15470/Captain Kurt Sails Again!

Captain Kurt Sails Again!
Date of Scene:	05 August 2023
Location:	Danger Room
Synopsis:	Kurt, Kitty, Rogue and Logan go pirating in the Danger Room. Things do not go quite as planned. Kurt may have left the after-school special filter on...
Cast of Characters:	Kurt Wagner, Rogue, Logan Howlett, Kitty Pryde

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Kurt Wagner has posed:
The X-Men's Danger Room is host to a neverending assortment of programs ranging from the immensely practicaly to the wild and fantastic. Many are meant to teach, to aid in the mission of the Xavier's Academy. A number of them are designed to help mutants -- experienced and not -- to hone their abilities to a greater degree. To make them better at what they do. Prepared to deal with a world that has an assortment of dangers in it.

But some are just fun.

There is, admittedly, little practical purpose in a pirate simulation. Sailing ships are not something that they run into that often. Swordplay, while fun, again is something only a few of Xavier's residents take with any real seriousness. And, well, if they are used to using flintlock pistols or muskets, something has gone horribly, horribly wrong.

Of course that has not stopped Kurt from continually tinkering with the most popular of the pirate-based programs in the Danger Room archive, continually adding little refinements. Play it straight and it can even be a fairly accurate historical simulation of life on the high seas in the Age of Sail, when cutters and merchantmen, frigates and galleons dominated the high seas. Decide the cheat a little, play a little, bring those superhuman abilities to bear and the program is more then happy to adapt. That's how you get krakens and flying sharks that shoot lightning out of their mouths..

Not quite as historically accurate. But a lot of fun.

The holographic projectors have already sprung to life and the deck of the sleek frigate is awash in bright sunlight, the smell of the sea air and a hearty breeze that makes the sails on the two-masted schooner billow, those crisp, white blankets of white full of wind, giving the ship its speed as it skips over the waves.

Ropes creak, the sound of waves lapping at the wooden hull reaches up even to the deck and the holographic crew is full of appropriate curses and muttering as they go about their assigned duties, diligently attending to the rope lines and swabbing the deck.

And there on the aft deck over looking it all is a certain fuzzy blue elf, decked out in his finest pirate rainment. A tricorn hat of black is perched jauntily on his heat, a red feather sticking out from it, ruffled by the sea breeze. A poofy shirt of white hangs half open down his chest, that dark, indigo fur taking on a lighter hue under that bright light. A red sash coils around his waist, the ends fluttering behind him, not quite obscuring the sheath that houses the silver-handled rapier at his side.

A broad grin rests of Kurt's face, golden eyes glinting merrily under the simulated sun. "More sail boys! I have a good feeling about today."

Rogue has posed:
Rogue enjoyed these simulations, even if she sometimes took a bit to warm up to them. She felt these sorts of things did build team comradery, and at least were physical in nature, and not just some stupid XBox game for the fat kids to all pile around all day. Thusly, the Belle is here, wearing a remodeled dress that Jean helped her pick out online, after her last one got pretty thrashed in the last nautical adventure here within the Danger Room. This time her dress is mostly black, with a brown bodice worn over her black tunic, the dress itself appropriately drapey with green bows lining the sides up her thighs toward her hips, and two more adorning either of her biceps where her dress wraps around just under her shoulders, leaving the rest of her arms bare.

Rogue has her hair undone, blowing wildly in the wind, a sword is sheathed on her hip with two pistols criss-crossing the small of her back.

She's drinking a plastic bottle of orange juice that she got from a fast food restaurant this morning, which is entirely non-piratey, but with a still-tired look on her face she's drinking the OJ to help wake herself up.

Her eyes roam around the crew as they mil about, some of them eyeing her in return, but they're NPCs, they just kinda do what they're programmed to do, right?

"There's not gonna be laser sharks this time is there?!" She calls out over the winds rolling over the ship. "Can we just go get some treasure and take it back to our pirate hole, or whatever?"

OJ drink sip, jedgey green eyed stare.

Logan Howlett has posed:
Wolverine is no stranger to using the Danger Room, and has even indulged in its ability to conjure virtual reality from time to time. But this particular session goes quite beyond his usual fare, and the Canuck leans a hand against the side of the ship as it rocks and sways on the salty swell.

"I know I ain't gonna sink to the bottom anymore," Logan mutters, having gone for the bare minimum of costume in the form of an eyepatch and a Pittsburgh Pirates ball cap - the crew of the USS Enterprise-D he ain't - with jeans and a white t-shirt, "But I still hate bein' on the damn ocean."

"Shoulda just done Robin Hood again, Elf," he mutters, taking a sip of period inaccurate rum from a grubby old flask, "Less tooin' and frowin'."

Kitty Pryde has posed:
In response to Captain Kurt's command, another sail is unfurled by the crew above. The canvas flaps and then catches the wind, adding to the ship's speed as it cuts through the aquamarine waters of the Saragossa Sea. Or a reasonable hard-light facsimile.

