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Tweak says, "the enemy gate is down!"

Miguel (miguel_ohara) wrote in spinningcompass,
@ 2022-02-05 00:59:00

Entry tags:

miguel o'hara, ~arcturus black

Who: O'Hara and Black
What: Terrible Muggle Scientist kidnaps Innocent Young Wizard to steal his blood!!! or, y'know, not.
Where: Mall to start with
When: Feb 4th, afternoon
Status: Ongoing

Miguel was looking out of the observation window that dominated one wall of the mall nearest to the food court. The mall itself was about 10 storeys tall, and the window was about 15 meters wide and eight storeys tall. Walkways crossed the window, but never came into contact with it, always staying at least two meters away from the window. There were parts of the walkways that were wider than others, with various types of seats for various types of beings, presumably, in the wider parts, so that people could sit there and enjoy the views of the starscape beyond or sometimes the planet below them, depending on how the station was aligned at that time.

Miguel was not sitting in one of the various types of seat, however. He wasn't even on one of the walkways. He was upside down, hanging from a webline that was firmly anchored to the ceiling three storeys above him. The swirls of the gas giant below the station and the brief flickers of the station's shields as various little things like clumps of space dust or tiny meteors impacted with them were interesting, sure, but Miguel was more than content just watching the stars while he sorted through his new memories (Black's apartment/house on a hill combo was a highlight, and something vague about singing, which seemed horrific, and the discussion with his other self was interesting) and continued to check his phone for replies to his post on the network. Sarah's contact lenses were tiny works of genius, naturally, as they kept his eyes protected from bright lights, but didn't impede any of his enhanced vision. So while he knew the stars looked amazing with normal human eyesight to start with (he'd had normal eyesight for a brief while when he'd swapped powers with Sarah, and of course, Tommy took endless pictures), he was seeing them with his eyes, and he saw into the infrared spectrum. And that meant that the stars looked extra-amazing (and that Tommy was kind of jealous of him? Which was weird, if he let himself think about it).

He hadn't intended to go swinging round the Mall, so he wasn't wearing his mask as he clung to the webline with one hand and both his feet. Spidersuit, yes, under an actual hoodie and decent jeans, but that was because it kept him warmer in the snow. But he figured, enough people knew he was spidery by now, so why bother? He wasn't actively trying to have a secret identity any more, after all.

So he hung there, upside down on a line of spidersilk, with his crystal pendant hanging beside his ear, his phone either in his hand or his hoodie pocket, and the hood of his hoodie covering his hair while he watched the stars.

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arcturusfirst
2022-02-06 06:47 pm UTC (link)

'I shouldn't have to,' the young wizard echoed, 'but I shouldn't be here at all. Nobody would dare threaten me like that at home, because they would know what my father would do to them.' A touch of petulance? Maybe. But Arcturus was doing his best not to let himself get upset, because he was talking to someone older who would no doubt think badly of him if he did. 'Which is to say,' he continued, steadily, 'that it is an altogether horrid situation and I am...doing the best I can with it, to protect Sirius without resorting to drastic measures like confining ourselves indoors.'

He sighed, looking for a moment sad and weary. 'I can't ask you to do anything,' he told Miguel, 'because it isn't fair on you, and because it would be my fault if you got hurt, and because even if you did wonderfully and she begged me for forgiveness, I couldn't trust it. You can't trust terribly irrational people. I don't know how many more like her there are because we keep to ourselves and avoid the people we don't know. I know that muggles back home hurt magical children. Sometimes it was because they didn't know any better, but she wasn't like that, she was malicious.'

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miguel_ohara
2022-02-06 11:37 pm UTC (link)

"You're not asking, I'm offering. There's a difference. I think I know who you were talking to, and it's very hard to hurt me so don't worry about that," Miguel replied, folding his arms as he spoke. "Look. You're here until you're sent home, both you and Sirius, whenever that is. I've been here almost four years now, and if you're here even half of that time, that's two years of constant charms and checking and keeping to yourself and that's not good for anyone."

"You don't need to trust anyone you don't want to, but equally, you shouldn't be punishing yourself because of what someone else has said. There are so many things to see and do and learn here, for both you and Sirius, you know?" He frowned after that, and reached up to scratch at his cheek for a moment.

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arcturusfirst
2022-02-07 12:06 pm UTC (link)

Arcturus tried very hard not to think about the possibility of being stuck there for years. It was already close to a year since he had seen his family. He missed them. He even missed Regulus and the others who had looked after him when he'd been in that other realm, Terra. It was childish to be homesick, he told himself. There were diplomats who travelled to the far corners of the world and didn't see home for years and didn't make a fuss. He stood silently for a moment, afraid that any objection he tried to make to Miguel's suggestion would become embarrassingly emotional.

