Mini-Vacation from your Vacation, chere?

[freeadvice]

Who: The crew of the Stargazer & Rogue.
Where: The sea?
When: 10/01 - 10/08
What: Specifically, Rogue and Gambit have a good time in the rain. And other week shenanigans.
Warnings: Cute where it has no place being
Style: whatever
Status: Closed


The Stargazer is a humble little sailboat, enough room for three and right now they're at maximum capacity with an extra guest. Who is stuck on board for a week. While Gambit expects the Princess and Rogue to get along real good - he's not so sure about how the next seven days will pan out. They'll just have to find out...

Comments

[tactilelearner]

10/01

[After Rogue is finally let out of the cabin (after lots of yelling through the door to convince Gambit that she is, in fact, in control of herself), she spends the rest of the day doing what she can to help out on the little boat.

And she's on deck when the downpour begins.

She gives a kind of shriek that gives way to laughter. ...Because the rain is pink. And, besides, it doesn't really matter if her make-up gets ruined. Bound to happen sooner or later.]

10/02-10/08

[After a very eventful first day?

Well. Rogue's determined to prove herself useful. Which means working hard. Scrubbing, painting, tacking. A sailboat's nothing by now. It's familiar, especially with the few taps she's gotten from people who know their way around boats like this.]

10/1

[freeadvice]

[Remy had been more or less just watching her do things the whole day. Sure he'd been up in the rigging, figuring out how to make it work for the one mast they had - but there were nice large intervals in his work.]

Would like t'see dat mo' often, chere.

[It wasn't as if the mast was that tall, talking a bit loudly was all he had to do about it from the yardarm.]

[tactilelearner]

[She secures the line she was working with almost by instinct.]

What? Me workin' a boat?

[She shrugs a bit.]

Been here long enough t' pick things up. Though--

[She gives a nod toward the horizon, where stormclouds are fast approaching.]

Don' much like th' look of that.

[freeadvice]

You doin' somethin' other den bein' mean t'me. It's like watchin' a cat walk on it's hind legs.

[Remy snickered from his perch and rolled up to his feet, walking the length of the yardarm with easy, even steps that accounted for the pitch and roll of each wave. Seems he'd gotten used to living on the ocean.]

Don' seem dat bad.

[He says it but really... those stormclouds were a bit too dark for his tastes.]

[tactilelearner]

Y' shouldn' give me so many reasons t' be mean t' ya, then.

[She almost smiled as she said it, looking up at him.

Because, really, he brought it on himself.

Though, those clouds...]

Ain' dealt with a storm before. Not here, I mean.

[freeadvice]

But you so cute when you angry, chere.

[He says it as he slides down a rope tied down the length of the mast and lands on the deck beside her.]

Great. So we don' know what we're dealin' with.

[And the Nav is kaput still....Well, let's just hope it's not a hurricane.]

[tactilelearner]

[Those clouds are more important than his teasing. She will just... refuse to acknowledge it.

Yes. That's the way to go.]

Only thing I remember is t' furl the sails.

...Sail, this case.

[Which they've got done.]

[raisethemoon]

[10/01]

[Luna is on deck when the rain begins, at the helm. She's not very wet, though; after a few minutes, she put up a shimmering blue force field over herself, and now she has a magic umbrella. She's mostly focusing on sailing the ship, but every so often she glances up towards the sky, a faint frown on her face.

Is the rain always this color here?]

[10/02 - 10/08]

[After the rains pass, Luna's determined to get on with a slightly more normal voyage. Perhaps a shiny pony princess has no right to talk about "normal", but she doesn't appreciate these curses altering people's mental states.

First she washes off the deck to purge all trace of the pink rain - a chore which seems to consist of gathering a flock of new rainclouds over the ship and setting off a short, sudden downpour. After that's done, she can be found guiding the ship or trying to get some sleep abovedecks. She doesn't fit into the captain's quarters very well.]

10/03

[tactilelearner]

[Rogue's... settled in. It's not so bad. Weirdness of the rain notwithstanding. That does not need to be discussed.

One early morning, she's awake. Gambit's not. Or, at least, not on deck, and she's at the bow. Her hand is raised a little, calling and commanding the wind to fill the sails of the little boat. She isn't aware of Luna on deck, only focusing on learning her powers.

At least at present.]

[raisethemoon]

[Oh, good, she was wanting to talk to their guest. Luna hovers nearby for a few seconds, watching Rogue toy with the wind.]

I was not aware you had such abilities. [She must have quite a wealth of magic, if she can learn from others so readily!]

[tactilelearner]

[Talking pony. That... Well, needless to say, it distracts Rogue from her training for a moment. Because she has to take a few seconds to really look at what she's seeing.

But. Well. Between mermaids and shark-men and phoenixes and alternate universes... A talking pony isn't that strange. So, a second later, she smiles.]

It's... kinda new. One I picked up that ain' gone away like they usually do.

Still. [A shrug and a bit more of a smile.] Kinda useful, y'know?

[raisethemoon]

Indeed! You must be a great boon to your crew.

[tactilelearner]

I... ain' told many of 'em yet.

[Because she doesn't want to talk about the circumstances. But... not admitting that.]

