Room 330, Monday Afternoon

[genesishero]

Evan had arrived back on the island in the dead of night, wearing a scowl on his face that even a bouncy dog who was happy to see him home again couldn't entirely wipe away. He'd slept fitfully, shadows in the corners of his mind creeping up and threatening to blot out everything else in his head as he dreamed.

When he woke up, he was feeling a little better. Not quite up to par, no, but he spent his morning reading one of his favorite books, and after that he at least felt a little more normal.

By around noon, he actually felt almost up to human interaction again. Not enough to actively go out and seek it, but he cracked his dorm room door open a little before settling down to play tug-of-war with Ozzy, which, Savage Land or no, was actually way more outgoing for Evan than usual.

At least it was break week. He didn't figure the dorms were going to be crawling with people, anyway.

[OOC: Post is open, door is cracked!]

Comments

[pulseof_life]

Yeul was just passing by, really, when she realized that Evan’s door was open and that she could hear Ozzy playing inside.

She knocked softly on the door before peeking in.

“Evan?” she asked. “Hello! You’re back already?”

[genesishero]

"Yeah," Evan replied, though he didn't sound as excited as usual to hear a friend at his door. "Things got kind of weird back at the Jean Grey School, and I decided I really, really didn't want to be there after all."

He gave the pull-toy a tug, and Ozzy slid along the floor after it, with it clamped firmly in his teeth.

[pulseof_life]

Yeul tilted her head slightly, then stepped into the room.

“What happened, Evan?” she asked quietly, detouring around Ozzy to sit down next to Evan on the floor. “Did you want to talk?”

He wasn’t alright, so she didn’t ask.

[genesishero]

"It's... a lot of stuff, I guess," Evan sighed, letting go of the toy and watching Ozzy trot proudly across the room with it. "Mostly I guess I'm just tired of people making decisions about who I'll be based on where I came from. And... people who lie about what where I came from really means."

You could be better than where you came from? You weren't just what was in your blood? Logan had told him about the horrible, abusive man that had been his father. Dog had told him about how Logan was the one who had killed the man in cold blood.

Evan was starting to wonder if trusting people at all was a mistake.

[pulseof_life]

“What does it mean?” Yeul asked, drawing her knees up under her chin. “What do you think it means?”

She watched him with calm, gentle eyes and waited.

[genesishero]

"It means..." Evan pulled in a deep breath, shut his eyes, and shrugged his shoulders. "It's something I'm going to always have to live with. It'll always be hanging over me. If it's not the people who know who that person was, it'll be that anger I feel, that part of me that'll always be a monster, no matter what I do. Even if so much time passes that nobody else knows... I will."

[pulseof_life]

She nodded slowly, reaching out with one hand to touch his arm.

“You won’t forget,” Yeul agreed. “You’ll always know."

Which probably weren’t the most comforting things she could say.

“Will you let it define you?”

[genesishero]

"I don't know," Evan replied, leaning slightly into her touch. "Even if it's not what I become, so much of who I want to be is a direct result of who I don't."

He wanted so badly to not be Apocalypse that it hurt. So he pushed away everything about the mad god, hid himself away with his dog and his books, strove to be a hero, even if it was only to prove people wrong.

[pulseof_life]

Well, if he was going to lean into her touch, she was going to scoot over just a bit to wrap one arm around his shoulders.

“How much do you know about him?” she asked quietly. “Not the big, bad things that he’s done. But about the person who would do them? Not his history so much as… the little things.” Yeul looked thoughtful. “Like… what did he like to make for breakfast?”

[genesishero]

Evan sighed and shook his head.

"For all I know, he'd wash down his breakfast cereal with the blood of sacrificed virgins," he grumbled. "I have no way of knowing. I mean, there's a cult dedicated to him that's served him for thousands of years, but that's not really something I want to get mixed up in."

Ever. At all.

[pulseof_life]

“And I would not expect you to,” Yeul said quietly, though she wished he were a little more open to the idea of, perhaps, the man-god had eaten a normal breakfast.

Maybe he was too young, though, to realize that those who were evil, did things so ordinary.

Or maybe he was right. She didn't know.

“What will you do now?”

[genesishero]

In fairness, Apocalypse had demanded blood sacrifice any time somebody woke him up. Maybe he had liked strawberries cut up into his Corn Pops, but Evan's guess was probably slightly closer to the truth.

"I'm not going back there any time soon, I know that much," Evan decided. "I need to prove that I'm not like that. I'm not evil, I'm not a villain. I don't ever want to be."

[pulseof_life]

“Okay,” she said, nodding. “Why don’t you come with us, then? Sholeh and Liara and I are going to my home for the rest of the week. Why not come with us? No one will think you’re a villain there.”

If Yeul were a more forceful person, she’d shove him over to Caius the moment they reach Pulse. Since she was not, she would settle for tilting her head at Evan when Caius was watching her.

It would be enough.

[genesishero]

"You... don't mind having me come along?" Evan chewed his lip, giving her a hopeful look. "Can Ozzy come, too?"

Ozzy was his security puppy. There were important therapy cuddles to have. Plus, finding a dogsitter during break on no notice wasn't terribly likely.

[pulseof_life]

Yeul smiled.

“Ozzy can come too,” she assured him. “Though I would recommend keeping him on his leash while we’re walking. It can be dangerous and he’s quite small.”

