Raven Darkholme | Mystique (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
permutates) wrote2013-07-25 05:05 pm
permutates) wrote2013-07-25 05:05 pm
Entry tags:
2nd Transformation . spam :: gym
[ Instead of asking the network, she goes to the gym herself, wanting to see if there's any likely teachers, or people who are worth watching. (Raven can learn a lot from watching, she's found.)
So she ventures into the gym, blue-skinned, dressed in a tank top and loose sweatpants, and she sees the balance beam.
She part-remembers being a child, stepping out into a playground and playing along one. She always had the best balance. And she thinks of what Azazel has been teaching her, and she wonders...
She hops up onto it, a smooth movement, and extends her arms, testing her balance one way or another. She seems steady, so she dashes from one end to the other, every footstep sure. She tips backwards, then, folds until she's standing on her hands. It's hard to keep her grip, exactly; she shifts her fingers and stretches her legs out, a split, one forward, one backward. Rolls onto the forward one, moving herself back to her feet. And she does the whole movement again, quicker this time.
It's easy.
Part of her wants to laugh with the thrill of it, with realizing how innate her own physical abilities are. How graceful she is when she's not pretending to be someone else.
She balances on the end, debating attempting some sort of flip off of it. ]
So she ventures into the gym, blue-skinned, dressed in a tank top and loose sweatpants, and she sees the balance beam.
She part-remembers being a child, stepping out into a playground and playing along one. She always had the best balance. And she thinks of what Azazel has been teaching her, and she wonders...
She hops up onto it, a smooth movement, and extends her arms, testing her balance one way or another. She seems steady, so she dashes from one end to the other, every footstep sure. She tips backwards, then, folds until she's standing on her hands. It's hard to keep her grip, exactly; she shifts her fingers and stretches her legs out, a split, one forward, one backward. Rolls onto the forward one, moving herself back to her feet. And she does the whole movement again, quicker this time.
It's easy.
Part of her wants to laugh with the thrill of it, with realizing how innate her own physical abilities are. How graceful she is when she's not pretending to be someone else.
She balances on the end, debating attempting some sort of flip off of it. ]
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[Which is more honest than he means, so he turns abruptly away from the treadmill and heads to the weight machines. The downside is this brings him closer to her. Upside is at least now he's moving.]
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She frowns, and thinks through a cartwheel, and then figures, the hell with it, and tries it. Her palms land a little too hard, and it turns out more like a roundoff - she's not really sure what the difference is, though - but it's square on the balance beam. She instinctively knows where it is. ]
I think if people looked at you, you wouldn't have anything to be ashamed of.
[ She means that more than just in appearance. She means everything. She means she thinks Alex is good. ]
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Maybe.
[Not quite willing to say definitively, one way or the other. She sounds like Snow, kind of, except Snow doesn't speak in roundabout statements. Not like this.]
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Sometimes the way she moves is almost like dancing. (Maybe a little bit of what Angel showed her works its way in.) ]
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[He clears his throat.]
You should talk to Cass. Cass Cain, she's good at that kind of thing. And -
I don't know. I think you'd like her.
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[ A snap of gratitude, that Alex is even saying anything to her, and she suppresses it, with her teeth gritted. She can't be grateful for something as stupid as that. Something that small. ]
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[He slows and squints, not sure if that's the right word.]
She's a friend, anyway. She's a good person. And she likes milkshakes.
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[ The milkshakes thing. ]
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[Yeah, basically.]
Kind of. She's had a bad month.
[And he trusts Raven to be kind to her. Whatever else Raven is, she can be a good friend.]
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[He visibly relaxes. It's not much, he can't do that much for Cass, but it's something.]
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[ She doesn't miss that - the relaxation. It makes her wonder if Cass is more important to Alex than she thought. IF there's something there. But she doesn't think she can ask. ]
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My best friend - here, anyway - is Ben. He just graduated. But he'll probably talk to you again in his own time.
. . . Oliver. Oliver Queen. You might like him. [A quick smile.] Or hate him, I'm not sure. It depends on the day and how surly he's feeling.
He's my inmate. My second one. I don't know if I told you that.
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[ Because she still doesn't know what's up with that.
Second inmate stops her short. ]
You're still here? After one.
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[He stops with the weights completely at her hesitation. He doesn't know if she thinks he's stupid or what, but.]
I'm still here. Bruce stayed on for a while, and then he had to go take care of some things at home. Make things right. This really wasn't a good place for him to stay long-term.
[Which doesn't answer the unspoken question, it doesn't tell her why, but it's somewhere to start, anyway.]
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That was a stupid question. I remember, about Darwin.
Can I ask - I'm not trying to accuse, I promise - why you're here, instead of back with him? Isn't that part of what you wanted, and why you wished for it?
[ She perches down on the edge of the balance beam, legs swinging. ]
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[He sighs, and runs his hands through his hair. How to put this . . .]
The one thing is, Erik's here. And this place - he doesn't deserve to be here.
The other thing is, Charles is here, and he's not leaving until Erik does.
And then the other big reason is . . . there are people here I need to be here for. Not just them, but Bruce, when he was here, he needed me, even after he graduated. [And Alex needed him, but that's not the point.] Jean, you might've met Jean, she's important. I couldn't leave Ben. And Pietro.
[Anya. Snow. Cass. Even Chris. There was no way he was just leaving them.]
This place makes me angry, the way it's set up, the way it's structured. The way things work around here sometimes. I'm not okay with not being here when people are locked up with nobody to advocate for them.
. . . I thought about staying home. But I think people could see [Darwin could see] I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I did.
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Erik doesn't deserve to be here. That was her worst fear, when she heard about Erik and Charles. That Charles somehow pushed Erik into a role where he had to be changed. That Charles decided his friend had to be helped, and nothing could be done about it. She'd been scared of getting back an Erik that was too much like Charles. Who couldn't help her figure herself out. ]
You made a family. Another family.
...I was afraid you and Charles thought this was fair. I couldn't see how you would think that, but I was afraid anyway.
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[Which. Is not the right thing to say. Probably. But it's out now, and - whatever, he does mean it. He wants things to be the way they were, or as close as they can be.]
[She doesn't.]
[Alex shrugs, shoulders tight.]
That's on him, though. [His choice. Not Alex's or Charles's or Raven's. Erik's.]
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Coming home means leaving her. It means leaving everyone that doesn't fit with Charles. ]
...yeah. It is.
[ Erik's choices aren't hers. She'll stay with them even if Erik goes back. ]
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[He'll wait and see.]
[He gets up abruptly, towels off the machines he's used fastidiously, and turns to go.]
I gotta go for a run. I'll see you later.