No. He had to explain in a different way. The young wizard blinked a few times, and then shook his head. 'It's not...I'm not punishing myself. If I went to look at those plants you mentioned, in the place with the bad air, it wouldn't be a punishment to protect myself and make sure I could breathe. The charms and checks aren't much of a bother – or at least, they're not nearly as unpleasant as flying about openly and having to constantly watch in case we're attacked. This way, Siri and I can go where we want, and see what we want to, without being in danger, and if there are decent people we want to spend time with, we take the charms off for that, without the risk that someone might have been watching and followed us to their door.'

'If you know this woman...do you know how many others there are who think like her? I don't even know if it's just the magic that angers her, or my century, or…' he trailed off, not knowing whether it really mattered. 'I know how to defend myself, but it's wrong to curse women. I don't want to have to do it, and I don't want Sirius to have to see it, and if there are a group of them it isn't straightforward.' Arcturus straightened then, looking Miguel in the eye. 'Do you really mean it? You're offering to take care of the problem?' The intensity in his words suggested that Arcturus wasn't envisioning Miguel sitting down for a chat with his would-be attacker. 'That would be...a very great kindness. I would be in your debt. I know that my father would appreciate it very much, if he were here to know about it.'

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miguel_ohara
2022-02-08 07:39 pm UTC (link)

Miguel let Arcturus talk again, waiting until he'd finished and was saying about how his father would appreciate it. He didn't say anything about that, because in Miguel's experience, fathers were complete bit-heads who could shock off, but he was aware that not everyone had had George O'Hara for a dad.

"If I was back home, and people found out what... what I am, what I can do, I would be... I don't know. Torn apart and put back together again, probably, or it would feel like that, and I would never be free again afterwards," he admitted, not mentioning that it would be done by his own genetics team, digging down into his bones and muscles and veins and cells to see exactly what he'd managed to do and flaying open his brain to find out how he'd done it, so that it could be replicated again and again. He paused for a moment, looking down at his hand as his talons flicked between standing proud and laying flat against his fingertips, over and over. "After I got here, it took me a long time to actually admit what I am to anyone. Sarah worked it out long before that, of course, and she told me that people like us are normal for here. It still took a while for that to sink in, and Sarah kept my secret the whole time, but eventually it did and now, nobody cares if I'm walking on the ceiling while I teach or hanging from the lights in the food court while I have my lunch. It's me, it's what I do. And you fly on a broom and invent your own cleaning spells and teach Sirius and you can do all that without hiding it from people. Because it's you, and it's what you do."

He shrugged after that, his hands out wide. "So I'll talk to this person and see what I can do. And nobody else would give a shock if you spent all day sitting on your broomstick floating around the place... unless you banged into them and spilled coffee or something like that, but you know what I mean. Nobody cares, in the best possible way."

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arcturusfirst
2022-02-11 11:20 am UTC (link)

As Arcturus listened, his expression softened, and he felt a growing sense of guilt as he came to understand what Miguel was telling him. He had made a lot of terribly wrong assumptions about him, and while that couldn't be undone, he could try to make up for it now.

'You must think it was absolutely rotten of me,' he said quietly, 'calling you a muggle and accusing you at putting magical people at risk through their blood. Please accept my apology. You understand the need for secrecy perfectly.' His face flushed a little, and he carried on, speaking increasingly rapidly before Miguel could get a word in. 'I didn't grow up with that sort of fear,' he explained. 'In my society, everyone was magical. It was perfectly normal, and those who excelled at it were valued and celebrated. We knew that on the outside, there were dangerous people who would hurt us for it, but I was never made to feel bad for who I am. But here...the safety of home is gone, and having that woman threaten me rather proved that the danger is real, not just some cautionary tale to prevent children from wandering off. I did begin to wonder about that, when I met Miss Astrid and other muggles who seemed perfectly pleasant. I suppose the fact that some are good doesn't mean that they all are.'

He reached up and ran a hand through his hair, absently. 'I do believe you,' he said, 'up to a point. Most people don't seem to care a bit. It's the few who do that I have to worry about, because of the damage it might cause. Do you think, though, that if someone did attack me, and I used magic to defend myself, that people here would understand, and not blame me for it?'

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miguel_ohara
2022-02-13 10:02 pm UTC (link)

Arcturus wouldn't let him speak until he was done, so Miguel simply waited until the wizard was finished. He waited a couple of seconds more in case there was more to be said, but there wasn't.

"Okay, first thing," he began. "You don't need to apologize for thinking I was a muggle. It's not like I introduce myself as 'Dr. O'Hara, spider-man' or anything like that, so you were correct earlier. You didn't know. Secondly, you're right again. There are good and bad muggles, just like I'm sure there are good and bad spider-people," and he pointed at himself with a smirk as he spoke, before going on to point at Arcturus as he continued, "and good and bad wizards. It's the nature of people. Thirdly, this one person that I'm going to talk to aside, you won't be attacked by anyone who lives here unless something weird is going on, and if that's the case, defending yourself is fine. By 'something weird', I mean, someone is literally not their usual self or the station is messing with them. Normally, the station keeps it to things like changing ages or becoming a girl when you're usually a guy, things like that. But every so often, weird things do happen."

