expiationlogs | everyone's having a good time

[ rogue reciprocates the frown to scott, deep down, knowing he wouldn't want to shield away until all of this was over. the mutant doesn't think differently of him doing so, after all, in her conversation with morph, she stood up for the two boys and reassured they could hold their own when morph suggested they should stay put.

but her mind changed as the day went on, and seeing how everyone was viciously attacking others, she didn't feel as confident. is it wrong for her to be hesitated of the boys' abilities? maybe. it's not like she has seen their fighting skills in full volume yet, so who knows if they're still learning or got the handle of things. this is why leading is so not her specialty, but out of the three of them, she has the most experience. ]

Alright. [ she says, giving in. ] We'll go with ya then. Your friends are our friends.

[ the healing of the infected is a surprising thing to know though, and she will patiently wait for him to explain since her brother asked those questions for her. ... and she'll need to remind herself to ask kurt about his well-being after the explaination. ]

Edited 2024-07-26 03:55 (UTC)

[Scott's a little surprised when Rogue gives in, halfway expecting her to either tell him to hide still or just let him do what he wants without assistance. Instead, she's offering her help. The young mutant bites his lip, he knows he's probably been judging her too harshly, but it's not so easy for him to forget what she said. But as Morph mentioned, just abandoning her isn't the right thing to do-- he doesn't want that either. She doesn't deserve that.

And he can probably trust her to really protect his friends, right? ...He thinks so. Unless all of this is her plan to kill them because she's infected as well. A shitty thought, but it's hard trusting his friends right now.]

...Okay. Thanks.

[He says to her, both appreciative and a little uncertain due to the nature of their circumstances. But to answer Kurt...]

Yeah. When all this started, I just... sort of knew that I could. Like having an innate ability. [So, does that mean Kurt's not a doctor at all??]

Sounds almost like finding out you're a mutant all over again. [He muses with a light smile. Still, Rogue's words weigh on him. She urged them to confess if they were sick. Scott's right here, and apparently he could heal him. But inwardly, he feels fear. If they 'cure' him, how will he be able to 'save' them from the pain of their lives? He can't let them know...]

So if none of us is feeling under the weather, what then? Should we patrol around, try to find people to help? [That could provide more opportunities he can take advantage of...] It does sound like a very X-Men thing to do!

[ she notices the hint of obscurity from scott, but lets it slide as he elaborates his newest ability. her eyebrow raises then over to kurt when he spoke next, then gives him an earnest nod to his suggestion. ]

Yeah, that is what an X-Man does.

[ her emeralds fixate on her brother, still keeping note in her mind that he has yet to say anything about whether he is squared away or ill. her suspicion about scott diminished somewhat since he announced he could heal others, but not entirely in the clear.

he could just be saying so, just to say so, but it makes kurt far more skeptical in comparison. her gaze drifts off to the other boy, appearing to look cool and collected to throw off the trial of her hunch of her younger brother. ]

The older you would come up with code words and phrases that'll help us out in missions.

[ the mutant rolls her attention back to kurt, smiling sincerely his way. ]

And we already came up with ours. [ ... she false chuckles. ] And sweet day, my mind's been so tore up today that I slammed forgot. What it was again, Sugah?

[Scott doesn't want to comment that of the three of them standing here, he's technically the only person that isn't a X-Man. He hasn't been honest about that little detail, because he doesn't want to let them down and some guilt tugs at his chest. He doesn't like lying, but he still can't bring it up. Rogue will definitely want him to hide if she knew.

So, instead...]

Yeah, exactly. That's what we do as X-Men, protect everyone.

[He sounds like Cyclops, right? But those self-doubts fade as Rogue starts to question Kurt and maybe she's onto something. Do infections affect memory...? He doesn't know. It won't hurt to double check on everyone anyway, so he doesn't interrupt her as she starts to question his friend.]

[Kurt might have avoided directly saying whether or not he's sick. But is memory is still fine. Too fine, in fact, with how frequently he's been haunted by his worst memories. It's all been helping him feel like he's doing the right thing by misleading the people he cares about and waiting for the right opportunity to free their souls.

So he doesn't have trouble answering her.]

You sure you're feeling alright, Rogue? Or should I say, Red Dynamite? [He confidently answers with his arms crossed. Though inwardly, he wonders if Rogue does suspect him. But he can occupy her with this little codename game for now.] Please tell me you remember my codename!

