driftfleet | .02 [ Mama Said There'd Be Days Like This ]

Who: Rogue
Broadcast: nope
Action: Planet with optional Vanquish options
When: Planetside, from beginning to end.

A Is for Augmentation
[It’s the middle of the night, and all good children are supposed to be in bed… so then what is Rogue doing, walking around the boarding house with her gloves off and her eyes closed?

Maybe it’s the same thing that has her shrieking awake a few night’s later, one single, panicked cry that she quickly stifles as awareness returns? Unfortunately, this won’t be her last night with nightmares… and unfortunately, sometimes the sleepwalking and the nightmares may come at once…]

B is for Bounty
[...hunting, that is. Rogue wasn’t planning on making a habit of this, it wasn’t really her thing, but if she found a wanted poster for a guy who did something that pissed her off enough, she would go and make it her business to hunt that particular individual down.

Of course, she didn’t really have any idea what she was doing. It just seemed like a thing to try. How do you find a needle in a haystack, and one poorly washed thug really was almost interchangeable. Walking up to someone and asking, ‘Hey, have you seen this guy?’ was probably not the best way of going about it.

In fact, that’s possibly the kind of thing that could get a gal more attention than she was looking for...]

C is for Chisel (and hammer, and stone)
[Rogue wasn’t exactly sure what that quadraped was, but… she has decided to call it a ‘zeorse’ and she is happy to see it. Do not doubt that she will be making friends in the stables and riding off on adventures…

And one of those adventures takes place after a week or so on the planet, and the quiet confirmation that both Tony and Zessica had… gone, Rogue borrows a chisel and hammer from a local She rides out into the wild and finds a cluster of hard red rock, and in the lee of the wind carves three names there: Tony. Zessica. Anja.

She’ll be more withdrawn and quiet than normal when she returns those tools.]

D is for Drunk and Disorderly
[Sometime after this conversation, Rogue will be… upset.

She will be upset enough to go blindly into the night with a powerful need to punch things, though with Kurt there she didn’t feel it was… the best idea, perhaps, to go and start a bar fight even though it would be so. easy.

So she just goes to a bar. And she orders a drink. And if there is a fight she doesn’t have to start but gets to finish, so be it.

So. Be. It.]

E? E is for Everything Else.

[On the Vanquish? Shopping and hoping to make something out of this material? Staring dramatically into the sunset?]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Kurt's been spending a lot of time on this weird alien planet. It's been nice to get some fresh air, and fascinating to explore an alien world. And the setting felt like he was dumped into one of those classic movies he loved.

Of course, things looked a lot different when the sun went down. Kurt was carefully strolling along, trying to conceal his face beneath the hood of the cloak he was wearing, although it may be easy for those familiar with him to tell him apart just from the way he walks. Suddenly, the town looks a lot more eerie, and Kurt's tempted to poof somewhere closer to the ship when he feels something press against his back.

One of those wanted men is right behind Kurt, gun to his back, demanding valuables. And it looks like some of his cronies are milling about nearby. Kurt's nervous - he knows it's too risky to try to teleport now. He doesn't have confidence in being faster than a speeding bullet, after all.

So he'll just fret nervously and listen to their demands as he tries to think of his options.]

S-some party you're throwing here...

[What Kurt doesn't know, though, is information given on the wanted posters. These aren't just burglars looking for valuables; no, they collect the furs of exotic aliens. That attracts a lot more money in certain circles.]

[People collecting the 'fur' of sentient beings are just exactly the sort of thing that would tick Rogue off. And so it was really just Kurt's luck that she'd been...

looking...

...for the guy who was holding a gun to his back.

Oh. Hell. No.

She pauses, assessing all the factors, the various threats and angles... then she takes a deep breath, and quickly removes a glove, reaching all the while to awaken and use a very specific psyche. She focuses and then teleports directly behind the man holding in Kurt's back.

He gurgles and drops and she shoves his psyche away like dirty laundry, reaching out and gripping Kurt's shoulder with her gloved hand before teleporting them both to a roof.]

Go! Get out of here.

[And then BAMF, back down to the street. She is apparently intending to take on the half dozen or so who remain.]

