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Post by Aurora on Sept 17, 2006 16:07:26 GMT -5
Aurora sat at a chair at the kitchen table, one of her legs folded under her to give her more height as she hunched over the paper in front of her on the table. Her arm was moving at remarkable speeds, creating a blur over the paper that at times stopped to let her ponder the progress and decide on where next to add to the picture.
She'd bought the pad of paper in Baltimore, along with a few other things, in case the place she'd be going would be boring. She was glad she'd thought ahead. It wouldn't have been so bad if she hadn't gone and flipped out upon waking up--half the crew probably thought she was a complete headcase now.
She'd been wanting to talk to Pyro, though; after all, he couldn't very well say anything about her head problems. And the way Angie talked about him, he was a great guy. Aurora would withhold judgement until she could determine for herself.
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Post by Pyro on Sept 17, 2006 16:18:05 GMT -5
"And I don't want the world to see me, 'cause I don't think that they'd understand...
When everything's made to be broken, I just want you to know who I am."
He had a good singing voice, John Allerdyce.
She realised it was him when the kitchen door swung open and he wandered in, headphones in his ears, to dump a barely-eaten plate of (now cold) toast in the bin and drop the plate in the sink. So engrossed in his music was he that he didn't seem to notice Aurora at the table until he turned around to leave.
"Oh, hey," he said, pulling the earphones out and running a hand through his hair. "You doing OK there?"
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Post by Aurora on Sept 17, 2006 16:31:22 GMT -5
Aurora looked up from her work when John came through the door, and watched him as he put the dishes in the sink and sang along to his headphones. She'd never heard the song, her weaker half having been brainwashed by songs in dead languages about the virgin Mary all her life. But if his singing was any indication, it was a good song.
"Oh, hey. You doing OK there?"
Aurora shrugged, tilting her head to one shoulder before righting it again. "Yeah. Just passing time." She gestured to the papers before her as though the art on it were stick figures, when in fact the top page was a beautiful sketch of Angie's head and shoulders.
"Trying to make my brain work as fast as my hand," she added, her eyes wandering to the pile of messed-up pictures. It was so tempting to use her speed, to get the drawing done in record time, but her brain couldn't move as fast and she'd often get ahead of herself and make a mistake.
"You sounded really good. By the way," Aurora said, looking back up to him where he stood. "Your singing."
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Post by Pyro on Sept 17, 2006 16:55:52 GMT -5
"Hey, that's excellent," he said, indicating the picture of Angie. He reached over and picked it up. "I mean, really good. I used to know this guy, could draw really well. I'm sort of envious. Everything I try to draw always comes out looking like Donald Duck on acid." John set the paper down again.
"You sounded really good. By the way. Your singing."
"I like singing," he said, with a grin. "Always did. Did you know I reckon there's a song lyric for every moment in life?"
This calm, cool boy was a far cry from the distressed lunatic he had been when they'd first come back from Baltimore.
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Post by Aurora on Sept 17, 2006 17:06:18 GMT -5
"Really?" Aurora asked, thinking about the idea for the first time as she set down her pencil. "I guess I need to listen to more music. Jeanne-Marie only listened to hymns." Her tone conveyed her spiteful opinion of the woman, though this was the first time Aurora had referred to her as a completely seperate persona to anyone other than Angie. John probably wouldn't even know what she was talking about.
"Speaking of which...Uh, I've been meaning to ask you something about that."
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Post by Pyro on Sept 17, 2006 17:10:11 GMT -5
"Ask away," he said. He was in no great hurry that morning. Python had delivered the toast to him about two hours previously, and he'd eaten two slices rather unethusiastically. He still had difficulty eating. Either his appetite wasn't to be seen, or he just wasn't interested.
He slid into the chair opposite, at least making an effort to appear as an accessible leader. Magneto had always been accessible to his people, not shut away for hours on end in his office. John was trying, really he was.
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Post by Aurora on Sept 17, 2006 18:06:47 GMT -5
Aurora shifted her weight, resting her arms on the table as John sat down. "So, I don't know how much you've heard about me, but let me tell you what I know. I'm not the only brain in this body. And the other one is a spineless little Catholic 'holier-than-thou' schoolgirl. Thanks to her, I've spent my entire life in a Catholic school from the Middle Ages in Canada. I got out a few times, but she always took back over."