[ is she overthinking this or being too careful? could it be her intuition is all wrong? her emeralds are searching for any tells or twitches that might give her something to work with, so she wouldn't have to outright ask him if he's infected or not.

rogue would rather do this with a little care and discreetly if he is, but without spotting anything amiss, it looks like she has no choice but to be bold. dammnit, she really hates to do this. the smile falters and her spine straightens, her stare holding onto kurt without given any indication of wavering her focus elsewhere. ]

I'm fine, Kurt. Ya can even say I'm feelin' bright as an Angel. I remember your codename bein' Cool Blue, but what I'm ain't remember is you tellin' us if you're infected or not. The quicker you tell us if you're good or not, the quicker we can quit stallin' and losing time.

[Bright as an angel...? Is that Rogue saying that she has the same power as Kotone? That is extremely beneficial if true and ugh, he's sort of berating himself for not talking to Rogue more. Because if he did, he probably wouldn't be struggling as much telling if she's hinting at something or is this just her speaking like normal.

...

She's really going for a bold tactic though, so Scott decides to double down with her, one hand extended out as if pretending he's going to heal Kurt. Hopefully, he's not wrong and she's actually the infected one. Or maybe he's mega boned and they're both infected.]

I can heal you, Kurt. [He says with some uncertainty, while keeping some focus on Rogue still.]

[He sees the images over and over again. Mystique's body falling and shattering. Being chased and hounded by his fellow men back in Germany. His Rogue bedridden after a breakdown. Every time his friends suffered, over and over again. It's maddening. But he knows how to end it. How to save them.

A cold sweat starts running down his head, as he looks between the two of them. They're onto him. They suspect him. They won't let him save them!

As Scott reaches out for Kurt, he recoils and teleports back across the room.]

S-stay back!! I don't need to be healed! It- it's not an infection.

[He gives a laugh. A hollow, broken laugh.]

This is... the only way to save you guys. From all your suffering. Gnos will help me... to deliver you to God. You don't have to do this anymore!

[He starts to transform as he speaks, growing spikes on his body and a long pair of horns, looking something like this.]

[ when her little brother shrinks and beams further away, the back of her hair immediately stands on end. so her intuition was right after all, although, she really wished she was wrong for once. the mutant opens her jaw to speak, but it immediately hangs open when he reforms into a gnosia structure of himself. her muscles tense with her fists balling into boulders as she pauses close to scott. ]

Shit.

[ the last thing she wants right now is to fight her brother, especially this younger version of himself. and despite the fact that she is no stranger of fighting against her family/teammates, it's not something she would like to repeat. rogue tightens her lips in a snarl as she considers their options. she is a guardian angel, and scott can heal. the obvious solution is to tackle kurt down or bind him long enough for scott to do what he needs to do.

the problem, however, is that kurt's mutant ability is teleportation. how can one pin someone who can phase whenever they pleased? they'll have to outsmart him somehow, and she might need to knock him out cold. the easier way to do that is by touching him, but... that is dangerously risky. and for all she knows, she might wind up absorbing the infection too, and that will leave poor scott to defend on his own. rogue quickly side-glances over to her companion, then back at her brother. ]

Are ya good with speeches, Hon?

[ because while her scott is no charles xavier, he can get pretty teacherish on the subject of togetherness and harmony. maybe kurt can be talked down to letting them aid him than using brute force. ]

Edited 2024-08-03 20:47 (UTC)

[Shit well, that confirms it. Kurt's infected. The way he's talking now... it's so different compared to the way his friend normally acts around him. Scott really hasn't dealt with infected before, but seeing him obsessed with 'gnosia' is more than just disheartening. He wants to blast who or whatever caused this, to change Kurt in such a way. But it's no time for those feelings right now. He has to focus, especially as his body begins to transform.

Scott's jaw clenches, a flash of determination coming through as he keeps his focus on Kurt. This doesn't mean that Rogue isn't infected, but he'll just hope that she's on his side now. That the hint of being a guardian angel is true. But at worst, if he can at least cure Kurt, then... then he'll accept whatever potential danger he'll be in later. Facing death somehow isn't as scary as it used to be.

Maybe that's just the adrenaline speaking though.

And is he good at speeches? Not really, but he's going to try. Honestly, he's not sure if Kurt can be talked down at all at this point, not when he's infected like this, but he owes it to his friend to try at least once. His hand still raises to his glasses, but he doesn't pull them off yet. Man, it's going to really suck fighting a teleporter--]

Kurt, I know that's not you speaking. We've been friends for months and I know you. You'd never want to hurt anyone, let alone 'end' our suffering. Getting hurt is just... part of being alive and I want to live. So, let me help, okay?

