[Laura had been curious about the other potential mutants scattered around the city — or, well, powered people in general — but as it turns out, she doesn't have to venture far to speak with Scott. She remembers him in passing, when they'd first woken up here... but at the time, she was just some girl and he was just some adult. How is she supposed to know who he is, when he doesn't wear a big, obvious yellow visor?
But she's somewhat aware now, and so when she sees him in the kitchen area, she pokes her head in and watches for a moment.]
Are you really 'Cyclops'?
[He was in the comics. Much like her father, he's not quite so fantastical in person - but maybe that's for the best; she's learned from Logan that comic books really aren't a good indicator of how a person is.
She doesn't know if anyone had spoken to him about who she is. But maybe Ororo or Jean had mentioned her; it would certainly make it easier for her, instead of having to mention some particularly jarring truths from the get-go.]
( it's a bit of a loaded question for him. was he cyclops, leader of the x-men? yes, he was. is he still? he doesn't know. after jean's death— after her sacrifice, he became withdrawn. depressed. wracked with guilt for not being able to do more in the moment. more for her. with that withdrawal came obsession. an obsession in putting together the danger room. making the team stronger. better. as if that might make up for his failure in saving the one person he loved more than anything.
in that time, as the professor considered, he had become a changed man. unable to bring himself to lead— to care about leading, never mind teaching at the school; logan having to fill in for him.
but here? in this place with... some version of jean and ororo... he doesn't know. he doesn't know a number of things. that includes laura here, save for ororo mentioning her name in passing — that she was a student and more as she had put it. so when laura pokes her head into the kitchen, he looks over his shoulder to her. no visor, just the ruby shades. there at the kitchen counter, making himself a coffee. black. )
Hard to tell when I've got two eyes, huh?
( he makes an attempt at being more light before he looks back ahead after a moment. grabbing a loaf of bread there from nearby. )
[She admits it, because she figures that it wouldn't be too shocking that they have comic books. Maybe he knows just how they portray him in the pages. The bright colors, the potentially dramatized muscles, the larger than life hair for some of them... all of that vividness, perfectly catered to young kids who have looked past their prejudices and loved the X-Men and what they represented.
Or kids like her, who are just another side of them: figures the window looking in.
The saddest part of it all is that so many of the now gone X-Men could have had their own children in those labs, just like Logan... and will never have known it. It's best to never point it out, even if she can't help but wonder. There were a lot of them.
Sitting down at the table, she watches him in quiet curiosity.
( with the coffee going, he brings the loaf of bread over. goes over to the cupboards. takes a look at the options available to them currently. fingers tapping at the door, he pulls out a jar of peanut butter. holds it up to show her, then sets it down. )
Comics. That what you're into?
( he's searching through the various drawers, finding knives, grabbing a couple plates down from above. sets everything out before he goes to open the peanut butter, pausing for a moment as he does before he looks back over to laura there. )
Think they might have some around here?
( that kwik trip spot seems to have... a lot of everything, from what he's seen. )
[That she's 'into' them, anyway. She's not completely sure about what she likes and doesn't like yet, especially when she's only been free to explore things like books within the last few weeks. But... it's definitely an experience she can look forward to, she thinks.]
Our nurse read them to us. It was a secret.
[A somewhat concerning comment, but she breezes past it.]
( he says that more to himself. a pause in his actions before he’s giving a soft huff and shake of his head. )
Yeah. I had a few when I was your age. Not sure what they have here though, if any. You think they would since they seem to have everything else almost.
( twisting open the jar of peanut butter, he sets it aside. gets the bread out and sets two slices on a plate. glancing over to a fruit bowl there, he grabs a banana in one hand and an apple in the other. holding them up, he turns to laura then. )
What do you think? Apple or banana with this sandwich?
[She has absolutely no concept of what makes a good or bad sandwich, nor does she understand what would pair best with them, so please understand that this is a very intense question and requires a lot of focus on her part... Eventually, she points one finger toward the apple. Because she — well, she just likes apples more, and apple pie is delicious, so the apple will have to do.]
They say you can ask for things.
I would ask for a horse.
[She is eleven. And she is a horsegirl. It checks out.]
he goes about grabbing a knife and cutting board. setting the apple atop it. starts slicing into it while he listens to laura. a pause in the slicing, he looks over his shoulder to her, what with his back turned to her there and all. )
A horse.
