8099/After The Spiders

From United Heroes MUSH
Jump to navigation Jump to search
After The Spiders
Date of Scene: 29 June 2019
Location: Unknown
Synopsis: Doug comes by to lift the spirits of an electrocuted, but healed Kitty.
Cast of Characters: Shadowcat, Cypher




Shadowcat has posed:
The Blackbird returned from the mission Charles had sent the X-men on. Saving a caravan of mutants who were leaving New York to move to somewhere more isolated that they thought they could find safety in. However spider robots attacked the caravan, carrying some of the people off into subway tunnels.

Now the team are back after having rescued the mutant captives. Kitty normally stops for a shower down in the X-men base. But this time she just pulls a longcoat over her uniform and phases up through the floors to her room. Lockheed flies off to the bathroom to soak beneath some hot water in the tub, while Kitty pulls the coat off.

She's not in the best of moods as she looks at the damage done to her uniform. "Need to be faster," she says to herself as she recounts the fight in her head, and the hurts she took saving Emma from the extra large robot spider that had cocooned her. Kitty's door is slightly ajar, having left it that way when she ran out when Charle's telepathic summons first came.

Cypher has posed:
Doug raps on the door lightly, and then, since it's open, he opens it a bit more and stands in the doorway.

"Everybody came back a little bit rough, huh?" He says. "Looks like it. But we've had wilder nights, right? At least this time you're still tangible." He's just in himself, from having been taking care of one of his many mysterious Doug tasks. Really he's probably just keeping himself busy.

"Hey." He says. "...Got you some kugel?" He holds out the little takeout container.

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty turns as she hears the rap on the door. Her hair is more mussed than normal. She often leaves strands free of the pony tail, but there are runaways who escaped it on their own tonight. She looks perfectly healthy, though part of the reason Doug can tell that is because part of her uniform is scorched, the fabric melted away to leave a hole across half of her stomach and over one hip. If it extended any further she'd be looking quite cheeky. As it is the skin is without mark, tan and smooth after Elixir's healing.

"Doug," she says, letting out a sigh, and then a smile as he has the treat there, and at a moment she could use a little cheer. She moves over to hug him if he allows, before letting him go to take the container. "You are a godsend," she tells him. She opens it up and lets him take some first before she gets a bite for herself. "Oh, so good," she says softly.

Cypher has posed:
"I was going to come up with a pithy comment about my name, but it actually means 'From the Dark Water' which is kind of awesome. My middle name is Aaron, which means... high mountain, mountain of strength, exalted, enlightened... either way it doesn't really fit. Ha." Doug sighs, and then he tilts his head, and raises an eyebrow. "Took a bad hit, huh?"

He doesn't have any of the treat, it's all for her, apparently. "I already ate. And Kaydin and Mason decided to subvert the school's dietary program and replace today's lunch with ribs and coleslaw. So after that meal I'm on dust and ashes rations for the next week."

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty Pryde eats with a will, having built up some hunger during the mission. "Yeah. Electrical discharge from this giant robot spider. Set a trap for us," she says between bites. Kitty stops to sigh over the food. She says in a glum voice though, "You'll be glad to know I saved Emma Frost. Again." Kitty lets out another sigh, this one not as happy. "I can't decide if I wish she was back at her school or not. I guess at least here I can keep an eye on her," Kitty says.

She frowns and then shakes off the thought, moving over to sit on the bed, feet on the floor as she finishes off the thoughtful snack that Doug brought. "Everything is just..." she says a little bleakly, moreso than she usually gets, before shaking her head and frowning. Her fingers go to the expensive ruby promise ring that she put back on first thing after leaving the plane. She's twisting it about her finger.

Cypher has posed:
Doug studies the ring, and then he looks up at Kitty, and he sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Listen. You know how many people in my life I've fallen in love with but they didn't feel the same way about me? Granted, I haven't had a very LONG life, there's a joke in there..." He checks himself, mentally. "...All of them."

"Love is a wonderful thing, Kitty. It enriches us. It's maybe the only thing in the world where we can give a hundred percent of ourselves and get back two hundred percent. But sometimes people don't love us back the same way, or the love we felt changes form, and that's OK. Feel whatever you need to feel... but remember that what that ring represents... it's made you a better person, no matter what comes next."

Then he adds, "...Though I don't know if you noticed, but I think Jason's a redhead; is it some weird vanity thing that makes him dye his hair black? I don't get it."

Shadowcat has posed:
The brunette's eyes drift down and away from Doug, but she's still listening to him. Her emotions seem raw. They have left her tender. And there's uncertainty and fear in her. "I just don't know what's going on right now," she says softly, and finally looking down at the ring that she hadn't realized she was touching, let alone twisting, until Doug brought up the subject he did.

