Who: Peter Maximoff maximoffp & Sirius Black brightstarblack What: Meeting a real wizard. When: Monday, May 11, midday Where: Picnic area in Loveless Park Rating: Audience Discretion is Advised Warnings: Chatty mutant, bitchy wizard, spoilers for all kinds of stuff, and no, Peter has no respect. Sucks, I know. Try to love him anyway. Status: Closed/Completed GDoc
~*~
Test City was larger than Peter's home in some respects. He had a lot more ground to cover which was wholly new to him; that was always a positive in his book. New was better than old. Obviously. Who wanted something old when they could get the newer version since it wasn't like they were going to make a new version which was worse than the old one, right? Right.
He checked all the apartments first which was easier than he thought it would be. There was nothing to keep him from simply going up every outside wall, over the balconies, looking through the sliding glass doors, and then on to the next one. No one was wizarding anything in any of the three complexes though he found that Charles Xavier guy who'd been all about the whole "Gifted Youngsters" thing. He was in a wheelchair. Weird. He hadn't been when Peter had last seen him and that'd only been a few days.
It took a few seconds to hit up the shopping centers and mall. No one had to tell him the dude on the rolling thing was a total drag. That guy? Just screamed 'I'm a cop here to ruin all your fun.' Peter literally ran around him twice to make sure he was certain he could avoid him in the future. It wouldn't be hard. He was fast enough to avoid anyone if he wanted to which he usually did since people were stupid. They never got anything. They were always so slow. He wished his mom had come along. She'd like the people here. They were different.
Peter hit up the park as he was heading through and finally found the wizard sitting at a picnic bench. He was sure it was him because he read his device over his shoulder. The guy was pecking out a reply it looked like and he was glad he'd decided to come find him. There was no way he could have handled waiting on another response that slow. What was he supposed to be? A saint? Hardly. They might not be able to prove he was interesting, but he was definitely more interesting than some do-gooder saint.
Taking a seat opposite him at the table, Peter said, "So hi! I got tired of waiting on a reply so I figured this would be faster. Took a few. Sorry about the delay. You weren't waiting, were you? Looking like you were replying to someone. Wasn't sure if it was me. Might not have been me. I'm not the only one here. There's a ton of people on this network. A lot of people are just hanging out tapping away at it. I have no idea how they haven't fallen asleep trying it yet either. So. Slow. Would you show me your magic wand? I think that'd be cool. I've never seen one. I promise I won't touch it. I mean, I can't, right? I'll get cursed or something? I figure that's how it works. Otherwise people would just like steal other wizards' wands so they couldn't do magic. No contest winning."
He thought it was a sensible deduction. If he had to get into a magic fight with someone or steal their wand so they couldn't fight back? Peter couldn't help it if things liked him. They just sorta found their way into his pockets. It wasn't stealing. It was only a matter of finding things faster than other people. He couldn't help having a magnetic personality. His mother always laughed at that one. Said his dad had that. Metal powers. He'd met a guy with metal powers. He'd been cool. Not as cool as he'd hoped his dad would be, but definitely cool. The wizard looked pretty cool. He definitely had the look of someone interesting, not wearing the same old tired stuff as everyone around town.
Peter hoped he was cool. It'd suck if he turned out to be boring.
~*~
Coming to find him? Sirius read the message with furrowed brows, a frown turning down the corners of his lips. Surely the guy wasn’t that quick. He was, in fact, tapping out a reply to said bloke when he smelled something different around him. The park had become his home away from home. He was bloody thankful for an apartment, but he enjoyed coming down to the park to run in the fresh air and bask in the sun without being interrupted.
This smell was different from anything he’d smelled around the park before, and he didn’t know who or what it belonged to. At least it wasn’t one of those sodding creatures, their stench had been all over the place when he’d made it out of his apartment finally.
Sirius’s fingers stilled, his confused expression deepening although it turned into a look of surprise at the sudden rush of words that came across from him. Startled, Sirius let out a bark-like laugh, “Bloody hell, mate. You scared the shite out of me.” He shook his head, chuckling softly before turning off his device and placing it on top of the picnic table.
