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

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[permutates]

Always.

[She can't help it, the way she thinks when she sees Anya: She wants to help. She recognizes something she's very sympathetic to in her posture.]

Usually I tried not to think about it like that, but it didn't make much difference.

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[fridgetothefire]

You can't not think about it when it's your whole life.

[Just - matter-of-fact. That's how it is. You can get away for a little while, with a good book, but the world is the world, especially when it's small.]

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[permutates]

I wanted to be grateful, because it could have been a lot worse.

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[fridgetothefire]

[Quietly, eyes glancing down, like she's still a little bit afraid to say it out loud.]

That doesn't make it okay.

[It's only mostly calculated. Everything I did was to protect you. Her scars itch.]

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[permutates]

[Her gaze is more direct. She hates that this was done to her. She doesn't want to hide it.]

No. It's never okay.

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[fridgetothefire]

[She glances up again, rubbing half subconsciously at her arms through her long sleeves, even though it's summer by the barge's reckoning.]

How did you get out?

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[permutates]

A friend helped me figure out that if I don't fit the mold I'm supposed to, maybe there's something wrong with the mold.

keywords pfff

[fridgetothefire]

...I don't understand.

[Her confusion is absolutely genuine, and it shows on her face. This doesn't make any sense. It's not an answer to the question she asked.]

[permutates]

He helped me get out.

[fridgetothefire]

[She thinks about Mastermind, with his oily smile and lightshows between his hands, the way he sucked in his breath through his teeth when he balked, his hand stuttering back like she was a hot stove. The moment she lost him. She has no real idea what he'd have done to her, what the full price would have been for his aid and disloyalty. Less, she can't help but think, than the one she paid later.]

And he didn't...make you pay for it.

[She described him as a friend. Someone who taught her things that matter to her.]

[permutates]

I don't want to go from owing one person to owing another. He had selfish reasons too.

[fridgetothefire]

Reasons like what?

[permutates]

It's complicated.

But I think he wanted people... on his side.

[fridgetothefire]

Who was he fighting? The people who imprisoned you?

[permutates]

No. They were both fighting for something bigger. Something to free all of us.

Charles just thought that locking me up was how to keep me safe. Erik thought I could take care of myself, and that I didn't - that I shouldn't have to pretend to be something I'm not, if I don't want to.

[fridgetothefire]

[She could probably hide her reaction to keep me safe, if she was still in practice, if she were under the relentless pressure she was before. But she doesn't really try, and it twitches out of her, half barely audible scoffing breath, half tiny flinch. It's no less real just because she permits it. It's too close to a quote of a thousand thundered rages; it sticks in her cracks and it hurts.

And then, she has to react to the names, because she won't be able to pretend ignorance. Her eyes widen.]

Wait - Erik and Charles like, here? Those are your friends?

[Nothing hostile, just the surprise of recognition.]

[permutates]

[A nod.] Charles is my brother.

Erik is a friend.

[fridgetothefire]

Erik is...it's complicated.

[She looks away, and this isn't calculated. She doesn't know what she wants to say, doesn't want to seem secretive over things that are common knowledge anyway. Wants to claim Erik as her father, as hers, and at the same doesn't, doesn't want to give those words to Raven first.]

[permutates]

Complicated how?

[Her curiosity is aroused.]

[fridgetothefire]

I'm from a...similar world. He's not the Magneto I knew.

[There's nothing in her voice to suggest what he is to her, neither the closeness of family or the horrors they wrought on each other, neither good or ill. It's fraught, but formlessly so, and Raven can assume what she likes about what the weight of emotion signifies.]

But he's been kind to me when I was. Hurting.

[The word sounds so inadequate. But she can't talk about what Tosh did to this girl. It's too vulnerable, too harrowing and precious at once.]

I'd like to think we're close.

[permutates]

Then I hope we can be friends.

[She really does: that's completely genuine.]

I came up with the name 'Magneto', you know. In my world.

There isn't - I'm not in your world?

[fridgetothefire]

[She smiles, slight and shy, but it's there.]

If you are, I haven't seen you.

[A little light-hearted, a little hey-thems-the-breaks. It's a big world.]

[permutates]

[Well, fair enough.]

What's your name?

...are you a mutant?

[fridgetothefire]

I'm Anya.

[a beat, a nervous breath, sharp fearful/hopeful eyes]

Are you still gonna want to be my friend if I give you the wrong answer?

[permutates]

[An honest shrug.]

I don't know what will happen. I've never had a human friend before.