erik lehnsherr is a handsome shark (sharksmile) wrote in thedisplaced, @ 2018-06-25 16:05:00 |
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Rogue nearly didn’t show up. She had been going back and forth on her decision to let her daughter meet this version of Magneto since Tuesday, uncertain which was the correct path to go down. Her own worries of what could happen if they were all found out, if the world knew who they truly all were and what could happen because of that mingled with the fears of others in her head, maximising all of her emotions. Which was why she kept leaning toward backing out, wondering if she was making a mountain out of a molehill, but then again, how many times had the tides changed for the worst back in her own world? And she didn’t want to keep Anka Irene away from him. It wasn’t fair to the little girl who didn’t understand why she wasn’t allowed to reach out to the man she thought of as her father and Rogue had no way of explaining to her baby why this man wasn’t him. Her own emotional turmoil about the entire situation would be put on the backburner, Anka Irene’s wellbeing her top priority. And then to figure out how to help Hope with this change in their relationship dynamic. But this version had said he would help keep Anka Irene safe and in the end, that was what mattered to Rogue the most. That was truly why she had come to the mansion as she’d said she would with her daughter in tow. Having extra backup to protect the baby was something she couldn’t balk at, no matter how much it might hurt her heart. She set Anka Irene down onto the grass and shrugged off the bag of toys and snacks she’d packed as well before letting the little girl pull her down to sit with her on the grass. Rogue pulled out the copy of ‘Brown Bear, Brown Bear’, intent on reading to calm both of their nerves as they waited for Erik to show up. There was a very good chance that Erik had no idea what the fuck he was doing. The last two weeks, he had spent away from this bullshit little town that brought about such a confusing time for him. To be ripped away from a reality where he no longer had much to live for, to be placed in a reality where another version of him had a whole family there...it was enough to make anyone crazy. So he had left and then had returned and he was almost certain it was due to a bald headed mutant’s manipulation that he couldn't get the idea of this little girl out of his head. She was his, but she wasn’t either and while trying to figure out exactly what he was to her was an exercise in headaches, all he really wanted to do was meet her and see how he felt about her, if he could really accept the situation for what it was and make the best of it. What he had told Rogue was true though - he would protect her like he would protect any other mutant child. But if there was more there...well, he was willing to see. He was finally clean shaven, the beard finally gone after the harassment he had gotten from Rogue. When he sensed their approach, he made his way from his campground to where they were sitting on the lawn by the mansion. They looked like the picture of a happy mother-daughter duo. And when he finally got to them, the awkwardness of the situation set in. “Hello,” he settled on, as he stood there waiting to be acknowledged. He couldn’t take his eyes off the baby, seemingly captivated by the sight of her. Rogue’s heart was racing, that flight or fight response kicking in when she least wanted it to happen. It took effort to quiet it, to work to keep her demeanor as calm as possible, outwardly and inwardly. The last thing she wanted to do was have her emotions affect Anka Irene in any way, especially not when the baby looked toward her with confusion before back at the man standing before them. Daddy? she heard the little girl’s voice in her head and Rogue pressed a kiss to her daughter’s forehead, not really answering the question at all. Anka Irene turned back toward him, hand opening and closing as she gave a small wave. “Hi,” her voice was shier than Rogue had ever heard it before. “Book?” She held the boardbook out for him while keeping a tight grip on her mother’s arm. Rogue watched him carefully, uncertain how he would react to the entire situation, but ready to lift off into the sky if this was going to upset her baby girl in any way. Crouching down so that Anka Irene didn’t have to strain her neck to look up at him, he hesitantly smiled at the baby. “Thank you,” he said, taking the book and opening the heavy cardboard pages to a random glossy page. Looking down at it, he smiled at the cartoonish frogs and flowers drawn on it, the intense reminder of Nina as a baby coming back to him. It was a bittersweet memory, but he didn’t dare to let the pain show in front of this small child. He flipped through a few more pages, before leaning back and sitting cross legged. Looking up at the baby, he asked her, “Would you like to read with me?” He briefly glanced up at Rogue, to see how she was reacting to everything, but was quick to put eyes back on Anka Irene. He seemed a lot more gentle and kind than he usually came off when it was just him and Rogue. Anka Irene looked hesitantly at her