( a slow nod, he offers a faint smile before he looks back to what he's doing. )
We had a few of those at the school. They had their own stables, too.
( the school's grounds were vast and they'd had a number of things and activities for the kids to do. spreading a good amount of peanut butter on both sides of the bread, he lays the sliced apples across one of the sides then puts it together to make a sandwich. truly, a masterpiece on the spot.
turning back to her, he holds the plate out for her to take. )
[It's a weird thing, to vocalize a wish. She's never done that before. Not out loud, anyway. Children can be nothing but wishes on the inside. Children can also be terribly ravenous with their food; she dives into the sandwich without a moment's delay, taking a too-large bite.]
Bike? Cómo se dice... The loud kind?
[She saw a few, on their roadtrip. They seem very different from the bikes children would ride.]
( there's a short puff of amusement there on his lips when she goes and asks that. )
Definitely the loud kind. That a certain someone who shall remain nameless enjoys stealing off me every now and then.
( three guesses who that could be.
he goes back to fixing a sandwich for himself — adds on a good dollop of peanut butter to the bread — as he he mulls over what she'd said earlier about wishing she had gone to the school. )
[It speaks to some great tragedy, that she doesn't know who he's taking about. She never got a chance to really know her father -- his likes, his dislikes, things he did in his long life. She only knew him a week, and it was one that Logan had used to practically crawl into a bush like a dying animal. But she would love to know more about the loud, rumbling bikes, with their strange gasoline smells and how they make the wind whip your clothes around. She wonders if bugs get stuck on your face, of if they have more sense to get out of the way of bikes, unlike big trucks.
Nodding, she considers how to broach the topic. After all, Cyclops was an X-Men. X-Men were her dad's friends. She thinks maybe even 'family', since the word seems to not adhere to biology the way she had always thought it had. He'll have to make the connection sooner or later, though... even if she hates to explain how bad things had gotten.]
... I'm a mutant. I can show you.
[Holding up one hand, she makes a fist.
And from that fist, twin adamantium-coated claws punch through her knuckles, extending in full.]
( he doesn't know what he's expecting when she says she'll show him but, with all the kids he's been a teacher and guardian to, he keeps an open mind. there really isn't anything he hasn't seen before and nothing that could make him not want to protect them to the best of his ability.
so he turns to face her. waits... and that's when his expression changes to one that reads more confused than anything else. not because this is anything new to him, but because it's not. it's actually quite familiar in a way he hasn't seen with anyone else aside from one other mutant.
he's quiet. takes a second to process that. files it away. brings himself back here with laura. )
Dark, thoughtful eyes keeping tabs on his reaction.]
... I didn't think it would be.
[But suddenly, she feels a little nervous. The closest thing one could explain it as, though she wouldn't know the concept, would be imposter syndrome. Would she measure up to someone like her father, with the other X-Men? Ororo and Jean like her, but it hadn't stopped her from being somewhat anxious to know their reactions. After all, her father was something terribly special, even with how everything happened in the end — or rather, in spite of how everything happened. At the end.
( i'm logan's daughter, she says, and scott... is left a touch speechless for a moment. it's obvious with the adamantium claws, even if they differ from logan's slightly. but it's more that he knows one isn't born with adamantium laced on their bones. it's done experimental. like it had been to logan... and that just has scott wonder a number of things.
things he shouldn't wonder aloud in front of a child. so, slowly— )
Logan's daughter... well, that would explain the claws.
( he goes with that, shake of his head to follow for a moment before he blows out a long breath and leans back there against the counter. gives himself another second. )
I, uh— didn't know he had any kids. ( arms coming to fold in front of his chest, he eyes laura there. ) He tends to come and go a lot around the school.
[She nods, calm and unbothered. She doesn't quite understand the implication of the adamantium claws to a mutant who would understand the nightmare associated with it.]
He didn't know he had a kid, either. I was — a sudden... surprise.
[Is that the best way to frame it? Without being to blunt about the state of things, when they'd first met? She thinks so. This sandwich is mighty good, by the way; it's a good thing to distract her from her own concerns over how Scott's viewing her in this new light.]
I only met him for a few days, before I arrived here.
( for the x-men, he means. how they suddenly found themselves with logan— with the wolverine on their team. again, something the two of them seem to have in common.
arms still folded there against his chest, he drags his teeth over his bottom lip — glances around the kitchen a bit before he looks back over to laura who seems more than pleased with the sandwich she'd been given. he's glad. it really had been a spur of the moment thing. )
He gives you a hard time, you just let me know. I'll handle him. It's what I do.
