(no subject)

[exothermia]

Who: Erik, Charles, and those aboard the Heron
Broadcast: No
Action: The Heron
When: Now

[Erik feels groggy when he wakes. How long had he slept for? Time didn’t hold the same structure that it used to for him, not when he was off alone, but he was certain he had slept before midnight… Shifting in the bed, he automatically casts his arm over the person sleeping next to him, a habit that usually leaves him bereft when it comes up empty. He cracks open his eyes, something nagging at the back of his mind even before he sees--

Charles. He jerks his hand back, confusion taking over. Charles shouldn’t be here, not in Poland. He’d left the mansion weeks ago. A rapid glance around the room (metal walls, a locker, that odd-looking hovering chair they’d spent so long building--) only serves to disorient him further. Where was he? Erik sits up, pressing a hand to his eyes as he tries to think. He had been in Poland. Somewhere remote, an abandoned house in the woods somewhere (not his house, he had already gone there and left again) on his road east, and… information rises out his whirling thoughts. A ship. This was that spaceship. He could feel it now, extending out through his senses. But that had been years ago. This wasn’t right. Something was terribly wrong.

He pulls his hand away from his face and stares at it, jaw tight. On his pointer finger was a slightly irregular silver ring. On his ring finger was his wedding band.

He remembers that his heart is broken. He remembers why he went back to Poland to begin with, why this is the wrong place. He remembers.

Something shakes apart inside him, and the Heron does the same.]

[Days ago, the two mutants on the Heron fell asleep and didn’t wake up. A few days later, their appearance started to change, Erik’s hair growing scruffier and the odd few silver threads starting to creep in, while Charles’s simply disappeared altogether. Anyone paying attention would notice they had grown noticeably older in just a few days. Now, it seems like they’re waking up. And Erik’s return to consciousness stands to shake everyone else to attention whether they like it or not.

It starts as a vibration, humming through the metal surfaces of the ship. It increases rapidly, getting noisier and more violent, until everything is rattling. Loose metal items begin to lift off from wherever they lie, floating jerkily into the air. Those closer to the walls around the edges of the ship will find less of a disturbance, though the floor still does its best to mimic an earthquake.

And then, just as abruptly, it stops. Most of it. Those vibrations are still shivering through everything, screws and spoons spinning drunkenly on the floor. Strange... should anyone investigate that closed bedroom, the culprit is easy to find.]

Comments

[pain_train]

[As soon as she's gotten a confused keysmash of a text from Winter, Wrath's over at the Heron. She's been incredibly worried about both Charles and Erik, though not quite as freaked out as she was about Beverly because at least they were still physically around.

She heads straight in to check on them, whoever she can get to first. Though this isn't going to be her normal sort of enthusiastic greeting. She's still conditioned enough about how things were back home that she approaches with caution. You never know how people have changed--or been changed, after all.]

[exothermia]

[By now Erik's gotten off the bed, and Charles into his chair. He's been waiting for people to start arriving, tension coiling inside him like a spring. When Wrath enters, his eyes flick to her distinctive hair first, and he keeps a strong lid on his power.

He does what feels natural; he steps back out of the way so she can go to Charles.]

[pain_train]

[Charles is Wrath's first priority, but she hasn't forgotten Erik. He's important too. Not just because he's important to Charles, but because he's the rare person who doesn't bullshit her, and has treated her like he has high expectations. So she wants to make sure he's okay, for certain values of okay.

Some things are never okay. All you can do is find a new equilibrium.]

Hey, Erik. You look like shit.

[exothermia]

[It puts him off balance for a moment, and he just stares at her. Eventually he sighs, scratching at his beard.]

Hello, Wrath.

[pain_train]

Like you've been on a D4 bender and ended up face down in zone six.

On a scale of dumb to really, really dumb, how dumb is it to ask if you're gonna be okay?

[exothermia]

I don't know what any of that means.

Do I not look okay? [He's barely said anything yet. He knows his appearance changed. He knows his life is in ruins. But he's coping right now. It shouldn't be so easy to tell otherwise.]

[pain_train]

It means you look like shit.

[She lightly touches a finger just to the side of one of her eyes.] It's the eyes. Your ghosts live in your eyes.

[Then she holds out her hand, an asking gesture.]

[exothermia]

[It pulls him up short, and he's silent for longer than he should be. None of this is new. It's... not old, either. Two months or so, now. It will never feel old, and the ghosts will never leave him. They only grow in number, in substance. He has to remind himself he's in the land of the living.

He looks at Wrath's offered hand, but doesn't take it.]

I'm managing.

[pain_train]

Sometimes that's all you can do. Pain doesn't really ever go away. [But they already both know this, don't they.]

[Hand still out.]

I want to touch you to make sure that this is real and I'm not just having a fucked-up hallucinatory non-memory where Erik looks like he just came off the Line. Because you weren't on the Line with me. At least I'm pretty sure you weren't.

