zwei (action)

[ecclesiophobic]

Who: Kurt Darkholme
Broadcast: None
Action: Fleet-wide
When: Nov. 11th, afternoon onward

On the afternoon of his 31st birthday, Kurt Darkholme opens his eyes just as he has any other day. The similarities to the days before it end there; instead of a battle-worn 30 year old, the person that sits bolt upright appears for all the world to be a teenage boy. Though still covered in blue fur and possessing the unique physical make-up of the elder Kurt Darkholme, the glaring red mark that covers a good portion of his face is just as conspicuously missing. In addition, the boy looks terrified at waking in a strange place.

"Eri--" His voice squeaks before Kurt shuts his jaw with an audible click, grimacing at his own stupidity. Magneto would have his hide for making noise in enemy territory. Still cringing at the thought, Kurt throws the covers off and goes about the business of searching the room he's woken up in.


Windrose - Armory

The first place Kurt comes across after sneaking out of the bedroom he woke in is the armory. Seeing the automatic weapons brings a brief smile to his face, and the boy teleports for a closer look. Surely there has to be something that will fit his hands (even if they are starting toward the broadness of his adult counterpart's.) He's distracted enough by the possibility of being armed, and therefore safer, that he doesn't properly check the room first.


Windrose - Cargo Bay

Regardless of his success in obtaining a weapon from the armory, Kurt's next move is to get the hell out of Dodge. The mutant boy is scuttling along the ceiling, featureless eyes darting around in anticipation of an ambush, when he catches sight of the rather unusual modifications. It's enough out of place that he freezes, eyebrows drawing together in confusion.

"What the--," the boy whispers to himself in his native language.


Everywhere else *

After getting off the Windrose, Kurt's next move is to regroup with the rest of the X-Men. To this end he pilots his shuttle (and it's unnerving that he knows how, but he's going to hope the knowledge is a present from Jean and not worry about it right now) to the various ships and sneaks aboard. Much like his actual first days in the Fleet, Kurt keeps to the ceiling as he skitters throughout the various ships, looking for any familiar faces.

Or more weapons.


Wildcard

Yeah y'all know what this option is.

*Kurt will give the Interfaith center a wider berth than usual. While characters are welcome to try getting him inside, he will react with violence and terror.

Comments

Windrose - Armory

[passingthrough]

She still needs to wrap it, but she did manage to pick something up for Kurt back in the system of factions. It's lucky she did too unless he'd want some scrap metal or a pumpkin. Instead, he'll have to settle for a gold and slightly gaudy bejeweled ring perfect for his tail. It did take a little work to make that part happen. She figures he'll be into it. Did you see his Halloween costume? The man likes his bling.

But the gift can wait. First, she needs to find him and see if he has plans for the day. His real gift is that she didn't breathe a word of his birthday to any ponies. No surprise parties here! But she'd like to have lunch with him. She'll even share some of the last of her stash of the good stuff. But he's not in his room, so she checks the armory. Maybe he's visiting Wrath?

She phases through the door. "Stop making ou..." No Wrath. No making out. She did find Kurt though...didn't she? The surprise is pretty clear on her face. It's not joined by any fear or hostility. "Kurt?"

Windrose - Armory

[ecclesiophobic]

It's a pity Kurt isn't himself; he'd have laughed himself sick over the ring and worn it at least the rest of the day.

Instead, when he hears a voice behind him Kurt starts, his heart seeming to jump into his throat. His first impulse is to run; instead, he snatches up the closest side-arm and pivots, aiming the thing right at Kitty. It doesn't quite fit his hands, and though he's doing his best to look angry his eyes are slightly too wide.

His aim is steady though. "Who the h-hell are you," he demands in a voice higher and with a thicker accent than his older self's.

[passingthrough]

She looks him over and if there wasn't a gun pointed at her she might be cooing over how tiny he is. It's not really the gun that stops her of course. She's phased just in case. No, it's the way his voice catches out of fear even if his hands don't tremble.

He doesn't know her and there's no mark on his eye. Is this something that happened to her Kurt or a new arrival? He's definitely not the other Kurt who was here. She can't imagine him reacting by grabbing a gun or handling it as well as he is if he did.

"Kitty Pryde. X-Men. The safety's still on, you know. You should widen your stance a little too."

