(no subject)

[southernreaper]

Arrival (Locked to Magneto):

“DON’T TOUCH ME!” The scream echoes down the hallway, shrill in the way that only a teenage boy can reach. One who is terrified. He’s not sure what is going on, but he wants to not be touched. There are too many people, too close to him.

Kevin tries the calming techniques that Miss Frost had taught him. Nothing is working. His mind swirls around a morass of terror and the need to strike out. But if he strikes out, if he reaches, then his power wins and he’s going to be lost again.

His most recent home has been an FBI holding cell. Now, he’s… he doesn’t know where he is. There’s a starfield outside the windows opposite him. To either side, cool grey hallways go on to infinity. Or maybe that’s the panic talking.

He stares at the people surrounding him. Some are wearing uniforms that he doesn’t understand and doesn’t recognize. Others are wearing clothes that he doesn’t know either. Had the Shi’ar captured him? Skrulls? Who else is supposed to be their extraterrestrial allies and foes? He’d missed that class, probably. What with being arrested by the FBI.

His hand creaks inside of his glove. “Stay back. Don’t touch me.” He orders, much less shrill, but no less panicked. If they touch him… he doesn’t want to think of the consequences. He’s seen them too much already.

Kevin has many questions. Like where is he? Who are these people? But he can’t ask. He wants them to stay back, because his power… his touch… it’ll all go wrong. “Please, just stay back.” The last is almost pleading. The roaring inside his mind is getting worse. He wants to touch. All it would take is an inch of skin showing at the edge of his glove. It’d be so simple.

“I said stay back. Can’t you listen?” He knows that this will probably get very bad, very quickly. Kevin raises scared green eyes to the person approaching him. “What’s going on?” The panic is receding, the coldness of the want of his power beginning to take its place.

After Med Bay (OTA):

Kevin finally slips his minder and goes exploring himself. He ends up in Ten Forward, looking out the windows at the starfield. He can't believe that this is actually happening to him. He's in a starship, in space, and he's no longer in that FBI cell. He cannot believe it.

Closing his eyes for a moment, he takes a deep breath then looks around. Well, at least, he can see people again. He hears a noise behind him and turns to look, taking an instinctive step back. He doesn't want to hurt anyone. Not now, not ever.

Comments

[midnighthour]

Kitty could understand feeling on edge. The strange smells left her dizzy and so she was sitting at a table with her back pressed up against the wall. The wolf wouldn't let her lower her guard or show any sign of weakness and Kitty found it exhausting. She didn't jump at the sound but her eyes flicked quickly to its source before dismissing it.

Her gaze flicked over to the boy who looked as if the world shattered around him. She was pretty good at reading people before she had been bitten but now her wolf gave her a whole new view. She could see the slight shifts in his weight and the way he carried himself. The small flare to his nose as he worked to steady his breath.

Was he scared? Either way she felt the need to reach out, to say something. "Hey." Her words were simple calling over the few yards that separated them. She wasn't ready to get up from her seat just yet. "I think something just dropped. It's okay." She smiled keeping her usual radio charm, though she preferred talking to people over the airwaves.

"Why not have a seat?"

[southernreaper]

He notices the girl - lady - that calls him over. He steps a couple yards toward her, but puts his back against the window. He doesn't take the offered seat, but does offer her a grateful look.

"No, but thank you."

He's too worried about the other people around here to sit down. Someone could accidentally brush against him or something. That... that wouldn't be good and he'd end up in the brig. The last thing he wants it to be confined again. He needs to just...

He doesn't know what he needs to do. He wishes he could go outside and just walk. He misses the rambling grounds of the institute.

No, he's not ever going back there. Though it was nice to have someone be angry on his behalf.

"My name's Kevin, Miss...?"

[midnighthour]

She smiled. "Just Kitty." Miss made her feel old and she was still in her twenties. She had some time before people would start calling her miss.

Kitty's shoulders tensed for a moment as he leaned against the window. She didn't feel comfortable with him standing and her sitting. It made her wolf want to cower with her tail placed firmly between her legs. It was frustrating.

