27. » voice + spam

[tolaywaste]

Bruce!

[Here, Barge; have some screaming. Then some panicked hyperventilating.]

I'm looking for Bruce Wayne. He's not in his cabin, I've checked everywhere - has anyone seen him?

I'm - Alex Summers, for new people, I guess, if you see him, he's my inmate, I need to make sure he didn't get sent to Zero--

spam } deck

[He slams the feed off when he realizes he can't continue to form words. He's too scared, too tired, and most importantly too closed in. He can't keep looking. He has to find the sky.]

[A few minutes later, he's on deck, leaning over the real and breathing deeply and slowly through his nose. It feels like years since he's had the space to move around, even though it's really just been days. He's numb head to foot, adrenaline draining from his system. All he wants to do is sleep.]

[He can't sleep. He can't do anything.]

[Fuck.]


( ooc; alex is from directly after toshiko sato's takeover from LIKE A YEAR AGO and is freaking out bc a] claustrophobia b] where is bruce tho. all responses to the audio of this post will be text. )

Comments

[wedonot]

[He's always felt in over his head with this, with being a comfort to someone or knowing instinctively what they need to hear. His power probably should have made it easier, but Erik's always the one who seems to know exactly what to say. Still. Probably better to try than leave him here, struggling. It's better than he could do for the boy he knows.] Everything is going to be alright.

[tolaywaste]

[It sounds almost stilted. Alex frowns slightly.]

Yeah, everybody keeps saying that. "It's over, it's gonna be okay."

Everybody keeps saying that.

[wedonot]

And it will be. [Although he's genuinely not sure what Alex is upset about, and tries not to let the confusion show in his face. He's not sure if it would be better or worse to say that it's a flood, that there's a good chance he's been affected by it. It could be reassuring, but he knows first hand that it's definitely not, really. His next question is similarly almost stilted, like he's doing his best to say the right thing but not quite sure he's managed it.] What can I do?

[tolaywaste]

I don't . . . know.

Have you seen Bruce? Somebody says he's gone.

[Which, frankly, terrifies the crap out of him.]

[wedonot]

I haven't. [But he hasn't seen Erik either, and apparently, that's a good thing. This version of him is free, and he's the aberration this time.] We're apparently experiencing a flood. Whatever happened to you might have already happened months ago. It's possible he's fine. [He can't know for sure, though. He's not the Charles Xavier Alex probably thinks and wants him to be, and he doesn't know what happened to Bruce in this Alex's future, and anything he might be able to tell him about his counterpart will probably be depressing.]

[tolaywaste]

I don't want to know about possible, I want to know what happened.

[There's a whine in his voice - he hears it and makes no effort to correct it. He's angry and exhausted and scared, and Charles seems weird and distant. Nothing is how it should be.]

[wedonot]

[He reaches out to soothe the fear and anger without asking permission (he almost never does), and tries to keep it as gentle as possible. He's usually not so careful, but even if Alex - the other Alex - hadn't thought so, he had cared about him. He'd cared about him a lot, and even if this one seems different, it's not bad. He's tired and angry and maybe whining a bit, but there's an earnestness he's not used to and it makes him curious. And he wants to help.] I don't know what happened. Who told you he was gone?

[tolaywaste]

Harvey? Harvey Dent. I don't know if I can trust him, I don't know if it's just - some way to get back at Bruce or at me.

But he says Bruce went home voluntarily. He hasn't graduated, Charles. It's got to be a lie.

[wedonot]

Alex- [He hesitates again, unsure.] This is a flood. Those affected have been pulled in from different points in the timeline. What month do you think it is?

[tolaywaste]

[Oh.]

[Goddamn floods.]

March. Isn't it March?

[wedonot]

I was told it was February, but I thought it was October. I'm... affected. [He says it kind of like the way someone would announce they've been infected with something unpleasant.]

[tolaywaste]

I . . . guess maybe I am too.

What - what do you remember, then?

[wedonot]

A different Barge. [And he's tempted to leave it at that, but he feels like he owes Alex more of an explanation. He's still angry about how things went between them, and he wishes it was easier for him to know what to do for a kid who was angry and hurt and needed guidance.] I've been told yours is meant for redemption.

[tolaywaste]

Yeah. Yeah, it is. That's what I'm looking for Bruce for. He's my inmate.

What, isn't yours?

[wedonot]

No. You wouldn't like it. [Even if the other Alex... really, really does.] We're all very different people. You're lucky.