And We Danced (Masquerade Overflow!)

[thespaceopera]

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- Original Mingle
- OOC Post

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Comments

[ecclesiophobic]

One of those worlds, then. [His tail twitches, the heels of his boots clacking against each other.] I never understood what the point of hiding was, if the end goal is to make humanity accept our presence.

[beathach]

[he shrugs a shoulder in answer] There were no "mutants" when I grew up. I didn't meet another one until my boss introduced me to Charles. And even then - the world as a whole has known about mutants for all of a month.

Hopefully, mutants born in my world now won't have to worry about hiding.

[ecclesiophobic]

[His eyebrows raise when Hank mentions the length of time mutants have been known to the public. That's.. early. He should've realized, seeing how little grey was in Xavier's hair, but Kurt himself is thirtyish with no signs of (barring dye).]

You'll be older than my world's McCoy was. [The words are murmured, and then Kurt shakes his head to dismiss them completely from conversation. But.. older. Not so grey. Painfully shy. Was his world's Beast ever like this, did the world make him horrific or was he twisted from the womb?] They shouldn't have to. We shouldn't have to; we've done nothing wrong and we have nothing to be ashamed of.

[beathach]

No, we shouldn't. [what he wouldn't give so that he didn't have to hide, or to just feel comfortable in his own skin. No one should have to spend most of their life looking for a way to just "fit in"] I wish the world would see it that way, too.

[ecclesiophobic]

Oh, they will. Either the baseline humans will be reasonable, or they'll be bred out and new prejudices will emerge among mutants. Maybe a future generation of X-Men will fight against those.

[There's no pride when he talks about homo sapiens going extinct; to the contrary, there's a tinge of sorrow in an otherwise blase tone. His wife was human, and Kurt had every intention of having children with her knowing the likelihood of producing at least one non-powered human. He'd love for both species to exist side by side, that's why he's an X-Man. But human evolution is stacked against those odds.]

[beathach]

[he doesn't like the idea of fighting against other mutants; it's clear on his face when Kurt says it, the frown and the brief flash of something else. An old wound that hasn't quite healed]

I'm honestly a little tired of fighting other mutants. [it even comes out tired, and he rubs at his face before looking away] But it'd be foolish to hope for something and ignore all the possibilities that would come with it.

[ecclesiophobic]

[Interesting. The McCoy he knew would've loved a ringside seat and access to the victors. A reaction like that is one Kurt can empathize. He considers and decides against hiding a wan smile when Hank admits as such, looking older than his behavior.]

You won't find any argument on either point from me. If I'd my way, my wife and I would still be living peacefully in our little house. [And then, just to ward off any cracks in his armor:] And the wood stove would be in a different part of the kitchen. I cracked my toes against the damned thing so many times..

[beathach]

[wife? He finds himself wondering just how old Kurt is, wondering about his wife; but it's a brief thought - something to file away for another time, when he feels like he can ask. He quirks a wry smile in return]

Those things are surprisingly dangerous for feet. [so were a lot of things. How many times had he cracked his toes against something, after he'd had time to settle into this form?] But - I'd probably still be at the CIA, had things gone differently.

[ecclesiophobic]

Yes, especially at ridiculous hours of the morning when a man's just woken up to the phone ringing. [The mere memory of stumbling through their kitchen to get to the land line and barking his toes against the iron stove has him wincing faintly. No wonder his feet hurt sometimes in the morning (has nothing to do with putting his body through hell as a young man, oh no.)

Although, the CIA?] Working for them, or.. [His tail waves, the spade turning in a semi-circle.] Hell, I can't remember the English. Free-lancing doesn't sound right, but something like that.

[beathach]

[Hank can't help but wince a little in sympathy. He didn't have iron stoves to avoid, but with what he had done to his office, he'd inadvertently turned it into an accident waiting to happen - for his feet, for claws, whichever.

He nods, his eyes briefly tracking Kurt's tail curiously before looking back to him proper] I think you mean contracting, but - mm, I was working for them as a researcher.

[ecclesiophobic]

That's exactly the word I meant. You'll have to forgive me, it's late and English is not my first language. [Also he's been drinking.

The bit about working for the government as a researcher is interesting. He's not certain if it counts as a similarity or a difference to the Beast he knew, but it's information he files away regardless.] Might I ask what you were researching?

[beathach]

Ah - no, it's fine. I think everyone has issues with English, even if it's their first language. [or it's because words are hard, Hank, just say that.

He doesn't hesitate in his answer - there's no reason to, the whole thing was scrapped at the end anyway, and it was mostly his research in the first place] Supersonic flight was one of my bigger projects. I - don't know if you're familiar with it, but I built the first version of Cerebro as well.

A - not a side project, but more of a reason why the division even existed was that my boss was interested in mutants - in a good way. He wanted to look into using paranormal powers for military defense, and just - interested in us in general. He was so excited when he met Charles.