Said crewman from above comes sliding down from above, one knee hooked over the rope. Pirate Kitty Pryde alights on the deck. She's wearing dark form-fitting tights that emerge from beneath a dark skirt and disappear into buckled boots with the tops turned down. A vest is buttoned up but otherwise leaves revealed tanned skin and the young woman's athletic torso. She has a red pirate bandana tied about her head, curls of brown hair emerging on either side of her head, and a pair of shining gold earrings dangling as if to show the successful prizes that the pirate ship has taken.

"Sail's deployed, Cap'n," Kitty replies to Kurt. She walks over beside Rogue and eyes the juice container. "More grog left for the working crew?" she asks with a grin.

Kurt Wagner has posed:
Yes, Kurt is a bit of a purist when it comes to these sorts of things. Dressing up, immersing oneself into the romance of the role is all part of the fun. But he's not going to begrudge those who don't quite see things the same way. It's not for everyone. And he's just glad to have others come out to play.
eSo Rogue gets a pass on her bottle of orange juice -- though he does waggle a canteen her way teasingly -- and even Logan gets nothing more then an amused grin at the eyepatch and Pirates ballcap, the fuzzy blue elf's eyes afire with amusement.

"The program is adaptive, Rogue. If you don't do anything fantastical, like start flying or punch a whole in a ship, it shouldn't spawn anything totally crazy like sending lightning breathing sharks after you," he points out lightly. "Probably."

There is an element of randomness to all of this. It helps to keep things lively. So best to hedge his bets, just in case they are suddenly overwhelmed by a skeletal swarm of seagulls or the like.

Flashing a grin Logan's way, the fuzzy blue elf rests one hand on the wheel, holding it steady as he peers out over those crytalline waters, the mast head featuring some rather distinctive elven ears and decidedly blue skin instead of the customary mermaid.

It's his ship darn it. It's entitled to have a few special quirks

"Next time, my friend," he promises the other man, those eyes glinting mischeviously. "I have no doubt you will simply love the green leotards that go with a proper retelling of that tale," he suggests with a grin.

Apparently historical accuracy can take a backseat to his love of Errol Flynn and the classics of the golden age of Hollywood when it comes to Robin Hood.

As Kitty comes sliding down that line, the fuzzy blue elf gestures her way with a flourish. "Yarrrr! See? This is why Yeoman Pride shall be First Mate in no time," he enthuses, motioning one of the holographic crew over to take the wheel and starting down the steps to the main deck and the rest of them. "So... shall we go hunting Spanish Galleons to plunder? Or would you rather make land and find our own X marks the spot," he asks, pulling out a piece of parchment and waving it in front of him.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue is just eyeing Logan, and his baseball hat. It does slowly make her grin, but she doesn't comment on it before Kitty bounds over to her with that trademarked Kitty energy. Rogue glances down at her drink, then back to the former roomie of hers. "I had a long night, slept in way later than usual..." She says with a dreary edge to her voice before she takes one last drink from the bottle of OJ, then throws it over her shoulders, sending it tumbling in to the ocean without a care in the world for littering. She knows damn well it's just gonna be sitting on the Danger Room floor when the machine is turned off.

Rogue's hands go up to the nape of her neck then as her green eyes go to Kurt. She starts tying back her hair. "Translation. Don't use your powers, Rogue, or things will just get exponentially more challengin'. Fine, fine. I'll try not to." She states, whether anyone believes her or not.

She gets her hair wrapped up in a messy ponytail via a dark forest green hair-scrunchy she'd smuggled in through the rigorous authenticity security checkpoint, then drops her hands down to her hips.

Another look is given over the crew and Rogue takes in a deep breath, which causes her heaving bosom to raise, then fall as she exhales it.

"Spanish Gals?" She asks Kurt. "Always knew ya had a type, Brotha." She adds with a grin before she starts to saunter over to the edge of the deck, to peer out over the ocean toward the horizon.

"To infinity, and then further!" She calls out in a melodramatic manner, her white bangs flowing behind her ears as the wind comes across her face now.

Logan Howlett has posed:
"Anyone else miss when this contraption was just buzzsaws on sticks?" Logan asks his Cap'n, his mateys, and the world in general. He grouses, but the fact of the matter is he's here and he really doesn't need to be. There's precious few members of the X-Men who think Logan needs training of any sort (except, maybe, house training). He's here because he wants to be, and that shows in what he does next.

"Farewell an' adieu to you, fair Spanish ladies," he sings, in the gruff sort of baritone well-made for sea shanties, "Farewell an' adieu you ladies a' Spain! For we've received orders for to sail back to Boston! And soon ne'ermore shall we see ye again!"

