Video

[cantcatchme]

[Yeah, it's video. Pietro has gotten to the point where he doesn't care that he looks like crap. And that's saying a lot, if you ask anyone who knows him. He's deathly pale, his hair a complete mess, and is looking far too thin. He hasn't even bothered to lock this to the person he's trying to reach.]

Wherethehellareyou?

[Okay, he's pissed]

What, you think that hey, everyone's getting sick, so why not just fuckoff?! Classy, Erik. When something starts going wrong you just turn your back on it, huh? Leaving me to take the blame and deal with your shit again? Or should I call you father, because you're sureashell acting like him!

[He breaks off in a harsh coughing fit]

Yeah, I'm sick! I might even be dying. Do you even care?

[He's shaking now. Angry, hurt, scared, just needing to lash out at someone. Hey, at least he's out of the denial phase?]

Comments

Action!

[thefuzzyguy]

[At the moment, he seems to be the more lucid of them. He has been feeling better, though not as much better as he's been telling himself.]

I'm sure he got the picture, mein freund. It might be a good time to take a break now?

Re: Action!

[cantcatchme]

[Lucid? Pietro's all too lucid right now, thanks.]

He'd better. Bastard. Talking like he's so much better than Magneto. But they're the same person, you know. I knew he wasn't any different.

[He hasn't been so mad at his father since the whole Wanda thing. Maybe because he'd actually had hope for this Erik giving a damn.]

[thefuzzyguy]

Das ist kind of what I figured, ja.

[He wasn't remotely impressed by the man's attempts at awkward friendliness, certainly, and he knows Toad felt about the same way about it.]

[cantcatchme]

Still. He could've checked in by now.

[He glowers at the communicator screen.]

[thefuzzyguy]

Mm. Well, you still won't do yourself any good yelling at him on the network.

[Amusing as it might be.]

[cantcatchme]

You're joking, right? He needs to be called out on his crap. Deserves it.

[thefuzzyguy]

So, your theory is that if people tell Magneto he's a horse's arsch, he'll stop?

[That doesn't comport with Kurt's experience with a certain sort of person, both Magneto and his mother included.]

Don't you have to have shame for that to work?

[cantcatchme]

Pff, stop? He's never going to stop. What kind of idiot do you think I am?

[He coughs into his elbow.]

Doesn't mean he doesn't need a slap in the face.

[If only he had the guts to do that to his real father, back home. Erik didn't scare him like Magneto did, if only because the man hadn't admitted to himself what he was capable of yet.]

[thefuzzyguy]

[Kurt nods. He gets that, though he suspects it's mostly to make Pietro feel better.]

If it makes you feel better, carry on.

[Though maybe a little more quietly?]

[cantcatchme]

I'll do whatever the hell I want, Blue. With or without your permission.

[But he sounds more tired than snarky.]

[thefuzzyguy]

Oh, well, if you must, I suppose that's alright.

[See, he can be clever.]

[cantcatchme]

We're not back home, so don't act like you're better than me. We're in the same boat, down here.

[thefuzzyguy]

Um...

[Does he act like that? He doesn't much like the idea. Easier to keep it at arm's length.]

Well, you're sicker than I am. I just don't think you should use up your energy yelling at a telephone.

[cantcatchme]

What difference does it make? I can't just sit here doing nothing. Nothing's going to change whether I make it out of this or not. At least I'm doing something.

[thefuzzyguy]

[He's not going to touch the question of mortality. He can't deal with that himself. Kurt shifts laboriously to the edge of his bed and digs into his bag.]

I have a CD player, a copy of The Tempest, a Discover magazine, a couple textbooks, und a deck of cards with dinosaurs on them. Which do you want?

[cantcatchme]

Oh, wow, that would keep me occupied for all of two minutes? Just give it up, Blue.

[thefuzzyguy]

[Now it's a challenge. And "Blue" isn't technically an insult, so maybe he's making progress?]

Well, if you pick the cards, you'd have to slow down for my turns and I'm sure you'd have fun saying terrible things about my mother under personal grooming habits while you wait for me to do things at normal speed?

[He will not just start cursing back. Nope. Not gonna do that.]

[cantcatchme]

Gee. Slow motion go-fish. Just what I wanted... if I was looking for something to kill me faster.

[He turns to go back to glowering at the communicator.]

[thefuzzyguy]

Texas Hold 'em or Mississippi Stud?

[What? He learned poker from Rogue.]

[cantcatchme]

Go play with yourself. I'm not in the mood.

[thefuzzyguy]

[Sigh. Offering to get his ass kicked at a game he's actually pretty good at was his last idea. And his knowledge of the English idiom isn't quite up to giggling at "play with yourself." Solitaire it is.]

Alright. Let me know if you change your mind.

[...Damn, does he even remember how solitaire is set up?]

[Video]

[catchingflies]

[It takes Todd a good ten minutes before he finally responds, after warring between warning the guy that he might be wrong and potentially getting yelled at. Trying to help out wins out only because Pietro is really sick. At least really sick Pietro can't, you know, actively hurt him or anything.]

Hey, uh. I ain't seen him around either, in a couple weeks actually. When's th'last time you even heard from him?

Re: [Video]

[cantcatchme]

Probably when he was whining about that Xavier going missing. Asshole's been ignoring me. Not like that's new.

[He'd be more ragey about it if he hadn't half expected it. And if he weren't so tired.]

[catchingflies]

It's kinda been weeks since then, ain't it? If he's ignoring you, he's ignoring the rest of us, too.

[Though it doesn't really seem like the guy to ignore Pietro, of all people. Not for the first time since he left that morning, he wishes he was still there.]

Maybe he got himself captured or somethin'.

[That's supposed to be hopeful and reassuring, by the way. Since if he's captured he's not ignoring anyone. Right?]

[cantcatchme]

Like he'd be that stupid.

Although I guess he's not Magneto. Not yet.

[Could Erik make a mistake like that? Pietro... really didn't want to think about it.]

Still. I bet he's just testing me or something. Damn Bucket Head.

[catchingflies]

Close enough for me. Not as mean, though. I mean, the only time he ever yelled at me was when I, uh, got myself stuck on that spaceship with all the alarms going off.

[He looks vaguely confused about that whole situation, as well as kind of embarrassed.]

Kept going on that I shouldn't put myself in danger. That's kind of weird for Magneto, I guess.

[cantcatchme]

Soft. He'd have my hide if I tried to pull that.

[Well, his real father would, anyway.]

[catchingflies]

Pull what, get locked in a ship on accident? It's not like I did it on purpose, or anything....

[Now he's a little more steady on the whole "leaving" thing. Even if Pietro looks like hell, he's still being a jerk. Like usual.]

[cantcatchme]

Nah, I mean being all concerned and... soft.

[Okay, his vocabulary is still pretty limited, with his brain cooking and all.]

He's a damn hypocrite.

[catchingflies]

Oh.

[Defensiveness effectively deflated. Todd shrugs, rubbing at the back of his head awkwardly.]

Well, I dunno, I kinda like that more than him yelling and tossing people around and stuff.