Waitin' 'til I got it more under control, y'know? So I can really help out.

[raisethemoon]

I see.

Would you like some assistance? I am not certain how similar our magics are, but I know the wind.

10/2

[freeadvice]

[Being from the South, Remy's experienced his fair share of sudden rain and at this point, knows it by smell. Which is why he comes up to the deck when Luna gathers some quick clouds to clean the deck.

He watches the pink stains flow away with a great deal of satisfaction. He hates - as he has found out - being influence by things.]

...Well, well. Dat mighty useful, ain' it?

[Learn something new about your 'captain' every day.]

[raisethemoon]

[Luna snorts in irritation.]

Vile substance. My sister had warned me that strange things happen here, but I had hoped not to encounter them so quickly.

[freeadvice]

Yeah, you and me both.

[He seems a little less irritated by the pink rain however. Mostly because he got a kiss out of it.]

Coulda been worse though, yes?

[raisethemoon]

I suppose so.

[She'd kept well out of it, at least. The last thing she needs now is to embarrass herself. Luna takes to wing, kicking a few of the clouds to vapor, before an idea occurs to her.]

Have you ever walked upon a cloud?

[freeadvice]

Can' say dat I have...

Didn' know it was somethin' t'be done.

[He has no idea what's about to happen. But he's crazy enough to want to let it.]

Why?

10/6

[freeadvice]

[It's been a good few days and there's been a pattern established by now. Luna sleeps during the day, Rogue helps out around the ship (boat) as best she can and Remy contributes by feeding and irritating her.

Remy hadn't been around when Luna had helped Rogue with her wind powers (maybe he was sleeping? does he sleep?) so he hadn't gotten to find out about it.

The next time she starts messing around with them, he's tying down the sail and actually being useful.]

Dat new?

[Remy asks it draped over the yardarm like a cat might be. He doesn't sound like he thinks much of it, but he knows that your powers only stick around for a few hours or less depending on how long you touch someone.

And he's pretty sure that if you had touched anyone on that weird flower island, they would have worn off by now.]

[tactilelearner]

[Rogue knows she has to accept that these powers aren't going away. Not any time soon, at least. So, she has to become comfortable with them. She has to accept them as hers.

So, with Luna's guidance and lots of practice... the Stargazer has become her school. Calling the wind, coaxing it to where she wants it. Filling the sails, retracting it, gauging how she wants it to move. She can almost hear it speak to her.

And then Gambit speaks, and she starts just a bit, pulled out of her focus.]

Oh.

[Right. He wasn't here for any of that.]

'Bout... 'bout a month. Got 'em... not long after I joined up with th' Spades.

[freeadvice]

Huh.

[Is allllll he has to say about that right now. But there is plenty else said in that little 'huh'.]

Dey stuck around dat long?

[He's acting as innocently curious as possible, just so she doesn't spook and decide to clam up.]

[tactilelearner]

Yeah.

[Because that's... all she needs to say, right?

He doesn't need to know about it. Except she hasn't talked to anyone. Only Logan knows what happened.

Namur... wouldn't understand it. His concept of power is so different. She hasn't tried talking to Marco about it. Or Ace.

Or... anyone.]

Logan thinks it might be 'cause of... the force of how I got 'em.

Guy... [She tries very, very hard to deliver the statement without her voice quivering.] Guy died while I was holdin' onto him.

[freeadvice]

[And that...that gets an alarmed blink from Remy.

Because as far as he knows, she's never done that before. He can't imagine that it was a smooth experience and his face crumples in sympathy.

Knowing she absorbs a body as well as powers when she touches them...experiencing someone else dying sounds awful.]

Damn.

[He'd like nothing more than to do something stupid like say 'Aw, chere that sounds awful' or hug her or...any number of dumb things he could do that he knows or at least suspects she wouldn't appreciate.]

Dat sounds rough, chere.

[...He's not very good at completely stopping himself from doing things.

At least he doesn't lope down to her on the deck and try hugging her.

Yet.]

[tactilelearner]

He did it himself.

[Really, Gambit probably doesn't care. Rogue half expects that if she looks back at the deck from staring out over the ocean, at the endless horizon, he'll be several feet away.

Or even below.

That he'll just wander off while she's talking. Or only half listen.

Maybe that -- or telling herself that -- is why she can talk about it.

...Or maybe it's because she thinks he will actually listen.]

I'd already grabbed him once. Had his powers. He'd cut my face open, so, y'know, threw his own attack back at 'im. Just a sharp wind.

Sliced his throat.

He was holdin' it so he didn' bleed out... an'...

I dunno why I did it. Think I wanted more information on her.

[Which... Remy doesn't know about any of that.]

Th' Tamer. She was... kinda in charge. He was scared of her. An' when I started draggin' the info outta him again, he jus'...

He said he'd let her have us instead.

So he... [She can hear it in her head. She'll rip the mind right out of you! She can hear him.]

He... used his power. Against his throat. Forced the air. An' it--

It went everywhere. Blood an' bits of bone an'... just everywhere.

[Her voice is still very calm, very low, and she never lets her eyes stray from the horizon.]