Erik Lensherr | ( Magneto ) (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
wecanavenge) wrote2012-06-13 10:52 pm
wecanavenge) wrote2012-06-13 10:52 pm
✘ | 006 | VIDEO
[Spam for Wanda]
[Perhaps he should have pressed Brown for more details, but the simplicity of the situation was that he did not trust her. He did not trust many people on this ship, and he certainly didn't trust some human to have the best interests of his - of Wanda in mind. They were both children, still, and didn't matter to him that they had both been through things most children hadn't; but so had he. And he remembered being that age, too, even after everything he'd survived.
They were still children. And children needed looking after. If he hadn't believed that, he never would have pushed to train Alex and Sean and Hank. And Raven. He didn't want to think about her, now.
No, no he wanted to think about Wanda, and the last conversation they'd had. Months ago - months, and that was his failing, he was sure. He hadn't contacted her, he'd avoided her, because Anya still filled his thoughts, still featured in his nightmares. She was the daughter he had memories of, the daughter who had drawn pictures for him and taken her first wobbling steps into his arms, and laughed when he tickled her.
But she hadn't looked so different from Wanda, really, and it was easy to take those memories (memories that weren't even his, but memories he refused to let fade, memories he did not want to lose, even though sometimes he desperately did), and imagine that Wanda's father held them, too. Which made him wonder, constantly, constantly, what had gone wrong. What would he have done in that world, if he'd had his powers and Anya was a mutant? He still can't conceive of a situation where making his daughter a prisoner, abandoning her to the childhood he'd had, would ever be an option.
His stomach clenched at the thought, and not for the first time, as he made his way to Wanda's door. She didn't want to see him, but he had to know what was wrong with her. So he knocked.]
[Video]
[And here is flood!affected Erik, who escaped the Holocaust, who was never tortured or experimented on by Shaw. He can't really control his powers, but he's kind of a chill guy, now, and that isn't actually a problem. He only sort of notices the dampening effect that's on him. So when the video flicks on, he's smiling, looking fairly pleasant and very very curious.]
Hello, I'm Erik Lensherr. I'm a graduate student at Yale, pursuing a degree in genetics. And this - well this isn't the vacation to Hawaii I'd been hoping for, but I'm not certain I can complain, really. The view is utterly spectacular. [He pauses, looking around the room - because this Erik has never been to Charles' mansion upstate.] Are all the accommodations as lavish as this? It's much more than I'm used to, really. I'm afraid I could get used to it.
((OOC: Yup, Flood!Erik had Shaw picked out of his life, so he's actually a very chill, easy going guy. He'll be your best pal for the next few days. And then hate you for it.
[Perhaps he should have pressed Brown for more details, but the simplicity of the situation was that he did not trust her. He did not trust many people on this ship, and he certainly didn't trust some human to have the best interests of his - of Wanda in mind. They were both children, still, and didn't matter to him that they had both been through things most children hadn't; but so had he. And he remembered being that age, too, even after everything he'd survived.
They were still children. And children needed looking after. If he hadn't believed that, he never would have pushed to train Alex and Sean and Hank. And Raven. He didn't want to think about her, now.
No, no he wanted to think about Wanda, and the last conversation they'd had. Months ago - months, and that was his failing, he was sure. He hadn't contacted her, he'd avoided her, because Anya still filled his thoughts, still featured in his nightmares. She was the daughter he had memories of, the daughter who had drawn pictures for him and taken her first wobbling steps into his arms, and laughed when he tickled her.
But she hadn't looked so different from Wanda, really, and it was easy to take those memories (memories that weren't even his, but memories he refused to let fade, memories he did not want to lose, even though sometimes he desperately did), and imagine that Wanda's father held them, too. Which made him wonder, constantly, constantly, what had gone wrong. What would he have done in that world, if he'd had his powers and Anya was a mutant? He still can't conceive of a situation where making his daughter a prisoner, abandoning her to the childhood he'd had, would ever be an option.
His stomach clenched at the thought, and not for the first time, as he made his way to Wanda's door. She didn't want to see him, but he had to know what was wrong with her. So he knocked.]