He's not quite swinging on ropes and swashing his buckle, but he leads up the song as he prowls up and down the deck.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
One of the crewmen brings Kitty a more period-authentic ceramic mug. She pulls the cork on the top and tilts it back to take a swig from it. Then winces and looks a little green. "Oh yeah. Grog, thee be aptly named," she says of the unpleasant beverage. "Next iteration we put a margarita machine down in the galley?"

She offers the jug over towards Logan. "Still probably better than Canadian beer though," she tells him with a glint in her eye. "So this must all be really familiar to you, Logan. Were you around when they first discovered sails? And wind?" she asks in a lighthearted, teasing voice. When he breaks into song though, she joins in.

Kitty seems intrigued by the treasure map that Kurt pulls out. "Who knows what it could lead to? Buried doubloons? Montezuma's Treasure? And are there booby traps? Undead guardians? Or perhaps it's a case of premium rum, finely aged? Much better than grog!" she says, rubbing her hands together. She seems to have cast her vote for the treasure map.

Kurt Wagner has posed:
Look, no matter how big a fan of authenticity Kurt might be in these little simulated sessions there has to be a few lines that doesn't cross, right? Drinking the grog that would likely be found on ships like this, in the eighteenth century, well, that might be one of them and he winces a little as Kitty goes a little green around the gills. "Motion carried. The margarita machine will be so programmed in for the next voyage. I can't imagine that any adaptation to that little change could be all that bad," he asserts.

Of course it is almost possible to hear the Danger Room chime back, "Challenge Accepted'.

A little smirk plays over his devilish features and the fuzzy blue elf shakes his head Rogue's way. "The gals come after the successful mission. Should be fare thee well, we'll sup in Tortuga tonight, with plenty of doubloons to spread around," he exclaims, prompting a little cheer from the crew.

The first to express a prreference would seem to get their way and as Kitty voices an interest in the treasure map Kurt grins and reaching down, pulls out a dirk, turning to hold the map up against one of the masks before driving that sharp knife right into the center of it where the 'X' is printed in bold, red ink. "There you have it boys! We're off to Skull Island and whatever illgotten booty we can find there! Westward ho! We race the sun!" he says, golden eyes glinting as he points back to the aft deck and the helmsman there.

"Now join in lads. Mr. Logan has the right of it!" he exclaims, adding his own voice to the song. As does the crew. Though that might be a shame, given their general off-tone caterwalling.

Fortunately they are on no real sea, and it is mere minutes before an island comes in sight up ahead.

Rogue has posed:
With her hands on the wooden railing, Rogue pulls her verdent eyes from the shimmering ocean waters, and casts them back to Kitty and Kurt. She smirks at them and their grog. "Ya drink that stuff, you're gonna go blind." She warns them before Logan saunters past her. His sea shanty garners a grin from the Belle who seems to be waking up the more things begin to ramp up, and when Logan's efforts are rewarded by the whole crew starting to sing, Anna-Marie starts to look wholely pleased, as her eyes dance from one singing NPC to another. "Now ya've done it..." She tells the Wolverine as she moves a little quicker than him, breezing past him on her way to the front of the ship where she usually likes to serve as the ship's lookout.

Nimbly jumping up on to the railing, Rogue holds her dress up high enough so as to not trip on it with her heeled leather boots, as she scurries with impressive balance up the nose-pole-thing on the front of the ship.

Reaching out to grasp one of the taut ropes tied to it and the sails behind her, Rogue raises her free hand up to shield her eyes from the sun.

"I think we just discovered a new world, folks!" She calls back, a look over her shoulder given. "Make sure you got your vaccines up to date, we don't wanna destroy a whole new society with our filthy germs!"

Logan Howlett has posed:
"Land ho?" Logan calls up to Rogue, upon finishing a chorus of the song. A wicked little smirk crosses his face and he chuckles to himself. What's so funny? Well, that's for everyone else to wonder!

All the same, he climbs up the rigging a little. He's graceful despite his stature and bulk, but he doesn't seem to love dangling out over even simulated water.

"Yep, there it is. Lookin' forward to that buried treasure."

A glance is spared towards Kitty: "Wouldn't know, darlin'. I'm drinkin' Cap'n Morgan."

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty replies to Rogue's comment about going blind, "Yes, they said that about... other things... too, and that never happened despite extensive testing." She grins, if with a tiny bit of blush, and sticks her tongue out at her old roommate. And current shipmate.

The ship heels over in the sharp turn, the crewmen's sea legs making the change in the angle of the deck nothing until she evens out on her new heading. Kitty passes the jug of grog back to a crewman and then scampers up one of the ropes, showing off the athletic endurance of a trained superhero as she makes it to the crow's nest in record time.

"Land ho!" she calls out even as Logan does, as the island quickly comes over the horizon. If she considers adding a comment at the expense of someone who isn't present, she stifles the thought and is glad the telepath isn't here to have heard it. Even if the Canadian is of a like mind.

