driftfleet | (no subject)

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(no subject)

Who: Erik Lehnsherr & anyone
Broadcast: Fleetwide video, unintentional
Action: The Marsiva
When: 26th Feb

[When the feed begins, Erik is already awake. Awake, but not yet moving from the bed. He's holding himself in the kind of intense stillness that preludes a burst of activity. And it comes shortly after, as he rolls swiftly to his feet and surveys the deck. This isn't the mansion, that much is clear. Nor is it part of any realm he's been in that he can tell. His brow furrows as he glares daggers into a featureless wall. While there is nothing of particular interest about it - it's just a wall - he seems to be observing something he finds off-putting about it.

He shakes his head abruptly, a quick jerk of the chin.] No. [With nothing further to say than that, he turns and stalks out of frame, with only a cursory glance at the communicator left behind.

Ten minutes pass, the feed holding on a truly exciting shot of that empty bed and floor.

But soon enough he re-enters the frame, wearing an expression somewhere between frustrated and resigned. This time, he does notice the communicator. After a considering pause, he walks over, reaching out ... and turns it with a finger, pointing the camera at the wall. His voice rings out clearly a moment later.]

If someone is watching, I'd appreciate an explanation. I haven't got much patience for these kinds of games anymore.

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[He watches her for a moment, expression unreadable, before looking out the window instead. Logan was one thing, but other realities as well... he was still divided on his own experiences with himself. So he gives a neutral response.]

Is that so.

They're good people. [She doesn't want any trouble between them even if she doesn't really know any of them that well yet. Not on their own merits.]

[Eventually, he shrugs, though it's hardly nonchalant. His posture is too tight for that. More an acknowledgement of another mess to deal with.]

There isn't much I can do or say regarding other versions of myself. I can only speak for what I've done on my own terms. [And his part in a future that no longer exists.]

[She nods. She's never had to deal with the ghost of any version of herself that wasn't an X-Man.] So, what have you done? Does the name X-Men mean anything to you?

[Oh, boy. There's a question he's less keen on answering over a video phone.]

I've heard of the X-Men, but more as something that will happen. Charles Xavier hasn't yet begun that process, in my time. [Rather, he hasn't begun it again, after it collapsed in the Vietnam war. But Charles had told Erik a little of what he'd learned.]

As for what I've done... that might be a conversation best had in person, once it's possible.

[That doesn't exactly flood her with relief, but she nods. Some things are just easier in person.]

When you do get shuffled, call me. We can meet up on the station or I can get to your ship. I'm a pilot on the Windrose.

The Windrose. All right; I appreciate it.

[It will give him a bit of time to collect his thoughts on the matter. As Erik casts another look out the window, it really hits him. He's been taken again. Out of home, out of world, potentially out of universe. He's out here in space, with no obvious route back. All of his efforts to restore his world and his people - they weren't for nothing. He still did that. But he has been removed from it again. Now he has to make plans for the long haul. Get 'shuffled', meet Kitty in person, learn what he can about other versions of himself. Play along. Get out.

For a brief moment, his expression twists into something dark and thunderous, and if anything was out there in the void it would probably have wanted to turn tail and run. But there wasn't. So Erik shuts his eyes, and takes a breath. Then he returns his attention to the communicator, letting his anger fall away.]

And I do mean that. I know that my not knowing you is probably difficult... [He's found it hard enough himself, in the past] but any kind of familiarity is still something worthwhile, in places like this.

Thanks, but it's not your fault. I know the drill by now.

[Usually other X-Men at least recognize her even if they know another version, but there was a Logan in the prison who managed to place her but just barely after she mentioned her name and powers. That one hurt. This time it's easier somehow. Maybe because the others are already here. Maybe because Erik is so much younger.

She just...really wants him to not be the bad guy in the story.]

Is there anything I can do? Anything you still need filled in on while you're there?

Someone sent me a document with a brief rundown... but it seems like information on our 'hosts' is in short supply. Has that been your experience?