[It all happens so quickly. The man is down and suddenly he is being teleported... by someone else?!

But not just anyone. Her. What in the world is going on?

He stands there, looking stunned on the roof for a moment. Then some anger rises in him, and he shakes his head. He bamfs right back over to the action, dropkicking one of the men over from behind.]

What are you doing!

[Rogue is kind of busy for stupid questions, little bro.

She is very efficient at this now, and they are all a little dumbstruck at the teleporting, and she is making good use of it.]

What the heck does it look like?

[Another one bites the dust, and she pauses to give Kurt a speaking look. And he's talking to her like he's angry with her after she'd just saved his tail? Screw that.] I told ya ta get.

[And in fact, his presence has seemed to galvanize the skin hunters.] Can't ya see they're after ya? Go!

[Kurt's feeling a lot more of conflicted feelings right now. Rogue's actions are challenging all of the resentment he's been building. It feels almost like the old days, but that just makes it weird. He looks back at her with a frown.]

No! [The objection that comes out is a bit different then intended.] I...I don't understand, but I can't just let you do this on your own!

[The remaining enemies do look more energetic now, though... Kurt frantically teleports behind another one to try to knock him out.]

[Ha, that's a switch.]

I don't see why that should be a problem for ya. [Duck, swing kick, uppercut, jab. One opponant down. Grab his gun, use the butt of it like a club on someone else's hand.

And now he was making her angry.]

After all, ya wrote me off, right? [And the man trying to shoot Kurt in the back? He's the one who gets to be the vent for Rogue's anger, brutally bringing the butt of the gun down on his elbow. The bone cracks.] Got nothin' more in common, want nothin' more ta do with me, couldn't care less what I meant when I said it'd been over five years for me--

[Bringing the gun back up to further disable vent for her rage.] --seems a little contradictory, don't it?

[It was funny, odd, really. She'd never been angry with him over his anger toward her before. But then... this was the third time. And she might have been the same person as the one who pushed Mystique off that cliff, and maybe she wasn't sure if she'd be able to do it differently even now, but she was more than that girl. That was not the only thing that defined her. And Kurt had seen that, and now to go back, to be confronted as if that was all that she was...

Well. Rogue had never liked submitting herself to anyone else's definitions of who she was.]

[Each word stings Kurt as he tries to keep up with the fight and the enemies. He's worried, and afraid, but anger boils back at him too. He can't just let what happened to go, he doesn't want to.]

I... [He stutters as he dances around one man armed only with a club and does his best to trip him up. While he tries his best no to trip over his own words.]

I don't know! I still don't know. [He spits out words as he bamfs by another guy.]

But it's not like I want you gone!

[His anger does not miss its target; it stings, it snaps and she is so tired of being hurt over the same mistake -- the same wrong action. He's right to be angry. She knows he has the right to be angry. But you know what? So did she.

She had a right to be angry at Mystique. She had a right to be angry now. Anger didn't make her happy, but it was a part of life - a part of grieving, and she... she had some distance from what had happened before. She could see it a little differently. She needed to have that same perspective now.

But first she needed to finish dealing with these creeps, and she did, in icy, focused silence. And when the last one had fallen, Rogue turned to look at Kurt.]

Then you'd better make up your mind fast, Kurt. 'cause places like this, ya don't often get a choice.

[The enemies are down and beaten. In a different context, this would be a time to celebrate another victory, maybe with a cheesy quip or two.

But a lot's changed. And it takes more effort than the fight did for Kurt to meet Rogue's eyes now, with her words. He's at a loss for words. He's still afraid and he doesn't know what to do. Is it right to just give her a chance after what happened?

At least now, his expression looks sadder than angry.]

I'll... [No, that sentence dies quickly. He doesn't know any promises he can make, or any deadlines he can keep to.

There's only one feeling he feels sure of at the moment, and he expresses it.]

...Thank you.

[Bamf. Then a few more increasingly distant bamfs. He's gone off to think about this... or maybe to keep hiding from it for now.]

.02 [ Mama Said There'd Be Days Like This ]

comes in 1000 years later with B

should have brought coffee, bro

hasn't she hoarded enough already?!

no. never enough until there's enough for a few cups every day.

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