vexant | inbox

Those're the items you can toss at people. Don't hit the bananas, they'll throw you off. Or the moles. Or other cars, if you can help it.

( nate doesn't care what place he's in, but princess peach is maintaining first place as she drifts around corners and hits the floating squares. he doesn't bother using the turtle shell yet. mostly because he's already in first, and there's no one to toss it at. yet.

julian's carried a shitton on his shoulders for the last half a decade or so. carried the weight of every loss while trying to keep his head held high. it's not easy, it never has been. but that's part of being a mutant, isn't it? carrying more than they should have to hold, and getting stronger because of it. )

( Items to toss at people… right. Because it’s a race and all, he almost forgot.

Plowing through one of the cubes, he drives his car down the track to catch up to the other drivers and watches as a red shell pops up above him. Unsure with what it is, he fires it off with a click of the button and blinks when it knocks a driver over in front of him, Yoshi driving past. Chuckle soft on his lips, blue eyes keep fixed on the screen save for the fleeting glance he gives Julian there beside him. )

Is this what you do to unwind?

Pretty much. It's this, or the Danger Room. ( with a loose lift of his shoulders. here? there's not much else to do, is there? he could piss off quire more, but that'd be more of a pain than it's worth. )

Not a lot of people around who're into sports, so most the crap I get into is whatever I can do solo.

( Eyes still on the screen, he steers Yoshi around the track, passing another car or two as he does. )

I’m trying to work on having better control of my powers. ( Another turn down the track. ) It’s what I was doing before I came here to see you. I was building psychic constructs and seeing if I could control them while also not.

( Making his car hop, he begins to gain on Julian and princess peach. )

If you want to fight them sometime, I wouldn’t say no to the company.

Sure, if you want.

( it's not like he has any reason to not want to wrangle some psionic constructs. julian's still driving princess peach around, but aside from trying to make sure none of the ais get in front of him, he's not being extra about it any. )

I'm no telepath or anything, but I've got a crapton of fine control over my TK. If you want pointers, or someone to spar with.

( This game of Mario Kart between them gives him another idea concerning psionic constructs, but. He'll keep that to himself for now. A little more fun for him that way. Hopping his car to make a bit of a sharp turn around a wide curve of the track, he smiles some as he glances over to Julian for a moment. )

Whenever you're free, I'm up for it.

( Not that... there's much to do here anyways. Well. Aside from when they get pulled into missions and all, but. That's a given. )

See, told you that you'd figure it out just fine on your own.

( welcome to mario kart, hope you're ready to get your ass kicked.

by which he means, the playing nice and letting nate get used to the game is over now that he's adjusted to it alright. julian holds down the a button, drifting around a corner swiftly and quickly racing his way to the finish line. )

( Blink of those blue eyes, he laughs a little as Julian starts to ramp up the competitiveness and hurries his car along after the other mutant. He hops and drifts when need be, keeping close to the inside of the track and can’t help but lean forward some there on the couch, arms draped across his legs, focused on the screen. )

You take this pretty seriously, huh?

( He won’t beat Julian, but he also won’t come in last. Second or third is looking to be his spot. )

I like to win as much as the next guy.

( but this isn't santo, quire, foley, or anyone else who julian would be immediately jumping into needing to win or death with. he just. you know. wants to win. they're approaching the finish line; it's not a difficult level at all, which is why he'd picked it. )

And this's pretty low stakes, in comparison to everything else.

( Julian will take the win for this but he's fine with it. Getting a feel for the game and how it's played was mainly what he'd been looking for and he'd gotten that, so. In the future? Julian better watch out.

A huff, he glances over to the other mutant for a moment. )

You didn't think that camp was low stakes?

Camp was easy. But low stakes, considering their whole "your world is at stake" speech?

( with a brow raised, as he puts down the controller for a moment. )

Nothing here really feels all that simple.

( Setting his own controller down, he pulls a leg up onto the couch — drapes his arm over it as he looks to Julian there beside him before he drops his gaze down in thought. )

Yeah. I'm beginning to see that.

( Maybe they're not talking about the same thing, but. Close enough, really. )

( yeah this doesn't feel like it's about camp anymore. he's got two options here: move on and pretend this bit didn't come up, or he can always - )

You want to talk about it?

( well. he did agree nate is one of his now. )

( Telepaths don't talk. Doesn't Julian know this? )

Not really. ( He offers him a quiet smile — a shrug of a shoulder to come after. ) What about you? What isn't so simple for you? Being around everyone like this?