Hey, just because he's handling himself well doesn't mean he couldn't use some tips. He's young.

[ecclesiophobic]

He is shorter than her, and much leaner than that Kurt she'd met years ago. It's been less than a year since he lived a peaceful life away from humanity, and he hasn't quite built up the muscle mass. To his credit, Kurt doesn't look away from her when he checks the safety. He raises the gun into his line of sight and, seeing that she isn't lying, flicks it off.

The claim of being an X-Man narrows those eyes, the fear in them muting to scorn. "You're lying. I know all the X-Men, and you're not one of them. Who are you really?" And how does she know his name?

[passingthrough]

"Shadowcat if you prefer. Piotr rescued me from Sabertooth in what was left of Chicago. But since you're supposed to be older than me if any of this sounds familiar you're probably just thinking Chicago hasn't been culled yet."

Maybe bringing up Sabertooth isn't the best of ideas given the history. But she's still not even sure it's her Kurt with her Kurt's history. Glitch or new arrival? There should a buzzfeed test for these things.

Bloodsport

[pneumo]

[ As if sneaking around on the ceiling is going to help you at all on a ship filled with two of the best scenters in the whole fleet Kurt, psh. The moment Kurt's scent starts creeping through the Bloodsport via the vents Sascha perks up and hastily scrambles out of his room, golden eyes bright behind his glasses. It takes a bit of work to track him down, but when he catches sight of that perfect fuzzy butt? He practically chirps in excitement: ]

Kurt~!

Bloodsport

[ecclesiophobic]

[Tiny screams of shock!

No, but seriously. When he hears his name Kurt gasps, vanishing in his trademark puff of sulfurous smoke. A similar bamf sounds a second later, and the teenager reappears closer to Sascha--and to one of the walls, the curve of his back brushing the solid surface.]

Wh-who are you? Why do you know my name? [His voice is so light in comparison to the man he'll be, with a thicker accent. Also his tail's inching toward the side-arm he has concealed under his baggy shirt.]

[pneumo]

[ As if Sascha has that sort of self-preservation, hah. He jumps a little when Kurt teleports because he's not expecting it, but when Kurt reappears closer?? He practically leaps at him to try and latch on with a happy sound.

Because this is clearly a good idea. ]

You came back to visit~!

[ecclesiophobic]

[He acts like Kurt doesn't check in every day.

Thankfully for Sascha, Kurt is still in the process of learning the instincts that would guide him to automatically attack. Kurt's arms go up defensively, palms flat against Sascha's chest as he pushes at the taller man. Yep, on top of having a baby face again, Kurt's about seven inches shorter than he normally is.]

Come back? Wha--Who are you, why are you clinging to me?!

blameless

[athru]

Raven knows that she ought to spend less time on the Blameless and actually visit other ships - other than the Heron, but seeing as that was her brother's ship she didn't think it counted - but she still finds it difficult. Stepping out of the cargo bay as herself, blue skinned and, she knows, beautiful, isn't as simple as people might think. There's still the weight of heroism that settles on her shoulders, an uncertainty from not knowing people and how they'd react, the knowledge of what has happened to people here already...

But each day she's better, and each day she cares less. She answers on the network as herself, blue and stunning and ignoring the curious looks. She visits her friends without blonde hair. She lets herself be herself, and takes a vicious pride in it that comes from knowing that she isn't living a lie anymore; she's Raven and she's Mystique and she can accept it wholeheartedly.

It doesn't stop her tensing when she hears something around above her, and she frowns, reaching to her hip where her gun rests. Being trained in security has perks, and she frowns as she stands, waiting.

"There's no point trying to hide. I know you're here."

[ecclesiophobic]

His older self, in this situation, would call out his identity and intentions. This isn't his mother, for all that she is Raven Darkholme, and if her life has played like so many other versions then she's not had the years of exposure to recognize her son immediately. Quite frankly, he prefers his body without holes in it.

But this younger Kurt has never seen worlds beyond his own, and though still grieving and confused at his mother's recent abandonment he can't conceive of any situation in which he can't trust his mother never to harm him. "Mom!" Comes ringing out from the ceiling, punctuated by the distinct sound of Kurt teleporting.

