1363/What Can I Do For You

What Can I Do For You
Date of Scene:	09 July 2017
Location:	unknown
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Cypher, Dazzler

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Cypher has posed:
Doug Ramsey has been a busy bee for a kid that looks like a zombie -- and was in fact dead. Iceman snuck him into SHIELD HQ, and then Doug published an internet editorial opening the first shot in what's probably going to be an ongoing war with Anti-Mutant Scum Graydon Creed.

But right now, he's resting quietly, the soft hiss of equipment around him, a half-assembled microcomputer on the table next to the bed in the medbay, and an iPad cradled in the crook of one arm.

He looks ghastly. Chalk-pale skin threaded with black veins, a dull red glow in his eyes. He's wearing a loose Xavier's School t-shirt and baggy gray sweats.

Dazzler has posed:
She heard something about the returned "zombie kid" - one of the few little bits of news she's been getting while trying to plot her own break from her alternate younger self without permanently screwing up the girl's life in case she ever shows up, *and* never ending training exams and interviews with SHIELD, and and and.

Dazzler's life has always been insane.

But there he is, as zombie-icked as she'd heard, but more... human than she'd expected. She doesn't even know if this Doug ever knew her, but hey. "How you doing there?" she asks tentatively when she comes into the room. More wakefulness checking than worrying.

Cypher has posed:
Doug turns his head, and pushes himself up onto his elbows. He closes his eyes, and then says, "...Wait." Then he blinks, again, lightly. "...Dazzler? *The* Dazzler?" He pauses, and then says, "I remember when you were the opening act for the Lila Cheney '21 tour. I was 13." He smiles, sheepishly, and then says, "...But I was there for you. I wanted to get your autograph."

Then he looks around, and says, "Um. Why are you here visiting me? This is--" He pauses. "Uh. Uh. Hm."

Dazzler has posed:
"Same universe, different Dazzler," she says, with a bit of a smile. "Same story, though - except it was 1984." Coming all the way in, Dazzler pulls herself up a chair and cops a seat next to the bed. "You and the other kids from the Mansion, sneaking out when you weren't supposed to in order to have a night out and a good time."

Then she's thinking. "Or was it in Limbo, during the whole 'Illyana's Demon tries to make her take over New York' fiasco?"

"Not important. Welcome to the 'comes back from the dead' club, how're you coping?"

Cypher has posed:
"Oh. I just met Illyana. I never did that. I'd call her a nice girl," Doug says, curling his toes and sitting up, "But that's not really true. I do like her, though. Her pain... she's so sad, and it's made her so cold and so hard." He looks down. "She needs a friend. I guess, I feel bad for her. But I also know if I pitied her, she'd hate me."

He looks at the black veins threading through the palms of his hands. "I'm... well, I guess I have a lot of existential questions." He looks up. "I died where you came from, too, huh?" He laughs. "Maybe the universe just hates me."

Dazzler has posed:
"You did, but I've died where I came from, too. Jean and I compare notes on how many times. Well, not this Jean. Another Jean." It's complicated.

"But you died protecting your friends. I don't know if that's the same way it happened here or not, but either way there are worse reasons to go. And as far as they 'why's' go... I can tell you they don't really matter." Dazzler stops then, pursing her lips just a little bit. "I may not be giving the best 'Welcome Back' Pep Talk."

Cypher has posed:
Doug looks down, and then the poor guy, he's crying. "I was lying here, and it occurred to me--" He says, his voice thick, "I was infected by the T/O virus because of how often I was close to Warlock." He says. "And the Reanimator used it to resurrect me. But what if--" He says, "How do I know I'm the real Doug Ramsey? Am I just a fake?" He says, "I don't know why I'm confessing it to you. It's just been on my mind all day."

Then he says, "And what do I do? My parents still live in Salem Center. I can't even go out to get a hot dog without risking running into someone I knew... or someone who knows my parents. Word gets around." He closes his eyes. "I don't think I cam live in the mansion, at least not all the time. But where am I going to go?" He wipes away a tear. "And somehow, being resurrected changed my powers. They were stupid, before. Google Translate could fill in for me. Now?"

He looks up at Dazzler, the red glow in his eyes dull, obscuring their natural blue. "You're looking for similarities between me and the Doug you knew. You aren't sure what to say to me... but you're glad to see me."

Dazzler has posed:
"Got it in one, but understanding things has always been your gig, right?" Dazzler can't help but smile at him, even though he's struggling, wrestling with whatever his new existence might mean. She even reaches out to try and either put a hand on his shoulder or to take on of his hands in hers. "And it was *never* stupid."

"Yeah you've got stuff to work out, and it's going to be complicated. But as soon as you put on that black and yellow uniform," they had those here, right? Ugh, "with the X, life pretty much stops being anything but complicated anyway. You're situation now... it's all up to you how you want to handle it. Don't try to fix everything all at once. One problem at a time -- in quick succession maybe because that's how we roll around here, but still. One at a time."

Cypher has posed:
Doug looks up, and says, with a sigh, "Yeah. I know." He gestures to his iPad. "Graydon Creed." His expression darkens. "His language is--ugly. And I'm starting to see the conversation's going to be just as ugly before it's over."

