A/N: Completely undeveloped piece of writing by moi. Recently, I've had to deal with a lot of death and for some reason it made me kinda sad to think that I might die and no one would ever read this little snippet. So, even though I have no idea where this is going or even if it is going, I'd like to post this little chapter on how I think Rogue's first day at the institute could go.

"And the kitchen's to your left." Kitty said, her arm waving as she gestured to the closed door. "It's soup today," she said with a little smile.

"I hate soup," Rogue said, deciding to share that little part of herself to this almost-stranger. Sharing any part of herself felt wrong, like she was giving away food when she was starving. But it was her first day, and she was desperate for it to go well.

"Really? Why?" Kitty asked, polite curiosity in her tone.

Great, Rogue thought before she answered, I said something she not only doesn't care about, but probably disagrees with. Great start. "It's so boring. Like flavored water with strands of mushy grain."

Kitty laughed and shrugged it off. "You'll like it when Remy makes it. He doesn't do it too often, but he is tonight."

They started walking off to their next stop on the tour—the commons—when Kitty suddenly burst out. "Ooh! That reminds me, you've gotta find the right kinds of friends—it's imperative." Rogue wasn't sure what Kitty meant with this new piece of advice until she elaborated. "For instance, telepaths: very helpful as they often hear the errant thought. It's how I learned Remy was cooking tonight. My friend Jean told me."

Rogue nodded like she actually thought powers were an important consideration when finding friends. "What can you do?" She asked, figuring Kitty would probably enjoy talking about herself.

Kitty's grin went from ear to ear. Her hands came up to clap together with Rogue's head in the middle. Rogue flinched back, too late, and was surprised when she didn't feel anything. "I can phase through anything." Kitty explained, shoving her hand through a wall and meeting no resistance.

"Wow." Rogue said quietly.

"I know," Kitty said smugly. "What can you do?"

Rogue took a deep breath. "I better skip the show part and get straight to the tell. When I touch people, I drain their memories and energy." Rogue said it quickly, not relishing sharing, but knowing that full disclosure was only for the best; people had to learn to be just as careful of her as she was of them. Still, the uneasy look on Kitty's face didn't sit well with her stomach.

"Does it hurt?" Kitty finally asked, her eyes trying to hide the slight fear that had crept into them.

"Very much." Rogue said. She didn't know if Kitty meant did it hurt her or the people she touched, but it didn't matter as the answer was the same for both. People always forgot that Rogue didn't get to pick and choose; she got everything, including the pain.

"Umm well, yeah," Kitty started, trying to change the topic. "You should come a little early to dinner tonight. The food can go fast when Remy's the cook."

Rogue nodded, and didn't say much the rest of the tour.

On her way to dinner, Rogue reflected on her first day. The classes had been a little confusing, but nothing she knew she couldn't catch up on. The people hadn't gone out of their way to be mean to her…or nice, really. They kind of just ignored her. Which was good, sort of. Rogue had a lot to deal with in her own head; she didn't really need much more. In a way she wouldn't have minded though, if one of the strangers she'd met today had made a special point to sit next to her and ask her how she was liking it here at the Xavier Institute so far. She couldn't really blame anyone for not doing that. Rogue was sure her reputation preceded her, and they were probably a little scared of her. Hell, sometimes even she was scared of herself.

Rogue got to the kitchen early, and was surprised to see it was almost filled. She was glad there was one more chair, and relieved when it was next to Kitty. She sat down gingerly, half afraid someone would tell her she couldn't sit there. No one did. "Where do all the other kids sit?" Rogue asked, noting that the table only held fifteen or so people, and that there were only two more open spots. There had to be Two hundred kids at the school.

"Oh," Kitty laughed, "They're all assigned different kitchens. It's a pretty big school. No need to squish together." She saw the look on Rogue's face. "I wouldn't worry about it. You belong here. Although, I must warn you, there are about five more people than this table can seat assigned to this kitchen, and they usually either just stand and eat or go somewhere else when they don't get a spot."

Just then an intimidating man with large muscles walked in with a dark expression. "And then you get the occasional one who wouldn't sit with us if the table were half-empty," Kitty said with a laugh.

"Where's that Cajun with the food? I'm starving." The man said, and his voice was deep, pleasing, if a little crass.

"He doesn't look like a student." Rogue said, not quite making it a question.

"Oh, he's not. That's Logan, the gym teacher." Kitty told her.

"I had gym today, and I didn't see him, just that guy." Rogue gestured across the table to the guy with the sun glasses. She'd seen him shoot laser beams without them outside today. "He taught us."

"Logan only shows up enough to make sure we are all showing up enough, and the rest of the time Scott—that's the guy with the glasses—or someone else just sort of steps forward and fills in for the class." Kitty whispered to her.
"Oh, I never would have guessed." Rogue said, and it was true, Scott seemed like the natural teacher of the bunch.

"I know," Kitty said, and Rogue didn't miss the almost dreamy quality of voice Kitty took on while looking at Scott. Kitty blushed a little when she saw Rogue watching her, but didn't say anything further.

Just then a pretty redhead came in through another door, holding two serving bowls. She set the one filled with gravy down first, then the one with biscuits. A man entered behind her and set a huge pot down in the middle of the table. "Thank you, chère." The man said, kissing the redhead lightly on the lips. "Bon appetite, everyone." His accent was slightly French, and Rogue knew it must be the Cajun everyone was talking about, Remy.