She sighed softly glancing around the longue. It wasn't too busy though there were enough people to make the room feel lively.

"So why so tense?"

[southernreaper]

Just Kitty. Just like one of them. But he cannot equate this girl with that one. There's differences that he can immediately point out to the side of his brain that wants nothing to do with the X-Men.

"I don't..." like people. But that's not exactly true. He's afraid of them, but he's not going to admit that yet. "People make me nervous." That's closer to the truth, but not the whole of it.

"I just didn't know where else to go." Besides, someone said there was food here. He's just not made it that far yet.

[midnighthour]

Kitty smiled slightly looking at those who walked around the room. It was as if something else peeked through her gaze before she glanced back at him.

"People are scary." She knew that first hand. "What's worse is that people don't even know it." Kitty sat back in her chair with a sigh. She couldn't disagree about feeling nervous. She was stuck in a spaceship, in a room, with people that the wolf only saw as prey. This wasn't an ideal situation for her.

"Why not start with eating?" Her fingers drummed against the table. "Then, do what you want. Do what makes you comfort and what you can handle. There's no reason to be around people." Why was it that she felt like she was on the air again.

[southernreaper]

What makes him comfortable is hiding in his room and staying there for hours at a time. Or staying in a junk pile, where he can't hurt anything. But neither of those is an option, really.

"No, thank you. I'm not hungry." He's too tense to eat. His stomach is in knots. "I was told to come here, so I'll be fine." Honestly, he'd been told to do what he wanted, but he's not sure that he's doing that.

He wants to go explore. He's never been on a space ship before. But he's not sure where he's not allowed to be, and this is definitely one place he can't get into trouble in.

[kaylinneya]

Kaylin had been heading for a table with a tray loaded down under the weight of food. A lot of food. Didn't matter food was readily available here. She remembered starving far too well to not stuff her face whenever she could. She worked out regularly, to keep from gaining weight, which had never been an issue for her... she mostly was gaining muscle.

She noticed his motions as he turned. She was a Hawk, she was trained to notice, had started training since she was 13.

And he was a kid. Scared. Probably hungry, afraid of all the people around him. No psychic ability needed to tell that. That was how kids on their own were. Especially in an odd place like this. She set down her tray and lifted one plate off of it. Meat buns... but child. She pushed the plate as close to him as the table allowed. "Food," she said simply, sitting in the furthest seat from his plate, so she could watch him, and so he could approach without feeling cornered.

She wore a plain linen shirt, a belt with a dagger on either hip, leather pants, thick soled boots, and a tabard with a flying hawk. her hair was held up and back with a stick, and a translucent dragon looking thing was curled around her shoulders. One cheek was marked with a flower, it looked like a colorful tattoo. She also wore a very expensive looking old gold bracelet with gems.

[southernreaper]

That woman has a lot of food. His stomach reminds him uncomfortably that the last thing he's had to eat was a baloney sandwich. And that had been half disintegrated by his powers because he'd been too hungry to slow down and eat it the way he needs to.

So really, he's not had much to eat lately. And those meat buns look really good.

When she pushes the plate toward him, his mouth waters, but he still restrains himself. He's not sure he should eat her food though.

Practicality wins out. He's too hungry, too tired and too stressed to do anything but eat for right now. He cautiously settles into the seat furthest from her and picks at one of the buns, forcing himself to eat the way he's always had to, since that day he killed his father.

"Thank you."

[kaylinneya]

She nodded once. Fiefling. She didn't know what fief, or even what world, but she knew a fiefling when she saw one. Knew that hunger always beat out pride. Knew some fieflings picked at their food, trying to convince themselves they'd just eat a little, to see if it's poisoned, or afraid of a hidden cost. So she didn't comment. She knew he would wind up eating his fill, if she didn't push him away.

She pushed her glass of water closer to him, glad for the first time here that the booze tasted like **** and didn't have any kick. She'd been drinking water since she discovered that no matter what she ordered, she couldn't get drunk, so she had water for the kid. Then she set upon eating her food.

