Dr. Toboggan the Weediatrician

Erik waved a hand shaking his head to a small degree.  “In the past.  While it may be an extreme action, it is not the most difficult thing I have dealt with.”   Still at the heart the same person.  Same memories and same scars.  “I just have more years of life to help rebuild this world now.”

While he didn’t want to quite argue about this there would be one point to make.  “While yes we should give everyone a chance, to some extent we do need to pick and choose as you say.   People that consist of a threat to the population as a whole should not be tolerated.”   He certainly wouldn’t put up those that threatened the well-being of mutants.   There were a few he would be extremely cautious of if they arrived.   Erik also did not hold it against those that remained wary of him.

“That’s a good way to look at it. The world needs a shit load of help right now.” He leaned back in his chair, it gave a rusty creak but held fast. He needed to go scavenge a new one at some point. This one was much too loud.

Fitz hadn’t really known what to expect from this new place filled with survivors but ice bending men like he’d seen in the cinema certainly hadn’t met his expectations. He supposed that it made sense, super-powered people were certainly going to be the ones surviving the literal apocalypse. It made him a little more bitter regarding the fact he’d been alone all of this time but he chose not to dwell too long upon that.

He’d only come across the scene at the end, when he had seen the guy freeze all the zombies into a cube and muse aloud like he did. He laughed, though, at the joke and it felt so odd to hear that sound coming from his lips. When was the last time he’d laughed at anything? He slowly approached, wringing his hands to steady them. “Dead pool like the, uh, the merc?” He asked, recalling talk about the undying Merc With a Mouth from before all this. He’d never had the chance to meet the bloke but he certainly made an impression among SHIELD.

“You could always, um… Well, I dunno how far your powers go but if you’re able to-to move it, then..” He glanced around. “We could at least try to get it outside the walls so that people can use the pool for something?” The longer Fitz talked the less confident he became. He was new and Haven wasn’t exactly familiar to him, nor were their rules.

“Oh thank god that was the only thing you heard,” Bobby breathed a sigh of relief, glad this new person only heard his totally solid pun and not the other nonsense he’d been muttering to himself about. “Yeah, that guy. He sometimes worked with the X-Men. And by worked, I mean annoyed us and somehow always got himself shot. He’s an….. Interesting man.”

Bobby nodded, glancing at the cube. 

“Since I’ve been dead for about four years?” Logan smirked and shrugged. “It’s been an adjustment. But it’s been eased by the fact so many of us are here.” Folding his arms he asked. “What sort of favor are you asking for Bobby?”

" Well I mean if you wanna be that blunt about it, yeah sure," he said with a roll of his eyes and a half smile. Humor was the best coping mechanism. Other than getting high and eating some weird fruit Laura had managed to grow. 

Logan had been working on some projects Ororo had asked him to take a look at when the knock came to the door. Pushing back from his desk he shuffled over to the door. Opening it, Logan was genuinely surprised by who was on the other side of it as he opened it.

“No shit, Bobby.” Logan smirked, opening the door wider, he asked, “how the hell are ya?” 

Oh good, he seemed to be in a good mood, which was awesome since he’d been dead for a hot minute.

Something odd passed behind her golden eyes, too quickly to be interpreted.  She and Bobby had entangled at a difficult time for Raven.  She had been … unduly unkind, perhaps.

Still, she had taken particular measures not to kill him, so he came out of it better than other men.

“Well, I suppose it’s difficult to help it.”  She replied.  One of the kitchenhands was looking on a little too intently, as though she knew something incredibly juicy was unfolding before her and she was dearly missing the televisual efforts of Shonda Rhimes.  “I had heard you were here before.”

Oh man. This was awkward. He had no idea what to do. How to react. Run? No that just meant the next time they ran into each other would be worse. Just… Turn around and pretend this never happened? No he’d already spoken, he was in the moment now. 

Instead of doing anything, even speaking he froze, a dumb look on his face, glancing over at the other woman in the kitchen.

‘Say something.’ He urged himself. ‘Literally anything.’