[The small, cheeky look of a child who knows how to absolutely push her father's buttons if he rightly deserves it. She's a menace. Especially to those who haven't made her a sandwich.
And in this way, Scott has an accomplice with regards to bickering with Logan.]
I am planning to open the mansion for some guests this weekend, or perhaps the next. You're more than welcome to stay, of course, but I wanted to inform you before you came down to a party of unfamiliar faces.
I said a party of unfamiliar faces. [ You know, as in a group of them.
But also... yes, it's a party. ] I was initially only going to get a few of the girls from home together for a pool day, but I thought it would be nice to open the opportunity to others I've met here.
But I was hoping you'd help me check all the security protocols for the sublevels before then. [ Wouldn't want anyone wandering down there, after all. ]
[It hasn't escaped his notice that the other Scott isn't living at the mansion.
He's not living with the other mutants and as such, it's easy to assume that he's living all by himself. Isolated from their kind. And. Well, feeling like he's responsible sucks because it's not like he wanted that for his other self. The feeling has only deepened too because he truly isn't the Scott that the others have been waiting for. He's not the Scott that shares all the memories and experiences with everyone else. He's not... the One.
He's pretty much like him, except still the leader of the X-Men and Cyclops. So, that part still digs into him, just maybe not as bad. Not nearly as much.
And he's had the time to finally accept that. Time and space really helped. And so--]
You don't have to live in a sad apartment all by yourself because of me.
[ It's a bit of a surprise to receive, if he's honest. Then again, it's also very... Scott Summers and, who better to know than him?
He decided to give him some time — to give him space despite how large the mansion is regardless of iteration. It's a situation that's new to the both of them as he can't exactly claim to have much in the way of experience when it comes to dealing with another version of yourself. Back home? That's not really a thing any of them have ever had to deal with and that says a lot when you're from a world with mutants. Still, even with not being The Scott Summers here, he's fallen into his usual habit of doing what he feels is best in the moment and that involved shacking up in an apartment for however long that might be. He'd talked it over with Jean, she saw his point of view, but made sure to remind him to not let the space grow to the size of the grand canyon. That no matter who he is, at the end of the day, the school will always be a home for him and, in his mind, that includes his younger self.
He just... hadn't thought the gap would be gently filled a little so soon with this message. This is a good thing, Summers. Or he likes to think it is anyways.
He's sitting there at the table by himself, carton of whatever he'd picked up at the kwik trip around here for a meal open in front of him with a wooden fork stabbed in the center. Red coloured gaze staring to the message as he chews in thought, it's only after a long sip from his beer there that he decides to send a message back. ]
The decor's not exactly my taste but I wouldn't go so far as saying it's sad.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
just a random institute thread :)b
But she's somewhat aware now, and so when she sees him in the kitchen area, she pokes her head in and watches for a moment.]
Are you really 'Cyclops'?
[He was in the comics. Much like her father, he's not quite so fantastical in person - but maybe that's for the best; she's learned from Logan that comic books really aren't a good indicator of how a person is.
She doesn't know if anyone had spoken to him about who she is. But maybe Ororo or Jean had mentioned her; it would certainly make it easier for her, instead of having to mention some particularly jarring truths from the get-go.]
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in that time, as the professor considered, he had become a changed man. unable to bring himself to lead— to care about leading, never mind teaching at the school; logan having to fill in for him.
but here? in this place with... some version of jean and ororo... he doesn't know. he doesn't know a number of things. that includes laura here, save for ororo mentioning her name in passing — that she was a student and more as she had put it. so when laura pokes her head into the kitchen, he looks over his shoulder to her. no visor, just the ruby shades. there at the kitchen counter, making himself a coffee. black. )
Hard to tell when I've got two eyes, huh?
( he makes an attempt at being more light before he looks back ahead after a moment. grabbing a loaf of bread there from nearby. )
Hungry?
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[She admits it, because she figures that it wouldn't be too shocking that they have comic books. Maybe he knows just how they portray him in the pages. The bright colors, the potentially dramatized muscles, the larger than life hair for some of them... all of that vividness, perfectly catered to young kids who have looked past their prejudices and loved the X-Men and what they represented.