He waves that off, and then he tilts his head. "I'm sorry. This is really dumb of you to ask, but did you happen to bring your guitar?"

Now there's just the faintest tinge of pink on his cheeks. "I really liked your cover of Stevie Nicks' "Sorcerer." It's my favorite song."

Dazzler has posed:
"Oh, Graydon Creed's an asshole. If my whole local situation wasn't as complicated as *it* is, I'd have been in the news yelling at him all ready. I may yet get to it." Fffft, racists.

But then, a *request?* "Did I do that here? That's an awesome song," Dazzler admits. "Sheryl Crow kills it on the guitar. I'm afraid I didn't bring mine down to the med-bay with me, but lack of an instrument has never stopped me before."

She takes a moment to mouth a lyric without saying anything, trying to call up the mood of the song in her mind, snapping out the beat with her hands before just jumping right into it, "I'm tired... I'm thirsty... I'm wild-eyeeed..."

Cypher has posed:
Doug casts his eyes down, shyly. "...I just... I can't stay silent. My power IS words. It's the one arena where I can fight that pig." Well. He can also fight-fight that pig now, he just hasn't had a chance to find out how WELL he speaks the Language of Violence yet.

Doug listens, and he closes his eyes, as he silently takes it in. Music is a language too, notes and rhythm, melody. So he was never known for his golden pipes before. He speaks every language now, right? And that includes music.

He starts filling in the harmony. "In my miseryyyyy... Timeless, in your finery..."

Dazzler has posed:
She likes singing with people - and it's especially nice during an acapella performance; usually it's just her out there on her own, hanging everything out for all to see. Another voice is like another instrument; her own voice isn't quite as pure as it used to be either, but she still sings like it's everything.

Stripped down and bereft of everything, for her there'd still be music.

Soft pulses of indistinctly shaped light and color start to flow and shift in the air around them while they sing.

"Sorceror... who is the maaasster... man and woman on a star streeeaaam, in the middle of a snow dream..."

Cypher has posed:
She speaks; he responds. "Sorcererrrrrr, show me the hiiiigh liiife! Come overrrrr, let me put you on ice..." It is a difficult thing, dying and then discovering that you live again. So many unanswered questions; an uncertain future. Uncertainty that you'll be remembered, that you deserve to exist; there is a deep hurt in this Doug Ramsey, and maybe the creep who woke him up did him wrong by not letting him rest in peace.

But he's alive now.

He brushes blond bangs out of his face, and then when the song finishes, Doug is hugging Dazzler, his arms around hers. Doug was never as big as Sam, but he was always a sturdy guy. Square-shouldered, deep-chested. Tending just a leetle bit to the stocky. And whatever was done to him, it brought him back in *rude* good health.

Dazzler has posed:
He's a *kid* - well, not legally or strictly speaking, but right now all Dazzler sees is that sweet insecure kid who felt out of place with friends who were also out of place.

She just hugs back, holding on tight. Oh, she notices the physical changes, but now is not the time for saucy comments.

"You're alive, Doug. It doesn't have to mean anything else other than a second chance."

Cypher has posed:
And poor Doug, he's crying. And he finally says, "I'm *afraid*. How do I build a life... after the life that I had ended, Ms. Blaire? I can't go home."

Dazzler has posed:
"Oh, kiddo," she says gently. Reaching one of her arms from under Doug's, she reaches up to stroke his hair while still holding him. "No matter where else you go, there's always a home for you here. Once an X-Man, always an X-Man."

"And please, call me Ali."

Cypher has posed:
That makes Doug go *snrrrrf* - "But where am I going to go? What am I going to do?" He says, resting his head on Alison's shoulder, and he's still got her locked in that hug. "I can't bear to look at my parents. If my mother saw me. God, my *mother*. My grave's been dug up..."

He looks down at his hands again. "And I have to do something to get this techno-virus to chill before it kills me all over again."

Dazzler has posed:
"One problem at a time, remember?" She doesn't try to break away. "You don't have to go anywhere right now. I get not wanting to stick around, but don't cut off your nose to spite your face."

Coming back from the dead is hard, when you're new to it.

"I'd say the T.O. virus is the most important thing, right? Prioritize. Figure out what you need to do to get that under control; there's no better place for that than here. Or maybe the Baxter Building, but here's good too. Super Science Nerds and all that jazz. You can figure the other stuff out in turn, right? Prioritize."

Cypher has posed:
Doug nods, slowly, and then he pulls back. "...Thank you, Ali." Then he looks around. "There is --" He says, "Just one more thing." He grabs a pad of paper and a pen. He was writing something down. Ali's eye is quick enough to catch some of the same lines that were posted to HuffPo and some other places calling out Graydon Creed. CY9PH3-R indeed.

He flips the page quickly.

"Could I have your autograph?"

Dazzler has posed:
She saw it - she says nothing; but there's a hint of a proud smile which could just as easily be mistaken for celebrity ego.

"But of course!" Ali grins, taking the pen and spinning it in her hand for a moment while she considers...

And then writes. With a quick flourish, she's done.

"I'm your huckleberry. XOXO Dazzler"