If that's okay. If it's not okay, I'll deal with it.

[exothermia]

[His pain had, for a while. A time that was far too short, in retrospect. He pushes the thought away. For a moment he's still reluctant, the ever-present nerves prickling under his skin at the shift in situation. He'll adjust (maybe).

Finally he reaches out to place his hand on top of hers. He's wearing two rings; a silver one on the pointer finger, and a gold band on the ring.]

I'm afraid it's real. Even so... it's good to see you.

[pain_train]

It's good to see you too, Erik. I was really worried.

[She notes the rings, but decides this really isn't the time to ask about if they mean anything. Jewelry can be a really private thing anyway. But she offers him a crooked smile when he takes her hand. She wraps her fingers briefly around his and gives it a little squeeze. That's the reassurance she needs. Then she opens her hand to let him move away. She knows Erik isn't the touchy sort, so it's an even bigger deal that he did this for her.

Quietly, she adds something that she has to remind Winter about, sometimes.] It's okay if you're not okay, when it's down time. I'll watch your back.

[It's perhaps a weird way to say I care about you and want to help, but it's the best way she knows.]

[exothermia]

[He pulls his hand away as soon as she lets him.] Ah... how long was it? [He's still disoriented on that front. A few days versus ten years? It's hard to take in, among the myriad of other things.]

[Wrath's words brush against him and he feels like his hair is standing on end. This kind of sentiment was never something he was used to. He had gotten used to it from Charles, but... that was a long time ago. When they were different. Something stills in his expression, growing morose.

It's not okay, not really. He can't see that it ever will be again. Not with the hole in his heart.]

Thank you. But I'll get through it.

[pain_train]

Just a few days. You weren't gone nearly as long as Beverly. And you weren't really gone... your bodies were still here. [Which is extremely disquieting to her for a number of reasons.

She watches his expression, reads it, considers it. She doesn't know Erik nearly as well as she knows Winter and Charles, but he's still important to her. And she's dealt with enough people who say things like that (Winter, Tenno, Charles, Maine, Delta, Whiskey, Maine again...) that she's got a grasp on the kind of internal process behind words like that.

Hell, she's said things like that herself, if she's being brutally honest internally.]

Yeah, you will. You're tough as hell. But that doesn't change that there are people who care about you, and are gonna do their best to look out for you. [She offers him a wry little quirk of her lips.] You can't force people to stop loving you just because you don't love you right now.

[axiomed]

[ The door is still open when Charles spots Wrath in the corridor. It takes him a few minutes for the memories to catch up with him before he smiles wryly. He seems no worse for wear, no physical scarring.

But his baldness stands out. ]

[pain_train]

[Wrath stops in the doorway. Her instinct is to fling herself at Charles for the reassurance of his reality, but the strange sight he makes now brings her up short. It makes something itch in the back of her brain.

Is this still Charles? The smile looks right. Doesn't it?

Unconsciously she traces a line over her right ear with one finger before saying flatly:] What did they do to you?

[And suddenly, beneath it all, she is a n g r y.]

[axiomed]

It's not -- It was one man. He's gone now. I'm all right.

[ He swallows quietly in the face of her anger. It seeps into his consciousness. ]

[pain_train]

Okay.

[He better fucking be dead.

She swallows it back down, packs it away for later. There is a reason she is Wrath. Everyone forgets. Even she forgets sometimes.

So she approaches, but conscientiously remembers not to just jump on him. She still recalls how badly that can go, hugging someone without asking first. Her voice goes a little small and uncertain when she's a step away:] Okay?

[Charles always understands, no matter how bad she is at words.]

[axiomed]

[ He smiles, unfolding his arms. ]

It's okay.

[pain_train]

[No more hesitation. She nearly falls into that hug, and follows through to climbing into his lap as she's done before, curling up tight against him.]

I'm glad you're back even if I shouldn't be.

[He's not supposed to go where she and Winter can't watch his back.]

[axiomed]

[ Charles brushes his thumb against her cheek. ]

There's nothing wrong with that.

[pain_train]

It's not kind or generous to wish people were away from where they want to be.

[She curls her fingers into his shirt, like that's going to keep him from going away again. I love you, Charles. You scared the hell out of me. Not his fault, she knows that.]

Was it like what happened to Winter? Were they... updating you? [Like a fucking computer.]

[axiomed]

[ He nods carefully. ]

I'm ten years older. With a new set of memories and experiences.

[pain_train]

Ten years. [That's... wow. She probably doesn't have even ten years worth of coherent memories.]

Were they a good ten years?

[axiomed]

They were . . . much better than I thought they would be.

[ The school began without too many hitches. Students filled the corridors once more, not torn away by a foreign war. ]

[pain_train]

That's... good? [Anything's better than being dead, for example. But that doesn't mean it's the same as good.]

Will you tell me about it? [Maybe not today if he's tired, but some time.]