first one to make that doctor who joke loses

[birdsbirdsbirds]

Who: Everyone! All of you!
Broadcast: Maybe!
Action: Definitely!
When: Anytime during the toxic moon event!

---

[boy oh boy, isn't everyone just so excited to explore this... charming... place...?

this is a game-wide mingle and the timeframe isn't super-important, so throw in with whatever you want! play war games, go shopping for gas masks, get lost in the wilderness, hide up in the Iskaulit and refuse to set foot on the moon, anything goes.

here's the main event info post for reference! have fun!]

Comments

[grandstanding]

Those as well... but I meant the barcode in particular. [The rapid change in skin hasn't escaped his notice. Some kind of healing, he thinks, or the tattoo technology is somehow much improved here compared to anything he's experienced.

Maybe he wouldn't bother commenting, if Rogue had been anyone on the street. But Kitty mentioned her as one of the mutants here. For that reason alone, he's invested in where it came from.]

[touchofrogue]

Oh. [Subtly, Rogue tenses. But she doesn't see any reason to lie about this.] Guess ya might say that's a bit of a souvenir. Where I was last, everyone had 'em.

[grandstanding]

[Not what he wanted to hear. It brings to mind both past and future horrors. His jaw tightens a bit, and he crosses his arms, the bag rustling with the movement. "Where I was last" ... that's an odd turn of phrase, one that sounds similar to how he phrases certain things.]

I can't imagine any good reason for something like that. Was it your home world?

[touchofrogue]

[Rogue tilted her head to the side and propped one hand on her hip.] That's kinda a personal question.

[And she had absolutely no reason to answer it.

Of course, she didn't have any reason not to answer it either.]

But no. It wasn't.

[grandstanding]

[He'd consider it more personal to ask what it was for. Still, he takes her point, so he's mildly surprised when she answers it. Accordingly, he follows the conversation down that path instead.]

Other worlds don't seem to be uncommon experiences for the people here.

[touchofrogue]

[The truth is, Rogue could be really good at these sort of games if she wanted to be: the dancing around and withholding information game to get more information to do... something. She was raised by one of the best and is dating another one of the best at this sort of game.

But see. She hates them. She hates them so much. She's used to carrying the weight of others secrets, of knowing things about their lives that they would hate for her to know, but this -- this is too uneven, this is too much, it's too close to lying and she doesn't like it, especially since it's the memory of Eric Lensherr's psyche which kept her from tattooing over the bar code entirely. There were times, in her world, when Magneto absolutely disgusted her - like when he tried to brainwash her and forcibly evolve her powers - but there were other times when she empathized with him more than she could ever say even if it came down to doing the wrong thing (so wrong) for the right reasons.

And she didn't want to play this game.]

Is that where ya got the name 'Blade'? 'cause see, I know ya by a different name.

[grandstanding]

[It's what he thought was the case, after speaking to Kitty and getting the names of the other mutants here. After she'd said they likely didn't have good experiences with him. Avoidance isn't his usual tactic, and he's ultimately not good at it either. The choice to use 'Blade' had been a snap one in the heat of the moment, rankled at the idea of his real one being broadcast to millions, yet one he didn't think would last him in the long run.

So if they were going to be direct, all the better.]

Yes. I chose the name Blade when I didn't remember being Erik Lehnsherr, or anything else. [Those are the bare facts of the matter.]

[touchofrogue]

[Rogue nods.] It suits you.

[A blade, after all, can be used to hurt or to heal. It can be surgical, precise, or the instrument of wanton violence. She has known him to be all these things.]

An' it's got less of an 80s supervillain vibe than Magneto.

[With a small smile at that, actually. Really, she is not here to cast stones about a person's name choices. She's interested to see how he reframed himself in the sort of 'watch from a distance and see which way the wind blows' sort of way.]

[grandstanding]

That reference is a bit lost on me, given I'm from 1973. [The Magneto one is not, but it goes hand in hand with having lost all of what he was. That part may never sit well with him again.] I haven't used that name in a while now.

[touchofrogue]

[Rogue nods.]

Bad decade for hair. Good decade for music. [She pauses, considers.] Well, mostly.

[But don't get her wrong, she's noting the significance of the name change.]

[grandstanding]

[Charles's hair is testament to that.] I haven't become familiar with the music yet. [He gathers from this, though, that Rogue is from further along in time. He tilts his head slightly, continuing.]

But I am aware that for some others here, they're more familiar with me when I'm much older.

[touchofrogue]

[Rogue shook her head a little.]

Older, yeah. But I'd prefer not ta think of him as you. Same powers, maybe, some similar history, but I've learned it's a mistake ta look at people from alternate universes the same way ya look at the ones from your own.

[Since they were being direct and all. She continues to watch him closely.]

[grandstanding]

[That's honestly a relief, and it does show a bit in his expression. His shoulders relax slightly, and he uncrosses his arms.]

Yes... that could get messy. [The huge differences involved in some cases make it hard to think of realities being similar in more than appearance and players. Even if he were to meet himself from his own world, the changes he's gone through since the library and Kyriakos would not go unnoticed.] Even small things make a world of difference.

[touchofrogue]

That's true. [Simple.

She sighs a little, one gloved hand going up to touch the now healed over mark on her neck. This had been a pretty big deal, getting the names on her her skin. She wasn't sure where she wanted this to go, but didn't feel it was right to just walk off either.] So you were sayin' 'bout other places before this?

[grandstanding]

Ah, yes. This is my third time in another universe. This one has been markedly less dangerous than those were. [Not a reassuring statement, but not the worst he could say either.]

[touchofrogue]

Hey, don't jinx it. [She'd take boredom over 'ohgodohgod we're all gonna die' 9 times out of 10.

...okay. 6 times out of 10. It was still a clear majority.] So, what's that they say - third time's the charm?

[grandstanding]

[If by "charm" she means "the one where he'll actually get to annihilate the ones responsible", he hopes so. Instead, he just sighs.]

Or third time lucky. Frankly, I'm more than a little annoyed, given that I had finally made it home before this happened.

[touchofrogue]

Mmm. [A nod.] Sounds frustratin'.

[Tilting her head slightly.] An' you remembered? Your times before, once ya got back home.

[grandstanding]

The second time, yes. The first time... [After everything they went through in that hellish library, finally getting their key home, delivered their wishes... it turned out to be empty. Those wishes didn't come to pass. They were dumped back into the middle of Cuba and their memories didn't come with them. Oh, their scars did, but somehow it never occurred to Erik to wonder where they had come from. Some sinister smoothing over of the gaps, removing any sense something had happened. Had it not been for Kyriakos, he doubts he would ever have regained those memories on his own.

After a pause, he shakes his head.] No.

But it's worth mentioning that losing memories was part and parcel of what those places were. Everyone lost their memories there.

[touchofrogue]

Yeah? [She's heard a bit about places like that.] Sounds annoyin'.

[To say the least.]

[grandstanding]

That is one word for it. [There are plenty of others he could use.]

I was taken to the first one eleven years ago, and the second just recently. My understanding is the first one was destroyed, and no longer exists. [There's an unvoiced 'Good riddance' in his tone.]

[touchofrogue]

Huh. [Her brow furrows as she considers, but there's no real connection that she can see..] Let me guess - ya were in some kind of enclosure run by people ya couldn't get to -- an' your powers were affected?

[grandstanding]

I'd hesitate to call them people. [The Portraits, especially, never struck him as more than malevolent beings playing with their toys.] But essentially, yes.