( not really gets him a roll of julian's eyes, even if he tries to be subtle about it. tries. well - tries a little. )

There's a lot of crap that isn't simple. I'll make you a deal - you tell me, or show me something that's fucking you up, and I'll unload some of mine on you in exchange.

I don't like to ( a hand raises, metal fingers shoving through the black hair just above his temple. ) bitch about my personal crap when there's a lot of other things to worry over.

( He considers the offer made there and all, but. Inevitably, he can't help but ask, genuinely curious and... concerned? Maybe. )

Why do you do that?

( He tilts his head then. )

Shoulder everything yourself?

Because someone has to.

( the answer comes quick. there's no hesitance to it, because it's not something julian has ever needed to consider. )

I'm not an idiot. I know that sharing the weight makes it less heavy, and I do, but someone has to stand at the front of the pack. Someone has to keep their head together when everything else is falling apart. And I'm good at it. Always have been. Quire can't lead, Sophie doesn't want to. Foley's always been a follower. Laura's a kid. Summers barely knows who he is, let alone the rest of us. You think it should be on any of them?

( What he says... makes sense. To an extent. )

But who keeps your head together when it falls apart?

Nah, it's your turn. You tell me what's going on with you, I'll answer your question.

( it's not like the answer to that is a secret at all; it'd be easy to answer, but something's bothering nate, so. )

Nothing. From what I've gathered from you all, having some alternate and younger version of your so-called father here with you is apparently normal for people like us.

( It's not for him. So much of everything is Not Normal. )

Honestly? I'd only consider it normal for your lot, not mine. I've never found alternate versions of my dad which. He's not a mutant, but you know.

( really, this feels like more of a summers-grey family issue than anything else. like this is normal for them, whereas it isn't for the rest of the world. )

Like, we had the OG team running around back home for a while when they were still young because Beast was stupid and thought time travel would solve all of his problems. It never does.

Well it’s not.

( Normal for him, he means, and he sighs as he leans back into the couch there. )

I don’t even know Scott Summers. Cyclops. Now he’s here but he’s younger than me and from some alternate Earth. ( Which is whatever because he is, too, technically, but. Scott’s not the man he’d gently seen in passing back on Earth before ending up here. He’s a kid. ) Real normal.

( Couple with that the plethora of everything else he’s dealing with here and he’s just… tired. It’s not even as bad as it could be, but this is all a helluva lot different than dealing with people trying to manipulate you and use you for your powers. He might just prefer that. At least he knows how to more or less navigate that. )

Everything’s just complicated here in ways I’m not used to and don’t know if I want to be used to.

Not that you asked for it any, but, my advice? Even if it's crap you're not used to, just treat it like it is. Saves you a lot of trouble.

( slouching back against the couch, julian raises up both arms to throw them over the back of it. tips his head back, so the nap of his neck is pressing against the hard bit behind the cushioning. ) When I got here, I thought crap was fine back home. Like, fine as it hasn't been since I was fourteen fine. Since before Decimation. We'd carved out our own little bit of paradise, finally had a place where kids could feel safe again. No one was constantly looking over their shoulder waiting for the next time something would massacre us, we could just be. You know?

Then Sophie showed me how crap went down - later. And it's all gone. Everything's fucked, again, and if I stop to think about how this isn't something I should just be used to, it's going to break me. Again. And I can't afford that right now. So.

( Treat it like it is. Sure. He has a young alternate version of his father here, his mother who he also doesn’t know, Cable who, from the looks of it, also an alternate version, not to mention the fact that he’d slept with Sophie who is also sleeping with Quentin but that’s to be on the downlow and oh yeah, his powers are killing him and he has about three years left to live, give or take and… it’s a lot. It’s. A lot. )

I’d rather deal with Sinister and his bullshit or people trying to use me. At least I have an idea how to navigate that.

( Better than he does all… this.

Sigh on his lips, he drags fingers down his face before it drops away and he shakes his head. )

But sure. I’ll just accept it for what it is.

And that's why I take everything on.

( because sometimes taking on crap is too hard for everyone else. because sometimes, people like nate don't know what the fuck to do with what's happening, but julian has a good idea of how to handle it. and even when he doesn't? he knows how to fake it well enough to pass.

julian drops his arm from the back of the couch. presses a metal hand against nate's shoulder instead, in something - close to comfort. )

I've got you, man. We're a team, and we'll get through this crap together.

(no subject)

overconfidently - 2025-06-17 13:59 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

vexant - 2025-06-17 19:40 (UTC) - Expand