phase me out.

Scott had been a big brother for a long time now. There’d been a few years before Alex was born, sure, where all he had was a father who only looked back at him long enough to close the door between them and a mother who was too desolate to come out of her bedroom more days than not, but that time was so small in comparison. Alex was born, and Scott had a purpose. He was meant to be a big brother, meant to gather a child into his arms and make sure he was safe. Sinister tried to take that away from him, had Alex adopted out and told Scott he wasn’t good enough to go with him, but those feelings never faded. He still had that instinct, that intense desire to protect. 

It had been transferred onto Kitty, at some point. He still remembered the first time he saw her, that mouthy teenage girl who spoke her mind and didn’t let anyone walk through her even if they technically could. She was different than Alex had been at six years old, but he’d loved her just the same. She didn’t need his protection, but she’d always have it.

“I think you scared them off it,” he teased with a grin, because that was just as much a part of being a big brother as protection was. His smile softened when she spoke again, turning more fond than anything else. “You’ll always have a place with us,” he assured her. “Promise. We’ll only make you deal with half the mouthy kids.” 

&

She was luckier than most. Their line of work--their whole identity--was supposed to come with a traumatic backstory, but she had none. No dead parents, no life-changing accident or childhood spend in Hell. Just some migraines, a few trampled flowerbeds, and recruitment by Xavier while she was still probably a few years too young. Some superheroes had no family; Kitty had two. One, distant and overwhelmed but generally well-meaning, was safe in the north shore suburbs of Chicago. The other, dangerous and messy and perfect, was here.

To deny the Prydes entirely was to deny huge swaths of her identity, the people who had suffered and died to get her to that upper-middle-class midwest suburb. The Prydemans, who had shortened their name for safety. Great-Aunt Chava, who had never made it out of Poland. Shabbat candles and plague puppets that came out every Passover and the Magen David that Kitty had worn around her neck like a shield every day since her Bat Mitzvah. She hadn’t called her parents in longer than she cared to admit, but she carried them with her everywhere.

But she was more than them. That Bat Mitzvah had been barely a year before she moved to the institute; she got her X-Men uniform not long after she got her tallis. Ororo and Logan had swept in immediately, and Scott became the first brother she’d ever have. (Though, as things would go, not the last.) Their pasts didn’t share everything, but they shared enough. 

You’ll always have a place with us. She knew that. She knew she’d always have a place in Chicago, too. But when you always had two places, when you slipped between the very makeup of the world, you never really had a place anywhere. Liminal space, liminal girl. “That sounds ominous,” she said. “And fake. Have you seen my classes? Why do we keep that Quire kid around? He’s a terror.”

Genosha is very new but Alex felt good about stepping foot here. He felt less worry filling him up while being somewhere that was specifically for his people. They all knew each other for the most part and it wasn’t like being over in New York where you’d be lost in a crowd full of strangers. The only thing about being here though is that it seems there was so much construction being done. This is to be expected though when you truly think about all the different ideas people have for the land. Everything kind of appears to be the same but soon it will all be bustling with life and buildings of all sizes.

The blonde had been taking a stroll around the various streets, admiring the progress when suddenly someone is approaching him. He was full of hope for their future which is putting him in a rather good mood today. Alex turns with a smile, waving back at Kitty.

What a nice surprise.

“I have a pretty good idea of where things are. Well, let me rephrase that. I have a good idea of where things will be once they’re finished being built. I just might spend too much time wandering around. You need help finding somewhere? I’d be happy to help you out.” He smiles as he looks around them, ignoring the sounds of the construction. His blue eyes settling back on Kitty. “How long have you been lost? Where are you trying to go?”

&

She’d gotten so used to the New York anonymity, a faceless body in a sea of thousands. Chicago wasn’t much better--the Midwest kind was a thin veneer over frostbitten disdain--but at least it had been home, and parts of its waterfront were swimmable. (Genosha was probably due to get an influx of Mutants who’d gotten their powers taking a dip in the Hudson.) She loved the city, she really did, but it was cold and gray and so, so tall. Its skyscrapers jutted over the horizon like teeth scraping at the sky. You were on your own there.

