(no subject)

[grandstanding]

Who: Erik and you
Broadcast: Text, fleetwide
Action: the Heron
When: July 23rd

text.

If anyone - for whatever reason - wants some novelty fridge magnets, there is a sponsor crate of them on the Heron. You can take as many as you want, though there isn't that much variety.

I will note at the outset that no, there are no alphabet pieces.

[Along with this rather brief message is attached a photo of the crate's contents. Half the magnets seem to be little cartoon planets. The other half are... well... magnets.]

action.

[Anyone inclined to visit the Heron to take up this exciting offer - or just to visit - will find Erik leaning against the crate in the cargo hold. He has a number of the magnets suspended in the air above one hand, and every few minutes he flicks his fingers, sending one flying into the hull wall.

The crate itself is emblazoned with the message "To the most ATTRACTIVE guy on the Fleet! - Magnecessities". Maybe that's part of why he looks faintly irritated.

Flick goes another magnet.]

Comments

[notmutantbutmiracle]

A mutant... so you are from the same Earth as the X-Men then. These "mutations" seem somewhat common where you are from.

[Granted, Wanda's judging this based off the pool of mutants she has already met and spoken with in the Fleet.]

[grandstanding]

One of the Earths. [It's worth clarifying; there are so many of them.] They aren't common yet, but they grow moreso with every passing year. It's the way of the future.

The X-Men haven't been formed yet, in my time. They will be.

[notmutantbutmiracle]

[She nods at that. There certainly did seem to be a great number of "Earths."]

More each year...

[Wanda thinks on this for a moment. What would it be like if there were more people like her back home? Sure, there were the other Avengers, but even among them Wanda was a bit of a rarity. She grins a little.]

Sounds nice.

[grandstanding]

[He laughs briefly, a short huff. Someday, it would be mutants only, and humanity would have faded away.]

It does indeed.

And yourself? [Clearly not a mutant, from the conversation they've been having. She could be a human, from worlds where abilities were commonplace, or something else entirely.]

1/2

[notmutantbutmiracle]

[Wanda's eyebrows raise, and her smile brightens at Erik's reaction. That was the closest thing to a solid laugh that she's ever gotten out of him. At his question, her grin fades a little, if only because she knows this might be a little more complicated than his situation.]

There are no X-Men and no mutants where I come from. Well, I suppose it's possible some of us are called "mutants" behind our backs. I have been called "Enhanced" by most. Others would say "weapon."

2/2

[notmutantbutmiracle]

[At that, her expression darkens, looking more angry.]

I did not acquire my powers naturally. They did not develop over time.

I was experimented on. My brother and I were the only survivors of these experiments, and each of us acquired powers as a result of what was done to us.

[She looks back up at him, looking rather angry, but also measuring his reaction to what she has just told him.]

[grandstanding]

[He can't help the tightening in his jaw at the mention of experiments, touching a nerve that's deep inside but somehow always exposed. The visceral reaction to such abhorrent treatment will never leave him, no matter how many years he puts between himself and his own experiences. So she had been human, but was now something more. All because humans can't leave well enough alone. Reprehensible, and to do so with that kind of goal in mind... when he speaks again, it's in a low tone, controlled.]

It's not something I would wish on anyone, mutant or otherwise.

I had a similar experience with someone who wanted to find out how best to bring my powers forth. [Shaw had found it in the dead body of his mother, and the wielding of pain and terror. After a brittle pause, he continues. Easier now, when so many people have had to bear witness to this story before.] It's hard to shake the idea of being a weapon, when it's been ground into you.

[notmutantbutmiracle]

[Wanda had not fully expected to that. To meet and talk with someone who had gone through a similiar experience -- being tortured, groomed, made to feel like something not human, a weapon. She looks at Erik with newfound intrigue.]

You were experimented on too?

[Wanda guesses this might be a hard subject for him to talk about. She certainly didn't particularly like sharing her own experience. Least, not in a lot of detail.]

[grandstanding]

[Indeed it wasn't. But time and again the specter of his past was raised for others to witness, and over time he's found it marginally easier to speak of. Nothing here would be like Kyriakos, where people could accidentally experience the worst of his memories just by picking the wrong mirror piece out of a pile. And yet, wasn't this planet another example of that? Were he to touch Wanda now, could those memories not fly back and forth?

He wouldn't risk it. This was too important a topic not to broach, though.]

When I was younger. I couldn't control my powers then. I learned the hard way.

["Through pain, and anger." He can still feel Shaw's hand on his shoulder in those moments, the coin pressed into his palm to burn a hole in his mind for decades after.]

