You Don't Own Me

I'm not just one of your many toys Reyna Miles|| 21 || aka Shadow || Umbrakinesis/Pyrokinesis

[shadowxdflame-archive]

cosmxcradiated‌:

Ophelia makes it to her car without issue, and she’s more thankful for that than usual. Where she’d come from she sees headlights of a much larger vehicle than hers. Scouts and hounds most likely. She’d left just in time. Cradling the phone between her shoulder and cheek, she nods though Reyna can’t see her. “Texting you now, I’ll be there in about twenty minutes.” It was a safe house, one where she kept several young mutants alive. Isla had left to get supplies days ago and never returned, now Opi knew why. After hanging up she uses one hand to quickly tap out the address to Reyna before tossing the phone in her passenger seat.

“Alright. I’ll be there.” Reyna gets the text within a couple minutes, but she decides to wait. Who knew how Ophelia’s lot would react to her? She tended to be a polarising fighter--depending on whether people approved of her methods or not. But she only manages to wait for 5 minutes, too worried that Isla might not be as okay as she thought. Kneeling next to the young woman, she used her powers to travel to the location Ophelia had given her.

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acceleratxd‌:

It was stupid. No, not stupid. It was important. But maybe it was stupid to ask Reyna to be there. Finding out he had a daughter had changed a lot, like maybe he had to keep himself alive a little better than he had been. He definitely should cut down on letting himself get knifed and shot all the time. Who knew how long this curse of his lasted? One day he might just stop healing, and Penelope would be fatherless. The thought of that was easily the most dreadful to ever ring about in his head. And he had pondered over many dreadful things. 

Pietro raises a brow at her question, leaning against the wall opposite to which she was practicing towards. “Stop… breathing? Existing? Come on, your insults are usually better than this.”

Reyna rolls her eyes at Pietro, allowing the shadows to dissipate and sunlight to return to the room. “If I was trying to insult you, it would be,” she replies. “So you’re telling me it’s not you making that...” How would she even describe it? Especially without giving Pietro more fuel to poke fun or make some sexual joke. “Something’s giving me the creeps is all.”

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Despite the bright day outside, it’s dark in the training room. Even the windows can’t bring light into the room, not with Reyna practicing her shadow manipulation. What little light can penetrate is purple in colour, coming from the small fires that appear from her hands. As a target pops up, the flame flies across the room to ignite it, just as Reyna hears the door open.

“I’m a little busy,” she tells them. It’s then that she feels something. A... presence? Energy? Someone using their powers? She’s not sure. She turns to the other person, hands alight with flame. 

“Whatever you’re doing, would you stop?”

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cosmxcradiated‌:

Of all the voices she had expected to hear on the other line, Reyna’s wasn’t it. If Sinister was a reoccurring nightmare, she didn’t know how to classify the girl she once thought she’d spend her life with. But the shock isn’t enough for her to forget about Isla or stop thinking of her for even half a second. “Boston.” It was a shit show, fires around every corner. She was lucky to have eventually grown into her powers, or else she never would have made this far.

“Where is Isla? How do you have her-” Dread sinks in her stomach and she can already feel the panic gripping her. “Where is she? Where are you?” She glances around the corner before she walks out into the street, stepping quickly and hurriedly towards the barracade where her car waited for her.

Reyna is shocked by how much it hurts to hear her voice again. More than twenty years since she’d seen Ophelia, and yet it reopens wounds like it was yesterday. But it didn’t matter. Not now. Not while Isla lay unconsciouss beside her. “I found her. She’ll be fine, but she’s hurt. Give me an address, we’ll come to you. I’ll explain there.” It would be far easier than either of them trying to navigate the streets. And Reyna remembers how protective Ophelia is. She wants to return her daughter to her as soon as possible.

[cosmxcradiated]

It wasn’t just a nightmare. It was a reoccurring one. They hadn’t seen hide nor hair of Sinister in ages, and yet Ophelia can’t help thinking that once again he’s gotten his jaws in her daughter. Somehow. But her logical side, the one that struggled to take over in matters involving Isla, told her that it was probably Weapon X or some other ‘government agency’ that delighted in rounding up mutants and killing them off in droves. There was no government anymore of course, they justified it by calling themselves that.

So she followed the trails, the whispers around her telling her where the most recent raids were. Where not to go. And she went, looking for Isla in desperation. She’s nearly out of gas, ready to give into the despair threatening to take over, when she feels her phone vibrating in her pocket. Not many people had her number, and instantly she knows. Grabbing it, she picks up with her breath thin. “Hello?” She tries to catch her next breath, hoping to hear Isla’s voice.

