Family 10.7

** AUTHOR'S NOTE

Hey there! I wanted to let you know that I've decided to publish the entire backlog of Rogue Evolution on my website, artoflupin.com. There you'll find chapters as far ahead as "Snow Fall 11.6", and in a couple of weeks, I plan on having the log on my website be a chapter ahead of any other site I post to!

If you'd prefer to wait for uploads here, no worries, uploads will continue here as scheduled.

Thanks! **

 Anna never considered listening to a podcast while working out till Kitty mentioned it while they were waiting for the bus one morning.

"It makes the time go by faster," Kitty said while sucking down an iced coffee. "And anything to make icky-sweaty time go by faster, I'm all for."

She recommended a podcast about 'living science.' "The latest episode is about the lion mating rituals." Her straw was then audibly sucking like a broken vacuum cleaner as it struggled to find any liquid to hoover up. "It's actually quite interesting. Did you know that do it every 20 minutes for up to five days straight without taking a break to eat?"

As awesome as that sounded, Anna decided ultimately to go with a podcast a little more up her alley. She soon found a podcast called 'The Facts and More,' a comedic history podcast where two comedians research and present wild stories from history. After just a few episodes, she would never look at an Atari gaming system or women's hairpins ever the same again.

Despite the advice coming from a girl sucking down an iced coffee on one of the coldest days to date, the podcast did help Anna's weight training session go by that much faster. After an episode, she had finished her whole routine, cooled down, and was on the elevator to get back to ground level. In the opening banter for the next episode, The History of Women on Bicycles, Anna heard a soft piano song that she had yet to hear in the show's intro.

When the elevator doors split at the end of her ride, she popped out one of her earbuds and the soft licks of piano got louder. Wiping off her forehead with the towel around her neck, she walked toward the open library doors and poked her head inside. She spotted Jean sitting with perfect posture before the standing piano on the opposite wall. She didn't realize she was staring until Jean paused and turned.

"Oh, hey Anna!" Jean waved her hand. "You can come in if you want."

"Are you sure? I didn't mean to disturb you."

"You're not disturbing me. I'm just noodling anyway. I just wanted to be on the opposite side of the house from our… guest." Jean resumed playing the haunting melody.

Anna walked in and leaned against one of the couches to better face the piano. After a breath, she snapped her fingers. "Moonlight Sonata."

"Beethoven fan?"

"Not really. When I was a kid, my Mah, not Mystique my other mom, signed me up for violin lessons. The teacher was all about the classics and wouldn't let me learn anything else."

"That doesn't sound like a very good instructor."

"She was apparently super talented. I think she did some Broadway show or something."

"Remember which one?"

"Nah, sorry."

"That's alright," Jean's fingers continued to dance to the tune of the ivory keys with expert precision. "I've always wanted to see a Broadway show." 

"Why haven't you? The city isn't that far, right?"

"I don't know… guess the opportunity never presented itself."

"Doesn't help you're busy all the time, right?"

Jean didn't answer, instead, she seemed to be having some sort of silent conversation with the piano through each keystroke. Listening, Anna could feel the sound of the music begin to resonate though her chest and sore limbs. It was then she realized the conversation Jean was having with the piano wasn't so slilent after all.

"You're really good."

"I've always loved piano. I find it soothing." She looked back at Anna. "Want to join?"

"Join? I don't know how to play piano."

"It's not so hard. I'll teach you." Jean scooted over on the bench and patted the open spot.

Anna's shoulders squared as she shed the towel from her neck and sat down.

"Alright. So you already know a little violin, so you probably know a little music theory. See all the white keys? Those are all Major keys and the black ones are Minor." Jean played a small scale with her right hand. "That's the C-Major scale. It's what the piano is made around so it's the easiest scale to do. Give it a try."

Anna slowly tried to parrot what Jean did with her right hand but struggled.

"Yeah, that thumb cross-over is tricky. I'll show you again slowly… see, there you go! One more time… very nice!" Jean then formed her right hand into a strange three-pointed shape and then pressed it into the keyboard. "That's a C-Major Chord. Move the whole thing down one, and it becomes a D and so on. Give that a try."

Anna followed Jean's instructions, moving her finger shape till she ran out of room on the C-Major-Scale. "Very good! Now let's make a song. You keep on this octave and I'll go up one. You pick a chord, anyone on the C-Major-Scale, and I'll make something to go with it. Ready?"

