Comments | atthemansion: The Sky's Still Fire

everambient in atthemansion

The Sky's Still Fire

Jul 21, 2011 21:40

Characters: ALEX & OPEN
Date&Time: July 21/night
Setting: out back
Summary: star trekkin' across the universe gazing.
Rating: BOOBIES, BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE IF YOU CALL NOW...
Status: Open

( Second star to the right, and straight on till morning... )

amara aquilla, bobbi drake, ben westwood, kurt wagner, alex summers, iris masterson

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staticsnap July 22 2011, 08:52:46 UTC

It was as if some vast, cosmic force had heard the first persistent whisper of doubt brewing in Summers' mind, had reached out across the yawning arc of the universe and bent it's ear to hear the silent war of conscience waging within the man as his thoughts pitched and rolled beneath the celestial canvas. And, like a gentle mother reaching out to sooth a child's terror, the universe answered ( ... )

staticsnap July 23 2011, 04:30:11 UTC

There was a very long silence with nothing but the chorus of summer bugs pressing in from all around. What were you supposed to say to something like that? Ben wasn't very good on picking up on subtle humour but there was definitely nothing false about what Alex was saying.

"A spaceship crashed in New Mexico on my birthdate the year before I was born," Ben offered, finally. "Allegedly, at least. Lots... lots of people saw it. Not crazy people, either. Not all of them."

everambient July 23 2011, 05:24:42 UTC

He laughed it off. "Don't be silly, Ben, I was just a kid," he reminded the other mutant. "It was my way of coping with a really horrible experience, and eventually I learned that and worked through it on my own--without their help." Still, it haunted him in his dreams some nights.

staticsnap July 23 2011, 06:33:25 UTC

What seemed silly to Ben was to do what they were doing: lie beneath the broad expanse of the universe, mere motes of dust in the grand scheme of things, and peer out at the endless stretch of otherness with the presumption that they were all there was. If what Alex had said about NASA was true, that they really believed they could send intelligent life into space, then was it so giant a leap to posture that such life could come from the opposite direction?

God, he'd been reading too much Asimov. And besides, that really wasn't the point of all this.

So then what was? Ben rubbed at his face, the pressure of his hand something solid and easily recognized.

"You're..." his mouth worked at soundless words, trying to pin down the right phrase. "Resilient. You get stuff, Alex. You get stuff without people tellin' you. Even the hard stuff that nobody wants to talk about because it's not even real sure yet, you figure it out. But me?" Ben laughed. "Uh-uh. I don't get anything. And all of... everything just keeps happening so fast, it ( ... )

everambient July 23 2011, 06:52:24 UTC

He opened his mouth to argue that he didn't figure things out all the time, but if Ben had that impression of him, who was he to shatter it? It probably helped the kid to have someone in his life who he thought had it all together ( ... )

staticsnap July 24 2011, 18:06:29 UTC

Like a secret weapon. That was what it would be like to have an answer to everything, Ben thought as he tried and failed to meet Alex's gaze. There would be safety, a feeling of inimitable confidence that in the face of whatever unknown cards were thrown out on the table, you had the hand to cover the bet and up the ante. Solid and steady and able to hold the weight of uncertainty, a life alchemy that kept your steps straight and unwavering: a hope, a faith.

Ben wanted to be able to believe the older mutant. He wanted it so badly that the tug of it filled his mouth, a fleeting wash of sweetness that danced across his tongue and disappeared in a whisper like powdered sugar.

But what if he was wrong? What if it was always this way, always a game of Russian roulette, long absent pauses marked by staccato moments of destruction that left him reeling and breathless? What if Alex never came out on top, never learned how to tame the all of the universe that danced through him, never learned to completely quiet the roar of capability that ( ... )

everambient July 24 2011, 23:40:36 UTC

He sensed the hesitation, the doubt, and was suddenly overwhelmed with the need to reassure Ben. "I'm definitely right," Alex assured him, reaching out to put his arm around the other boy's shoulder in a show of comfort.

Alex turned his gaze back towards the sky, suddenly finding himself missing Scott more than ever. But Ben was there, and Alex decided he could be a brother too.

staticsnap July 25 2011, 02:05:37 UTC

That was all it took - that single, sudden connection. Ben felt the weight of Alex's arm and resisted, started to pull away because he didn't recognize the motion, didn't understand. Before he could shrug the man away, though, a faultline shifted, cracked, and he was leaning into the touch with a feeling of having swallowed glass.

Ben didn't cry. He definitely didn't cry because there was no reason to cry, there was no reason for his eyes to spill over, no reason for his chest to throb or his shoulders to quake silently, as though there had been some physical displacement of tightly-bound guilt, grief. If he sniffed, it was because he had allergies; if he shook it was because he was cold.

"Don't you just wish," he managed, his voice thready and quiet and reaching out for some distant, unseen point. "Don't you just wish... that you could go back, sometimes? Even if it was terrible or ordinary or whatever it was, wherever it was... don't you wish sometimes that this was all a dream?"

everambient July 25 2011, 02:32:57 UTC

It was a tough question. There were so many ways he could answer it, so many lies he could tell Ben to make it all seem better, and if Scott had been there he probably would have lied to the kid, but Alex couldn't bring himself to. He fell silent for a while, but eventually he answered in a quiet tone, "Every day."

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