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

Entry tags:

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She’ll be more withdrawn and quiet than normal when she returns those tools.]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

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[ Who has two thumbs and happens to be in this bar? You guessed it. Jim almost joins in, but stifles the instinct. Helping her now, when she's a flurry of movement and destruction, would feel too much like patronising her. ]

[ Besides, he knows the need to suck poison out of a wound, and she needs to do it herself. None of it stops him from coming up to her after, and looking as though he might hug her any second. The only thing that holds him back is that she's never touched him, and the once she did, she reacted so badly to it. ]

Talk to me.

[People had a remarkable ability to be stupid. Tonight she'd counted on it.

She hadn't started the fight. She'd let it happen, and she'd rolled with it, and she'd even been responsible, not allowing a single blow to connect with her bare scraps of skin. Of course, this meant she had to take some rather nasty body shots instead, but Rogue didn't seem to care. It was over too quickly, and it wasn't enough, and nothing would ever be enough, not really -- she wants to scream.

...and when the hell did he get here?]

Sure. [She shakes her stinging hand.] Nice night.

[A sharp nod (greeting? farewell? acknowledgement?) and then she stalks off toward the door of the bar, intending to leave, and hopefully leave him standing there.

She couldn't stand still. She couldn't talk. Not to him - Gawd, could she stand to see his face shatter when he learned - not to anyone.]

Edited 2015-10-01 00:01 (UTC)

[ Allen had been staying at the boarding house while his ship was getting repairs. It was just...too stressful, staying on a ship that was constantly showing strange problems. He kept waking up with the same nightmares of past ships. The nightmares followed him to the boarding house, but well, at least there was nothing to magnify them.]

[He's sitting up late after a particular vivid nightmare, trying to calm himself down with a cup of tea. When Rogue stumbles by like that, it catches his curiosity. Luckily for Rogue, while her gloves weren't on, his very much were. ]

Um...miss?

[As Rogue comes back to the stables, she'll find Clay there, leaning on the door of one of the stables and seeming to talk to one of them. If she's seen him around here, she might realize that it's the one he prefers, the black horse with white stripes and speckles.]

I just feel like I keep -

[When he notices Rogue come back with the zeorse, though, he cuts himself off, instead straightening up and giving her a wave.]

Hey Rogue! Went out for a ride?

[Still feeling a little sober, she manages a small smile for her captain.]

Yeah, but don't let me interrupt. [She leads her zeorse to the stall and begins take off the saddle.] You were havin' a heart-to-heart.

[Sorry, Allen, you're going to need to be louder than that. Though Rogue's eyes are open, she does not appear to hear and just keeps heading blindly toward the door, a distressed look on her face.]

[ She does leave him standing there. Confused, certainly, but not hurt and not afraid. Ghostlike, he drifts after her, following determinedly. She's walking to Hell, and she said they were friends. He can't in good faith let her go alone. ]

[Rogue would not normally rate herself in the top ten of 'most observant people ever.' Even now, she still doesn't - she might be wired from the fight, but she's distracted -- hurt and angry and scared and guilty and hurt -- and so she doesn't immediately notice that Jim is following her.

In fact, she's well into the street, about to head into another saloon in a deliberate attempt to finish a fight when she notices she's got company.

Turning with a hard expression on her face, it softened for a moment in surprise when she saw just who it was. And then, aggravation.] For pity's sake, Jim! I almost took a pot shot at ya! Don't ya know any better than ta go walkin' after girls in the dark?

[Yup, that would just make her night PERFECT, hurting the one person left here who she could truly claim as a friend. Tony was gone, Zessica was gone... Clay was busy... Kurt was here now, but he was... and Gawd knew, if Jim had heard that com conversation, he might not be sticking around for long either.

'You pushed her! That's what happened. That's the last thing I remember!'

She flinched a little at the memory echoing and cutting within her heart.]

[Kirito's just wandering around town rather aimlessly when he spots it: a woman not far off in the distance, asking around about a face on a poster... and just down the road from her, a small gathering of men lurking in the shadows, subtly following her. They don't look armed, but there's a definite air of unpleasantness about them, and that can be dangerous.