"Till now. This is the longest I've been..." Aurora shrugged, searching for a word that could come close to explaining it. "In control. She's tried to get it back a few times, but I'm finally stronger than she is. But...I don't know if it'll stay that way. And that's why I'm telling you this. If she comes back, she'll try to get away, and go back to that Catholic jail cell. So...If that happens, could you stop her?"
She asked it of him for many reasons; she asked because she didn't know if he could stop her, and because she didn't know if he would. She watched him for a response, feeling like she was about to know where she stood with this group of people.
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Post by Pyro on Sept 19, 2006 15:15:30 GMT -5
John tipped his head on one side and considered her thoughtfully for a few moments. "Right," he said, eventually. "Well, sure, I guess. If you try to escape, I'll stop you. Uh." He rubbed his nose thoughtfully.
"Is it easy to tell the difference?" he said, vaguely wondering why the hell she was asking him, because oh yes, he was SO sane, wasn't he?
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Post by Aurora on Sept 19, 2006 16:18:47 GMT -5
Aurora wondered herself why she was spilling this to someone she hardly knew, attributing it to the fact that he was the leader. He was much more experienced and...qualified. Or at least he ought to have been, and Aurora saw him as such.
"Well, she'll probably start freaking out and running around like a Mary-Hailing chicken with it's head cut off. I don't know if she'll have enough wits about her to plan an escape...So far all she's been able to do is scream."
'And pray,' she added in her mind, but didn't say it aloud. She didn't feel any sympathy for Jeanne-Marie, and she didn't want anyone else too, either. If they knew what it had been like to be trapped in one's own body, and keep trying to escape only to wake up the next time to find that you've been drug back to the very place you hate the most...They wouldn't have an ounce more sympathy for her than Aurora did.
"Just...I don't know, tie her--me--down or something. Until I'm back to normal." Aurora vaguely wondered if she could ever really be called normal, or if she would ever be. Ah, well. Odd was just a title, after all.
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Post by Pyro on Sept 19, 2006 16:23:59 GMT -5
"Well, there's plenty of cells," said John, with a wicked and sudden grin, "and trust me, if Python and Juggernaut don't want you to get anywhere - you won't go anywhere. Maybe you should talk to Emma next time she's over here. She's certainly helped me."
He fixed her with a very serious glance.
"Remember now, though, you're amongst allies. We all know what it's like to be extreme out here on Genosha. So forgive people if they don't immediately notice you might be acting a little bit...crazy. Let's be honest here, we've all gotta be a bit crazy just to be doing what we're doing, right?"
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Post by Aurora on Sept 19, 2006 16:38:11 GMT -5
Aurora agreed with what he said, but she remembered how fast Cain and Python had come running when she'd smashed the mirror. She had a feeling someone was watching pretty closely most of the time.
Let's be honest here, we've all gotta be a bit crazy just to be doing what we're doing, right?"
Aurora considered, then shook her head, tilting it to the side. "No, I don't think so. If we really thought we were crazy for doing it, we'd stop doing it, wouldn't we? We're fighting for a cause, and we're not bullshitting around about it. The X-Men are bullshitting around. That's why they've gotten absolutely nothing done with the government. Nobody's taking anyone serious about mutants. Except us. We're not letting them ignore us."
She was preaching to the chorus, rather she was the chorus preaching to the preacher, but it was how she felt. The least she could do was let Pyro know that his flock wasn't straying. At least, she wasn't.
Not if she had anything to say about it.
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Post by Pyro on Sept 19, 2006 16:47:17 GMT -5
For some reason, Pyro found his head nodding with every syllable Aurora spoke. Man, she's speaking English, but I don't think I understand a freakin' word she's saying.
Out loud, he said; "I think you're right. Well, the important thing is to just - ah - keep doing what you're doing. You were a great help to us in Baltimore. I'm pretty sure that we can get Emma to sort your head out the way she's sorting mine out. It'll all be fine."
Pyro gave her a rather infectious grin.
"In the meantime, kick back and relax. We could all use a little of that, right?"
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