Home Plot: Post 1

[verynaughtymutant]

There were few places Cable had ever known as well as he knew Tabula Rasa, few places he'd spent so much time and few places he'd been where his mind was less busy planning out the next steps. But it wasn't his home, it was a prison, something powerful but hostile.

Providence hadn't been his home either, not the way it had been for some of his followers. He'd seen it as a tool, as a weapon, far more then he'd ever seen it as a home. The X-mansion had been much the same and even the station of Greymalkin had never meant as much to him as the AI who inhabited it's walls.

No, the place he still thought of as home, for all he tried to forget it, was the safehouses of Clan Chosen during the Askani revolution. Back when he'd had a wife and a child and hope and mercy and all the other luxuries that young men allow themselves when they think they're still immortal. And that was a time and place he tried his best not to dwell on. Even his dreams, these days, were more often in English and Russian and based on the 21st century. And those that weren't, he never spoke of.

But if he had learned anything about living on Tabula Rasa, and he liked to think that he had learned a lot, it was that the past would never stay buried there where it belonged when it could be used to whip and prod it's victims instead.

So when he awoke to find himself a younger man again, surrounded by the tents and platforms of a rebel camp, he was angry but he was not surprised. He did not know the details of this particular trick, not yet anyway, but the intent was as familiar to him as his own skin. He could feel the whispers of minds around him, and he felt a dull terror at the familiar shape of them. This was a personal hell for him, filled with the ghosts of those he'd failed.

Still, he was not one to sit and take his punishment. Whatever game this was, there was no reason he had to play it. If he was lucky, all he had to do was walk away, out of the camp altogether, and spend what time he had before being returned to Tabula Rasa, out in the wilderness. Alone.

The camp itself was shielded and camouflaged, of course, but it was designed to be difficult to enter not exit and the guards stepped aside as he passed. All so simple then, except he could feel the whisper of another mind approaching and this one wasn't a ghost but another responsibility to chain him down.

Cable closed his eyes for a second, let a single sigh come out, and then stepped forward to greet them, expression blank and masked.

Comments

[starchilde_lost]

Wide Open. When Rachel came back to awareness, that was the first sensation she noticed. After more than a year, her mind was wide open and roaming. She opened her eyes, lifting her hand and upon her command, a stone rose to settle on her palm. Her powers were back.

Holy shit, her powers were back! She jumped up with a cry of pure joy and didn't land, hovering instead a foot off the ground with a ridiculous grin on her face that didn't fade until she realized she had no idea where she was. The terrain was all wrong for the island, for the school, for the Starjammer or any of the planets she'd been too back home. And while she was fairly well adjusted to being sent off into other times and worlds, it still made her apprehensive. Especially when she began to realize it wasn't as foreign as she thought.

Looking down, she started to notice details, the fit of the boots on her feet, the feel of the body armor she was wearing, the weight of the cloak on her shoulders. The smell of it, the way it moved, it touched something deep in her memory that she rarely, if ever, took a look at anymore. The uniform of an Askani warrior, specifically her uniform, the cloak and insignia that marked her as Clan Chosen, the Lady, the Mother Askani.

Instantly, everything stopped being fun again.

Internal shields went up, senses focused, and she started to scan the area as she lightly touched down. How was she back here? How was she back in a life that technically she'd never lived. Did she skip? Did she somehow send her mind through time and swap it with this version of herself? Did she send herself back to fight a war she'd only barely escaped?

And why did she know her brother was right on the other side of that hill? It didn't match. The times didn't synch up with what she remembered of her time as the Askani. They never lived in the same environment because bringing him to the future was the last thing she did before her body gave out and yet... there he was and here she was, too. It felt like a trap. It felt like something Apocalypse would do to lure her out once upon a time. But she had limited options. She had no food and no water, no map, and no idea how she'd gotten there. She was armed, which was good, knives, a gun and as she looked around there was a nice battle-worn Psimitar by where she'd lain, everything that would make her the perfect picture of who she had been.

She didn't want any of it. This wasn't her life, it had never been her life. And if this was some kind of cosmic joke, there was going to be hell to pay.

