[ Video, Action ] Deuce of Clubs

[touchofrogue]

Who: Rogue and you! Yes, you.
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: Marsiva
When: Saturday afternoon

[A is for Unintentional Broadcasting (or action, if anyone's there)]
[When Rogue wakes on the Marvisa, the video picks up on her suddenly convulsing. It has been months since she has experienced her powers in full, and her mind is thrown into sudden, loud, throbbing pain. She is surprised that the internal chaos is not as bad as it has been, and after a moment she realizes why: she only has three psyches left, and they are all more or less friendly. After taking a few moments to settle down, Rogue sits up. She is woozy, distracted and disoriented. She goes to stand and overbalances, the missing appendages on her back throwing her off enough that she trips on a sheet and falls gracelessly to the floor.]

Oh for the love of -[she can hardly believe it, she reaches to her back to confirm: her wings are gone.]- what in the Sam Hill--

[At this point, the Network decides that further following Rogue Walking Around to Get her Bearings will be boring, and shifts to something else. Later, she comes back to the communicator not only to answer any return comments that her embarrassing swan dive might have drawn, but to address the fleet as a whole.]

[B is for Delibrate Broadcasting]
[While the communicators aren't set up like Luceti journals, Rogue gets the general idea. She sends out a video post.]

Uh - hi. My name's Rogue, an' I guess I'd like ta speak to the Welcoming Committee. I'm hopin' to get a little bit more than the 'Lost in Space' vibe up here. Speakin' of... anyone have any idea how to turn this music off? I swear it's killin' brain cells.

[A pause. Her gaze shifts downward, and she seems to be bracing herself before she looks back up and addresses the camera with a small smile and a wry, if slightly hopeful light in her eyes.]

Guess I should throw some names out there, just to see if anythin' will stick. Anyone ever hear of... a group called X-Men, say? [A gloved hand reaches up to wrap around a deep green crystal pendent hanging from her neck.] Or a place called 'Luceti'?

[Another awkward pause. She's got a LOT OF EMOTIONS right now, okay, and she's not sure what else to say or do. She kind of hates throwing her hopes out to space like this, but what other choice did she have, really? She gives the camera another quick, small smile.]

Thanks.


[Rogue stretched. She was standing on a narrow railing in the Hospitality Deck - just standing. She hadn’t tried walking yet. She was still not used to this strange feeling of being without her wings. Her balance was off when she moved, when she stood… it would take her a few days to get used to it, maybe longer. She’d get used to it, though. If there was one thing all her experiences had taught her, it was that you could adapt to anything.

Her wings. Her wings were gone. She'd been left with two narrow scars running a lurid red down her back. She could access Logan and heal them, easy, she thought. But right now they were a physical reminder that she hadn't lost her mind completely. She could use that. She felt… oddly adrift (ha ha, and she couldn’t even blame Kurt for that). Even when she’d come into Luceti, Kurt and Kitty had been there. She didn't know what to do. She was alone and afraid... and already lonely.

She took her first step forward and wobbled, much to her frustration, and then another step. She didn’t fall - not yet - but it would be all right if she did. Rogue knew how to fall. She’d just take it one step at a time.]

Comments

b, video

[experiencepoints]

Can't say I've heard of either of those by name. What are they like? Maybe I'll know by description.

Re: b, video

[touchofrogue]

They`re... not so easy to describe. [Try not to leave it there, Rogue. Be friendly.] It`s like a color of the sky kind of thing.

[experiencepoints]

... Uh, right, if you say so.

[She has to bite back a remark about that. What's so hard about describing the color of the sky?]

Well, sorry, then, I can't help.

[touchofrogue]

I appreciate it, anyway. [A quick smile, belaying the faint note of loss in her voice. Rogue is trying to keep her brave face on here.] Thanks for the offer.

[experiencepoints]

[It's not hard to pick up on that note, when Nightingale's feeling that so hard herself. But it's not like she has anything good to say about it...]

