time atlas.

The couch has probably taken worse things than Cable and his Akira arm, and not exactly come out the better for it. There’s a broken slate underneath he might just avoid if he stays on the left side of the sofa. But while the couch is fine, Kennedy’s head cocks curiously over how easily he’s decided to settle into it.

They almost say nothing. “Make yourself at home, why don’t you.” It’s not a criticism, just to let him know this is still someone’s home and he has a welcome that could, all things considered, be overstayed. But not now. Kennedy bats a hand in his direction walking around Cable before he can get worked up and hit the road. “I know about the collars, I – everybody knows somebody. But I can’t say I knew the production history.” They fold into the far end of the sofa with his scarf between their knees and chest. “I don’t know if weird is the word I’d use for it. Shady. Reprehens – were - were you trying to find out who makes them?”

well, at least they’re not a complete pushover. maybe just lacking just a little bit in the assertive department. nathan dismisses their remark, no point in even acknowledging it. he’ll be gone in a second and their life will continue, uninterrupted. anything they say to each other now won’t matter in the grand scheme of the future that’s left.

which is why he lets out an affirmative grunt at their reasoning. 

❛ yeah. and ‘shady’ is fucking right. ❜ he’s not looking at them, his gaze is glued to the now black tv screen. an orange glare tries its best to reflect at them both despite the soft layer of dust. ❛ another shady thing is how the x-men just let the government decide how and when other mutants get locked up. ❜ something causes the corner of his lips to twitch sharply-- probably the dull anger he’s come to associate with this timeline. he exhales through nose in a clear ‘don’t get me started’ way. 

“Sheesh, relax, would you?” The exact words Nate surely didn’t want to hear coming from Wade of all people, considering there was always a reason to worry any time he outwardly told others not to. 

“These helpless little guys have no reason to worry about me– ‘cause this time I’m letting you take on the role of bad cop! I’m nothing but a warm little ray of light for them in this dark, cruel scenario you’ve trapped them in.” Wade squatted down and booped one of the scientists noses. The expression on the guy’s face was priceless as he suddenly looked as if he were about to piss himself out of fear. His head then turned to face Nate, as if proving a point. One that was clearly not there.

“See? Look! We’re friends!”

he doesn’t reply to wade, choosing to crouch in front of the scientists instead. one upside of working together is that they can get things done fast and efficiently, without having to use his powers. nathan always has to work with a limited budget ( so to speak ), but now he figures he can afford a bit of telepathic prodding.

❛ mhm. friends. ❜ he just hums dismissively, pressing the gloved human hand to a sweat covered temple of bound scientist. shared images flicker before his eyes like a horrified montage and he plucks out the most important details. they’re in the right place-- and most importanly, on the right track. 

They mutter something about the security deposit anyway but it’s largely inaudible. Stupid as it is, Wade still rises a laugh from them while the TV’s still on. He’s a lot funnier when he’s not in the room. It’d be harder to believe ‘i’m not REALLY a terrorist’ if Wade weren’t involved. How did they even meet, again? That’s right, he crashed through their window and made himself at home without taking ‘this is breaking and entering’ for an answer. It’s hard to imagine that kind of entrance on a heist. Of all the reasons Kennedy’s felt sorry for a strange man, ‘you have to work with wade wilson’ might be the most understandable. Who turned the TV off.    “Oh.” Power must be out. “Ohhh.” Or, right. They’re thinking – technomancy, most likely. Pretty lucky roll if you’re going to need a metal arm at some point. “Yeah, the uhm – yeah.” They mightn’t be a mutant for sure, but they’re close enough to know it and seem disturbed by the thought. “You – were you in there?”

he stares at them for a while. ❛ nah. ❜ 

shaking head is easier than saying ‘kind of-- i broke in because i wanted to kill a kid, grief and purpose do funny things to men like me, but to answer your question: yes, i visited the ice box’. maybe this is a sitting down coversation after all. nathan eyes the couch behind them and hopes it won’t collapse under his weight. should be fine. he throws one last glowing glance at kennedy before walking past them and sitting down with a grateful whirr of his metal arm.

      “None of yer damn business,” Cain growled. The boy was away running a few errands before their planned attack on the Essex House, and the Juggernaut prayed that he was taking his time, “What kind’a man gets off on stalkin’ kids, huh?”