Calling the weapon to her side, she stretched out her mind again. In Nathan's direction was an encampment, he wasn't alone, and with returning memories as her guide, she could begin to make out the language. Familiar in its unfamiliarity. It was a rebel camp, one of Nathan's if the memories she searched were true. Which she still doubted, but with a sight internal sigh, she fixed her brother's position in her mind and started out. Maybe he (or his duplicate if this was a ruse), would know what was going on.

[verynaughtymutant]

English, for all the language still struck him as inelegant and inefficient, had been Cable's chosen tongue for a very long time. If nothing else it was a language less stained by old memories and spilled blood. He saw no reason for that to change.

"Hello Rachel," he said as he strode forward through the trees towards her, letting her have a good look at both his youth and the weapon he'd kept holstered and un-drawn at his side.

[starchilde_lost]

Oh, wow, Nathan was... her age. Maybe even younger a little. Which was... odd, but hell, she'd seen stranger things. Some of them intending to kill her so while he kept his hands free of his weapons, she held a little tighter to the psimitar in her hand.

"Nathan. Askani'son. We've met?"

[verynaughtymutant]

"Once or twice, little sister," he said dryly as he halted in front of her. "We're still on Tabula Rasa, this is just an illusion."

"And I haven't lost any of my memories along with my wrinkles."

[starchilde_lost]

Rachel was skeptical. She didn't sense any deception, but right now she wasn't exactly trusting her own senses. It was just all kids of... huh. "One of those time-repeating things? Like Zen told me about?"

The mistake was intentional, she loved her brother, she trusted him, but in this place she didn't trust anything. Anyone. This world was violent and dangerous and she couldn't afford any mistakes.

[spirited_hero]

Zell woke up sitting with his back propped up on a tree. Yawning and opening his eyes, he stretched his arms lazily. Then it hit him. Tree? Outdoors? The HELL?!

He stood up quickly and looked around. There were some people around. Was that Rachel and.... Cable?!

"Dream trip," he muttered quietly to himself. He'd been on plenty. He checked for magic and.....

...CHINK! A junction formed to Ifrit.

"Cool."

That was at least an upside to these stupid things. He got magic back for a while. Since he had one junction up, why not link up to every-frickin-thing he had on him? He spent some time with his eyes closed concentrating on establishing many links to the various GF's he'd had before and most of the ones Squall left him too. Then there was linking spells to attack and defense... ability junctions...

He had a bit to do, although he did open his eyes to look around and make sure they all weren't about to be jumped.

[verynaughtymutant]

It had become clear to Cable that this illusion wasn't one for him alone. Rachel had been the first he'd found but he could tell that there more people from the Island dropped into the woods outside the camp. Unfortunately their locations were scattered enough that he could only track them down one by one and bring them to the safety of the camp. There was no telling what kind of danger they might be in if left unattended.

He'd thought he'd seen Zell when he'd found Rachel but the younger man could take care of himself so he got her settled before returning to him. He seemed occupied with something himself, in any case.

"Doesn't seem to be a loop, this time," he announced his presence as he closed the distance between them, his younger face grim and closed off.

[spirited_hero]

The fact that this was a dream trip with Cable had Zell a bit on edge. Zell wasn't going to be able to relax anytime soon, and the word 'Ultima' was often not too far from the tip of his tongue as he looked around anticipating an attack. However, seeing a young Cable made Zell grin.

"Guess we'll see," remarked Zell as he looked closely at the face in front of him. "Cool, we're about the same age!"

[verynaughtymutant]

"In appearance, at least," he amended quickly as he started walking away, leading Zell towards their camp. "I can barely remember ever being this young."

[spirited_hero]

"So Cable, are we in your world again? What do you think is goin' on?"

Zell was hoping it wasn't Cable's world and it was someone else's, but he thought since Rachel was here, the chances weren't too good.

[blonderussianspy]

Natalya awoke to the familiar-ish sounds of nature, but there was a distinct lack of breathing. Ahimsa had taken, since Sam's disappearance, to sleeping stretched out on the floor along Natalya's side of the bed. She appreciated the gesture and had, apparently, grown used to the sound of the animal's breathing.

She was in a forest, not a jungle, in the pinstriped cotton shorts and sheer tank top she'd gone to sleep in, hair half tied up and half down around her face. No knife, no gun, no shoes. Inconvenient.

