SHE SMILES IN A WAY ONLY SCORNED LOVERS CAN. a cheek rests in delicate hand, and tired eyes find their focus on a point behind him rather than on toki himself.

                ❝   what a cruel thing.   ❞    her laugh is pretty and bitter and tired just like her eyes.    ❝   to break a heart only because you can.   ❞

He knew he should apologize, it had been mean, and mostly unwarranted even if Toki had been annoying him. But his pride did not bend so easy.

Eyes widening, Rowan turned to Toki with a slow intensity that might have been comical if her expression wasn’t so serious. 

Sabitsuki flicked the ashes of her latest cigarette as another sigh escaped her. Surely the nurses have caught wind of her escaping her quarters again. She didn’t wanna go back, fuck that. She was glad she was alone.

or at least, she thought she was alone...

She heard rustling and turned her head slightly. Who was it? One of the maids with the gas masks? The Doc? Smile? As she brushed pale white hair out of her eyes, she saw a man sitting on a bench a just a few yards away. She didn’t know him at all, yet something buzzed in her brain that he was someone she has most definitely seen before. Looking at him again he seemed nervous, as if he was gonna have a panic attack if he sat there longer. Well that made two of them. Sabitsuki had left her trusted iron pipe in her room, so all her defense was a lighter. 

Sabitsuki blinked and scooted off the bridge edge, stomping down on the now finished cigarette with her worn out maroon boot. She looked at the man and waved a little, for once trying to show some emotion. When was the last time she had a decent conversation with someone aside from a hospital inmate or a doctor?

he can be your angle….or yuor devil

Lynn didn’t know exactly how, when, and where she had messed up that day. Maybe she’d gotten too cocky, strayed too far into the open. Maybe there had been someone who just happened to be particularly observant, and recognized her from her Wanted poster, despite the fact that her unmistakable eyes were covered behind sunglasses. Or maybe she’d made the rookie mistake of turning down an alleyway while being chased by a group of angry humans.

It was a group of five strange men, not anyone Lynn recognized - she didn’t know if that was good or bad. They were wearing civilian clothes, so there was at least the possibility that they weren’t soldiers. But then again, vigilante groups could be just as dangerous, if not more so. Maybe they had less training, but the operated outside the law. She knew there was nothing stopping them from killing her right now. From the way the apparent ringleader was fiddling with a rusty, serrated knife as he stared down at her, they knew it too.

“Told you I recognized her,” he said. “S’ the Robinson girl, the one on the news.”

“I hear she’s the mutant leader,” said one of his companions. “Or at least her second in command.”

Lynn’s chest tightened. The fact that her mother had been a mutant rights leader when she was alive didn’t make her a leader, it made her a symbol. Her friends did the real leading, she was just there for morale - and, of course, because of her powers.

Lynn gave the men her brightest, most cheerful smile.

“I’m sorry, but I think there might be a misunderstanding,” she said sweetly, trying to keep the fearful tremor out of her voice - her persuasion only worked if she acted confident. “I’m not a mutant, I’m just a regular human like-”

“How dumb do you think we are?” the guy interrupted. “Humans don’t have yellow eyes, witch.”

Her throat closed up. Right. Her glasses had fallen off her face while she was running. So persuasion was out. Threats weren’t exactly her strong suit, but maybe she could manage something.

“If you kill me, I’ll be a martyr,” she said. “It’ll only make other mutants angrier.”

The leader paused for a moment.

“I can live with that.”

He lunged at her, his knife drawn. Instinctively, she raised her arms to cover her face, and all the men jerked back, pulled away by an unseen force. Lynn took the opportunity to scramble to her feet and sprint as fast as she could to the only hope she had at this point - the light at the end of the alleyway.

In front of which a man was standing.

Lynn’s heart sank. The men were getting to their feet, it would be only a moment before they caught up with her again. But if this new person was with them, and she ran to him anyway, she’d be right back where she started.

She didn’t have enough time to read his mind completely, but she could feel one emotion radiating off of him - concern. Specifically, concern for her, even though he was a complete and total stranger. And despite the fact that he was far taller than her and obviously very muscular, he had a soft, friendly face, framed by long, light brown hair. Under his mustache, his mouth was downturned sorrowfully, almost sympathetically, and his bright blue eyes were staring deep into her own, like he was trying to see past her face, into her mind.

That’s when Lynn realized with a start - eyes. He was looking directly into her uncovered eyes, and his face didn’t show a single trace of fear. And it wasn’t like he couldn’t see them in the dim light of the alleyway - Lynn’s eyes were glowing like blazing stars, an occasionally unfortunate side effect of her powers. In short, there was no way someone could look at her for more than a few seconds and say that she was human in any way. And yet this man wasn’t afraid of her. He was willing to help her.

If Lynn hadn’t made up her mind already, she had now. She ran out into the open, catching herself just before she tackled the guy. Lynn took a deep breath in an unsuccessful attempt to calm herself down before speaking.

Skiwsgaar leaned back, lanky frame splayed across the couch with a confident carelessness- posturing that was nearly ruined by the cocked eyebrow and the look of veiled concern he gave Toki. They were alone, so the Swede didn’t have to hide his worry- though it was taking him some time to shed the instinct to hide all his emotions when it came to the younger man.

Reclining on her bed, Rowan had found the perfect position of comfort, the slightest reprieve from the insistent ache of the stitches. Though the cut had been long, it hadn’t been deep enough to risk evisceration, the stitches were more a precaution than anything else. But that didn’t mean it hadn’t hurt.

With Toki curled up against her, warm and safe, she pulled him snugly against her, head resting on her chest- and she hoped he was taking her advice. In the small bedroom, sometimes she could hear her own heartbeat if she listened closely enough, the steady sound a comforting, grounding rhythm.

She got hurt so he would be safe, that was her job. While she took it in stride, the witch knew it couldn’t be easy for him. But knowing was a little different from living it, she thought as she kissed the top of his head. Breathing from her chest, she tried to move her stomach as little as possible.