It's not like he's the strongest person ever, and he has no idea how capable the woman is, but it doesn't feel right to leave her alone to whatever they're planning. Quietly he starts tailing them, closing the distance while he ponders how to approach the situation. Maybe they can avoid the fight if they're clever about it...]

[Yeah, that's...concerning. He'll get up from his table and follow her, calling out to her again]

Miss! Is everything alright?

[The annoying thing about dealing with sleepwalking people is that... well, okay, everything about it is annoying.

You just keep doing that talking thing you're doing. Rogue is going to run into the door. And then scramble for the doorknob. XD?]

[Wow that was...wow. Definitely asleep if she walked right into the door.]

[Which okay, he'll head over closer and try shaking her on the shoulder a little with his gloved hand]

Miss! Wake up!

Look, [Rogue is still addressing the person she was interrogating.] I'm not interested in hurtin' anyone, okay? Just tryin' ta find the guy so no one else gets hurt.

[She was unaware of the men in the shadows, or of the hopeful helpful individual following them.]

[Most people should be asleep at this hour, Shawn included, but he's a bit preoccupied with the photos he had taken earlier that day. As he scrolls through the collection he has on his comm-device-thing, he's a bit too distracted to really see who's walking around.

He does, though, glance up to look at her.] Hey! Everything okay there?

[With the woman stopped, the sketchy looking guys are getting even closer, and Kirito doesn't especially like the look of the man she's currently giving attitude. Definitely seems to be trouble brewing. After a moment's hesitation, where he counts the number of people that could potentially against them and debates how to handle this, he finally dashes forward, dodging around the men following her and sliding right between Rogue and the man she's arguing with, his petite form just small enough to squeeze in without pushing anyone aside. He sends a silent thanks for the GGO developers for making the avatar and faces Rogue with a bright, unusually familiar smile.]

Oh my gosh, hi! Long time no see! How have you been doing?

[He's pretty sure he read this on the internet somewhere. The question is whether or not she'll get the hint.]

[ He's more shadow than active companion, a force of habit. This feels like inclement weather: a battle. There's that quiet when she turns around, and the fire in her eyes when she shouts at him. ]

[ He's a soldier. In another world, he's The Soldier. ]

You said we were friends.

[ It's an oversimplification. She's been nothing but kind to him; determined and caring without any expectation thereof in return. She sought him out when she didn't have to; she's not afraid to push back. Out of everyone here she was the first to say he didn't have to face the world alone. She never thought he was a monster, and he sees now, after she's torn through people with terrifying restraint, it's because she thinks she's the biggest one. If he had but an iota of her bravery, he fears the kind of man he'd be. ]

I'm not leaving you.

[Yup, that did it, except not quite in the way of... normal people.

The touch didn't wake her, instead her body jerks instinctively to the side, away from his touch. Rogue whirls with the motion, moving to step back and put space between them -- except there was no space to step back into. Just the door. She slams into it, hard enough for a loud - THUD - and that, that finally brings consciousness to her eyes.

At first they seem to be almost the same - wide and unseeing and horrified - and then a small sound escapes, that of a pained animal.

After a moment, she registers Allen. Her voice is low, almost guttural.] Don't touch me!

[She sinks slowly down against the door, knees drawn up to her chest, and covers her face with her bare hands. She shouldn't be doing this. She should be running away, putting distance between the biohazard of her skin and this stranger.

But for the moment, she just can't. Her shoulders begin to shake with the force of repressed sobbing.

She swears she still hears the echo of a baby's cry. Sometimes waking up is the hardest thing anyone can do.]

Edited (missing letters, missing words...) 2015-10-04 15:23 (UTC)

[On the plus side, at least Rogue has learned her lesson from earlier sleep-walking incidents. She usually loves wearing as little as possible to bed as that's pretty much the only time she can let her skin breathe, but hahahahahaha, thanks augment glitches! Not anymore. So she's wearing long pants and long sleeves and gloves and... not... seeming to hear him as she just continues to walk towards a door, slowly and not particularly well, but... have fun with that?]

[Suddenly, abrupt... person. Trying desperately to look cheerful and as though he(she?) knows Rogue. Okaaay.]