No point sitting around in it, though. She picked herself up and started through the trees, footfalls silent, treading carefully, barely leaving an indentation in the grass and fallen needles. She didn't know where she was and she didn't know who else would be there. No reason to leave a glaring trail.

There was a sound to her left and she turned, whole body snapping that way, center of gravity dropping- and blinked.

"Cable?"

[verynaughtymutant]

He was armed, though the gun he wore wasn't yet drawn, and he'd been looking for her, following the hum of her mind, so he wasn't surprised at all at their sudden encounter.

"Hello, Natalya," he announced, in Russian. "I think we need to get you some new clothes. And a weapon, no doubt."

[blonderussianspy]

"I'd prefer the latter before the former," she replied, straightening up and walking nearer.

"What the hell's going on?"

[verynaughtymutant]

"You've been dragged along on a trip to my past, I'm afraid," he explained as he turned around, giving her a gesture to follow him. "Welcome to the 39th century."

[blonderussianspy]

"Shto?" she said, blinking exactly twice. She fell into step, looking as though she were trying to arrange ill fitting information in her head.

"This is... Is this an island trick?"

[butterflyfactor]

Layla rolled over and attempted to wriggle down into the mattress, but it was just the ground. She lifted her head and saw a tree- a lot of trees- and general woodland features that reminded her more of Latveria than Tabula Rasa. She pushed herself up from lying on her stomach to rub her eyes, blinking until the sleep way gone, then pushed herself up to standing and looked around. She absently scratched her elbow.

Huh. She was pretty sure she had her powers back. How about that.

She started padding through the forest, looking around, the bottoms of her slouchy grey pajama pants picking up some leaves and dirt. She wished she had a bra.

It was nice and peaceful, at least. She saw someone heading toward her and blinked, veering in that direction and her eyebrows lifted a little as she got closer. Apparently, there had been a time when Cable was a hottie. Again, who knew.

"Hey," she said.

[verynaughtymutant]

"Hey," he responded, with equal casualness and a gesture towards the direction he'd came. "The camps this way."

Though he was only guessing that she didn't already know that. They'd never really discussed how exactly her visions of the future worked.

[butterflyfactor]

"The... Askani camp," Layla said, starting forward and tilting her head slightly to one side.

"Because we're in the future kind of maybe."

[verynaughtymutant]

"Emphasis on the kind of," he replied.

One of the things he liked about Layla was he expected she wouldn't demand too much of an explanation beyond that.

[butterflyfactor]

"So this probably isn't real," she went on.

"You know, I went to Latveria in the future kind of, once. From the island." She absently plucked a leaf off a branch as they passed it.

"That was swell."

[awomanscornd]

It's her dreams that wake her up before anything else gets the chance. Disjointed scraps of confusion, flying and fire and something else all coming together before Madelyne jerks awake, dreams forgotten like smoke in the wind once she notices where she is -- or rather, where she isn't.

Taking a deep breath to keep herself calm (she's been in bigger binds than this), she gets to her feet, pushing her hair back from her face and making sure that the too-large shirt she went to sleep in the night before keeps her decent. Mostly, she's wishing that she wore socks to bed.

It's quickly made clear that she's not alone in this, which isn't actually a relief until the guy coming her way through the forest gets close enough for her to get a proper look at him.

My God, he looks so much like--

"Cable? Is that you?"

[verynaughtymutant]

And that was the last of his guests. And probably the most awkward, given that a lot of what he'd told her about himself had been a lie, which meant another thing he'd have to deal with that he could really do without.

"As I once was, at least," Cable replied and he managed a small smile, despite everything. "Welcome to the 39th century, Madelyne. Or a facsimile of it, rather."

[awomanscornd]

"More trees than I pictured," Madelyne says wryly, allowing herself a moment to take things in a little more calmly. She's heard of this sort of thing happening, of course, so it really shouldn't be that big a deal, momentary discomforts aside.

"Why am I here, though?"

[verynaughtymutant]

"You're one of five dragged along with me," Cable told her as he turned, beckoning her to follow. "My friends."

"Consider it a sign of my affection," he added dryly, "if an unwelcome one"

[awomanscornd]

"Gee, I didn't know you cared," Madelyne deadpans as she reluctantly starts following him, watching where she steps. "So if that's the when of it all, then where are we going now?"