WHO: Bobby Drake and Marina WHAT: Meeting and playing with the cold WHEN: Monday morning WHERE: By the river WARNINGS: Nah STATUS: Closed/Completed Gdoc
Marina had met a lot of nice people here in Madison Valley. She couldn’t deny that. Sam had been warm and accepting, even though he’d never met her back home. Parrish had been nice, despite their opposite abilities. She and David had enjoyed trying to one-up each other with their abilities. All in all, everyone she’d met here was...nice. She couldn’t complain.
And yet, even in her comfortable bed in Sam’s apartment, she felt achingly alone. She always had, really. Maybe there’s been a time, before she and her cepan had found the Spanish convent and Adelina had abandoned her for the safety of religion. But since then, she’d always felt that the world was a horribly lonely place, and couldn’t help but wonder if she really had a place in it. After Eight’s death, that emptiness had only grown more intense.
It made perfect sense to her that her strongest legacy was control of ice and cold...because she felt her whole soul was frozen and empty.
She’d been laying in bed in Sam’s apartment for several hours, tossing and turning. Finally she recognized the futility of trying to sleep and got up, got dressed, and headed out into the night. Or early morning. Even though it was dark, her surroundings were clear as day to Marina - another of her Legacies that had come in useful more than once.
She made her way down to the river, taking off her shoes and sitting on the sandy bank, listening to the lapping of the water and the birds and insects that kept the night very much alive. It was no less lonely here, but she hadn’t really expected it to be.
To amuse herself, she froze the water in front of her, lifting a giant ball of ice with her telekinesis and spinning it like a globe. The street lamps sparkles off of it, and she actually smiled for a moment.
***
“Now that is fantastic!” His voice was small, and quiet, but full of cheer as Bobby stepped from the shadows. He had no meant to hide, really, but had been out walking, unable to sleep. He was used to a more active life, and recently, even back home, had been somewhat bored of his life.
Here, when things weren’t crazy, they were dull. And despite Kitty being here, he was lonely. His best friends were far away, in another world, and he felt a little like he had been cast adrift, unsure, unsteady, and unanchored. Malia helped, with her sexy lips and body, and the way she made him grin.
But even then, he felt it to his core.
So he walked, glumly, in the night.
Until he spotted Marina and her trick, and came out of the darkness. And because he had learned a little from his recent encounter with Ty, he concentrated, and let his power roll out, creating an identical ball of ice and cold, and built it a small spiral upwards so it could sit next to where hers bobbed in the air.
***
Marina hadn’t expected him there, and when his ball of ice joined hers it broke her concentration, causing the ball to loudly crash into the water. She jumped to her feet, turning to face whoever had come to join her with the reflexes of someone very used to fighting.
When she saw him, though, she relaxed slightly, realizing she’d overreacted.
“Sorry...guess spending all my life with people hunting me down made me a little jumpy,” she said. “What are you doing out here so late?”
She really hadn’t expected company.
***
He flailed backward, falling on his ass, then chuckling with a wince as he looked up at her.
“I’m very sorry for startling you. I didn’t mean to. I just have a habit of wandering at night. I don’t sleep much. My metabolism is different.” he waved toward what he had done, and it turned to mist, and vanished.
He slowly pressed himself up. “I’m Bobby Drake. Your friendly neighborhood Ice-man.”
***
“I’m Marina,” she said. She wasn’t being coy, not giving him a last name. She didn’t have one. Marina wasn’t even her real name. But when she gave her name as a number, it tended to lead to awkward and depressing conversations that she didn’t feel like having right now.
“I...obviously...do the ice thing too. It’s one of my Legacies.”
She rubbed her hands together as if they were cold, even though she wouldn’t have been able to feel it if they were.
***
“Hi, Marina. A pleasure meeting you.” He grinned at her. A pretty girl, with similar powers? What an odd, but cool, place! He focused, though and came up with one question.
“What’s a Legacy?” Was that like mutant powers? Or was she a rich kid? Or something?
***
“Um,” she said, trying to think how to explain. “In my world, I’m Loric Garde. That means that I was given gifts to use in defense of my world and my people.”
Not enough, obviously, of Lorien wouldn’t have been destroyed and almost all of her people wiped out.
“We don’t know what our powers are going to be until they manifest, and we have to train to use them properly.” Which Adelina had been next to useless about. “But yeah...the ice is my major power, I guess. At least, it manifested last.”
***
“Oh, cool!” Bobby grinned. “That sounds kind of awesome.” He listened on to her words.