[notmutantbutmiracle]

[Wanda watches his face, the twinges of emotion. That's all he needs to say for her to know that they have likely suffered similar horrors. Her expression and voice are sympathetic.]

What happened to us made us what we are. Our powers and our identities...

[She holds up a hand, flicking her fingers to create a small orb of red energy. It winds its ways between her fingers as she slowly wiggles them. She watches her own little light show, contemplative and calm.]

Forever intertwined. A constant reminder of everything that has happened.

[grandstanding]

[Truth rings in Wanda's words, as Erik watches the glowing light play over her fingers. It's been twenty years since he was first put on that slab at Auschwitz, and learned what kinds of pain he could suffer and what would break him. Eleven years, since Systems had taken it another step and gutted his unknowing body and soul. He's been told since then that he's more than his pain and anger; he's more than a weapon. Charles had laid the groundwork, and others had built upon it, Maya and Hank and Adelina. What none of them acknowledge, though, is that the other parts don't go away. He could kill Shaw and bury him, know that Systems was destroyed. Their ghosts stay with him.

He takes in a breath, then releases it quietly before pulling some screws from his pocket. They float up into the air above his palm, circling for a moment, before they lose their shape and turn liquid, a spiral of loose shape. Two strands form and twine themselves together, making a shining metal rope.]

It's a reminder. But those serve only to drive us forward, to let us know what we can't allow again. They can't hold us back, unless we let them.

[notmutantbutmiracle]

[Wanda watches his display with the screws with matched fascination. His control was truly amazing. It reminded of Chareles' telepathy--just the level of skill and ease that the two seem to possess with their respective abilities. It is something Wanda feels a little envious of, something she strives to acquire herself. She waves her hand and the little ball of light fades away. She gives Erik a knowing grin.]

It can be hard to remember sometimes, can't it? That they only hold us back when we let them.

[grandstanding]

Well, I won't lie - at your age, I was very much still in thrall to those circumstances.

[Then he had met Charles, and everything opened up for him in ways he'd had no chance of imagining on his own.] It's a process, and I don't think there's ever an end to it. You have to be vigilant.

[notmutantbutmiracle]

[She nods, knowing full well the truth of those words.]

It's funny, isn't it? We all come from such disparate worlds. Yet, we can still find similarities between ourselves that cross those boundaries.

[grandstanding]

Some things are unfortunately constant, with humanity. [The experiments, the judgement, the fear of the different...] Places like this tend to be a good learning experience, however.

[notmutantbutmiracle]

[Wanda nods solemnly at that.]

Too bad we do not apparently get to take the lessons learned here home with us.

[grandstanding]

[That sounds ominous.]

Are you referring to those times people seem to get new memories from home?

[notmutantbutmiracle]

[Wanda only nods in response. Looking just as frustrated having to share this revelation, as Erik appears to be hearing it.]

[grandstanding]

[He is, and it's a topic that's come up with Charles as well. The idea of taking none of the memories home once they leave makes his gut twist. It reminds me too much of the library, and how they forgot everything once they left there. If that were to happen again...]

Nothing is really certain until we leave for good.

[notmutantbutmiracle]

Perhaps.

[But Wanda looks unconvinced.]

I do not imagine many back home would believe us, even if we could remember everything.

[grandstanding]

I don't believe it's anyone's business, back home. I've already done this twice, and told no one. A third time isn't going to change that for me.

[It was enough to have salvaged his world and his race from the destruction that took him to those other places.]

[notmutantbutmiracle]

[Wanda can't recall if Erik has shared this information or even hinted at it to her before. She looks at him with new interest.]

You have been to places like the fleet before... twice?

[grandstanding]

[Perhaps he implied it on his first day when they spoke, months ago. He nods, a trace of ironic humour in his voice.]

Yes. I don't believe the third time is the charm, in this instance. I would have preferred to remain at two. At least I haven't lost my memories, this time.

[notmutantbutmiracle]

[Wanda quirks an eyebrow, a bemused expression on her face. She knows there are several in the fleet that have had experience with being yanked out of their own reality for another before even arriving here. Still, most of them do not speak of these experiences openly. Not that Wanda can blame them. It was certainly intriguing to have Erik opening up to her about it like this.]

Number two was rather nice, was it?

[grandstanding]

No. It wasn't. [Short and blunt; that's all that really needed to be said.] The Fleet is by far the least terrible. I would have just preferred to put a full stop after the second one, rather than continue on like this. It becomes very tiring.