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[Wrath looks between Kitty and Winn, and there's a shift in her expression, since apparently this needs to be serious for a minute. Finally:]

Hi Winn, lemme introduce myself the whole way. [Because maybe then this will make more sense to him.]

My name is Wrath. I was the lieutenant of Wrath Platoon, in the mobile infantry division of the Proles Army, commonly known on my world as the Ghost Wolves. I fought on the Line for all 422 days and my platoon was in the 28% of the army that was still left at the other end of it. And the Line happened because of an arms race that ended in biological warfare and ruined terraforming, and us defending the last city on our planet.

So I'm absolutely fucking aware that wars aren't things you win. They're things you survive.

My crew is going to survive whatever comes our way. No matter what.

[Well this got tense.]

Okay. We've all had our experiences. Always tricky sharing when people have really different homeworlds. [Winn's practically survives on friendship and hope and sparkles compared to Wrath and Kitty's respective worlds. But she also knows how hard violence is for him considering his father's past. And she's protective of him.]

I think we can all agree Snuggles is adorable and survival is a crucial starting point. [Without it you've got nothing. It's just that with it, you don't have much more. You have to build up and out from there. And if you're really lucky you can start talking about things like "should there be guns" or "should fluffy foxes get commanded to kill" but only because you survived long enough to get to that point.]

[ he kind of feels like he's just gotten verbally slapped in the face. maybe meeting kitty's friends was a bad idea - he's made a lot of friends here, it kind of made it easy to forget that he's not actually good with people.

he practically cringes, and looks over at kitty gratefully. kara could continue this discussion, but he? is terrible with confrontation, and with tragic pasts. he just wants out of this. ]

Agreed - [ even though - while he absolutely can't know what he'll do if he's ever faced with the choice, when thinking about it from a distance he hopes he's the kind of man who would die as himself rather than live as his father. ]

[Wrath seems to just relax back down into her normal small, cheerful self.]

Sorry. I didn't say all that to be an asshole. I know people don't really look at me and think oh yeah, she's a soldier or whatever. I figure stuff I say sounds less batshit when my background's known.

[Shrug.]

And I'm not a soldier any more because I got discharged, so that's okay.

[It's not you, Winn. It's her. She still isn't sure how to relate to people when it's not as an officer.]

Edited 2016-04-28 06:01 (UTC)

[She nods at Wrath. She's not sure if she fully understands the woman, but she likes her. Figures they have more in common than she does with many people.]

It's easy to take the uniform off. The person underneath is still who they were. [Kitty is still one of the X-Men even if her team is all dead like Kurt has said or her war is over. She's still figuring out what more she is than that too.

She reaches out to take Winn's hand and give it a supportive squeeze.]

It's ok - I - don't mean to belittle your experiences. Just. You know, with a name like 'Schott' I just assume guns are gonna work out badly for me -

[ who ordered the terrible pun? someone ordered a terrible pun! it's right here on the order, someone come sign for it!

a w kw a r d l y smiling, he returns the squeeze, grateful for the support. he's still widely uncomfortable with the topic. he's spoiled, and he knows it - he gets to hide behind kara, it all gets to be...neat. he sits behind his keyboard, kara can take the whole world on for them, they all make it home to pizza or potstickers at the end of the night, to laughter and friendship and to pretending that tomorrow - evil isn't going to strike again, that it couldn't strike too hard, that they'll always keep on winning.

maybe it's naive. maybe it's downright stupid. but it's how his life keeps on being worth living. ]

Yeah. [And she was used to people not taking her seriously. She knows they didn't, before she got famous in Proles, and that's not a thing she really talks about because it still feels weird, and it's complicated, and it wouldn't make sense without the cartoon available anyway.]

[It takes her a minute to get the pun, and it's probably kind of an awkward pause as she tries to work it through, but then she starts giggling.]

Aw, you're really funny! And cute. [She is completely serious when she says things like this.]

He is. [See? Tension is all gone now. Everything is good.] And don't go getting any ideas, Wrath. [She kisses Winn's cheek more fondly than possessively. She's really just teasing about that part.]

[ there is just -- so much relief for the smiling. he returns the smile, grateful that the pun didn't result in just...more awkward silence. ]

You're giving 'you'll have to go through me' a whole new meaning -

[ shouldn't have told him he's funny, wrath, it'll never stop (though it wasn't going to stop anyway). ]

You don't have to worry, Kitty. Relationships are weird and I don't get them so I don't do them! [She just hurts people and she hates hurting people, so nope.]

[The new pun gets another cascade of giggling out of her.]

Because she has cool super powers--you're the best!

[Kitty just shakes her head.] I fear for the fleet when I get around to introducing you to other Kurt. Everything is a pun with him too.

No worries. Did you have fun last night, Wrath? Should I have been congratulating you on any sex?

You're pronouncing 'rejoice' wrong -

[ look it's not every day that someone actually laughs at his stupid jokes, it's a very special occasion for him. ]

There's another Kurt? I just met our Kurt at the party last night. Is he as hot as our Kurt? [So many hot guys, so little time. Well. So little time to look at them. She's sure not getting any action.

Which does lead to the sigh that follows.]

Nah. Nothing for me since Beverly got a boyfriend.

[Be positive, Wrath.]

I'm really glad everyone's making such good friends and having boyfriends and stuff.