”Other people in the same place include Mystique.”  Erik has been present before Bobby left, “It’s going … astonishingly well so far.  She arrived with a few dozen people who call her their queen in a way that I interpret as … mostly a joke.”  Building up a reputation to quash threats was a sound strategy if there was any in this world.  Mystique always had a flair for the dramatic.

“We have more livestock now — horses and cows.  Stark showed up alive after going missing for three months.  We’re working on taking over a town that’s nearby by taking sections of land one by one and clearing them of the infected.  We’re going to have a lot more room here soon.”

“Oh that’s… That’s good.” What else do you say about your kind of ex showing up with people claiming she was royalty? “At least it’s been running smoothly. And the more people the better.” The fact there were so many survivors was wonderful news.

Good, this would not be one of the more hostile interactions.   Erik’s shoulder’s relaxed minutely.   “I believe that sides matter little right now.   As long as everyone remembers who the common enemy is.”   Though he would have little to no tolerance for any bigotry towards mutants.   Though most that knew him would already know that.

“As for what happened, an incident involving age regression.  Then being aged back up but not to my chronological age.”   Let Iceman interpret that as he would.   All essentially the truth without openly admitted he’d been regressed all the way to infant.

We don't really have room to pick and choose who we want around right now,” Not that he was the type to pass judgements and vote to kick people out. Bobby was really able to get along with just about anyone. And right now? There was too much going on to care.

Steve smiled and waved a hand at a chair.  “Mind if I sit?   I wanted to talk to you about a project we have going on, something I think you could help with.”  Now the captain wasn’t blind to how in the past people feared mutants.   He didn’t agree with it.   They were just people, and shouldn’t be targeted for what they where.   

One of the nice things about Haven, mutants and those with powers putting their abilities in service to all.  It helped showed how they could and would defend everyone and make life better.  One of the reasons it thrived.  Bobby Drake had one of those abilities that would be  highly visible as well as being gentle on the land they worked to reclaim.

“I understand you have ice related powers and I wondered if you would be interested in helping the teams.”  With the current weather, ice would be ideal to help.  “We are working on clearing sections of land from anything that might be dangerous before we enclose everything in protective walls.   So we have to use temporary walls to enclose the smaller areas and then take them down to link cleared areas together.”

“Oh yeah. Sure. Of course.” He scooched ohis chair over, allowing more room for Steve to enter and take a seat. 

It was interesting watching the way everyone reacted to mutants now. The Avengers and the X-Men didn't often get along, but with everything going on, that didn't seem to matter much. At least for the moment. It was especially interesting for an Avenger to come to a member of the X-Men asking for help. The world sure was a funny place.

“No need to resort to crass language.”  While Erik sounded mildly disapproving overall he found this venture highly amusing.    “Though I suppose you do seem to be in a bit distressed so I will alleviate at least one of your problems.   I can’t guarentee that it won’t cause you additional issues.”   Not everyone reacted well to him after all.

“I have taught at the school in the past.  I suppose I must look very different being so much younger which is not the normal progression of things.   Erik Lehnsherr, or more commonly referred to as Magneto are the names you are looking for.”   There, now just to see how the young man would jump, as they say.   As everyone that came through the gates did so under the rules of peace, not everyone agreed with that sentiment.

In some ways this felt a bit like an litmus test.  Neither held and personal resentment toward the other.   At least, not that Erik had any awareness of.  Just the general feelings that happened from being on either side of a fight.

“Oh holy shit,” Of course now it all made sense. For a guy who taught math he sure was bad at adding things up.

@winterwonderguy

The winter weather offered an opportunity to more easily clear land of Infected.   Even zombies would be subject to be frozen due to the cold.   While the pine trees still had their green needles, the deciduous trees’ branches were bare of any covering.   The long grass and wildflowers all flattened by a covering of snow.   Nothing too deep at the moment and any fields clear open spaces easy to see across.   In a word, other than the cold, an ideal situation.

Now they  had been using metal fencing as temporary barriers as they cleared each space.  Adding it to what they claimed after it had been deemed safe.  The problem with the metal that even with Erik Lehnsherr’s help to sink it into the ground it could be tearing up the roots of trees, or animal burrows.   The metal would be better used along where they planned for the overall boarder to eventually go.  

