plotted starter for @griim
It’s a testament to just how rusty he is at all of this that Erik doesn’t realise he is being followed until it’s been going on for two days. At least, he’s had that prickling on the back of his neck, the impulse to constantly check behind him for two days – who knows how long before that his pursuer picked up his tail?
The mutant is not currently a wanted man. After the stunt he pulled with En Sabah Nur he expected prison or death – certainly he welcomed the latter – but instead Moira pulled some strings and fed the media some bullshit about him being a hero. As if he wasn’t the one who’d betrayed his friends and only came to his senses at the last minute, as if he’d been fighting the Egyptian god from the start. Erik doesn’t like lying, but this lie buys him freedom – something he hasn’t truly tasted in years – so he accepts without objection.
In doing so, however, he is left anchorless, wandering; home is gone and it cannot be reclaimed, and Westchester is not the place of rest and safety it once was. In time perhaps, Erik will find a new home, a new purpose. But until then he travels nomad-like from town to town, no possessions beyond what he can carry on his back, no steady employment, more nights spent under the stars than under a roof. Almost like how it used to be all those decades ago, back when life was simpler.
“I know you’ve been following me.” Low words directed at the campfire by his feet, unwilling to shout into the growing darkness around him but easily loud enough for any observer to pick up on. The mutant isn’t afraid of his recently-acquired shadow, but neither is he inclined to pretend or pussyfoot around the issue. Erik is out here to be alone; the pursuit needs to end.
