X-Men Evolution: Rogue Evolution

Christmas Morning 12.3

"You took on ten beholders... you?" Asked the man with the jewel-embedded eyepatch guarding the gangway plank to Captain Krag's ship.

"That's right!" Replied Zerzer the Bloodless. "All by myself! I did it with my tail tied behind my back."

"And with his tail tied behind his back..." mumbled the eyepatched man's much shorter, much more slack-jawed peer.

"Shut it," Elbowed eyepatch. "His tail being behind his back wouldn't make a bloody bit of difference. His tail is always behind his back!"

"Still sounds impressive, eh?" Droned the other man.

"And there I was," started Zerzer, "my back against the wall with nothing but a dull dagger to fight off the scourge of one-eyed beasties -"

"Hogwash..." the eyepatched pirate crossed his arms and raised his chin.

Evan's ethereal face appeared between the figures, "You're going to need to roll at least a D15 persuasion check if you want this guy to believe Zerzer did any of this, Kurt."

"Oh, right." Zerzer, his red scaly face now replaced with Kurt's face, pulled out a D20 from his breast pocket and rolled it on the ground.

"Hmm, a 14 isn't gonna do it..." Declared the almighty voice of Evan. "Unless your friend Galloway can back up your story. Then it might just be enough."

Back in a world filled with a little less whimsy, Anna sat cross-legged at the large spool they used for a table. Her elbows propped on the table, with her finger, she rocked a small wooden knight chess piece they'd use on occasion during the game to represent guards, monsters, and sometimes Kitty's character when she lost her piece. The pad of her finger manipulated the piece by the horse's pointy ears, and as time passed, she pressed her finger harder and harder into the piece. She could feel the sharp wood press into her finger and flex the skin, but no matter how hard she pressed, she could barely feel the sting of pain.

"Anna?"

It was only at the call of her real name did she look up at Evan, "What?"

"Gonna join us sometime today?"

"Sorry," She let up on the force she exerted on the chess piece. It stuck in her skin just long enough to fall to the table and make a loud 'clunk'. "What do I need to roll?"

"Nothing yet. You gonna help Zerzer out or what?"

Anna blinked as she glanced between the pair. Her glassy eyes were unable to focus on either of them. "Yeah, if it's okay with you guys, I think I'm going to sit this out one out."

"Sit this one out?" Evan took off his crushed velvet hood. "We can't have a game with just Kurt! We're already down, Kitty and Scott!"

"Then - I don't know," Anna got up from the table and heard multiple cracks in her back. "I guess we'll just have to do it another time."

"Another time? I made a whole mini-campaign for us during break. If we don't finish today's session, that will put us back!"

"Ev..." Kurt held his boyfriend's shoulder. The other boy's rage was momentarily redirected before the burning coals began to simmer.

Anna was already down the ladder from the attic and halfway down the hallway when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She spun on the spot and saw a figure dressed in medical scrubs with a tight-knit blonde bun of hair on her head and long surgical gloves that crinkled at the elbows. One of her hands white knuckled her shoulder in place while the other hand held a syringe the length of a ruler.

"Get away from me!" She tried to shove the woman back, but instead lost her footing and fell. She must have hit her head because next she opened her eyes, she was seeing stars and felt a throbbing in the back of her head.