So when he heard about a mutant with ice powers, that provided an appealing alternative.   If, of course, the gentleman in question would be willing to use his gifts that way.   So he sought the man out.   “Bobby Drake, right?  I’m Steve Rogers I wondered if you had a moment to discuss something with me.”

Bobby, having finished his set for the day, reclined back in the creaky old office chair. He decided he’d just let the music play for the day, radio ads for missing friends, family and teammates playing intermittently. Being back felt good. He was really connecting with people this time around; the feeling of being accepted was nice. Even given the circumstances.

He popped the door to his hut open, switching his sign from ‘Recording’ to ‘Come Chill’, and grabbed his coffee cup. It had gone cold, but with a thought, little ice cubes formed in the glass. There was something about cold coffee that was disgusting, but iced coffee was one of life’s little treasures. He gave it a swirl and settled in, watching people quietly as they milled about.

“I’m sorry…” she replied, hugging her legs a little tighter to her chest and resting her chin on the knees, pink hair falling over her shoulders, reminding her that she needed to get it cut. “Sometimes being a teleporter sucks…” Even if it was probably the reason she was still alive.

Megan hovered a few inches off the rooftop, facing him as he spoke. “I haven’t found where I fit yet” she admitted, which might just be the story of her life. “I’m hoping to help with some supply runs”

“Hey, there’s no need to be sorry. There’s shit out there that you don't want to talk about. That’s a fair boundary to set for yourself. I was just offering an ear in case it needed to be talked about. Yanno, worked through. There’s nothing to be sorry for.” He gave her shoulder a comforting squeeze before she lifted in the air.

“New? Well I suppose it depends on what sense you mean that.  I have been here for a short time.   Not as much a new look as a rejuvenated one.”   Which accurate on many levels.   “Come now, can you tell me you truly don’t recognize an old acquaintance?”  It amused him to see the varying reactions to the incident that lead him to his current state of physical age.   

“I’m afraid our occasionally adversarial interactions in the past wouldn’t lend themselves to our being friends.”   Yes, they at times fought on opposite sides.   Sometimes on the same side.   Which would make defining where they might stand now, difficult.   

“Though I have now put my abilities and skills to use for the benefit of Haven.   A role that many would not have imagined me doing in the past.”   How odd, he really did want to make peace.   Perhaps because enough fighting with exterminating the infected.   

Bobby listened, trying to place the voice. The face. ANything a tall. There was really only one person who still called him Robert… “Old” friend? This guy looked to be about Bobby’s age… He was seriously confused.

She gave a small laugh as she was dragged into a hug, leaning over the table to accept it.  “Well,” she said as they separated, “not exactly where we left off.  He’s giving a lot of time to get to know Gabby, because he wouldn’t be Logan if he wasn’t.  And I’m currently harbouring a fifteen-year-old girl with new mutant powers because she’s in a fight with her dad.  Alone time is a little scarce right now.”  Not that things hadn’t been complicated before.  The town expansion would mean a great deal when it came to having real personal space once again.  “But we’re together.”

She went onto the others, “We almost have a full complement of Summerses, Alex hasn’t arrived yet, but Nathan and Hope are here, and even Scott has resurfaced.  Megan is here, Laura is still here, and, well, Rogue is here but her memories aren’t.  I don’t know if it’s trauma or some of our nonsense, but they’ve been running tests to try and figure it out.”

“It’s a start. And I’m happy for you.” At a time like this, any amount of happiness or good in the world was a welcome change of pace. “If you guys need a minute you know I’m a great babysitter.” After all the two of them had been through more than their fair share of hardships, they deserved a few hours to themselves.

He listened to the list of arrivals, frowning slightly at the mention of Rogue. She was like a little sister too him, and just another person who had been through far too much. She didn’t deserve this, especially with all that was going on. “Well at least everyone is gathering in the same place. It takes a lot off of everyone’s shoulders. At least in the aspect of worrying about loved ones.” There was still so much going on.