high_seas | Look into my eyes

Entry tags:

Look into my eyes

Who: Remy LeBeau & Rogue
When: late Oct 30th-early Nov 4th
Where: the Stargazer
What: Nightmares in close quarters
Status: Closed
Style: Whatever
Warnings: Possible language, violent imagery

"Gambit?"

She knows it's stupid to be here. To trust him. But no one else knows what card he put in her hand to try and kill her. Once he'd confirmed that for her, it hadn't been hard to put together a pack with the essentials she'd need. Besides, she needed to get away from the Spades.

With all of them going crazy and her own paranoia going into overdrive? She wasn't going to be any use to anyone. Not when half the time, she wanted to just give them all a tap and process her fears that way. They couldn't hide anything from her if she did that.

But she didn't want to do that. She didn't want to hurt them. So, leaving was the next best thing. Maybe she was taking after Logan too much. Leaving people for their own good. She'd... She'd have to talk to someone about that. or do something about it. Later.

For right now, she was comfortable enough running. Leaving the problem to be faced another day. Besides, easy as Gambit had been talking, there'd been something that suggested maybe her presence here could do someone a little good.

At least the Navs work fast. Even if they remind her just a little too much like the tech that powers the Eye of Ages. Make her just a little more sure that all of this has something to do with Apocalypse. Maybe a lot to do with him.

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The boat was quiet. There was no princess up in the yardarms or on the deck to welcome Rogue aboard, and there was no annoying Cajun catnapping in the rigging or hiding behind a mast to try and scare her.

It looked abandoned at first glance.

But there were steady footsteps echoing out from beneath the deck, that sounded like pacing.

Someone is getting anxious about no response.

Way too quiet. The exact opposite of the Spade ship right now. With Namur hollering about being in the sky and a couple kids running around and just... everyone losing their God-damned minds...

The quiet is welcome. It's a lot easier to pick out something that doesn't belong when it's silent.

So, Rogue goes below deck, following the sound of that pacing. She keeps her breathing quiet and her steps light. The fear of Mystique is never far from her thoughts, keeping her on edge and careful as she edges toward the open cabin door, where the steps have taken a brief stop.

"Gambit?"

The sound of something coming towards him makes his hair stand up on end. It sounds like high heels, water dripping slowly and hoofs clopping heavily towards him all at the same time and makes him want to bolt like a rabbit at the scent of a predator. But he's a thief. Thieves never give the upper hand if they can help it. He swipes a card from the deck on his hip and charges it gently, the paper glowing faintly as he blocks the light from the causeway with his body - that was something he had to learn on his own.

He's waiting....for something. Laughter maybe? That off-tune chime of glass tinkling against itself that he's come to associate with bad things.

It's only when Rogue speaks that the fear dissipates and with it, a breath he'd been holding bellows out of his lungs and he slumps against the wall.

"Oh mon dieu."

Happy to hear her more than anything else, Remy rounds the corner and shakes his head at her.

"Rogue, didn' y' ever learn dat sneakin' up on people is a bad idea?"

Just to show her, he brandishes the glowing card between his fingers before sucking the energy back into himself. He'll be feeling a mite hyper for a while.

"Mighta messed dat pretty face o'yours right up."

"Wouldn' be th' first time here." But he hadn't seen that wound. Draco had healed it for her before Gambit had ever come. But it had still happened. She'd still had her face ripped open and by someone who hadn't thought twice about doing it.

Her hands are down in front of her, and her right wrist is exposed, the glove already partly removed. She'd known she was sneaking up on someone -- hopefully him, but she'd been ready in case it wasn't. Or in case he'd come at her. After all, her best defense was her own skin.

"Figured I'd come 'round. See if you'd gotten yourself into any kinda mess yet."

And get away from the insanity on her ship. But she won't say that. You don't expose your team's weak moments.

"Chere, if you missed me all y'had t'do was say so." He simpers, grinning almost meanly but when the smirk fades there's more gratitude than anything. Remy could use some company to drown out the silence. He wasn't about to spend the next few days or however long it took singing to himself, talking to himself. He wasn't quite that desperate yet.

