InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Later..."

I'M HERE TO SAVE YOU FROM YOURSELF.
CODE BY

Enid had taken it upon herself to be a recent welcome wagon for new people showing up at the Station. It felt necessary after the recent month of not so nice arrivals. People might have been (understandably) wary of new people. It also felt a lot like being back at Nevermore. She was often the one given the job of showing new people around. She just had one of those amazing personalities, she supposed. Totally modestly.

She was also proud to admit she made it her business to know everything about everything. Her blog back home had been the go to place for all the hot goss. Her blog here was a little bit less exciting, but it was still fun to keep it up.

Now that they were back from spring break, Enid thought maybe Bobby might like a tour and a bit of a run down. Bouncing to a stop in front of his door, she knocked with a bouncy little rhythm. “Helloooo Iceman. Are you home?” She knew he was, she could hear his heartbeat (not creepy!). But it was rude not to let people pretend.

Bobby had been verklemmt. For the first time since…since…ever? He had to get a real job. Okay, his early (certainly not mid) life crisis notwithstanding, his entire adult life had been bankrolled in appreciation for him putting his life on the line every day for the greater good. Five grand was peanuts, especially in a place as outrageously expensive as San Francisco. That meant getting a job.

“I don’t have any professional skills!” Bobby moaned as he sank into the apartment sofa and slowly slid dramatically to the floor, hand appropriately at his forehead. “I’m too beautiful for the mundane economy!”

There was a knock at the door.

“Go away, I’m wallowing in self pity,” Bobby muttered quietly to himself. Well, no, that certainly wasn’t his style but he certainly considered it. In the end, his better nature won and the mutant heaved himself off the floor and trudged over to the door.

Opening the door revealed him in human form, all six foot something of him. He was in a white crop top shorn off just below his ample bosom, and denim cutoffs that were almost too short for public decency. But, considering this was San Francisco, maybe not.

“Uh…” Bobby looked Enid over, confused for a moment, and then put on a bright smile, “hi! Please tell me you’re selling Girl Scout cookies.”

Enid’s smile, impossibly, grew even bigger when Bobby answered the door. “Hi!” She replied with her usual enthusiasm, looking up at him. New guy was tall. Enthusiasm never waning, she scoffed at the girl scout cookie remark. “Puh-lease, the girl scouts wouldn’t touch me with a ten foot pole!”

She considered him and his readiness for a Station tour before mentally shrugging. It wasn’t like there was anything to worry about here. Not now at least. “I’m here to save you from yourself before the wallowing fully takes hold!” She referenced his little crisis-moment of talking to himself. She got it, she’d been there.

Thing tapped her ankle with his pointer finger, the hand flexing impatiently from his place by her foot. Oops. She’d almost forgotten he was there. “Oh! This is Thing. Don’t worry, he doesn’t bite. Hard.” She reached out and took Bobby’s hand long enough to pull him in an encouraging fashion out the door. “Come on, tour time!”

“How’d you hear that? Do you have super hearing or are you a telepath? What am I thinking right now? Can you hear my thoughts? ‘Cuz look I have a history with fem queen telepaths and I– oh my GOD what is that?!”

Bobby shrieked, something very unbecoming of a man with his musculature, and jumped behind the door frame when he saw the severed(?!) hand motion at him.

“And what does it bite with if it doesn’t have teeth? Please tell me it doesn’t grow a creepy demon mouth with scary teeth.”

Enid was all ready to answer his question when he shrieked, he full on shrieked oh my god that was priceless, when he saw Thing, and she figured she better answer that part first. “He’s a he, not an it. Thing. And I was only kidding about the biting thing, I promise.” She thought the lack of a mouth was pretty obvious. That was what sign language was for. And the little code he and Enid had developed over the time they’d known each other. But, okay. Maybe valid question about a demon mouth. She’d seen worse. Not from Thing, of course. Thing was too good for a demon mouth. Without Wednesday here any more, Enid found a lot of comfort in having him here. He was, in many ways, a tangible connection to her friend.