[Kurt feels like he's struggling on multiple levels. With living up to what's demanded of Gnosia, with whether to keep talking to them or just attack them and also with his strategy. He does have the ability to instantly kill someone, but that's a power he can only use once per day. Whoever he targets, the other person will still be around and could possibly get the jump on him, even with his teleporation. Between Scott's healing power and Rogue being an experienced X-Man with even more powers than the Rogue he knows, there's no easy target here.

He keeps his distance and breathes heavily as he listens to Scott. He can feel his heart aching.]

Of- of course I don't want... to hurt anyone. It doesn't have to hurt! It can be l-like going to sleep. [He looks distraught.] You say that, but... but... this burden is too much! [He remembers Rogue pushing Mystique's statue from the cliff and watching it shatter. Maybe she had the right idea after all, putting her out of her misery.]

I- I love you guys, but I have to do this. But we can do this... as peacefully as possible!

[ the rocks she had formed with her fists weakens, and her posture mitigates and molds to appear the look of a pacifist than a fighter. hearing kurt struggle and dry heaving through his sentences, she sees now that combat isn't the way to go about this.

if it results to that, then yes, they'll have no choice but to defend themselves. but... maybe if they can work together, and convince him that going about this isn't right, they can cure and vanquish this unknown infection. carefully, she advances forward to her brother, and bites down on her own tongue to prevent herself from saying something foolish without thinking things through. ]

Kurt, Scott's right. Bad things happen... hurt happens, and it ain't a picnic goin' through it. But you gotta have rain in order to see a rainbow. It's hard, but it makes us strong. We wouldn't be who we are now if we didn't go through the tough times.

As long as we are here for each other, we can work through it. Together, as friends and a family. And we can do that here, for you. Let us help you, Honey. Please...

Edited 2024-08-09 00:28 (UTC)

[He can tell that Kurt's struggling and it pains Scott to see him like this. Kurt's a really good guy and even when he's partially transformed, it's clear that he's trying to resist the infection and everything. Scott just wants to heal him as quickly as possible, so that he doesn't have to continue fighting his own instincts and everything, but he can't miss with the only shot they got. And with a teleporter? They have to be extra sure that Kurt is either knocked out or fully willing to accept the heal.

He almost prefers a knock out, because what if he changes his mind the last second, but Rogue is stepping up and he doesn't intend to interrupt her. Scott wants to do this without fighting his friend too, so he plans on trying as hard as Rogue to reach Kurt.]

It's not too much for any of us. That's why we're X-Men, right? To make a better future for everyone. [Never mind the fact that he's not a X-Man yet, but Scott doesn't care about that right now.]

A- a- better... a better... future...

[He doesn't want to do this. Is this really what's best? Will wiping them out really save them? Gnos grips at him, filling him with these promises of freedom. But with both of them speaking so earnestly, it reminds him of what he might really want. Another way.

Isn't that... what he wanted... for Mystique? To live?]

Hrgh...!

[X-Men. Family. Hurt.

He grips his head and bows over for a moment, then he looks back at them with eyes glaring yellow. He teleports!

And he stops several feet away from them. The urge to kill is overpowering. He wants to just try tearing through both of them at once!

But he doesn't move. He just stands still there, part of him managing to will himself to stop moving there for a moment, his arms outspread. The only movement is his body trembling while at war with itself. This gives them only a moment to act.]

[ she sees the struggle, sees the clash between him and the infection. and when he teleports away for that split moment, it jolts her heart, but only for it to settle moderately when they can see him again — just now in a larger distance. this isn't going to work, she thinks. and although rogue doesn't want to attack him head-on, this might be the only shot for them to do something before kurt vanishes for good, or he harms them.

the woman can only hope that scott will forgive her for what she is about to do, if he thinks this isn't the right way to handle this, but... they're out of options and time. so curling her hands into fists again, rogue charges at him — soaring as fast as she can ever could. because maybe if she speeds at him quick enough, it'll give him less time to register what's going on. will she need to knock him out cold? ... may...be. in fact, she is already winding herself up to sock him across the face whenever she gets a few inches in front of him. will she succeed? roll the dice, friends!!! ]

[Any hope that Kurt will go down easy evaporates the moment those yellow eyes (with some tint from his red glasses) glares over at them before he teleports away. Scott quickly turns to his friend's direction, his hand still gripped around the frame of his glasses, but he... he can't shoot fully at his friend. Not like this. He can only hope to serve as a distraction, something for Kurt to avoid because he doesn't want to find out if Kurt can survive an optic blast.

He needs that visor, that object Quentin mentioned to him before. The eyewear that other Scott wore.