@shadowxdflame

[shadowxdflame-archive]

It had been years since Reyna had seen either Ophelia or Isla. She missed them, Ophelia especially, but she’d long ago pushed that hurt--and all hurt--away. Until she saw her. A young woman, a mutant, being targeted by the gangs who went around looking for mutants. Reyna found herself looking for them in retaliation, protecting the mutants who couldn’t. Her methods weren’t nearly as merciful as some others, but she was sick of hearing the screams of dead mutants.

But that young woman... “Isla,” she murmurs. A blast of dark matter energy sends the mutant attackers flying, knocking them out. She emerges from the shadows, just in time to see Isla collapse. “Fuck...” It’s not like taking her to the hospital would guarantee saving her in time. But Reyna spots the phone that’s fallen from Isla’s pocket. She sighs and unlocks it, looking for the number she knows that will be there.

Mom.

Hesitating for only half a second, she calls. “Ophelia. Where are you?”

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cfangel‌:

Warren takes a drag of the cigarette, a weird feeling as he hasn’t done this in a while. “Thanks, I really miss him, you know? I should be used to death, losing people after everything, but it doesn’t make it any easier really.” He says while blowing some smoke out into the room.

Reyna gives a tight-lipped smile. “Yeah, well... There’s a lot of shit I should be used to and yet...” She shrugs. “That shit is still shit.” Not the most eloquent way to put it, but it certainly made her point. “It still hurts.”

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cycloptix‌:

“No, because I don’t see it that way.” Scott shrugs, “Sure, if the Professor was someone else I might be worried.” It wasn’t hard for Scott to trust their headmaster. Scott believed the professor took care of a lot of people out of the goodness of his heart, he had piles of money for whatever reason and he used it to take care of mutants that couldn’t take care of themselves. It wasn’t hard to see the good in him, at least according to Scott Summers. Looking over at her with an eyebrow raised, he replies, “The original reason for training is so that we can learn how to control our powers, but now we need to be ready for anything. There are too many people in this world that don’t want us here.”

“People aren’t always who they say they are. They have... motives.” Reyna shrugs. “Do you know how often people offer favours so that you’re in their debt? So that they can manipulate you?” She sighs. “It’s a lot rarer to have someone be truthful when they say it’s ‘out of the goodness of their hearts’.” Her fingers come up to make airquotes. Scott Summers may see the good in Professor X, but Reyna was still fighting that feeling that any day he’d turn to her and say I let you and your sister stay, I give you a home and food and education, you owe me. “Yeah, you’re telling me...” She shrugs again. “It’s not so bad, actually. Training them. I can do things I didn’t know I could do.”

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cfangel‌:

“I don’t really, but I’ve smoked before.” Warren had been a curious teenager once, but he doesn’t think one would hurt. He takes one out of the pack when it’s presented to him. He knows that some people will do so when they’re stressed, and well this was the most stressed he has ever bee. “Thanks, I’m hoping it’ll calm me down a bit.”

Reyna shrugs as he takes the cigarette, lighting her finger and offering it to him. She’d started smoking because some of the people she’d hung around with while on the run with Darcy smoked and it helped calm her nerves. “Hopefully, yeah. I’m sorry about what happened.”

[clairetvmples-deactivated201901]

“What separates the wolf from the sheep is not a matter of good or evil. We all have teeth— but only some of us are willing to use them.”

— you either bare your fangs or your throat | m.a.w (via dvoyd)

[krvkcn]

It was obvious that Warren was crying, but he doesn’t even try to hide it this time. “Hey, I’m making a mess out of myself over here. I’m sorry, I haven’t had the chance to talk to anyone yet.” He had been sitting alone, but he was glad for the company now. He doesn’t want to be left to his thoughts, not after giving that speech. 

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Reyna had barely known Bobby. But she’d attended the funeral, and she’d seen the speech the feathered boy gave. She’d not really spoken to him much either, but it was clear he was hurting and Reyna... Well, she wasn’t entirely heartless despite what she pretended. And she was trying to be better, for Darcy and for Opi. “Do you smoke?” she asks, offering her pack of cigarettes as she leans against the wall beside him.

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cycloptix‌:

“It’s what the Professor does. As an accredited institute, he got your transcripts. Medical records…. I have no idea honestly. Don’t ask me.” Scott never thought of it like that: creepy. The Professor only ever wanted to help, so what was wrong with getting a little paperwork from previous schools or doctors? Sure, with some mutants he comes on strong, but it was easy for Scott because Alex was the one he sought first. When Scott’s mutation manifested, it was the obvious answer to go to the Institute. Scott rolls his eyes when she drops the cigarette, glad she can’t really see, but instead of bending to pick it up and throw it away he just disintegrates it with his own power. Maybe unnecessary, but he wasn’t a fan of littering. “Learn anything new? Are you powers easier to control?” he’s trying to get her to elaborate without forcing it, but it’s difficult when it seems like she doesn’t want to talk to him anymore.

