play a jingle, it's a mingle!

[geonomy]

Who: Vanquish crew and visitors
Broadcast: why
Action: Anywhere on board the Vanquish!
When: 11/25 and on!

[The ship is looking classier and cooler now, and what's this? Nice little gifts? Say it ain't so! Surely this must take some investigating!

Or, rather, some mingling! Haha!]

Comments

[touchofrogue]

[A]Helloooo, gift basket.

Annoyed as Rogue is to be suddenly brought away from the Marsiva, chocolate and emerald green slippers are well, okay, a completely unacceptable and ridiculous attempt at placation, but that is not going to keep her from eating some of the chocolate and hording the rest of it for later, or from digging through to find her additional gifts. And the present is -- score! A legit, underwire sports bra and a set of tacky neon hair ties. While she could have gone without the neon colors, this is a totally acceptable sacrifice, even if it ends up being just a little bit too small to be perpetually uncomfortable when on, it's still better than nothing.

Munching slowly on a piece of chocolate (listen, she doesn't trust the basket to not just disappear as suddenly as it has and she has missed real chocolate), Rogue begins to explore the changes made to the ship.

B
Later on, after settling in further, Rogue can be spotted packing up a few things to go and take the shuttle. Waystations? Visiting other ships? Taking baked goods elsewhere? You betcha. (She may also be seen baking said baked goods.)

C
Choose your own adventure!

[mucked]

Hopping ships was a bizarre sort of way to visit people, Peggy decided. Bizarre and more than a little disorienting. But some trips -- and some acquaintances -- made the disorientation more than worth it. Memoir-writing was all well and good, but her own basket had brought about a rather alternative suggestion: a book, slim and nondescript. Villette was a favourite of hers, but not for any particular charm inherent to the text. Instead, a budding young reader can hardly ever forget their first Brontë. And a spy can hardly forget her first brush with doubled-identity, even if it had been purely fictional.

She arrived upon the Vanquish with little-to-no fanfare and set about finding Rogue amidst its rooms and halls.

[touchofrogue]

Rogue would not be too hard to find in the Vanquish. She kept a schedule in order to keep from going mad, in this place with no sun, no clock, no set marker of time.

This was the time when she was in the kitchen, sorting through the supplies and making sure they would have everything in order to make a genuine dinner. She glanced up at Peggy as the other woman made her way through the ship's corridors. "Oh, hello, Carter." She gave a smile, "What brings ya by?"

[mucked]

"A humanitarian mission, of sorts."

Peggy offered little pomp and less circumstance as she offered the well-bound book across the counter. She tilted it so its spine could be best visible, announcing Villette for all to see.

"Unless, of course, you've already read it."

[touchofrogue]

Rogue blinked and reached out to take the book. "No, no I haven't..."

She glanced at the name of the author. "I didn't even know there was another Bronte sister."

[mucked]

"Oh, I quite like Charlotte." And Peggy was happy to trust the book to Rogue's care. "A little less...macabre than her sister, perhaps. But no less entertaining."

[touchofrogue]

"Well... thank ya," she smiled at Peggy. "I could always use a good book ta read. Especially since we're back ta just whatever's been pieced together instead of the library on the Marsiva."

[mucked]

"I can't imagine they would have allowed a few of the more choice volumes to be smuggled out from those shelves, either."

[touchofrogue]

"If I'd had a little more warnin' 'bout the transfer, I would have tried," Rogue admitted. "I enjoy my smutty romance novels, but occasionally I like ta pretend I've got half a brain cell an' feed it somethin' a little substantial."

Lifting the book a little, "So thank ya."

[mucked]

She laughed. Charmed, really, by Rogue's honesty. Her lack of pretension. It was refreshing.

"Any time. I can't promise much sentimental intrigue from this one but -- there's a ghost. You can't go wrong with a ghost."

[touchofrogue]

Can't you? It seemed to Rogue that the 'ghosts' who haunted her... and practically everyone she knew... were far more harmful than these stories.

Even when they were made flesh. Like Steve Rogers. Had Carter had her chance to say what was in her heart? It wasn't any Rogue's business, especially after the clash she and Steve had, but... she wondered if it might be the thing to address anyway.