However, there's no time thinking about what he doesn't have right now, especially as Rogue flies towards Kurt with fists ready to strike. Maybe if it was a human she was charging at, he'd be more alarmed, but Scott believes he can trust her enough in this instance. She wants to save Kurt too, not kill him.]

[Kurt manages to keep him still long enough for Rogue to fly up and sock him one. It's probably easily among the hardest punches he's ever taken. If it weren't for the Gnosia infection, he'd probably be out cold. But as it is, he just barely hangs in there. Kurt staggers over and stumbles onto the floor. He's woozy for a moment.]

Please...

[He mutters. But it's unclear if the full sentence is supposed to be 'Please stop' or 'Please help me'. Regardless, he manages another teleport, ending up right on the floor right before Scott. Part of him thinks of taking him out - but part of him also thinks of being healed by him.]

[ with kurt onto the floor, this might be her only shot to ... maybe strike him again? or maybe hold him down. but rogue is taken aback how her punch didn't made him lose consciousness, and it's that stillness that caused her chance to do something because her brother beamed away quickly after. in a panic, she immediately spins her attention behind herself, because logically (in combat), if one wants to strike their opponent, the best way would be behind the back.

so when the woman sharply turns, she spots kurt right on the floor next to scott — eyes widen in fear and worry if she doesn't act now, her companion will get hurt. or worse. but maybe this will give scott a possibility to grab a hold of him to cure him. kurt... did seem woozy from her sucker punch. ]

[Now is his chance.

There's some concern still that he might miss, that he'll waste their heal, but there's always a backup plan. Knock Kurt out after, find someone that can heal him. Simply giving up because he missed was never in the cards. Of course, he doesn't want to in the first place, but the thought makes Scott just a bit more confident, only taking a couple of seconds to decide before a yellow glow appears in his chest. It feels sort of ironic that he can fully control when to use this power, when he can't control his optic blasts, but those are thoughts for another day.

Because Kurt is pleading right before him, slightly injured and dazed and there's no time to waste.

A yellow beam emerges from Scott's chest, aiming towards his friend and while it may look a little dangerous, it's how his healing ability manifested in all of this chaos. Scott trusts Rogue to know that he wouldn't try to hurt another mutant anyway, especially his best friend.]

[Kurt's primal urges were grasping control. He wanted to leap at Scott and Rogue, to end them. To end their suffering, all their miserable lives!

But before he can act again, it happens. He's remained still just long enough for that beam to strike him. He lets out a primal howl as he can feel parts of himself being burned away completely. It may just be the Gnos part, but in this moment, it feels the same as if he himself was being directly attacked. He falls to his knees as his body shifts, the horns breaking apart into dust while he reverts into his original form.

Ultimately, he's left passed out on the floor. As his normal, fuzzy blue self.]

[ seeing scott use his healing ability does stagger her heart just a touch, especially at the sound of her brother wailing in anguish. but she knows what he is doing isn't hurting him, but saving him despite its appearance. and if this leaves him in pain afterward, she and whoever he trusts will take care of him until he's better. so cautiously, the mutant glides over and lands beside kurt after he sinks to the floor unconscious. his sister crouches down to sit on her knees, then carefully shifts the boy to rest more onto her lap. ]

Oh, Kurt...

[ she knows it's very unlikely for him to hear her, but maybe her voice can still reach him somehow — to let him know that she is here with him and won't leave his side. her gloved fingers swipes a few strands away from his forehead, before she rests her gloved hand there. rogue then bends down to plant a kiss at the back of her hand — her only way of showing any kind of physical affection without her powers getting in the way of things. ]

[It really did hurt hearing Kurt make such a noise, but it needed to be done. It's a strange sort of determination that feels almost natural to tap into. So, it's why he doesn't stop or flinch, not until his friend is collapsed on the ground without those extra appendages.

...

Uh, is this how Rogue normally shows affection? Or does she and Kurt share a bond of sorts?? But those questions fade to the back of Scott's mind, still too worried about Kurt as he looks down at his friend with a frown. The signs of his infection are fully gone at least and he can take some relief in that, but his concern for his friend won't fade away until he sees the fuzzy elf back to normal and joking once again.

At least he's pretty certain now too that Rogue isn't infected.]

...He'll be okay, Rogue. He's strong. [Scott's saying that for himself too.]

[He'd out cold. And breathing softly. He shows no sign of waking up any time soon, but at the very least, he seems to be sleeping peacefully now. The nightmare is exorcised, and hopefully he'll be having nice dreams until the Gnosia are all gone.]

everyone's having a good time

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