kineticcajun | 1st Card Dealt [Action]

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1st Card Dealt [Action]

[Luceti, today, there is a very large, sturdy cardboard box lying in the plaza. It’s not walking around, just sitting there, with one foot poking out at a somewhat awkward angle from one corner. It was dumped, at some point in the night, on the front step of the Item Shop, and there it remains. Its occupant has only just now woken up, and he’s not too thrilled. From time to time, the box rustles, and occasionally there are muffled curses in Cajun French.

It’s a tight fit in this here box when you’re too tall to really fit in it.

Eventually, once he’s managed to untangle himself from the knot the Malnosso have practically twisted him into and gotten out of this box, Gambit will be making the rounds through the shops in the plazas. Dressed in just his New Feather pants. He is bent on at least finding his coat. The half-naked part doesn’t bother him in the slightest, but he likes that coat. From there, it’s time to get a feel for the neighborhood. If he’s gonna be stuck here, he’s gonna know his way around.

Feel free to run into Gambit at any point in his adventure~]

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[Caught! Excellent. Just what he was needing. He's got nowhere to stash them for now, but he'll just hold onto these.]

'preciate it. I'll just be gettin' outta your hair, then.

[For now. He'll probably be back eventually once he's had a chance to look around and figure this place out a bit. There's obviously a lot to absorb and a lot to try to catch up with. Not to mention he still has to find whatever belongings he can. It's not sitting well with him that somebody managed to literally steal the clothes off his back.

And so, with a short wave, he'll just slip back out of the Item Shop and leave Rogue alone for now. He'll even take the box remains with him.]

[...it was probably a terrible idea letting him out of her sight.

It certainly was.

But she didn't think it would be that easy.

...she's glad about it. It's better this way.

She turns to head back to her counter and her routine. Which is to head to the Battle Dome after this for a session or so (today she is working on the uneven bars in mildly increased gravity) and then back to the house to sit outside and read. She'll probably tell the rest of the X-Men he showed up, once they get around, but this isn't the type of thing she'll talk about on the journal network.

Tomorrow will be much of the same. So if he does want to find her again any time soon, it won't be hard to do.]

[And Gambit, for his part, is awake the entire night, reading through the Guide and doing what snooping he can. One day is hardly enough to take in everything, but it's a start. He's still not too sure how much of it he's buying. But he hasn't woken up from some crazy dream yet and so far, what he's had a chance to look at is checking out against the Guide.

But he's still got plenty of questions that the Guide can't answer, and so, he'll be back.

At exactly 3:01 the next day.

Look who actually obeyed the hour limitation. ~~This time.~~]

[Which means that Rogue is probably still packing up. Going out of her way to avoid Ian is just... counterproductive at this point. She glances up at the door when the bell rings and - oh.

So. Many. Mixed. Feelings.

She doesn't want to let on how unsettled she feels around him. So she just glances down at her watch.

Huh.]

Look who it is.

[She can't say she's surprised. She was expecting him to turn up sooner or later. This is a bit sooner, but... so it is.]

[For someone who's been up up all night, Gambit really hasn't slowed down any. The glance at the watch just makes him grin a bit as he saunters in. If nothing else, actually obeying her earlier schedule was worth it just for that.]

Not adjustin' those hours I'm allowed in here, are you?

[Because he could probably use another pack of cards. He burned out a decent number trying to get just the right charge to apply.]

Lord, no. [And she finishes tucking away her Mp3 player and dock.] I was just leavin'. Try not ta scare Ian too much.

[And with a poorly hidden smirk, she'll just head towards the door.]

[Nice try, Rogue. He'll just pocket a couple packs of cards in probably the worst thieving he's ever done and trail along after her. Craft pride can't be injured here, it's all free anyway.]

Can't go scarin' strangers on my second day, non? [The door, he will open it for you.] Lucky I only needed a couple things.

[She might have known shaking him wouldn't be that easy. But she just briefly flicks her gaze up to meet his before stepping through that door he so kindly - must've speed to get here so quickly - opened for her.

Sigh.

She doesn't know why he'd even bother coming back around to her.]

Lucky for Ian, maybe.

[And she sets off in vague hope that he will... go in the other direction.]

Could be. Every man's gotta have his day.

[Nnnope, he's still following. He's a man on a mission. Shaking his head amusedly, he just falls into step a couple strides behind her. Give her some space. Just enough to keep from crowding her, at least. Still after answers here, after all.]

Not still down on your luck, are you, chere?

[Because he's out of lucky charms to lend. Not that he's feeling particularly lucky since he arrived here.]

[Well, it was a long shot anyway. She is... remarkably hesitant to lead him out of town. Yeah, if worst comes to worst, she could take him out but... on the other hand she's really not keen on having this conversation where so many people could overhear. And she is not entirely opposed to talking with him about this place - she knows how capable he is. But she is... conflicted about it.

She snorts at his last remark.]

I'm here, ain't I?

[That's enough for everyone to be out of luck.]

Good point.

[Luceti itself seems like a mark of bad luck, she's got that right.]

How long you been here, anyway?

[This is a pause in the conversation just long enough to let you know that she is answering this question because she wants to, not because she thinks she has to or because you are tricking the information out of her in some way.

There. That should do it.]

A few months shy of a year now.

[And thank you for bringing up such a pleasant topic. She thinks about asking him to cut to the questions, but she's disinclined to make this easy for him.]

[Point made. Stubborn girl, isn't she.