The friendliness of Genosha startled her. The people she loved (almost all of them), all in one place, no one to hurt them but each other. Kitty didn’t believe in utopias, because they implied infallibility, and human beings, no matter how powerful, would always be fallible. The island couldn’t be a utopia, but she could see how it might be mistaken for one. The bare bones were all in place.

The street signs were not.

Thank god for Alex Summers, who was not a cold-shouldered stranger, but a friendly face who actually somehow seemed to know his way around. Kitty knew she should have known the place even a little bit better by now, but they all had their ways of coping with change. Alex’s was wandering a half-built mutant paradise. Hers was watching Star Wars on loop, falling deeper into a bottle of whiskey, while Lockheed dropped the battered remains of his prey at her feet. Yeah. Utopia.

“Literally or metaphysically?” she said. “Because, I mean, I think I’ve been lost for a solid decade and a half, you know? But also, like, twenty minutes. I’m just trying to find the council offices.”

/ .– / …. / — /

Raven reveled in the confusion and the chaos for a long moment. One beat, two. Kitty with her quip to the side. Then she pushed forward into the crowd, screaming and yelling. “He’s the one, he’s the one!” She pointed back at the original man, letting her mouth hang open with ‘horror.’ “The Mutant took my face! Get him!”

The man held up his hands, eyes darting wildly through the crowd. “No, no it wasn’t me, it wasn’t –” Was about all he had time for before a fist collided with his jaw. He stumbled back, blinking, and the crowd surged forward. He started to run just in time. 

Raven meanwhile picked her way back through, changing faces two or three times, then coming up to stand near Kitty. “Let’s leave them to tear each other apart, shall we?” 

&

The protestors were so angry. If they hadn’t been threatening her life (and fighting against her entire general existence), it would have been funny. Mystique blended seamlessly in with the masses, a master at sowing chaos. The men--because they were mostly men, it was almost always mostly men--were turning against each other, realizing that there could be (god forbid) a mutant in their midst. It’s almost like we’re not so different from anybody else. It was sad that they were reduced to this so easily, the mere thought of mutants enough to drive them to violence, but watching them punch each other in the face was satisfying.

A nearby protestor took a swing at her; Kitty phased through, and his fist landed hard against his neighbor. she smiled despite herself. Even after years in the field, even though she knew that this whole thing wasn’t quite right, she still took pleasure in a good fight. If they were going to be afraid, she might as well give them something to be afraid of.

Keeping tabs on Mystique as she faded through the crowd was a skill Kitty had yet to master, and she lost track of her easily (which, judging by the way the protestors were going at each other, seemed to be the point). Fortunately, Raven found her instead. “Nice work,” Kitty said. “That oughta hold them awhile. She slipped into a nearby alley away from the brawl and beckoned for Raven to follow. “Odds that at least one of those guys has some kind of latent mutation and is too afraid to admit that maybe superpowers are cool, actually, and has turned to a life of violent protest to deny it?”

Cassie shrugged. “I know the feeling,” she replied. This day had only just begun for her, but it was feeling especially long as she thought more and more about what had happened just before she woke up in the middle of New York City and why she didn’t remember how she got here. “Yeah, please.” Under normal circumstances, Cassie was pretty sure she could navigate there with her eyes shut. But right now, she didn’t know which way was up. “Also, uh, could you tell me what the date is?”

&

Kitty nodded and pointed towards the tower. “Yeah,” she said, “no problem. It’s this way. Not way too far, couple of blocks.” She could see it on the horizon, looming above the city. An unmissable landmark, but it was easy to get turned around. Everything was glassy out here, and the city still wore the scars of the siege. They’d really done a number on it, and it would be a long, long time before the dust settled. If it ever did.

She started walking towards the tower and turned back to make sure the girl was still with her, pausing at her last question. Could you tell me what the date is? Was she serious? Was this some kind of Back to the Future thing? Just a really long nap? Stranger things had happened, she supposed. “It’s, uh, Wednesday? Yeah, Wednesday.” She pulled her phone out of her back pocket and checked the lockscreen to confirm. “September 10. 2020.”

@kittyproud

Genosha was coming along quickly. Mutant abilities combined with the simple joy of having a home meant everyone was pitching in to build up the island. Wanda couldn’t help but be amazed each and every time she walked through the streets. There was already so much life here. 