But, on to other questions. She thrust out her hand for a shake. “Enid Sinclair, resident werewolf - excellent hearing and zero telepathic abilities to speak of. No cool superhero name, either. I should probably work on that. Everyone here has awesome names.” But then again, maybe not. She liked her name.

Thing tapped at her ankle again and she looked back down, watching him for a moment. “He says if you behave he’ll consider biting.” She shot Bobby another wide grin, this one more blatantly teasing. “He’s a terror.”

“If I behave?! Well, I don’t want to know what he’ll do if I misbehave but just try it, bucko, you’ll get frostbite and lose a finger.”

To demonstrate his point, Birkenstocks made of bright blue ice formed seamlessly around the pink skin of Bobby’s feet. He tapped his foot against the carpet of the hallway, the hard ice thumping.

“Okay, okay. Bobby Drake,” he said, taking her hand with one and shutting the door behind him with the other. Bobby didn’t have anything to steal. He came here with literally nothing. “Sounds like everyone’s going by normie names anyway and, well, my country doesn’t exist here so I suppose the rules don’t apply.”

The options Thing had for insult retaliation when someone didn’t understand him were limited, but there was no mistaking the gesture he made in response to that threat. “Play nice,” Enid chastised, with none of the sincerity Wednesday ever managed. She liked the hand too much for that.

“That is so cool,” she enthused of the ice-shoes-trick. “Oh! Pun not intended.” When he shut the door she led him in the direction of the elevators. “We have normies back home too. And here, of course. But most of them come from at least semi-interesting places.” Enid didn’t mean to default to distrusting normies initially, it was just what she’d been taught growing up. She was doing better about it, though.

“The whole multiverse thing is weird,” she agreed in sympathy. “Like, I grew up not far from here? But it isn’t here. I checked.” Total mind trip. “But everyone here looks out for each other. Especially when the crazy happens.”

“No, no,” Bobby waggled a finger, “in this house? Pun is always intended.”

With the barest exertion of will, something that in one moment was conscious and the next became a subconscious function of his hypothalamus, Bobby regulated the temperature around him. Normally that ice would have to maintain below zero, forcing its ambient surroundings to get colder or succumbing (and melting) to the higher temperatures. With Bobby, there was another option. The cold was contained to the shaped ice itself while everything else regulated to its normal Californian warmth.

"Honestly, this whole alternate universe thing is kind of old hat for me," Bobby said with a sigh. "I've done realities, dimensions, past me, future me, the whole kit and caboodle. What I mean is, most times it's apocalypse or dystopia or bad news bears. This seems pretty tame in comparison. How long have you been here?"

“Everyone always asks that question, so I was prepared this time.” Yes, she was proud. Also yes, it was easy to forget. “I got here January last year. I showed up around the same time as my friend Wednesday. But her personality was just too much for this place, so she got sent back again. That happens sometimes.” A lot, actually. But he didn’t need too much of a downer on day one.

“So you’ve actually met younger you, and future you? What is that like? Does it totally mess with your head? Could you give baby you advice for the future or were you worried about breaking things with the butterfly effect?” Once they were in the elevator, she hit the button to start them at the roof. Top down, best way to do it.

“I bet it seems tame right now, but don’t let my awesome presence deceive you. This place can screw with you like the best of them.”

“He gave me advice, actually,” Bobby replied with a bit of nostalgic humor in his tone. Crossing his arms, he leaned against the back of the elevator. Yeah, that teenage shithead definitely taught him a lesson or two. But there wasn’t going to be any extrapolation on that with a stranger.

“So you’re a longtimer expert, that’s cool. Most of my sojourns into other universes have been fraught with peril and there’s always some time traveler or something that helps get us back where we belong”

Taking a brief pause, Bobby shot a sideways look at the little ball of sunshine. Then, he added, “Judging by the way folks chat on the Station network it seems like folks aren’t really in a rush to get back homeside.”

