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[Voice/Action]
[Today is a good day for serious business, apparently. There's a certain something he's been putting off for a while, and after one-too-many dreams interrupting his sleep, he's had enough: this morning when Billy wakes up, the first thing he does is jot out a note in the journal-]
[Private to Ben Grimm]
Hey, would it be okay if I swung by to ask you a few things?
[He'll work through his morning routine until he gets a response, after which he'll go for a visit and get a hell of a lot more than he bargained for.
After that, his mood for the day is drastically altered; he'll skip out on school, trying to sort out his feelings on the matter. Tommy's still AWOL, and he's trying not to worry Teddy, but what he's just been told has really got him thinking- about people, and heroes, and the unfairness of mankind in general. And eventually he'll just go ahead and return to his journal for it. He's kind of in over his head here.]
[Open to All]
I know Luceti's full of heroes- seems kind of a standard trait for most of us, for whatever reason. Back on my world, super-humans aren't that uncommon, and in general they're revered for everything they do for the world. Some of them were born that way, and some of them are from other planets, and some were altered to get their powers, and some have a lot of talent or skill instead of powers. But they're all considered to be super heroes. There's bad guys, too- just as diverse and unique as the heroes they fight. People fear them and celebrate their defeat.
There's another group, though... humans who got their powers because of evolution. It's much more natural, in a lot of ways. Some are heroes, some are villains. Some are just trying to get by without becoming one or the other. But regular humans fear them, and hate them for it, even if they save the world just as much as the heroes they love. They're called criminals or monsters, no matter how innocent they might be.
[He hesitates- it's probably obvious to some, what he's talking about, and he's not sure if he should lock it from the mutant population, or apologize, or something, but it relates to them even if it's not by name. Hiding it wouldn't be right.
In the end he just leaves it be.]
...Sorry for the ramble. But it's not fair, and... I just can't understand why. Why hate one and love the other, when they're basically the same?
[Private to Ben Grimm]
Hey, would it be okay if I swung by to ask you a few things?
[He'll work through his morning routine until he gets a response, after which he'll go for a visit and get a hell of a lot more than he bargained for.
After that, his mood for the day is drastically altered; he'll skip out on school, trying to sort out his feelings on the matter. Tommy's still AWOL, and he's trying not to worry Teddy, but what he's just been told has really got him thinking- about people, and heroes, and the unfairness of mankind in general. And eventually he'll just go ahead and return to his journal for it. He's kind of in over his head here.]
[Open to All]
I know Luceti's full of heroes- seems kind of a standard trait for most of us, for whatever reason. Back on my world, super-humans aren't that uncommon, and in general they're revered for everything they do for the world. Some of them were born that way, and some of them are from other planets, and some were altered to get their powers, and some have a lot of talent or skill instead of powers. But they're all considered to be super heroes. There's bad guys, too- just as diverse and unique as the heroes they fight. People fear them and celebrate their defeat.
There's another group, though... humans who got their powers because of evolution. It's much more natural, in a lot of ways. Some are heroes, some are villains. Some are just trying to get by without becoming one or the other. But regular humans fear them, and hate them for it, even if they save the world just as much as the heroes they love. They're called criminals or monsters, no matter how innocent they might be.
[He hesitates- it's probably obvious to some, what he's talking about, and he's not sure if he should lock it from the mutant population, or apologize, or something, but it relates to them even if it's not by name. Hiding it wouldn't be right.
In the end he just leaves it be.]
...Sorry for the ramble. But it's not fair, and... I just can't understand why. Why hate one and love the other, when they're basically the same?
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Rogue will let them ride along for a bit, then pull to a stop beside a pond.]
So? Not bad, right?
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Ahh... no, not bad at all! I think I could actually get used to this. Maybe even try a motorcycle one day.
[...Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves here. But there is a lot of power to be found on these wheels- pfft, and Loki wanted him to ride a horse.]
...Thanks. I didn't think it would be this much fun.
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Billy?
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Yeah?
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I don't wanna hear about what happened to the mutants in your world. I've put enough together to know it pretty much sucks. An' there's nothing I can do about it from here.
[But then she tilted her head and glanced over at him.]
But any time you wanna tell me what happened to you - if you need to talk, I'll listen.
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[His response is hesitant, lips pursing. At least she's not asking about the worst of it. Honestly, when she'd called him over here, he'd expected a lot more questions.
This, though... definitely a surprise. Does she mean the bullying? Because she got the gist of it already...]
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You didn't start askin' questions about the different perceptions of heroes 'cause of Luceti, Billy.
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What happened to mutants back home is... part of it. And it's not like anything really happened to me, it's more like- I went looking for answers, and didn't like what I heard. So now I'm stuck with even more questions and no way to answer them, instead.
[He sighs, a quiet, faintly frustrated noise.]
I'm sorry- I shouldn't have brought it up. It wasn't fair of me to do that.
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It's your life. It's your world. You've got as much right to talk about it as anyone.
[She looked away again.]
