driftfleet | .08 stop all the clocks

Entry tags:

.08 stop all the clocks

Who: Rogue and anyone who likes!
Broadcast: Yes, text, first part
Action: Yes, second part!
When: Today

[In the weeks since Rogue woke up from her coma, she found that: a) dealing with atrophied muscles really sucked, but she at least had her feet underneath her again; b) they were on a planet with space invaders and going down there chronically endangered every single native and she hated it; c) ...so many people were gone.

It hurt. It hurt enough to drive her to public communication. She writes:]

Okay, so for those of ya who've been at this for a while... I'm comin' up on eight years in one of these interdimensional sewer stops, an' I know we're supposed ta be stay positive but sometimes... positive just doesn't cut it. Here, in no particular order, are my top five reasons for why these places are the worst. Feel free to share your own.

5. Even when something changes, nothing ever changes.
4. Old faces are new faces.
3. The absolute boredom only spiced with moments of sheer terror.
2. Explainin' the same old 'stuckness' ta every new face.
1.

[Everybody leaves. She can't quite bring herself to write that down, though, and so temporarily abandons the post to get back on the Iskaulit and train. She heads to the gym to do very basic strength training exercises over and over and over again. At least she's gotten so she can do this on her own, but Rogue is still far from satisfied with her progress.

Much later, she'll be at Nami's bar, ordering some food and, finally, checking the journal to see if she has any responses to her list.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Hmmm. [Rogue glanced from the salad she'd ordered to the pie to the mutant sitting across from her. She raise an eyebrow at him.] Funny, I don't remember orderin' a side dish of Cajun with my lunch. [Inviting yourself is rude, Gumbo, tisk tisk.] Take it the pie must be a peace offerin'?

[Remy grinned and laughed at her words, before shaking a finger at her.] Smooth chere, if ya were 'nyone else I would think ya makin' a pass at me.

[After a moment, she realizes why that would be the case. Rogue rolled her eyes at him.] Glad ya realize the difference between someone more likely ta throw somethin' at ya than make a pass.

[But she was grinning at him a little as she said it, as if to mitigate the sting. Glancing at the meal she said:] This looks good, Remy.

Thank ya Rogue, hope ya like it. [Though he had basically invited himself to stay, holding up a finger for her as if she should wait for him as he vanished from his seat long enough to serve himself up a drink, bringing it back to the table and settling in to the seat again.

He wanted to ask about her post she had made, concerned for her state of mind, but also didn't want to bring it up just yet and possibly putting her off her food.] Ya had a change to go planet side yet? Hear they got a maaaagical tree that gives out gifts.

[Rogue wasn't going to wait for him, was he kidding? She'd ordered food! He'd invited himself! It'd serve him right...

Okay, so she just started cutting and prepping the salad while he was gone, not actually taking a bite until he returned. She did as soon as he slid back into his seat and chewed for a bit before responding.] Yeah, I did. An' yeah, I heard. It ain't anythin' crazier than any other part of our lives, right?

[At this point, if someone told Rogue that by holding her breath for ten seconds and spinning around in a circle counter-clockwise at the stroke of 11:36 she'd get a pony, she'd probably think she had a 50/50 shot.]

[As she ate he paused to take a sip from his drink before setting it on the table, turning his chair just enough so he could stretch his legs out without either kicking her under the table or getting in anyone's way as they walked past.] Well, heard it worked 'nd was wonderin' if... ya wanna try with me? [A hint of a smile still on his face but not one of his normal smirks, softer and more open as he raised his brows at her and waited for her reply.]

[She was going to make a joke, but... that was one of his real smiles, wasn't it.

Alright, she'd still make a joke, but she'd soften it with a small smile of her own.] Auditionin' for a part in The Givin' Tree?

[She glanced down at her salad.] I'm... not real up ta walkin' long distances yet, Remy. My endurance is shot all ta hell.

[It was frustrating as anything. It also wasn't a yes or a no.]

[A good thing she did because real smile or not, Remy still appreciated and always welcomed her humor, even if he wouldn't always admit it in some of the moments when it was directed against him.]

Non, non, non, not now, thinkin' later on towards the end of our stay. Give ya some time to get ya feet back under ya, 'nd ain't no rush, we could even rough it for the night out there. Gotta be better than our last hike, less wintry 'nd less furry beasties tryin' to gnaw on our bones. [Or maybe not if Kirk's warning about dinosaurs was real... Something to prepare for, just in case.] Ya can't tell me ya ain't a little curious to see if the stories be right.

[Rogue took a definitive bite of her salad and chewed it over, quite literally. Was she curious?]

Run it by me again. [She'd only been paying half attention, which should be... somewhat worrying. She might not talk very much about what she saw and heard, but Rogue was usually very attentive to her surroundings.] What do we gotta do ta get presents out of this thing?