It took his brain a second to catch up with what Peter had said, and he shifted to pull his wand out of his back pocket. “Not exactly. Wizards can win other wizards wands in duals, that’s the only real way to ensure that a wand will work properly for you, and wands can be broken and replaced by new ones. Besides, you’d have to know spells to make it work in the first place. Some wizards can even do wandless magic, but it takes someone powerful and a lot of discipline.” Sirius could do wandless magic, not a lot but it was enough.
James had always said his mind was distracted by the skirts, when that wasn’t the reality of the situation. Sirius didn’t like to think on it, or talk about it. There were some things that went better left unsaid, and well, he had left a lot unsaid before he came here.
“And no worries about being late. I honestly didn’t know what to think about you coming to find me.” He lifted a shoulder, “I’m Sirius Black by the by. I don’t remember if I introduced myself or not over the network. These last couple of weeks have left my brain a bit addled.” That was a definite understatement. He’d curled up in his bathtub for several days feeling the sodding effect of the Marker in town.
At least he’d had enough sense to lock himself away.
“So how are you so quick?” He knew it wasn’t any sort of charm, or special magical item if the Muggle knew nothing about the Wizarding World.
~*~
A real magic wand being brandished in front of him was enough to short circuit Peter's brain. He stopped talking long enough to wave his hand over the wood to get a feel for its molecules. Things had a feeling to them. They vibrated differently depending on how they were made or what they were made of or how he was touching them. It was how he knew he could or could not risk taking something. Peter had gotten very, very good at determining the kinds of things he could take versus the ones which wouldn't survive the trip.
He pulled his hand back to drum his fingers on the tabletop. It made it vibrate slightly though he didn't pay any attention to that. The wood could handle the vibration. There was enough moisture in it to keep it together. Good thing, too, since he'd once started a forest fire tapping his foot. Total accident. Really. He hadn't meant to hurt anything. Nature was great. Peter wasn't against nature. It was one of those things which made him feel as if it were against him.
"I've got a genetic mutation. The X Factor. Gene. Something. I don't know. It's a lot of science and I hated science. I pass everything really high because I usually just look at the answers if I don't know them. It's cheating, I get that, but who really cares? I graduated. Not like it matters. They missed me for the draft at home because I was too young and then I was a graduate and then I was supposed to be going to school but really I just didn't want to go to war since I've got zero interest in killing people. Your wand is cool. I couldn't steal it even if it wouldn't curse me. Vibration. I can tell."
Peter couldn't remember the man telling him his name. He liked it thought. Sirius. It was a star. He'd read about it in a book. Sometimes books stuck with him, usually they didn't. Reading gave him a headache almost all the time. He had perfect vision. It was the holding still part which worked against him. He'd tried to read while moving before. That always wound up breaking the book. Peter had tried a lot of different ways to read without ever managing to do it without feeling gross after.
Still drumming his fingers, he stated, "I'm Peter Maximoff. Just Peter is fine. They gave me a codename when I broke this guy out of the Pentagon. Quicksilver. Rad, huh? I like it. I don't mind being different though I bother most people. If I bother you? Tell me to get away. I can handle it. I know I'm a freak. I'm used to self-entertaining. My family is probably celebrating me not being around at home. All I ever do is bring the cops over. Do you have people missing you at home, Sirius? I like your name, by the way. It's great. A star. I was thinking about how I read it in a book. I don't read a lot. It gives me a headache. I remember stuff about stars though. Sorry for talking so much. It's a thing. I can control it. Sometimes."
Most of the time he didn't talk at all. No one wanted to listen to him. Peter definitely didn't want to announce his presence when he was alleviating someone of their things which liked him better. Getting the cops to go away was even more of a headache than reading. His mom never ever believed he hadn't totally stolen things either. She didn't understand things could like him. She made a lot of jokes about how she wished she'd not been attracted to the metal man so she wouldn't have to deal with him. Peter was only sorry he bothered people so much. He didn't want to be normal. He did wish he had someone who wanted him around.
