[ 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

[touchofrogue]

[Rogue smiles a little at that. 'Dime novels.' It was both so familiar a reference (which was more than welcome) and so... well. Out of time.]

I'd like ta say my threshold for weird is pretty high. [Her tone turns wry.] But I wouldn't wanna jinx it.

[redactions]

​​​​[ He laughs, quietly. ]

Should I even be pryin' into what you've been up to that you don't think aliens are weird?

[touchofrogue]

[Hoo, there was a loaded question. Where to even start? Did she even want to start? Rogue doesn't share her own stories easily.]

Maybe not on first acquaintance. [She's surprised, after she speaks, at the warmth in her tone, the almost-promise of it, the maybe. She tries to ameliorate it with a tease:] Those kinda stories could send a fella runnin' for the hills if a girl's not careful. [...and doesn't much succeed.]

[redactions]

​​​​[ He laughs again, warm and light. ]

You'll have t'show me where the hills around here are, sweetheart. I look out, all I see are stars. That's gonna take a lot outta me, I ain't as young as I used to be.

​​​​[ It's gently, playfully said, but he of all people who's grown up with thin walls and passed men who reek of whiskey know most of the ways a woman is careful and afraid. It does no good to push, or to expect that they immediately know the shade of one's heart. ]

[touchofrogue]

[There is a quick, fleeting smile at his laughter. He has a nice laugh. There is certain note of relief in her tone: He makes talking to him easy. She's glad for it, surprised at how much she's - well, at how easy it is. Easy is good, right about now, when so many things aren't easy. Even her physical balance is painfully off, and it irritates her. She feels her wings like phantoms.]

Kinda defeats the point of runnin' from a body if the person has ta show you where to run. Might be worse. Ya could faint. I hear that's a risk with the elderly.

[redactions]

So's breakin' my hip, y'know, maybe this running idea ain't so good for me if there's so much risk.

[touchofrogue]

[Rogue stifles another laugh.]

Mmmm. [Mock thoughtful.] Sounds like that'll just be your decision ta make, then. Should the time come. [An unexpectedly serious note enters her voice.] See if stickin' around or runnin' is the greater risk.

[redactions]

We'll see, ​​​​[ he answers, with good humor. ] now, you found the mess hall yet?

[touchofrogue]

[Once again, relief that he didn't make a big deal out of it, that he'd kept with the joking tone.]

Looks about like it. I'm comin' to the end of the hallway an' there's no place else to go. [Sensing an end to the conversation, Rogue pauses.] Hey, Jim?

Thanks.

[Simple, sincere, and layered. He'd helped her catch her balance, and she wouldn't forget that.]

[redactions]

​​​​[ And he can't escape this one without remarking on it. There's a pause. ]

I did nothin', sweetheart. You walked forward on your own two feet.

[touchofrogue]

[Don't you give her that, Jim Barnes. She knows exactly what you did, and she has a feeling you do too. She'll let it go, if only because belaboring the point just makes it more awkward and she's feeling vulnerable enough. Her steps are still uneven.]

Such as they are. [...okay, fine. She might push her point a bit more, just. Because.

Now she'll let it go.] Guess I'll go see what sorta food they've got up here. Be talkin' to ya, I reckon.