"....y'hungry?"

It's lame. It's so lame.

...The last time she was on this ship, the last conversation they'd had had ended, basically, in her refusing to eat anything he tried to feed her. And he hadn't really tried after that conversation. They'd parted on bad terms, but that somehow hadn't disrupted anything.

"Yeah, sure."

There was never a bad time for food. When you were feeling like absolute shit? Like you'd been kicked so hard you'd never be able to get up? That was when you needed something warm to eat. Even if it hotter than the sun outside.

Unless it was some concoction of Kurt and Kitty's. But that wasn't food. It was ingested torture.

"Where's Luna?"

"...She, uh..." decided to get some air? For maybe forever?. He could lie about it, tell her they hadn't encountered the mist and that Luna was just visiting her sister but odds were that Rogue saw that message Luna left as she ... went crazy. Or something.

Remy just sighs in internalized defeat. No point to it.

"Mist got her good." And that's all he's going to say about that for now. Rogue can draw her own conclusions from there. It's also hopefully enough to tell her that it got him good too. He just isn't sure how bad yet.

"Lotta my crew's losin' it, too."

Maybe she is. Maybe that's why she hears all those little whispers in her head. The ones Xavier was supposed to have sent away. Apocalypse, Mystique. But Mystique could be anywhere. anyone.

She's done it before.

"I was prob'ly 'bout a day away from jus' layin' 'em all out, y'know." Easier than trying to sort out who was who.

So whens it gonna hit us? he wants to ask. Gambit knows it's on both of their minds right now. How is the collective madness going to hit them? He can already feel it with his typical paranoia getting stronger than it's healthy amount. The dreams are certainly too vivid.

He swallows down the harsh remark that almost makes it out of his mouth. Worked before hasn't it?

Note to self: you get mean when you get freaked the fuck out.

"Good thing y'came here den, eh?"

He smiles easily. For some reason it's always been easier to just smile.

"Now y'just got one person annoyin' ya."

"Ain' been jus' one person for a long time."

He gets mean, she gets honest. There's something about this kind of fear, something so deep and instinctive that it's burrowed well beyond the reasonable part of her brain and into something much more powerful.

And just so there's no misunderstanding... She raises her hand after fixing her glove and taps her temple with one finger.

"They're all in there. Sands, Namur, Marco, you. Maybe all the others, too. Dunno if the professor got 'em out or just shut 'em up. But... Can' really remember the last time it was jus' one person with me."

"Dey loud?"

It's a question he's been sitting on for a while. He knew she kept them around but how is it in that head of hers? He wishes he could find out without her knowing, because he has a feeling she'd really hand his ass to him if he tried and she found out.

Ah well. The best he can do is ask and seem genuine. It seems to have a good track record with her.

It's a question she doesn't answer right away. Because she has to think about it, weigh it. There's no easy reply.

"Sometimes."

It doesn't make a lot of sense, but it's true. The voices aren't consistent, aren't something she can just pick out.

"Sometimes it's like they're screamin' at me. Sometimes it's jus' a whisper I don' even hear 'til I think 'bout where the thought came from."

He hopes she's got some kind of psychic system set up in there - you'd think the good Professor would be smart enough to have done that the last time she lost it but who knows. Maybe he considered it an invasion of privacy or whatever.

Remy has to wonder about it though - if she's got the people she's touched up there, full personalities and all, then she has to have some people on her side. Trying to help her. They can't all be angry and vying for some kind of influence or control over their new home.

He'd like to think he wouldn't. But who knows? Maybe they get twisted up there, turn into however Rogue perceives them or whatever.

There's a lot about her powers he still doesn't understand.

"What 'bout me den?" He wants to try and steer the conversation somewhere she'll be more comfortable to be prickly again. He likes her prickly.

Unfortunately, most of the 'good' voices in her head? Still wanted control. Not to overrule her but, in a way, 'for her own good.' Scott, for instance, was guilty of that. Or Scott's voice in her head. Or... whatever.