Or kids like her, who are just another side of them: figures the window looking in.
The saddest part of it all is that so many of the now gone X-Men could have had their own children in those labs, just like Logan... and will never have known it. It's best to never point it out, even if she can't help but wonder. There were a lot of them.
Sitting down at the table, she watches him in quiet curiosity.
Not much of a talker. Not like most kids her age.
She supplies, helpfully:]
Always.
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Comics. That what you're into?
( he's searching through the various drawers, finding knives, grabbing a couple plates down from above. sets everything out before he goes to open the peanut butter, pausing for a moment as he does before he looks back over to laura there. )
Think they might have some around here?
( that kwik trip spot seems to have... a lot of everything, from what he's seen. )
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[That she's 'into' them, anyway. She's not completely sure about what she likes and doesn't like yet, especially when she's only been free to explore things like books within the last few weeks. But... it's definitely an experience she can look forward to, she thinks.]
Our nurse read them to us. It was a secret.
[A somewhat concerning comment, but she breezes past it.]
There a lot of comics? Not just X-Men?
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( he says that more to himself. a pause in his actions before he’s giving a soft huff and shake of his head. )
Yeah. I had a few when I was your age. Not sure what they have here though, if any. You think they would since they seem to have everything else almost.
( twisting open the jar of peanut butter, he sets it aside. gets the bread out and sets two slices on a plate. glancing over to a fruit bowl there, he grabs a banana in one hand and an apple in the other. holding them up, he turns to laura then. )
What do you think? Apple or banana with this sandwich?
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They say you can ask for things.
I would ask for a horse.
[She is eleven. And she is a horsegirl. It checks out.]
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he goes about grabbing a knife and cutting board. setting the apple atop it. starts slicing into it while he listens to laura. a pause in the slicing, he looks over his shoulder to her, what with his back turned to her there and all. )
A horse.
( a slow nod, he offers a faint smile before he looks back to what he's doing. )
We had a few of those at the school. They had their own stables, too.
( the school's grounds were vast and they'd had a number of things and activities for the kids to do. spreading a good amount of peanut butter on both sides of the bread, he lays the sliced apples across one of the sides then puts it together to make a sandwich. truly, a masterpiece on the spot.
turning back to her, he holds the plate out for her to take. )
I'm a little more into bikes myself.
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[It's a weird thing, to vocalize a wish. She's never done that before. Not out loud, anyway. Children can be nothing but wishes on the inside. Children can also be terribly ravenous with their food; she dives into the sandwich without a moment's delay, taking a too-large bite.]
Bike? Cómo se dice... The loud kind?
[She saw a few, on their roadtrip. They seem very different from the bikes children would ride.]
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Definitely the loud kind. That a certain someone who shall remain nameless enjoys stealing off me every now and then.
( three guesses who that could be.
he goes back to fixing a sandwich for himself — adds on a good dollop of peanut butter to the bread — as he he mulls over what she'd said earlier about wishing she had gone to the school. )
I take it you're a mutant then. Like me.
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Nodding, she considers how to broach the topic. After all, Cyclops was an X-Men. X-Men were her dad's friends. She thinks maybe even 'family', since the word seems to not adhere to biology the way she had always thought it had. He'll have to make the connection sooner or later, though... even if she hates to explain how bad things had gotten.]
... I'm a mutant. I can show you.
[Holding up one hand, she makes a fist.
And from that fist, twin adamantium-coated claws punch through her knuckles, extending in full.]
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so he turns to face her. waits... and that's when his expression changes to one that reads more confused than anything else. not because this is anything new to him, but because it's not. it's actually quite familiar in a way he hasn't seen with anyone else aside from one other mutant.
he's quiet. takes a second to process that. files it away. brings himself back here with laura. )
Not the first time I've seen that.
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Dark, thoughtful eyes keeping tabs on his reaction.]
... I didn't think it would be.
[But suddenly, she feels a little nervous. The closest thing one could explain it as, though she wouldn't know the concept, would be imposter syndrome. Would she measure up to someone like her father, with the other X-Men? Ororo and Jean like her, but it hadn't stopped her from being somewhat anxious to know their reactions. After all, her father was something terribly special, even with how everything happened in the end — or rather, in spite of how everything happened. At the end.
Holding her partly eaten sandwich, she says:]
I'm Logan's daughter.
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things he shouldn't wonder aloud in front of a child. so, slowly— )
Logan's daughter... well, that would explain the claws.
