| Marvel: Age of Heroes | ||||||||||
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You are given two hours to settle after arriving for the first time at the school, Jean and Xavier still down in the sub-levels. Scott shows you a guest room in the staff quarters, and grabs you a pair of sweats and a t-shirt with the Xavier's Insitute logos on them. Scott requests that you meet him in the staff rec room when you are ready. He goes there not long after handing you the things to change into...the women undergarments will have to be something the girls take care of. Scott isn't -that- practical.
As the time passes, and it's time to face the music as they say, Scott is down in the sitting room listening to the radio. It's something he has always enjoyed doing. The television is off though he sits on the couch facing it, one foot tapping lighting against the floor in rythum to the music playing over the radio. He doesn't have the best sense of beat.
After cleaning up and getting her first proper shower in... god knows how long, Rachel Summers straightens her hair in the mirror, sighs about the tattoos on her face, and then decides not to run. Squaring her shoulders, she pads through the house, taking her time, soaking up the sight, sound, and even the touch of things long-since lost to her, and there are tears in her green eyes as she can't help but pause every now and again to hug some cherished silly old knick-knack they kept around the house, even mundane things like flower vases and photos of previous residents... all the things that made this place home to her since she can remember. However, she can't stop going to the rec room indicated. He didn't even need to tell her where it was, only the name, and she knew where to go. Uncanny. And she clears her throat to announce her presence as soon as she steps into the room, nervous and hesitant, but still... OMG, her dad is alive again! And the tears remain.
Scott turns to look at you and winces slightly. "Hello," he says, almost sounding...awkward? He is awkward. But he finally stands, "Take a seat. I'm going to get something. I'll be right back." Seeing you about to cry sends the poor guy running until he can regather his own thoughts that just scattered to the wind. However, he only takes about ten minutes, and comes back with something in a form of an apology. He has two mugs of hot chocolate with little marshmellows bouncing in the hot, dark liquid. "Careful, it's hot," he warns you and sets it down. "I thought you might want something to drink while we talked." He didn't think to ask what you wanted to drink first...he could kick himself for the thoughtlessness. "Afterwards, there is plenty of food in the kitchen if you are hungry."
Her dad's hot chocolate. One of the few things her dad did better than her mom. One of the special things she and her dad had shared oh so long ago. The tears don't go away, even tho there are signs in the form of a couple of discarded tissues, that she had had a good cry while he was away. Rachel sniffles once more as she takes the mug, her hand shaking so much she has to set it down before she spills any of it. "Sorry... it's been so long since we've had hot chocolate together." At least she owes him an explanation why she's so damned weepy and keeps bursting out into new tears every five seconds.
"Well, since you are happy to see me I'm guessing I didn't anything mega-wrong." Scott moves to take a seat on the couch, not too close to you and blows gently on his hot chocolate. He is silent for a few moments before he finally just says what he feels needs said, "I'd rather you didn't say anything to Jean till I've spoken with her. She's had some bad shake-ups lately." Not that he has any idea to say...hey, potentially in our future or perhaps another dimension's future, we have a kid together! Congrats us! We are now a mom and dad of a fully grown daughter! Oh yes...that's easy to say. You know, he really feels bad for Kurt now. Well, at least he didn't find out your mother was a member of the Brotherhood like Kurt did...not that Scarlet Witch is a member anymore. Could be worse...ya, it could be. "So....with The Professor in training with Jean, I guess that gives us some one-on-one time together." Scott has -no- idea what to do, but he's trying to seem like he does...this of course epically fails when you are around a telepath.
"I know," Rachel says quietly, nodding, waiting until she can hold a cup and not spill anything before once more reaching out for the mug and sipping from it. The blissed-out look that crosses her face... a little bit marred by tears, but she can be forgiven. If she's from the future, of course she'd know what's happened to Jean. She takes a few minutes to simply savor the presence of her father and the hot chocolate and the peace that descends upon her turmoiled mind. "So. What do you want to know?"
"I'm not sure I -want- to know Mi...Rachel," Scott says with surprising calmness. "Part of me is happy with the possibility of Jean's and my relationship developing, and part of me is sad to have noticed you have obviously suffered. I'm not blind." He's just not a mind reader, or a particularly good people person. Nope, definately not that. "Something obviously went very wrong, I failed somewhere." And that hits him hard, though there isn't a flicker of it on his face. "How about something perhaps a little easier...," maybe, "How did you get here?"