[Video]
[And here is flood!affected Erik, who escaped the Holocaust, who was never tortured or experimented on by Shaw. He can't really control his powers, but he's kind of a chill guy, now, and that isn't actually a problem. He only sort of notices the dampening effect that's on him. So when the video flicks on, he's smiling, looking fairly pleasant and very very curious.]
Hello, I'm Erik Lensherr. I'm a graduate student at Yale, pursuing a degree in genetics. And this - well this isn't the vacation to Hawaii I'd been hoping for, but I'm not certain I can complain, really. The view is utterly spectacular. [He pauses, looking around the room - because this Erik has never been to Charles' mansion upstate.] Are all the accommodations as lavish as this? It's much more than I'm used to, really. I'm afraid I could get used to it.
((OOC: Yup, Flood!Erik had Shaw picked out of his life, so he's actually a very chill, easy going guy. He'll be your best pal for the next few days. And then hate you for it.
[spam]
[She glances at the mirror, and after a moment the odd effects still entirely. The dog stops whining. She looks down at her hands.]
No, we shouldn't have to. But we do. Not because it is fair, not because even half of us would intentionally abuse our powers, but because of the rest. Including some of the ones you named. We would be dealing with another takeover or attack or attempt to destroy the Barge every goddamned day. And no, I don't automatically assume you'd be in on that. But even some of my friends are too dangerous at full power.
[She finally looks up at him, with tears in her eyes.] It's the most frustrating thing about being here, and I still resent it. But I also know that before I came here I didn't care enough about people's lives to learn to rein in my power, and here...well. I could really make a mess of things.
It is true, though. I don't want you or anyone else to live without our birthrights. I just don't know...what a workable alternative would look like.
[spam]
Like the fact that she is crying. Or trying not to, but it is enough that he notices, and takes a step closer. He lowers the hand he's been holding out.]
It's imperative that we know our limits, [he says, and it flashes him back to a lab and a table he'd been strapped to. He blinks it away.] And that we control ourselves. Without that, we're just the monsters they think we are. [Up comes his hand again, and his voice is calm, still, but without that dangerous quality to it. He's gentler, because this, at least, is familiar ground: teaching younger mutants.]
But this is not the only way to learn, Wanda. Not under their rules, with their limitations and views of rewards and balances. [He taps his chest, shaking his head just slightly.] I know what it is to learn like that, to have every action judged and measured. There are better ways. I could teach you so much--
[And he hesitates, because either she is family or she isn't, either she hates him or she doesn't.] If you'd let me.
[spam]
Ultimately I wish that we would have a chance to prove our trustworthiness before they automatically clamp down on us. I just wonder if I wouldn't have failed that test myself. Back home I'm the girl even other mutants are scared of. And I don't actually want to be. [She is all the ambivalent, but at least she's calming down about it.]
[Fozzie sneaks his head out of his crate and sets it on his paws, wiggling his eyebrows soulfully as he gaaaazes up at them.]
I have a lot of mixed feelings about this. [But he makes sense on a certain level; she can't deny it.]
Sometimes you remind me so much of him that I want to run the other direction. Other times you're exactly the kind of guy I wish I'd known when I was younger.
All right. Compromise. I'll...we should meet more, talk more. There are things I could tell you as well. Might make your future easier.
I just...need a few days.
[spam]
He wants to tell her that she doesn't frighten him. That he's seen real terror and that though she may scare herself, she can learn. He exhales at her suggestion, and finds himself nodding. He could ask for more, tell her that even if they aren't related they are still kin by their very evolution; but he doesn't. Instead, he keeps his eyes on her and nods again.]
I don't want to be that man. [And there's so much sincerity in his voice, there's even a strain that might be something like pain; he doesn't want to be the man who locks his daughter up, as much as he doesn't want to be the man he was on Sanitarium Island.] When I remind you of him, tell me. Don't let-- [But no, he doesn't want to put that kind of burden on her shoulders. Instead he shakes his head, and changes course.]
I would never put my daughter through what you went through, Wanda. [His hand lifts again, like he might reach for her shoulder or arm, but he changes his mind on that, too.] A few days. I can keep my distance.
[spam]
[Another sad smile.] I wish we had met when I was more over things. I'm...working on it.
[spam]