Trade blood. [The look Remy gave her was one of pure seriousness, no hint of humor or smiling at all before he blinked and broke away from that and did smile.] From what I understand it 'nvolves hand holdin', so ya might wanna go with the blood bindin' 'nstead. [Because yes, powers, no way to ignore those exist.]

[Trading blood did sound preferable...

She arched an eyebrow at him.] Skin ta skin?

[Because... yeah.] Your weird zappy field still workin'?

Yeah, it be. [Remy would give a click of his fingers, a flare of a charge, to put on a bit of a show, but he didn't want to risk it getting out of hand.] May as well make it useful for something, hein? [You know, not like it was keeping him from exploding or anything, right?]

[Under the table, Rogue lightly kicked his shin.] You're still not off the hook for that. When I can stand up straight without weavin' for an hour, I'm holdin' ya to that spar an' I'm gonna kick your ass.

[Said with absolutely no malice.] Unless you've tested it while I was out of it? [A quick grin.] In that case, the ass-kickin' will just be for the principle of the thing.

[Remy let out a 'ow' at the kick, before raising said leg so he could make a show of rubbing a hand against the spot she hit. It didn't really hurt, she hadn't put enough force behind it, but it wasn't about to stop him from playing it up since he had an audience with her.] Yeah yeah, I know cherie, I know.

[Letting his leg drop again, Remy shrugged a shoulder as he picked his glass up again.] Ain't really had a chance to. Or, well, didn't make the time to. Been workin' on planet 'nd off, 'nd tryin' to 'njoy our stop over after that last one we had.

Plus would be a shame if I started a forest fire by goin' out 'nd throwin' a bunch of charges 'round.

[Rogue just rolled her eyes at his show of pain. As if a light kick like that would even phase him, please. She took another bite of her salad, eating as she listened.] Ya gonna tell me that it's all forest down there? Not a single isolated clearin' ta be found?

[Not that she was up for sparring with him now, but she wasn't going to let him get away with an excuse like that. Not that she wanted to go back down to that planet either. Nuh-uh. Heck no.]

Didn' think was good to make fireworks 'round the beaches either, or their wooden houses, hein? Not sure how good a fire response they have. [And... ok, he was a little worried with letting that shield down and seeing what his powers could do now. Hell, he might end up blowing his own hand off.]

[Rogue took a bite of her salad contemplatively. She stared at him for far too long in silence, head cocked slightly to the side as if she was trying to see inside his head.]

...you're worried ya can't control it.

[Which... now that she thought about it, made complete sentence. After all, he'd had it removed because it was too much. For someone whose powers had been made as reliable as clockwork, having to literally burn off energy to keep from randomly exploding had to be terrifying.]

[Well if she's going to just out and say it like that! Remy grumbled a little as he sunk back into his seat more, nursing his drink as he did.] Maybe. [Yes.]

Why I tried gettin' some time in while we were on that ice planet, plenty of empty space, if ya 'gnore the critters that were there. Didn' wanna risk it with the last one, in case that smog they had was flammable.

I... I need to make sure 'm away from others when I try this out. [One of the reasons Remy didn't want Rogue around him when he did this, in case she got caught up in an explosion.

He couldn't forgive himself if he got her hurt.]

[Well, fortunately, thanks to her inner Logan, she was pretty darn hard to kill. Rogue frowned at him.]

I ain't lettin' ya push yourself like that on your own. You're gonna need an outside pair of eyes, Remy. An' if ya need help, I can be there.

[Remy stared across the table at her, trying to think of some sort of argument to counter what she said, to find a way so it wouldn't be smart for her to be there when he did such a thing.

But he couldn't, and honestly;] Would be nice to have ya there. [He knew she had his back. Simple as that.]

Good. [An emphatic stab of her salad.] 'cause ya weren't gettin' rid of me that easy.

Wouldn't dream 'bout it, chere. [Remy smiled over at her, before pausing just before he took a sip of his drink.] Who else would I annoy then?

Everyone within a ten mile radius. [She shot back, barely pausing for breath as she gave him a little smirk.]

Ahhh, but that's hardly the same, Rogue! Not everyone gets that cute little scrunch to their brow when I push it too far. [A grin to her before he finally took a sip of his drink, putting the glass back down on the table but keeping his finger on the rim of it, circling around it so he could keep his hands busy somehow.] Can't replace ya.

['Cute'?

Rogue arched her eyebrows in the exact way to form that wrinkle. She likely would have commented on his questionable word choice, but then he kept going.

Can't replace ya.

And that hurt. Because how many others were there who she couldn't replace who were just... gone. She glanced down.] Well. Here's hopin' ya won't have ta.

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