Rachel Summers shrugs her shoulders. "I dunno," she admits honestly, before quickly shaking her head. "And you didn't fail anywhere. Not you, not mom, not the Professor, not any of us... humanity failed itself." She sighs softly and puts the mug down again. "I don't remember all the details... and I don't know why... but the whole /world/ went wrong. But now I'm here, and we can stop this. We have to..."
"Easy," Scott advises Rachel, his tone meant to calm. "One step at a time. The Professor is likely the best one to talk about the details. I'm up-to-date on current events, but I don't know half of what The Professor knows...," and he truly realizes this. "But we will work together as a team, like we always do." And he blinks behind his sunglasses, a little surprised at his own words.
Rachel Summers settles back when her dad gets all soothing-voiced on her. Dammit. Instinct and automatic reactions. "But we did that back then," she protests, the words almost unwilling against his attempts to keep her calm. "And it didn't do a damned bit of good. Don't you get it? They killed us all... well, except for me, Kate, Peter, Franklin, Ororo, and Magnus."
"Peter, Franklin?" He figured out how Kate was, knows who Ororo is, and guessing Magnus is Magneto. "The Professor will find a way...-we- will find a way. We just have to have faith." Dead...he and Jean are dead. He suspected, but he didn't really want to know. It took time to realize the Dark Phoenix was not Jean, she did not comitt sucide. But the horror of that...at least he died with her, right? He hopes so. If Rachel isn't careful, she may sense the raw wounds still there...only starting to heal. There is no doubting it, your dad even at this early stage, is head over heels in love with Jean, and the loss of her...almost killed him. "How much do you know about the current events of this year?" He isn't asking for a detailed list, just if you believe you know them in detail, or if it is foggy for example.
Rachel Summers waves her hand a little bit. "Peter... Piotr Rasputin. We called him Colossus. And Franklin..." And her face falls, and this time, so do the tears. "Franklin Richards. He and I were gonna..." And then after a hearty sniffle, wiped on the sleeve of the sweater he'd got for her, and a long calming breath. "But that's over now. He's gone. At least... the one I knew... the one in this time'd just be a kid, if he's been born yet. Creepy." And she shivers a bit. The raw wounds of his recent death, despite the fogginess of her own memory, is enough for her to miss Scott's mental aching. The question brings her out of her funk with a shrug, and she details what she remembers had happened, but it's obvious she herself never lived through the events, because she rattles off the memories as if they were stories other people had told her about what happened before she was born.
"Oh...Piotr, he's here too," Scott says. And when you mention the gonna part....it must be someone born about the same time you were. Scott is still for a moment before he reaches out awkwardly to pat your leg gently. "Drink your hot chocolate. It will warm you." He sucks at stuff like this. Jean is way better. He then falls into listening. He finally nods after a while, "You seem to understand a good bit, though some of what you said hasn't happened yet...," if you are really from this timeline's future. TJ was discovered that she wasn't. "You know a lot more than TJ knew apparently, it should be easy to figure out. And if this is your timeline...," his voice trails off because it's obvious. They will change the future.
"Who's TJ?" Rachel asks blankly. It's not a name or nickname she's familiar with. "No one's ever mentioned anyone named that before... am I really in the past, then? Or... am I in some other past?"
"TJ Wagner, Kurt's daughter from an alternative dimension. Former member of Excalibur when it was together. Blue, pointy tail, likes leather, and a complete flirt," and Scott almost coughs into his hot chocolate at the last point. He really should be careful what he says around you. Because he just realized what he said, sound very...very....well, just plain wrong!
Rachel Summers gives Scott a very very strange look. "No idea." She's tiptoeing through the minefield of her dad making comments about other women being flirts and all. To cover it up, she reclaims her mug of hot chocolate, now suitably cooled to drink. "So... either I'm in the wrong place, or she is... I dunno. Either way, hell is coming and it's bringing a handbasket."
"Well, this isn't her world," Scott does say. "She wanted to get back to her own timeline for the longest, but...no one has figured out how. She's made a new life here." He respects that strength in TJ. "As for hell coming in a handbasket...," he can't disagree. This school is rebuilt after being destoryed by Sentinels, he has suffered hell and once getting Jean back, once getting his home back...no, he will use whatever information he has to, to protect it, to protect those he cares for. "Are you feel a little better at least?"
