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.]

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[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?

[She had mentioned that name before, so he'll note that it's yet another of these strange places or forces.]

Bruce Banner and Tony Stark worked on my programming, and Thor's thunder brought me to life.

[This silence is the sound of Rogue's brain stuttering.]

--oh.

[...yes. That's really all she's got right now.

That and a zillion questions that she doesn't really have any business asking, especially over an open network.]

[He grins at her expression, though he holds back laughter.]

I admit I do keep unusual company.

[Oh, buddy, you don't know the half of it. Tony Stark had been her friend, almost like a father in some strange reality - and Thor had almost been a brother in law.

...and she couldn't tell him any of this. It wouldn't be right, it wouldn't be fair. She missed them, suddenly, missed them with a physical ache that made her breath catch. Now she'd lost any chance of a return - they were truly gone.]

...I'm hopin' that you came from the end of whatever was goin' on that got you made. An' that it ended with all the Avengers okay.

[She could say that, at least. Let her sound like a fangirl or something (though her voice was perhaps a bit thick for that). She didn't care. It was worth asking.]

[That, at least, he can smile and reassure her about. Yes, Dr. Banner was still missing, but that was entirely by his own choice.

Pietro wasn't all right, but he also doesn't want that to get to Wanda unless the time is right, so he'll leave that unmentioned.]

Yes, I did. There have been some disagreements, as one would expect, but we are all in good health and preparing for the next crisis. There are still threats out there, and it's possible there always will be - but for now, we are at peace.

That's good. [She let out a quiet breath.] I'm - real glad to hear that.

Sometimes a brief peace is all the more welcome when one knows it may end at any time.

On that note, however, I will say life in this fleet has been relatively straightforward and with minimal danger.

[On the one hand, that's reassuring. On the other hand...]

Oh no. Why would you say a thing like that?

[That gets a bit of a grin.]

Because I don't believe "tempting fate" is anything more than attaching a meaning to coincidence.

Well, [a touch of good humored grump in her voice] I hope that belief's comfortin' to ya when it starts pourin' out of no where.

I'm certain it will be. Or perhaps you could say I'm hedging my bets and hoping the next encounter will be no worse than the last.

[...okay, hold on--]

Next encounter with what, exactly?

Anything that one might find in space, I suppose. We've encountered one race of alien life already. There are others out there. As with any other life, there are bound to be friendly and hostile groups.

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