She was just walking through, feeling it all, taking everything in, when she saw trouble. A young girl trying to lift something that looked heavy. Wanda held out her hand, fingertips glowing red, and the same red glow appeared around the equipment. Lifting it up just before it could topple over onto the girl. “Looked like you could use a hand,” Wanda called out. “Where should I set this down?”

&

It was amazing what they could do together. Buildings went up overnight, blueprints turned to reality--the island itself pulled itself out of the bay just for them. They had created this from the ground up; the world had pushed them out, and so they were building their own. It was beautiful, and it was frightening. After decades of persecution, mutants had their own place, but, in making it, they were running. They were done fighting, and they had given into the hatred. 

Kitty didn’t know how to feel. She didn’t know if there was a right way to feel, if she could reconcile the glorious ideals of it all with the reality. Ash and dust and construction, her feet sore and her back aching as she moved boxes into what was soon to be her home. One misstep, Lockheed squawking at a bird overhead, and the box--heavy with books and computer equipment--began to tumble towards her. Before she could dodge out of the way or phase through it, a red glow lifted it away from her, and it hovered safely in the sky.

She turned to see a girl with glowing hands, clearly in control of the box. There was something familiar about her face, but Kitty couldn’t place it. Who was she? Had they met before? Where? When? She thought she knew all the mutants on the island, and yet they kept popping out of the shadows. “Thanks,” she said. “Just on the steps is fine.” Lockheed dropped on her shoulders and grunted in agreement. “This is going to sound weird and nosy, but-- who are you?” 

(✉ → kitty 😼): it’s not your fault or hers what happened to me. (✉ → kitty 😼): i’m sorry she did too. (✉ → kitty 😼): she loves people like you and jean and so many in the mutant community. she would have been happy to see you all get the justice your people deserve. without the manipulation. supergirl takes the ‘for all’ part seriously in her motto.

(✉️ ➡️ Kitty ): Cool with what?  (✉️ ➡️ Kitty ): If you’re talking about Erik’s plan, I think I gave you the wrong impression on how I feel about /that/. (✉️ ➡️ Kitty ): But if you’re talking about all the food I threw out of the fridge, date your shit next time. I couldn’t tell what was good and bad so it all went in the trash. 

[ ✉ ⟹  weeb nation ] : i think its time YOU learn, little dudette [ ✉ ⟹  weeb nation ] : C3PO is a goddamn coward, R2 will not hesitate [ ✉ ⟹  weeb nation ] : who would you rather have on your side when you’re fighting off a Wampa on Hoth??? Someone who can translate OR someone who can shoot you your saber

[ OUTGOING → SHADOWCAT ] if they do take down some buildings we can help rebuild them. which just reminds me of when suddenly one of the students would put a hole in the wall. those were always fun days, weren’t they? 😂

[ OUTGOING → SHADOWCAT ] in all seriousness i know adjustment periods are rough. hopefully by being there for them we can try and make it a little easier. i’m sure they’ll have questions once they start settling in.

[ OUTGOING → SHADOWCAT ] part of me worries if we’ll have the answers they seek from us though. you know?

[ OUTGOING → SHADOWCAT ] we all deserve to feel safe and hopefully this is a chance to experience that safety. which might be the first time for some.

[ OUTGOING → SHADOWCAT ] they’re already starting to try stabbing each other? well it sounds like they’re adjusting well. almost sounds normal. just wait for them to chase each other over candy and it’s like an average day.

[ OUTGOING → SHADOWCAT ] how are you doing with all of this though?

( 📩  → cannonball! ): always took away my advantage :/ can’t walk through walls if there aren’t walls there ( 📩  → cannonball! ): yeah they’re going to need, like, guidance and responsible adults ( 📩  → cannonball! ): and we’re the guidance and the responsible adults? ( 📩  → cannonball! ): and i still have a whole lot of answers and very few questions ( 📩  → cannonball! ): they shouldn’t have to grow up like us right? this is us making sure they don’t ( 📩  → cannonball! ): i want to say it means they’ll turn out better but yeah they’re terrors i think the damage is long past done

[ ... ]

Genosha wasn’t that big, but it was big enough, and it was new. When she had first gone to Xavier’s, Kitty needed a full two weeks to stop getting lot every time she went looking for the bathroom. It took another month to to find all of her classes and most of the grounds without a map. That had been a single estate; this was something else entirely. 