mother, not entirely sure if she was supposed to accept that offer or not. She could sense the troubled emotions from both of them, even if they did try to cover them up, being a baby telepath meant her filters were fairly non-existent aside from the barriers Charles and Betsy had erected, but those had been mostly for the baby letting hers out to overpower others. Or to stop her from abducting her mother to the Astral plane. Picking up emotions was still fairly easy, especially from her mother. Rogue nodded, trying to be as encouraging as she could manage, and worked to keep her breathing normal as Anka Irene slowly moved to sit nearer to Erik. “Meow meow,” she pointed at the cat on the page, mimicking the sound of the ones she’d been around enough. And then because it was as regular as breathing to her, moved one of the small metal balls from the bag to show him how she could make a cat figurine with it. “Ook!” “She means look,” Rogue murmured, brushing her daughter’s soft curls as the tiny cat was set down onto the grass. “Impressive,” Erik marveled, leaning forward to watch the cat figurine play. So this was her ability? So like his, so familiar and so not. He couldn’t help but be completely impressed by the baby. Second generation mutants...he didn’t realize how powerful they could be, how they could manifest abilities so early. Looking at the baby, trying to catch her attention, he pulled a metal ball out of his own pocket - something he carried with him always. Showing it to her on his palm, he started to manipulate it, to match her cat figurine with one of his own. “Meow meow,” he said, smiling at her as his cat joined hers to “play.” Anka Irene clapped, her smile one of sheer delight as she looked back at her mother in absolute wonder before glancing back at Erik. “Mmmm,” Rogue managed to get out, not entirely sure what to make of the entire situation. Sadness wanted to win out but she continued to work to not allow it to show as much as she could, not wanting to ruin the moment that was happening between the two. A small flurry of purple telepathic butterflies was pushed from the baby to her, offering some comfort as Anka Irene pulled some metal from her cat and handed it to Rogue to manipulate as well. “Mama! Meow meow!” the baby urged and Rogue acquiesced, creating her own small cat to join in with the two. “She’s a bright one,” Erik observed, as he watched the three metal cats “play” with each other. He looked up at Rogue, who looked like she was having some kind of internal conflict. He considered being kind and sighed, knowing that he was going to give in. “Would you like to pick this up some other time, maybe when you’re feeling a little better?” Rogue shook her head; part of her wanted nothing more than to cut the entire thing short but she could stick this out for the baby. “Nah, that’s alright. I’m feelin’ just fine.” It was a downright lie, but she figured she could fake it for awhile longer. “And you’ve both been wantin’ to do this.” She did shift back though and sat the little girl down on the grass so that she was closer to Erik and got a bottle of water out of the bag. Hopefully drinking something cool might help some. Shifting his focus back to the baby with a nod at Rogue, he started to turn his cat into various other animals, going through their names as he shifted and changed the metal into each animal. It amused him, how she could only pronounce maybe a third of the animals, but given that she was barely one, it wasn’t very surprising. He remembered Nina at this age, the thought making his heart hurt. Anka Irene mimicked the various animals as best she could, though none of hers were as well crafted as his. She scooted closer to him as she made the small dog roll over in the glass before holding her arms out to him. Rogue froze at the gesture, not entirely sure how he would react to the baby wanting to be held. There was barely a hesitation between her holding out her arms to him and him picking her up. He scooped her up and into his lap, as his own version of a dog joined hers in rolling over and doing an array of other tricks. Already he knew that now that he had held her, he had no intention of ever being too far from her. It was an emotional response to this whole situation, but he would never admit that. Too casually, trying to project a sense of ‘this is fine,’ he asked Rogue, “Can I keep seeing her?” It was like looking at a scene out of her dreams but the happiness she felt from those glimpses of the life she had thought her family would have wasn’t present now. Instead Rogue watched the two of them with a deep pang in her heart, knowing as the two of them interacted that the reality would never truly mesh with what she wanted any longer. Sure, another alternate of Erik could always show up--after all how many Buckys had there been running around at one point?