She gives a little shake of her head then and tries to put on a smile. "I'll be ok," she says. "We'll work through it and... and it'll all be good," she say, and making the smile a little brighter. It's far more believable of a smile though, if one isn't as skilled as Doug at reading others. "No, not a redhead. Unless you mean in the figurative way, with his family," she says, shaking her head.

Cypher has posed:
Doug tilts his head at Kitty, and then says, "...Huh. Well, I'm not infalliable." Then he walks in, and sits on the edge of the bed. "Throw me out whenever."

"Kitty... I say this primarily as an outsider concerned with your well-being, but men don't always treat you as good as they ought to." He sighs. "You've always had this drive to prove how mature you are--"

"Well, you proved it. But here's the thing..." He looks down at the ring, "And I'm not about to say that your feelings for the guy aren't genuine or are somehow undeserved, you feel the way you feel--but--and this is a question, not a statement--was some part of you in this to fix him, to try to help him glue up some of those pretty nasty cracks he had going on in his psyche?"

He scratches the back of his neck. "Because that doesn't seem to be the right way to go about it. If *I* was in a relationship with someone like you, I'd work on myself to be a better person *for you*, and while I'd appreciate the help? Fixing me would not be your job. Just saying. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong."

Shadowcat has posed:
Rather than kick him out, Kitty just leans against her old friend, resting her head on his shoulder. "I think I did. When I was younger," Kitty agrees, speaking softly. "I kind of feel like I'm past that though. Maybe a little of it was confidence in myself. Being away in England, on my own... even forming my own superhero team and leading them... those were important things for me. But I think it's more that I feel accepted here. I don't have to prove things to people like I used to. I mean, Tony and the job and... well, I feel much more confident in that sense."

Kitty sits up again. "It wasn't trying to fix a broken person. I didn't find out about... yes he has issues. As bad I have. Worse, even. But, that was it, wasn't why I fell for him. It's the person he is. Even his own father didn't see why I was with him. And I told him about our first date. Well, the day we met anyway. It probably counts as a date. But... I told him the things we talked about, and some of the things he told me. And Mr. Wayne... I could tell I made him aware of sides of his son that he hadn't realized were there. No one really knew they were there, I think. But they came out with me."

Cypher has posed:
"Everybody's got issues. Everybody's weird. Everybody's wrong for each other, but." Then Doug sighs, and throws a companionable arm around Kitty. "You loved him, and that's fine. But like I was saying sometimes love... doesn't play out exactly the way we want it to. It's a force that's largely outside of our control. You take what you can from it, use it to be more... you, and then move on. You love him, and it's not working out. And that's upsetting, but it's also okay. It just... means the way you feel has changed form. You fell in love with you-know-who at fifteen, do you feel the same way about him now that you did then? No. Doesn't mean you don't care... it just changed form."

"Love and grief are both like that, since they're twin emotions. It can be hard to tell them apart. But you got to get to know a side of a person not many people knew, and that's *amazing*, right? You can carry that with you no matter what. I mean, he's not who *I* would've picked for you, but I am not your Yenta."

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty Pryde leans into the arm that slides around her. She's always been comfortable with Doug. They just get each other. And she knows since his power emerged, he gets her probably more than she gets herself.

Which makes some of what he's saying harder for Kitty. Realizing he's probably seeing things she hasn't seen herself yet. She looks down at the promise ring. The one that was given to her with her mother and father's blessings, and with her mother present. The ring that Bruce had given him after the first time he'd met Kitty, for whenever the time was right.

But mostly she's just seeing his face in her mind's eye. Kitty clears her throat and draws a deep breath. "I don't know what's going to happen," she says softly. "I just hope and... and I hope," she says, voice trailing off. She looks up and over to Doug. The hurt is there, being held back by a dam for now. One forged of hope and love. And hope in love.

Cypher has posed:
Doug sighs, and gives Kitty a sideways look. "You're always all-or-nothing with your heart, always have been. I... hope it works out. I hope he sees that what you two have is worth fighting for. If it doesn't--just remember that's not the end of love, just of a *kind* of love."

He raises his eyebrows, and then says, "Real talk? Realizing *that* helped me get over *you*, even at a decidedly dimwitted fifteen. It might've been the end of a kid's dreams of teenage romance, but not of our friendship, and that was cool too." He gets up, and looks in the bathroom, at the purple dragon luxuriating in a bathtub full of suds... drinking a glass of scotch. "...You're such a frelling decadent, Lockheed."