She does peer down at the Northerner. "Cap'n Morgan? You sailing with a rival crew, mate!?" she calls down to him from the crow's nest.

Kurt Wagner has posed:
"My germs are pure as the driven snow, I'll have you know. I run a respectable pirate ship here," Kurt counters Rogue's warning, resisting the urge to either *bamf* or put that superhuman dexterity to use to simply flip back up onto the high deck, scrambling up the stairs two at the time with the enuthisasm of a kid at Christmas to draw out the looking glass that rests there, aimming it in the direction indicated by the other three up at the fore of the ship.

Sure enough, and unsurprisingly, Skull Island lives up to its name, and while there is a stretch of white sandy beach, the rest of the island looks suitably daunting, with a tall, thick jungle just past that short stretch of sand. And in the center of the island? A craggy hill that looks very much like -- appripriately enough -- a skull.

The teasing back and forth banter draws a grin from the fuzzy blue elf though he gives a mock gasp. "Say in ain't so Mr. Logan. Tell me that you aren't associating with another Cap'n behind my back!" he demands merrily before calling out again to the cirtual crew. "Run out the Cap'n's launch. And bring your shovels. I want that treasure loaded back onboard well before the setting of the sun!" he orders.

Rogue has posed:
"If either one'a you calls me that again, I'm gonna see to it ya both end up in the drink!" Rogue calls back after hearing the very directed use of 'Land Ho' from Kitty and Logan. She's not that oblivious!

When the 'Skull' of Skull Island becoems visible, Rogue furrows her dark eyebrows, then turns to scurry back down the slightly sloped beam protruding from the front of Captain Kurt's ship.

"Okay, ya heard our Fuzzy Captain." Rogue shouts to the NPC crewmen. "Get that dingy out, and get it down to the water! We're goin' a'shore!"

One of the fat crewmen eyes Rogue, and grumbles something about taking commands from the 'Sea Witch', which just garners a shocked look from the Belle. "Mind your tongue, Crewmen Rupert!" She scolds him as he goes to get the small transport boat ready to drop in the water.

When it is ready, Rogue is right there to stand in the center of it, not sit, but stand. She can at least 'cheat' with really good balancing acts, without triggering the Difficulty Slider being raised by the program's AI, right? Balance is not that much cheating! Is it?

Logan Howlett has posed:
"Nah, it's the rum fella," Logan answers, grumbling as he goes to apply muscle to getting the launch properly loaded and out on the water, "Think he's retired."

To Rogue, he offers nothing more than a wicked wink as he practically hurls himself over the edge of the ship and lands in the launch with a hefty thud. Thankfully, he's currently adamantium-free so he doesn't put a hole in the dang thing. Not yet, anyway.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty slides back down the rope again. She's gotten pretty good at that with the pirate ship scenarios they've done. More stylish than just dropping and using her phasing to stop herself from going splat.

"Mr. Smee! My sword, Mr. Smee!" Kitty calls out. An overly plump and somewhat aged pirate comes out, wearing round spectacles, carrying Kitty's cutlass in its scabbard. She takes it from him, drawing the sword and giving it a few air slashes before sheathing it and fastening it to her belt.

"Well done, Mr. Smee. Try to see that the ship doesn't sink before we're back," she says to him. Which leaves the man perplexed and wringing his fingers together as he looks around as if worried that means there's some reason the ship might sink!

The Dread Pirate Kitty joins the others in the smaller boat. "Let's do this!" she says.

Kurt Wagner has posed:
The crew might mutter and grumble about taking orders from the 'Sea Witch' -- assuming that's actually what they're mumbling about her -- but it appears that she has instilled a proper level of respect into the crew that they rush with a certain amount of alacrity to fulfill her demand.

Or she's just flat out intimidated them. That's a viable possibility too.

Grinning from his place on the oh so lovely named 'Poop Deck', Kurt watches as the crew hastens to lower that small boat down into the sun-kissed waters below, the sea at least as much silver as blue under that bright, Caribbean sun. "You have a real future as the ship's Bo'sun, Rogue," he says admiringly before hastening down after them.

"Rum fella, you say? Me hopes that this is his treasure trove that we're plundering then," starting to climb down the rope ladder that the crew has lowered to the rocking boat below, navigating it swiftly at least.

Then he is aboard too, along with a handful of holographic crew to row the boat and haul any treasure they find back. This program can certainly provide a test of their powers, but there's no reason they should have to do all the manual labor at least. So as they set out for the island, Kurt looks back at his ship fondly as Mr. Smee waves frantically at them. "I love that guy. Shame about his previous captain," he muses with a little grin. "CLocks. Truly the devil's tool," he says sadly.

The launch cuts through the surf, driven right up to the beach to allow them all to pile out onto the sand. And for the fuzzy blue elf, who is without boots given his unique feet, it also prompts a little bit of a dance. "Hot! Hot!" he complains.