"I know this takes time to get used to. It took months for me. So, I'm not going to keep pushing it at you, because I'll just wind up annoying both of us. But keep it in mind, for when you're on the station at least," he said, and then pushed his hair back from his face. Being upside-down for any length of time always messed it up for a while.

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arcturusfirst
2022-02-14 08:34 pm UTC (link)

Arcturus didn't think Miguel understood just how insulting it was to call someone a muggle when they weren't one, but he thought it prudent not to enlighten him. He'd apologised, he'd been forgiven, no need to mention it ever again.

He was right, of course, that there were good and bad people of all sorts. A year ago Arcturus might have disagreed, but after what he'd suffered at the hands of the Death Eaters, he'd no longer argue that pureblood wizards were different, that they all had a sense of honour. He wasn't a coward, and despite the horrified reaction of the modern people to the idea, he didn't think that anyone should make a great fuss over a professor at school doling out a stinging hex or two. That was ordinary. But using torture curses wasn't. Using curses that left scars wasn't. Doing that to someone his age was just as bad as any muggle violence. What Miguel failed to see was the scale of it. Even the Death Eaters didn't want to kill all muggles, the way muggles had tried to wipe out the magical population. There were simply more bad muggles, that was the truth.

It was a kind lie, though. Arcturus suspected that if he hadn't had direct evidence of a muggle wanting to harm him, Miguel would have said that nobody at all would attack him. If he'd had two examples, he'd have heard that there were only those two, and no more. He didn't blame him. That was what you did, you reassured children. Arcturus wasn't about to relax just yet, but there was no sense in arguing about it either.

Instead, he gave Miguel a small smile. 'I'll remember,' he said. 'It does help to know that if I have to, I can defend myself. I don't think it matters why someone is attacking me, if they are. I just have to stop them.' He spoke simply, kept his voice light, but there was steel behind the words. He'd learnt from his childish hesitations. Wizards no longer had his automatic trust, and dangerous muggles? Arcturus' notions of defending himself from them were likely far more swift and brutal than Miguel envisioned.

'You said something about the station. Do you think the station does things – do you believe it's sentient?' Arcturus thought this was an absurdity, but he was more interested in learning what Miguel believed than sharing his own views. 'Or do you mean to say, truly, that it is the wild magic on the station that causes things to happen? There is far more ambient background magic than there ought to be.'

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miguel_ohara
2022-02-14 10:28 pm UTC (link)

Miguel hoped that what he'd said had been helpful. That it might let Arcturus know that he didn't have to keep him and Sirius apart from the rest of the kids on the station, and that one day soon, he wouldn't feel the need to do sweeps of the stores to make sure he was safe.

Then he asked about the station. Miguel frowned in thought as he went through his memories and his own thoughts before replying. "There's something here that's sentient. I don't know if the station itself is what's sentient, or if it's something that was brought here from the island... Has anyone explained the history of this place to you yet? It's relevant."

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arcturusfirst
2022-02-15 09:24 pm UTC (link)

Arcturus blinked. Of all the answers he thought he'd get, the prospect of a history lesson hadn't been at all high on the list. 'I know that we're near another planet, very far from home,' he offered, 'and that this station was built long ago. At first I thought it was all muggle, but it can't be, there are signs of magic all over the place, and the background magic like I said.' He didn't know if Miguel was sensitive to it, the concentrations of magic that built up in areas where many magical people lived. It was usually more notable by its absence – and here it had been a comfort to the newly-arrived Arcturus, and stopped him trembling in terror at the thought of having nothing but muggle craftsmanship between him and the void.

'Whoever they were,' he continued, 'who lived here first, they're gone now, and left all this behind, and now there's only us and nobody knows why.' He couldn't help a plaintive note at the end of the little explanation.

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miguel_ohara
2022-02-15 11:09 pm UTC (link)

Miguel nodded as Arcturus summarized the station history. "Pretty much. I know a bit about the magic that's here, how there are ley lines and all sorts. There's also the history of the people. I've only ever lived here, but before everyone was brought to the station, they used to live on an island on some unknown planet, and there was the Girl, who's brought everyone to the island or station, and the Man, who... he, uh, he was responsible for the nastier things that happened." Miguel had paused as he was speaking, when a chill went down his spine and his arms felt like they were covered in goose-bumps. He'd last felt like that when he was... well, away, while his other self pretended to be him. He rubbed at his upper arms as he filed that away and continued with the history class.

"The Girl is nice enough, she likes everyone and if you ask her for things, sometimes she'll provide them. Not the way home, though. The Man, though..." He paused again, to try and remember some of the things he'd been told about, but all he could really remember was being away. Under water, stuck behind a mirror and muffled and... he blinked. "Sarah would know better. She was there, she grew up there. But everyone fought against him, they killed him and then they wound up here. So, I don't know if the people who arrived here brought something with them when they showed up with all their belongings, or if the station itself was already like this, or perhaps it's a mix of both."

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