She was always aware of him and their surroundings, but mostly him. She wanted to make sure nothing came at them that would spook him, and she wanted to give him a chance to eat. Kid like him probably hadn't had a single full meal all year. He looked about... 13 or so. When she'd been thirteen, they'd been doing a little better. When she'd been 11, she'd gone three years without a single full belly. She knew hunger. She knew hungry kids.

There was no Marin here, not that she had yet found. But as of yet, she officially didn't have a job either. The Gods knew she was never going to raise her own son, but that didn't mean she couldn't keep an eye out for this kid.

[southernreaper]

Kevin picks apart the meat bun, sipping his water slowly. It's nice to eat something that isn't full of ashes and actually tastes good. He's tired of baloney sandwiches and a carton of milk that he can't even drink.

He doesn't know this woman, or the thing around her neck, but the quiet acceptance, the quiet offer of food is exactly what he needs. For the first time since arriving, some of the tension drains out of his shoulders.

"My name's Kevin, miss...?" He feels wrong just taking her food and not at least talking to her. He needs to know what's going on, and at least she knows how to get food. That's more than he does right now.

[kaylinneya]

"Kaylin. Kaylin Neya." To anyone else, she would use her rank, would mention the Hawks; but she remembered being a 13 year old from the fiefs. She remembered resenting the officers of the law who would never cross the river to help the children in the fiefs. She understood more, now. Intellectually, anyway. Emotionally she still wanted to go and save them all.

She took another bite of her own food, letting him go at his own pace for now. Because as much as she hated long pronounced silences, the need of a child came first. Even when she had been a child herself.

[diamonds_are_forever]

Emma is surprised to see Kevin a) alive and b) in Ten Forward. She shoos Faith into the bar, certain the girl can find something to occupy herself. Kevin is not a bad person, necessarily, but he's an unknown quantity and she won't relax if Faith is too close until she knows what the young man will be like.

"You don't need to worry about me," she noted, giving Kevin a slightly amused look. "I know better than the natives. Are you alright?" That seemed like an important first question.

[southernreaper]

What is Emma Frost doing here? What is she doing here with a child?

Hasn't she screwed up enough kids?

He keeps the thought to himself though, letting his eyes unfocus so that he can concentrate on his shields. No doubt, she can still get around them - they've always been crap - but they make him feel better. Although it does give him a disconcerting image of her as a skeleton.

Not what he needs right now.

"Yes ma'am. I've been to medbay too." Kevin explains.

[diamonds_are_forever]

"I doubt I need to tell you what I'm doing with the child, as she is clearly mine, red hair aside." It wasn't like she made a habit of stealing children. Attempting to manipulate them wasn't kidnapping. Well, there was that one time with Kitty but that wasn't really her, just an inconvenient memory lapse to a past life or something similar.

His shields are so small and fragile, but she withdraws from his mind politely. Poking around them might hurt him and that's not her intention.

"So you've recieved the welcome spiel. Good. That saves me some effort. What's the last thing you remember?" She sincerely hopes not to hear Selene's name mentioned, though the way he's looking at her he's clearly no longer truly her pupil. Why couldn't anyone be brought from a time when they were friendly to her? At this rate she expected Scott to come in right after one of their confrontations. Wouldn't that be fun?

[southernreaper]

He hates when she does that. She should stay out of his head. Never mind that his shields are crap, and he's probably projecting and should probably stop mentally rambling to himself.

... Dealing with a telepath gives him a headache.

He rubs a gloved hand over his forehead, giving himself a minute to get back into the current situation and not the ones where he reaches out and touches her skin and makes her fall away.

"I was in a holding cell. The FBI were still working out what to do with me." Or how to transport him without risking his powers or interference from the X-Men... at least he thinks that's what was going on. They didn't exactly tell him anything.

[diamonds_are_forever]

"Ah, so you're not even a Hellion yet." Emma said, sounding a little relieved. "That is, if you come from a similar universe to the ones I dreamed of. I'm not quite who you think I am, fantastic good looks and mutation aside." She hoped this would go better than her conversation with Laura. Though they'd ended on okay terms she was still certain the young woman distrusted her. In an unknown place like this they truly did need to e united.