[Thumbs up. There we go. Self pity averted.]

[Winn just gets a smile for that.]

Um, no? [What an awkward question.] I mean, he's sixteen. He's cute. They're very different. He'd been here for months before me I think. He was captaining a ship, but now he's with Rogue on Clay's ship.

Wait, you were with Beverly? [She's not even sure why that surprises her, but it does.] Dr. Crusher, Beverly? Well, not with because dating, bah. But...with?

[ wait, how did he accidentally end up in the middle of a girl talk? he feels like he infiltrated the enemy's castle.

maybe if he's quiet they'll forget he's there and he'll learn a thing or two.

or he'll get embarrassed to death.

it's option 2, isn't it. ]

Oh, sixteen is way too young, he's a baby. Like baby cute.

But good on him for being an officer. I got field promoted when I was... Um seventeen? So he's got me beat by a year. [Then again, this isn't a shooting war, so it's a bit easier on him.]

Just as friends, for a while. [Hmmm, hopefully that wasn't supposed to be a secret. She doesn't think so.] The sex was good. I'm not normally into girls, but Beverly is worth making an exception.

[Sigh. Who knows when she'll ever get laid again.]

[Winn, it's girl talk with girl on girl. Enjoy yourself a little! Also, she is technically closer to that Kurt's age than she is to Winn's and yet she's totally on board with Kurt being baby cute.]

Yeah, I don't know much about it or what it really takes to captain here, but I guess how hard that is also depends on what's going on around us and what the crew is like.

And I'm glad things were working out with you and Beverly. Too bad about...yeah. [Dating, meh, am I right? Giving Winn's hand a squeeze.] So, he's met Vision so far. And Kurt back at the masquerade and now you and Officer Snuggles.

[ he's enjoying himself -- but he's also very aware that it could blow up in his face. so. staying out of their way until they're done it is! ]

And I knew Margaery beforehand - [ offering, in part because it's pretty exciting that he made that friend all by himself! nobody had to introduce him! he even got to introduce her to kara! which. he will probably come to deeply regret but that's not the point. ]

After doing the first officer thing a bit... I think it kind of depends on how much you want to put in to it? There's no good chain of command above the captain, so it's entirely up to them on how they want to run the ship. It's... weird. [Unsettling, since there's a general lack of clarity here.]

It was great while it lasted, but I'm really glad Beverly's got someone for the relationship stuff that's good for her. She deserves it. [Wrath, it goes without saying, is very bad at the relationship stuff in her opinion. That's why she doesn't want to subject anyone to it.]

Oh good, Captain Vision is the best. Um. Hopefully you'll get to meet Tenno and Orids too. Tenno might be sleeping though. Hopefully. He better. He needs to sleep more. And Castle! And Makie. She's kind of quiet and shy but just talk to her about swords and that makes her feel more comfortable I think.

[She laughs.] That's would be a lot of introductions in one day. I want to keep him, not scare him away. [Though Winn meeting Ordis would be interesting. Anyone meeting Ordis is interesting she imagines.]

I usually go with speaking Japanese with Makie. Sword talk is more of a Kurt thing. [She's about to ask if Tenno's okay, but this is getting to be "things Winn has no context for theater" so she wants to pull back from that.]

You speak Japanese?

[ there was a lot of information thrown around there, he latches onto the simplest for him, because it relates to the person he actually knows.

that and - that is some cool new information to discover.

he's going to have to find his own thing to relate to this mackie with though, because the only swords he's ever held in his life were plastic. ]

Nah, none of them are scary. They're all super cute and sweet, Winn. And Tenno's really hot but if you're not into guys that probably isn't a thing.

Hopefully Makie and Kurt get to talk some about swords then. Maybe we could have a sword club with Tenno, too. I think Makie's kind of shy.

Huh. I just figured everyone spoke common trade. Wow. I didn't even think about it.

[She just smiles at Wrath as she goes on. Please, by all means tell her boyfriend that she's on this ship with a hot guy. He's not insecure at all.]

The augments definitely affect the languages. They can even make people read who couldn't. [Not her. She could always read. She was reading in the womb.] But, yeah, I speak English and Russian the best, but my Japanese is decent [more modern than Makie's though] and then just enough German, Spanish, Portuguese and Hebrew to be dangerous.

[ really hot guy. yeah, this just got scary. can they go back to talking about officer snuggles potential use as a weapon? it just became so much less unsettling.

ok not really. but it's close! ]

Is, he into guys?

[ is there a way to ask that that doesn't make him seem really insecure/potentially gay? no? ok, just checking.

his mind is still stuck on really hot when kitty supplies her answer. ]

-- holy shit.

[ he's fluent in a shitload of languages too, but they're the kind used to tell computers what to do. the ones actually used in conversations with actual people? he sometimes can't even properly make himself understood in english (though that has everything to do with personality and nothing to do with his command of the language - but still!) ]

That is some - genius genius levels -

[Wrath considers this.]

I don't know? I haven't hit on him yet, so I couldn't say. I could ask him. That would be good to know. If he likes guys, want me to mention you? [Wait, relationship thing. Right.] If Kitty doesn't mind.

Kitty, you're so cool! [Way, way smarter than Wrath. Almost everyone is, though. At least it feels that way. But that's fine. She doesn't have to be smart, just good at what she does.]