Then he looks back, and gives a faint smile. "Besides, if it does go sour, you might need to hold back a bunch of people. The shady eye Rachel was giving me at the club? Whoooh!"

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty gives a soft chuckle at that. "Yeah. You wouldn't believe how many people threatened him, actually," she says quietly, her fingers going back to twist at that ruby ring. "It wasn't just everyone around here either. I mean, his own family were at the front of the line," she says, with a sigh.

Kitty looks over to Doug and slips her arm around him. "I'm sorry if I ever hurt you, Doug. I never meant to," she says quietly. She leans her head against his shoulder again. "This love stuff just... it isn't easy, is it. It should be though."

Cypher has posed:
"...No, you didn't." Doug said. "I could see the way you felt, and-- people feel the way they feel, so I waved my hankie and wished you well. *Besides*, it's not like I didn't have distractions. My head is a weird place, Kitty." He points at his temple. "I've been a single entity with a space alien who identifies as a guy and developed a thing for women who were *way* too old for me. Maybe Rachel is right and I AM trouble."

Then he sighs. "No, it's not. It's messy, because people are messy. It's challenging because people are challenging. Doesn't mean it's not worthwhile."

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty just rests there leaning lightly against her friend. "Whatever else happens, I'm grateful for having you back in my life, Doug. It hurt so much losing you," she tells him quietly. Her arm around him hugs a little tighter and she lets out a sigh. "You'll always be a friend of mine no matter what else happens," she tells him. "And I'll be ok. I don't know what's going on yet. But... I have faith it'll work out," she tells him.

For a change she doesn't reach for her ring, but instead for her Star of David necklace. That was a gift from Piotr. On Valentine's Day, no less, though sent from afar via his sister. "How do you like Rachel? She's been through so much that... I can't even hardly being to imagine. Her, Illyana. You. Seems like so many people in my life have suffered so much." She leaves another person off the verbal list. He suffered too, though Kitty hasn't shared those details with anyone.

Cypher has posed:
"Well, she totally guard dogs you, which is touching and kind of hilarious because you're the last person who needs protecting from anybody. That's kind of my whole reaction to it. If anybody hurt Kitty, I wouldn't really have to do anything to them, I'd have to scrape her up and get her a kugel--" He lifts his eyebrows at that, "After she takes care of the problem herself."

"Mmmm. I think it's just the life we live. I tried living quietly for two years. It got kind of boring." He thinks about that. "Well, I mean, I thought about that? The reason why you don't get refugees from the futures where everything works out is because nobody has to leave, so there's probably just as many futures where everything turns out great. Or at least everything's not on fire, covered with poop, a sentinel, or *all three*. Right?"

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty Pryde grins over to Doug. "That's a great way to look at it," she tells him. "I really like her so much. She's such a strong person. And coming back here after what she's been through, it must be so tough to see how we live. And then... well, the way things are going with the Sentinels?" She sighs and shakes her head. "We really need to put a stop to them," she says quietly.

Kitty lets go of Doug and lies back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. "I really hope the legal career goes well for you. I can't imagine anyone being able to beat you in court," she tells him. "I'll definitely want you on my side if I ever get in a legal matter."

Cypher has posed:
"You have to think positive and keep your eye on the prize. It's how I get out of bed. Though I still have days where I burrito up and don't do anything. Dougito? Man, that's white boy." Doug sits on the edge of the bed again. "Well, I realized as good as I am with computers and languages, and I really like both, I'll *always* have the edge there. The key is to find new ways to use your talents, not fall back on old ones. So I figured... why not? I found a purpose, and I'm going to see where it takes me."

"Well I mean I'm no She-Hulk but I'll do my best." Then he gestures, with an open hand. "Can't stay in the cradle forever."

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty Pryde lets out a soft sigh. "Well, I think you'll probably slay at it," she tells him with a small smile. "I suppose I should probably get Lockheed out of the tube before he prunes. He might end up looking like a giant raisin and Hambone might try to eat him," she says, chuckling. "And I need a shower, badly," she says, rising to her feet.

Kitty looks down at her costume and the hole in it. "And to change into something that doesn't look like it's trying to rival Emma for being revealing," she says with a sigh. Kitty will move to hug Doug though. A tight hug, not just a quick one. "Thank you," she tells him.

Cypher has posed:
Doug gets up. "Eat half of the Kugel now." He says, "Have the other half for breakfast in the morning. You'll feel better. And remember--" Doug snap-points, "I'm in your corner. Even when I'm dead. Or evil." Then he lets himself out, and closes the door, quietly. "Also, you smell like a hibachi, so yeah, take a shower. Pew!"