Iskaulit mingle

[lord_wizard]

Who: Anyone!
Broadcast: No
Action: Iskaulit
When: Feb. Drift Week (and beyond?)

[The fleet, more or less patched up after their battle, has once again left civilization behind for empty space. Maybe it's a good time to distract yourself and get away from the endless repairs and nothingness, though there might still be cleaning up that needs to be done here too.

Whether you're grabbing a broom or grabbing a drink, this is a fleetwide mingle for the Iskaulit.]

Comments

[winn]

[ it's a good thing to see. he could get used to this side of charles. ]

The teachers are pretty cool too.

[axiomed]

The teachers can barely keep up most of the time. Though perhaps it'll change a bit now that some of the students are a bit older.

[ They had all been so young when Charles restarted the school. While many of the old procedures, classes and systems were in place, Hank and Charles still found themselves stumbling in the dark. ]

[winn]

I think that's just how schools work.

[ kids are a terror. he should know, he never really grew out of it, just ask jim. ]

[axiomed]

Most schools. Probably not this one.

[winn]

You'll be fine.

[ he believes in hank. ]

[axiomed]

We have been so far.

[ The second time around. ]

[winn]

Are you allergic to optimism, or just morally opposed?

[axiomed]

[ That's hilarious. ]

Neither. I live in perpetual hope but I've learned to be pragmatic in these affairs.

[winn]

I think pragmatism and optimism kinda feed off each other - you know, I work to make sure things work out, which makes me believe they can work out, which encourages me to keep working at it til they do. But that's just me.

[axiomed]

[ Charles gives him a look. ]

That sounds very nice but how often do you believe that?

[winn]

Every morning, it's how I get out of bed.

[ honestly. if he didn't truly believe that things would work out for the best, he would be crushed under the weight of his worries and his misery, he would succumb to depression, and he wouldn't have the will to keep trying, to keep moving.

he's seen impossible odds defeated, he knows what the people around him are capable of, and he believes in them even when he loses faith in himself. ]

[axiomed]

[ Charles' expression softens. ]

I believe it too. I wouldn't be here otherwise. But I have my moments as well.

[winn]

We all do, that's what friends are for.

[ he offers a small smile; not that he and charles are exactly friends but they do care and that's the main point. ]

[axiomed]

[ Friends. Charles doesn't have many. The few he has in the Fleet were still more than he had ever been accustomed to. And even then it had been a slow process, fraught with Charles' own indecisiveness and fear for other people. The lesson he learned in Cuba was perhaps learned too well. He treats them all with a fragility he can't fully cease. ]

My hope came somewhere else. But I see what you mean.

[winn]

So where's yours from?

[ his guess would be his students, but he doesn't really know charles well enough to guess. asking, that's a good way to start to actually get to know each other. ]

[axiomed]

[ He rubs his chin thoughtfully. ]

The school, I suppose. I saw a vision of it in the future. All it could be. Even in the midst of . . . [ Charles trails off, reluctant to get into the future of Sentinels and death. ]

Honestly, they've already surpassed me. And they probably will. Knowing that keeps the hope alive.

[winn]

[ he nods; meaningful work also really helps. he's felt it since he started helping kara out with being supergirl, but it didn't really hit him until she woke up with more memories from home and told him he traded his meaningless job in it for becoming a real deo agent, someone who dedicates his life to making the world a safer place. he didn't realize how much he wanted that until she told him he got it. ]

It sounds pretty amazing.

[axiomed]

It is amazing. The Vietnam War . . . it crushed the school. The fact that it came back stronger than ever is still a miracle.

[ It crushed me, though Charles wonders if the war simply was the final push over the edge as he kept his own pain at bay. It had been too much. ]

[winn]

It's better than a miracle. [ he doesn't believe in those ] It's - human-mutant nature. [ they really need to figure out how to update the language to account for mutants, meta-humans, aliens, and everyone else. it's getting hard not to offend anyone. ]

If something's really good, really reaches people, it'll endure.

[axiomed]

It certainly seems to endure multiple dimensions.

[ Well. Arguably. ]

[winn]

And that says a lot. Think about it - in an infinite multiverse full of infinite possibilities, over and over again people come together under the same name to serve the same cause. That's pretty freaking awesome.

[axiomed]

[ It is but Charles would be more pleased if it wasn't his name and his school. It still makes him feel . . . self-conscious. Like there is some idealized version that he hasn't quite attained. ]

I suppose? I hardly dislike it, but it can be a bit unnerving at times.

[winn]

[ unnerving he gets. cisco, hank, and he joke a lot that they're basically the same, but if they're the same, then he's definitely the lamest version. cisco and hank have powers, he's the only one without them. cisco and hank are accomplished scientists who were working to advance mankind before they joined up with a superteam, last time he was home he was an IT guy who covers phones when his best friend saves the world. he definitely developed an inferiority complex there. ]

They're good guys, that's comforting. [ he's still terrified of having an evil twin. ]

[axiomed]

Good guys.

[ It sounds strange on his tongue. Good and evil are not concepts mutants get to have a lot of leeway in. It's not simple ]

That's an unusual way of putting it, but I suppose it's not wrong.

[winn]

Unusual's where I shine.

[ he's just determined to stay positive this time, one way or another he's going to have a conversation with charles that doesn't turn to crap. ]