She was trying to get to her office (or what was to become her office, once the dust settled and the construction was entirely finished), and she had been so confident when she’d set out that morning. It was close, she knew that. It wasn’t hard. She didn’t remember it taking nearly this long, and the way was looking less and less familiar. Lockheed was getting angry at her, but he was probably just hungry. Or calling her an idiot. Or both. 

They needed a map in the welcome packet. A Genosha-specific navigation system, maybe. Just for mutants, because logging themselves into Google Maps didn’t seem like a good idea. She’d put it at the top of her to-do list, right under Make Magneto a Magneto-Proof Cell Phone. 

At least she knew most of the people here. In the city, everyone you passed was a stranger, and every single one of them would ignore you on the street. Here, there were familiar faces who could maybe point her in the right direction, if she could get over her pride. Here, she saw Alex, who she hoped was less lost than she was. 

She sidled up to him and waved. “Please tell me you also have no idea where you’re going. Or that you do know your way around? I don’t know. I’m getting real tired of getting lost.”

She usually liked the rain. As a little girl outside Chicago, she’d chase storm clouds and run through the park with her arms spread wide as the blustery Midwest autumn (all three days of it) clung to her hair and rolled down her face. She’d come home, dripping wet and shivering and happy, to a scolding and a cup of tea, and she’d count down the days to do it all over again.

Rain in New York was different. Rain in New York dredged up the sewers and the bags of trash that always seemed to line the streets. It was gritty and gray and ricocheted off skyscrapers and through scaffolding, and umbrellas always caught on the hastily constructed tunnels near Midtown. It had been better upstate at the Institute, but that was gone now. Now, rain dripped from Genosha into the bay, and Kitty stood across the water on the larger of two islands.

A strong wind gusted down the street, and her umbrella snapped in protest. Great. She ducked under the nearest doorway, wringing the water from her hair. (Her curls didn’t do well in rain like this.) When she looked up, she saw that there was already someone else taking shelter in the doorway alongside her. Donna. Who she had last seen during the siege, when her family was tearing up the city. Bridges burnt, or something like that?

“Hey,” she said. “So, uh. Nice weather we’re having.”

@kittyproud said: “ if you can’t be happy, at least you can be drunk. ”

“Cheers to that.” Lorna was tipsy, on the verge of drunk, for the first time in a while. Finally she felt like she could let go long enough to get drunk on Genosha. Things didn’t feel…. perfect. But they were better. “Why aren’t you happy, Kitty?”

Kitty sighed and swirled what was left of her beer around the bottle. It was nearing empty, but there were more in the fridge. She was at no risk of running out any time soon, thank god. Other than the wine with Charles that first night, the night they had evacuated everyone, the night this had all begun, she hadn’t really had a drink. Too busy putting Genosha together, being Magneto’s personal tech support, all that fun stuff. 

But now that the dust was settling and the pieces falling into place and she was safe--safe--she could let herself breathe. Just for a minute. Things still felt wrong, and she still couldn’t explain it, and it was killing her. Maybe if she had just one more drink, just one more sip of beer, she could finally settle. Maybe.

“It’s just... Ugh. I’m happy, right? Or, I mean, I should be. This is good. This is what we wanted. We got it. But it’s like... it’s like that nagging feeling that you forgot to do a really important homework assignment or turn off the gas on the stove before you left the house, you know?”

[ lift ] for your muse to give mine a hand stepping up or over something etc. @kittyproud

There was still stares. She could see why when she looked at Jean, saw her own features so eerily similar. Even down to the red hair they shared. Different just enough to tell them apart, but similar enough that she had seen her fair share of double takes in passing people by her. Especially now with Genosha. She was helping where she could, building or offering a hand if anyone needed it with their projects. It was freeing, to be somewhere where they didn’t have to feel obligated to hide. It was a new beginning. A better one.

Maddie’s eyes caught a younger woman who was seeming to be carrying things across the island and she quickly stepped forward to give her a hand in stepping over the rocky ground. “Here,” she flashed an easy smile as she helped her. “I’m sure it’s preferable to any sort of tripping or losing what you’re carrying. With my luck that’d be just what would happen to me.” She mused with a little laugh, “do you need any extra help? I’ve got a some free hands.” Maddie offered once the woman had safely avoided tripping and put her hands on her hips. “I’m Maddie, by the way.”