At least she didn't have that right now. She just had the people she'd touched since she came here to deal with.

And that question... Well. Like Hell she was answering honestly. That sometimes -- just sometimes -- when Sands got too loud, there was a sharp Cajun voice to tell him to shut up. Someone to back her up. Which was... weird. Knowing that was Gambit. Who'd tried to kill her. And kidnapped her. And been dumb enough here to kiss her.

"You shut up there 'bout as good as you do normally. Just as damn annoyin', too."

And yet. She was here. She'd come after almost no invitation, both to check on him and because she felt safe here. Because there wasn't anyone she could hurt. Gambit could hold his own against her, she was sure.

"Aw, s'nice to know you care, darlin'."

It's possibly the first and last time he'll use the English version of his favorite nickname for her, but he's feeling affectionate damnit. Getting a person back on board after Luna's...disappearing act...was more welcome than he'd care to admit.

"C'mon. I'll feed ya."

Plus he might have missed her. Specifically.

"Long as y' ain' put anythin' in it."

Which... isn't totally a joke. She hasn't forgotten that little 'road trip,' Gambit. But, well. She's here. Which says a lot more than she cares to admit, especially at the moment.

"Nothin' but love, chere."

...He's kidding. Mostly. But if you think he's going to clarify that well...you're stupid.

Remy gestures down the steps into the galley like he's inviting her to dine at a five star restaurant and a grin that says you should not go in front of him.

Rogue rolled her eyes but followed him. It was easy enough to make fun of him when he said stupid things like that.

"Y'know, if you were even half as charmin' as you think you are, you might actually manage t' make that not sound creepy."

Still not forgetting that you tried to kill her and then kidnapped her, Gambit. Even if she's here of her own volition now and the idea of a meal sounds pretty good.

"Y'know you say dis, but y'keep hangin' around."

Remy doesn't seem too bothered by the creepy accusation. It's true, he is pretty creepy. Remy starts pulling out bowls from storage and holds them both out for Rogue to take.

"Do think y'protest too much, chere."

Gambit resists winking, bare - ah, who are we kidding. He winks.

The Stargazer was equipped with hammocks for the members of her crew that were still around. As it stood, it was just Remy and Luna - sans the princess right now. Rogue wouldn't have any problems finding space to sleep in. If she could sleep.

Gambit himself was having a hard time finding pleasant dreams. The effects of the mist were starting to sink their teeth into his mind now. But slowly. By the time he knew what was happening it might be too late.

The dreams would be...vague upon waking. They were about his Tithing, mostly, he'd know that much at least.

Etienne...pissing off Candra...the terrifying Pig. First time he'd used his powers and he'd been scared out of his mind.

Not exactly the best combination for nightmares. He'd been splayed out in his hammock, unknowingly coming closer and closer to shouting in his sleep with each second. At first it had been soft, confused mumbling. Now it was starting to grow along with his twitching, as if his body could escape what was in his head.

He was just getting to the part where he'd first felt his hands tingling, when the bars of the cage started shaking and glowing he'd shoved himself backward in fear and then...the explosion that signaled his freedom came.

The sheet gripped in his fist was starting to spark just as those bars did then.

If she only feared Mystique when she slept, Rogue might have been able to get more than a couple of hours of rest every day. But she heard the whispers all the time. The fear that she and Gambit weren't alone on the boat. Which led her to doing sweeps of it. Even checking his cabin.

By now, she knew it had to be in her head. In everyone's. But that didn't make it any easier not to do patrols.

They soothed her.

So when she saw the pink sparks in the dark of his cabin, she let herself in fully. It wasn't right, sneaking up on someone while they were sleeping. Still, she did it as silently as she could, removing her glove as she went. If it was all in their heads (and it was, she knew it), then if she could shut off that part of the mind for just a bit, Gambit could sleep a little easier.

It was stupid, but she could help that much, at least.

Quiet as she could, she crept over to his hammock.

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Look into my eyes

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Nov 1st ah guess

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