retrospec | (no subject)

I'd trade you... I don't think that's possible though. At least you still have friends...? The mutants in M-Men just had each other.

[He perks up a little and focuses his gaze on Cutter.]

What's the guy's name?

Yeah, I think everybody who has Retrospec is at least a little weird in some sense. And trust me, you don't wanna have my past. A shitty family life isn't worth it. Iwai. He runs a paintball and airguns supply shop.

It's hard to tell.

[Everybody has a very different life and a different kind of struggle.

Though... he thinks he'd rather have somebody else's over his own.]

Iwai? ... I don't think I've met him yet. I'll have to go see him.

I'm sure he won't mind. He seems like a pretty chill dude, just-

[Trailing off, Cutter shakes his head.]

Tell him I said hi and than I'm keeping my word. That should be enough.

... If you say so.

If you trust him, so do I.

Good. By the way, are you still training? I might have found another training partner for you if you do.

To fight?

A little, I don't really like it. But it's useful.

Good. You gotta keep it up if you want to keep being able to make a move in the future. Who knows when retrospec quits playing around.

Yeah, to spar but maybe you two can also help each other out with that powers thing. Ever heard of Dave Strider? He's got a speed ability.

... Yeah, we're friends. I thought he had time stuff? Like time travel?

What? He insisted to me that he's just moving really fast.

Huh?

I definitely saw him with a double of himself.

And you're sure that wasn't just some afterimage weirdness going on?

He said time travel.

And you believe him?

I make ice and fire. It's hard not to believe that too.

Fire and ice are still something fairly natural.

Skipping through time is casually messing with the whole space n' time continuum - the same thing Retrospec supposedly does.

Creating it out of nothing isn't.

It doesn't seem impossible, right? If Retrospec can do it, why can't a person?

I thought you're pulling all you need out of the air. Like condensation for the water for ice and oxygen for the burning of the fire? What else do you need for those elements?

Why would they risk having somebody run around with the power to interfere with all their precious hard work, though?

... I don't know if that's how it works? I haven't really tested it.

It's not like they knew who they were taking.

"Taking him"? What do you mean, "they took somebody"?

[His voice has grown a bit sharp although Cutter doesn't mean to. It's the first time he has heard their predication being described like that and it throws it into a light that's quite different than usual.]

It's like Retrospec just grabbed whoever they could find and stuck them here with a life that's... not as real as it seems.

I don't know. Sometimes my memories feel more real.

A life that's not as-

Shouto! What do you mean?! You can't possibly think that those "memories" are the real versions or whatever of ourselves, that doesn't make any sense!

[He drops his gaze down.]

... They feel real. All of it, the pain and the heat- it feels too real to be fake.

[He wants to deny it. He wants to scream and shout at Shouto that he's wrong wrong WRONG, he has to be because what will become of Cutter if Shouto is right?! But one look at Shouto's face and it all gets stuck in his throat, strangling the words that are still fighting to come on.

After a long moment of fighting with himself Cutter reaches out and grabs Shouto's shoulder. He gives it a tight squeeze as he seeks to meet his eyes, jaw set and way too many emotions flickering through his own red ones.

Cutter is scared.

But so has to be Shouto and he'll be damned if he can't just shut up and be there for his friend when the other needs it.]

This world or the other, I'm on your side!

[They're both scared. He thought he knew where things stood, he thought he knew what was real. But more and more it seems like he doesn't, and that's terrifying.

His gaze is downcast, but when Cutter grabs his shoulder he looks up- there aren't tears in his eyes, but the look on his face makes it seem like there might be very soon.

There's a very soft, exhausted laugh before he takes Cutter's hand on his shoulder and squeezes it.]

Thank you. It... It means a lot.

Edited 2017-12-20 04:12 (UTC)