&

First had been the destruction, now came the rebuilding. Something better on the other side, they’d said. Something that would make everything that had happened worth it. Someplace safe and wonderful and beautiful, where they could stop living in fear. This was it. It was, currently, a mess in the way half-built things so often are. Rocky ground, empty buildings, crates and crates and crates of things to carry across the island. 

Hands on her hips, Kitty stared inland. With an army of mutants as the construction crew, it would be done soon. Soon, it would be a home. For now, it was a half-built shell. Carefully, she hoisted another box and headed back away from the shore. She had an office to set up--tech and development, the mutant Geek Squad. She was excited, she really was, but the equipment was unwieldy and the ground was rougher than Manhattan pavement. 

Someone offered an arm to steady her. Red hair, a familiar face, Jean. Of course. No--not Jean. Another Jean? A coincidence? A hallucination? Had Kitty eaten today? Had she been drinking enough water? Whatever the explanation, she really could use a hand.

Frankie had been typing an essay for her psychology class in a small cafe not too far off from her apartment, Magenta was being pretty quiet for the time being and no-one has really bothered her.

She feels a small tap on her shoulder and Frankie turns her head around to face the person to see what they want.

" Hey, what can I do for you?" Frankie said with a small smile and minimized the page that her essay was on so it wouldn't distract her.

Coffee. She needed coffee. She needed coffee and some normalcy, an hour spent in a quiet corner catching up on comics and avoiding paperwork. She needed to sit in a normal cafe in a normal part of the city and extricate herself from the Genosha-ness of it all. (There was also no good coffee on the island, which was yet another thing Kitty needed to have some serious words with its government about.)

Lockheed was back keeping eyes on the students, tired of pretending to be a tiny dog in Kitty’s purse, and she couldn’t let him roam free, not right now. A dragon, even a small one, was a neon sign for the otherness they’d worked so hard to protect. He was a target, and Kitty couldn’t afford that. 

Even without him, she felt watched. There was a man following her, maybe two, down the street in broad daylight. He wasn’t very subtle--not a professional, probably one of the anti-mutant protestors again, recognizing her from the siege or the news. Quickly, she ducked into the nearest cafe, looking for a table, someone who looked trustworthy, a good hiding spot. There--a young woman at a laptop, an empty seat. Good. Kitty could pretend she was meeting a friend. 

She looked back at the doorway--empty for now--and tapped the girl on the shoulder. “Hey,” she said. “Sorry to bother you--do you mind if I slide in?”

@kittyproud said: “And if I say yes?”

Cassie hesitated. “And if you say yes… I’ll be grateful?” She sighed. “Look, I’m a bit lost. I haven’t got anything to offer you right now.” She’d woken up without… well almost anything. Just the old t-shirt and jeans she used to wear. “I just need to know where Stark Tower is. I’ll owe you one.”

She didn’t mean to be rude. Or gruff or transactional or hostile or any of the many, many unpleasant ways she was sure she’d come off. She was just tired and stressed and, frankly, a little afraid of showing her face in New York proper these days. After everything Erik had done, after everything they all had done (she had, at the very least, been complicit), Kitty wasn’t sure the city would tolerate them at all. 

But the girl seemed earnest. Harmless, scared, genuinely just looking for directions. Not a threat. Kitty sighed, pushing her hair out of her face and mustering an apologetic smile. “Sorry,” she said. “Long day. I don’t need-- you don’t-- It’s up on the East Side. I could show you, if you want?”

[ OUTGOING → SHADOWCAT ] i think the kids will be alright, they got good heads on their shoulders.  it’s just going to be an adjustment for them, you know?

[ OUTGOING → SHADOWCAT ] i just want the best for them. i wish that the world was more accepting and they didn’t have to be isolated to feel safe. i want them to grow up not having to be chased by sentinels and purifiers like i was. they deserve the opportunities we didn’t get to have. they deserve to be just kids. i think this will be good. i hope it is.

[ OUTGOING → SHADOWCAT ] i feel like i’m getting old oh dear will i turn into cable