( he goes with that, shake of his head to follow for a moment before he blows out a long breath and leans back there against the counter. gives himself another second. )
I, uh— didn't know he had any kids. ( arms coming to fold in front of his chest, he eyes laura there. ) He tends to come and go a lot around the school.
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He didn't know he had a kid, either. I was — a sudden... surprise.
[Is that the best way to frame it? Without being to blunt about the state of things, when they'd first met? She thinks so. This sandwich is mighty good, by the way; it's a good thing to distract her from her own concerns over how Scott's viewing her in this new light.]
I only met him for a few days, before I arrived here.
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( for the x-men, he means. how they suddenly found themselves with logan— with the wolverine on their team. again, something the two of them seem to have in common.
arms still folded there against his chest, he drags his teeth over his bottom lip — glances around the kitchen a bit before he looks back over to laura who seems more than pleased with the sandwich she'd been given. he's glad. it really had been a spur of the moment thing. )
He gives you a hard time, you just let me know. I'll handle him. It's what I do.
( even when he doesn't want to. )
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... Don't worry.
I know how to give him a hard time back.
[The small, cheeky look of a child who knows how to absolutely push her father's buttons if he rightly deserves it. She's a menace. Especially to those who haven't made her a sandwich.
And in this way, Scott has an accomplice with regards to bickering with Logan.]
voicemail; un:Storm
I am planning to open the mansion for some guests this weekend, or perhaps the next. You're more than welcome to stay, of course, but I wanted to inform you before you came down to a party of unfamiliar faces.
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But also... yes, it's a party. ] I was initially only going to get a few of the girls from home together for a pool day, but I thought it would be nice to open the opportunity to others I've met here.
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( essentially. )
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But I was hoping you'd help me check all the security protocols for the sublevels before then. [ Wouldn't want anyone wandering down there, after all. ]
After Space Station, Pre-Mission 004
[ With no fanfare and no card,
three sets of glasses & their cases are left on Scott's bed table. ]
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Was going to get around to getting some backups. Thanks.
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Of course.
I had the points, and it was a problem of this place that could at least be solved while we're all waiting for the days to count down.
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I didn't.
They are something that shouldn't be missing, and there would have been many of them in this house if it weren't for the condition it was brought in.
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( as wasting points on something. on him. )
Needed another pair of glasses anyways so. Guess that works out.
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I'm going to keep working on the lower levels,
and I'll tell you if I find anything else to add to them.
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Oh, she is.
There isn't much I've been doing here she doesn't already know about.
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[ And life, death, double de-aging, etc, etc, etc. ]
text; un: shades
He's not living with the other mutants and as such, it's easy to assume that he's living all by himself. Isolated from their kind. And. Well, feeling like he's responsible sucks because it's not like he wanted that for his other self. The feeling has only deepened too because he truly isn't the Scott that the others have been waiting for. He's not the Scott that shares all the memories and experiences with everyone else. He's not... the One.
He's pretty much like him, except still the leader of the X-Men and Cyclops. So, that part still digs into him, just maybe not as bad. Not nearly as much.
And he's had the time to finally accept that. Time and space really helped. And so--]
You don't have to live in a sad apartment all by yourself because of me.
no subject
He decided to give him some time — to give him space despite how large the mansion is regardless of iteration. It's a situation that's new to the both of them as he can't exactly claim to have much in the way of experience when it comes to dealing with another version of yourself. Back home? That's not really a thing any of them have ever had to deal with and that says a lot when you're from a world with mutants. Still, even with not being The Scott Summers here, he's fallen into his usual habit of doing what he feels is best in the moment and that involved shacking up in an apartment for however long that might be. He'd talked it over with Jean, she saw his point of view, but made sure to remind him to not let the space grow to the size of the grand canyon. That no matter who he is, at the end of the day, the school will always be a home for him and, in his mind, that includes his younger self.
He just... hadn't thought the gap would be gently filled a little so soon with this message. This is a good thing, Summers. Or he likes to think it is anyways.
He's sitting there at the table by himself, carton of whatever he'd picked up at the kwik trip around here for a meal open in front of him with a wooden fork stabbed in the center. Red coloured gaze staring to the message as he chews in thought, it's only after a long sip from his beer there that he decides to send a message back. ]
The decor's not exactly my taste but I wouldn't go so far as saying it's sad.