   “If that happens to my flat, you owe me the security deposit.” They’re standing in the living room doorway with Cable’s scarf still idly looping over and under their hands until they can find a pinch to fold it, nodding at the smoldering roofs onscreen. Were they residential blocks? Well, people work in offices, either way. They’ve unfolded the scarf by accident.  Another quote unquote terrorist isn’t much to stomach but they rarely come just to look at where they’ve been. Kennedy takes a second to watch their hands and fold it right. It’s summer warm in the room with a little breeze snaking through the open window and it all feels very quiet when he looks so loud. “Who’d you terrorize?”

❛ it won’t. ❜ he replies, eyes still locked on the screen. where is-- ah. a red clad figure cartwheels its way through the wreckage. right. ❛ i lost them in the tunnels. ❜ 

he turns his head slightly to look at them. nathan’s gaze drops to the scarf they’re folding in their hands. couldn’t leave a dusty piece of fabric on the ground, huh? had to take care of it. doesn’t take a mind reader to know they must have broken things flocking to them ( no wonder wade had their address ). nathan’s expression softens-- not out of pity but because he knows what kind of future awaits them. unless he prevents it. 

he should be leery of the man standing before him . truth be told  ,  he is  :  trust was never handed forward like a charity .  a steely gaze holds him in question  ,  words ping-ponging around in his rioting brain .  ONE DAY .  isn’t that enough  ?  one goddamn bad day  ,  wrapped up in a red bow from the bastards of war  :  one day to turn a man into a machine .  he doesn’t have to explain what day he means  ,  the words act as a  SCREAM  as lively as the ones he swears he heard before .  three of them .

     frank’s own words sound off cold  ,  automatic  ,  “   what’s it matter to you  ,  huh ?   ”

it shouldn’t matter to him, that’s the thing. nathan should learn to keep his head low and feign ignorance. he should just turn away-- but this is the era of HUMAN GODS, they’re taking their first steps and nathan is here to witness them, already aware of reverberations that will breed wars ( and those in turn will breed him--- ). it’s all connected, this present ( his past ) and their future ( his present ), all intertwined and he can’t look away.

             ❛    okay, i get it.  you didn’t see the first one, but you gotta admit — the pacing and the scenes were almost like, identical.  ‘cept you’re sitting where colossus was sitting and domino was sitting where negasonic teenage de la hoya marquez was sitting, and dopinder was still driving!  maybe if we rewatch it together, as a family, you’ll see it.  but you have to be inside me this time.    ❜

naruto (something about rock lee and dropping weights??)

‘all the things she said’ t.A.T.u.

check who mr krabbs (crabs?) is

pumpkin spice latte

E•MO•TION: Side B

Kennedy has no idea he’s grateful. Simple as. They aren’t mad at him for lack of gratitude or feeling particularly entitled to it, but Cable seems like he has things to do and places to be and Kennedy finds themselves a local coincidence.

One of his eyes is different from the other. Or they’re different from each other. There’s no reason that would be relevant to the news but it’s the only thing neither he nor Wade has mentioned yet. They nod to step aside so they can at least fix the scarf. “There’s a TV in the sitting room or a computer in the kitchen.” Ken pauses getting around him. “The – that door’s the sitting room, that one’s the kitchen.”

❛ tv’s good. ❜ he doesn’t want to be standing in this hall anymore. nathan squeezes between them and the wall, making sure it’s the meat shoulder that brushes against kennedy. with an ominous scrape on his other side, he makes it out of that passive limbo. 

nathan doesn’t sit on the couch as he turns on the tv. doesn’t want to be too invading. he just stands there in the middle of the room, channels interrupting each other as he flicks through them until he finds a news stream. 

MUTANT TERRORISTS STILL AT LARGE, announces a scrolling tagline framing the live footage of some burning building and several crashed cars, CHARLES XAVIER DENIES X-MEN INVOLVEMENT. 

you are like a little baby, watch this

                              ❛ ... ❜

it’s hard-- being stranded in such an impressionable timeline, thinks nathan. even in his future, many years forward, people still remember the skull. talk about it, pass down legends about it, invoke the vengeance behind it. nathan cants his head to the side, just slightly ( but enough to make the TO mesh in his neck click curiously ). he stares at the man with too much past in him and asks the skull a question: