InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Taste the rainbow."

Erik Lehnsherr (wealreadyare) wrote in colligo_threads,
@ 2011-08-04 16:42:00

Entry tags:

erik lehnsherr, gary bell

WHO: Erik Lehnsherr & Gary Bell
WHAT: Gary has a headache from the network activity. Erik has offered up a suggestion to try and reduce some of that activity.
WHERE: The X-Mansion
WHEN: after this
RATING: PG
STATUS: In Progress

Settling into the mansion had been far easier than Erik had figured it would be. With Annie willing to defend his presence there, and Charles and Raven slowly getting used to him despite the awkwardness that his actions often seemed to provoke in his future best friend's attitudes, the majority of his concentration had extended to avoiding Rogue as best as he could and getting acquainted with the new residents. There were plenty of individuals from places other than their own reality, a matter which proved to Erik that Charles's tendency to collect strays was alive and well even on another planet, and while he didn't exactly remember the associations he had built with the other residents while here has his younger self, Erik was more than happy to settle in with all of them.

In fact, as the eldest individual living in the manor, Erik had found himself developing quite a intense concern for all of them. It was why, when Gary had expressed concerns over getting a headache from the rush on the network, Erik had been more than ready to volunteer to help him alleviate those pains in a hopefully lasting way. With the way the manor was stocked, it hadn't taken Erik very long to locate a piece of wood large enough to hold most of the vital information that new Colligo arrivals would need to know and carry it into the main sitting room of the building along with two cans of paint.

"It's rather rudimentary," Erik said, laying the wood down on the floor as he settled the paint cans and brushes on the coffee table, as he offered Gary a slight smile. "But even the most basic sign will hopefully keep the 'what in the world is going on?' traffic down."

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thetransducer
2011-08-04 10:43 pm UTC (link)

Gary wasn't sure if this was a good idea or not. Not the sign. He was pretty sure that would at least help keep the noise on the network to a dull roar. His issue was Erik. While he got along well enough with the younger version of the man, for the minimal interaction they'd had before the change had swept across the city, he wasn't so sure about the older version. Sure the man seemed nice enough but Gary had seen the conversation he'd had with Rogue shortly after his arrival and, well, now he was a little conflicted.

It was clear, even to someone like him, that Erik was not a man who liked many normal people. Clearly he had issue with those who weren't special and, much like with Anna, Gary wasn't sure if this man was his friend because they were really friends or if he was just being used in some capacity relating to what he could do. Still, as wary as he was, Gary was willing to give it a shot. Besides, he couldn't figure out any way that Erik might be using him when it came to just making a sign.

Waiting in the living room, busying himself with scrolling through the latest handful of text messages that had gone out to others in the past few hours, Gary looked up with Erik entered with the supplies. He immediately twisted his wrist, fingers extended slightly, to shut down the conversation he'd been viewing through the waves in the air that made it possible. "The mayor is planning something," he said in passing, a thoughtful frown tugging at his lips as he turned his attention to the board, then the paint and brushes, then finally to the man who had carried them in.

His gaze cut off to the side slightly again, fingers once more flipping and twisting in ways that looked strange to most until they managed to realize what, exactly, he was doing. Pulling up the most informative post on the network thus far, he said, "Caroline Forbes has most of the basics covered. Annie showed you that one when you arrived. People like it. It's very detailed and organized but also outdated. They don't know parts are outdated. She should edit it."

With a brief pause, he cut his gaze back to Erik. "Where do you want to start?" he asked curiously.

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wealreadyare
2011-08-04 11:26 pm UTC (link)

Planning something. As someone who has spent his lifetime planning things, Erik knew when a statement like that sounded suspicious. Even though it was coming from the city's mayor, Erik doubted that that was pointing to him planning some sort of end of summer picnic or fall festival. But that wasn't something to bother himself with now. He's worry about it when they were suddenly all turned into mind-slaves or giant robots descended from on high with the intention of wiping out anyone that didn't appeal to the mayor's sensibilities.

"Well, the most immediate questions that need to be answered when someone arrives are where, how, and why, with the when being an important factor for a handful of people, so perhaps we should start there," Erik said as he recalled Miss Forbes's post. It was certainly detailed but it covered perhaps far too many items to really fit on a signpost. At least, to fit neatly on a signpost in a way that most people would be able to tell what it said. And as it was, Erik couldn't think of any pressing reason he would need to know that werewolves existed in the city.

Well, unless he arrived on a full moon evening in the middle of the night, that was.

"What do most people do from there?" Erik asked, not really recalling what the standard arrival procedure was. After all, he'd just woken up in a bed in a room that hadn't been his for quite some time.

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thetransducer
2011-08-04 11:57 pm UTC (link)

"Colligo, Asaph, because he wants to," Gary replied almost absently as he twisted his arm, free hand coming up to steady his wrist as he began to scroll through the various posts. His brow furrowed ever so slightly in annoyance at the entirely mindless postings, some part of him realizing that they mattered to others but not really caring because they weren't all that important to him. Finally, after maybe ten seconds or so, he spoke again with a glance at the other man.

"Where is Colligo?" he muttered, not asking the question for himself but repeating what he was seeing in several places at once. "Who is Asaph and Morgan Freeman? How can I go home?" He paused, a flick of his hand sending the system to standby. "They want to know if people will miss them," he said decisively. "And what to do next. The map isn't very good. I have a better one." Another twist of his fingers, with a slight crook in his index, and Erik's PDA made a soft beeping sound to signify he had a message. "I sent it to you. That's a map. A better map, from the map store."

Tilting his head slightly, he paused for a second as though listening to something. "I've got my team on standby, have since we spoke a while back, and they're aren't really known for waiting around," he said simply. "Call in the team. 1214 Storage Road, at 8 PM. Obviously we've got to keep this on an unofficial capacity. I told you the mayor was planning something, Erik. He's planning something." Another pause, then Gary added as though he hadn't just repeated an entirely private conversation, "We should tell them that people look alike. They don't know other people look like them so we should tell them."

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wealreadyare
2011-08-05 12:42 am UTC (link)

Erik couldn't help the idle chuckle that passed his lips at Gary's comment. Even if the boy hadn't meant anything by it, there was an underlying humor in the observation that Erik could definitely appreciate. That was probably as close to the trouble as they could get, but it wouldn't exactly be the most helpful thing to put on a sign. Welcome to Colligo, the playground of God's little brother, settle in for the long haul because hell if we know what you're in for.

Erik picked up his PDA the second it beeped, pulling up the map message and looking it over before glancing up at the sign. "This could be placed in a grid in the lower corner. Give people at least some bearing on which way they need to head from the library," That was, if Erik could manage to make a replica that worked well enough. He knew it could likely do so with metal scraps, but actually drawing it was another matter. "Though, we'd best leave that to someone with the capability to copy it correctly."

His attention was drawn rather severely off track, though, as Gary started reciting apparent private messages between the Mayor and someone else. Assembling a team? A team for what? The scantness of the messages was more than enough call for alarm in Erik's paranoid mind, and the fact that it was coming from high up just reinforced those worries. Of course, with his go to people being miniaturized at the moment, there wasn't really much Erik felt that he could to do stop whatever was coming. Especially since Gary's attention seemed to divert right back to the sign the second he'd finished outlying the messages to Erik so there wasn't really any way for Erik to change his focus.

Pulling out a notepad and pen from a nearby table, Erik began writing down what Gary was listing off, trying to ignore the prodding in the back of his head to comment on the situation with the Mayor but failing rather spectacularly in doing so, "If he's keeping it off the books, whatever he's planning can't be strictly legal. That tends to be how governments work, keep situations that might not be taken well by the public or things that they need to be able to clean up quickly without anyone making a fuss," Erik said, a hint of bitterness in his tone. There really was no reason for him to think that this government was going to operate any differently than the one he was used to.

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thetransducer
2011-08-05 12:54 am UTC (link)

For a few moments, Gary gave no indication that he'd even heard what Erik had said. His gaze was on something only he could see, fingers twitching in a rapid motion and his eyes scanning from one set point in the air to another and back again. "Sounds like a plan," he repeated, "we'll be there." A wave of his hand to make the message go away and he added, "That's all Parker said. That's it. Sounds like a plan, we'll be there. At eight tonight. With her team." Another rapid twisting of his hand and, once more, he changed topics as though he'd never even been discussing it.

"We can't leave and no one misses us while we're gone. It doesn't make sense but people say it's true. People who were here then left. Here before, then gone, now back. No one missed them from home but time passed here while they were gone." Abruptly he stopped, spinning quickly toward Erik and seeking out the man's gaze in a rare moment of making eye contact.

"People die but don't stay dead. They come back. They come back from the dead even though they shouldn't because it's wrong." Another pause and he scrolled through the thin air once more. "Except for the Claires. That's Claire Bennet and Claire Winchester. One in the same but different. They're different but the same person. They come back to life. That's what they do. Claire's blood is why Charles can walk again when he's the age he should be which is not the age he is now."

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wealreadyare
2011-08-05 02:04 am UTC (link)

Normally, Erik didn't have any issue with taking in information as it was given to him. Normally, he could process whatever was thrown his way with a certain swiftness and come up with an appropriate (or something inappropriate when the situation called for it) response without so much as missing a beat. But there was an intensity with which Gary put things across, and no true flow to the information that left Erik feeling utterly jarred each time that the subject was changed. Erik knew that the boy was hardly doing it just to leave him confused; it was just how his mind worked. But it still left Erik feeling as though he had been run through an information ringer by the time that Gary finished talking.

So much so that Erik had to double take at the last thing Gary told him to make sure that he'd heard it right.

"Why Charles can what?" Erik asked, utterly flabbergasted by the concept. Charles hadn't been able to walk since...well, since they had parted on less than friendly terms. Not that he had known about it until some time later, but the idea that Charles had regained his ability to through the assistance of another one like them was both overwhelming and uplifting at the same time. Especially when Erik was still trying to deal with the idea that Charles wasn't dead after watching his best friend killed right before his eyes.

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thetransducer
2011-08-05 02:28 am UTC (link)

The one thing Erik didn't really know about Gary, the one thing not many people realized until they'd actually experienced it for themselves, was that if he was asked a direct question he would typically focus long enough to actually answer without wavering too far from what was being discussed. It wasn't a foolproof plan, of course, but it was the closest one could hope to get. And fortunately, this time, it worked.

"Why Charles can walk again," he repeated, scrolling through the waves that made up the network until he found the posts in question. "There's a woman here with a regenerative ability who says that her blood can heal serious injuries in others. As much as I would hate to make a decision for Charles, you know he's probably not going to willingly accept it." He glanced briefly toward Erik. "That was you. You said that. You were talking to Raven." Another twist of his fingers and his eyes once more began reading an entry only he could see.

"Erik, Raven, as much as I appreciate what the you've done for me, and as much as I am impressed by your fine motor control regarding your mutation, I would suggest that in the future you might want to ask people before jabbing them in the neck with needles full of someone else's blood. It really is just a common courtesy. That said, thank you both. It means a lot that you would do that for me even after everything. And thank you, Claire. I was wondering if you might be willing to talk to Barbara with me, to extend a similar offer to her. With an actual offer involved this time." Another glance at Erik as he explained, "That was Charles, after he could walk. He can walk now, thanks to her blood." Once again, Gary paused, clearly searching for something else on his invisible screen.

"Rapid cellular regeneration is what she calls it. I don't know what that means." Turning to the board they were going to put the information about the city onto, he added, "We should use bright colors. People like bright colors."

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wealreadyare
2011-08-05 03:11 am UTC (link)

Claire. It was a name that Erik was sure was going to ring in his head because an ability like that was nothing only fascinating and useful, he was going to have to thank her for whatever she had done for Charles. From the sound of what Gary was saying, he'd either borrowed, begged, or stolen a sample of her blood in order to heal Charles himself, but she clearly had to have provided it somehow. Erik barely remembered how he felt the first time he realized what his actions had wrought. Seeing Charles in a state where he was so vulnerable when his mind had still been fixed on the idea of the proud and strong man that he had once knew had been overwhelming, that much Erik remembered, and it had been made so much worse by the fact that his desire to fix the situation that he had caused had not only been beyond him but also unreasonable considering the gaping divide that he and Charles had found themselves on opposite sides of back in their own reality.

Whatever feelings he couldn't recall, though, Erik couldn't deny that there was an intense feeling of fulfillment that came with knowing that there was at least once place where he had been able to make it right.

And then that ringer feeling was back as his attention was shifted back to the sign. Not that Erik hadn't been paying attention to every aspect that Gary had been telling him needed to be included, but being diverted in such a way made it difficult getting back on track, "I was only able to find black and white," Erik said, glancing over at the paint cans sitting on the table. "But we could always use block letters and fill in brighter colors after the lettering has dried."

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