#firstxman

[phoenixtouched]

‘ no one is ever going to believe i’m that old. ‘ 

@firstxman​

Rachel swallowed. This was probably a bad time to tell him that not only did people believe he was that old — the ones that she had told this joke to had actually been confused that he wasn’t older. They had a look on their faces like she had been lying to make her dad come off as younger. (Mid-forties, they had said. He passed as a man in his mid-forties.) She looked at him, nodding her head like it was a stretch, and shoveling an overly large bite of her mother’s tuna casserole. He’d know something was up, but with any luck… she’d end up throwing up and her dad would be forced to drop the subject all together.

“You know,” Rachel said, choking on the food as she forced it down. “You’d never know this was only made yesterday by the taste.” She was digging herself a hole. Rachel straightened up and then waved her fork in the air like she had suddenly remembered something. “What was up with you and that Wing woman? I saw her around the community center a while back, I didn’t realize you two dated… kinda weird going to her wedding.”

[mistressofmagic-a]

@firstxman

Grief was a complex creature. Never affected people in the same form, never showed up in people’s hearts the same way either. A nasty, unpredictable creature that burrowed into people’s chests and plucked at each harsh reality that they were now faced with and either blinded them to the world around them or made them see things horrifyingly clear. So, the distance that Jean and Scott had taken from her and their refusal to comment on Erik’s passing didn’t come as a surprise to her.

Not that she could say that she knew what grief looked like in Scott. She had seen it in his eyes that day on the lawn of Xavier, but… she didn’t stick around to see how it changed after that. Didn’t see how he glued back his broken pieces, didn’t see how he managed to get back up on his two feet and move forward.

But for their isolation, Zatanna was in no position to judge. In the aftermath of Jean, Zatanna had jumped from the dimension just to gain perspective on her actions. (She did it to save the world, she’d say. But that was just a bonus to her selfish motivations.) And this wasn’t like Jean. This hadn’t been a public execution. This hadn’t been that level of horror. But standing in front of her friend now, she got a very different feeling. That same one she got when she couldn’t meet his eye when she was standing over Jean’s body. The same one that she got when she put her mind on lockdown and tried to protect herself by brushing the memories away as if the blood on her hands didn’t feel heavy.

“Scott,” she said his name, trying to force him into looking at her. (Grief was a complex creature. But Zatanna knew this look all too well. And this, it wasn’t just grief.) “He was my friend,” she offered without question, defining her relationship with Erik before she stepped towards Scott, reaching out to touch his arm. “And so is Jean.” And she had killed her once. “What happened, Scott?”

[anxietylanterncruz]

“ this sounds like a nightmare. ” 

@firstxman

"It might be,” Jessica confirmed, a strange thread of confidence in her voice. This was important to her, related to her work as a Green Lantern. And when she talked about things that related to that, she was always more steady on her feet. She wasn’t thinking about the kids walking past them (she was — and she was nervous — but it was easier to ignore right now). “It could be nothing at all, but better safe than sorry.” Jessica looked around, she hadn’t stepped much further onto Genosha, not because she wasn’t welcome... but because this was a new place. And new places came with new dangers and that came with —

It wasn’t relevant. 

“I found trace amounts of it earlier, out on the street in New York. And... drugs aren’t known for their borders.” Redbulb wasn’t supposed to be found anywhere near Earth, but somehow, it had landed here. And whoever brought it knew that it would have a different effect on humans. (Mutants, she wasn’t sure. The biology was different.) 

[roi-des-voleurs]

“ i’m really losing it this time, aren’t i ? ” -- @firstxman​

Things were rarely calm for mutants, but one thing Remy could always count on was Scott being there for them, being a good leader. Everything had seemed alright with him, but Remy knew what it was like to carry things inside and not let on to others about what was bothering him. Scott certainly had more than enough things to worry about, more than Remy ever would. He always admired Scott for that, for handling the sort of responsibility Remy chafed at. But if Scott wanted to talk, he was more than willing to listen. "You, losin' it? Never." Remy gave him a pat on the back. "You deal wit' de kind o' stuff I couldn't ever t'ink 'bout dealin' wit'. But at de same time, I gotta t'ink dat grates on a person. So if you need t' unload, you know I'm always here t' listen, mon frere."