He reappears a couple of feet in front of her, speaking the moment he does. "Mom, what are you doing here, where are the rest of the X-Men, who brought us here, why are you wearing scales aren't you cold--"

[athru]

As soon as she hears the word Raven tenses; there's no world in which she would ever be ready for that word, and her hand grips the gun at her hip before she can do anything else. There's a dark, dangerous fear in her heart and she wants to step back, to turn away, to run and flee and hide, but she can't. All she can do is stand there, turning her head when she hears the familiar noise that tells her Kurt - one of the Kurts - is teleporting.

Mom. He's calling her mom. She's not his mother, of course, not this version of herself, but the knowledge that whoever this Kurt is must be lost or confused or sad prickles at her skin and all she can do is breathe in and breathe out, forcing herself to calm down. She looks like Mystique. She's blue, just like Mystique. What else is he going to think, looking at her like this?

The obvious choice is to just avoid the question.

"I don't know where they are," that one is easy enough, at least. "The Atroma brought us here, and I'm not cold. What are you doing on the Blameless?"

And we thought his temper as an adult was bad

[ecclesiophobic]

Very lost, incredibly confused by all these strangers who know him and greet him as an old friend, and very, very aware of the hand that had gone for her gun when he'd called for her. If his eyes had any distinction between the different parts, it would be blatantly obvious where his line of sight is and why his chin is slightly tucked.

As it is, his face twists in outrage and disbelief. "Were you going to shoot me?!" The question comes out in a hissed stage whisper, years of being taught Darkholme business stays between Darkholmes overpowering the urge to scream at the woman he thinks is his mother. That, and a part of him wants to think it's a misunderstanding; maybe--maybe she thinks he's another shapeshifter, one of Apocalypse's goons. Maybe whatever brought them here has left her hearing damaged.

There has to be another explanation than her forgetting her own son's voice in less than a year.

Bishop

[stretchy_girl]

[Gemini often keeps an eye on the comings and goings aboard the Bishop, memorising faces and voices and generally spying on watching the crew's doings. So it doesn't take her long to notice the new arrival skittering about the ceilings of the ship.

Behind Kurt a torrent of goo oozes stealthily out of a grate behind him, pulling up into a humanoid shape that gains colour and definition until Gemini is fully formed. Her arm is already a thick rubbery tentacle, elongating to try and coil around the intruder and pull him down off the ceiling and toward her.]

Now who might you be?

[ecclesiophobic]

[As a grown man, Kurt is adept at escaping from any number of entanglements without harming the other person. At this stage in his life, he's not quite good enough to teleport out of a coil like that--not without taking a piece with him. Though he's already inflicted fatal wounds, Kurt Darkholme doesn't have a hard enough heart to inflict them casually. Not yet.

So he struggles in an attempt to free himself, contorting in ways not often seen in human bodies outside of the specially trained or blatantly inhuman.]

Let me go! Before I take your limb off!

[stretchy_girl]

[She's seen and been all kinds of creatures before, but this is the first time Gemini's seen anything quite like Kurt. Blue, fuzzy and not quite human isn't very common in her world, and she's staring at him much like a zoologist would a prize specimen.

Her coiled tentacle of an arm stretches with his struggles, flexing elastically as he contorts, impressively for someone with bones, nonetheless always maintaining a strong grip.]

I'd advise against that for your sake. Tell me who and what you are and why you're here and I'll consider it maybe.

[ecclesiophobic]

[She reminds him of the geneticist McCoy, a lumbering hulk of a man who's already thrown his lot in with Apocalypse. Kurt hasn't met him personally, but the tales he's heard paint the man as a creature with no empathy or interest in other mutants beyond taking them apart.

His face hardens, jaw setting stubbornly against the swell of fear when he realizes he can't break her hold.]

Azazel, of the X-Men. [Yeah, about that code-name.. that will not be a battle he wins.] I'm here to find the rest of my team. You will let me go, or I swear I'll rip off your limbs and shove them down your fucking throat!

Iskaulit - library

[exothermia]

The Iskaulit is a large place, and constantly full of people coming and going. Erik doesn't pay as much attention here as he does in other places, purely because to track everyone would take too much of his time and nerves. In perusing books from the shelves, too, he's more lax in his attention. It's something that leaves him liable to getting more of a shock when the unexpected happens, he knows, but damned if he can figure out a way around it yet.