“Hmm,” Enid mused. “Well, we do have a time traveler guy. A few of them actually. But I don’t think they know how to get us home.” As far as she knew, The Doctor guy didn’t have his time machine with him.

She shrugged as the doors slid open, leading him out onto the roof. Which was where they’d had all their best parties, in her humble opinion. “I know for some people it’s this or the whole not alive thing, so this is a better option. I do miss home, but I’m making this work.” There was little that could bring her down for long, and she was determined to live her best life in the situation she was currently in.

“Yeah, if you can’t get home, best to make the most of where you’re at when you’re at it. That’s a good outlook. When my past self, er…when I time traveled to the future as a kid, we didn’t know how long we were going to be stranded in the future. We just knew we couldn’t stop living. When my teen self returned to the past, I inherited all his new memories at some point. I think there’s definitely something about living despite your circumstances.”

In a world that wanted him and his kind dead, Bobby learned that early.

He stepped out onto the roof, fingers laced together behind his head. The sun felt nice and San Francisco had the benefit of that ocean breeze.

“Rooftop access, nice. I imagine it hosts some cool block parties. Any gardening? Sunrise yoga?”

“Wow,” she acknowledged with some level of awe in her voice. “That must really mess with your head.” Winding up with new memories that then became your memories. She didn’t think she could get her head around that if she tried. It was good advice, though. And something Enid had always stuck to in her own way. She lived her life for herself. Not anyone else. Not even her mother, when she felt like Enid was making progress too slowly.

“We have had some pretty good ones.” She made her way over to the left side, where the view was the best. “I don’t know about yoga, but there was talk the other day about setting up a garden for butterflies. That sounded pretty great to me! Maybe you’d like to help out with that? Do you like gardening?”

“Not much of a salt’f the earth kind of guy,” Bobby said with his hands on his hips. “I tend to be too cold for most plants. Except– well, nevermind. Best not get into it. The point is.” He stuck a finger out to make the aforementioned point. “Rooftop gardening seems like a very popular thing. And also sunrise yoga, someone really needs to tap into that.”

Moving to the edge of the roof, Bobby looked down at the ground beneath them and then out to the visible skyline and the buildings around them. “Not too bad. I’ll have to get used to city life again, but I’ve always been a New York boy at heart. So, you.” To prompt, he turned his head back to Enid for a moment, “Werewolf, huh? Is it like a curse thing or a born thing? Do you go full-on wolf lady or is it like teeth and claws?”

“No plants for Bobby, got it. You can just make the ice sculptures at Christmas!” She suggested, skipping to a stop a little way from him and leaning on the low wall. The yoga thing though, he might be onto something there. She’d have to do some reading up on that.

“I am one hundo percent au naturel werewolf. It’s in the family, we’re all born wolves.” She knew for some of the wolves who’d been here it had been different. Just like their experience on the full moon. She smiled proudly at the second part of his question. “I only go full wolf lady on the full moon. But the rest of the time I’ve got these.” She held up her hand, and with a flick of her wrist, her claws extended, proudly painted in her signature pastel polish.

“Wait, you were born as a wolf? Not, like, a person?” Bobby held his hands up, “No judgement, just totally not expected.” His lips pinched into a purse, eyes squinting as if he was considering something. Considering a bad decision.

“So if you go full wolf lady on the full moon,” Bobby couldn’t help himself, “does that mean you go half wolf lady? Crescent wolf lady? Gibbous wolf lady? Every month you get to be a new wolf lady, eh?”

As if that weren’t enough, Bobby had the audacity to make finger guns at her afterward.

“Cool nail color, by the way.”

“Hey,” she admonished lightly. “I was a person. I was just also a werewolf. I didn’t get bitten and turned like in the stories, or some of the others around.” She didn’t mention anyone here, that was their story to tell.

The next series of questions was so unexpected, and so funny, that she laughed freely, not remotely offended by the question. “That is ridiculous. No, the rest of the time it’s just me. And these.” She gestured with the claws before lowering her hand again, claws retracting. She chose not to comment on the finger guns. She had met a real dork in this one, and she loved it.