~*~
Watching Peter was curious for Sirius. He’d met a handful of people that had issues sitting still, but nothing like this. Sirius wondered if the bloke was going to vibrate out of his skin while they sat there talking. He seemed to have enough composure to not do that, but it still made him wonder all the same.
“That is pretty rad. My mates called me Padfoot.” Sirius didn’t see any harm in letting him know that, it wasn’t as if he kept his shape shifting a secret. Hell, he’d said as much on the network not too long ago. The dog catcher had apparently caught wind of him, and hadn’t chased him since. It was sad, really, he’d had fun giving him the run around.
Gray eyes went down to the table in front of him, studying the grain pattern of the wood underneath the paint of the picnic table. He was gone for months at a time, only sending owls when he thought it was safe and even then they went through a few of the other Order members before they reached James and Lily. He doubted Peter or Remus missed him, but he thought maybe, just maybe James might. “I’ve friends back home. Don’t know if they’re missing me or not. I’ve been moving around a lot due to the war back home, didn’t have much time to write letters, or drop by for visits.” Or really he couldn’t risk someone detecting him on his way to visit them and now he’d no idea where they were at truth be told. “I’ve a friend named Peter back home. Not as quick though, and to be quite honest he’s an idiot.” Slow might’ve been a better word, or at least the one he’d use around Peter as to not offend him.
“It’s family tradition to name your children after stars or constellations.” He was one of three Sirius’s in their family, and the only one to be blasted off the family tapestry.
He shook his head, “You’re not bothering me, mate. You’re alright in my book, sorry it takes me a bit to catch on to what you’re saying. My thought process is quick, but not that quick.” No one could say that Sirius Black was an idiot.
Okay, plenty of people might say it, but that didn’t mean it was true.
He’d graduated with high marks, thanks so much, without even trying all that hard. He couldn’t help that he was known more as being a prankster than an academic like Remus.
Leaning forward Sirius, eyed Peter for a few moments. “So you broke into the Pentagon to get some guy out? I didn’t even know they kept people in the Pentagon. Not that I claim to know much about American Muggle buildings or anything, I just thought it was a normal government building where they planned wars.” He shook his head, and then cocked his head to the side much like a dog, “Is this mutant gene normal where you’re from?”
~*~
Stillness and Peter were antithetical. He could be still. It was hard, but he was capable of it. When he went totally still, his expression tended to become more sullen, irritable. He didn't like having to force himself into someone else's idea of 'normal.' He did it when Sirius asked if he was 'normal.' The word 'normal' rubbed him the wrong way. Peter's mother had a tendency to throw it around as if she were accusing him of something. No one had asked him if he wanted to be born different. She had made her choice to sleep with the guy with the metal powers. Peter was the result. He got blamed for it, but he knew it wasn't his fault.
"No."
Normal wasn't something Peter could be. He could have chosen to be a good kid. His mother had a lot of headaches from the cops which he knew he was responsible for, but he never got caught. No one had ever even come close to catching him. It wasn't as if she cared what he was doing. All his mother cared about was whether or not what he was doing would mess with her current boyfriend or her life. She wanted him to stay with Wanda. She wanted him to take care of things around the house. She wanted him to get good grades so she didn't have to go out to the school to listen to the teachers.
Everything she wanted was for herself. It wasn't about how it would be for him to fit under the word 'normal.'
Peter didn't want to be normal. He liked his life. He liked what he could do.
"Most people? They're ordinary. I only met people like me recently. The guy I broke out of the Pentagon? He was like my dad. Could control metal. They had him under the place in a special cell because of his abilities. Normal prisoners aren't kept in the Pentagon. Normal people don't usually kill The President though, do they? He was an alright guy. I was glad I got him out. I hope he wasn't my dad though because I kinda want my dad to be more cool."
He shrugged his shoulders, the movement slow, stiff.
Moving at everyone else's pace was uncomfortable.
"Are you like everyone else? Just some wizard with a nickname?"