"Gotta admit, there is somethin' 'bout a ghost story."

[mucked]

The uncertainty and the unreality of a good ghost story was like ice to the psyche: cold, down in your soul. Like a chill running up your knickers. Cultivating fear of a fictional unknown allowed her to tether a bravery and boldness to actual, real-life moments of terror. Abandoned buildings and stealthy infiltration. However frightening things got, it should never be as esoteric a terror as Villette. And she would never be as helpless as its heroine, Lucy Snowe.

But then HYDRA happened. And all that changed.

She kept her smile. "Keep it as long as it takes. I'll not rush you through it."

[touchofrogue]

"Thank ya." Rogue kept the book and rested her elbows on the table, assessing Peggy for a moment. She thought about minding her own business. But, you know, she'd been reading lately and mankind was my business!.

So.

"...mind if I ask ya a personal question?"

B for the Latest?!

[digthefuzz]

[And as Rogue is preparing to take a shuttle, it will soon become apparent that another shuttle is actually docking onto the ship.

A hesitant-looking fuzzy man is soon clambering out, trying to steel himself for a long overdue meeting.]

hullo!

[touchofrogue]

[Rogue pauses to see who's getting out of the shuttle, and when she does, she stiffens.

She waits until he's outside and looking around like he's lost.]

...ya get on the wrong ship?

[digthefuzz]

[He immediately freezes up. There's a million ways he can respond to that question. Some lighthearted smartass answers, some that are more bleeding with his emotions, and even a few that are still angry slip on in.

But what happens is instead, that he shakes his head and looks down at the ground while answering with simple honesty, in a quiet tone.]

...No.

[touchofrogue]

...oh.

[So, he was here for someone else, then. Fine. She turns around and starts back ward her shuttle, not wanting him to see her expression, and very much determining to get herself gone.]

[digthefuzz]

[He didn't mean it like that! But as he sees her start to leave, he tries to call out to her.]

Wait!

[Then, in a quieter voice.]

...Could we talk?

[touchofrogue]

[Rogue glances back at him. She turns back to face him and crosses her arms defensively.]

Yes. If ya want. We can talk.

[digthefuzz]

[He tries to get himself to look at her.]

...I do.

If- if it's okay.

[touchofrogue]

[She hates everything about this. She especially hates how he looks like she's going to snap and tear his head off any minute. It's ridiculous.

She forces her tone to be gentle, but there is still a hint of irritated steel beneath it.]

Ya don't need ta look like that. No one's gonna hurt ya. [She turned and headed back toward the main area of the ship.] C'mon, let's go someplace more private.

[digthefuzz]

O-okay. [He nods and gathers his nerves as he follows her over there, while he tries to think of the words to say.]

[touchofrogue]

[She feels pressure to speak like an itch between her shoulder blades, like the wings that aren't there anymore.

But she waits until they're someplace quiet and private, leans against the side of the wall when she turns to Kurt.

He looks so miserable. It would be very easy to just level him with a look and wait in silence, but she's trying to be more than that now, and as angry and frustrated and hurt as she is, he is still her brother.]

Alright. I'm listenin'.

Have ten million apologies (and a gagtag) as I try to get back into this IF THAT IS OKAY

[digthefuzz]

[He looks towards her, rubbing at his arms uncertainly as he remembers it all. The good times... and the bad times. Everything came flowing back, while cut with those vague memories from that other month, of that mysterious room that had to do with Rogue.

He does get the strength to look her in the eye. She should be his sister. As her brother, he has to try to make things right.]

Well... It's just... I don't know what to think. I know I said... a lot of things when I got here. Everything felt so fresh.

But I keep thinking. About what happened and about... about that weird dream thing the other month. I thought that I had lost you already when- what that happened.

[He shakes his head.]

Now it feels more like... I'm letting myself lose you. I... I don't want to give up anymore, Rogue. I want to try... to understand.

we can give it a shot!

[touchofrogue]

[Lost her? She'd had five whole years without him seeing her, and he hadn't even cared.

Alright. Alright.

She kept her expression strictly neutral.]

What do ya wanna understand?