They probably didn’t want him eaten by a Pitterpatter or a Ugallu or… well, any kind of monster.

“And of course I would not mind if you came along.”

[genesishero]

"I can keep him on a leash," Evan nodded, smiling faintly. "That's easy enough to do."

Heck, Evan could be the leash, if anything happened to the one he had. Leashes were not an issue.

"And I guess you wouldn't have offered if you had minded, huh?"

[pulseof_life]

“It’s highly unlikely that I would ever mind,” Yeul said, turning her gaze to Ozzy. “There is very little that I mind. However, I would enjoy it, if you came.”

[genesishero]

And now, Evan's smile was a little more genuine, still.

"Really? I mean... I mean, I would love to come along. It would be way better than just sitting around here all week, and I like your company, and Sholeh's, and Liara's..."

And the company of... well, of one of Sholeh's sisters, anyhow. But he had no idea if Yeul knew about that or not, so he wasn't going to just blabbermouth about Zeela and Zhahar.

[pulseof_life]

“And everyone else’s?” she asked, smiling. She wouldn’t name them, since the squirrels might hear, but Evan had to know. Yeul could not imagine a relationship going well if he didn’t know of Sholeh’s sisters.

“Besides,” she continued, “I think Caius might appreciate having another boy around. He will be rather outnumbered otherwise.”

Caius would probably not care, it should be noted.

[genesishero]

"And everyone else," Evan agreed, nodding and giving a thankful smile. One less secret he had to worry about keeping from Yeul, at least. "You guys aren't going to, um, do a bunch of girl things while we're there, are you?"

He actually had no idea what 'girl things' entailed. It wasn't like he'd ever been taught this stuff.

[pulseof_life]

Was he keeping other secrets from her?

Yeul looked mildly intrigued. “What sort of girl things?”

She was teasing, of course, but his answer would amuse her no matter what it was.

[genesishero]

Evan had no idea. So, clearly, the best course of action here was to blush and duck his head a little.

"Um... I don't know... talk about things that boys can't understand?"

That seemed like the best answer he could piece together, at least.

[pulseof_life]

Yeul laughed softly.

“You’re sweet, Evan,” she said, still amused. “If we paint our nails, I promise to do yours as well.”

Just so he wouldn’t feel left out!

[genesishero]

Evan looked down at his hand, fingernails standing out a stark black against the pale blue of his skin.

"Well, I suppose it wouldn't hurt anything..."

Really, what harm would mixing up his palette even more do, right?

[pulseof_life]

Oh, Evan.

“If we do not,” Yeul said, following his gaze, “I can do yours, if you’d like, anyway.”

[genesishero]

Evan gave his fingers a little wiggle. He'd never really thought all that hard about changing anything about himself. At least, not for the sake of aesthetics. Even as a shapeshifter, all of the things he ever changed his hands to tended to be because of their function.

"You don't think that would be kind of weird?"

Not because it was a girly thing to do, no. Mostly just because the only thing he ever bothered to change about himself was his hair.

[pulseof_life]

She wondered what he meant, when he said weird.

“Why would it be?” Yeul asked. “Many people do.”

[genesishero]

Evan nodded a tiny bit, and then closed his hand into a fist, hiding his fingernails from view.

"Is it something I should change?"

[pulseof_life]

“I can’t answer that question,” she said gently. “But isn’t the right question ‘do you want to change?’”

[genesishero]

That... was a good question, actually.

"I'm not sure," he admitted. "I mean... Until I found out where I came from, I was happy being who I was. But now everything just seems different. Like everyone was right about how horrible some part of me is, and I need to make up for it somehow."

[pulseof_life]

“I think you’re fine just the way you are,” she told him simply. “As for your fingernails… think it over. If you decide you want a change, that’s good. If you decide you don’t… that is also good. As long as it’s what you want.”

[genesishero]

"If nothing else, it's only temporary, right?" Evan considered his hand for a moment more, and then shrugged his shoulders. "So it's not too bad."

He gave his lap a pat, and Ozzy trotted back over, carrying the rope toy.

"Thanks, Yeul. I have something to look forward to for this break week, now."

[pulseof_life]

Yeul reached over to try and grab Ozzy’s rope toy and give it a small shake.

“You’re welcome,” she said, smiling. “We’re heading out tomorrow. Will you be alright with that?”

[genesishero]

And Ozzy responded with a tailwag. And then a confused tilt of his head when a happy bark meant that his rope fell out of his mouth.

Sometimes, Ozzy was not the brightest pup.

"The sooner the better," Evan replied, nodding. "I'll be ready to go. Is there anything I should bring?"

[pulseof_life]

But he was adorable! Yeul giggled as she wriggled the rope on the floor for him. It was right here, see? Here!

“Shoes good for walking,” she said, after a moment. “Possibly a bathing suit. A couple of changes of clothes? We will be coming back here Friday evening. Don’t worry about food or money or anything. Caius and I are taking care of that, since you’re our guests.”

[genesishero]

"Thank you," Evan replied, giving Yeul a thankful little bob of his head. "I'm pretty sure I don't have any of the local currency anyhow. I mean, unless you accept the American dollar in your world..."

Which, hey, could totally happen. It was a big and varied multiverse.