Sometimes it isn't easy being blue.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue simply stands in the middle of the dingy as it is lowered. "Faster in the back!" She commands. "Slower in the front!" She shouts at the crank operators. To Kurt, the Belle shows a satisfied expression. "What can I say? I was born t'give orders to lesser folk." She declares before her eyes go to Kitty swinging her sword around. "Better hurry up, Swashy, or we're gonna push off without ya."

"Where's Logan?" She asks, before she sees him just leap on in. "That's the spirit." She adds before they're off.

Throughout the journey to the shore, Rogue is holding her dress in her hands as she stands at the center of said dingy transport, her shouts being given with stern confidence, but also laced with professionalism to get them to shore evenly and rapidly.

When they arrive, she lets everyone pile out around her before she daintily leaps from the edge of the boat, grabs hold of it, and just pulls it lazily to shore, pulling the heavy weight without really thinking about what it might do to the Difficulty Slider of the program once again...

"Okay, what now, Captain?" Rogue calls out as she drops the boat in to the wet sand with a plop. She nods toward the distant Skull Mountain. "I figure the booty you seek is like in the moutha that thing, cause... I mean obviously, right? This program was written by Chat GPT, it's about as straight forward as it comes, right?"

She might be under estimating things...

Logan Howlett has posed:
Logan sits at the front of the boat, back towards the island with heavy forearms crossed grumpily over his chest. The launch is a lot more prone to the heaving of the waves than the ship itself, and it doesn't sit well with him no matter how much of it all is just hard light projections.

"Yeah, less chattin', more rowin' ... "

Kitty Pryde has posed:
At some point during the launch's trip to the beach, others might turn and spot Kitty in the back of the boat. Leaning back against the back of another crewman, her stylish, turned down boots crossed where they rest on the side of the boat, with a fishing pole trailing a line in the water.

Apparently no bites by the time they reach shore, as she reels it in and then leaps to her feet to hops down into the shallow water to help haul the boat up onto the sand. "Yes, bring those shovels and pickaxes," she says to the holographic crewman. After all this is more of a leisure program than it is a workout one.

She turns to eye the jungle's edge. She pulls out a big compass, flipping open the cover and looking at it. "No wait, I have it on the wrong setting," she says as she realizes it is pointing directly at Logan. She flips a little switch on the side from "Logan" to "North" and then the needle swings another direction. "Looks like that way, Cap'n!" she says.

Kurt Wagner has posed:
There are times when the simulation can be almost a little too real. This is, afterall, intended to be fun first and foremost which is why a few of the settings have been tuned to keep that in mind. It's why the ship had to spend little time at sea once they settled on a destination. Maybe it's why the launch didn't lurch quite as much as it could have in the surf. It is also why there is nary a buzzing insect to be seen to trouble them, despite the nearby jungle that looms up dark and gloomy ahead of them.

"I mean, probably?" Kurt offers, a small shrug rippling across his shoulders. He does pull out the treasure map once more, stretching it out so that anyone can take a look. "It's not exactly cartography at it's finest, but I'd guess you'd be right about where we're ultimately headed. The 'X' seems to be about right where the mouth of that skull should be. Looks like we're supposed to go north into the jungle until we find the stream with the man-eating fish. Then west along the water until the fallen tree. Then it's a hop, skip and jump through jaguar-infested woods to reach the mouth of the cave. Easy peasey!" he says confidently.

"Sounds like Yeoman Kitty has us well in hand. You heard her. Fall in!" he calls out to the others flashing a grin at the setting on the compass. "Handy that. Good to know that if Mr. Logan gets lost in the woods we'll be able to hunt him down quick enough."

Rogue has posed:
Rogue is peering over Kitty's shoulder to see what she's looking at, but when she sees it's just a compass she huffs out a sigh, and simply puts her hands upon her hips to walk on toward the beach. She waits just where the water stops reaching the sand and it goes from dark brown to light tan in hue. Her eyes scan the jungle as she listens to Kurt's ruminations on what they will find from his map.

"Man eating fish?" She asks, a grin slowly forming on her lips as she clearly has a joke formulating within her mind. "I didn't know Iara was comin' along." Ba dum ching!

With another deep inhale through her small nose, and a heavy exhale from between her lips, Rogue motions everyone onward as she draws her sword from its scabbard at her hip. She points toward the jungle as she walks toward it, marches really.

"Lets get this booty then." She declares.

But a few seconds later she looks to the nearest crewmen, and asks. "Did anyone drop the anchor on the ship?"

Kurt Wagner has posed:
"Could be!" Kurt agrees with a grin and another shrug, removing that hat for just a moment and running the back of his arm across his forehead before slipping it back into place. "I didn't make up the notes, I'm just reading them," he points out lightly before glancing back towards the launch.

