driftfleet | (no subject)

Entry tags:

(no subject)

Who: Erik, Charles, Hank and Raven
Broadcast: nah
Action: the Blameless. warning for injury treatment, probably.
When: June 7th, shortly after this

[This is the second time in the span of seven days that Erik has had to pilot a shuttle while his vision isn't a hundred percent. It's almost a pattern, he thinks blearily to himself. Different causes, though. As the shuttle docks with the Blameless, he can't help but blow out a breath.

First step done. Now to get out.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[there's a lot of helplessness drifting around, and Hank feels it, too. Had Erik not sent him the second text, he was minutes away from heading over himself. He would never ignore that the people he considered his family or friends were in possible danger - he never could. He'd do anything for them, and what he's doing now doesn't seem like it's enough. Because it shouldn't have happened in the first place.

It's why he hesitates; he knows Raven is capable, but he doesn't want to think she's walking back into something dangerous. He couldn't take it if the casualties went up another number] Okay. Just - not yet. I - we need you here.

[not just him, not just to help him out, but she was anchoring him. She was helping her brother, and speaking with Erik. Her role in this was just as important as his]

[ Raven doesn't like feeling as though she's useless - she's never done well just standing around and watching and she's sure she'd proved that with how she acted in Washington. It's not that she wants to create trouble, it's more that she wants to do things, help her kind, fight for those that can't. It's hard for her not to have a purpose here, and feeling helpless in the lab isn't making things better. She's restless and anxious and anchoring herself to Hank is the only thing that's making it easier for her. It's not fair, she knows it, but she can't help what she needs no more than anyone else can.

Instead, she holds onto her boyfriend, thinking about how she doesn't want to let go. Not just yet. She could, of course, and she could turn and let him go back into the lab and see to Charles and Erik, to make sure they're okay, but for just a few more moments she needs something to lean on - someone to lean on. She needs Hank, just for now, even if she is completely useless in the other room. ] You're the doctor, Hank. I think they need you.

[ It's easier to think of herself as unnecessary because it's far, far less frightening than the truth. ]

[he needs this as much as she does; her steadying presence when the ones he's come to depend on are currently laid out in his lab, minds and bodies abused. So he doesn't keep shoving everything down, and it doesn't get to the point where he can't get out again. He wonders if he'd be reacting to all of this a little better if he had seen it coming, or expected it, rather than simply feared it.

He wants to point out that he isn't meant to be this kind of doctor, despite having the schooling for it from home and the augment here. That he can't keep all of this up for very long before he's going to have to step away again]

They need both of us. [really, that's the only thing he can be completely certain of]

[ That's what Raven is here for, she thinks. She promised Charles she would take care of Hank and that she would take care of Erik and she's going to do it. It makes sense for her to be the one that comforts and calms because she doesn't quite have the knowledge or the skill to help out completely - she can do some things, but others she's blind to. That's where Hank steps in, and she knows that, together, they can do this; they can survive this. They can help the other two get better and then they can figure out how to make sure this never happens again.

For now, though, she just strokes her fingers over Hank and touches him gently, drawing him close and offering herself as a counterbalance to all the horrors around them. She'll drag him out as often as she thinks he'll need it and she can make him step out to one side - because she knows him, and she knows he'll listen to her. If he doesn't then she can drag him out by an ear and she knows that Hank knows that, too.

Closing her eyes, she squeezes her arms around him a little tighter. ] Just take a few minutes, okay? You need the break. [ Skirting around the issue. ]

[to some it might be frightening how quickly they all became dependent upon each other again, as if ten years and another world hadn't separated them. It wasn't the same as it once was but just as important, and later he'll take the time to be incredibly thankful that it was still there. That for the giant mess they all were, this was still there, among the broken pieces being fit back together.

She knows you echoes through his mind and while he never doubted it, she was proving it right now. Pulling him out and giving him the time he needed to collect himself, being there to do it again when he would inevitably need the time again. He didn't have that before. All he had was himself and shoving everything down in the hopes that it didn't explode one day.

His arm tightens around her, as tightly as he can without it hurting] I want to hit something. [he finally mumbles, petulant and tired. Anger sits in the back of his throat, so strong he can taste it. It rarely gets to that and he's still able to stand here like this]

[ No one can really understand what it's like for the four of them; she and Charles had lived a life of being alone and drawn up with each other, depending on each other and ending up suffering for it, and Hank and Erik entering the equation had made things a little easier but still a struggle, still awkward and difficult to manage. Ten years apart hadn't made things much better, of course, but they're relearning what it means to be together, what it means to depend on each other, to love each other. Time changes things but it can also repair things as well, and Raven knows that.

Right now Raven is focussed on soothing and taking care of Hank, so that's what she does. She brushes her fingers through his hair, she lets her other arm hold onto him gently, and she just stands, letting him take from her whatever it is he might need. He might not be quick to anger but it doesn't mean there's not fury simmering under the surface waiting to come out and she knows him well enough to help urge him to calm.

Turning herself, she leans back and kisses him, once, gently. ] I know. I do too. I want to find whoever did this and just... [ She breathes out, shaking her head before she presses closer. ] But we need to make sure they're alright first.