--but the chances of their version showing up now had dropped to pretty much nil and it hurt to watch this one interacting with her daughter. But she knew she couldn’t keep them apart. Or, well, she could, but she wouldn’t. Anka Irene needed him in her life and from watching Erik with her daughter, Rogue had a feeling he needed the little girl in his life as well. “I’m sure we can work somethin’ out.” That was as good of an answer as she could muster at the moment. He understood. If it was the reverse, if a version of Magda showed up that didn't know him and Nina, he would have been reluctant to allow such a privilege with his daughter. But he was thankful that Rogue wasn't like him, that she had the emotional intelligence that he clearly lacked. “Thank you,” was directed at her, while his gaze was on Anka Irene and the fresh baby smell that seemed to accompany all babies. Oh how he had missed this feeling. He used the metal pieces they were playing with to bring over the book that had been abandoned earlier. “Let's read together,” he said, flipping to the page. Anka Irene clapped her hands at the idea, putting her hands on the pages as he flipped through them, wanting to feel the different textures that went with each animal. “Mama!” she reached a hand out for Rogue to come closer but didn’t try to move from Erik’s lap. “Woof woof!” An image of their dog, Sorcha, floated in the air between them as Rogue complied, scooting a little closer to the duo but still working to keep some distance. “That is a dog like Sorcha. Though this one’s a lot smaller than her, ain’t it, hon?” Anka Irene moved her arms wide to try and show just how big the dog was to Erik. She floated another image of the small blue Bamf that looked a lot like her Uncle Kurt next and moved her hands closer to show how small he was. And then she teleported in a burst of blue smoke just like the creature could. Rogue blinked, not bothering to panic as she could still sense the little girl through her connection before the baby turned back up on the grass a few feet from them, giggling as she tumbled over. “Well….that’s a new one.” “...Huh.” So multiple powers. The baby had been more powerful than any other second generation mutant he had ever met, but he supposed having two mutant parents made a bit of a difference. The genetics of this was probably fascinating, but at the moment, Erik was more concerned with trying to calm down his racing heart. The baby was fine. He had nothing to worry about. “Does she have anymore abilities I should know about?” He asked, reaching out to her to see if she'd come over on her own. “Healin’, telepathy, telekinesis, electromagnetism, phasin’,” Rogue started off as Anka Irene toddled back toward her. She scooped the little girl up in her arms once she was within reach, blowing a raspberry against the baby’s cheek. “Apparently teleportin’. And she’s got reality warpin’ too but that one’s been...dampened.” Anka Irene scrunched up her nose at that and Rogue nuzzled her own against it. “You’ll get it back when you’re older.” “Dampened?” Erik questioned. There was a certain uneasiness in his one worded question. He was, of course, of the mindset that people shouldn't have to hide who they were, but he knew that not everything was so black and white anymore. “She made furniture disappear and created a cat out of thing air because she got real upset when her…” Rogue’s voice trailed off, not wanting to get into it entirely. “She was eight months old when that happened. It ain’t exactly the easiest thing to do to teach someone her age when she should and shouldn’t go alterin’ reality as she wants. So that’s dampened until she’s a lil older.” It hadn’t been an easy decision to make and Rogue still waffled on it from time to time, but she was well aware how awful it would be if the little girl accidentally disappeared someone she knew because she was angry with them in that moment. “I don't know how I feel about that, but that doesn't matter. It was the right move,” he admitted, though it pained him to say that. To have your abilities locked away...he couldn't imagine being without his own ability. But he supposed that Anka Irene barely knew what it was like to alter reality if Rogue had acted quickly enough to bind her power. Erik started to stand, dusting grass clippings off himself. “I think I should get going, I’ve taken enough of your time.” It was a strategic retreat, before he insulted her parenting accidentally and banned himself from ever seeing Anka Irene again. “The various yous up here weren’t all that happy with it either,” she murmured, tapping her head. Though out of the two, Rogue would say that Max took it worse than Erik had. But none of them had actually been around to help her out with the then eight month old so she was of the mind that their opinions meant shit all. “Say goodbye to…” She wasn’t sure what she was supposed to have the little girl call him. “Say goodbye, baby girl.” Anka Irene waved goodbye, smiling brightly at him, before cuddling up to her mother. “It must be fun, having multiple versions of me sharing your thoughts,” Erik observed, wondering how she hadn’t gone insane from that yet. Must be a part of her abilities. Bending low enough to wave his goodbye to Anka Irene, he said, “Goodbye, Anka Irene. I hope I get to see you again soon.” A small smile had made its way onto his face at the words. Then he straightened and with a nod at Rogue, he added, “Thank you.” In the next second, he was gone, walking back in the direction of his camp. |