bamfing | Zweiundzwanzig - [Action/Voice]

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Zweiundzwanzig - [Action/Voice]

[When Kurt steps out of the tunnel today, he's relieved. It's kind of like being back home, if home was a place where you were at the mercy of scientists and bureaucrats and the subject of weird experiments. But it's got friends and family, so he's still relieved to be here. Not to mention having a sky over him again. It's kind of refreshing to actually be chilly! Although a little sore from two weeks of teleporting, he's content to make his way back home.

... where he'll find out Jubilee is gone. Not to mention that Melanie is still away. It's kind of a bummer on both count. But he keeps his chin high and remembers that he still has friends. Jubilee went back to the X-Men she belongs with, he's with the X-Men he belongs with, and he'll be ready the moment Melanie comes back.

After spending some time getting settled back into the X-House again, he goes out for the evening, looking for some fun to stimulate a Kurt who spent two weeks of fighting and boredom (and people staring at him like a freak). Good Spirits, Cloud Nine, and the Rec Center are all stops this evening for him. A successful mission completed deserves a little celebration, after all.

At some point, he pops open his journal to ask something he's been thinking about. From what he knows of Kotetsu and Pao-Lin's world, it almost seems to have 'mutants' like him. But unlike his world, they seem to have a better lot than mutants in his world do. After two weeks of being stared at like a freak, his own mutation is pretty heavy on his mind. Maybe other worlds are like this too?]

So a lot of us have powers, yeah? How many people were born with them... but only by accident? I don't mean like some kind of magical powers, but something totally random.

And... what do the people of your world think of that?

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Is it your first time? [The first time a close friend vanished like that is hard. There's always so many question. So many... what ifs.]

Yeah...

[Functionally, it was true. There were odd circumstances concerning Luca, and it's not to say that she hasn't seen people go home that she'd known in Luceti. But this time it was people that she'd known for a while, that she'd felt like she was getting close to.]

[He nods.]

It's tough. Especially when they're not even from your world. I can't really say you get used to it, either.

It almost makes you wonder why you should bother with making friends in the first place if they're just going to be taken away from you...

[She really is taking this hard...]

... when I was little, my parents let me keep a pet cat I found. He was already pretty old... and he only lasted a few months after that. I was really upset. There wasn't anything they could do make it better. They even offered to get me a kitten, but I didn't want a new one. I even wished I had never even found him, just so I wouldn't be so upset. But my father said that good things aren't always forever. It's not about how long you have something, it's about the time when you do have it.

[He shakes his head a bit.]

It didn't really make me feel much better at the time. But it does now, sometimes.

...I guess that makes sense. [And somehow she feels like she knew this already, deep down inside. Kurt's right in that it doesn't really make her feel too much better at the moment though.] I have a lot of friends here, and I can always make more, but...it doesn't change that some of them left and I don't know if I'll ever see them again. They won't even remember me back where they are, either...

[For someone who had very few friends back in her world for most of her life before coming here to amass a considerable social circle, this whole thing is especially a big damn deal.]

[He could relate to that bit about having few friends. He may have made a lot in his two years in America, but it didn't quite make up for the fifteen years of growing up in the shadows.]

I know. I wish we could do something, but... [Yeah, he's got nothing. Except. Well. One thing. He pulls out his journal, rips out a page, and scribbles a quick message onto it.]

There. This is proof that Nightcrawler met Dragon Kid. No matter whether one of us forgets.

[It's a simple note. It simply reads, "I lost a friend while I was gone for two weeks, but I made another at the same time. Her name is Pao-Lin - Kurt Wagner". He even signed it his own special way, just to prove it was him who wrote it.]

[Pao-Lin takes the piece of paper almost reverently, reading over it. When she's done, she smiles at Kurt -- a genuine smile this time, not something to mask her hurt.]

Thank you. This really does mean a lot to me. [Idea!] Oh, I'll do something for you too!

[She takes the pen that Kurt was writing with and begins scribbling very quickly in her journal, tearing the page out when she's done and handing it over. It's a rough sketch of him, with a message that's even simpler than his: "To my new friend Nightcrawler, from Dragon Kid."]

[He smiles in turn. He wasn't sure if it would really mean much to her. But he's glad it did. When he gets his own note in turn, this one with a drawing, his grin widens a bit.]

Ah, now this is great. Thanks. [He keeps it handy a bit longer, looking over the little sketch. This is going to go into his little collection. With a Batarang and Tony Stark's autograph.] I would have drawn you, but... well, anyone can draw a stick figure.

[She laughs a little.]

Well, it's the thought that counts, right?

That's what I hear. [He takes note of her milkshake.] ... it looks like you're going to need a straw for that now.

[She eyes her drink, then takes an experimental sip of it straight from the glass. She winces a little.]

Maybe I should just get a whole new drink...this is starting to taste like ice cream soup.

It might be a good idea. That sounds as bad as what we've been eating for two weeks.

[She makes another face.]

Ugh, don't remind me. Eating real food here again almost made me sick. I think my stomach had to adjust to it again, or something. [That's her story and she's sticking to it.]

Or maybe you've tried having too much of the good stuff at once!

[... or maybe that's what Kurt did.]

Heh, maybe you're right. [He's actually not. Pao-Lin has been uncharacteristically un-hungry ever since coming back from the mission and finding out the bad news. But there's no need for Kurt to know that. She stands up.] I'm gonna go get another milkshake from the bar -- want me to get you anything?

[He kept running into all his lady friends earlier and frankly, he's kind of beveraged out.]

I think I'll pass. I've had one too many milkshakes already.

All right, if you say so.

[She runs off and returns sipping from a fresh chocolate milkshake. She looks considerably happier than she did when Kurt first saw her.]

[Good. He's glad to see her in higher spirits. Let's see if he can keep this going.]

You were pretty awesome in those fights. Even though my score was totally higher. [He bluffs.]

[She gives him a disbelieving look.]

What? No way! What'd you get?

[Time to make up a really high score. Umm...]

A hundred and forty one!

...I didn't even think the scores went up that high!

[SUCCESS.]

Well, I guess the people you were with just weren't as cool.

[And Kurt's remark gets her thinking about something she noticed while on the mission.]

What did you think about the other people being tested?

... I didn't really like them. [They may have been perfectly nice to her, but most of them would have nothing to do with him.]

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