“Thank you! I love mixing it up.” Anyone who looked at her clothes or her hair would see she clearly loved color.

“No, no, no. Misunderstanding, time out.” Bobby placed a palm on the tips of the opposing fingers in the classic signal to pause. “It was a joke about being born in wolf form because you said you were ‘born a wolf’ and– anyway, bad joke. I’ll take the L on that one.”

Moisture pulled out of the open air, the droplets coalescing in Bobby’s hand to form a ball made of ice. He tossed it from hand to hand thoughtfully before throwing it up into the air where it burst into tiny snowflakes that melted away.
“Anything else cool to see? Can’t imagine anything beats the roof unless there’s like a gateway to a private island paradise or something.”

“Oh.” Enid laughed, a little abashed. She’d missed that. She was used to being a little bit defensive about it all, usually. But she didn’t need to, she knew that. Not with someone like Bobby at least. He wasn’t a normie.

His powers were SO. COOL. She would have to pepper him with demands for a few more demonstrations later.

She was a bit transfixed by the little snowflakes slowly melting to immediately answer his question. “No gateways. The roof is probably the best part of this place, honestly. Then there’s just the apartments, mostly. Which you’ve seen. Otherwise it’s all about the area. We’re close to some amazing food places.”

“I’ll have to get your recommendations,” Bobby declared, “after I get an income. With my appetite I’ll be constantly broke.”

Glad to put the misunderstanding behind them, Bobby stepped to the edge of the roof. His hands hit squarely on his hips and he looked over the edge. Finally, he just…stepped off. The ice sandals he was wearing on his feet had grown into a platform that jut off the side of the building and Bobby seemed glued to it.

“I’m gonna go for a run and check out some of the sights. Want a ride down or do you want to take the elevator?”

Turning toward Enid, Bobby held a hand out toward her.

“Don’t worry, we’ll find you a really cool job. Pun intended this time,” she tacked on with an exaggerated wink.

Her eyes widened at the new display of his powers. He was clearly holding back with his little ice ball into snowflakes business. “Oh. Em. Gee. Are you kidding? As if I’d take the elevator!” Without hesitating, she took the offered hand.

“Cool,” Bobby replied with a knowing wink. He held Enid’s hand tightly and brought her on board the ice platform. “This is sort of my signature move. It’s called the ice slide.”

Extending his free hand in front of him, Bobby began to rapidly convert the air moisture into ice. It manifested as a white-blue frigid blast of energy from his palm that created connective ice that launched their platform forward and down. They shot down the side of the building in an arcing spiral, traveling around the perimeter of the Station over and over until they reached the ground. All the while, the pair surfed the growing slide of blue. Bobby psychically manipulated the property of the ice under Enid’s feet so that it was a tactile, nonslip surface. His own feet were bonded into the organic ice by virtue of his secondary mutation, allowing the two of them to virtually stand still as the platform beneath them did the physical traveling.

“And…pump the breaks,” he declared with satisfaction as they touched down on the ground. He let go of Enid’s hand so she could dismount. As for himself, Bobby spun in tight circles like a professional ice skater until his momentum died. Already, the giant spiral of ice around the Station was harmlessly evaporating back into the air.

Hopping off with a little bounce, Enid turned to face Bobby with all the excitement written clear across her face. “That was amazing. We have to do that again! Not right now. But again. Wow.”

Looking up at the trail of ice as it dissipated into nothing, Enid turned curious eyes on Bobby. “You are going to feature heavily in my blog this week. Hope you don’t mind!” She didn’t, actually, mind if he minded. Her blog was only ever entirely complimentary, of course.

“As long as you get me from my good side,” Bobby shot back. Which, well, did he have a bad side? The mutant lifted his hand and waved at Enid with a cheerful grin.

“Thanks for the tour! Had a howling good time.”

With an ostentatious click of his heels, sneakers made out of blue ice formed around his feet. Bobby gave a couple of high-knee trots in place before taking off down the block.