“You’ve never thought about that, have you? How creepy that could be?” She knows that the Professor supposedly had ‘good’ intentions but Reyna was not a trusting person. She was still trying to figure out if the Professor had ulterior motives for getting her out of jail time, though none had become apparent. Reyna was going to pick up the cigarette when they moved on, but before that was really an option, Scott was blasting it. She flinches and rolls her eyes. “Overkill,” she mutters. “Uh, yeah, I guess. But are we training for something or just because? Is there a threat coming you know about?” She wants to know if she ought to be prepared; the last attack on the school had been a shock to her.

[stormborn]

I promise.

[shxninglight]

“So are you going to marry her?” Darcy murmurs distractedly as she looks at her phone, she’s deleting the messages she’d exchanged with an aunt of theirs. She hadn’t heard anything about their mother, at least nothing more than the girls knew. Another dead end. It might be easier if Reyna pitched in but Darcy knew better than to ask her, or let her know what she was doing. Reyna blamed their mother for what happened with her dad too, blamed her for not stopping it but Darcy knew their mother felt like she had no choice. It was a thin line that nobody knew how to walk. “Opi, I mean. You gonna marry her?”

@shadowxdflame

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Reyna is startled by the question, looking up sharply. “I know you mean Opi,” she replies with a slight frown. Who else? Reyna hadn’t felt like this for anyone else, not this strongly anyway. Who else could compare in Reyna’s eyes? “I... It’s not like I’ve proposed or anything. We’re still young.” Did Opi expect her to propose? “Maybe. One day?”

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I know my sister like I know my own mind; You will never find anyone as trusting or as kind. I love my sister more than anything in this life,  I will choose her happiness over mine every time.

Angelica Schuyler, Hamilton (The Reynolds Pamphlet)

@shxninglight

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cycloptix‌:

Scott is a little surprised that she was meeting him halfway. Luckily, he didn’t let his jaw drop and left his face expressionless. “That’s a good start, then you could skip all the high school classes we know you don’t need.” Thinking about it, Scott never opened up to Reyna about anything before, despite being very close in age he never spoke to her on a personal level. The fact that she had an idea about his personal life made him wonder what the hell people were saying. Some of them saw it though. He wonders if her knowledge was heresy or did she see the day they both left? He decides to ignore it and move on to his next concern about her studies, “How is your time in danger room training going?”

Reyna knows that it’ll make her sister happy if she finishes her high school studies, and besides, Scott was right. As much as Reyna would never admit it out loud, having her high school certificate would be helpful if she ever left here. “Do you guys have my transcript too then? Like how you got my medical information? That’s still super creepy,” she replies when Scott talks about classes she doesn’t need. Taking a long drag of the cigarette before dropping it on the ground to stomp it out, she shrugs. “Good, I guess.” She’s closed off without thinking about it, used to keeping her cards close to her chest. And unused to people caring about her. She let people in slowly, one by one, and to have Scott taking this interest suddenly was strange.

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cycloptix‌:

Pushing his glasses up his nose, he frowns at her, “Everyone is a priority to me, Reyna. And I’m sorry if I’m being harsh, but I’m dealing with other…” He’s probably redirecting his frustration towards her. It took him a minute to realize it, but he’d been on edge for awhile now. She still needed to hear what he was saying. Scott still cared about her and everyone else here, and he just wanted her to do better. “I’m not trying to be a dick, okay. You are a priority even if you’d rather be overlooked. If you don’t understand something, I can help tutor you. All you need to do is ask, that’s what I’m here for.”

Reyna looks at him for a moment before raising an eyebrow and looking away. “You kind of just proved my point, but okay. Whatever.” She knows what taking your frustrations out on someone else looks like, and it’s clear to her that she’s just an easier ‘problem’ than whatever Scott’s not dealing with. “Look, I can just do the GED, right? Would that get you off my back?”

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cycloptix‌:

“You’re here for the safety the Professor promised us.” It’s not a question because everyone was here for that. The education was a bonus, it wasn’t like they would kick her to the curb because she didn’t attend classes. It just bothers Scott because he feels as if she’s standing idle. “The world doesn’t want any mutant in it, if they weren’t so afraid of us they would eradicate us.” Everyone knows it’s true, they were only afraid of the big three. That’s why they did nothing, for now anyway. “I just want you to succeed, Reyna. You’re smart, you just need to apply yourself.” 

Reyna nods, not bothering to deny it. Her safety, her sister’s safety. For now they were here. And maybe she’d also become close to people here, needing them too, as hard as it was for her to admit needing anyone. She’s not sure why Scott is pushing this matter right now, or why it gets on her nerves so much. “Yeah? I dropped out four years ago, Teach. Why so focused on me? You can’t tell me with all the shit that goes on around here that I’m your biggest priority.”