“Is that how it works for you? The strongest power comes last?” he hmmmed.
“I’m a member of a subrace of humans called mutants. We’re all born with different genetic anomalies, rarely the same kind. I control moisture and temperature in the air. So far, i’m not good at much past ice, but I work on it. One of my friends has force blasts that come out of his eyes, another has wings and hollow bones, and so on.” It was a mutant thing.
“When my power manifested, I had no idea what was going on, but a teacher found me and helped me learn.”
***
“Yeah, the most powerful one usually comes last,” she said.
Listening to his story, she shook her head. “So you didn’t know you were a mutant until your powers manifested? That must have been terrifying. I knew to expect mine, and had been waiting for them all of my life, but it was still kind of scary when it actually happened. I can’t imagine what that must have been like for you.”
She turned back to the water, then over her shoulder at him.
“So, show me what you can do?”
***
Bobby nodded, remembering. “Yep. Froze the swimming pool I was in when I was 13. I was stuck there until a fireman hacked me out. I never got cold, and they were convinced I was somehow having a delayed reaction or something.”
He chuckled. “It’s funny now, but yeah, it was terrifying then. Professor Xavier, who ran a school for people like me, under the guise of a school for gifted children, found me and helped me.”
Bobby nodded, stepping up even with her and took a breath, and the next moment he was different, white, looking like the living ice he now was. His features changed, to an almost completely un-unique face, bald, and a body that was bare to the waist, where he wore white trunks, with an ’X’ on the belt.
He grinned and concentrated as he leaped forward, and as he did, an ice slide appeared under him, and he shot forward and into the sky, making an elaborate loop de loop structure that he skated on, then flipped back to the ground next to her, as the whole thing vanished back into the moisture of the air. He flicked his hands and swirling white spun up in front of her, creating a growing, almost living, rose bush that filled the space there.
Then he spun toward a wooden post and his hands flung forward and ice shards shot forward, impaling the wood, tearing it apart.
Then he let the white ice fade from himself, walking to the ground where someone has spilled some liquid, and a plant was flooded out. And he raised hand, and the liquid vanished, evaporating into the ambient liquid in the aid.
*** Marina watched, fascinated and impressed. She couldn’t do anything like that; at least that she was aware of. She had other abilities, but nothing like that.
Of course, maybe with proper training…
She couldn’t help but applaud him at the end, smiling.
“Wow, that’s really something. I wish i’d had a school to go to like you did.”
Back in Lorien, there had been a school for the Garde, but it had been destroyed with everything else.
***
“Maybe we can find enough people here, and make a school happen here, for those who never had it back home.” it was a thought that just bloomed in his mind. He wasn’t sure that he, Bobby, could do it, but… then, why not? He swallowed, eyes wide. Oh boy.
He shook his head, then and grinned at her. Blushing a little, he winked.
“In the meantime, care to catch a bite and talk more? I’m curious about your powers and how they work.”
***
Marina tilted her head a little. “Maybe?” It was a little like what Nine and the others were doing back home...teaching others to use their abilities. She hadn’t gotten involved with it because she’d been too broken by everything that had happened, but Madison Valley was a new start, and there was no reason they couldn’t start fresh in this place. There was no reason they couldn’t try something like that, because it was a good idea.
“Sure. I’m a little hungry,” she said. “I think Hinkles is open?”
Not many places were open this late (early?) in a small town like this, but Hinkles was. It was one of the draws of the place.
***
“Yeah, maybe is a good solid answer. Heck, I dunno if I can even teach. I think I can, but. You know… I have no idea.”
He laughed lightly, then nodded. He would try, though, he thought. He had now met two people who didn’t have a full grasp of their powers. And that spelled trouble, or so he felt.
He nodded again. “Yeah, Hinkles is open, forever. They have awesome burgers and fries.” He loved the food there. It was as midwestern American as you could get.
“Shall we?”
He waved down the way, and yes, he really did know how to get to Hinkles, most of the time. His stomach always told him.
***
Marina smiled carefully, almost as if she were afraid to do so. It had been a long time since she'd smiled back home there wasn't a lot to smile for. It had just been death and loss and tragedy for as long as Marina could remember. But it felt good to smile again, as tentative as the expression was.
“What kind of place are you thinking of?” She asked as they walked. “I mean the people here have a lot of different powers. They’ll have to be taught in different ways.”