All I'm sayin' is that I won't be asking any questions about it. But if you wanna talk, that's okay with me.
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Thinking about home still hurts, and he has to swallow back that lump in his throat - the fear that today's news has thrust upon him, the buzz of questions in his mind, the uncertainty of "what do I say" and "how much is too much" and "I don't know what I want to do". There's at least a dozen responses coming to mind, each worse than the one before it.
What he says, finally, is:]
...My mom... in your world, do you think... she has any chance of being happy someday...?
[At this point, he doesn't even care whether she answers with the truth. He needs her to be happy somewhere- needs it desperately, because the truth in his world is so far beyond cruel. She deserves so much more than the hand she was dealt.
And what happened to the world, the Avengers, even to the mutants... he still can't blame her.]
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And if no one ever tells her about her brainwashing.
And if she can get clear of the Loserhood.
And if she does get told of the memory rewrite, someone fixes it, and she manages to kill Magneto and then get some serious therapy...]
She's got as much of a chance as any of us.
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It's... just nice to hear. That there's a chance somewhere, even if it's without him.]
...Thanks, Rogue.
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[Or. You know. Other forms of Apocalypse.]
Wanda's had a rough start. Rougher'n most. But the last time I saw her, she was as close to happy as anythin'.
[You know. Right before I zapped her.]
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I think I'll just hope for the best. I mean, it's about the same chance in any world, as long as she's... safe, I guess? Or sane, and...
[And alive. Not being chased by the Avengers, or the X-Men, or the general populace for murder and mutant genocide and- ugh, this is hard.]
...Tommy said we found her, when he first got here. Or- that I will, in the future. She remembered us, and we're really hers. It was a huge weight off my back... finally knowing for sure.
[He'd been so happy. And Tommy had actually- he'd acknowledged that they were brothers. Family. It had meant so much to hear those words, more than he'd thought it would.]
I haven't worried about it since then. But today I found out something that makes me worry even more than ever. Why she went missing, why she forgot about us, and... what might happen when we find her. I wonder if she's safe, and if we have a chance to get to know her, or if we'll just lose her again. And Tommy's not around anymore.
[He doesn't know what to do.]
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I reckon tellin' you not to worry about things you won't even remember when ya get back ain't much of a comfort.
[She looked at him and then shook her head.]
No. 'course not. You want to be able ta do something.
[It wasn't that she wasn't curious about what he found out, or that she wasn't grieved for him for the loss of his brother, but neither of those were the important things here.]
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Yeah. And that's a hard thing to deal with when she's not here, and nobody who has the answer is, either. So I'm just kind of floundering on what to do or how to deal with it.
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[Her gaze flickered down to her gloves and she stared at them for a long moment.]
But you've got to recognize that, no matter what, there are some things no amount of power can change. Even yours. You can't take her choices away from her, Billy. You can't make her be okay. Even if she was here, you couldn't do that - or if you were back home. I don't know what happened that has you so torn up, but it's just as true with big things as small ones.
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[He winces, his gaze dropping back to the pond, gripping the handles of the moped tightly. After everything, after she changed the world for Magneto and Quicksilver, after she lost her mind because he and Tommy weren't even supposed to exist...]
...That's not what I want. I just... want to help. We're part of the reason she went missing in the first place. I want to make it right, somehow. And then maybe she can have a family again.
[He has one already, sure, and he's okay with that. But Tommy doesn't, and Wanda doesn't anymore, and- what's wrong with wanting them all to be together?]
hahaha, stared at this forever and then suddenly ENJOY A FLASHBACK AKAI
I went through a time in my life that was - bad. Real bad. An' someone came along saw it. They got the drop on me in an alley an' when I woke up I was tied up in a cargo train. They said they were just openin' the door for me ta get out, but if that's all you're doin', you don't need knock-out gas. You see what I'm sayin'?
[Rogue shook her head, not even sure she knew what she was saying, and went to clarify, eager to get distance from that memory anyway.]
You want to give her a chance, you want to be a family, the best thing you can do is be there. And don't go away. Stay around. Eventually, she might be able to take hold of that, but whether she can or not, that's on her. You don't need knock-out gas.
WELL DAMN
It's pretty much terrifying. And her putting it in context gives him a minute to get over the initial "what the hell" reaction, but he's still very much at a loss for what to say about that so he skims over it for the moment.]
As long as she doesn't vanish on us again, then... we can do that. I mean, I don't plan on going anywhere. I know it won't be easy, but it's family. Family's never easy.
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Tell me about it.
[She shifts her gaze from Billy to glance over the simulated water.]
But there's no fixin' what's past. There's only healin' up for the future, and that if you're lucky. Being there an' staying there - that's the best thing. There's nothin' like having someone you can trust.
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[He still has his own worries and misgivings about it- what if she wants to take him back? Will there be a fight between his other family and her? What will Tommy do, if he has to choose where to be? How does he even feel about her?
Still so many questions. But he's not going to let it stop him, either.]
I'll definitely keep thinking about it, though. And... thanks. For hearing me out, and telling me all that. It helped.
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