.08 stop all the clocks

[touchofrogue]

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.]

Comments

[touchofrogue]

[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.]

[cajunspice]

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.]

[touchofrogue]

[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.]

[cajunspice]

[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.]

[touchofrogue]

[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.

[cajunspice]

[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.]

[touchofrogue]

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

[cajunspice]

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?

[touchofrogue]

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

[cajunspice]

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.

[touchofrogue]

['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.

[cajunspice]

[Oh, and that had been the original reason he had headed over to chat with her, not that he wouldn't had normally just invited himself to hang out with her. His grin slipped away and was replaced with a more sympathetic look.] Fleet feelin' a little tough on ya at the moment?

[touchofrogue]

[Rogue glanced up at him then back to her mostly finished salad before sighing, long and low.] I am so tired, Remy.

[A quirk of one side of her lips, an attempt at a joke.] You'd think nappin' for two months would cure it, but nope.

[cajunspice]

Yeah, well ya know what they say, nappin' normally leave ya feelin' worse than when ya started. [Yep, he can play along if she want to take that path.]

Ya probably one of the longest who been here, between Luceti 'nd the Fleet, 'nd unlike others ya haven't had a trip back home. It's understandable Rogue.

[touchofrogue]

[She was quiet for a long stretch of moments, staring at her salad.] ...don't know that I've got any real call ta be upset. [She spoke slowly and carefully, feeling her way over thin ice.] Life is always hard.

Just. Seems so pointless, here.

[cajunspice]

Never thought would miss the mess of our world, hein? [Remy got that, he really did. The missions he took on during his time in Luceti helped to scratch his itch to do something, took the edge off his need to steal, but on the Fleet it was all very... everyday. And not the everyday he was use to. Having no goal, no destination left a lot of time to just... think, and question, and wonder about what next.

He was the type of man who lived day by day, treated each as if it was his last. But being stuck here it made it all feel numb and pointless. He wasn't really in danger here, not like back home. And as strange as it sounded, it took part of the thrill away from life.

The only thing that really kept him going was those he cared about around him, like her.] 'ny way I can help?

[touchofrogue]

[That was so unexpectedly sweet. Rogue felt her eyes heat and she had to close them, taking in a deep breath through her nose and slowly exhaling through her mouth before she looked over at him with a very small smile.] Don't go home before I do?

[cajunspice]

[Oh, oh Rogue. His heart went out to her, but he kept a smile up, carrying through that role that he knew made it easier for them both to deal with. He raised a hand and put an X over his chest.] Cross m' crooked heart. [Not that either of them had control over it, but he would try as much was within his powers to make sure that didn't happen.]

[touchofrogue]

[And on that note, while she was asking for impossible things over which neither of them had control, Rogue continued recklessly on.] An' when ya do go home, don't be a stranger. Come on out of that bayou an' drop by the X-Men sometime. Sure, the winters are colder, but we don't have any gators.

[She didn't want to lose his friendship. And she didn't want him to lose himself. He might not know it, he might not believe it of himself, but she knew he had it in him to be one of the good guys. He'd probably like it a lot better than he knew.]

[cajunspice]

[Remy's smile slipped with that comment, he adjusting himself in his seat before hesitantly speaking.] That be why I don't wanna leave here. I miss m' family, bein' home, workin'... but I don't wanna forget this. What we went through in Luceti, people who ain't here 'nymore 'nd what history I had with them. [His gaze focusing more on her.] Ya.

[So much for cheering her up.]

[touchofrogue]

[It was okay; he didn't have to cheer her up. Sometimes all that could really be done was to listen and walk through an experience with someone. And she was glad that at least, well, she wasn't crazy, and he was willing to be this honest with her.

Her entire expression softened.]

...well. Ain't a universe I've heard of where we ain't friends. I ain't much of a believer in fate, but it's hard ta believe our universe would be the sad exception.

[cajunspice]

Yeah... [His tone sounded a little off still, thinking back to what Kitty had said about them in her world. How 'he' had up and left after Rogue had chosen Magneto over him. Maybe friends wasn't always an option.

Yet he pushed through it, forcing a smile in place that wasn't entirely fake, still a hint of something real mixed in with it.] Ya know back in Luceti, with the library havin' stuff from other worlds... I may have stumbled 'cross some books from 'nother universe on, well, not just us, everyone from our world I guess, just in a different settin'.

[touchofrogue]

[Oh, those. Yeah, she'd seen those too. But she was curious where he was going with this, especially since he didn't sound quite himself.] Yeah? Comics or book-books?

[cajunspice]

The comics, there were... 'nterestin', if ya call someone able to lay out parts of ya life for others to read ''neterestin'' [A touch more of his normal smirk as he shrugged a shoulder, pausing to sip at his drink.] Am I really that much of a brat?

[touchofrogue]

[A hint of her own smirk as she decided to take the bait... for now.] Depends. Are ya referrin' ta the ones where ya talked in third person?