twolouises | Crystal - Seeking Help

Crystal was new to America and new to New York. The only reason she was here was because, well, she didn't know what else to do.

Being a mutant was so, so hard. The situation for mutants was worse where she was from - she was legitimately afraid for her life - but in New York, some mutants lived and loved openly. Crystal wanted to do that. She wanted to be a person.

Online, she had heard about a kind of outreach sanctuary run by young mutants in the heart of the city. All the talk was very vague (it had to be, to protect the place and everyone who might use it), but everyone she spoke to, even in veiled terms, told Crystal that the people there could help her build a life she could love, if she just went there.

So she went.

She hoped that once her family saw that this wasn't futile, they would join her. Even though right now they didn't believe - believing she was more or less signing a death sentence.

But Crystal had to hope for a better life.

The building was nondescript, but Crystal was sure, somehow, that she had the right address.

She walked in, quietly, taking note of all available exit points, just in case.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

elementalista

She shrugged. "Passing or hiding. Taking as few risks as possible. It's easier for me. I don't look like one."

From:

imperfectstorm

"My sister and I pass. Tabby passes. Ben doesn't." That was an understatement. "You can get image inducers on the black market, but they're expensive. Sue and Reed have been working on trying to develop less expensive versions, but it's hard."

From:

elementalista

"I can't imagine how expensive. And it seems so wrong. For something that could save you."

From:

imperfectstorm

"If it were easy and cheap to make, it'd be easier and cheaper to find a way to counter them, so it's a pretty fucked up situation either way."

From:

elementalista

"Maybe it isn't better here." Oh god. What if it wasn't? What if anywhere she went, or her family went, it was just a matter of time before someone killed them?

From:

imperfectstorm

Johnny put a hand on her arm and stopped walking. "Look, I don't know exactly where you're from, but there's a really good chance it is better here. I'm not going to say that it's easy or that it isn't sometimes scary as hell, but so far, at least, our government believes we have a right to exist. And as long as we have that, we can keep trying to change things for the better." He had to believe that. He had to.

From:

elementalista

It had been a really hard day. A hard several years, full of terror and adrenaline and despair. That small kindness of a hand on her arm was almost more touching than a place to stay; she crumbled a little, let out a shaky breath, and looked down as her eyes filled with tears.

From:

imperfectstorm

Oh man. Johnny really, really hated it when girls cried. It made him feel angry and helpless and sad. He put his arm around Crystal's shoulders and squeezed gently. "We've got you now, it's going to be okay. We've got you."

From:

elementalista

She nodded, wiping at her eyes with a finger. "I'm sorry, yes. Thank you. I'm usually more composed." But she still leaned into that arm (what? he was cute).

From:

imperfectstorm

"You don't have to apologize. I cry more when Ben steps on my toe." True statement. Johnny kept his arm around her as they walked the remaining short distance to his apartment. Honestly, it probably made it seem like Johnny was bringing home another conquest and that was good for keeping them from really being noticed.

From:

elementalista

Okay, here was a fun way to cheer herself up. Lightly, as they walked, she 'misplaced' her foot, stepping on Johnny's toes. "Oh no!"

From:

imperfectstorm

Johnny laughed, glad she'd recovered enough to joke around. "Luckily you weigh a lot, lot less than Ben does." It occurred to him that he might want to give her the heads up about him. Just because someone was from an entirely family of mutants didn't mean seeing a huge guy made of rock wasn't startling. "Have you ever seen pictures of Mount Rushmore? That's Ben, basically. Only less presidential."

From:

elementalista

Crystal laughed, too, glad he'd recognized the joke. "Mount Rushmore? The granite mountain with faces? That isn't good for the rock, you know, those carvings." Crystal was intimately acquainted with all the elements. She liked granite.

From:

imperfectstorm

"Well Ben had a face before it was made of rock, so it's not his fault." Johnny grinned and pointed to the building they were approaching. "This is it. We can grab some clothes from Tabby for you if she's home. You're close to the same size, I think." Otherwise he was bound to have a couple things of Dom's lying around until they could raid Tabby's closet.

From:

elementalista

"I like rocks," Crystal said, with a small smile. "So I will probably like him. And you, you're made of fire?" Clothes weren't as important. Well, they were, but now Crystal was curious about Johnny.

From:

imperfectstorm

"He's pretty likable," Johnny admitted, leading her upstairs. He let them into his apartment, closing the door behind them but not locking it again. He'd text Tabby, see if she was home and could bring over some stuff for Crystal. "Basically, yeah. I can change my whole body into low level plasma."

From:

elementalista

"You're likable too," Crystal replied, because really Johnny is likable; she was safer, more comfortable, by the minute. That was not something she'd expected. "What does it feel like?"

From:

imperfectstorm

"Being likable or being made of fire?" he asked, though he knew which one she actually meant. "And do you eat pizza? If you do, I will order one."

From:

elementalista

"Being made of fire." No one ever talked about how it felt, in her experience. "I do eat pizza." And actually, she was really hungry.

From:

imperfectstorm

"It's...I dunno. It's weird. I still feel things, but I also don't? I mean, I don't have nerves anymore when I'm a Johnny-shaped pool of plasma, right? But I can still tell what's me and what's not me." He occasionally looked down at his phone as he ordered pizza and texted Tabby, but his focus was really on Crystal. "Flying feels awesome, though."

From:

elementalista

A flying fireball. That would be really something to see. But also, who would ever dare? "You fly? But people would see you..."

From:

imperfectstorm

"Not often." Which was a major disappointment. "Not in the city, anyway. We've taken trips out to pretty isolated places to try stuff out, though." Like the time they watched Tabby blow a bunch of stuff while they all yelled 'FOR SCIENCE!'