Sirius hadn't seemed ordinary. Peter hoped he wasn't. There was something---comforting in meeting another outsider. Peter was tired of being the only one on the outside looking in. He wanted someone to stand with him for a while. It would be worth standing still if he could do it with someone who didn't hate him. Someone who understood? He thought that might be asking for too much, but he didn't ask for anything really. Why not ask for too much if he was going to ask at all?
~*~
Dark brows rose at the look that came over Peter’s face. He’d meant no offense, though it appeared the damage had been done. Merlin, it’d be nice if he could have a decent conversation with someone without offending them around here. Maybe it was just his lot in life. Sirius knew he wasn’t that easy to get on with, hell, his own sodding friends had said as much.
James had been one of the few people that tolerated him well, and Sirius had thought he’d mucked up their friendship after the whole incident with Snape. Which, for the record, he still didn’t regret, he’d just hated the fact that James had refused to speak more than a few words to him for months after the fact.
Looking down at his hands, Sirius listened to Peter as he talked. It was enough to see the change come over him, moreso to hear it in his words. “The nickname was given to me as a result of my Animagus form. I can shift into a large black dog. We did it to help our friend Remus during his transformation. He’s a werewolf.” Sirius reached over to pick up his wand, and then looked back over at Peter. “So no, I’m not like anyone else really. It takes a lot of discipline to do that most don’t possess, and there aren’t many of us that have the patience to do it.” All of their training had been done in secret as to protect Remus.
“I meant no offense earlier.” He spoke softly and shifted to pocket his wand once again, then offered Peter an apologetic smile. “It seems like I can’t go a day without offending someone here somehow.” He let out a chuckle and reached up to scratch at his jaw.
~*~
"It's not your fault I'm a freak. I don't fit. Anywhere. Not home. Not here. I don't fit. It's hard to remember it when I really just want to forget how I'm a freak and pretend people don't notice."
Animagus sounded amazing. Peter tried to imagine how it'd feel to turn into an animal. He'd want to be a cheetah. They were the fastest land animal. It would be fun to race on four legs. His mother had never allowed them to have a pet. Originally, it'd been because she was always looking for 'the guy.' She'd believed some man was going to come around, fall in love with her, and take her with her kids to live in some mansion. It'd been a stupid dream, but she hadn't ever listened to Peter when he'd tried to talk to her about it.
People never wanted to believe their dreams wouldn't come true.
He supposed that was the whole point of dreams.
Casting a curious glance at Sirius, Peter asked, "Do you care if you offend people? I don't. I just talk. I like the way I think even if I don't think the way other people think. I don't want to care I'm a freak so I just don't. It's only when people want to pick at me about it and I can't do anything I get pissed off."
Peter had gotten into big trouble over picking back at some bullies at school. He could hurt someone. Badly. His mother had told him how she'd feel if he'd really really hurt someone's child. All he could hear was how she didn't care if they'd hurt him. It evidently hadn't mattered to her he was her child. Being a freak was enough to make him not her son or something. He didn't know. He didn't care. He hadn't hurt anyone ever after that. No one deserved to feel how he'd felt in case their parents said something stupid to them the way his had.
"I always wanted a dog."
The pronouncement was made with a wicked grin and Peter's mood had shifted as quickly as he ran. He figured if Sirius wanted to apologize to him about it? Why should he be upset? It wasn't the wizard's fault. No one was to blame for his condition except his mother for sleeping with the guy who'd been his dad. If she had been more careful, Peter wouldn't be around. Everyone except Wanda maybe would be better off if Peter hadn't been around, but what would that guy have done at The Pentagon?
He had his uses.
"Not that I'm saying you're a dog, but hey, being able to be a dog? Better than being fast. Better than being a wizard even. I'd be a cheetah I think if I could change shape. Don't think I could ever learn it even if I were magic though. Patience and I? Not the best of friends. In case you didn't notice. Did you notice?"
~*~
“For what it’s worth? I don’t believe you’re a freak.” Sirius replied with a small shrug of one shoulder before he stretched his arms over his head, back popping in the process. He’d spent too much time on hard surfaces the last few weeks, hell months for that matter, that getting used to sleeping in a normal bed again had been strange.