[stark_spangled]

Steve holds up his hands, palms out to show he isn't carrying any weapons, and stops right where he is. "It's OK."

It was hard to miss the kid's arrival. Even if he hadn't been screaming, Steve wasn't that far away and his hearing is, well, super. He knows when to bow out and let the professionals do their jobs (and he knows Magneto, trusts him to some degree), but now that Kevin has been returned to Ten Forward and seems calmer, he can't just walk away.

He recognizes the panic. The hairpin-trigger alertness, the fear. He takes a step back, hands still up, and smiles crookedly.

"It's OK," he repeats. "I'm not gonna touch you. I just wanted to see if you were all right."

[southernreaper]

No, it's not okay, but Kevin has learned to keep his mouth shut. He knows that no adult, no matter who they are, is going to make anything right. Probably unfair, especially in light of Magneto taking care of him.

He puts his back to the window because anything coming at him from that direction is far more dangerous than he can deal with.

"I'm fine, sir. I'm sorry about making such a fuss."

He's tired, exhausted really, and just can't quite bring himself to lock himself away from anyone right now. He's been without human contact for too long. He blinks his eys rapidly, making sure he can see a person and not... whatever.

[stark_spangled]

His smile turns a little more lopsided, and he shakes his head.

"Don't worry about it. I've seen worse," he says, eyebrows arched. Slowly, he lets his hands drop back to his sides. "A spaceship showing up out of nowhere seems to have that effect."

Even Steve wasn't at his best the first day he arrived. He was certain this was some kind of hallucination, either Hydra or SHIELD or another unknown threat. But Kevin guards himself with the attitude of the wounded, and he has to figure there's a little more to it than that. He watches his eyelids flutter, but instead of remarking on it he casts him a friendly expression. "I'm Steve. Steve Rogers."

[southernreaper]

Kevin wants to agree, but he's not sure how to. And then the guy introduces himself. The pit of his stomach drops out and he just stares for a minute. It's obvious that this isn't the Steve Rogers from his world, but the chance to meet Captain America isn't one that Kevin Ford is going to look a gift horse in the mouth for.

He realizes he's staring after a minute and brushes the hair out of his face with one gloved hand. "Uh, Kevin Ford, sir. It's nice to meet you."

Captain America!

... If he was at home, he'd giggle like an idiot.

[magnetic_magpie]

"Hey hey hey." He's just out of the boy's line of sight but he doesn't hurry to remedy that, moving slowly. "I'm not going to touch you. No one is going to touch you." He'd keep that promise by force, if he needs to. No one reacts this badly without a good reason.

[southernreaper]

Kevin whips his head around looking for the voice. Just what he needs, his voice reacting like someone. But then he sees him: an older gentleman with shock-white hair and built like he knows his way around a training arena.

He tries to calm himself, but that's not working. Everyone looks like skeletons. He screws his eyes shut for a moment, before forcing them open again.

"What's going on? Where am I?"

[magnetic_magpie]

It's not hard to see the panic, and it getting worse. But at the same time - mutants don't look like humans, their brains don't, and he recognizes that. "You're on a starship. Does closing your eyes help?" He glanced around, making sure no one got close.

[southernreaper]

No, closing his eyes made it worse, because it made it feel like everyone was so close, too close. But he did it, and sometimes it reset his vision. Unfortunately, now is not one of those times. He just shakes his head. "How did I get here?" Because he needs to know that and know how much trouble he's going to be in. "And who are you?" The man looks vaguely familiar, like someone that he should know, but he can't put a name to the face.

[magnetic_magpie]

He sees the shake and nods, even if the boy isn't focused on him. "Ok. Ok." Magneto makes a quiet hushing sound, similar to soothing a small upset child than telling someone to shut up. "A reality wrapper brought you here. You aren't in any trouble for being here. My name is Erik. I sometimes go by others, but Erik is what matters right now."