Let's all hold hands and sing Kumbaya

[notzubats]

Who: Everybody! It's a planet mingle!
Broadcast: If You want!
Action: On the Holding Hands plant!
When: From June 23 until whenever we need a new mingle.

[At long last, the fleet has arrived to a new planet. This means it's time for a mingle guys! Get in! ]

Comments

[athru]

[ She does make sure to leave a little distance between them, not just because of the emotions of the planet but because of propriety. She doesn't really think anyone they're close to would care, given how long they were together alone without them and the intensity of their friendship turned loss turned friendship again, but all the same... The idea of Charles or Hank stumbling across them like this does make her fight back a laugh. ]

I'll find my own way. That's what I have to do.

[ It's what Charles had advised as well, and she can't quite find it within herself to shrug it off, the confusion twisting and awkward around her. ]

[grandstanding]

I have no doubt about that. [Raven's place is no longer at his side. They had worked well together for a time, but it was clear to him now that his leadership was built on sand, not bedrock. He's not even certain he wants to lead anyone, anymore. Not when all he's done is lead them into death.]

[athru]

You taught me everything I know. [ Tilting her head up, she gazes at him for a long, long moment, unable to look away. ] I would've followed you until the day I died. I might still do that now, not because you're our leader but because you're my family. I wanted you to know that. [ And she has to look away, frustrated and thankful that her pink flush doesn't really show on blue skin. ]

[grandstanding]

[It strikes him suddenly what an odd place this is to have this conversation. Naked in hot springs. Raven's earnest speech strikes to his core, the centre of himself that does, quietly, want to belong somewhere and have family around him. It's the centre for a reason... much like it is surrounded by layers of armor and weapons for a reason. The fate of mutantkind has always come first for him, at the expense of anything else in his life. It has led him to cast away relationships as soon as they became obstacles in his path. His grip on that heightened level of determination has loosened, somewhat. He came home with Charles because he wanted something more than a solitary existence, no matter how vital his purpose is.

Raven joining him once again would be beneficial. And yet, he remembers how things ended. Raven had a different place in the world from him. Before he had been taken to Kyriakos, he had gone into hiding, intending to bide his time and wait for the furor surrounding the Nixon event to die down. All of that has been thrown into doubt. More than one purpose wars inside him now.

Eventually, he lets out a breath, leaning back against the rocks.]

No. I taught you everything I know. You spent ten years learning other things. You are the sum of your own experiences, not just mine. I'm not the leader of anything or anyone at the moment. Only myself. If others are to come, then I'll be glad to have them. [He had made the call, across the world. Now he doesn't know if anyone will respond, or if he's in the right place to see their answer.] Including you. But this is not a decision for this place, Raven.

[athru]

[ It seems very typical of the two of them - it's not as if they could have serious conversations is normal places. The last one had been in a phone booth with plastic shoved against his neck, and Raven still feels some of that twisting, bottled up anger inside of her sometimes - she has to work through it, because she knows, rationally, that she's not really mad at Erik anymore. She can understand why he had chosen to do what he'd done and while it was difficult to accept it doesn't mean that she's going to loathe or avoid him forever.

It might be a little obvious.

Shaking her head, Raven glances out over at the rocks and the springs around them, letting her eyes drink it in and settle in her memories. It's better than the places she'd stayed in when she had been tracking Trask and the lost mutants, and she's definitely had worse afternoons than this one. She only turns back to look at him when he speaks, her gaze flickering over his face before she nods her head, frowning. ]

You don't have to be a leader to be inspirational or important, you know. Just because we weren't together didn't mean I stopped thinking about you, what you'd do or say. It helped. [ Crossing her arms, she closes her eyes. ] I've already told Charles I'm not going to stay when we go home, if that's what you mean. I can't promise anything about what's going to happen once we do go back, but - I don't know who I am anymore. You asked me, remember? Am I Charles' Raven or Mystique?

[ She shrugs, her arm brushing along his. ]

I haven't got any idea. That's what I need to figure out.

[grandstanding]

[He remembers those words, and while it had been vital to ask them, it had also been divisive. He knows now that there's more than two sides to things, and so much in between. With his expression clearing, he nods.]

It's late to be saying it, but it doesn't have to be one or the other. They aren't the only two options. That's what I've learned. [As he's amassed name after name, identity after identity, he's come to realise that it's impossible to draw a line between them. He can't fully distinguish Erik from Magneto, nor Blade from Steel. They're facets, and faces to wear in different situations. Each has its place.]