The crewmen cluster around, looking between Rogue and the boat a little sullenly. "We beached her," one of them says, a little belligerently before another quickly adds, "Sir," to his words. Of course the tide is rolling in, higher and higher, already lapping at the back of the boat, threatening to lift it up a little. And by the time they get back? Who knows! They might not have had a way back to their waiting ship. "I'll get right on it," another of the holographic crew quickly says, hastening to secure the boat while others begin unloading the shovels and pickaxes, looking towards that jungle warily

Rogue to the rescue! No getting stranded for them. The citizens of Tortuga will no doubt rejoice.

With that taken care of Kurt starts to trek towards the waiting jungles, waiting right at the treeline for the rest of them to gather before plunging on in, swallowed up by those tall leafy trees and dangling vines that threaten to catch at limbs. One of the crew pases up a machete and the fuzzy blue elf starts to hack a trail through the brush.

It is a good thing that he turned off the insects, because no doubt they would be attracting a cloud of them. The sunlight of the day dims to a greenish glow thanks to the levels and levels of leafy boughts overhead, though in short order the reach that streeam, schools of fish visible beneath those waters. "I'd suggest not taking a dip."

Rogue has posed:
Rogue just watches the crewmen react to her question as to whether or not they dropped anchor on the ship. She just smirks at them, shaking her head. "Ya'll are like extras in a Disney movie." She comments softly as she follows Captain Kurt in to the jungle.

Within moments of the machete arriving, Rogue has to lean back to avoid being swiped by the thing in the Elf's wild arm.

"Careful with that." She says, regardless of her durability!

She trudges through the jungle though, not even realizing insects were deliberately deactivated, though she'd be greateful for that if she knew!

When they reach the dangerous man eating fish stream, the Belle peers in to the water, then looks to the others. "I ain't swimmin' in that either way. I got eaten by a shark the last time we did this, I'm tired'a bein' eatin by sea creatures." She notes, moving alongside the edge of the water, her eyes scanning up ahead toward where they're headed.

"This place is kinda pretty though." She has to admit as she strolls lazily.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty Pryde walks along with the others, trekking through the thick jungle growths. "Everyone be careful," she says, directing her words mostly to the holographic crew. "The slightest thing here could be deadly. Insects that lay larva under your skin. Jaguars that a bit of scrawny seahand would be a feast to. Quicksand that will pull under the unwary. And don't forget to look above you for-"

Before Kitty can get through the safety lecture, a coconut falls from one of the palm trees. It hits a holographic pirate in the head and he goes down. One of the other pirates leans down and checks his pulse. "He's dead," he announces.

"Coconuts, look above you for coconuts. Come on guys, this is Pirating After a Treasure Map 101 here." She gets a lot of blank stares back from the crew. They aren't the brightest batch in the Caribbean.

Kitty sighs and moves over beside the others to look at the water. She spots a small iguana nearby, quickly grabbing it. "They don't look so bad to me," she says, dipping the holographic lizard into the water, holding it by its tail.

The water suddenly thrashes as if it were boiling, and Kitty pulls her hand back, nothing left of the iguana but a skeleton. "Uh, you first, Bosun Rogue."

Logan Howlett has posed:
Logan trudges up the beach, having had to wade ashore he is sodden and frowning. Jeans and seawater do not mix. Maybe Jean and seawater do, but that's none of his business.

Arriving at the treeline, he resists the urge to pop claws. Don't need to make the program act up, and it isn't like he needs them anyway. Instead he takes up the rear of the group, peering this way and that. The Danger Room was never great at replicating scents the way they are in the real world, so he doesn't much bother sniffing out for threats.

"Yo ho," he calls from the back, before adding, "Just pirate talk."

Kurt Wagner has posed:
"That's some good pirate talk Mr. Logan," Kurt calls back over his shoulder, not taking his eyes off the prize ahead.

Or at least all the vines and undergrowth. Maybe he should have turned that setting down for this particular simulation. Though at least as they reach the stream with it's shockingly efficient piranhas the path ahead seems a little clearer. So long as they stay out of the water at any rate.

"I'll have you know that my machete work is some of the finest around Bo'sun Witch," he retorts, just a hint of a grin shining through on those features. "We'd best make for the fallen tree, me thinks, 'less Rogue wants to ferry us across one at a time on her shoulders," he offers.

Which would constitute a use of powers and would probably bring down something upon their heads.

Like a barrage of coconuts perhaps? Sweeping his hat from his head once more, the fuzzy blue elf holds it atop his heart, shaking his head sadly. "Peg-Leg John was a good lad who never could learn to look up. 'Tis a shame. A real shame," he says with a sad shake of his head. "On the other hand, looks like we can just toss him in the river instead of digging a grave, so there's that."

Always look on the bright side.

The rest of the trek through the jungle is not nearly so fraught with peril. The fallen tree does indeed give them a means to cross the stream without dangerous wading, the jaguar-filled woods offers no more then shadows darting amongst the trees and then the trees thin ahead, that skull-shaped hill looming up before them.

