The Savage Lands
12:53 (12:53 pm)
Day 2

"Logan, you were right, dino does taste good."

Logan chuckled. "If you like dino then you should try dragon. It's delicious."

Rogue laughed and finished up her lunch. "Logan, can you cut me a long strip outta that skin? It's getting pretty hot, a headband would be real nice." Logan nodded and reached for the leather.

"About this long," Rogue spread out her arms. He nodded, made a fist and popped one claw.

"Ouch," he said under his breath.

Rogue looked at him. "You never said ouch before, shugah. Are you okay?"

He grimaced. "Just a little...sore...yeah I'll be fine."

He ignored the pain shooting up his arm as he cut out the strip and handed it to Rogue. But he began to get a little worried when he retracted the claw and it still hurt like hell. He looked at his knuckles and saw they were still gaping open and leaking blood.

"Jeeze..." He mumbled as he made a fist and pain screamed through every joint and muscle in his arm. Under further examination he noticed that his whole forearm was black and blue to the elbow, and tender to the touch. He looked at his other arm and saw the horrific injuries.

"Rogue..." Rogue looked up.

"What, shugah?"

"Rogue...I think somethin's wrong with me..."

Rogue frowned. "What's wrong with you?"

He held out his arm to her. "I'm....I'm not healing like I should be."

She gasped and shrank back from his extended arm. "Shugah...oh wow...that's bad..." He winced.

"Let's wrap them up...there's some gauze and stuff in the kit." He stayed still as she bandaged his arms, only grimacing occasionally.

"There we go...how'd you hurt them so bad?"

He stared at them. "Claws. They're stored in my forearms. That's the only explanation."

She bit her lip. "Why aren't they healing then?"

He sighed and tried to think. Why weren't they healing? Then it struck him. How tired he'd been last night. How he'd had to concentrate to hear Rogue's screaming. And how Rogue seemed weaker, more...vulnerable. Unable to fly.

"Rogue, this may sound crazy, but...I think none of our powers are working."

She looked at him, puzzled.

He sighed. "Think about it. You can't fly. You needed help with that dino."

She smiled.

"Ah'm not that strong, shugah," She said. "And ah haven't been flying for long...ah really need to concentrate to do it."

"Well... Do you remember last night when you wanted to stop?"

She nodded slowly.

"I was tired too. And I've been noticing that my senses aren't very...sharp...for some reason...and do you remember at the stream? We touched skin and nothing happened!"

"Well...there is a way that we could check..."

Rogue slowly raised her eyes to Logan's and pulled off a glove. "Shall ah?"

He nodded, watching her reach out a bare hand to his cheek, felt the cool touch of skin-to-skin contact.

Nothing happened.

Rogue let her hand linger a moment before she pulled away.

"So our powers really aren't working," She said under her breath.

Then she looked away, blushing bright red. Ah shouldn't think that, she said firmly to herself as she pictured herself leaning in a little closer to Logan for a purpose other than testing powers.

"We should get going," She said finally, getting up and packing their stuff back in the bag.

"I guess."

She picked the bag up and started to lead the way, her ungloved hand still tingling from brushing against Logan's stubbly cheek.

The Savage Lands
15:35 (3:35 pm)
Day 2

"How the heck are we gonna cross that, shugah?" Rogue was referring to the incredibly deep canyon that lay between them and their destination.

"I dunno yet. Let's get closer."

They inched to the edge. "Look—we could climb down this side and up the other?"

Rogue blanched. "No way, shugah. Ah'm no good at heights."

"This? This ain't heights," Logan scoffed, but his stomach felt uneasy too.

"There's no way ah'm going down that."

"Rogue, it's the only way across."

They both fell silent for a moment.

"Maybe there's some ropes in the kit," Logan suggested.

Rogue rummaged in the bag. "No luck, shugah."

Logan sighed and looked down again. A wave of nausea threatened to overtake him as he gazed at the far-away bottom.

"It can't be that far down," he mumbled.

He turned to Rogue. "Here's the deal then. I'll go first on climbing down so if I slip then I won't fall on top of you—metal bones are heavy. And if you slip, I can catch you."

Rogue nodded shakily.

"Rogue, I think you can make it. There's lots of footholds."

Rogue didn't look any more at ease.

He sighed. "Lots of people climb without ropes," he said.

"Only those who want to die," she whispered. "And ah don't want to die."

"We're not gonna die." Logan took the bag from her and swung it over his shoulder.

"C'mon. Let's get goin'."

He knelt down and swung his leg over the edge, trying not to look down. Rogue, her face ashen, followed.