driftfleet | [ Video, Action ] Deuce of Clubs

Entry tags:

[ Video, Action ] Deuce of Clubs

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.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

How do you know?

[That said almost quickly]

That there is a contingency plan, I mean. Has anyone tried stayin' behind?

[That's--a good question, actually. He frowns, thinking.] The same way I am familiar with engineering technology, I believe. It is likely it was implanted as a suggestion to keep us playing along with their rules. I'm not certain if anyone has tried, but perhaps those who have been here longer would know.

[He did do a comprehensive readthrough of the network posts when he'd first arrived, but there's a lot that happens offline.]

[At the reminder that something was putting thoughts into her head, Rogue frowned. She couldn`t help it. She was entirely too familiar of the dire consequences of this - even if at the moment it seemed as begign as a beinget recipe.]

Well. Somethin' to look into, I guess. No way of really knowing what thoughts are theirs and what are ours, then?

[Because that was terrifying.]

I can tell, but I am accustomed to the difference between thoughts and knowledge. It is information only that has been implanted - how and whether we access it is up to us.

[At least in his experience, but then he's only been here a little over a month himself.]

[Rogue didn't think it was as clear cut as Vision made out. Then again, she has good reason to be paranoid over outside influence to her thoughts.]

...mind if I ask you a rude question?

[He's also the wielder of the Mind Stone, so he has a lot more conscious control over what happens in his own mind than most people could ever hope to achieve.]

Certainly.

[...and he's pretty used to weird questions after having Wrath on his ship. Girl has no brain-to-mouth filter sometimes.]

[She pauses a moment and tries to think of a tactful way to word this. Then she remembers that tact is not her strong suit, and gives up.]

Just how long ago were you...made?

[Interestingly, not something people tend to ask him.]

Approximately four months ago.

...right. [She tries to imagine that, pulling from what very little bit that she knows. And, yeah, okay, she could say 'that makes sense now,' except it doesn't. She has no idea how robots - androids - THIS PERSON works.]

Okay, another rude question: How do you know you're thinkin'? I mean - androids are made, right? So...

[So this all comes back to your claim of being able to separate information from thought, basically, blame yourself, Vision.]

[Oh, it doesn't bother him at all! In fact, he taps the Mind Stone again as part of his answer.]

This is called the Mind Stone. It is one of a number of powerful elemental forces, and I was created to be its bearer. It can influence or change thoughts, has a deep complexity on which my own AI programming was based, and with its help it is very easy indeed to tell which thoughts of mine are equivalent to human thoughts, and which knowledge is digital in origin.

[He smiles lightly.]

I know it because of what I am. Otherwise, I can only imagine the difficulty.

...huh. [That is a deeply impressed 'huh.' There is a certain amount of innate wariness as well, because... Rogue knows all too well what it's like to have someone in her mind, turning her against her friends. But she also knows responsible, precise telepaths, the kind that she has trusted with her sanity as well as her privacy. So. Wariness, but not fear.]

Well, it ain't easy to imagine bein' other than you are. [A quick smile. She would know. What with temporarily taking on another person's thoughts, feelings, experiences, and all. To know what every other person carries... yeah, Rogue's glad she's not a telepath.]

So are you, uh, a telepathic android?

Edited (accidental British phrasing, what even happened?) 2015-07-29 20:19 (UTC)

[That's exactly the kind of power the Mind Stone has - and exactly the reason it should be kept away from those who would abuse it.]

I am not. I've known telepathy from others-- [Wanda, though she may not want that known publicly] --and while I suppose I could use its power in that way, it seems unnecessary. I'd much rather talk to someone than hear their thoughts without their permission.

[So... that answer is 'yes, but not currently active,' then. Got it.

Something about the way he speaks engenders a certain amount of trust - when he says he's not interested in hearing others' thoughts without permission, she believes him.

Her tone warms a little.]

You're lucky that you've got that kinda control. Some people with those kind of abilities can't always help it.

[Thing is, he's actually sincere about it, too. Some people might call it being disgustingly good.]

In fact, that's precisely why I was created as a stone bearer. A normal human's body and mind can too easily be torn apart by its forces. The price of power is one that must eventually be paid.

[But then the smile is back.] In my case, it's several billion dollars worth of a metal called vibranium used in my construction.

['Vibranium' made an odd clicking sound in Rogue's mind. In all of the worlds, in all of the Earths she had heard of, only a few of them shared that metal. And they were all worlds that shared Steve Rodgers... and Tony Stark.

She breathed out, a slow, controlled sound. Managed not to blurt out: Are you from the same world as Tony Stark? She needed two hands to count of all the different Tony Starks she'd heard of. Even if Vision was from his world, it might not be the same one.]

...I thought vibranium was the rarest metal in the world. Only Steve Rodgers has a shield made out of it - an' that's it.

[She's actually heard of it, and Steve. That's saying something.]

It's true that Captain America's shield was all America had in the 1940s. Vibranium is a valuable and precious commodity of the country Wakanda, which has no commerce with the rest of the world. A vial about so large [he holds his hands apart in example] is worth the billions I was alluding to.

That's the size of the vial used ta make you? [Her eyebrow quirks and she briefly wonders how tall he is.

...and she's very glad, and not for the first time, that the transfer here wiped Magneto's psyche from her mind. She didn't have to fight him down. Even now, her memories of him, and what his reaction would be to the possibilities presented, disgusted her.]

[Magneto could probably cause a real problem for him--as could Toph, but he doesn't exactly know about her metalbending yet. Luckily for both of them.]

A human body was grown from scratch and infused with the vibranium. Were it not for that, my cells would be as organic as your own.

Uh... huh.

[That is science so entirely beyond her ken. It reminds her a little of Colossus, actually, except vision's personality reminds her not at all of Colossus.

She finds herself wondering, for a moment, what would happen if she touched him.

She decides that she is glad she will probably never have to find out.]

That... that sounds amazing. [Pause a beat.] And strange. No offense.

[Lots of things were amazing and strange.]

"Unique", at the very least. [His tone is light, amused; it's stranger than that and she doesn't know the half of it.] For I truly believe the process would not work the same way twice, even with all the same materials.

[He pauses, looks a bit contrite.]

Though I hope that doesn't sound too terribly arrogant.

[Rogue snorts a little.]

I think most've us would like to think we're the only ones just like us in the universe. Don't worry about it.

[Speaking of universes, though... hmm. How does she get this back to Tony Stark without going, 'Hey, do you know a Tony Stark?'

...it's a serious option, though. Don't knock it.]

Thank you. I'll try not to be overly concerned.

[Still, if she knows Steve...]

Are you familiar with the Avengers, then?

[Oh thank God, that makes it so much easier.]

Yeah, you could say that.

[...and so much more complicated, actually. How did she even begin to explain... and the different versions of different worlds... and /sob, public video, she was so not all about this.]

Uh - there were some - from different worlds - at the place where I was held before.

[He raises his eyebrows at that admission and its stumble in her voice.]

Not another reality show, I should hope? I've heard of a "castle" that was similar as well. It all sounds very confusing for the participants.

[She laughs a little.]

No, not a reality show. Not a castle either. A village. [She paused, but she'd said the name already so-] Luceti.

[And now we run into a wall called: Rogue's Ingrained Aversion to Talking about Other People's Business. She decides to try some more information first. After all, Vision could be a villain. He was red.

...yeah, right.]

How do you know them, exactly?

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