artillery. Want some candy corn?”
“Thanks, darlin’, but I’ll pass. Never had a sweet tooth to speak of,” the feral’s face softened as he gazed at Rogue. Kitty and Jubilee exchanged knowing glances as they piled their arms full and left the room, grinning.
“I have homework to do, and a test first thing tomorrow, so I’ll leave you in peace. There are movies on the coffee table if you want to zone out for a while.”
“Nah, think there might be a game on, though. Wanna go to a movie this weekend? I’ll take you into town and you pick the movie, as long as it ain’t anything sappy.”
“No chick flicks, huh? Not a problem,” Rogue grew thoughtful for a moment, then added, “I’m already booked for Saturday, so how about a Sunday matinee?”
“Sure. Get to work, and get some sleep.”
Tossing him a snapped salute, Rogue said, “Sir! Yes, sir!” and left the room.
Logan shuffled through the scattering of DVDs on the table, picked out “Practical Magic”, put it in the player and settled onto the couch with his boots plunked on the table. Fumbling in his pockets for a key that was poking his leg, the keys tumbled into the couch cushions. As he wiggled his fingers deep into the crevice to fish the keys out, Logan felt something tiny and hard slip between his fingertips.
Pinching and pulling, he produced several pieces of candy corn. Grinning, he blew the lint off the brightly-colored candy pieces and popped them into his mouth as the movie began.
The Wolverine & Rogue Fanfiction Archive
Barely Legal Since 2000
Story Notes:
This is post-X2 with one original character and a 'Supernatural' cross-over in later chapters. I deleted the original three chapters, did some editing, and will now re-load them, adding a chapter a day after that until we've wrapped it up.