With cold sweaty hands, Anna pressed her fingers into what she was pretty sure was just a C chord and Jean made a sparkly little riff on the opposite end of the keyboard. Anna moved her hand again and Jean shifted accordingly. The two continued the pattern until they had formed a jazzy little number that sounded like it belonged in a mob movie Anna had watched.

Anna laughed, "Hey! This is cool!"

"Right? You can make music out of just about anything."

"Now I get why you do this all the time in your room!" Anna paused, looked at Jean, and bit her bottom lip. "Oh… sorry… I saw the keyboard in your room when… Kitty and I were snooping that one time."

Jean gave a knowing little smile and shook her head. It was then Anna noticed the other girl had her earrings on and felt a weight lift off her chest. "It's alright, Anna. In a way, I'm glad you both did what you did." Jean took her hands off the keyboard and rested them in her lap. "I flushed it all that night after that incident in Xavier's office. That day I was so tired I had to take so much just to keep awake. Using my powers on the way I did to you both, it wasn't right. No matter how justified I felt in the moment. It was then I realized that wasn't the life I wanted to live. It wasn't the example I wanted to set."

Anna felt her hand reflexively reach for her ear, but it settled on her neck. "Those earrings, they help you control… what you can do?"

"That's right. Xavier has gone to great lengths to teach me how to control my abilities. Still, it can get overwhelming. The earrings are enhibitors to keep that particular power in check. They're like training wheels. I don't really need them anymore, but they make life easier." She rubbed her chin and she grew a conspiratorial smile. "I will admit, I've had some fun sabotaging MacArthur's dreams the past few nights."

"What? You can do that?"

"Oh yeah. That creep has had nothing but dreams about piranhas eating his dick for days."

Anna turned in the bench to better face Jean. "What? That's awesome!"

Jean fluttered her hands. "Hush!" She snorted, "That's a secret between us, alright? Xavier would tear me a new one if he knew I was using my powers to do that."

Anna covered her grin with her mouth. "Right - right, that's just so great! What were you doing earlier? I noticed you had your earrings off then too."

"I made him think he kept hearing a cat meowing somewhere."

"What! Really? Wait, didn't that happen in some movie… Super Troopers?"

"Yes, it's where I got the idea. Now will you keep it down?"

Anna put both hands over her mouth and jerked her head toward the open door to the hall. When nothing was there she giggled some more. "That's so great! You got to let me take your powers for a ride sometime."

"I don't know if that's such a good idea. It's not like teleporting around or shooting spikes out of your skin. Xavier is particularly careful when it comes to my sort of ability. You'd have better luck borrowing Ororo's powers."

"Oh my god, do you think she would let me?"

"Not a chance in hell."

"But we aren't in hell… so that's a maybe?"

Jean rolled her eyes and laughed. "You're insane." She closed the lid to the piano keys. "How did that talk go? The one you had with Ororo. Scott told me about it."

The smile faded from Anna's face. She spun on the bench till her back was facing the piano. "Complicated. Not bad just… seemed like she needed someone to talk to more than anything."

"Makes sense."

"Maybe, but why me?"

"You're an easy person to talk to, Anna."

"Bull. Anything about my face or the way I dress says I'm a 'people person?'"

"Being an easy person to talk to is more than looking acceptable." Jean swiveled in her seat till she was knee to knee with Anna. "It's about being willing to listen, and since you've gotten here, that's all you've done. You've listened, you've learned, and you brought a group of completely different people together."

"I don't know about all that."

"I do. I saw Evan giving Ororo a stink eye after the mission, and after you had a conversation with the both of them, I caught them weeping in each other's arms in the kitchen."

"You saw that?"

"I did. I think you have a power even greater than what those hands of yours can do. I dare say, you might be an empath."

"Empath? Okay, now those earrings must be emitting some sort of radiation because your brain is clearly cooked. I'm all about number one, baby."

"That right?"

"Yeah, that's right!"

"Is looking out for number one getting Kurt and Evan together, or getting those boys to accept Kitty, or getting every adult here to confide in you in one form or another?"

"Yep!"

"You're so full of it." With a flick of Jean's hand, a pillow rose from the couch and smacked Anna in the side of the head.

"Hey!" Anna took the pillow and whacked Jean back.

With another flick of the hand, a pillow appeared in Jean's fist and she walloped Anna back. Both laughing, they whacked each other as hard as they could back and forth till they both fell off the bench.