driftfleet | it's not our fault it's an april mingle

[he actually laughs and shakes his head]

It wasn't like that. Mutants weren't . . . well-known, back then, but my boss always believed we were around. He was helping Charles and when he introduced us, Charles assumed he was being introduced to another mutant. Which he was, but. [he shrugs, the grin widening at the memory] He was mad I was hiding and didn't prove him right first.

Okay, less dickish then.

I've never really lived through a time when mutants weren't well known. [But when she was really young but what would she have known of any of it as a pre-schooler?] And feared.

It's . . . hard to explain what we are right now. [a claw lightly taps against the table as he searches for what he wants to say] But I can't really imagine growing up in a time when mutants are well-known at all. Let alone feared.

I don't think I could recommend it. [Though she was sure there were some advantages.] Definitely not for you. [Because obviously.]

Definitely not for me. [he's in agreement] Where I'm from, we're sort of . . . waiting to see what the world does, knowing mutants exist. The government's known for years, but now a few of us have been on international television, and . . . a mutant saved the president, recently. It's only been a month since then.

[She looks over, watching him as he talks. Less wary than before. Little bits fall away. She's actually in a place where it feels like she has to remind herself more than anything else. He doesn't exactly look the part. He doesn't sound the part at all. Everyone is falling over themselves to say he's a good guy.]

I hope it goes well. Home always felt like a worst-case scenario situation all the time, but these places? People are understanding and accepting. So, that has to happen in some worlds too, right?

I really hope that's the case. It'd be nice for all the younger mutants to grow up in a world like that. I mean, getting the school running is a big step, but . . . just in general. So they don't grow up like I did.

[There's a pause before she asks, wondering if the things that set her world off differently led to a different path for her world's McCoy right away or if he had a similar childhood before Apocalypse really rose to power.]

How did you grow up?

[he looks over at her]

Hiding. [he gives her a wry expression] "Mutant" wasn't really a term when I was a kid. I was just different - other kids sort of zero in on that. [he shrugs a shoulder] I was the really tall kid with weird feet, and I learned very quickly it was better to keep the "weird feet" part to myself. It wasn't as bad as - what some have had to go through, but it was enough that I was well into my twenties before I showed anyone again.

I don't - want that for other mutants. They shouldn't have to hide like I do.

[She gets that. Not the physical difference, but she was never normal even before the power. She was always the smartest kid in the room back then. You have to be careful even with that kind of thing. Or even just being Jewish. It was common enough in her neighborhood, but she got picked on once for wearing a Star of David necklace at a dance recital.] You shouldn't have to hide like you do either.

It was with you since birth? [Or were these post-pubescent school problems?]

I shouldn't, but I do. I'm not exactly a shining example of what to do, though. [he says it lightly, even jokingly. Logically, he knows. But sometimes logic gets overrun]

Mm, I was born with it.

[She know something about doing the wrong thing even when you know better. Though of course there's a twinge of Dark Beast thought hearing it from him. Of course there is.]

My powers came at thirteen. I got these splitting headaches. I actually thought I might be dying at first. But I could be a little dramatic too. [The pain was no joke though.] Then I woke up on the floor in the room below the one I had been.

Things kept happening and I kept telling myself I was imagining it. I was scared, and I didn't tell anyone.

Ah . . . [if anything, he looks sympathetic, and a little understanding. He's heard about how other mutants' discovered their powers, and it never seemed to be a good experience. If anything, he was lucky, being born with his] I can't even imagine what that's like, other than terrifying.

Being afraid tended to set it off, so that was interesting. [There's a light smile.] Mutants were already very much all over the news as a threat. Attacks had been happening. I didn't know that much about it at the time.

—attacks? [his mind immediately goes to Erik, and what he had been trying to do. He looks very concerned] Can I ask - ?

Apocalypse had been building up his forces and amassing an army. I might have mentioned them in a yelling kind of way last time. There were some earlier test strikes. [The Dark Beast had created the Infinite soldiers or at least played a key role.]

[that isn't a name he's familiar with at all, and it shows on his face and in his tone]

That's . . . [he frowns and shakes his head faintly] I'm sorry.

It is what it is. Erik formed the X-Men to try and stop him.

Erik did. [that's right, Charles is dead in her world. Even so, hearing Erik is the one who did that is . . . a little surprising]

I'm - mm. Erik is a good man. I'm glad he is in your world, too.

[She nods] I am too. The X-Men are the ones who rescued me and took me in. [There is some light father figuring with Erik. It's a little heavier with Logan. Here, the dynamic is different. He isn't the same man with the same history after all, but his opinions and approval still mean something to her.]

I knew it was his friend's dream. He mentioned Charles sometimes. Named one of his sons after him. It was pretty surprising to start hearing the accounts from other realities.

I . . . have yet to hear anything about Erik, aside from what you've told me so far. [he purses his lips, then faintly shakes his head] Just that he's - different. And—. . .

[and then it all derails because what]

Erik has sons? [he named one after Charles?]

In my world he had twins, a boy and a girl. Older than me and then much later Charles who was still a baby.

...In other worlds he's the villain the X-Men fight. A Rogue—not the one here—once told me he was trying to use her to power a machine that was supposed to force mutations in humans. I'm sure it's different everywhere.

[he can't picture it. He can't picture it at all]

Geez . . . [he has to wonder which timeline that is, if it was the one they were all heading towards. He shakes his head] Erik . . . we've had - mm, things come up in the past, but they've all been resolved now. ["the past" being a month ago, but minor details] For the most part.

He mentioned some things he'd done. [It hadn't worried her too much. From what he said it was understandable enough to her way of thinking. Of course she also comes from a pretty harsh background. You have to be Dark Beast level to really shake her. ...Oops?] He's been helping me with a project.

[he's curious, but it isn't his place to ask. He just nods and looks curious] What sort of project?

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