01st transformation . video . locks for erik & charles

[permutates]

[ She greets the barge with a smile. Her appearance is 'normal' - normal for a human. No blue skin or yellow eyes in sight. ]

Hi. [ And a little wave. She regrets it immediately. That's kind of embarrassing, isn't it? And not something that she should be doing, because she's here for a purpose. ] I'm Raven.

I heard a few of my friends were here, so I thought I'd come… help. I'm a warden.

And I'm here because I really believe that even if you're trapped, you still should have a chance to figure out who you are. I think that's important.

[ locked to Erik ]

Well, you thought I was crazy for trying, but I found you.

[ locked to Charles ]

[ She considered her approach to this for a long time. There are a lot of things that they should probably say to each other, and she's supposed to be responsible here. She can't just avoid him, as much as she wants to, while she gets her head together. ]

You should know that I'm here.

Comments

[permutates]

Are you angry about it?

[fridgetothefire]

I was, for a long time. I guess I still am. I try not to dwell on him.

[It's...difficult. His fingerprints are baked deep into her clay, and even if she could scrape them all off, she'd have the barge's love of ghosts and reflections to deal with.]

[permutates]

I'm angry a lot. Even times when I know people don't deserve it.

It's - hard.

[fridgetothefire]

I hurt people who didn't deserve it, because I was so angry, and scared.

That's why I'm here.

[She wonders if Raven will find this sympathetic. She means it as a warning.]

[permutates]

I hope I don't do that.

But I can understand why you did.

[She takes it as somewhere in between those two.]

[fridgetothefire]

Do better than hope.

[It's not harsh, just - brusque. Anya is a pragmatist. She raises an eyebrow, lightens it a little.]

You're a role model now, you know.

[permutates]

...that'll take a little getting used to.

[fridgetothefire]

[She smiles a little at that, wan but sweet.]

Good luck.

[permutates]

Thanks.

Do you know anyone else here? Like Alex?

[fridgetothefire]

I've been stuck here for the last seven months. I know pretty much everybody, by face if not interaction.

Alex is a friend, I guess.

[permutates]

He's a good guy.

But you've... probably known him longer than me.

[fridgetothefire]

He taught me how to make hamburgers.

[Yes, he is.]

Are you guys friends?

[permutates]

I think so, but a lot's happened. Maybe not.

If not, I'll miss him.

[fridgetothefire]

Like what?

[She knows enough to put together a very good guess. But there's something real to the sad, uncomprehending curiosity in her voice. Friends are so precious to her. She hadn't been able to cut Junko off for anything less than actual, excruciating murder, and even that they've recovered from, more or less.]

[permutates]

Erik and Charles went their separate ways. I went with Erik. He went with Charles.

That's... two years ago, for both of them, but it's a lot more recent for me.

[fridgetothefire]

What does he want to do, in your world? Erik, I mean.

[permutates]

Charles wanted peace. Erik didn't think it was possible. He wanted to protect mutants first.

[fridgetothefire]

And how did he plan to do that?

[She's not sure what kind of answer she's hoping for. Threatening bravado is less disturbing than proactive conquest, but it's just so stupid.]

[permutates]

When I left, we were trying to find mutants before humans did.

[fridgetothefire]

[wait what that's perfectly sensible]

Why should that preclude peace?

[permutates]

The world was reacting to the existence of mutants, and in some places, it was turning bad. Fast.

[fridgetothefire]

But it's purely defensive. I don't - maybe he's changed here, but I have a hard time seeing Charles parting ways with anyone over...rescue and relocation.

[permutates]

[ It seems to her that Anya's reactions are a little bit wrong. For someone who isn't totally invested, for someone who isn't familiar with the situation.

Suspicion dawns on Raven, slowly. ]

Charles wanted mutants and humans to be in a world together. And he turned Erik away.

[ I'm sorry, my friend, but we do not. ]

[fridgetothefire]

[She's said that she knows a Magneto; her world has mutants, and she knows them all here. She's familiar with a situation, but totally different one. She's offered reasons to be invested, but only a fraction of them.

And the answer is critical and vague at once. Not the way she pictured it, and yet - not quite as Raven is presenting it, either. Wanting safety in a way that excluded Charles's vision, a vision where humans had a place other than the past, that put him beyond it, whoever made the actual call, it's what she's always been afraid of. It's more than protection, even though she understands the terrible fear of the inevitable clash.

She thinks about asking what Erik wanted, to offer isolation with eradication as the only unspoken alternative in which humans and mutants were not in the world together. But Raven's answered that question already, it would be protection again, and Anya doesn't want to push too hard. She'll ask Charles, later, hopes that he'll tell her.]

I'm sorry. I didn't know. They...reconciled, before I got here, I guess.

[Because rejection hurts, and she knows that well enough.]

[permutates]

They've been here a long time.

[ She's not sure how to deal with it, is what she means by that. ]