Rachel Summers nods quickly. "Yeah... your peptalks and the hot chocolate always did wonders for us... even if no one remembered to thank you for it." And she sips and once more has a moment of bliss. This truly is her idea of a slice of heaven. "Thanks, dad." Even she can forget sometimes.
"My peptalks...," he sucks at peptalks...doesn't he? He eyes you suspiciously. "Uh-huh." Is this 'kissing up'? Most people know better than to try it. And the dad part? Scott works on finishing his hot chocolate. Yep, yummy...hot chocolate. Alright, he has to ask, "How old are you?"
Rachel Summers chuckles faintly. "I'm 18. Not jailbait for New York, so I'm afraid you're gonna have to get out the shotgun or just blast ... no... no you're not," she falters, looking away. "Don't think I'll ever bother with that again." She lets out a long sigh and looks up at the ceiling. "This is soooo weird."
"Eighteen. Four years younger than me." He is young right now. Scott then laughs a bit roughly, and weakly. "Oh..don't make me think about that right now, I'm still trying to get used to the fact that...even though I haven't sired you 'yet', I got a full-grown daughter." His mind is whirling at the thought. He finally nods in agreement, "Definately weird." He is silent for a few moments before he says, "Umm...so...where does that leave us exactly? I mean....this is awkward," he finally admits.
"You don't know the half of it..." Rachel replies a bit ruefully. "I don't know where it leaves us... you see..." And she sighs and finishes off her mug before continuing, setting it back just so on the table. "The you that I knew... was killed... when I was 10. Mom... she didn't get to stay much longer after that. And then." Again, she pauses, gathering her nerves up. "When I was 14, the government attacked the school and slaughtered everyone. I felt them all die in my mind. I was the only survivor." Looking off into the distance, she points to the tattoos on her face. "These are hound marks. A hound is a mutant conditioned to hunt down fellow mutants. I was the best."
"I died, and Jean...," lived? Was she stronger than him he wonders morbidly. "You're a telepath," Scott isn't dumb by a long shot. He got that obvious clue. There is horror at your story...of how the government can use someone like that, let alone someone that is genetically his daughter in all likihood. He feels sick, but his discipline keeps his face perfectly blank. It still takes him a few moments to speak. "Conditioning a telepath can't be easy, but they would prove the most effective." He's speaking practically, but something feels jagged and broke inside. He hates the words you are speaking...not hating you, but the words of a potential future that makes him sick. He doesn't look away from you however, he doesn't close his eyes. "How did it end?"
"Everyone died. At least, I hope they did." Rachel's words are soft and sincere. "The world had become hell. All those movies you see about World War II and the concentration camps? It was like that, only about twenty times worse. We were branded. We were shot on sight. We were used, abused, maimed, anything bad you can think of, add a triple dose of bad on top of it. They got technology that could inhibit our powers, then they locked us up until it was time for us to die. Only some of us fought back. Magnus led us, and he came up with a plan for us to take down the central Sentinel. Only... it didn't go off well. And we died. Only Kate and I lived... and then... I dunno what happened after that, really..." And she trails off into tears, curling up into herself. "Poor poor Kate..."
Scott can't help but believe your sincerity, no matter how much he wants to doubt. He finally sets his empty mug aside and shifts closer to you. This is awkward for him, he hasn't really let a female close to him except for Jean, and isn't the touchy-feely type. But you have been through hell, more than once over. He moves to wrap an arm about your shoulder and give you an awkward one-armed hug. "She's fine right now, you can see her later," he says quietly. "Just try not to scare her too much, you have a second chance, we -all- have a second chance Rachel. I promise it." Because he will do everything in his power to make sure that future never comes to be....and that you can grow up and live happily. His voice is very quiet, "How about I fix us some dinner? And I think an early bed sounds good. Things will feel better in the morning," he hopes.
Rachel Summers nods, soaking up the awkward comfort of her dad's hug. "Okay." As simple as that, she lets herself be led off to the kitchen, where there's real food, real fixings, real soda, OMG PEPSI! and all the kinds of things people in this time took for granted. And then after the meal, she lets herself be sent off to bed, where she finally sleeps, her mind exhausted from the journey. But she's home. And now she has a chance to make sure things end up differently.