So it is that Erik's absorbed in a tome about gardening when Kurt scurries onto the ceiling of the library room, and doesn't notice him immediately. It's only when he turns from the shelves, looking over to the chairs, that the flash of blue catches his eye. When he looks up-- he freezes, expression rigid. He knows that appearance, but not exactly like this. It leaves him silent, in anticipation of some reaction that will let him know what to expect.

[ecclesiophobic]

For someone who can vanish into shadows, Kurt is having the worst luck at being spotted. This sort of thing never happened in his native Germany; but then again, a series of spaceships are a far cry from the massive forest he spent his childhood scampering about. It doesn't help that merely being in an actual library is a fascinating distraction; raised as he was, Kurt's never had the chance to step foot in one.

The slight lessening in background noise is what catches Kurt's attention, in the distant way of something seeming off. He turns, putting his back to the ceiling to more comfortably look down, and freezes in place when he sees a man staring right at him. Thankfully, he's run into enough other people by now that his automatic reaction isn't to draw one of the side-arms he's secreted away. On top of that, Erik looks irritatingly familiar.

"..Are you going to attack me," he asks after a pause; softly, because in every book and movie he devoured as a child, libraries were a place one kept their voice down in.

[exothermia]

Erik's hand had started to stray towards his pocket, the metal screws hidden there just waiting for his call. Kurt's quiet question halts his movement, and his brows crease just slightly in consternation. The problem with Kurt - or Kurts - is that now he's met three of them. He can instantly rule out the Kurt of his own world; the lack of religious scarification on his skin is definitive. He hadn't known the other Kurt Wagner in the Fleet for very long, and had spoken to him even less. That one wouldn't have asked that question in such a skittish manner, he estimates.

Which leaves either a new Kurt, or something happened to Kurt Darkholme. Neither option is pleasant to consider.

Erik lowers both hands, the empty one and the one still holding the book. Without removing his gaze from the boy's, he shakes his head. "No. I'm not going to attack you." His own reply is even, at a slightly higher volume than Kurt's. Library or not, he won't be misunderstood.

[ecclesiophobic]

Some things remain constant across the universes. Apparently Erik's voice is one of them, because, just as when he arrived, Kurt straightens up when the man speaks.

"Erik?" The teenager tilts his head, his eyes narrowing as he tries to visualize the man below with longer and much lighter hair. The resulting image isn't quite the same (roughly twenty years younger than the man he knows best as Magneto, to start) but similar enough that the young mutant feels exceedingly foolish for not seeing a resemblance sooner. His mom wouldn't have made that mistake. "..You look different with dark hair."

Armory

[pain_train]

[Well, where else would she be? Especially with Tenno gone, the armory is hers to take care of entirely on her own.

Wrath doesn't immediately notice the difference, since she's busy doing some regular maintenance on the armor.]

Hi, Kurt!

Re: Armory

[ecclesiophobic]

[Tiny screams, part two. Honestly, more of a sharp gasp when Wrath addresses him than a proper scream, Kurt jerking his hand away from the sidearm he'd been reaching for.

Thankfully he's calmed down enough that he doesn't go on the defensive automatically (the extra weaponry was to take with while he explored the other ships), which leaves him with shifting awkwardly. Roughly a year with the X-Men, and Kurt's still learning how to talk to people who aren't his mother.] Um. Hallo. [And that voice is much higher than it normally is, though still recognizable as Kurt's.]

Re: Armory

[pain_train]

Are you okay? You sound weird.

[Squint.]

...wait, you. Uh. Hi. I'm Wrath. We're. Good friends. I guess you don't. Uh. Remember me.

[...yeah, not going to bring up that they're banging, that doesn't seem age appropriate. So they will be just good friends.]

[ecclesiophobic]

[Well, he is a teenager, and one raised by Mystique and Sabertooth. The facts of life were explained the first time he asked where babies come from. But probably less awkward to call them good friends for now (even if seeing him choke on air would be hilarious in the moment.)]

Nein. [English, Kurt. The chiding voice in his head sounds like Erik.] Sorry. No, I--I don't remember you. I like your name? [Good job, very smooth. Just dig a hole and bury him now.] I'm-I'm sorry, I'm not very good at talking to people. You.. probably know that if we're friends. Unless I got better at it?