Not that he’d slept in his bed during the whole Necromorph attack.
That shite had been ridiculous.
Lowering his arms, Sirius rolled his shoulders, “There are times that I do worry. Here? It’s harder because I’ve got no one and everyone I’ve met? I feel like I’ve offended in some way. I’m not the easiest bloke in the world to get on with.” He let out a soft huff, a sound much like a dog would make right before they bark before reaching up to comb his fingers through his hair.
He wasn’t sure how much longer he’d be able to tolerate Test City without drinking himself into a stupor and staying locked away in his apartment. Sirius kept feeling the walls closing in, taking him back to a dark place that he found himself in only when it was late at night and nothing was going right.
That had happened one too many times to him, and he didn’t like going to that place. He was glad to see the shift in Peter, it made him feel loads better to know that maybe he really hadn’t offended him. Sirius would like at least one person here that he could talk with without feeling like a total ass.
“Technically I am, and it’s alright. My best mate told me, on more than one occasion I might add, that I should make the change permanent since I have a sweeter disposition as a dog. Who knows? I might do it here if I feel like I don’t fit either. I’m sure someone would adopt me.” Chuckling Sirius gave a small nod, “I did notice. A cheetah would be pretty brilliant, and you’d be amazed what you could learn if you put enough effort into it. I’m sure you could do it.”
Sirius didn’t believe that everyone could do everything that they put their mind to. Some people were naturally more inclined one way or another, and it just so happened that he was naturally talented. Not as talented as James, but that was neither here nor there.
Pushing himself up from the picnic table, Sirius moved to stand on the otherside. “It is okay for you to touch me, no belly rubs though, and if you want me to fetch? Don’t do the whole not throwing the stick or ball trick. I’ll bite your leg for that.” It took only a moment before the transformation from man to dog was complete. Sirius shook himself, adjusting to being Padfoot again. He barked at Peter, doing a play bow, tail wagging before he barked once again.
~*~
"I don't stay anything for long. Mad. Happy. Anything. I get bored too easy. My head moves as fast as the rest of me."
Peter snickered at the thought of his head flying ahead of his body. He wished his sister was around so he could tell her the joke. Wanda liked anything he said about his weirdness. She didn't get scared when he ran. Wanda was a baby still though so it was all fun for her. When she wanted to play faerie, Peter would have her put her wings on and pick her up to run with her so they flew together. She was the only person he'd ever run with who didn't get motion sick or complain about whiplash.
He hadn't realized whiplash was a real thing until he'd done it to a guard on accident. All Peter had wanted to do was move him out of the way. It hadn't been his intention to hurt the guy. No one ever believed him when he said that. They all thought he was a jerk because things liked to come with him or he liked to borrow with no intention of returning in the near future. It wasn't so much stealing as it was unlimited borrowing. Peter realized he did it to compensate for something -probably the fact his mother didn't love him enough- but he didn't care enough to change.
Sirius was amazing.
"You are likely the one person here I won't ever get bored around," he admitted as he watched the wizard become a dog right in front of him, "I promise I won't tease you. I'm not a tease. I'm not anything like a tease. I don't know how to be."
Social skills weren't something he had in plethora.
He did have skills of other sorts which he used to fly forward to land on his knees in front of the big black dog, grinning almost manically as he bumped its nose with his forehead. Sirius was a really big dog whatever kind he was supposed to be. Peter had a feeling whoever wound up adopting him would think he was something other than a dog. He might be some kind of mixed breed or something or was it he was bigger because he was really a guy? He was a tall guy. It could be that.
"You know, to bite me? You'd have to catch me first. Hey, wanna play tag? I'll give you two minutes between moves. You're a big guy. Surely you can catch up to little old me in two minutes. Tag!"
Peter lightly tapped the top of the dog's head before running to the next picnic table over, sitting down and whistling as he waited on the game to begin.
This was going to be the most fun he'd had since getting to Test City. Wizards who could turn into dogs? Definitely not boring.