Remy is silent for a stretch of his own as he kicks around that thought. He just saw her back home, but she's been here almost a year? Guess the Guide wasn't bluffing about time working in weird ways here.]

Everybody else been here as long?

[And by that, he means the other X-Men. That much didn't stay secret too long with Jubilee around.]

[She has indeed been here for almost a year. She's all of nineteen now, with all the changes a year's worth of maturing and some rather inventive practice sessions - for hours and hours out of sheer boredom - can make to the body she so casually displays in leather and gauze.

The pause makes her aware that they're walking off into no where. She's going to have to decide sooner or later where they're going to go.]

No. Ororo an' Jubilee showed up last cycle. [Which is nothing he can't find out with a bit of journal stalkage. She doesn't mention Kurt, because the fact that Kurt's been taken is not something she wants to talk about.]

It's all true. What's in the guide. All of it.

[He notices the lack of Nightcrawler in there. Jubilee mentioned him before. If Rogue isn't offering that information, he's figuring he'd have to look for it himself.

Wherever they're going, he's not too terribly concerned. Even if she's still angry over the New Orleans incident and decides to lay him out for it, he's sure he can still hold his own. But he doubts it'll boil down to that.]

Startin' to look that way. Still missin' some pieces, though.

[Pause.]

Ain't any anti-mutant leagues runnin' around, are dere?

[...

You know what? Screw this. She stops walking, turns to face him, and puts her hands on her hips.]

Just what d'ya think this is, huh? 20 Questions?

[She's not really angry with him anymore. Betrayed - yes. But what else was new? At least he'd had the right reasons.

Although she's not going to forgive him any time soon for making her feel like the two of them had connected only to have it be part of a trick, she's not angry about it. That's just the way he works. Ha, ha, fool me once.

It wasn't that simple.

Maybe not. But she doesn't need him running around and making her life - complicated. If they're going to interact, she wants to know on what grounds.]

Why are you talkin' ta me about this?

[Because he knows he can trust your answers. Sure, Jubilee was pretty open, but he doesn't know much about her. Any number of people here could answer his questions, but he doesn't know how much he can trust them. Rogue, though. He doubts she'd make up things on the spot.

Not to mention he just likes her company.

That connection wasn't all an act, after all. Far from it.]

You're the only one 'round this place I know isn't lyin'.

[And to cover up that roundabout trust, he'll go ahead and add:] 'Sides, a familiar pretty face is always nice.

[...

She can't exactly argue with that. She'd be more likely to tell someone to go to hell than to lie to them. She hates lying. Her natural sympathy is pinged and inclined towards him - dropped in a strange place surrounded by people he's made his enemies, his powers cut in half - this has got to be hard for him.

But she scoffs at that second bit, despite the inward flush of pleasure.]

An' why should I help you?

[She's not unwilling either. But if she's going to be sitting down and talking with Gambit like - like they were some kind of talking buddies then he needs to know that it's not because she's forgotten and it's not because he's tricking her one more time. For her own sake, she's looking for some sort of even ground.

If she even talks to him at all.

Which half the pysches in her head are opinionated about.

And did she mention complicated?]

[So, so stubborn. But hey, that just makes it all that much more interesting.]

Don't suppose "out of the goodness of your own heart" is a good enough reason, neh?

[You X-Men are supposed to do nice things, after all.]

[Snort.]

Try again.

[She doesn't want an apology. She just wants some indication that he'll at least try to play straight. Maybe she wants too much - it's not like they ran into each other back home. She should maybe be telling him everything, just because she knows how capable he is. She doesn't think Gambit would duck and run and ditch her in a fight... she doesn't think he'd do that for anyone else either, once he threw a hand in, but... Kurt. Ororo. Jubilee. Anne.

She's not sure she wants to take that risk.]

[Small shrug. It was worth a try. Somehow, he figured that wouldn't fly with her.]

If nothin' else, I don't think I'd be causin' you or de other X-Men any trouble here. Haven't got any reason to.

[No Magneto, no Jean-Luc, not even any money system to even tempt him to try harassing them. Not much incentive. No enemies around unless the Malnosso could be counted, and from what he's hearing so far, there isn't exactly two factions fighting against them like there were back home with the X-Men and Acolytes.]

[A long level look. And then a sigh.]

All right, fine.

[On the level of answering random introduction questions about Luceti, this will have to be enough. Rogue, however, does not relish having this conversation in a nice public and easily evesdroppable place. She shifts to glance around, trying to decide where to take him.]

[Gambit follows the glance absently. Privacy definitely isn't anything he would fight her over. He hasn't been here long enough to know what sort of area would be best, but he's got a few ideas.

...But he's fairly sure Rogue wouldn't be following him anywhere anytime soon.

...Which doesn't mean he isn't going to give it a shot anyway.]

This way, ma chere?

[And he'll give a nod in a less populated direction. He can definitely make this look like a casual stroll and not a crash course in Luceti.]

[...He's in Luceti little more than a day and he's already trying to tell her where to go?]

Ya know what? Sure.

[Might as well see what he knows.]

But I ain't your anything.

[Which is said in pure self-defense. Since the way his voice deepens when he starts on the French should just be illegal. Or maybe not - because then he'd do it more.]

[Ah, Rogue, you really do make this way more fun than it should be.]

'Course not. [Said with a smile. He's totally unconcerned. Sheer confidence as always.

Totally doesn't matter that he's making up this walking route as he goes. He had some time to explore the outskirts of town just a little bit, but enough to know where it was quiet yesterday. May as well head that way.]

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