... Yeah.

Nightingale, by the way.

[touchofrogue]

[That's a pretty name, especially considering the people she has just been talking to with names like 'Wrath' and 'Vision.']

...Rogue. [She'd said that already, hadn't she. Rogue felt awkward. She wasn't very good at these things. Did you say 'pleased to meet you' when the situation so phenomenally sucked?] How long have you been here, Nightingale?

[experiencepoints]

Nice to meet you, sort of.

I'm... not sure, honestly. I came here after spending around five months in a weird place without a sky, and then after that, it's long stretches in space with nothing happening. My sense of time is totally shot. It's probably around... thirty days, if I had to guess.

[touchofrogue]

...a place without a sky? [Now, Luceti had no stars, true. But it had a sky.] What, like a box? Or... something?

[experiencepoints]

It was crazy bullshit. Not worth thinking about.

[Rogue seems guarded enough, so Nightingale thinks it's probably wisest to respond in kind.]

[touchofrogue]

Sounds like a blast.

[And the situation has to be rare for Rogue to push past what someone else doesn't want to talk about.

...the situation doesn't have to be so rare for dripping sarcasm, though.]

Ya like it better here?

[experiencepoints]

... Not sure, really. It's more peaceful, but...

[touchofrogue]

[...and Rogue wasn't going to prod that either.]

Yeah. [And her tone was heavy. No matter where you were, home was people. And no matter where you were, being someone else's experiment or entertainment was just... no.]

...well. This topic sucks. Didn't mean ta get so dour all in here, it's just. You know. Space-kidnapping an' all. [Shrug.]

[experiencepoints]

... No one's died yet. I'll call it better.

Yeah. It's my second interdimensional hellhole, so it's getting old fast. [The first time wasn't exactly a kidnapping, but she doesn't want to get into all of that, yet.]

[touchofrogue]

[There was a lot there. Thirty days without a death being significant. A box without a sky. While Luceti had its moments of horror, and the world Rogue had come from originally was certainly no picnic, she was aware that there were those who've had it worse. She'd seen some of that from the inside. There were some psyches she wouldn't miss.]

...you'd think once would be enough. For anyone. [She sighed and cracked her shell open a bit.] This ain't exactly my first rodeo either. Though the reality TV bit is new.

[experiencepoints]

[Aha. Nightingale had a hunch, with her asking about a place like that, but might as well confirm...]

That Luceti place?

[touchofrogue]

[Rogue's hand moves to clutch the green crystal pendent hanging from her neck.]

Got it in one.

[experiencepoints]

... That something from there, too?

[touchofrogue]

[Rogue becomes aware of what she's doing and slowly drops her hand.]

From - someone. Who was. There. But he'd gone back home before I came here. So.

[Hey, you know what's better than talking about this? Absolutely anything. So let's desperately try to shift the subject to something else that is connected but also uncomfortable.]

We had wings, there. Even if we didn't have 'em at home. They're gone here, an' my balance is crap without 'em. I never thought not havin' wings would be more annoyin' than having them.

[experiencepoints]

... I can't imagine what that was like. I had wings once, for an afternoon, but as fun as flying was, I was glad to be rid of them.

[touchofrogue]

[This is much better. Complaining about the wings wasn't really personal... and it was something familiar.]

These wings weren't even good for flyin'. They were too tiny. At best they could just... slow your fall. Big wings meant - somethin' else entirely.

[experiencepoints]

... You weren't harpies or anything? Just had wings stuck on?

[touchofrogue]

Harpies? Gawd, no. Was a time when people were turned into all kinds of food, but no one was turned into a harpy. [Pause a beat.] That I know of, anyway. Just the wings. Always the wings.

[experiencepoints]

... Huh. Lucky.

What was with the wings, then?

[touchofrogue]

[Rogue shrugged.]

No one knew. Everyone on the planet had 'em. Just like a passport or somethin'.

[experiencepoints]

That's bizarre.