[boomboombaby]

“ i’ve kinda got my hands full. ” 

@firstxman 

Tabby was always angry. And maybe that was the issue here, because when she stormed into places, everyone just figured it was a day ending in y. But Cyclops spoke and said his hands were full and Tabby nearly came unglued. He had his hands full. Tabby gritted her teeth and took a step back from him, hands up in the air before flipping him off. “Of fucking course you’re too busy.” She wasn’t blind though, she had seen the way everyone was interacting in the group chat, she knew that Cyclops had to have known about Ric’s involvement. Or how Erik had blatantly threatened to murder her best friend —

He knew. He knew and he was brushing her off. Tabby should have expected it. They had never been on the in when it came to mutants. “What are you so busy doing? Landscaping our newest cemetery? Or designing us matching outfits for the war that no one wants to fucking talk about— what the fuck does handled mean?” Tabby was throwing questions at him faster than he could answer. Screaming them really. But she was careful not to mention Ric. Their team had never been a priority for the X-Men or the Brotherhood. And she knew that if she mentioned his name and Cyclops brushed her off again — Tabby wasn’t sure if the building would survive her temper.

[colleenrand]

@firstxman

It was a building. Empty on the inside but it looked beautiful from the outside. The landscaping had been carefully done already — the whole island reflected that, as if the nature was the most important part of this place. It dulled the otherwise tense atmosphere. Magneto might have been dead, but Colleen wasn’t foolish enough to think that people didn’t share his mindset. Especially the one he had about her. It didn’t matter to those people how remorseful she was or what she did to try and make amends. They had made a decision about her and clung to it like people were incapable of change.

But Colleen would die before she ever agreed with that sentiment. If she fell into that trap they had placed at her feet and kept pushing her towards, then she would be stuck in that mindset she had when she was under Bakuto’s thumb. She would be the weapon and not the person. She might not have been quick on the uptake sometimes, but she could change — and with the help of this center, hopefully they could too. Hopefully, these kids who had been faced with a life of pain and suffering could find a place where they could be kids. The school, it might have been a safe place — but schools had expectations and standards. The center, the way that Colleen saw it at least, was a safe place to exist. A place to come to get the help you needed or decompress — or be together as a community. It bonded people together. Made them stronger.

And if it shaped up to be anything like the center she worked at, it’d be a place that people gathered to process their grief. A place for them to come together and know they weren’t alone. This place could mean something to them if they wanted it to. Colleen, for the first time in a long time, was looking up at a building with hope in her heart. Dreams of a better world that she might help create.

“It’s got potential,” Colleen said, shooting Scott a smile. “Care to do the honors?” She asked, motioning to the still locked doors. The inside was still a mystery to her. Daunting and undefined. But she was ready.

[mrxces]

@firstxman​ / Are you saying I'm emotionally constipated?

[IS HE SERIOUS?]  Wade nodded though it’s unclear of who he was nodding to. “Oh yeah,” he assured the other while waving the kitchen knife he had been using to play GUN-GUN-KITCHEN KNIFE with. “I’m not really a fan of emotional diarrhea but in this case, I’ll make an exception.” 

{PLEASE TELL ME YOU HID THE SUPOSITORIES.} Thing Two yelled in a panic.

Thing One grumbled, face now in his hands in a rare sign of defeat.

“This calls for tequila and hookers.”

[agenthamburger]

“ am i a bad person ? ” 

@firstxman

Sharon had known Jean and Scott for years now. She had known them outside of the word mutant. Jean was a med student and Scott was the jackass who wore sunglasses inside. But then she had gotten to know them. Found out that Jean was a telepath — a mutant. Found out that Scott was the same as her. The sunglasses weren’t for show... they were to let him open his eyes without tearing the goddamn world apart with him. She would never know what that was like, but she could sympathize. She could look at them and understand their intentions, understand why they fought — why they started a war. 

And if Sharon had simply been Sharon Carter, she would have probably found herself on side with them. Just like Germany, she could feel it in the pit of her stomach. She supported them. But holding a city hostage? All the blood that had been shed within the city? All the injured? All the people who didn’t have a leg in the fight who were dragged into it by their hair because they had been trapped? Sharon couldn’t bring herself to shake their hands and tell them it was a good fight. It had been dirty and — civilians aside her family had been threatened. Tony. Tali. Everyone she cared about had been inside the city. And that wasn’t something you could blink away for a friend. 

This was her first time seeing Scott since it had happened and her mouth opened slightly at his question, how could she answer that? Was what happened enough to declare him a bad person? And could she do that for a friend? She made so many excuses for SHIELD but... in her personal life? For her friends? It was much harder. Much more personal. Sharon was sure that he saw the hesitance on her face, she might have been a super spy, but she had been in an emotional state since everything had gone to hell. And a lot of that was because of the baggage sitting on her doorstep, demanding to be let it. 

“Scott,” she whispered his name, looking him before meeting his gaze. “No,” she finally settled on. “No, you’re not — you’re not a bad person. You fought for something you believe in. Something good. Something that needs to be fought for. And I... I want to smack you so fucking hard right for putting me in this position. But you’re not a bad person, Scott.” Her shoulders relaxed, even if only slightly. “You’re one of the best I know.”