[he isn't quick to anger, and he's quick to cool off when he does, but this - it's a rare, lingering anger, still burning thanks to the other things he feels at the moment. Frustration and helplessness and having no idea what else he can do outside of what he's capable of. And he can take a guess at who was responsible, for what he's heard so far, from Erik and from overhearing them talking, and that only complicates it more. There was more to this; he saw it in Charles' face, in Erik's, and yet it still stokes the fire knowing that he can't rip someone apart for hurting his family.

But he sighs out, the anger slowly ebbing to something that isn't threatening to burst. It's still there and he knows it will be for a while, long after Erik and Charles have been taken care of and are resting. It won't go away until he finds out exactly what happened and what he can do about it, until he has every single bit of information possible to settle on how to feel about it all. The part of his mind still stuck in another world making comparisons mourns the lack of any concrete walls for him to put his fist through.

She presses closer and he welcomes it, kissing her back and then pressing his forehead into her shoulder again. He can focus on her and find steady ground again, and then he'll go back in there and finish taking care of them. He'll bicker with Erik and mother Charles and it'll be the same as it always is, once it calms down. That much he knows]

I know. [the words are a bit mumbled, but he doesn't feel like speaking any louder than that] I know. We'll take care of them. Then we'll figure out what happened and go from there.

[ Whereas Hank's anger is slow and a burning that takes time to rise up, Raven's is sharp and deadly with it's danger, rising to the surface and exploding with her passion and the need to protect. She knows she is a deadly, dangerous creature, a threat and a force to be reckoned with, but she can't do anything about it right now. In this moment, with Hank in her arms and the other two in the lab trying to find a place to calm and find comfort, to come back to themselves after the horror of an attack where they were meant to be safe, she feels the burn of rage as soft whiplash.

The only thing that keeps her from storming off and destroying something to calm herself down is the promise she made to Charles and the fact that Hank still needs her. She has to be there to make sure he keeps calm and settled and she has to be there to bring him back from the brink of losing himself. He would end up exhausting himself and then she would be the one that would come back and force him to rest - and while she's happy to do that, had done it in the past, she doesn't want it to get to that point. She doesn't want it to get to the point where she worries for Hank and his own mind after such a horror.

What she can do is stand at his side, and it's not going to be enough forever. Soon they're really going to have to talk, they're really going to have to deal with this, and it's going to get harder and harder and harder and their hearts will ache all the more for it. Soon they'll have to think about who did this to their little family, and... It'll be almost too much. ]

It's what we've always done. [ They figure things out as they go. The idea of having a plan actually feels a little hilarious. ]

[in a hysterical sort of way he's thankful that he's at least equipped to deal with this. All the horrors he saw in Kyriakos had made that possible, and not just the ones pertaining to Charles and Erik. He'd seen his own team ripped apart, seen other teams left in pieces, and what was in the lab was mild compared to that. But they wouldn't be healed in a matter of days this time; no, this was real, with no magic to speed everything along. He couldn't help but be bothered by that.

He finally lifts his head, and his hand reaches up to cup her cheek as he presses a kiss to her forehead. The words aren't there, he doesn't think he can manage them, but he wants to show that he's thankful to her all the same. Had she not been here he would've handled it regardless, but with her here he knows he's being kept in check. That all of his old methods of coping won't fly this time]

It's what we're good at. [he's had this conversation with Charles before. It was something they all agreed on. He finally sighs and leans back to look at her]

We should get back in there before they do something stupid.

They've already done something stupid.

[ She understands, though. Charles had wanted to help whoever had hurt them, and his body and mind had suffered for it. Erik had probably been there to try and help her brother, but neither of them had come out of this without suffering almost too much - neither of them was coming out of this with their heads intact and their hearts safe. It makes her brim with rage, and she feels completely at a loss, unable to go and fight her way out of the situation and forced to hover at the sidelines instead, her breathing caught in her throat before she closes her eyes.

The anger she feels is so dangerous, so deadly, she wonders when it's going to explode out of her. It's too much, and she has to clench her fists to keep herself calm, to stop herself from saying something that would alert Hank to her blistering emotions.

Instead, she turns her head into his kiss and does her best to breathe out a noise, kissing his cheek before she steps back and moves her gaze back to the door. No letting on, not just now; she can fall apart later. She can break when the two people that need help are stitched up and bandaged and okay. Until then she has to be the strong one. ]

Let's go.

[he makes an agreeing noise, although he can at least understand why. He would have tried to do something in their positions, too] They're forgiven for coming here instead of trying to take care of themselves. Even if I'm still going to yell at them both later.

[when he can actually let some of his anger slip out. The last time he'd done that . . . he can't help but look uncomfortable for a moment as he rolls his shoulders. He'd been angry at them for dying, and he'd felt so out of place in his own skin that it made it crawl. He'd survived but at the cost of his mutation for a few days, and he couldn't remember a time where he'd felt more unlike himself. It made his skin crawl.

He huffs a noise and shakes himself out of it and steps back after a moment, putting his glasses back on. At least, walking in there it wasn't facing a massacre. They were both in one piece, fractured and bruised but none of it was life-threatening. He reminds himself that he can do something about that, that he may not have worked as one but he was still a doctor and that - honestly, he wouldn't let anyone else. Not with them.

He nods and reaches for her hand, squeezing briefly before he reaches for the door and shoves it open so she can walk in first]

Edited 2016-06-12 21:01 (UTC)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only