Kitty must have seen the surprise on Rogue's face, because she leaned in, smiling, to whisper into Rogue's ear. "They don't exactly match do they?" Kitty said, giggling. "But they're a couple. No one really gets it. He can come off as such a perv, and she's, like, the sweetest. But I think it's kinda cute. The good girl and the bad boy." She leaned forward to get herself a biscuit, grabbing one for Rogue in the process. Rogue thanked her, and regarded the so-called mismatched couple. It was true, they didn't look like they would be together. He was a little disheveled and she was too perfect, but in a way it worked together. She saw what Kitty meant.

"'Bout time." Rogue heard Logan rumble. It made her smile, because it was actually still a few minutes before dinner was scheduled to start.

Rogue couldn't believe it when she found the pot was already half-gone as she started to scoop it into her bowl. She took more than she would have normally, in case it really was as good as everyone was making it seem. It did smell heavenly.

She took her first bite and guts gurgled happily. Bliss.

"Told you his soup was good." Kitty said, nudging Rogue with her elbow when she saw the stunned expression on her face.

Rogue heard Remy groan from across the table. "Petite, Petite, it's Gumbo, not soup!"

Kitty laughed. "Big diff!"

"You wound me wit' your awful words, girl! Remy don' know how you gonna make it up to him." He winked in Kitty's direction, and she giggled.

No one really saw Jean's slight wince, except maybe Scott and Logan. And Rogue, of course. Rogue was always watching people, observing from afar, because she felt like she could never be a part of them. But she wanted to be a part of them this time. The people here seemed really nice and fun…and almost like a family. What Rogue wouldn't give to join them and just be happy.

She finished her bowl (it was no hardship) and had just barely managed to scrape out seconds from the bottom of the pot when all of a sudden she noticed half the people at the table were leaving. There'd barely been any warning. It was like a group of them just decided to collectively splinter off. "Where are they all going?" Rogue asked Kitty.

She just shrugged. "I don't know. Probably just all decided to go watch a movie or something in one of the rec rooms."

All together? Rogue wondered. She was no genius, but she'd only been here one day and noticed that there was some sort of love triangle (rectangle?) going on between Jean, Scott, Logan, and Remy. It seemed weird they would choose their free time to hang out all together, but Rogue decided not to say anything more.

"When you finish, I can take you to your room." Kitty said helpfully.

Rogue finished and got up to leave. Kitty walked side-by-side with her until they got to the staircase. The ones leading to the bedrooms were a little narrow, and two people couldn't walk comfortably next to each other. Kitty just stood there, hesitating at the foot of the stairs. Rogue looked at her, a question in her eyes. After all, Rogue didn't really know where she was going. Kitty started. "Oh, right! Sorry." She hastily went up the first few steps in front of Rogue. "I'm sorry to say that you have one of the rooms on the highest floor, and there are a lot of stairs."

"That's fine." Rogue laughed. "Does it have a window?"

"A balcony." Kitty responded, and Rogue felt the first true stirrings of excitement.

Wrapped up in the thoughts that she might be getting a room all to herself for the first time in years, and with a balcony! Rogue accidentally went a little faster than Kitty and stepped on the back of her foot. She started to apologize when she realized that nothing had happened. Her foot had gone right through. Kitty was intangible.

Rogue fought back the hurt. She was surprised at intensity of it. Rogue knew what had happened. Kitty had been getting along just fine when they were walking together and talking, but the moment she was supposed to go in front of her Kitty had hesitated. She didn't trust Rogue at her back. Rogue probably would have done the same in her shoes, but she couldn't tramp down her indignation. She was silent the rest of the way up while Kitty chatted.

Kitty finally got to Rogue's room and turned around to face her with concerned eyes. Rogue wondered if she were touchable again, and had to fight an urge to check. "Are you okay, Rogue? You seem kind of quiet."

"Fine." Rogue said, biting her tongue. She wasn't going to bring it up.

"Well, what do you think of it here so far?" Kitty asked, trying to be friendly. Rogue wondered if Kitty was assigned to her. 'Watch the new girl. Make sure she isn't dangerous.'

Rogue thought a lot before answering. "It seems too good to be true." And it was. They weren't welcoming her with open arms and giving her a new chance. They trusted her about as much as, well, that's the kicker: Rogue had actually started to trust them already, and that was why it hurt so bad that they hadn't begun to do the same for her. It didn't matter though, they would see she wasn't the baddie they seemed to think she was.

"It kind of is too good to be true." Kitty shrugged. "If you were just any other orphan"—runaway, Rogue thought, but didn't correct her—"you would never have gotten this chance. Your powers got you here, and without them who knows where you'd be." Kitty had a faraway look in her eyes, and Rogue got the feeling she wasn't exactly talking about her.

"Yeah, Xavier's a great guy. Anyway, I'm probably going to go to bed pretty soon. It was a really long day." Rogue was anxious to get rid of her escort, and eager to see her new room.

"Sure," Kitty said, snapping out of it, "there's a closet just down the hall that's got sheets and towels and stuff if you need anything."

"Thanks." Rogue slipped in her room and closed the door. She sank against the door. Her first day was over.