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video;

Who: Eugene Woods and you!
Broadcast: Video, Fleet-wide
Action: Kitchen of the Vanquish
When: August 31st

Hey, guys.

[Eugene gives a wave to the camera, seated at his usual spot in the galley of the Vanquish. He's been making an array of flavored noodles by the looks of things, the hand-cut and variously-colored lengths of them draped out to dry on makeshift racks spread along the table.]

Serious question time - what do all of you do to not get crazy cabin fever around here? I mean, I'm not even a claustrophobic kind of guy. But this is a little too much sitting in a tin can, and I cannot be the only one wearing out the charm of their sudden knowledge of some random aspect of spacefaring life. You all have got to be cultivating some kinds of hobbies, right?

[He pans out across his work.]

Rustic-style flavored pasta to the best tips for things to do other than stare at the wall or carry out your work assignment. What's going on out there in the fleet at large?

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[Y U P.

Although, you know, Rogue will probably temporarily let it drop pretty quickly. All the better to remind him about it at an unexpected time later.

She gives him an unrepentant, mischievous grin.]

That your official statement, Mr. Woods?

['Confirming or denying!' So official!]

Hey. I'm a married man flung into the depths of space on my lonesome. [He snorts, any implications of deep and terrible angst in the words downplayed tremendously by the wry look that comes along with it. But if he needs an official statement, that's the one he's sticking with.] I think we can all just safely assume a few discreet, private dumb names.

[Rogue's eyes widened, and her hand flew to the green pendent never off of her neck at Eugene's wry confession. Her hand clasps the green gem and doesn't let go.

He's married...

Well, she feels like a jerk. Fortunately for her smitten conscience and this conversation, she had been planning on changing the subject anyway... she just probably won't bring it up again. So she nods and returns to his question.]

So, unicorn murder shoe? I'm guessin' it's either a shoe ya can use ta murder a unicorn or a shoe with heels as tall as a unicorn's horn.

[She shoves off the wall and starts into the kitchen.]

[That was probably fighting dirty, and for a moment Eugene feels a bit like a dick for pulling out the big guns over a harmless little joke. But what's done is done, and it at least knocks out any future relationship questions hopefully, which is nice. It's not a situation he feels like talking about more than he needs to.

He spins in his chair to watch her as she goes, content to play audience and backseat chef.]

It has to be the second one. Wrath doesn't strike me as an eking-out-a-cursed-half-life-with-dark-magic kind of person.

[Rogue doesn't do much, just fiddles around with a few of the things he's set out with her back to him.]

If it's a unicorn horn, can it be dark magic? Besides, ya have ta suspect the perky ones.

I'm not sure about doing dark magic with a unicorn horn. But killing a unicorn definitely qualifies you for big leagues evil.

[He gives it a moment's thought.]

It has to be the heel. A really spiky unicorn-horn-shaped heel. That you can kick-stab people with.

[Rogue, sadly, is not a nerd enough to continue the first half of this conversation. However, she is enough of a violent weirdo to get pinged by something else.]

Kick-stab? [Is that a thing? She thinks of X-23 and... okay, yes. That's a thing.] Sounds like a good way ta ruin a decent pair of heals. Then again, if they're tall enough ta kick-stab with, sound like they'd be more of a hazard ta the wearer than anyone else...

[Give her a pair of combat boots any time.]

I'll take your word for it. Not something I ever really got around to trying out.

[Maybe they'll just have to ask Wrath what the things are and solve the mystery once and for all.]

Mmm.

[Quietly, her back still turned to him, one gloved hand goes up to wrap around her green pendant again:]

...I didn't know you were married. Are married.

It doesn't really come up in casual conversation.

[He looks ruefully back at his pasta, nudging it and feeling the bit of give that tells it's not quite all the way dry. He sighs.]

I'm sorry. That- there would have been less . . . jerky ways to mention it. I know we all have people we miss.

[Rogue shrugged. The jerky manner didn't really matter to her. She'd been teasing him and got what she'd got. More important was... well, giving him a chance to ground this a little bit more in their world. You shouldn't have to remember the person you loved only in the light of what holds you back, only in the light of pain. She turned to look at him, no real smile, but a soft expression about her face.]

Tell me?

[She wasn't going to force him any further, she'd drop it if he wanted to... but she thought she'd give him the chance.]

-oh.

[He blinks, thrown. Whatever response he was expecting, it . . . wasn't that. Definitely. He stops prodding at the pasta and looks down at the table self-consciously, itching at the corner of his jaw.]

Wow- uh. Okay. [He's almost-smiling, not quite sure why she even wants to hear, but willing to go along.] His name's Jack? We met in England, been together a few years . . . which in our defense, does feel a lot longer after the end of the world.

[Oh, he is so miserable at this kind of describing-relationships-earnest-sentiment thing.]

[...Jack. Something about this sounded irritatingly familiar, like it was on the tip of her tongue. Several things inhibited the connection from being made right away, however, the three biggest being time, distance, and an entirely different face.]

A few years sounds like plenty long enough time ta me.

[She'll just... get back to that whole 'end of the world' thing another time. Right now, she's just listening. She gave a shrug.] Ya know or ya don't. Ya know?