Rogue has posed:
A coconut is thrown at Logan's shoulder, by Rogue.

She appears beside Kitty, her eyes down upon the lizard that she sacrificed to the stream for 'science', which leaves the Belle gaping at the results. She marches off back toward the jungle.

But a second later, and Rogue is marching back with Peg Leg hoisted over her shoulder. With a confident stride, she just step step step step, toss! And like a sack of potatoes the corpse splashes down in to the water, with a eerie red cloud blossiming out moments later.

"Gross." Rogue says with a little chuckle before she looks over at the call of crossing via her shoulders. "No thanks." She says. "We'll take the tree."

She skips toward it then, prancing really, and is soon to bounce across it to the other side. She drops down on to the other side, her hands slapping against the side of her dress. "That wasn't so scary. we're almost there infac---"

A blurr of motion comes from the shrubs beside the Belle, and she vanishes within the foliage, pounced and drug off by a jaguar!

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty is humming as the band of pirates cross the fallen log. When it comes her turn the humming turns to singing, one hand out for balance, the other on the hilt of her saber.

  "Soon may the Wellerman come
  To bring us sugar and tea and rum
  One day, when the tonguing is done
  We'll take our leave and go...

She hops down on the far side of the water and says, "Well, that was almost too easy." She looks to Rogue and grins. "Have to wait for the tonguing to be done to leave of course." Her eyebrows wiggle, just in time to have that expression as Rogue is dragged off into the underbrush.

Kitty stands still, shocked for a moment. Then announces, "Dibs on the Charger."

Logan Howlett has posed:
Logan is busy internally griping about feeling strange not being able to immediately identify everything and everyone around him by scent alone. He pauses to take a swig from his flask of rum when Rogue is pounced and dragged away from the jaguar. He stands still, flask raised partway to his lips, and then adds:

"Serves her right for throwin' coconuts, honestly. A hundred and fifty people die from coconuts each yeah."

Kurt Wagner has posed:
Out in front of the pack and perhaps waving that machete around in time to the song coming from behind, smirk sliding across his face. "I'm not entirely sure that is a respectable sort of song Yeoman Kitty! What do you think we are? Pirates?" he asks jauntily, turning to face the rest of them as he starts backing his way towards the clearing just ahead.

Which is why he happens to be facing the right way when that swift cat simply lunges out of the underbrush, lunging across the improvised path and dragging Rogue off -- all in the blink of an eye.

There is no real danger of course. Though the Danger Room may decide that Rogue being pretty much unchewable is grounds to escalate the stakes and stop playing quite so fair. Still, for just a moment Kurt is like the rest of the holographic crew, just staring off where their crewmate has vanished.

Judging by the mutterings amongst the crew, they seem to share the same sentiments as Logan. The Sea Witch brought it down upon herself durnit!

"We lose more bo'suns that way," Kurt says with a heavy sigh, drawing out that rapier from his side with a flourish, that machete held in his other hand. "We best be after her lads! Else she's likely to return the Queen of the Cats, and aint one of you that should want that," he points out, charging into the bush in the wake of that hungry jaguar.

Rogue has posed:
Whether or not Rogue deserved it, it happened anyway!

The trek in to the jungle underbrush to find her doesn't take terribly long either, as there comes the sound of either purring, or growling, and when her crew arrives, they find the Southern Belle just sitting on the ground with the Jaguar licking her face repeatedly like it's covered in some kind of tasty treat.

Rogue's face is scrunched up, her dress covered in sand and jungle debris, her hair wild around her head with white strands intermingling with the chestnut locks creating a cacophony of contrasting colors.

"I demand more gold coins, and less hungry animals." Rogue says in her thick Mississippi accented voice.

She reaches her left hand up then to push the jaguar's licking face away from her own, then moves to stand up, her hands quick to start to dust off her once proud dress.

"Okay. Lets get going, shall w--"

Two of the NPC crewmen are snatched after the growls of more jaguar predators can be heard.

They've stepped in to a trap, the jaguar's nest!

"Uh, lets get the hell outta here! Before they eat all our stinky fat men!"

Once more grabbing her dress to hold it up, Rogue starts to run past the group who came to rescue her, the jaguar that had been licking her face, in hot pursuit and right on her heels, seemingly coming with them now though!

Kitty Pryde has posed:
"Oh sure!" Kitty complains. "We go after Rogue but leave the heroic blue collar pirates to their doom. What, are they wearing RED SHIRTS, ROGUE!?" Kitty exclaims. But she heads back out of the jaguar's den as well. "We're sorry Big Cedric, and Little Cedric. We barely knew ye." Little Cedric was actually bigger than Big Cedric. It was one of those ironic nicknames. That jaguar is going to feast for awhile.

Kitty draws her saber to help ward off any more jungle cats. "Are we near to the treasure, Cap'N?" she asks Kurt.