Yeah, I'm... good. You?

[The man Rogue was talking to takes this opportunity make like an egg and beat it.]

[His words cut. She gasps, one leg sliding back as if to balance from receiving a blow.

He is, he is acting as a friend. This, Rogue knows, down to her marrow is what friends do. And how can he, how can he when she -- when Kurt --

Rogue isn't sure exactly what she's feeling - too many emotions to name and two of them too strong to know where they point - anger and guilt. And he - he came here and offered her loyalty, and it was a tracheotomy in the middle of choking to death on those two emotions that were too strong not to name. Her lower lip trembled for a moment before she pressed her mouth into a firm line and squared her shoulders, met his gaze head on with all the storm in her eyes.]

You might change your mind, if ya knew who I am. What I've done.

[She doesn't just mean her skin, her murderous actions - there was a danger to befriending people from worlds like hers. They had never been able to understand, to accept why she had let herself love Loki. Rogue is almost sure that if she said the words to Jim right now, it would break this loyalty right off. It tore at her, that it would be offered under false pretenses. She couldn't let it continue, she couldn't let herself rely upon a lie - couldn't let him do it either, if her choices were those that would repel him if he knew them.

She turned on her heel to continue to walk away. Here was his chance to take her warning and go.]

[...................]

[Well he pulls away for sure when she tells him. His hands were gloved so he didn't feel anything and since he has no idea who this woman is?]

[....Uh. Yeah. No idea what's going on here. He rubs the side of his head before he crosses his arms. Nngh. He felt bad, he's pretty sure, but he also sure disliked dealing with crying women. Especially one who didn't want him even so much as patting her shoulder (what was that about? Surely she wasn't judging his looks like people have done in the past- she's got skunk stripes)]

....Ah. You were sleep walking. I just wanted to wake you before you hurt yourself.

[....this is so awkward. He does not have the social points for this.]

Would...you like a cup of tea?

[Phew, okay. Not only does she play along, but the extra man he wasn't sure would be dangerous opts to take off. One less aggressor to worry about. Over her shoulder, Kirito can see the other group hesitating now to see how this plays out, but they're not leaving. For obvious reasons, Kirito's small presence isn't enough to scare them off whatever they'd been planning.

He continues to smile innocently at her, gesturing ahead.]

I'm glad. Hey, do you have some time? I'd really love to catch up. There's some news you totally need to hear!

[...you'd better have a good reason for being all... interrupty. Rogue takes in Kirito in careful assessment and then glances around. Unfortunately, she's not great at glancing behind her, she needs to work on acquiring that mutation.

...you know what, whatever. She'll go with it. She's not particularly worried that this kid is going to attack her, but you never know how it is with quiet-looking small people. THEY COULD CONTROL SHADOWS or something equally awful like that.]

...uh. Okay, sure. Let's walk an' talk.

[Seriously, you've got like ten seconds, bro.]

[Ten seconds is good enough. He can tell by her face that she's not buying the innocent act- and honestly, he'd have been surprised if she wasn't suspicious of him. He turns around and leads the way further down the road, his pace faster than a leisurely stroll, but not enough to be an obvious escape yet.

Once they're walking, he glances subtly over his shoulder, and- yep, they've started to follow again, keeping a steady pace at a safe distance. Great.

He leans towards Rogue, his voice low and no longer so peppy.]

Don't look, but there's a group of men behind us. They've been following you for a while.

[She had been holding her, holding her daughter. The baby wouldn't stop crying, not up until the moment she had vanished right out of her arms.

And that dream had been so real. She felt like she'd lost her baby and all that came with it all over again.

The very fact that the door was pressing into her back, with no wings in the way impressed on her that she was back to reality... completely alone, having lost everyone she ever loved.

...well, completely alone except for the total stranger making concerned pleasantries outside of her circle of grief. She needed to pull it together and get out of here.

Rogue exhaled a shaky breath and slowly lowered her hands.]

Right. Thank you. But no thank ya.

[Standing up slowly and leaving plenty of room between them, Rogue glanced at him, nodded, and began to head back to her room.]

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

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B / LET'S DO A THING

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YOSH!

A!

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