Wow, I never got an actual document. Fancy. [There's a little smile.]

As far as I know they're called the Atroma. They're never seen and rarely heard. It also sounds like for as little contact as there has been there's even less currently somehow.

Edited 2016-02-29 13:22 (UTC)

She already knows me, so maybe that's why she sent it.

So, they like to stay removed. [Not the kind of beings who directly play with their toys, then.] Are there any theories as to why they've gone silent?

Already knows you? [You don't mean Rogue do you?] Your team from not home?

[Right, right, the important stuff.] Dr. Crusher mentioned she thought something was wrong on their end. Third-party interference maybe.

Not my team, but someone from a different team in that place. I've seen two of them so far. I was never that close with them myself. [He knows them by sight and one by name, because it's hard not to, when you spend months in a realm with only about a hundred people.]

A third party would complicate things, if they have their own goals.

Probably, but "enemy of my enemy." [She shrugs. She knows it's just as potentially bad as good for them. Maybe someone wants them for their technology to do something more than reality tv with them.]

Hmm, well. Something to keep track of.

[And see whether it can be exploited. He tips his head to the side slightly as something occurs to him.]

I should let you know. People who met me in Kyriakos will know me as 'Blade'. And it's the name I've been giving out here. [The one he would have given Kitty, too, had she not recognised him first. He hadn't thought too far ahead at that point.]

Blade? [There's a flicker of amusement, followed by something else. Being somewhere your whole identity can change like that... She's not a fan of these other worlds. Maybe the one Celeste mentioned where it's a choice, but the others? They are the reason she's alive right now with a second or maybe third chance at things. But all the treating people as playthings doesn't sit well with her.]

Do you want me to use that? [She'd try for what it's worth.]

Yes, well... it's a long story. [His gaze skirts away for a moment, pensive. The story of the name itself isn't so lengthy. What's behind his continual use of it, even now, is. Erik looks back to Kitty with a shake of his head.]

You don't have to. [Having someone around who knows him as Erik, even if he doesn't know them... it means something.] It's just worth knowing.

[She nods.] Thanks for telling me. I think I'll stick to Erik if you don't mind.

Oh... There's a man who looks like Xavier here. [If she was less focused on Erik and working some network stalking she'd know they'd already spoken.] At least like a slightly younger version of the Charles I met in prison. He's not though.

I've noticed. [There's a slightly frustrated twist to his words.] He seems to know rather a lot, considering I don't actually know him.

So you met Charles as well, in that place?

[Just how often have they been abducted, across all realities? He can only account for two himself, at least for the version he knows. Once apiece for Raven and Hank.]

Leto does have that effect. [She kind of enjoyed the guy though.]

Yeah, Charles stuck around for awhile. [They became friends.] He took me to prison prom. [She smiles because she knows just how ridiculous it sounds.] I've had a strange life. [It also wasn't a date. Not really. Especially since she went home with Tyki afterward. No shortage of bad life choices.]

[Erik makes an noncommittal sort of noise. He'd just cut off his conversation with Leto, after it skirted a bit too close to mindreading for his liking.]

Prison... prom. [It's clear from Kitty's expression that this wasn't a bad thing. His own prom experience was a bit more lethal.] I won't pretend mine's been any less strange. I find that normality isn't as abundant as everyone thinks it is. [His own definition has slid so far that he wouldn't know it if he saw it, these days.]

[You're doing prom wrong, Erik. Less Carrie, more...anything that isn't Carrie.] Maybe normalcy is a myth like the Holy Grail. Then again as soon as I say that someone will probably show up with the grail. [You never know in these places.]

That might be a little too mythic for my tastes.

[Magic has been enough of an adjustment.]

These places never take our tastes into consideration. Unless yours did? [It didn't sound like it from what he'd already told her though.]

Definitely not. Stone castles and decrepit libraries.

[Places where his powers were less useful than they could prove to be here.]

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