Logan Howlett has posed:
"Fought a real jaguar once," Logan adds, unperturbed by the virtual savagery they've found themselves in, "Weren't like this. Not bad, though, I guess. Fer a computer game, y'know."

As the jaguar chases Rogue, Logan steps up. He looks like he weighs about a thousand pounds with all the dexterity of a bowling ball. But then he's moving more gracefully than he ought the be allowed, tackling the pursuing jaguar to the ground and rolling around with it.

"Ah! Bad kitty! Bad kitty!" he growls, wrestling with it on the ground, "Don't you eat Rogue! Don't eat Rogue, kitty!"

Kurt Wagner has posed:
While the big cats might be enthusiastic about Rogue, content to give her a lashing with that sandpaper-like tongue, the poor Cedrics don't fare quite as well.

There are definitely downsides to being holographic characters in these kinds of stories. They don't tend to end entirely well.

"Running away isn't very heroic you know," Kurt complains as he abruptly starts backpeddling back into the brush before finally turning around and barrelling straight ahead, trampling the high grass and small plants that populate the jungle floor underneath. Fortunately it seems that Logan is going to cover their escape.

Rogue might not be the only one that comes out of this with a pet Jaguar when all is said and done.

"It's not far! I hope you didn't lose that compass. We might have to go back for Mr. Logan," he notes as that headlong flight from the pack of jaguars brings them spilling out into a clearing, right in front of that ominous hill. Tall, leafy palm trees lean out over the clearing, heavy with deadly coconut projectiles and the dark cave entrance that forms the skull's mouth looks particularly ominous.

But sitting there right in front of that dark pit in the ground is a hastily dug hole and a not entirely buried chest. Almost at once the holographic crew surges forward, green in their eyes as they begin to dig the prize free, hauling it out in front of the Cap'n and the 'real' crew.

"See? We only had to sacrifice three crew or so. That's not so bad for a prize like this, right?" the fuzzy blue elf suggests, kneeling down to flip open the lid of the chest.

Which reveals that the chest is not filled with mounds of gold and gemstones. No silks nor spices. Instead only a single parchment sits there. Reaching in with furrowed brow, Kurt plucks their 'prize' from the heavy chest, turning it over and reading it aloud for everyone.

"Congratulations on reaching the end of your journey. The real treasure are the friends you made along the way."

It's possible that there might be a mutiny.

Rogue has posed:
"Logan will be remembered through statue, or a sandwich name!" Rogue shouts as she continued to run upon her heeled boots out of the jaguar nest, her black dress with the green bows still held up to make it easier for her to run since she's avoiding flying!

With a duck of her head, and a thrust of her bare shoulders, she bursts out on to the other side of the jungle, and stops.

She's staring at all of it, taking it all in as she sees the chest half-buried and a grin forms on her lips just as the rest of the crew catches up.

She looks to her left, then to her right, as the men start salivating for the gold that surely lies within!

"See? Fellas. I lead ya straight to it," Rogue starts as she walks at a slower pace, letting the eager men-folk rush at it like a steak dinner at a fat camp.

By the time she reaches it, they're already digging it out. "I might even let ya buy me some stuff, with your portions of the booty." She adds as her arms go crossed over her tightly laced bodice.

It's then that the chest is opened though, and like a wave of exponentially doubling sadness, a gloom falls over their party.

Rogue's smile goes away when she hears someone read the parchment scroll off.

"What the f---" She shouts, in a very unlady like fashion.

She steps over to the Captain then, and grumpy shouts. "Where's the gold, Mikey?!"

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty Pryde walks over to a small boulder near the chest, resting her stylish boot on it as she strikes a heroic pose. "Just means we have to split the booty fewer ways, Cap'n!" Dread Pirate Kitty declares, looking on the bright side.

She leans forward with anticipation towards the chest as Captain Kurt kneels down to open it. A faint murmur rises from the crew at seeing the parchment inside.

Kitty lets out a breath of air, up towards a lock of brown hair that is dangling alongside an eye. "Well, I suppose it's better than someone trying to reach us about our ship's extended warranty," she says ruefully.

Logan Howlett has posed:
As the rest of the crew make their way to the treasure and think about ways to memorialize him, Logan continues to wrestle with the Jaguar. It's a fierce battle that sees a great cloud of dust and mud and leaves and twigs raised all about them. Claws lash the Canuck over and over again as he attempts to bring the thing down with his bare hands. When the duel is done, he stands victorious.

Not long after, Logan approaches the group as they stand around the chest and the holographic display. A greedy glint lights up his eyes. Even though it's all just a simulation, he can't help but be eager to dig into the mountains of gold and rubies and gems and --

Friends. He made. Along the way.

Logan stares for a moment, clutching the severed and bloodied head of a shocked-looking jaguar in both hands. In one irate instant, he hurls it the ground with a wet thud.

"MOTHERFU--"