Yeah, I guess you kind of do.

[It's a weird thing to think about, after having dating relationships that lasted years and didn't go much of anywhere. But there's a neat, self-contained logic to the thought too. And it feels like it fits, somehow. Even if it's in a way he can't quite get his head around.]

Anyway, he's . . . [He huffs a laugh under his breath, smirking.] Actually, he's this total doofus. But he's one of the best people I've ever known, too. You know, one of those genuinely optimistic, good kind of people. And smart too, like- okay, I seriously think he learned how to operate a freaking radio tower, all the electronics and everything, I mean down to morse code everything, in maybe a few months.

[He's still smiling, and however harsh his words or vaguely impatient his tone, there's something absolutely smitten underpinning all of it.]

It's just . . . . obnoxious.

[There's something about that mention of a radio tower which strikes at her remembrance a bit like a tuning fork, but still not enough to be significant. She's far more caught up in listening.

Eugene's kind of adorable like this. It's sweet to see someone so in love, sad to see them parted. Her hand subconsciously wraps around her pendent again.

She gives him a light smirk that is almost a soft smile.]

Yeah, it sounds awful.

The worst.

[He almost laughs, shaking his head.]

But yeah, he kind of dragged me into the whole radio, data-handling kind of thing. There wasn't a lot of other work I was fit to be doing at that point. And he just looks out for people, you know? So he probably wasn't about to let his partner lay around and roll bandages forever.

[He huffs a little sigh.]

Man, he'd probably love to see some of this. All this spacefaring adventure, exciting new worlds stuff.

[She wanted to say something like: You never know. He might show up here. Something to offer what could be a kind of hope.

But that wasn't life. Life was now, not dreams of what might be able to happen. And it looked as though... at least he'd said his name here. Talked about him some. Made it real.

She thought that'd be better. She hoped it would be.

Her hand tightened on her pendent. She gave him a small, encouraging smile.]

Guess you'll hafta enjoy it for him double.

Ah. Yeah. I guess I'll have to.

[It's a relief, to have such a practical response. He's never had much patience for platitudes, doubly so in situations like this. That, though . . . that's honest advice. Even more valuably, it's something to keep going on.

He's quiet a moment, then gestures at her hand, lifting his eyebrows mildly.]

I'm guessing there's a story there, too-?

[What? Rogue's eyes widened in surprise and then she glanced down. Oh.

She hadn't even realized. She gripped it harder for moment and then dropped her hand with a small, pained smile.]

Yeah. Guess so.

Fair game for Lonely Hearts Storytime? Or not so much?

[He tries to keep the question light enough, half-smiling through it, especially with the response even the initial question gets. But if she's willing to listen to him ramble about what he's left behind, it's only decent to return the favor.]

[...it had been almost a year now, she supposed... maybe longer. It was hard to tell, what with all timey-wimey space stuff. But just the thought of saying his name out loud, bringing that loss with her here...

Without really realizing it, her hand came back up and curled around the pendent again.

But... fair was fair.]

...met him at the place I was before. He got - sent back ta his world 'bout a year ago.

[A small, pained smile as she cupped the pendant (ridiculously beautiful, set in gold, simple and elegant, shaped vaguely like the hand of a compass, deepest green and flickering as if alive when it caught light) from behind with her hand, holding it slightly out from her body. It gleamed against the dark leather of her glove.]

He made me this.

[There are more places like this? Where people just appear and vanish? That's bleak enough to not merit interrupting for on its own, and he keeps his mouth firmly shut, leaning in closer when she shows off the pendant.]

Wow. That's gorgeous.

[He leans back before he can linger in that space too long.]

Sorry to hear about that.

[A faint flicker of a smile.] He's a bit of a show off.

[Understatement of the decade. She let the pendent fall back against her body, forced her hand back to her side.

She could only give a half shrug at Eugene's expression of sympathy. What else could you do with a heart that had been torn through and still beat, bleeding?]

It wasn't great, but... [that same soft smile, lingering a little longer now with hints of deep attachment.] it was worth it.

[All of it was worth it.]

Edited 2015-09-21 03:58 (UTC)

[Eugene tries to ignore how his chest aches with those four words. He doesn't disagree with a single one of them - it's more that he doesn't know if he'd be able to say those words, himself.]

That's probably the best thing you can say about any relationship, right? [It was worth it. All of it. He gestures at Rogue, mustering up a bit of a smile.] We really need to set up a bar. A galley kitchen is not even a worthy venue for all of this sage life philosophy.

[She forces a smirk.] If we had real sage, it'd be a better kitchen.

[Sorry, not sorry, still resonating with the ache of remembrance. Bad jokes are an eternal refuge. Sighing a little, Rogue rolls her shoulders.] Instead all we've gotta put up with is a cheap imitation.

[So don't you go inferring she's wise, Eugene Woods. She knows better than that.

And on to a topic change:] Speakin' of, how's that little side project of yours goin'?

Re: [ action ]

survivalistcookbook - 2015-09-29 18:57 (UTC) - Expand

[ action ]

touchofrogue - 2015-09-30 03:13 (UTC) - Expand

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