*** Bobby smiled, for he had already been thinking about that.
“Maybe a combination classroom setup, for concentration and focus training? And a dojo or gymnasium area, with multiple rooms with different set ups, for both generic getting in shape, and for specific power training situations. Like a room with obstacles for those with physical abilities, and a room with puzzles or holographic equipped encounters for those with mental abilities, and various others.” he waved hands around, moving them as he described his ideas.
“It would have to be one that would continue to adapt as time went on and more varieties of powered people were found, as well as have a security force of already capable people, to make sure it was secure.”
Bobby was drawing on everything he knew of from the X-Mansion, the Champion Aerie, which he knew from personal experience, and from the little he knew of rumours of the Avengers mansion set up.
***
Marina nodded. It sounded like a good idea to her. She didn't want anyone else to end up like she had, untrained and unready when the time came. She still felt a little bitterness towards Adelina for betraying her like that.
“I have a healing legacy, too,” she said. “So if anyone gets hurt training, i’ll take care of that.”
It was a good idea all around, and for the first time in a long time, Marina was actually feeling excited about something.
***
“Yeah? Cool! Maybe you could touch bases with the people at the clinic? Supposedly, there are other healers there. The more we all learn, the better we all can respond to whatever we need to.” he glanced upward toward the invisible dome. Someday, he knew, with the heart of him, that whoever or whatever had created this thing would act, and on that day, he would be ready. And if he was careful, and lucky, he wouldn’t be alone.
He smiled to her. “How does the healing work?”
***
That was very, very hard to explain.
“Well, I put my hands on the injury and I can...feel what’s wrong? And then make everything go back the way it’s supposed to be just by thinking about it.”
It was useful, she supposed, even though it had failed her when she’d needed it most.
***
Bobby squinted. “That is intriguing. It sounds almost like you have a… well, a wellness sense. Like… you can see the pattern in things, and where it is broken, you fix the pattern.” Almost eight years of being trained by Professor X did teach him a few things.
“That sounds intense. Does it hurt? Or drain you?” He felt a little concern for her, really, on top of everything else.
***
“If doesn't hurt, no. Not at all. But too much of using any of my powers drains me after a while. The more I use them, though, the more I can build up my strength and endurance. If just takes practice, you know?”
She wrung her hands together, clearly upset over some memory.
“It is intense. Especially when I can’t save someone. I can feel everything falling apart in them and it’s too fast for me to keep up.”
That had happened to her twice, and they were the worst days of her life.
***
“Good. Oh? Hmmm. So, maybe healing a little at a time can build up your endurance? Definitely don’t want to have you heal someone, only to become a patient yourself as a result.” He waggled a finger at her, then sobered as she spoke, nodding.
“We can’t always save everyone. I… I lost someone, once. She was beyond our saving before we could get to her. And… that feeling you have… that must make it so much worse.” He pondered as he walked with her.
“Can you draw on other people’s energy to help your healing?”
***
She’d never forget that look of shock on Eight’s face, or the way he’d turned to her. He probably didn’t have time to think anything in that moment, but in Marina’s mind, he was constantly pleading with her to save him. And she couldn’t.
“Um, I don’t know,” she said. “I’ve never tried. I don’t have the Legacy transference ability, though. That’s Nine.”
He was annoying as hell, but he did have some cool Legacies.
***
Bobby saw, or thought he did, a bit of sorrow in her voice and look and gently patted her shoulder in an awkward kind of way.
“I dunno what that means, but maybe if it comes up, we can try it, make you less tired by healing?”
***
Marina shrugged.
“Sure, I’m willing to try anything. It can't hurt, right?”
She liked this idea. She liked having a purpose and a reason to keep going. She’d always had one before, but since the war had ended, she’d felt like she’d lost all of her roots and reasons to continue.
“I think this is a good idea.”
***
Bobby nodded. “It seems like it to me. Something to do for the community, for the people, here. Something to make it better.” Bobby had dreams, sometimes, of making things better. And he hoped he could loop in Kitty as well.
That might be fun. “It might even be fun. Teaching and learning, at the same time.”
He grinned wider.
***
Marina needed something to do to get her mind off of things. Being busy was something she needed right now and this seemed like kind of the perfect idea.
“It’s a good idea. And I could use the distraction.”
***
Bobby smiled. “Me too. I really want to do something here. It’s like being locked in a snow globe. At least with a purpose, there will be something to get up for.”
Well, more than sex with beautiful women. That was good too. Hinkles was ahead, and he grinned. “There we are.”